Tag Archives: She Wore A Yellow Ribbon

JW Diaries: Booking the Europeans Tour

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Outside of games being played, for me the most exciting football related events are the early draws of any cup competitions we are in.

Last week we had two in as many days. Leading up to these, I start to take an interest in the previous round matches for possible opponents.

As I’ve seen an Arsenal team play at 81 of the current 92 grounds, studying the winners of the 2nd Round meant that Oxford United was the only away ground which was new to me.

Whilst I’ve seen our Women’s, Reserve and Youth teams play at Brentford, believe it or not, I’m not old enough to have seen the first team play there! Sadly it was a home draw as I’d like to have visited Griffin Park before it closes down. At least it’s a home draw against lower league opposition.

Fridays Europa League draw was everything Thursday’s wasn’t; a new country to visit, Two new cities & Three new grounds.

After the draw, my priority was to book the Lisbon trip first as I know this was the one the masses will go to. After waiting over 3 hours after the draw, I managed to get hold of the fixtures about 45 minutes before Arsenal published them and therefore got a decent deal.

By the time I booked the Azerbaijan flight, I was running late to get to the Emirates to watch our U23 match against our Middlesex/Buckinghamshire nomadic rivals.

The match itself was a 2-1 Win, we should have won 6 or 7 nil but poor finishing and decent goalkeeping kept it at 2-0 including a missed penalty, before they scored a consolation goal in the final seconds.

They had a segregated section and sold about half of their 500 ticket allocation, their scummy fans proved yet again why they are hated by most of Southern England and many teams in the North;  singing a vile song  about celebrating Sol Campbell once he has departed, sums up those horrible w**kers.

Saturday saw a trip to Chelsea’s Cobham Training Ground which resulted in the U18s losing our first match of the season 3-1. It was good to see Per Mertesacker watching his U16 team play who also lost.

After a Two drive back to North London, with my other half out, I spent most of my time in front of a computer looking at hotels and flights for the Europa League.

I was up at 5:30am on Sunday for the trip to South Wales, once showered I looked on social media to be told that my 08:30 train was cancelled!

After contacting my crowd, we decided that rather that catch the 09:33 train which would be packed, we would get an 8am train to Bristol. To cut a long story short after waiting at Reading for over an hour, we joined the 09:33 at Swindon, arriving in Cardiff after a 4 hour journey just before midday.

We still managed a couple of pints in the City Centre, then off to the match.

I sit in the West Stand Upper Tier at the Emirates which is great for getting an overview of formations but I cannot see either ‘bench’ therefore at away matches I tend to often glance at our bench to see what is going on.

A couple of things I did notice was that Unai Emery had a proper ‘in your face’ go at Warnock following one of many vicious assaults on our players and also following the 3 substitutions, two of our substituted players went down the line giving a ‘high five’ to all the players and staff, whilst one slumped into his seat and sulked, no prizes for which player I’m referring to!

Despite the opponents tactics and inept refereeing, the result was a fair one, our midfield and forwards played well together, whilst the defence still has lots of work needed.

Back in the pub, it’s always satisfying when your team win whatever the performance, then we had the icing on the cake watching a fine Watford win.

As it’s International week, there’s no football to be had, I will be at the Emirates on Saturday for the Legends match against Real Madrid, there’s still tickets available for what promises to be a great day out.

JW

History rewritten but the majesty of Arsenal never in doubt

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BOOK REVIEW: ‘Royal Arsenal – Champions of the South’

I’ve mostly shied away from historical books about the Arsenal over the years, simply because they have always seemed to be rehashes of what is generally accepted to be the timeline of how our wonderful club came to be in existence.

But the revelatory pages of ‘Royal Arsenal – Champions of the South’ tell a different story to what has already been written — and how! In this treasure, no stone has been left unturned to shed light on various anomalies and the major findings unearthed well and truly set this book apart from what has been gone before.

Examples of the exhaustive research baring fruit include the correction to the hitherto acceptance of the circumstances surrounding the notion that Nottingham Forest gave Arsenal their first set of red shirts; a significant update of how the club turned professional in 1891, and how the name Royal Gun Factory FC may have been more apposite than Royal Arsenal FC (the latter being chosen to “represent the whole factory on the football field”). The location of the initial Dial Square FC game is also revealed, while my favourite link (tenuous though it is) to the club in the book concerns a certain Isambard Kingdom Brunel!

