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
If you are worried about the lack of atmosphere occasionally at the Ems, spare a thought for supporters of Middlesboro. This is the club that kicked out a season ticket holder a few years back because he fell asleep during a 0-4 defeat to Arsenal at the ground (he went to court and got the …
The new issue of Highbury High, on sale against Fulham tomorrow, has been declared a moan-free zone. It is an unusual move as fanzines are usually the ideal place to get things off your chest. So why a moan-free zone. Editor Ian Trevett explains “Having a good old moan-up has always been a part of …
The following article appeared on the RedAction news service, written by Robert Gaffney. It is reproduced with permission, but Robert asks me to add that it is speculation on his part. Even so, it is the best bit of speculation I have seen on this. I’ve been looking at the property piece of the finance …
Fifa – the organisation of which a US judge famously said that they “lied and lied again in court” claims that it has now worked out a way of restricting the number of foreign players in each team, while staying within the rules of the European Union. It wants to talk to the European Commission …
Its a bit like the proverbial bus – you wait for ages for one, and then two come along. Dennis was unique, original, a genius, something beyond everything else we had ever seen. We would not see his likes again, we were told. And then in an unguarded moment the word slipped out – Jack …
Jose Mourinho said yesterday that he thought the ref was biased against his team in their game against Manchester United – and the big news today was that for some reason he is not going to be sanctioned by UEFA. Not that I want him sanctioned – but I just like to understand the rules. …
I have just been struck by the number of players we currently have on loan. I suspect this must be an all time record for us – and maybe for any league club. Jay Simpson: WBA Gavin Hoyte: Watford Rui Fonte: Crystal Palace Henri Lansbury, Scunthorpe Utd Paul Rodgers: Northampton Town Rene Steer: Gillingham Armand …
Flint McCullough has a better grasp of Slovakian than I, so I am taking his word for it that the Gunners.sk site is advocating no points for a draw. But it got me thinking – could this be the answer to the crisis that football finds itself in? I’m going to suggest a modification …
100 years ago football was in total crisis, with games regularly ending 0-0, and 1-0 being a treat. The football authorities responded (although rather belatedly) by changing the off side rule from needing 3 opponents to 2 in front of the attacker when the ball was kicked, and restricting handling by the goalkeeper to the …
It’s saturday morning and nearly time to get the Morris Minor out for the long treck south, across the dusty wastelands where capitalism once flourished before the evil bankers came in and stole everything, leaving the poor asking why we didn’t fight them in the high street and on the landing grounds, as they took …
The salary cap is the centrepiece of the current round of UEFA proposals. It is based on the notion that each club will have to declare its “football income” – that is money raised directly from footballing activities. The clubs will then be limited as to how much of that income they can spend each …
In fact there are two types of person. Those who divide the world into two types, and those who don’t. But leaving that aside, there are also two types of Arsenal supporter. Those who believe that what is in the football pages of the papers is most likely to be true, and those who think …
In one sense it looks like a race, with the FA, the EPL and UEFA all trying to get in first with ideas to reform European football. Today it is the turn of Michel Platini who like the others chooses to ignore the corruption that is evident in Italy, and which has almost certainly seeped …
Read More “Transfer of Cesc, Denilson, Vela etc to be illegal under new regs”
Milan were centrally involved in the bribing of referees (the Calciopoli scandal) in Itlay and managed to get away with just a little points deduction. That really is enough to have the club kicked out of European football for quite a few years, but no, they are still there, and still doing their stuff. To …
Well not quite every time, but quite often. Like my call that Arshavin would join us, same with Nasri, Denilson being a great defender, and just before the Cardiff match, about Bischoff. I pointed out with calm and quiet aplomb that is the trademark of these ramblings, that he was rising up the ladder, noted …
During the time before the Icelandic banks and Northern Rock went bang, it was obvious to a number of people who were watching from the wings that things could not go on as they were. I remember a colleague saying to me one day, “either we’ve totally misunderstood how finance works, or they have.” I …
Read More “A difference in financial approach: Arsenal & Chelsea”
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 …
Numerous blogs and news services such as RedAction are currently urging supporters to turn up on Monday night for the Cardiff game with St George flags. National flags are banned at the Ems, although no action is taken against supporters in the away section for waving them. It is anticipated that a lot of Cardiff …
Read More “What will Gallas and the rest make of all the English flags on Monday night?”
Listening to Lord Triesman (chair of the FA) give an after dinner speech last night one thing was very clear. He absolutely cannot register that some people think the FA is of itself a very bad thing. His view more of less seems to be “it is, it must be”. Of course as chair of …
Everywhere today is the same: “The Rich List”. And a lot of the publications that cover the story can’t ever be bothered to point out that the list has not much to do with being rich. Not a sausage, in fact. It is to do with turnover – the amount of money the central account …
It is often said that to win the EPL a team needs an English spine. There’s no evidence presented for this – it is just something that is said. Watching Brazil last night I think I’d sooner my team had a Brazilian spine rather than one made up of John Terry types, but each to …
Read More “Brady arrested (not that one), English spines, Arsenal’s youth”
The scenes that greeted the sight of Gael’s blood at the WHL ground last Sunday revealed that it is never a good idea to take the Tiny Totts at face (or any other part of their anatomy) value. As the cameras revealed the baying hordes salivating at the sight of blood, desperate to bite into …
Read More “Garlic, silver bullets, wooden stakes: be ready for Tottenham”
So, KGB Fulham has turned into a London version of Athletico Madrid in the Jesus Gill era. You’ll remember Gill – if the manager didn’t win the league in six weeks he was out. Mr Absent Abramovich now takes a similar view clearly, and is seeking to move on managers faster than the Tiny Totts. …
The Tiny Totts are today celebrating an Unbeaten Season and have produced a second DVD to celebrate their unbeaten season… against Arsenal. Actually, they haven’t (although after putting out a DVD of the 4-4 it wouldn’t surprise me if they did) but I just thought it would be amusing to speculate… But what did strike …
Not much more than a week after the transfer what-not shuts down and its off again with BarBarBarca saying right, in the summer we’ll have Van Persie, Adebayor, and, oh of course Cesc, and in return little Arsenal you can have…. Hleb. That is the same Hleb who were prized away from Arsenal because, according …
