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
. By Walter Broeckx I recently read a book, written by Bernard Joy, a former Gunner in the 1930-1940’s called Forward Arsenal and in this book Bernard Joy is talking about the players in those days also being more than just Gunners. Players who are ready to set their personal ambitions aside for the benefit …
. Billy the Dog explores the happy by-ways of East London Thames Ironworks, whom we play this weekend under their new name of West Porno (the club also known as Wham), have done well over the years, winning the West Ham Charity Cup in 1895 and then becoming Western League Division 1B Champions to the …
Read More “Arsenal prepare to welcome our friendly friends from the east end”
By Walter Broeckx The last time I compared our current season with the last, we were half way the season. In case you missed it last time around, I just would like to explain that I just took the games from last season and the corresponding game of this season and compared the results. It’s …
Read More “We’ve already scored more goals than in the whole of last season”
Top Four? by Simon Bailey As the clock ticked round to 90 minutes on Saturday, my friend John grimly declared that if the score stayed as it was we could kiss the league goodbye. My first instinct was to agree. My next thought was that we have been written off twice already this season. My …
In yesterday afternoon’s article Paul Collins reminded us in passing of the battle between Arsenal and Villa for fourth a year ago. Clearly we all know what happened on the pitch both last year and this (today Villa are 18 points behind us with three games in hand, six points off fourth with two games …
Read More “Arsenal and Aston Villa: what happened after the battle for fourth”
. Did Arsenal “come of age” against Hull? By Paul Collins Looking through the media outlets this weekend there seemed to be a common theme, that of Arsenal “maturing”, “coming of age”, or “growing up” against Hull. Is there any substance to that argument? I personally don’t think so, and believe that those who spout …
. Football journalism in England is irretrievably broken My argument in this piece is in the title – and the consequence is that we are not only being very badly served by football journalism but we are also being misled by football journalism My view is that the footballing media tend to copy each other. …
Read More “Football journalism in England is irretrievably broken”
By Walter Broeckx Another eventful game I must say and once again some very strange things going on, on a football field. Let me start with the actual field of play. In the Fifa rules, which Mr. Blatters finds so important, there are some clear rules concerning the lines on a football field. When I …
Untold Absences updated 14th March Cesc Fabregas: hamstring injury, exacerbated by playing for Spain. Waiting for news re West Ham Tomas Rosicky: minor groin problem caused by playing for his country within a hectic Arsenal schedule. Probably ok for WHU Alex Song: has now served his two match ban and will play against WHU Sol …
By Phil Gregory After an awe-inspiring win against Porto, Hull away is next up on the agenda and with it the end of our recent week-long rest periods. I can empathise with the players, I really can: fixture congestion is a blight on the game extending as far down the footballing pyramid as Intramural League …
Read More “Hull Spitty v Arsenal: predictions, prognosis, possibilities”
By Walter Broeckx In January Sepp Blatter declared according to various media that he was in favour of goal line technology. This was rather a surprising thing as in the years before he was someone who was against the use of technology. But there was joy among people who have always been in favour of …
Read More “It’s one set of rules for Blatter, and another for everyone else”
Billy The Dog McGraw previews Arsenal at Hull, and our reunion with Spit Brown. Spit Brown is a world-famous fantasist who holds the record for the number of times a manager has been warned about his future conduct in one year. He manages a football club at Kingston upon Hull – a diminutive village on …
Yesterday the football world received some incredibly good news. By Walter Broeckx And by this good news I don’t mean us sending Porto back home with a 5-0 defeat in their bag. That is some very good news for Arsenal and maybe also for the football world in general but you can’t expect fans of …
Read More “Yesterday the football world received some incredibly good news.”
In what was (I think) Leicester’s final season in the EPL we drew 1-1 with them away. Gilberto scored. I got very angry. I was angry because I found myself being filmed by the police for no reason other than the fact that I was in the Arsenal section of the crowd. My view was …
Read More “Illegal police activity is destroying football in England”
By Walter Broeckx I have read somewhere over the internet that the pundits in England had a hard night. I can understand that. How can you explain Arsenal beating Porto with 5 -0 when you have been saying a whole season how bad we are. And then to realise we played without Cesc, Gallas and …
Read More “Could Man U or Chelsea have won a game like this? No chance!”
And why not plan in this way? The Glorious Double – Champs League and EPL. The fact is that once again with half the team missing we managed to outwit and outsmart the doom and gloom brigade, the media and the opposition. What Arsenal would be like with a full squad would be like, well …
Read More “Cesc, Van Persie, Gallas could be fit for Champs League final”
Tonight the ref is the number one ref in Belgium. Or as Zafod Bebblebrox says in the Hitchhikers’ Guide “Belgium Man!” Here’s the assessment of our resident Belgian Referee: Walter Broeckx…….. ———— I really hope he doesn’t screw up on us. Last season he had the Liverpool – Real Madrid game and before the game …
Read More “Tonight’s ref: the inside story, plus the journos prepare their excuses”
Tottenham could decide the Championship Paul Collins The final weeks of the 2009/10 season are shaping up to be fascinating. When was the last time we had 3 teams in serious contention for the Championship at this late a stage in the season AND at the same time saw the battle for 4th, and the …
Walter Broeckx comments on Antwerp to the Emirates – and back – in one day Another day at the Emirates for me and some of my family. I must say that I really don’t know how to start this time. It was a day of great emotions once again. We left Brussels right on time …
This is a story of life and death. And acting. And celebration. It is the story of a club from the Russian Premier League side FC Moscow which has gone bust just a short while after their oligarch owner, a man in the Roman Abramovich league, pulled out, having decided to switch sports. And it …
Manchester United win things. That is undeniable. They have a big support (even if it is largely located in Cornwall) and they fill the ground. That’s undeniable. And they have an extraordinarily successful manager – something we have to admit even if we don’t like some of his behaviour. And they are so broke it …
Read More “Man U’s plan is for global domination, and this is why it might all end in tears”
Hello hello, that was fun. Walter and co from Benelux Supporters Club found their way to the Auld Triangle and I took Walter in to show him what a north London pub looks like before it gets crowded (I mean there were only 200 people inside the public bar, and it only took half an …
Read More “A game of three halves as Arsenal beat the wheelbarrow”
Oh what a week, what a day. The chauffeurs are chauffed, the postilions are in position, and the trusty Austin 7 is in the drive ready for the 88 miles from here to Arnos Grove underground station. And there I was a few days back thinking that these Burnley people were jolly nice folk who …
Ever since I first studied sociology (in about 2 million years BC) I have known that the media’s first need is to see to the continuation of itself by keeping up its audience. It does this by telling the audience “this is how it is” and then, having got the audience fixed on this version …
“You’re Fucked and you know you are….” By Simon Bailey. I think we are all caught in one of those moments where we are living an alternate reality. You sort of recognise what’s going on, but it all feels a bit surreal. A week ago everything was normal. Respective managers were briefing their respective teams …
Read More “You’re not very well: football stumbling along in an alternate reality”
