Media criticism tells us one thing: The Arsenal are back

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It was interesting in the immediate aftermath of the Man City game that pundits and media seemed demonstrably rattled by the way Arsenal had outplayed the best side in Europe. After years of being summarily dismissed by the better teams in the Premier League Arsenal had been robbed of a deserved victory by what we might euphemistically call “questionable” officiating. Some of us tentatively suggested it was the biggest sign yet that Arteta’s “process” might actually be a genuine route back towards the top table of English football. The fans suddenly seemed united in a way we hadn’t seen for some time, and the outrageous dishonesty of Liverpool FC and the EFL (by which I mean Liverpool’s former Chairman) further cemented the view that it’s Arsenal against everyone else again. At last!

A lot of that optimism was dented badly by the no-show at Nottingham Forest. It was a shocking and unacceptable display and, longer term, will have no doubt sealed the fate of a number of the players in Arteta’s current squad. What followed at Anfield, however, was a Lazarus-like recovery and a redemption for the likes of Rob Holding and Sambi Lokonga. The XI Liverpool fielded, and the strength of their bench, gave all the evidence we needed to see their duplicity a week earlier, and it maybe galvanised the Arsenal players to perform with such defiance. The last time I remember a 0-0 being celebrated so much by Arsenal supporters was Real Madrid at home in 2006.

All of which brings me to this past weekend and the North London Derby that didn’t happen. Starting Friday morning it was apparent Arsenal were in trouble in terms of player availability, albeit not necessarily COVID related. However, a quick look at the ridiculous Premier League rules for this season (and it’s important to make the distinction between the Premier League rules and those for the League Cup which were circumvented by Liverpool) that Arsenal  were well within their rights to request a postponement.

I understand this was the 20th Premier League match to be postponed due to lack of players this season. The first club to take advantage of it was Tottenham, claiming a COVID outbreak for which they refused to publicise the names/number or players, and which just happened to coincide with their new Manager wanting some time on the training pitch. Arsenal played Leeds the week before Christmas in a match that, had Leeds been held to the same standard as Tottenham, would never have been played. Not Arsenal’s fault, but I mention it as some “journalists” (and I use the term loosely) cited it as an unfairness this weekend. On 28th December Arsenal’s home match with Wolves was cancelled due to the opponents struggling for players. Last week Leicester got a match called off largely because of players being at the AFCON tournament. And again, on Friday morning, Leicester v Burnley was called-off. Nobody in the media batted an eyelid. And then came Arsenal…

The faux outrage this weekend from the media, Spurs themselves, and other clubs’ fans has been maniacal and comical all at once. Micah Richards and Alan Smith (who almost sounded like an Arsenal Man for a change) pricked the balloon delightfully on Sky yesterday by pointing out the facts. Gary Neville pretending his objections were on behalf of “the fans” were beyond laughable. This is a man employed by a TV company that made Bournemouth fans travel to Middlesbrough for a 1230pm kick-off in the week before Christmas and now he’s worried about us?! A man of such conscience will not, I’m sure, be appearing on any coverage of the Qatar World Cup later this year.

The only conclusion to draw from the stick meted out to Arsenal by all and sundry is that Arsenal are back. Instead of being laughed at, even at times sympathised with, for the state we were in, it seems Arsenal have people worried again. They’re worried that something is happening at our club and we might be about the gatecrash the Premier League hegemony once more.

It’s good to be hated again. It’s good to be formed up as a club with the cannons directed outwards once more. We are The Arsenal, and we’re back.

Dover Marksman

The end of MrDT should also spell the end for AFTV

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So I thought it was time to address the elephant in the room. AFTV and Liam Goodenough (AKA MrDT’s) incarceration.

For the majority of us, the behaviour of Goodenough (the irony of that name!) comes as no surprise.

On social media, he always came across as a bully. This probably stemmed from him being bullied as a child. This is highlighted by who hewould try to bully and abuse on Twitter – mainly women and children.

He was a narcissist and rumours of previous domestic abuse incidents had circled for years.

Being an egotistical narcissist and a bully, his online persona was always going to explode his offline life at some point. And it finally happened as he was sentenced for 3 years after stalking, assaulting and kidnapping a woman.

This sentence would not count to a surprise for many – bar AFTV it seems.

