Wall of fame

First time I walked into the Emirates Stadium, it was a joy to behold. It was DB’s testimonial and the place was awash with colour. It took an unlikely character to give the place it’s opening day christening.

Step up Gilles Grimaldi - when he took out Edgar Davids just as he was about to put the ball into an empty net – hilarious.

Anyway after the first few games the fans were starting to settle in nicely. It was evident though that the stadium needed to move away from a cold feel (concrete bands inside the stadium where the top tier separates those in the boxes and all that concrete outside the stadium). Then gradually over time, the place started to get more colour, advertising on the lower concrete bands, decoration and banners in the concourses celebrating great players and great history, the ring of great players past and present on the outside of the stadium as a giant mural (my particular favourite), however, there is something there, as part of the ‘Arsenalisation’, that really is out of place.

The dreaded band of honours. It is like a chain around our neck. Whose bright idea was that then? Since it’s been there, we haven’t won a trophy. Do we really need to see a load of years when we’ve won a trophy. Do me a favour. For opposing fans who see this just below the upper tier, they must think we a right bunch of arrogant Shysters. Now one think I love about being a gooner is that we have always been looked at as a respectable club, impeccably behaved and knowledgeable set of fans. The general feeling when talking to opposition fans is that the club oozes class (even knowledgeable spuds fans – yes that is a very rare breed!). However this band just does us no favours and is now becoming a source of ridicule at our expense.

Do me a favour Mr Gadsucks & Kronktite (loved those Remmington ad’s of yours, years ago), get rid of that band and substitute it with a players wall or ring of fame. The likes of seeing McClintock, Wilson, George, Graham, O’Leary, Thomas, Blockley (only joking), Drake, Bastin, James, Jack, Hapgood, Kelsey et al around the stadium would be a far more pleasing sight. I mean there is only so much room for putting statues outside the ground (which do look good). And there are only so many banners you can think of to block those years (nice touch though, out of interest our banner is between 1930 & 2005 above the away fans. Strangely enough it’s to do with a certain Dutchman’s fear of flying!).

I leave you though with a downside of a hall of fame, at the Etihad, there is a big sign, at one end of the ground, with Bell on it, named after the superb 60’s / 70’s midfielder, Colin. This is affectionately called the BELL END!!!

Keep The Faith

Statto

Sore throat. Sore Hands. Filled with JOY!!!

Hello Arsenal fans!!!!

Well!! They said we couldn't do it and we showed them we could!! And with such flair and exuberance!!

I was so excited, even at 8am as my twitter followers will know... I just had 'a feeling', NO! not that feeling! we had a good chance. With what RVP said in his interview with the Sun the day before, it gave my heart lift, and hope. Wow, did it work!!  As I was getting my boys ready for me to leave and go meet The Dog, Mrs F, and Alex at the pub, both my boys said hang on we'll come with you!! One of them is already a die hard Gooner, but the other one never really has gotten into football to go watch it, or really follow it.  Maybe cause The Dog is trying to get him involved more with GFS_Arsenal, he's watched a couple games lately... Anyway so I said ok, but you gotta wear a shirt. He said ok and so we all marched to the pub in all our Arsenal colors and scarfs.
When we got there Paul (landlord, and unfortunately a Spurs fan) had let Mrs F (who works and lives there), have a whole raised corner of the bar!!  He let her put up signs saying 'HIGHBURY CORNER!!' with Arsenal flags and everything!!  Hats off to Paul, because I don't think any other landlord would've done that!! You're immense, dude!!
So the game started and 4mins in we were already losing.  The Spuds were singing 'Yid army', and I turned round to my son that had never been to a game in the pub and said... Here we go...  When they scored the 2nd, I was actually hoping if we just score a goal it would show that son how it is to be in the Arsenal family...
So by half time with the score 2-2 and half the pub (which was rammed) singing 'Yid Army' and our half singing louder '2-0 and you f@@ked it up, 2-0' I looked back to see my son singing!! So another Arsenal fan was born on Sunday!!
You guys all know the rest of the game, and I'm sure your throats were killing you from singing and hands hurting from clapping!!! I've haven't  seen a game that exciting and memorable in ages!!

