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 Billy ‘the dog’ McGraw. Head of Security, emirates stadium Much has been made of the fact that the security services that run the Emirates Stadium – our stadium of choice – failed utterly to prevent some Tottenham fans throwing coins and other objects at ambulance men, while also failing to stop supporters of …
By Tony Attwood All goals count. Tap ins, and lobs from inside your own half, they all just count as one goal. Which is why it is always worth considering the total number of goals your centre forward scores. But we also know that it takes a bit of time for newly purchased centre forwards …
Read More “Thierry Henry vs Olivier Giroud. What’s the difference?”
Hull v Arsenal 20 April 2014 – The Match Officials By Andrew Crawshaw Referee – Jonathan Moss Assistants – S Long & J Flynn Fourth Official – K Friend I don’t know; we wait all season for Kevin Friend then get him twice in a week – this time as fourth official. It …
Read More “Hull v Arsenal 20 April 2014 – The Match Officials”
By Walter Broeckx Despite me not being the tactical wizard that will give you all the pro’s and the con’s of a 4-4-2 compared to a 3-5-2 or a 4-5-1 formation I do like to throw a stone in the water from time to time and give you something to think about. I want to …
By Walter Broeckx The way the media has been trying to give Özil a failure tag is amazing. After Arsenal had stunned the whole world that they had been able to sign him they had to stop the mantra they had been using for the last years: Arsenal (and Wenger of course) doesn’t want to …
Read More “As the Independent name Ozil as one of the worst buys of the year…”
Untold has been away for quite a while – but we are back again, and each time we come back we tighten our security more and more and more and more and… well you get the idea. During our down time we published Instant judgement is not the best way to view football: we need …
The fifth Global Sports Salaries Survey tells us the answer, and as you almost certainly said, it is Manchester City. The average member of the first team gets by on an income of £5.3m a year. Which explains why Uefa has this week got a bit miffed about the way Man C has responded …
Read More “Who pays players the most? Well, gone on… guess…”
Whisper it quietly and carefully, but it seems as if something is stirring within Uefa and Fifa. This isn’t to say that they are transformed and reformed, and they are still intent on trading with the Slave State of Qatar, but there have been moves. First the banning of Barcelona from making transfers, then the …
Read More “Loan contracts cannot be restrictive. Uefa ups its game.”
By Tony Attwood My perception of noise in the emirates stadium is always a bit biased because I sit in the north bank – the noisiest part of the stadium. But I sit in the upper tier, which traditionally is less vocal, so that bias is reduced a little. What’s more I sit above Red …
Read More “Arsenal v West Ham. Having fun and reclaiming our club for us.”
By Walter Broeckx After having played a long semi final on Saturday evening the main question would be how the legs would react to the fatigue. So it was no real surprise to see a lot of changes in the team. Half the team to be exact. Gibbs wasn’t even on the bench after having …
Right, my Internet is still down so I am writing this freestyle, feeling like a Google-shaped section of my brain was removed when I wasn’t looking. (Tony, how’d you do this in the olden days?!) Playing West ham at the Emirates should never be a cause for concern, should it? Their resurgence came at just …
Read More “So, Sam, 38 Points – Should be enough, shouldn’t it?? | West Ham Preview”
Another day, another match. Emma, Drew and I have decided to extend our trip to London a little for this one, going first to the British Museum to see the Vikings before taking in the game which should be pleasant indeed, not least because it gives me another chance to bore everyone stupid with my …
Arsenal v West Ham United Tuesday 15 April – The Match Officials By Andrew Crawshaw Referee – Kevin Friend Assistants – H Lennard and M Wilkes Fourth Official – C Foy Here’s a change a first timer for us this year and with only five games to go in the season. Mr Friend was born …
Read More “Arsenal v West Ham United Tuesday 15 April – The Match Officials”
By Walter Broeckx As I wrote in my article that you might have read a few days ago if you have been able to enter the site as it has been going on and off line at an amazing rhythm…. Even I don’t know when I will be able to read something, and as for …
If you’ve been trying to access Untold since last saturday you will know that the site has been down more than up. We’ve had a team working on the problems and we’re back – at least for now. But if we vanish again, do keep an eye on us on Twitter, and on the history …
By Tony Attwood Arsenal, as is well known, has a waiting list for season tickets and silver memberships. It is hard to say exactly how long the season ticket waiting list is, but it is still quite a few years long. The silver membership waiting list is so long that for many red members the …
I am very sorry indeed that Untold has been up and down like… well you know what like. We’re now back up again and I’ll post a piece in a moment. But please accept my apologies. You can’t begin to imagine how frustrating this has been for me. Tony
By Tony Attwood Arsenal Reserves 1 Wigan Athletic 1 (4-2 on pens). We’ve seen Arsenal Reserves labour before against more modest opposition, and of course everyone jumps on the bandwagon, doing the usual stuff about how poor Arsenal is, without actually bringing much in the way of new analysis to the situation. And that situation …
Read More “Fatboy gets angry about not knowing Arsenal Reserves. I get angy over empty seats.”
By Tony Attwood My trip to Wembley starts at noon; I think Walter started at around 4am. One stop in Northampton to meet up with Drew, then we drive to Harrow (or somewhere odd like that) to meet up with Ian and his sons, and then the tube on to Wembley where maybe, if we …
By Walter Broeckx One day to go. One day to go before I will be in London again. One day to go before I lose another virginity. This time it will be about watching a match at Wembley. The second time I lose some kind of virginity this season. The other was just a few …
By Tony Attwood “Many fans will only remember success because that’s the only reason they started supporting them in the first place.” That comment came from Phil Banyard of Nottingham Trent University who has studied the psychological effects of failure among fans. He continued… “It’s not much different to watching the Harlem Globetrotters – you …
FA Cup semi-finals – The match Officials by Andrew Crawshaw Saturday 12 April kick off 17:07 Wigan Athletic v Arsenal Referee – Michael Oliver Assistants – Stuart Burt and Darren England Fourth Official – Craig Pawson Reserve Assistant – John Brooks Sunday 13 April kick off 16:07 Hull City v Sheffield United Referee – Andre …
A pre-semi-final ramble over a variety of subjects of minor importance, but which pass the time. By Tony Attwood Arsenal, as you will know if you read the Arsenal History blog, has had five different names in its history. Dial Square (or possibly Dial Square Cricket Club – it’s not clear given there’s no …
Read More “What’s in a name? What’s in a colour? Arsenal’s 27th FA Cup semi.”
By Walter Broeckx This Saturday as you know we will play the semi final of the FA cup. As it is a while ago we went that far in this competition I think we must make our minds up. Will we support the club from now on till the end of the game completely. Or …
OF MICE AND MEN….by Don McMahon Walter…..as a fellow referee and having played at about the same level as you once did, I can state that officials get to see an unrestrained panorama of the football being played, like no player can. I can remember officiating Morocco against our local provincial team in a friendly …