Rumours had been circulating since last October he was in prison for domestic violence.

The official line was that he was taking a “break from social media” due to his mental health, but it is now clear he had been held on remand from August until his trial.

In November, I found details of his trial on the Law Pages.

https://twitter.com/keenosafc/status/1462369997704077320?s=21

He had plead guilt on November 5th in Aylesbury Crown Court.

So we knew the rumours were right. He was in prison. Only thing we did not know is what for. Domestic abuse, assault and kidnapping was the unconfirmed rumour.

It was strange that details of the case had not been released. They would usually be picked up in the crime pages of the newspaper local to the court. But there was radio silence.

There are a few reasons why this happens. The case involved vulnerable people, or someone a victim that didn’t want to be named. Or the sentence had been appealed by the prosecution.

It turns out it was the later.

After Christmas, having spent around 5 or 6 months in jail, he was released from his original 12 month sentence early on tag and with a curfew. This is what allowed Goodenough to be at the Manchester City game.

Those tweets sent during his team in jail were probably sent by a family member when they went to visit. An attempt to hoodwink the world.

On 13 January the Court of Appeal reheard the case and his sentence was extended from 12 months to 3 years.

Now the fall out.

Firstly we have his fan boys who have come out defending him; saying him we should not be criticising him but offering him help.

He assaulted and kidnapped a woman. Threatened her with a knife and used his young son as leverage. This is not a person that deserves our sympathy.

Secondly we have the statement from AFTV.

They released yesterday a laughable statement saying they “didn’t know” what was happening.

Well I knew what was going on, as did many others. So for them to say they did not know what was happening is a bare-faced lie.

But let’s play along.

They might not have known what happened this time; but they knew what type of person Goodenough was.

He had previously spent time in jail and spent much of his time arguing and abusing people on Twitter. I lost count how many times he threatened to Arsenal fans with violence. Said he would “see them” at a game.

Despite countless threats of violence, including to myself, AFTV continually gave Goodenough a platform.

So they might not have known specifically about this incident, but they would have known he was an unhinged bully who often threatened violence.

And it was not just him.

They also have a platform to Lee Gunner.

Gunner (it is actually his second name) is a lightweight version of Goodenough.

Lee and Liam. Formally best mates but fell out of money after both forgot their receipts on an expensive away trip to Eastern Europe. Robbie refused to compensate them without receipts, they had a barney and it ended up with Lee leaving AFTV.

Lee was also one that often threatened others with violence.

I was once sent DMs of him and someone else discussing how to obtain an Arsenal fans address.

Numerous times Lee would post up peoples addresses on Twitter. And their places of work and family names. They would be followed with threats of violence of violence.

Once he put up my postcode and said he would “be knocking at my door in half an hour”. Of course, he never turned up. Cowards do not.

This was in around 2016 when Gunner was trying to break through on AFTV. Robbie was more heavily involved in running his social media then. He would have known that his new kid on the block spent his time threatening others on social media. Yet he gave him a platform.

Then we have Claude (RIP).

Claude liked a drink. And when he had one he went dark on Twitter.

On one occasion, he threatened to “cut my throat” on my Twitter. He also said that “a nasty accident” would come my way and he would “silence” me.

This was all in 2016 prior to his “suicide attempt”.

AFTV gave him a platform for 5 years after despite knowing he had threatened to slit my throat. Despite him having clear and obvious mental health issues.

It is very clear that AFTV did not care about the behaviour of their “regulars” as long as the hits rolled in.

Liam, Claude, Lee and others spent half a decade threatening Arsenal fans. Bullying them. Throwing racist and sexist audiences. Yet Robbie kept giving them a platform as he earned his money.

It took sponsors to walk away for him to get rid of Claude.

Even if we believe the AFTV did not know that Goodenough was a violent domestic abuser, they would have known about his character and his previous actions online; as well as others actions online.

Robbie clearly does not care about an individuals character as long that person makes him money. It is only when that money stops rolling in that he cares.

And that is why the end of “MrDT” should also be the beginning of the end for AFTV.

AFTV was built on abuse. It’s contributors were encouraged to be angry and aggressive. The rants, the abuse to Wenger.

It is clear that Robbie was happy with how “stars” getting into arguments on social media as this gave them and him attention. More followers, more hits and more money.

