Fifa Sponsors quit and more might follow

By Tony Attwood With each passing outrage from Fifa Untold has raised the issue of the sponsors of the dictatorship, and suggested that the sponsors should take a good look at what is going on in their name. Of course we can’t expect much to happen, not least when the Football Association in England, always …

Tiny Arsène, Arteta signs, we’re buying Suarez, and dictionary lackadaisicals latest

By Tony Attwood ‘Arsenal to make audacious swoop for Suarez’ Roll up roll up all the nonsense you want to have.   Suarez plays for a club quite rightly banned from transfers because of its child trafficking policies, and Arsène Wenger says that we are not signing anyone, and so we get that headline.  Oh what …

Arsenal v Villa 1 Feb 2015: Taylor will bend the rules to punish Arsenal

By Andrew Crawshaw Firstly, following Walter’s review of Mr Pawson in our away game at Southampton, we have an updated Table of Shame – it is shown at the end. That table reveals that there are still no signs of it starting to even out. Mr Pawson made two wrong Important Decisions (second yellow cards, red …

The three ways of fixing matches in the Premier League

By Tony Attwood The oldest, one might almost say, the traditional way of match fixing, was established by Liverpool and Manchester United at the end of the 1914/15 season.    Yes, 100 years ago this season. Manchester United were looking likely to be relegated while Liverpool were comfortably placed mid-table.  So the two clubs worked …

Referee Taylor: The new Dean has arrived

By Walter Broeckx So Taylor it is again. Only 7 matches since his last match in charge of Arsenal the evil face of the PGMO is back. Let us look at his stats up to now and compare them with the overall record from Arsenal in the PL. Total WIN DRAW LOST Arsenal 174 96 …

Why is threatening a criminal act less offensive than being derisory about women for the BBC?

By Tony Attwood Sky Sports presenters Andy Gray and Richard Keys were dropped by Sky after making off-air comments during a game in January 2011 saying that female officials “don’t know the offside rule” and predicting assistant ref Sian Massey would make mistakes during a game a couple of days later. The comments were boorish, sexist and …

Ref Review : Manchester City – Arsenal: A master class performance!

Ref for this match was Mike Dean I know on a lot of occasions people say that our referee reviews are all about sour grapes. So how do we judge the ref in a match when for the first time in 12 centuries (more or less) we beat a top 4 club at their home …

Barcelona guilty. Now Real Mad?

By Tony Attwood Ever since Barcelona were caught out for their child trafficking activities some people have been poking around Real Madrid to ask if they have been doing the same thing. It hardly makes a news story that they have said no. But Real Mad has also recognised that Fifa has asked the Spanish …

The transfer window deadline has been pre-recorded

By Tony Attwood Maybe I blinked and missed it, or maybe its all been called off because of a dodgy medical, but the big Arsenal transfer, seems to have stopped. Instead we have… Arsenal transfer news and rumours: Real Madrid to sell Karim Benzema to Arsenal to fund Raheem Sterling move That’s the big news. …

Define ‘lackadaisical’. Define “Tottenham H”

By Tony Attwood OK I know the story has got around a bit and I am very much not the first to find it, but hacking with humour does still amuse me – although not necessarily when I have to try and clear up the mess. So the story is this Go to www.Google.co.uk In …

REF REVIEW Southampton – Arsenal

Ref for this match was Craig Pawson A ref we haven’t got many numbers on so it is always difficult to draw conclusions. What I did noticed is that he is not looking good at hidden kicks on the Achilles. Alderweireld did this a few times and each time it escaped the ref’s attention. This …

Are you a victim of PPP? Don’t suffer in silence, take action!

By Blacksheep I watched the FA Cup tie against Brighton & Falmer Albion in rather dreary modern pub close to where Tony and I usually meet to travel down to the Emirates. They had the game on their (biggish) screen and it was convenient for hooking up with the twins. There was no sound so …

Gabriel Paulista: he has the work permit, and the medical should be done by now.

By Tony (some of this might be right but dont bank on it) Attwood Well, you know, I’m sure, but just in case not… Mr Wenger had the deal all set vis a vis the work permit and Gabriel Paulista will be granted a permit to work in the UK.   Now he just needs …

The romance of the FA cup: a day on the internet and on TV

By Walter Broeckx For most of us living outside England the first time we saw English football was in the FA cup final at Wembley. In my country we had the luck to having the leading football commentator not just being an excellent footballer in his days but also he loved England and English football. And …

“If you love football you love Rosicky,” and news on Gabriel Paulista.

By Tony Attwood So it seems we are about to buy or have just bought the 24 year old Villarreal central defender Gabriel Paulista and the visa will be granted under the “special talent” rule.  At least that is the message that seems to be there (but one can never be sure until it is …

FA CUP : Brighton – Arsenal 2-3 Arsenal march on in the FA cup

By Walter Broeckx So Arsène Wenger made a lot of changes to the side that beat Manchester City last Sunday. The starting line up was Szczesny, Chambers, Koscielny, Monreal, Gibbs, Flamini, Walcott, Ramsey, Ozil, Rosicky, Giroud On the beach : Martinez, Mertesacker, Bellerin, Coquelin, Cazorla, Alexis, Akpom. Szczesny came in for Ospina. Mertesacker and Bellerin …

Brighton v Arsenal, played at Falmer (near the sea)

  150 word match preview to be published with the above code; Welcome to the FA Cup fourth round clash between Arsenal and Brighton at the Amex Stadium, brought to you by Arsenal’s Official Car And Van Rental Partner Europcar. The Gunners take part in another stand-out clash in this season’s FA Cup, this time …

Arsenal: “You need more than a masters to play against them.”

By Bulldog Drummond “Oh please let us be the exception” Cup cock ups can occur anytime and bring down anyone.  Herbert Chapman knew that with the defeat to Walsall (his last ever FA Cup match incidentally), after which he immediately transferred out of the club the players he felt were responsible. Managers don’t do that …

FA to stop obesity, help children, build pitches and do sensible things. Err….

By Tony Attwood It’s FA Cup weekend in case you didn’t notice, so I had planned to run this final article before the preview of the Brighton Cup match, on the subject of the FA. And I am staying with that – but with the addition of a few results. Chelsea 2 Bradford City 4. …

How broadcasters always screw up by ignoring what football means to the fans

By Tony Attwood OK, if you are not a viewer of English TV or don’t listen to English radio you might not know who Adrian Chiles is, and this article mentions him a lot.  But stay with me, because this is not just about one TV presenter who has been sacked, but about almost all …

Why Arsenal have so many injuries: the complete analysis

By Tony Attwood. On 23 January Danny Higginbotham wrote an article in the Independent newspaper in which he said: I still can’t quite believe what I saw when Jan Vertonghen, of Tottenham Hotspur, was ruled offside for scoring against Sunderland last week, when he had received the ball five or six yards inside his own …

The PGMO v Arsenal – the half time report. How are the refs doing?

by Andrew Crawshaw In the last two articles we have looked at the  matches played so far this season by Arsenal.  In case you missed them you can see the articles here: Part 1 Part 2 Now we pull all these figures together Summary The Good – Mike Jones (Aston Villa v Arsenal) 82% overall …