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• andrew says on September 3rd, 2010 at 4:44 pm on An International on a Friday? Walcott vs Bulgaria…:

  @ Glondon

  Wasn’t that essay just posted a couple days ago under the name of Kameron????

  

• Berth says on September 3rd, 2010 at 2:32 pm on An International on a Friday? Walcott vs Bulgaria…:

  Its more than long goonerman.

  

• Goonerman says on September 3rd, 2010 at 1:48 pm on An International on a Friday? Walcott vs Bulgaria…:

  I thought we comment on here to have a brief chat or a quick share of our views and opinions not to post essays! I think glondons comment is longer than the actual post lol.

  

• devday says on September 3rd, 2010 at 1:40 pm on An International on a Friday? Walcott vs Bulgaria…:

  worldofarsenal
  Chamakh: “The morale in the squad is good. We want to win the Premier League this season and we are all focused on that.”
  less than 5 seconds ago via web

  worldofarsenal
  Chamakh: “I know that once I get settled, my game will improve a lot. The players have welcomed me also and I feel part of the family”
  half a minute ago via web

  worldofarsenal
  Maroune Chamakh on Arsenal: “I am settling in well and the coach [Arsene Wenger] is doing his best to make me feel welcome at the club.”

  

• devday says on September 3rd, 2010 at 12:06 pm on An International on a Friday? Walcott vs Bulgaria…:

  @ GLONDON:
  Where did you get that from?

  

• devday says on September 3rd, 2010 at 12:05 pm on An International on a Friday? Walcott vs Bulgaria…:

  @ Arsefan101:
  Indeed, he’s Capello favourite at the moment!

  

• GLONDON says on September 3rd, 2010 at 11:04 am on An International on a Friday? Walcott vs Bulgaria…:

  A few months ago I made a conscious decision never ever to post any opinions on football blogs again. Being a fervent gooner, and apparently currently undergoing the phenomenon that is trophy-cold-turkey – which if you believe the press, is a football condition only experienced by Arsenal fans – I naturally took exception to a statement posted by a Chelsea fan on the Guardian Football site at the end of last season, that agreed with the theme of a David Lacey article that Arsenal should forget about playing ‘good football’ and concentrate on playing ‘winning football’ instead.

  Bristling with indignation at Lacey’s barely hidden thesis that ‘winning football’ is ipso facto ‘good football’, I proceeded to lecture the Chelsea supporter about fundamental tenets of philosophy and warned him about the crime of the ‘is ought shift’. He ignored my tuition and failed to see the non-sequitor of his argument; he stated that the object of playing football was to win games and that if a team won more games than any others, like Chelsea had, then clearly they were playing ‘gooder’ football than anyone else!

  No matter how much I remonstrated and demonstrated that one cannot justify value judgements, i.e. ‘good’ football, on matters of fact, i.e. Chelsea having won more games, he would have none of it. I even suggested, much to my own personal discomfort, that it is quite possible that Chelsea could have played ‘good’ football as well as winning football during the season but the former claim was a matter of individual opinion unlike the latter which was factual and not open to debate.

  As always, the blog exchange deteriorated into insult and abuse – and I suspect he is still paying a private detective to find me – when a timely intervention by my wife brought me back from the brink of insanity and a 12 hour night shift at the computer face.

  She simply said, and I have to believe it was without any irony whatsoever, that my Chelsea sophist was only acting like any ‘good’ supporter would, out of loyalty to his club. If her assertion is correct – and as far as I know she has never been wrong about anything – then it’s about time we as supporters of football, whether it is good, bad, indifferent, or winning football, stepped back from our tribal allegiances and considered objectively what traits do indeed characterise ‘good’ football supporters.

  It’s a cold autumn night in the mid-sixties at Ellersie Road, mistakenly known as Loftus Road, in Shepherds Bush. I am playing in midfield for QPR in a South East Counties floodlit match against Charlton or Leyton Orient, I can’t remember which. There was no Elvis for us as we ran on to the pitch, only the tinny, 2-year-out-of-date, echo of ‘Hermann’s Hermits’ evidently being into something good.

  There were probably a hundred odd ‘good’ supporters watching us from the gloom of the steeply rising terraces. I can’t remember the score at the time but I do recall that it was the second half and we were attacking the ‘General Smutts’ end and defending the ‘Springboks’ end. My extended family lived on the White City Estate and my Nan had worked in both these pubs at some time, hence the geographical precision.

  I remember breaking into the penalty area with only the keeper to beat and shooting. It wasn’t that powerful, I must admit, and certainly would not have hurt the keeper’s fingers as he pushed the ball around the post, if, indeed, he even felt it. I ran to pick up the ball to take the corner and as I did so, this ‘good’ QPR supporter – an old bloke in a raincoat – leant over the wall and hissed into my impressionable 16 year-old ear: “You shitbag!”

  As I walked to the corner flag, a mess of emotions, I could hear him repeating several times his assessment of my qualities as a player, and each time he voiced it for all to hear, the London accent became harsher, the shit became more pronounced and elongated, and the bag more clipped and scornful.

  If you have ever read ‘Billy Liar’ you will no doubt recall Billy’s hilarious repetition of his undertaker boss Shadrack’s name, beginning with ‘Shadrack, Shaadrack, Shaaadrack and eventually ending with the climactic ‘Shadder, Shadder, Shadders!!’

