Tag Archives: Twitter

The Arsenal and Me – Trond’s Story

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How did it start? And when?

I’m really not sure. It was the early seventies, the very early seventies. I would guess sometime in 1972. A small kid with the universal dream of becoming a professional footballer in England chose Arsenal as his favorite team.

Why Arsenal?

Don’t know that for sure, either. Maybe because my best friend at the time was an Arsenal fan (or became one at the same time I did). Maybe it was the shirts – for sure the coolest and best-looking strip in the English 1st Division.

Was The Double in 1970/71 part of the reason?

I don’t think so. It was probably the red shirts with the white sleeves and the cool cannon that clinched it.

Plus Charlie George, as cool as they came.

Which means I was a young boy coming of age, supporting The Arsenal through the seventies and eighties. That was rough sailing.

Back then, being an Arsenal supporter (or supporter of any English team in the north of Norway) was hard work. Norway’s only TV channel, NRK, Norway’s BBC (well, not really), showed a handful (10-15) of games throughout the worst winter months. News from England about your favorite team was hard to come by. Twitter was still a few years away. Our only TV channel treated English football in a random manner. At worst it could actually take 2-3 days to get to know the score from last Saturday’s match (if we weren’t able to tune into BBC on the radio on Saturday afternoon).

Now, if there is a slight delay in the transmission – or if I am watching on a lagging stream – I can learn on Twitter about a goal being scored a few (milli-)seconds before I actually get to see it.

I could give you loads of descriptions of how terrible life was for an «arctic» Arsenal supporter – or for anyone – back then, and up here. Imagine wanting to run outside to emulate my heroes’ achivements, only to be met by black darkness in the middle of the day, and a couple of meters of snow…for months and months.

Anyway, the worst problem with being a sub-arctic Arsenal supporter in the seventies was – obviously – the results.

To jump ahead: After The Magic Night at Anfield in May 1989, my level of support, or should I say willingness to spend time following the Arsenal, waned. I was/am not a fan of the Graham era. Sorry. I like my football like I (used to) like my drinks: Plentyful. I’d rather see Arsenal win 5-4 than 1-0.

Enter Arsène.

Oh yeah, I quickly became an AKB. Still is, will always be. Probably annoying and naive, but there it is. I am not one to change my mind easily.

With Arsène football became fun again. Arsenal became fun again. Exciting. Thrilling.

Still, it would take another almost 10 years until I went to Highbury for the first – and only – time (going to London, spending a night or two in a hotel, paying for tickets – it sets you back a few quid). It was Arsenal vs. Juventus in the Champions League on a fantastic London night in March of 2006. The night Cesc really came of age, leaving mentor Vieira on his arse, and scoring a goal. The night Pirès made a tackle. And the feeling of floating above the North Bank when Henry scored his magic goal, putting Arsenal 2-0 up…I am a big and very tough man, but a few tears escaped my eyes then.

Nah, it was the wind and the chill, of course it was.

And I was bitten – my visit to Highbury gave me The Sickness, and I have been to The New Home of Football several times, soaking up the feeling of London, North London, The Arsenal.

I hope to be back soon – actually just a few days ago my Arsenal supporting wife made the point that it is too long since we went to see The Arsenal.

Lucky man, huh? Both an Arsenal supporter and married to a girl who enjoys going to the games (almost) as much as me.

Now all that is missing is a trophy.

Over to you, Arsène.

Trond

If you would like to tell your Arsenal story, click here

Happy New Year from all at She Wore A Yellow Ribbon

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Happy New Year to all Gooners across all continents from everyone at She Wore. Without you all, on the Facebook or on Twitter, we would not be here today. In August 2013, we made the decision to break out on our own and start a proper blog to go alongside the banter on Facebook and Twitter. After hundreds of thousands of hits in 5 months, I would say it has been a successful move.

I would like to thank the people who have help make She Wore A Yellow Ribbon one of the best forums out there. To the admins on the Facebook page, thank you for your work. For those who ‘like’ the page and get involved with the banter, it is your comments that keep us interested, that keep us growing. To those on who help with Twitter, with the banter, with the RT’s, with the #FF’s, thanks for your support. To all those who have written an The Arsenal and Me, your contributions have been brilliant (and we need more!). And to those who have written articles for the site, thanks for the blogs, and I hope all of your New Years resolution’s is to write more.

Our ’10 reasons why we will beat Cardiff’ will be posted shortly.

Happy New Year to all

I am sorry Kenny, Twitter isn’t going to help

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Something has bugged me for a few weeks now. Something which I wanted to blog about, but wondered if it was too insensitive or would be too far against what many people want to read, that something is with regards to Arsenal legend Kenny Sansom.

The frustration’s began a while ago, when a Twitter account surfaced rumoured to be from his nephew. It became clear it was indeed, his nephew, but it also became very clear that his nephew was clearly attention seeking. I do not know how old his nephew is, but it was obvious that he was trying to build a Twitter following through being Sansom’s nephew. It came across as very sad and attention seeking.

Then the news about Kenny Sansom being an alcoholic broke. I had a massive issue with this at the time, the reason being this ‘World Exclusive’ of Sansom’s cry for help, appeared in the very first Sunday edition of a well known tabloid. I took this original story with a pinch of salt, wondering how much Sansom was paid by said tabloid to ensure it had a massive World Exclusive on its first edition.

My frustrations with the Sansom situation increased, as no sooner had he come out (for the 3rd time in the press, no less) as an alcoholic, another Twitter account appeared, with it’s Bio being:

“An account created to show support for suffering alcoholics & homeless. Inspired by my uncle Kenny Sansom to help others like him that aren’t in the public eye.”

How sick in the head must you be to set up a Twitter page about a family member who is an alcoholic? Anyone who has dealt with an alcoholic family member (my family has a history) knows your 1st thoughts are with helping them. Clearly in this case, family members see it as a way to increase publicity. Maybe it is this exploitation of Sansom which drove him to drink to begin with?

The final straw for me came when Kenny Sansom begun his own Twitter account. It became clear immediately that it was unlikely that it was him tweeting. The tweets were in the same childish manner as the previous accounts, set up by his nephew. Was this a coincidence? Was this his nephew giving advice? Or was it his nephew once more using his Uncle’s great name to grow his own ‘popularity’, increasing his own attention, living his life through Kenny?

On his account, Kenny begged the attention of other ex-players. Continually tweeting them, begging for RT’s. I begun wondering once more, whether this was Kenny himself, or his nephew hoping to open up dialogue with the likes of Ian Wright, Lee Dixon, et al.

Most recently, a tweet from his account made me disgusted that it became the straw that broke the camel’s back:

“It’s Ben. Kenny’s really down & struggling big time having fallen off the wagon a few times. Trying to find some ideas to pick him back up?”

This is exploitation. Kenny’s name, his illness, is being used by those around him. His family should be helping him fight the battle, not making his dirty laundry public at every opportunity.

Yes, alcoholism affects a lot of people, and those who suffer from it need to seek help, but they also need to help themselves. What they do not need is to be exploited by those closest, their family, for the sole reason of gaining followers.

Kenny, turn Twitter off and tell your nephew to stop being an attention seeking prick. The Arsenal are with you every step of the way. Other’s are simply exploiting you.

Sporting Chance Clinic
Alcoholics Anonymous

Keenos