Tag Archives: Arsenal FC

The Arsenal and Me – Adam’s Story

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Well, Where to begin exactly, I come from a long line of Arsenal fans in my family I don’t know how it started or why it started but all I know is that my granddad is the reason for why me, my dad, my uncles, my cousins, etc etc are all arsenal fans, he was born and raised in Woolwich ( if any of you don’t know the history of Arsenal, it is where Arsenal was founded) we could have supported Charlton Athletic seeing as they are only down the road, but I for one am glad that I am a Gunner and I for one am proud to wear the red and white!!.

Nothing comes close to the love I have for Arsenal, I always said and I will always say that Arsenal will always be my first and only love.

I can’t exactly remember my first game (when we were still at highbury) but I’m glad my dad took me because I’m sure as a lot of others once you go through those turnstiles there was no turning back and I’m sure like a lot of other Gooners miss that place, an old friend. I sat in the north bank with my dad (when I could go) the north bank upper tier.

When we moved to the emirates and when I went to my first game there I was 13 or 14 I earned money just to buy a ticket, I remember it well it was against Portsmouth!! On a cold and dull day, absolutely freezing but I will never forget the feeling when I first walked out towards the seats and looking out onto the pitch, back in the north bank, but at the emirates I got this warm feeling inside. And the buzz was like nobody could take it I was feeling confident about this game!!

But over the years I have finally got a season ticket, and I have experienced
Some of the most emotional football anybody has seen, like Barcelona at home, it was like our cup final, we were strong enough, and we had bags full of confidence so we knew we could win at home and like I say that was our final, all I wanted was to beat Barca and we did, an Arshavin goal from a Nasri pass from the right!! And BANG. Hits the back of the net, the crowd went crazy and I could feel the emotional side coming out in me, we knew we wouldn’t beat them at the Nou Camp but knowing we can beat them proves the Barcelona team really are human!! And not jus a machine!!

I’ll never forget the two years on the trot of beating the scum 5-2 I was at both games, and boy was it great knowing we would be kicking them back down the seven sisters with a 5-2 loss on their mind!! TWO YEARS IN A ROW!!! Who could have ever of written that script aye?

There’s no doubt no regrets no nothing about me loving Arsenal, Arsenal is my life, no matter what happens, win or lose or draw I will always be proud of the lads, I will always be proud to be apart of the red and white army and no matter what happens, I will always wear my shirt with pride!! A legend once said once you are a Gooner you will always be a Gooner and you will always be in my heart forever!!!

Red and white army, up the arsenal

Adam

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Ignore the Pundits – Arsenal deserve to be top

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Once more on BBC’s Match of the Day, the question came from Gary Lineker to his guests – Danny Murphy & Les Ferdinand. “Can Arsenal win the League?” And as if he was the son of Alan Hansen, Murphy answered no, giving the same reason as many pundits before him.

“That Arsenal can not win the league as they have not yet played anyone of note.”

We are now 13 games in to the 2013/14 season and it does not take me to tell you that Arsenal are 4 points clear. They have already played Liverpool, Manchester United & Tottenham, 3 of the 4 ‘Top 6’ as the press seem to have relabeled them (although can sides who have not won the league in 20+ years be considered a big side?)

The reasoning is starting to get predictable and boring. Especially when it is becoming evidently clear that this years Premier League title will go to the side who loses the least points against those ‘smaller’ sides, then those who gets the most points against those members of the ‘Top 6’.

Take Cardiff as an example. This season they have beaten Manchester City and drawn with Manchester United. Yet Arsenal beat them 3-0. That means that Arsenal could effectively lose to Manchester City and Manchester United, and only 1 point will separate the 3 based on the mini league. It does not matter how many points you gain when playing a title contender if you continue to drop points at those lower in the league. Arsenal’s lead is due to how few points we have dropped against those sides who are not a member of the Top 6. Just 5;

Arsenal – 5
Chelsea – 7
Man U – 7
Spurs – 8
Liverpool – 12
Man City – 11

If the theory go’s that ‘Arsenal have not played anyone yet’ then surely by proxy, our opponents have played against each other more. And therefore, they have had less opportunity to lose points against those outside of the Top 6.

Arsenal are top of the league, not because of their ability to beat those around them (although 2 wins from 3 against Top 6 rivals is good), but due to their ability to not drop points against those who are mid table and below.

As Liverpool showed this weekend, it is important to beat those teams outside of the Top 6. Liverpool could have got to within 4 points of Arsenal had they beaten Hull. They did not, and now sit 7 points behind. Their title challenge is over.

If Arsenal continue to beat those smaller sides, it does not really matter what happens in the match’s against the bigger sides. There are more points available against the smaller sides than the Top 6, so if they continue to win, and others continue to drop points, Arsenal’s gap at the top of the league table will only grow.

Keenos

The Arsenal and Me – Wils’ Story

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I can’t remember how it started, this love affair with the Arsenal. I don’t know why I chose Arsenal, maybe Arsenal chose me.

I’ve supported the club for as long as I can remember. When I was about 3 or 4 years old, I remember my Uncle buying me a Man United kit. He was a scooter riding Mod during the sixties so I presume he became a plastic Manc on the back of the George Best era. I was having none of that. Whether I was attracted to the mercurial cannon, or Charlie George laying on the emerald, sun-drenched Wembley turf, or the Bob Wilson Panini cards I really can’t say and being born and bred on the Isle of Sheppey, I can’t even say it’s because I come from the area, although my Mum hails out of Hackney. My Dad didn’t like football.

