By Tony Attwood Over the past couple of days I’ve been working on an article about Leicester City and whether there is any link between the club and suspected match fixing. And then bang – out of the blue comes another set of scandalous financial revelations, and wouldn’t you know it, football seems implicated …
Read More “Football and the Panama Papers; you’ll never guess who’s in the mire (actually you will)”
By Tony Attwood President Barack Obama recently stated,“The appetite for information and data flowing through the internet is voracious”, yet “we’ve seen newsrooms closed. The bottom line has shrunk. The news cycle has as well.” He said that this resulted in pressure, “to fill the void and feed the beast with instant commentary and Twitter …
Read More “The cabbage writers, the battle with the corruption of sports news and support from Barack Obama”
by Andrew Crawshaw One item of Ladies News, England international forward Jodie Taylor has joined the club from American side Portland Thorns. She played a major part in the England World Cup success in 2015 scoring the opening goal against Canada which ensured our first ever semi-final appearance. The Ladies season continues apace this coming …
Read More “Women’s FA Cup Quarter Final Arsenal v Notts County Sunday 3 May 2016 – Preview”
By Walter Broeckx Finally back to football. After our good match at Goodison Park where we rather comfortably won 0-2 we have been deprived of real football for some 14 days. The international break didn’t cause any casualties so far as we know so we can hope that all the players are back and in …
Read More “On our way to London; the 24 hours round trip to see a home match.”
By Tony Attwood Thank goodness – the interlull is just on over. And what a ghastly interlull it has been. Daily attacks on Arsenal by the media, the most appalling news on the terrorist front, and my super whizzo car has gone plonk and will not function at more than 20mph (30mph going downhill). So …
Read More “The rampage against reality and why having a nice stadium matters”
By Tony Attwood According to Wikipedia G Neville is one of the most decorated English and European footballers of all time, having won a total of 20 trophies, including eight Premier League titles and two Champions League titles. After retiring as a player he went into the world of the pundit with Sky Sports and …
Read More “Gary Neville’s experience should teach everyone lessons but of course it won’t.”
By Tony Attwood Some chanting in football grounds is appalling, but with concerted effort it can be stopped. And indeed over the years Arsenal have made that concerted effort to get rid of certain chants at home games. My perception from afar is that Liverpool and Man U have made less effort, Man U notoriously …
Read More “What is illicit chanting? Uefa in its eternal muddle.”
By Sir Hardly Anyone. Here they are, and just to be helpful I’ve numbered them 1 to 10! 1: Granit Xhaka! This is in Soccerlens and quite a few other places. Granit Xhaka set to join Arsenal from Borussia Monchengladbach. You have heard it before, but you can’t blame me for that. Besides there’s only …
Read More “The Ten Biggest Arsenal Transfer Stories of the Day complete with exclamation marks.”
. By Tony Attwood As you will know if you are with us regularly, ex-Arsenal player and Arsenal scout Danny Karbassiyoon has written a series of articles for Untold (there is an index back to them in Danny’s last piece for us in which Danny answered questions posed by Untold readers.) And you’ll also know (if …
Read More “Word spreads about our Danny, a personal appearance, and Raheem Sterling forced to lower asking price for his house”
By Tony Attwood A little while back I wrote a piece about the contractual details involving the transfer of Bale to Real Mad from Tottenham. The information provided suggested that there were some very very dodgy dealings involved in this transfer, which, if the European Commission does its job, could come back to slap …
Read More “More revelations about Liverpool! lies over contractual matters as secret contract is leaked”
By Tony Attwood You might recall that I have pointed out one or two errors in the way football has been reported by the media over time: such as the long-term story that Arsenal had more injuries than anyone else, and it was all Mr Wenger’s fault. Or the earlier “fact” that Arsenal got more …
Read More “How Arsenal, Chelsea, Man Utd and Man City became lazy. Or did they?”
