Clubs in areas that voted Leave should not sign foreigners after today

By Tony Attwood OK I don’t mean the headline seriously, but Blacksheep came up with what I thought was a really funny idea, of identifying the constituencies of football clubs and then seeing whether those constituencies voted remain or leave. And then saying that to be democratic the club should abide by the referendum result …

End of January: what does the league table today tell us about the end of the season?

By Tony Attwood In recent years the league table at the end of January has given us a rough guide as to where Arsenal will end up by the end of the season, as the table below shows. The second column here shows us the position of the club on 31 January for each year …

44 players moving to Arsenal. Only 1 arrived so expect a busy day at the airport

by Sir Hardly Anyone Sometimes the media find the whole notion of transfers a little difficult to grasp.  Take Sport Witness who report Edu flew to Brazil in their report to escort Pablo Mari back to London amidst “widespread confidence a transfer was sealed.”  And here we pause.  “Widespread confidence” among whom?   I imagine they …

After Brexit, how many foreigners can play in a Premier League team?

By Sir Hardly Anyone You might have thought that since it is around three and a half years since the UK voted to leave the EU that by now we might have worked out what it means for football, but seemingly not.   For there is still no agreement as to whether UK clubs will be …

Does spending money on new players take a club up the league? The eastern experience

The latest video: Untold Gooner News on injuries   By Tony Attwood I have been arguing for some time that just as changing managers is not a guaranteed recipe for taking a club up the league, nor is buying lots of players.  In fact figures presented here recently show that the six clubs that spent …

The games football fans play in an attempt to put their point across

The latest video: A radical new direction for Arsenal   The Athletic, the troll, the errors, the comments: the story so far by Tony Attwood I’ve been critical of The Athletic for the way it has presented itself as being “The New Home of Football Writing”.  “New home” seems to imply a centrality and superiority, …

The 42 players tipped by all-knowing journalists to be signing for Arsenal.

by Sir Hardly Anyone Strangest headline of the day: after months of knocking Mustafi at every turn Goal gives us this one, “Arteta confirms Arsenal looking for reinforcements after Mustafi injury blow”.  Two weeks ago an injury to Mustafi would have been hailed in the media as a bonus for Arsenal!   Now it seems to …

Football: With reporting like this no wonder corruption is rife

By Tony Attwood How will Brexit affect the Premier League?  See the video When it comes down to it, there are a lot of things wrong with football. There’s the big debate on gambling (and yes I am neither blind to the problems that gambling causes nor to the fact that in order to keep …

Bournemouth v Arsenal FA Cup. The line ups and Arsenal injury news

By Bulldog Drummond Follow the video on Untold Gooner News Arsenal’s injury list ahead of this FA Cup game – the last game to be played before the replays start, is at the upper end of the scale.  He is the table modified from details on the Physioroom web site Player Reason Further Detail Potential …

Number of players now tipped to be coming to Arsenal this month reaches 40. Here’s the list.

By Sir Hardly Anyone Follow the video on Untold Gooner News According to the latest gossip Pablo Mari is on the verge of a move to Arsenal after the Spanish defender flew into London to complete the formalities of a £7million transfer from Flamengo. So says the Telegraph.   Is it true?   At the moment, I’ve …

Is a new Arsenal club being born? Actually, probably not.

By Tony Attwood If you create a magazine which boasts that it is the “New Home of Football Writing” then all it needs to be is a little bit better than the football journalism that exists elsewhere.  Which you might well think is not that difficult, given the lunatic inaccuracies that we see and hear …

Bournemouth v Arsenal. A tiny flicker of light at the end of a negative tunnel

By Bulldog Drummond Since 1 December Bournemouth have had two victories, one draw  and three defeats at home – a modest record that most certainly should be giving Arsenal hope for a straight victory in this game… Date Game Res Score Competition 07 Dec 2019 Bournemouth v Liverpool L 0-3 Premier League 21 Dec 2019 …

Arsenal ready to sign dangerous Mexican amidst airport chaos.