Arsenal wasn’t born into me, in my blood or passed on via a family member. But from a young age, from likeminded people around me, I learnt the history, the passion and the true meaning of what it meant to be a Gunner.

Once I started primary school in 1972, I began asking for Arsenal bags, kits and any merchandise that I could find and take to school, where I found a few other lads who were into the same club as me. My football life was now being mapped out.

My neighbour and best friend was a Wolves fan, his Dad Q.P.R. and his brother a yid. My neighbours dad took us to our first top flight game, Q.P.R. v Cloughies Notts Forest, with Peter Shilton et al. I soooo wanted to go to Highbury to see my heroes in the flesh, players from the posters on my bedroom wall such as Richie Powling, Frank Stapleton, Graham Rix, Liam Brady and Alan Sunderland and the following year, my dream came true.

My neighbour told my friend and I that he had got us tickets to see Arsenal v Wolves at Highbury. HIGHBURY! I’m actually going to Highbury! The feeling as we walked out of the Arsenal tube, and saw the entrance to the North Bank quickly filled me with uncontrollable excitement. We sat in the West upper. We lost 3-2 and John Hollins scored a screamer, but I was more transfixed on the North Bank crowd, singing and swaying. This was where I wanted to spend my Saturdays and mid weeks when I grew up.

The next year, I had a paper round and my own money. My Dad informed me that a regular coach was going to start running from his local pub to Arsenal home games via a group called the Medway and Swale Arsenal Supporters Club. This was where my true Arsenal apprenticeship was done. I learnt how to be an Arsenal fan with lads my own age who were in the same boat as me, from the elder supporters. We spent the next two seasons I think it was on those coaches, going to as many home games as possible. I loved it. When the coaches stopped, me and the lads of my age that went on them decided that we couldn’t stop so we carried on going on the train. We were now 14 year old ‘big boys’, using Persil washing vouchers to get on the train, or we just bunked it. We were on the North Bank for the infamous ICF incident which was both scary and exciting to us teenagers.

I carried on going through the 80’s with nothing to show silverware wise. I participated in the ‘Neil Out’ protest after a home game and when George Graham took over there seemed a different vibe about the club.

I longed for two things. 1: To actually see my beloved team at Wembley and 2: to see them win the league. I didn’t realise then how close I was to achieving both of these.

After the euphoria of winning at Wh….well that shit hole up the road, I was finally going to Wembley. Charlie Nicholas’s two goals rubbished Rushy’s record and I ended up in floods of tears as we won the Littlewoods Cup. I’d seen my team win at Wembley. I felt like I had a 15 inch cock that day.

1988-89. The film ‘Fever Pitch’ mirrored my life that season. I attended all home games and quite a few away. By now, football or more importantly, Arsenal, ruled my life. If we lost on Saturday, I was a miserable bastard until the Tuesday.

The day arrived for Liverpool away and we had our tickets but we were thinking “shall we go? We’ll only blow it. But what if we don’t? What if…. We could be….We could be champions! Oh fuck, let’s go and at least we can say we gave it a go”. It was a red hot day and as we left on the coaches from Gillespie Rd, the residents came out and waved us on our way. One old boy in particular was waving a couple of flags. It was like we were going to war.

We got stuck on the M1 and M6 in sweltering conditions with no refreshments, and we missed kick off. As we got in the ground, I felt a huge buzz, and also uncontrollable nerves. 0-0 at half time was good and the continuous “Georgie Graham and his red and white army!” chant was unbelievable. When Smithy scored we were like “this is typical of Arsenal, get one just to tease us”. Liverpool kept plugging away and we waited for the equaliser. But it never came. Steve McMahon signalled one minute. It’s all over. I knew we wouldn’t do it. We’ll never get this close again. Fu….Hang on! Here comes Mickey T! FUUUUUUUCKKKKIIIIIINGGGGGGG YEEEEEEESSSSSS!! YEEEEEESSSS!!! YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSS!!!

Now they say that heroin is like a thousand orgasms. Well I felt like I’d had a million ‘hit’s when that final whistle went. We were Champions. The hairs still stand up on the back of my neck when I watch or even think about that night when The Arsenal, my Arsenal, my family were champions of England for the first time in my lifetime.

I could go on to say how I celebrated that weekend like it was the last of my life, or reminisce about the other titles and trophies that came along after but this is where I’d like to end my story as this was where I probably felt I had reached my own Utopia. What followed was an exceptional period for me and the club and although the early Wenger years were unbelievably successful, I felt that the Arsenal family feeling was slipping away. I used to regularly drive up to the shop in mid-week, meet a couple of players, maybe George Graham even, but when Wenger took over, that all seemed to stop and I feel like the club lost its identity a little then. We weren’t looked at as fans, just a commodity. Don’t get me wrong, I had my season ticket from 1991 to 2001 and Arsene Wenger took us to another level on the field with breath taking football and astounding success, but also another level off the pitch.

I gave up my season ticket when my eldest lad started coming with me then my second son also came along and now my young daughter who is 10 also likes to come to games.

We are now all Silver members/Junior gunners and my lads are Arsenal through and through, they have Arsenal instilled in their blood and have grown up knowing what it is to be and Arsenal fan. I’m proud of them, they know their history and I’m sure they will hand it down to their kids too. I’m now 46 and have Arsenal tattoos, a huge collection of programmes and shirts in my loft. I don’t go as much as I’d like to now, it’s just too damned expensive, but I do get up there when I can. Arsenal has always been, and always will be in my heart and in my blood.

UP THE ARSE!!!

Wils