By Usama & Walter TOTTENHAM vs. ARSENAL COMPETITION: English Premier League MATCH NO. 29 DATE: 5th March 2016 VENUE: White Hart Lane (London, England) MATCH OFFICIALS: REFEREE: Michael Oliver 1st LINESMAN: Michael Mullarkey 2nd LINESMAN: Stephen Child 4th OFFICIAL: Roger East First Half Fouls, Advantages, Cards, and Penalties Time Foul by Foul For Description & …
Read More “Ref Review: Tottenham – Arsenal : not the consistency we are asking for”
By Tony Attwood Go back a few years and no newspaper would have published an article on referees other than to say what fine fellows they were and how foolish football fans are to barrack them. Over the years Untold has tried to change that, particularly by focussing on the highly secretive organisation that runs …
Read More “PGMO will fall: all it needs is for one decent journalist to stand up to them”
by Danny Karbassiyoon As a kid, I’d always dreamed of being a pro. Growing up in the States during the 80’s and 90’s meant there was never going to be that much footy on television, but the few games (mostly Manchester United and Real Madrid) and Premiership highlight shows they did broadcast, were always guaranteed …
Read More “What is it like to get a call from Arsenal to ask you to come for a trial?”
By Tony Attwood The point that I have been trying to make in my articles on Untold of late is that we are all being fed a conception of football which is simplified to such a degree that it becomes removed from reality. Football as a game is complex with so many combinations of possible …
Read More “The biggest problem in football is the failure of the media to recognise how complex the problem is.”
By Tony Attwood As you may have read Thierry Henry has been working his way towards completing his Uefa A licence, and having that means he can manage professional clubs below the top league level, and can manage a top flight team at academy level. There is one more licence to be had before he …
Read More “The press are suggesting Thierry Henry cheated his way to his coaching badges. But there is more to this than it seems.”
By Tony Attwood In the old days – the very very old days – there were myths – stories of giants, gods, magicians, demons and the like. Then in the not quite so old days these stories were codified into more coherent stories which became known as religions. They contained stories of simple changes to …
Read More “Next season’s line up as commentary remains in the days of witches and Enlightenment is as far away as ever.”
By Tony Attwood Alex Iwobi appears to have shaken off the illness which (according to the Metro) had him “rushed to hospital” and has chosen to represent Nigeria rather than England in his future international career by coming on as a substitute in the game with Egypt. Most players these days have a choice of which …
Read More “Alex Iwobi chooses, David Ospina is blessed and injured (or injured and blessed) and other international events”
By Tony Attwood Imagine the scene. The football journalist has an article to write. The editor has set the deadline. The deadline has almost approached, appeared, past by and gone. No article. In time honoured fashion the journo goes to the pub, has a few with other journos facing the same problem, and looks aghast …
Read More “How to be a top journalist without leaving the pub”
Can Leicester hang on? by Tim Charlesworth One of the (many) things that winds me up when I am listening to people talk about football is the accusation that the team is not ‘motivated’ or ‘trying hard enough’. The observation that players should be trying harder is generally up there with the idea that people …
Read More “Can Leicester hang on, or is the great tiredness about to set in?”
By Walter Broeckx With the passing of Johan Cruyff a football legend has gone away. I do admit that when I was a boy and growing up Cruyff was in his glory days in the seventies. And I didn’t really like him at that moment. But that had all to do with the fact that he played …
Read More “A football legends dies, and it is worth to take note of his wise words”
By Andrew Crawshaw We currently have published the Referee Reviews for the first 28 games of the season and our record is Won 15, Drawn 6 and Lost 7 so we have dropped points in 13 games. Here are three tables highlighting our games to date with some pertinent facts extracted from our referee reviews. …
Read More “Referees’ three-quarter Season Review: referee performance compared to results.”
by Tony Attwood On June 30 2015, Uefa’s then General secretary Gianni Infantino now head of Fifa announced that Olympiakos would be allowed to stay in the Champions League. As we know they went on to play Arsenal. Immediately questions were raised. Uefa was asked whether Infantino had removed his deputy, Theodore Theodoridis, from any discussions or …
Read More “Infantino still implicated in Greek football corruption, and Fifa Super-State status claims”
by Andrew Crawshaw I know its an Interlul for the Men’s Teams but there is Arsenal Football this evening at Meadow Park when our Ladies take on Reading in their first game of the Women’s Super League (WSL). I’m heading to the game and will welcome a chat with any Untolder’s who will be there. …
Read More “Arsenal Ladies Season Opener – v Reading – Match Preview Boreham Wood FC – Meadow Park. KO 19:45”
By Tony Attwood We blow the starting whistle on transfer stories yesterday with “Arsenal looking to hijack Man Utd move for Mourinho” The new rumour season is off with a plop, and wouldn’t you know it, the next day the newspapers are there joining in. I didn’t mean it seriously guys! And I don’t just …
Read More “Mourinho to Arsenal and he’s bringing Cesc, Gibbs on way out, Ozil going nowhere, Iwobi hospitalised.”