Well done Arsenal, and thank you, thank you, thank you, for filling every (old and new) fan with joy in our hearts!!!   Now, just to try and get my shirt back from my son!!  :o)

Signing off,
Surfergirl

2-0 down 5-2 up. Arsenal destroy Tottenham‏

I would like to start by congratulating the boys on one of the best victory's I have ever witnessed. They displayed character,confidence and never say die attitudes, even though they were 2-0 down fro a heavily deflected goal and an unfair penalty. The Gunners staged , what was thought, a dubious comeback to overhaul Tottenham Hotspur's two goal lead and move back above their other London rivals Chelsea.

This illustrious north London fixture promised a lot of goals in pre-match predictions, and it lived up to that promise in a game that dished out 7 goals. Harry Rednapp's side got off to a great start after five minutes when ex Gunner Emmanuel Adebayor found Louise Saha running into the Arsenal are with nobody near him. A moment of dawdling meant Vermaelen could get in front of the shot, but the deflection was wicked and went over Szczesny's head. Arsenal recuperated well and looked dangerous on attack, but it got worse in the 34th minute when a brilliant through ball form Luka Modric sent Gareth Bale running into the area. Kieran Gibbs and Szczesny brought Bale down and the well practiced fake fall payed dividends and got him a penalty. Adebayor slotted the penalty home but the Gunners kept their cool and made sure that was the last Spurs goal of the match. Van Persie found space in the area after a Walcott flick but his shot hit the post and Spurs seemed to fall asleep as Arteta found more space and crossed for Bacary Sagna who headed it home with brilliance. The Gunning equaliser came when Benoit Assou-Ekotto failed to clear his lines properly and the ball fell to the Premier Leagues top scorer. Van Persie received the ball at the edge of the box, his speed proved to much as the twisted inside Scott Parker before curling the ball past the despairing dive of Freidel. So ended the first half at 2-2.

 The second half started where Arsenal had left off in the first. Rosicky flicked a goal from an acute angle just 5 minutes into the second half, it left the Emirates and me leaping out of pure joy. The game settled down, but on 64 minutes the roof was raised once more as Van Persie held up the ball well before playing in Walcott and the England winger, who had been anonymous in the first half chipped the ball over the advancing Friedel. Walcott fired a cross goal two minutes after his first, to make it 5-2. I hope this will give him much needed confidence for the future.

What a match, and one that was listed as one of the most important North London derby's ever. What pride to be able to say that your team won. The Arsenal beat a very strong Tottenham side, and the Gunners are truly London Kings of the season, The 5-3 victory earlier this season against Chelsea made sure of that. We face Liverpool next week, and after scoring 14 goals in 3 Premier league matches I'm confident that we can win.

From a very happy gooner. Laters,
The Ghost.

Transfers part 2 of 2‏

Here is Statto on our transfer history part 2.

6. Thierry Henry (August 99 from Juventus; £11m). We had just sold Le sulk and made a cool £23m. But we needed to replace him. So we got Davor Suker (a little cameo role at the club which I did enjoy, because he was a class act, just a little bit past his best) and a bit of a calculated gamble in TH. Echoes of Mr Bergkamp, in that his confidence was badly dented in Italy. Don’t forget that this man was a World Cup winner. More echoes of DB in that it took an eternity to score his first goal. Yet even more echoes when we played Southampton and he scores his first. I was at home watching Soccer Saturday. The legend that is Frank McLintock was commentating on the game and was in raptures about the goal. When I saw MOTM that night, I could see why, super strike. As Andy Gray says – you don’t save those. Well there followed over 200 more of them. Probably the best player ever to play for the club (there are a lot of you who will argue that, having seen Brady, Adams, Drake, James, Jack, DB, George et al). The reception that he gets at every PL ground, apart from WHL, shows what a player he is. I would finish it off by agreeing with Andy Gray’s comments during the Leeds game in April 2004 (a period when he almost single handily got us back into winning the title, when it was about to go horribly wrong). He said, after watching him score his fourth, after being fouled by Gary Kelly, that in all his time watching PL football, he hasn’t seen another player like him. This came a few days after scoring a hat trick v Liverpool (on a Good Friday, sorry, I meant a Great Friday). Remember my mate Carragher and Biscan bumping into each other after his mazy run for his third. Oh how I laughed.