You can’t continually give a platform to violent abusers and then pretend you have no knowledge of their behaviour when it hits the fan.

Play with fire, eventually you will get burned.

And the drama isn’t over. The spawn of Liam has already said it isn’t over and he will “have his say on a video on YouTube”. I bet it is monetised. His football club has also stated “there are 2 sides to every story” showing that no one involved has any remorse.

Goodenough plead guilty to stalking, assault and kidnapping. He will serve 3 years at her majesties pleasure. He won’t be missed over The Arsenal.

Keenos

North London Derby fall out continues as pundits embarrass themselves in criticism of Arsenal

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And the fall out of the Premier League accepting Arsenal’s request to postpone the North London Derby continues.

We have Jamie Carragher tweeting that Arsenal will be “all ok for Liverpool on Thursday”.

The muppet completely ignoring that the only reason Arsenal are facing Liverpool on Thursday is because the Scousers had 13 billion to one false positives which got the first leg postponed.

Then we have his Sky Sports colleague Gary Neville.

In between his political ramblings and announcement that he had joined the Labour Party, he took the time out to say ‘enough is enough’ when it comes to postponements.

Why it has taken him until the 20th game to be postponed is beyond me. His silence on the previous 19 games – from Tottenham to Manchester United, Leicester and Wolves – is telling.

Ian Wright was right when he said Neville only cares now as it has disrupted the Sunday TV show he was being paid to host.

I bet if the game was at 3pm on Saturday, like Burnley v Leicester City was due to be, Neville would not utter a word.

In fact we know he would not utter a word because he didn’t. All this Covid postponement talk only came after Arsenal requested the Spurs game to be postponed. Not after Leicester City got their 4th game, and 2nd in a row since putting out a team in the FA Cup, postponed.

Then you have Jamie O’Haha.

He decided to dig out Arsenal for not plying their academy (note: he never questioned why others didn’t play academy players). He baited Arsenal fans who then piled in, then proceeded to delete his Twitter account.

On his return he took his time to talk about mental health and criticise Arsenal fans behaviour.

This is a fella that now earns a living trying to get a rise out of people and make outlandish statements for attention.

Maybe if he can’t handle getting it, he should dish it out on a national radio station.

And then we go onto Spurs fans.

The irony of Spurs fans crying for the last 48 is that they got the ball rolling on postponements. they were the ones that begged the Premier League to postpone their game against Brighton in December.

It is literally their fault the Arsenal game was postponed. Had they not asked for the Brighton game to be postponed and just got on with it, it would’ve set a precedent and every other side would’ve just cracked on.

And finally we have the countless written journalists calling Arsenal out.

Like Neville, they were silent on the other 19 games postponed. Is it that 20 games is too many? Or is it because it is Arsenal?

Micah Richards is the only man who dared go against the grain and make the point that it is not Arsenal’s fault the game has been postponed; but the Premier League’s fault.

Hey opened the flood gates, created the rules, and now it’s members are taking advantage of it.

The Premier League should never have let Spurs postpone the game. They should have forced them to play like they did Arsenal at the beginning of the season.

It has been forgotten that in the opening 3 games of the season, Arsenal had to play on despite having numerous Covid cases.

Had we requested a delay of the Brentford game, it would probably have been rejected.

Opening game of the season. Friday night. Brentford back in the top League in their new stadium.

Arsenal lost that game and Jamie Carragher was jumping in the crowd celebrating. He failed to mention Covid at any point.

In other news. Fans need to learn the offside rule.

We saw it in Chelsea v Tottenham and again in West Ham against Leeds.

The rule is not that you the attacking player has to be behind the last defender, it is that there needs to be 2 defensive players between the attacking player being passed to abs the goal.

For Chelsea, Kepa showed great awareness by over committing and ensuring he caught Harry Kane offside.

Leeds’ Rodrigo was also about a yard offside when the ball hit him and went in. Those Leeds fans claiming it was not offside as he was level with the defender need to give their head a wobble.

Even Gary Lineker showed his lack of understanding in the rules:

And for those who then doubled down by saying “but he wasn’t interfering with play. The ball was going in” – if the goal was allowed to stand it would have been given to Rodrigo; the man in the offside position.

If scoring a goal is not interfering with play I don’t know what is!

Have a good Monday and stay warm.

Keenos