by Sir Hardly Anyone Of all the dubious headlines on offer “Arsenal need new recruits – perhaps more so than any other traditional Big Six side” is the most misleading, given that the top six spenders of last summer are all doing worse (or very occasionally a little better) with their new recruits this season …

Arsenal look certain to sign one player before end of the month.

by Sir Hardly Anyone It has taken a little bit longer than we expected, probably because everyone was still drinking in the Toppled Bollard but we now have the first reports of Martinelli leaving.  These will reoccur with extra force in every single transfer window from now on, with occasional comments on the fact that …

Why you can’t believe all you read in the football press

by Tony Attwood Untold Updates videos We’re back with our videos: do take a peek at Untold GoonerNews   One of the great problems with football reporting is that it is invariably a single-dimensional affair.  The view of the journalist, the view of the player, the view of the fans…  Just one is taken – …

No agreement on transfer regulations as Britain leaves the EU heralds league chaos

By Tony Attwood   Untold Updates videos We’re back with our videos: do take a peek at Untold GoonerNews   There are still no signs of an agreement as to which footballers will be allowed to play in the UK in the aftermath of Britain leaving the European Union. The initial worry – that the …

All the players Arsenal are going to sign this window

By Sir Hardly Anyone. Just Arsenal have an interesting take on Arsenal’s future with the headline “The Arsenal board are close to sabotaging Mikel Arteta”.   The headline leads to a statement that the Arsenal board needs to back Mikel Arteta, but that they are not.  The point is made that “Arteta is having to deal …

Arsenal have only 2 players in double figures, plus fouls per yellow card stats

  By Tony Attwood Now if you have been lurking around here for some time you will recognise the phrase above – “Arsenal have only two players who have scored in double figures.” For a phrase very similar to this was used by Amy Lawrence as a way of putting Arsenal down a few years …

Is anyone ever going to be held to account over financial fair play rules?

By Tony Attwood The bodies that run football are by and large self-contained, virtually unanswerable to anybody.  Uefa, Fifa, the FA, the Premier League… they all carry on doing their own thing.   Yes, they are subject to the law, but even then only up to a point, as they regularly claim that by its very …

Martinelli: the new Cristiano Ronaldo. This is going to be amazing.

By Tony Attwood Last night Gabriel Teodoro Martinelli Silva aged 18, scored his 10th goal of the season.  He is the first teenager to get to 10 goals in a season at Arsenal in 21 years. It is a staggering achievement given that he has not just changed clubs but also continents, and achieved this …

Chelsea v Arsenal: team news and the transfer is agreed! Oh….

by Bulldog Drummond First, guess which website published this Arsenal news and transfers live: ‘Deal agreed’ for Arteta’s first signing, You probably got it for it has all the hallmarks of but one outlet.   But if you have not got it, when I tell you that the article doesn’t actually tell us who the deal …

Chelsea v Arsenal injuries, banned, and the frightening league table

By Bulldog Drummond Here are the injury details as usual ahead of the Chelsea game… Player Reason Further Detail Potential Return Status Calum Chambers Knee Injury Ruptured the anterior cruciate ligament of his left knee.” 29/08/2020 Ruled Out Kieran Tierney Shoulder Injury “Dislocated shoulder at West Ham. Kieran will undergo surgery next week and will …

Latest transfers: the 32 players tipped as coming to Arsenal this month

Untold Updates videos We’re back with our videos: do take a peek at Untold GoonerNews The transfer fiasco: an Untold exclusive Transfers for the big spenders are not working, so why does the media want more of them? Arsenal could win the league, if only the club would listen to its critics Why does high …

Why you won’t read or hear the real Arsenal news in the media today

Untold Updates videos We’re back with our videos: do take a peek at Untold GoonerNews The transfer fiasco: an Untold exclusive Transfers for the big spenders are not working, so why does the media want more of them? Arsenal could win the league, if only the club would listen to its critics Why does high …

How “The Athletic” touches on issues without realising what they are

by Tony Attwood It is interesting to see The Athletic in a current article taking an interest in AFTV, and recognising (perhaps a little late in the day) that not everyone who claims to be an Arsenal supporter actually likes AFTV.   But I do find it a little frustrating that articles like this are presented …