7. Robert Pires (July 2000 from Marseilles; £6m). Fresh after his Euro 2000 win, with strong competition from Madrid and Juve (hard to believe now, the way that we now operate in the market, what we were capable of doing), we bought him. The last part of the Trinity (with TH & DB). For the next 6 years he destroyed teams. That strange running action, he would never give the ball away and possibly the best finisher I’ve ever seen (yes better than Wright and TH). The only time I’ve seen him cock up was the infamous penalty v Mancarab when he tried to be too flash with TH. Wonderful player, that goal v Villa on St Patricks Day 2002, the Dane, lobbed on his line, happy days.

8. Sol Campbell (June 2001 from Spuds; FREE, yes FREE). Don’t need to say much about this, apart from the fact it made me laugh a lot. The game that made him though was his return to WHL in October 2001, he was immense in that game, indeed on his 2^nd return to the club he was brilliant at WHL again. Only downside, the first £100,000 / week footballer. Understandable because we bought a £10 million player for nought. But that ceiling being broken has lead on to us being priced out of the market (well that is the impression I get, but can’t understand how – but that’s a debate / article for another time).

9. Robin Van Persie (May 2004 from Feynoord; £2.75m). Just after winning the title, we get this unknown kid. Lots of injuries and lots of goals later we’re singing his praises. Just hope he doesn’t go in the summer. Bet Blackburn are hoping he leaves the country. His goal scoring record against them is incredible. That volley against Everton on our 125^th birthday was one of the best goals seen at the ES.

10. Alex Oxade Chamberlain (June 2011 from Southampton; circa £9m). This kid could be one of the greatest players ever. Never seen anyone that young, show so much intelligence (even more than Cesc), great attitude, strong as an Ox (very apt) and an eye for goal. It also looks that he’s helped Theo raise his game. Just can’t wait until he teams up with JW. That will be interesting for us and England.

Special mention for transfers need to go to.

Malcolm Macdonald from Newcastle £333,333.33 (before my time admittedly); Lee Dixon from Stoke £400,000, Steve Bould from Stoke £390,000, Nigel Winterburn from Wimbledon £350,000 (3 of the best ever defenders for under half of what Manure paid for Gary Pallister); Marc Overmars from Ajax £5.5m; Manny Petit from Monaco £2.5m; Nic Anelka from PSG £500,000 (best teenager I’ve seen at the club until possibly AOC), Bacary Sagna from Auxerre £6m and Tom Vermalaen from Ajax £10m

Kanu from Inter Milan - £4.5m in January 1999. Mugging De Goey, Le Beef & Desailly for his hat trick at Stamford Bridge, say no more!!!

Statto

North London Derby

It’s difficult not to recycle old feelings or those that have already been stated, but for me personally the va va voom about this Arsenal team isn’t there anymore, the club is very special, but it appears the team isn’t, everyone has used the word mediocre, I find this word very cruel and disrespectful, but of course they like many are comparing this team to the successful Arsenal teams of old. 

Wenger: 

"A football team is like a beautiful woman. When you do not tell her, she forgets she is beautiful." 

How fitting is that now? but the media and many fans of our own have made it sound like this woman is a deluded beast who needs massive plastic surgery. She doesn’t, a little eye liner never hurt anybody but in order to avoid the whole make-up parody, point is that the natural beauty about Arsenal, the way we used to make things flow with some consistency at least has stopped, we’re only seeing flashes, flashes of what we we’ve been spoiled with for years. 

I think this team has forgotten what they’re capable of or perhaps they aren’t capable of it, Wenger said today that the players had not let him down, cued a reaction from supporters thinking that obviously they had, but we know how professional Wenger is, like he is ever going to admit it, we’re still in the race for fourth, it’s not the right time anyway. 