I suspect, like I did, readers will find the chapter entitled ‘Success’ particularly interesting, especially the details of an historical 10-1 massacre of Tottenham in 1889 that “so traumatised” the lily-livered opponents that the teams did not meet again until 1896!

The writers (Arsenal historians, Mark Andrews and Andy Kelly, along with editor Tim Stillman) have succeeded in presenting enlightening historical information (borne out of an almost forensic examination of mothballed facts) in an engaging style; a happy balance between statistics and narrative can be difficult to attain but, hats off, they have the measure spot on.

If you were ever in doubt about the majesty of the mighty Gunners, those uncertainties will be banished good and proper once you have read ‘Royal Arsenal – Champions of the South’. For anyone with more than a passing interest in the Arsenal this is a fascinating tome.

Patrick Barclay, the chairman of The Football Writers’ Association, argues that “historians are the lifeblood of football” and, thanks to the diligent work in this Arsenal archive, the club’s magnificent history may well live forever.

Far be it for me to tell you how to please friends or family of the Arsenal faith at Christmas, but I can at least suggest you don’t look too far beyond this blockbuster.

Up the Gunners!

Arsenal Historians, Mark Andrews and Andy Kelly, along with editor Tim Stillman, uncover how Royal Arsenal grew to become the Champions of the South – encapsulating the football lives of the founders, players, administrators and supporters of the forerunners of The Arsenal Football Club.

Along the way, this hard back book chronicles how the football club emerged as an offshoot of the Dial Square cricket club, which was established after the 1886 cricket season had ended to keep the men occupied. The location of the initial Dial Square game is revealed, how the supporters responded to their team, and we reveal the club’s first programme writer – a very well-known late Victorian era poet.

The real story of how Royal Arsenal became professional is a fascinating tale of how working men repelled the rapacious landlord of their ground, and at the same time, put one over the old boys’ network who ran the local Football Associations. A history of intrigue, underhand dealings, drunkenness  and sham-ateurism in Victorian era Plumstead.

Their book Royal Arsenal: Champions of the South is available to buy from Legends Publishing.

CARL ELDRIDGE

Bromance of Arsenal strikers

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When he joined in January, there was plenty of talk that Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang  was a disruptive influence.

There was talk that his arrival would cause friction with between the Gabonese striker and the man bought in the summer, Alexandre Lacazette. That two players competing for one position, and one with the ego of Aubameyang, would result in the French striker being unhappy and leaving.

Calling Aubameyang a disruptive influence with an ego was basically lazy journalism.

They saw a young black man with spiky hair and tattoos who liked sports cars and jackets and assumed he had a massive ego, without really knowing the player. It was labelling, the same we see with Raheem Sterling.

Every multi millionaire footballer has a top of the range car, usually more than one, but it seems only certain players are criticised for it. Usually young black players.

They also claimed he was a disruptive influence. But there had no evidence of it. Just hearsay. Even though those that knew him, or were close to the Dortmund set up debunked the rumours. They said he had a couple of issues over the years arriving late for training after visiting Milan or Paris, but that was all.

He was a team mate. A jolly character who bought people together.

The press ignored the facts and wrote their stories for hits, clicks and advertising revenue.

Instead of competing against each other, seeing each other as rivals creating friction, Aubameyang and Lacazette have actually struck up a bromance, and it should not be a surprise to anyone.

Aubameyang and Lacazette were born just two years apart, they are both in their late 20s adjusting to life in a new country.

Lacazette was born in Lyon, France, spending his entire life in the French city prior to moving to Arsenal. Aubameyang meanwhile is much more travelled in his career.

Aubameyang’s career has taken him from Italy, to France, then Germany and now England. What is often forgotten about is that whilst he plays for Gabon he was actually born in Laval, France.

He lived in France for 17 years before moving to Italy to join AC Milan’s youth set up. They then loaned him back to French clubs before selling him to Saint-Étienne in 2011.

He is the son of former Gabonese captain Pierre Aubameyang, but is as much French as he is Gabonese.

Like Aubameyang, Lacazette is also from a French immigrant family. His family originate from Guadeloupe.

Lacazette is the youngest of 4 brothers, Aubameyang the youngest of 3.

So here you have two men of similar age, both bought up in France to immigrant families, both the youngest children, both living in London for the first time. Is it really a surprise that they are drawn to each other, seeing themselves as friends rather than rivals?

They clearly socialise together, and their off the pitch connection came through during the game against Cardiff on Sunday where they linked up well.

Playing the pair up front together, at the sacrifice of either Mesut Ozil or Henrikh Mkhitaryan is an exciting option.

Keenos