Untold Arsenal: Supporting the club, the manager and the team
"I believe the target of anything in life should be to do it so well that it becomes an art." A Wenger
With the chart that is now showing a little way down on the right side of the UNTOLD ARSENAL home page revealing that Theo will be back in one week, and with Arshavin certain to be playing against Sunderland next weekend, it looks at last as if we’ll have a creative midfield again. And with …
I get so hooked on all the youngsters coming through the ranks all the time, Wilshere, Vela, Ramsey, Merida and the rest, that it becomes easy to forget that the Lord Wenger has a fair old ability to work with old timers too. It was widely said that when he arrived at Highbury he extended …
Having wandered into a mathematical world of unreal numbers yesterday, today we face the big issue. Where do negative stories come from? Right up to the signing of Mr A yesterday there were stories saying the deal was dead – one I saw said that the FA were going to refuse the deal for being …
First, because 23 is a prime number. Just like 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, and 19 before it, and an infinite number thereafter. Second it was Theo’s number and we all love Theo. Third it was David Beckham’s number at Real Mad, and Russians somehow think that if you are British …
In my story on January 26 I said that we were definitely signing Arshavin. I said this not because I thought the Lord Wenger was desperate, and not because I had deep insight into the workings of the KGB, but rather because of the array of people who had far too much invested in the …
The return of Keane from a championship chasing club to a relegation flirting club just six months after he went the other way for more money, is proof if it were needed of the financial disaster facing Liverpool Weetabix. Liverpool were, let us not forget, held up as a model of how football could move …
There are two ways to rubbish players. One is to dismiss them in one line, just saying “he’s ineffective” and leaving it at that. The implication is that he is so bad everyone knows it, you don’t have to say another word. The other is to argue the point constructively, using the stats, showing comparisons …
I write this in reply to a detailed letter that has been published on this site, which says why we should no longer support Arsenal. I believe the opposite. Partly, because I am a naturally cheery guy (except when I am not) and partly because I am currently writing the history of Arsenal in 1910, …
We’re not playing well, it was a lucky escape, and we’re further behind Aston “if you fall over hold your head” Villa. So all bad news then. Except… It is nine match unbeaten run which has included games against a number of clubs near the top or at the top Three of the four players …
Tomorrow or the next day it will be known. 25 hours ago (that is around 7am UK time on Monday) I made my wholesome and exciting prediction that a certain Russian was on his way to us. At that moment virtually no one else was running the story, so I felt rather good (or rather …
I’ll confess straight up that I don’t have a hot line to Leningrad, nor do I have the ear of Mr Usmanov. In fact I don’t even have his email address. But I think we are going to sign Arshavin, today or tomorrow. Here’s why… First, the whole saga has been full of deadlines – …
I’ve been in Cardiff for a couple of days, having managed to tie together a couple of meetings with today’s game. I’ve driven past the hotel where the lads are staying, and if I were writing in the pop press or for ITV or BBC I’d be “sampling the atmosphere”, but in truth there hasn’t …
Read More “From your man, on the spot, sampling the atmosphere, interviewing the locals.”
It has been a while coming, but now Mr Usmanov is making his move. And the moral question is, is it possible to be against Mr Usmanov the shareholder, but in favour of the arrival of Arshavin? Russian clubs are owned by big companies for the most part. Zenit Leningrad (now known by the politically …
Read More “Mr Usmanov starts to wield his power and influence”
If you have followed my ramblings in the past you’ll know I am rather critical on occasion of my fellow professional scribblers who, I suggest, have been known to take a list of players and a list of clubs, slide them up and down, and come up with links. It is easier than working. My …
Read More “Invented player to sign for Arsenal according to The Times”
On 25 February 2001 Manchester Utd (later to become Manchester Bankrupt) beat Arsenal 6-1. Manchester went 16 points clear at the top of the table. Since 1991 we had won the league just once. In those days we hardly had blogs at all, but the fanzines were hugely active in calling for Wenger’s head. Had …
And so we come to see the solution. At least the handful of us left who do not occupy their time, supporting professional journalists, writing articles about “Meltdown” and calling supporters who believe in Wenger “extremists”. I speak of the new process, forced on us by the incredibly awful run of injuries to Eduardo, Theo, …
This question arose because yesterday I made the point that I couldn’t see Arsenal screwing up its contract issues with a player so that he left. One commentator wrote back and suggested that Flamini was one such case where Arsenal had done just that. I beg to differ – and I believe Hleb and Flamini …
I got the idea for that headline from the one that says Arsenal could lose Theo for just £400,000. That story is in the Mirror in its football news section. Now the word “News” has within it the word “new” which means, well, sort of new – as in not old. The actual story is …
Read More “Journalists could be sued for giving false transfer stories”
It is on occasion forgotten that Henry didn’t do it all on his own. Most of the time he had Robert Pires to help him. It took over a year to get right, but when it did work it was stunningly simple. Henry could always be relied upon to spend some of his game on …
Read More “Return of Henry/Pires tactic spells new era for Arsenal”
One of the great things about supporting Arsenal under Wenger is that I haven’t got a clue what is going to happen. Take Diaby – the notion that he could occasionally run into the top third of the pitch, behave like a proper forward, and score a goal or two, was about the last thing …
Jonanthan Brown wrote to me directly, rather than via the blog, on the issue of Denilson, and I would like to pass on his thoughts. To declare my position: I think Denilson is a sensation, but that he suffers as Gilberto did in the fans’ eyes. If you remember, Gilberto was often thought to …
There was a moment right at the end of the game against Portsmouth in which Papa Bouba Diop committed what looked like a dreadful foul on (I think) Denilson. From my position in the upper tier quite some way along from the incident I didn’t have anything remotely like a perfect view, but it looked …
The message cannot be clearer – with the injury to Cesc now, and the clear signs that Liverpool are still be protected by referees in a way that other teams are not, the Lord Wenger will know exactly where we stand for the second half of the season. Back comes Eduardo, followed somewhat later by …
There was a moment in the Villa game yesterday where one of their players went down holding his head and the ref looked, and then played the game on. The commentator said “that’s not right” or something like that, and eventually several minutes later the game was stopped. I thought this a heart-warming moment. I’ve …
Read More “Football in turmoil, Villa rumbled, Liverpool as Emperors”
This Sunday is Yellow Day at the Ems. Don’t ask me why, its a Red Action thing, but those guys work their hearts souls and lungs out for the club while those of us in the upper levels mumble about it not being like this in 1927, so if they say we have to wear …