We had a brand, a way of playing, the tactics have been subdued and midfield has been laboured, what I felt at the beginning and feel now are the same, we have too many players in midfield that are too similar and perhaps it’s the same on the wings now that Nasri has gone as he was more of a possession playing winger. 

Against Spurs we don’t have a choice, we need to get our engine ticking and our style needs to mix with the directness to give us the result we all crave more than ever, A home win. 

Giving Credit To Them….. 

Tottenham have played well this season, they’ve shown more consistency, of course our former Togo striker who begged for Beyonce but ended up with Heather from Eastenders has helped their cause.  

But I say with much happiness that even if they do finish above us, it’s not the end of the world, let them have their little parade, let us suffer, let us rebuild and let us get over it, our club will always be there, self-sustainability is living within your means, of course it means Gazidis will be paid a bit more than you’d want and not everything goes to transfers, but that’s how a proper football club is run and that is what we are, a proper football club. 

This season to me, is the season that we let go of ourselves, the unresolved summer still haunts but I just think of it as a stumble to prevent a big fall, I don’t want to sound like Arsene but economically the world is ridiculously unstable, we are going to be incredibly cautious with transfers and everything, because every football club is scared that the market can react in a way to affect the finances of every club.  

We saw proof of this during the winter and the summer, only Man City, PSG were actually spending money and the signings were not big, especially this January. 

I understand this is difficult for people to understand or to accept, we were sold dreams in 2006 that all these youngsters would become something special together, yet they most were sold, one by one, now the ones that are left are either injured or very inconsistent. It would make anyone frustrated but we do just have to persevere, this is our team, this is our club. 

Team News 

Szczęsny

Sagna Koscielny Vermaelen Gibbs 

Song 

Rosicky Arteta 

Walcott Van Persie Gervinho 

Subs: Oxlade Chamberlain, Jenkinson, Fabianski, Chamakh, Benayoun, Djourou, Park. 

According to the news running around, Arsenal have agreed to let Arshavin go on loan to Zenit St Petersburg, wrong move in my opinion as we need all the cover we can get but I guess they want him to have as much play time as possible so that his sale value goes up in the summer, it might be a goodbye cut short for the diminutive Russian who stole our hearts 3 years ago and has been straining it every since. 

But looking at that bench, with Benik Afobe coming back I don’t see that much room for Arshavin anyway, sadly. 

This is the most I’ve been worried before a NLD in my life, but all that worry will turn into excitement when the game starts, perhaps we’ll finally get to show them who runs things in London, the optimist in me says 3-1 to the Arsenal, the pessimist says a dodgy injury and a red card results in a 2-2 draw, let’s all stay united and give the best support we can regardless. 

I want to redirect everyone to this: 

http://postimage.org/image/ml6wnmnu7/ 

it was made by an amazing Gooner, you can follow her on twitter; 

@Dorkkly

Have a beautiful weekend everyone, 

Much love, 

Alexander 

Are some Arsenal fans, Spurs fans in disguise?

Hey guys and gals, long time no speak!

Sorry I've been really crap at the moment (same as Arsenal, so i'm sure your all used to it!)

 I'm meant to be going up to the Emirates for Arsenal v Spurs this Sunday, but due to a lot of talk going around on twitter it seems that Arsenal fans will be attacking fellow Gooners that are going into the stadium because they are "for Wenger." They might as well put on a Spurs shirt and join in with them.
 What happened to going up to watch your team play because you love them through the thick and the thin, instead we have the younger fans (not all of you, as I'm included in this) that just because we haven't won anything in six and a half years means its one man's fault. Well it's not. If you step back and look at the bigger picture the board is happy as long as we get a place in the Champions league for next season, they haven't given him any big amount of money to play with so he can't buy big players with more experience to help the team grow a back bone. We need that fighting mentality back in our blood rather than watered down ribena that seems to be running through us these days.
 I'm not saying it's completely the boards fault as it's not, Arsene is helping too. I read in a newspaper recently that even the squad is getting fed up. It has been said that Arsene isn't training in the defense area. Both the defenders and just defending as a team and instead concentrating on going forward.

Anyway I've gotten off track. So basically because of all this bull **** me, the dog and surfergirl won't be going to the match. Thanks guys, thanks a lot!
 I just don't understand why we can't band together, why we can't see how this is shaping football for the years to follow. Maybe, just maybe if we stand behind our team while they're on the pitch (because they're as frustrated as we are) it might put some positive attitude back into the players and make them want to win the match. Where as right now, they go onto the pitch and see "for" or "against" Wenger signs. With most of the singing from Arsenal fans against Arsenal fans. It shouldn't be like that, the whole stadium should be singing together against the away team, and singing loudly enough to scare them out of their seats. If I was an Arsenal player and I walked up the tunnel into a chorus of singing and support I'd want to play my heart out for that team! Rather than what the players are being welcomed to at the moment is booing and no unity within the fans. You need unity in the fans as much as the players, manager and board. We are a family in the end and we seem to be tearing each other to pieces with terrible consequences happening after. No one has mentioned the fans in the newspapers, but I think it's about time they do.

Think about it fellow Gooners out there, is this how you want to see your family? Because I certainly don't..

Love to you all (even though some of you are on my naughty list!)

Mrs Fabregas
 xxx

Media-ochre? Or just a shame...

Hello Arsenal fans everywhere!!

Hope everyone is doing well and has some happiness in their lives to make up for the shitty performances of our beloved football team.  Sorry, I said it... but they have been worse than ever.  So much that, very unlike Wenger, there has been yelling in the locker room and training... You can see his frustration on the side of the pitch as much as you can see ours... He's never been a manager that doesn't care whether we win or lose, but he does make some really crap remarks on why we did lose sometimes... Bad pitch, too many injuries, not enough experience.  They all are true but not good enough just to brush aside the performance and say they gotta concentrate on the next game.  I say-- forget that!! Maybe they should be made to watch the crappy performances til they wanna puke, and maybe that way they'll learn from it?  Maybe they'll see why so many fans are so fed up... The Sun says the transfer kitty is close to £50m and fans want to know why Wenger isn't buying... Think about it, if you were a pretty good player in another club, unless under the top half of the premier league, would you want to come to a club that hasn't won anything in coming up to 7 years?  But I think it's the board...

They have said they don't mind about trophies, as long as we're fourth.... Well that just translates into *We'll get the £45m for qualifying, who cares if we win*  I think Wenger is having to deal with that, the fact the team is playing shit, injuries, and now the 'so called Arsenal fans want to light things on fire outside the stadium??'  WHF???!!!  Last time I looked, Arsenal fans weren't yobbo's??  What the hell is going on? The Dog, Mrs F and I were going up this weekend to watch the team against Spurs, and to be honest was worried bout the Spurs fans. In the tube around the Emirates, and pubs etc... but we're not going now because some so called Arsenal fans (ha, what a joke!!) are threatening to beat up people going into the stadium and supporting Wenger...

So now I ask, what is happened to our fans?  When you support a football team you support them and the manager thru the good and the bad... You don't have a throw away attitude to a manager who has given an extremely large part of his football managerial career to our North London club.  As Ian Wright said i the paper today 'when you consider what Wenger has achieved since arriving at this club in 1996, he has earned the right to get thru this rocky patch'  Hear, hear!!!!!

So come on people, I know it can be disappointing, alot, but please get behind our team and manager. Because whatever is going on upstairs, the players have no say what-so-ever to say about it...
And thru the thick and the thin if we support them it will bring up the confidence and the willpower to put in the extra effort that they need...

Signing off @GoonertillIdie!!!
Surfergirl 

Will this nightmare ever end? Worse to come I fear!

You may have noticed that the GFS family have been very quiet of late, me included. No excuses for that but I have been at a loss to put into words what has happened and is happening around my beloved club!
A four nil drubbing at the hands of Milan and put out of the FA cup by a Sunderland team, not long ago thought of as a second rate outfit on the road to relegation. Amazing what a new manager can do eh? By the way these are the payers Steve Bruce had as well. Good luck Wolves if that is your next choice of manager. Also a mauling from press and commentators alike, Roy Keane being pretty dismissive "The worse Arsenal team I have seen" Criticism from ex players like Petite, Bergkamp, Viera et al, players looking like they cannot play, Arsene, who says fourth is a trophy and to top it all the constant infighting and bickering between fans. For god sake people!

Silent Stan flies into London today, doubt we will hear much off the back of that. This is the worst spell under Wenger since he began in 1996. There are loads of questions, opinions, banners and looks like more protests yet any guiding hands that could speak stay quiet and the whole sorry saga that is Arsenal continues to blunder from one issue to another.

A weekend of more protests is on the cards and our rivals, spuds will be loving this. I can see another loss this weekend and trouble between Arsenal fans themselves. I hope not but having witnessed what I did recently at the Emirates I will not be surprised.

Depressing? Yes but I really hope we all stick together to get through this.

Laters,
The Dog

Punished by Milan and goodbye Henry‏

What a terrible loss. For the first 10 minutes we knocked the ball around nicely, demonstrating some of the calm that is needed when the volume is cranked up and the curva sud is holding up a banner that reads "7 Coppe Dei Campioni". But the way Arsenal wilted after Boateng's goal revealed a team with fragile self-belief. Rarely has Thomas Vermaelen looked so susceptible, partly to blame for two of the goals. Theo Walcott was so ineffective he was removed at half-time. Van Persie was isolated in attack, frustrated by the lack of support. Tomas Rosicky, Mikel Arteta and Aaron Ramsey looked one-paced and, as if things could get any worse, we also lost Laurent Koscielny to a knee injury in the first half. Kevin-Prince Boateng fired the Italians ahead on 15 minutes with a sublime strike, before two goals by former Manchester City frontman Robinho and a penalty from the impressive Zlatan Ibrahimovic put the tie beyond the Gunners. Arsenal never really settled and were punished for some careless possession – and not even the introduction of Thierry Henry in the final game of his loan spell from New York Red Bulls could spark a fairytale comeback in what was a record European away defeat for the Gunners. Milan had not won any of their last 7 meetings with English clubs, yet they trashed us in heart breaking fashion. Wenger said we have a 2-5% chance of advancing in the Champs league. I don’t see us scoring 5goals in the second leg though. So we’re almost certainly out of the Champs league, that leaves us with only the FA cup in which we can still save this horrible season and get some much needed silverware. As far as the premier league, I think we can stay on that 4th spot, if we keep V.Persie fit, work really hard on the brittle defence and have some confidence. And who knows? If we beat Spurs next week we could still challenge them for 3’d place. It’s a long shot I know but I really believe we still have that 7-1 winning fire in us. Sunderland is the next hurdle we need to cross, they are strong and a well improved team, we have no Henry to get the winning goal but big G will be back for that match (I think ). Never give up on the Gunners, we could still get something out of this seemingly nothing season.

Laters. TheGhost.

1-2, so long, farewell as Julie Andrews sings and big G shoots high!

Hello all and I hope you all had a fab weekend as I did. The Dog had a roast dinner with SurferGirl and Mrs F and her boys and a fab time was had, thanks and love Sufer! Also some time spent with two of the lads from our trip to Ayr, yep Scottish Rugby with Teach and Scottish James, a whiskey and disappointment all round, hey I am not an egg chaser but the heart of Scottish fans could teach us English a thing or two at times.

So, Farewell to the King, no not another hobbit film but our own legend took his PL bow with another late goal. Yes I know I doubted the wisdom of having a 34 year old MLS player returning to Arsenal and I really did worry that the legend he made would be tarnished. He came out intact but I still wonder whether £600k for six games and 3 goals was worth it? On the other hand maybe getting the winner at Sunderland was worth the £600k on its own for the 3 points and a 4th place? Time will tell. I have to say that it is the first time I have disagreed with Arseblog on having two match winning goals. Sunderland a big yes but Blackburn was just the icing on the cake, not really a match winner compared with Sunderland just nice to see an Arsenal legend adding to his goal tally.

So we look forward to Milan now and a possible upset, giving our current run, and chance to put some pride back into English football. I am not going to get into what happened elsewhere, too much press space has been given to what is, frankly, a bit of an embarrassment to the Premier League and maybe a wake up to all clubs, it is the team that matters, not egos, and some pride in our game would not go amiss this week.

Finally, well done to Zambia on winning the African Cup of Nations, bit disappointed that it will take place again next year due to the Blatta wallet Cup but sad to see that all penalties missed by the Ivory Coast were by Premier League players, including our own Big G. Something to think about for the Euro's England?

By the way I have had to set up a second Twitter account due to the limits imposed on tweets and followers so look for me on @dognash1live and I will follow back. Hope the ghost had a good birthday and more from Statto soon.

Laters,
The Dog

The price is right? Or supermarket sweep? Oh yes and Sunderland!

Hello fellow Gooners,

First things first, I apologise to some of our younger readers for the language used by some of GFS writers, it is passion that drives them but I have been lax in my editing so messages you have sent, to complain, I accept and I will do better and very sorry if we have offended, it was not intentional.

So first up a message from Arsenal Ray Winstone;

Deloitte Money League
1. Real Madrid €479.5m
2. Barcelona €450.7m
3. Man U €367m
4. Bayern Munich €321.4m
5. Arsenal €251.1m

Are our recent achievements,league position, trophy haul commensurate with our financial standing?
You know the answer!

Have to agree, we are in the top money league time and time again, no success but a very comfortable board and a big profit for them to take away from the Arsenal. To be honest I am so fed up with the feeble outbursts on Fox News, how they thought Piers Morgan spoke for all Arsenal fans I will never know, he knows as much about Arsenal as a spud fan with 15 pints down his neck, season ticket holder my butt (sorry) but never seen him at Arsenal so I hope you know where I am coming from!

Safe to say that I have no idea where we will end up as a team this season, I have my doubts that we will make the CL, only because of the points we have dropped, Blackburn was such a sigh of relief and signs that the team are on the up, but the teams around us want the same and Sunderland will be the biggest challenge so far this season, with O'Neil in charge we must be at our best. They are on a crest of a new manager wave so we have to be at our best.

So Madrid want RVP, no surprise there, after all the Spanish mob always seem to want to take our players, once the Arsenal magic has been weaved on them, look at Cesc, Henry etc, so I hope we are not in for a prolonged press ridiculous Arsenal bash and a good price if he does go. Not a last grab trolly dash as it may snow next week so lets get what we can!

I wish you all well tomorrow with the team you support, as for me, a destruction of Sunderland, like Blackburn would be the ideal set up for the following week, lets hope arry gets a bloody nose this weekend from the geordies too.

Later,
The Dog

Step in the right direction

Hello. Have you missed me? Of course you have.

Right so first of all I must ask forgiveness from the Gooner Family. On Friday I finished work at 3 and headed to the pub for a swift one.....I then stumbled out of fabric at 5am sat morning. Woke up at 12 for the match(I'm only 10min tube away) And I'm ashamed to say......I feel back to sleep.

So yes I did miss the biggest win of the year and yes I was part of the empty seat crew and yes I am a c###.

Anyway. Moving onto things less painful. We won. RVP hat-trick, The Ox bagging 2 and the legend got another alongside the cheeky Spaniard. What a game, and after Howard Webb earned MOTM for his outstanding performance in utd's comeback, were only 3 points off 4th.

I realise the scousers and geordies are on the ball aswell but too be honest I don't give a f###. If we finish behind them im going to start watching darts. What we need to do Is match or better chelski. Anything less is a joke. We need to pull our socks up and crack on and this win really hit the spot.

I believe we can do it. And what The tiny optimist in me is saying is 3rd and the FA should be our targets. Come on boys.

On a side note, during the villa game a few weeks back a protest was held near my seats in the north bank. Nothing much, just 2 blokes with Wenger out banners. But the stewards forced them down. Now I don't agree with the banners but paying fans have the right to protest and I think this is the problem with us now. Were too clean. Too sanitised, and this reflects on how we play. We need fans who can sing And not just mumble and to do this the club needs to remove corporate tickets for armchair viewers on business trips. 60000 seated stadium and half don't know why she wore a yellow ribbon. Sort it out.

Up the Arse

Goonerdan