  This scene from ‘Billy Liar’, ironically set in the firm’s toilet, more than adequately conveys the rhetorical skills of my ‘good supporter’ admirer, who presumably was dedicated to helping Rangers attain success whatever the level and whoever the player. Of course, ‘shit sticks’ and, as a result, I do not really believe he was a role model ‘good’ supporter.

  But when mulling over the qualities of ‘good supporters’, it is crucial to be wary of stereotyping, and perhaps, more significantly, collective stereotyping. How many times do I hear footballers using adjectives for adverbs but to state categoric that all footballers omit the ‘ly’ would be foolish? Similar –sorry – similarly, not all Newcastle fans are fat, take their shirts off, and cheer throw-ins! Not all Chelsea fans are fat, bald-headed, aggressive men prone to some racist chanting. Not all Birmingham and Leeds supporters are trouble-making thugs, and there are, I am sure, some Millwall fans who are actually quite well liked.

  Of course, stereotypes often do reflect both positive and negative truths but we must not allow prejudice or unthinking classification to influence our thoughts about what constitutes a ‘good supporter’.

  I am mindful the recent six goal rout– sorry ‘win’ – by Arsenal against Blackpool at the Emirates. A gentleman to the right of me, high up in what is now called the North Bank, opined that Blackpool were excellent supporters. There they were, their team six nil down, being completely outplayed with five minutes left, and, yet, they, the supporters that is, were still singing their hearts out! Bless them! I hope they enjoyed their day out!

  I am certain, however, that perversely, their collective enthusiastic support for their outclassed team will have only served to have exacerbated the emotional guilt and rampant soul searching almost already certainly felt by the Blackpool players, given the nature of the mismatch and the number of goals conceded, to a degree which far exceeds the confusion I experienced at the derogatory ‘shitbag’ tossed in my direction all those years before.

  How would I have felt if the hundred or so QPR faithful had risen as one at the sight of my feeble effort, punched the air, exhorted my name fanatically to the West London skies, and queued for my autograph late after the game? What on earth would I have said to them? I shudder to think. No, my fellow gooner in the North Bank, you were what I term ‘fangoed’ – all that bright orange affected your judgment about the present and the future. Like Gary Lineker et al, he no doubt believes that a vacated seat at three nil reflects a poor supporter.

  I admit the Blackpool fans were impressively noisy, given that they did not have much to shout about and, comparatively speaking, there were not that many of them within the sixty thousand strong crowd. Perhaps, noise generation is the principal key to identifying ‘good supporters’? The decibel quotient pro rata is easily measured and calculated and could be recorded in fans’ league tables.

  Where fans are level in decibels and numbers based on a handicap system similar to that found in golf, the rank order could be determined by such factors as ‘variety of songs’, ‘witty chants’ and ‘sentimental value-added’. Such criteria – especially ‘sentimentality’ – may well rid our grounds of crude ditties such as ‘who’s the wanker in the black/green etc?’ and encourage a new football anthology of ‘You’ll never walk alone’ anthems.

  An ambitious development of this would be the introduction of an expert panel of X factor type judges which could analyse and vote on the singing of each club’s fans by focusing on tone, unison, meaningful lyrics and general singing quality. Imagine a final featuring Man City’s ‘Blue Moon’ and Millwall’s ‘No one likes us’! Breathtaking!

  The spin-offs are mouth watering. The Welsh believing that they would win more FA cups; an improved rendition of ‘Abide with me’ at the cup final; operatic singing of the National Anthem at Wembley finals; and increased respect at Wembley with England supporters not booing foreign anthems and England players, especially John Terry, actually singing rather than miming ‘God Save the Queen’. Fabio Capello and Stuart Pearce could set the example for supporters and players alike by learning the language and actually singing the anthem in English.

  The above flight of fancy takes me no nearer, I fear, to what defines ‘good’ football supporters! Fans, by their very nature, are self-delusional and extremely opinionated. I don’t know this (although I’m sure I’m right) but I suppose they always have been and always will be. But, once more, I have to be wary of stereotyping.

  It seems to me that one stereotypical ideal of the ‘good’ supporter arises from the working-class origins of the game – a sort of cross between Charlie George, Wayne Rooney and Alf Tupper. At the other end of the spectrum, both football and class, we find the stereotypical ideal of the officer and the gentleman – a cross between Bertie Mee, Alf Ramsey and ‘the can’t think of his name England’ supporter who always dressed in St. George colours and a stupid big hat, and could be found at all major international sporting events 40 years ago, symbolising the Corinthian spirit of the true football supporter.

  I suspect that most fans fall somewhere between the two extremes, and leaving aside the ‘risk supporters’ or hooligans, each club has a majority of ‘good’ fans however we define them. For me, though the answer can only be discovered through anecdote.

  I begin the ending of my topic with the Arsenal Bolton game last season. Arsenal needed to win to head the table albeit temporarily. We gooners were shocked when Arsenal went one nil down early in the game and mortified when it became two a few minutes later. The disappointment was palpable; you could almost taste it as you surveyed the stricken faces around you to mix metaphors.

  Then, suddenly, from behind me there arose out of the angry, hurt, silence one of the strangest sounds I have ever heard at a football match, or, indeed, anywhere. I can only surmise that the strangulated, succession of disgusting images and obscenities was the issue of internal warfare of gargantuan proportions. The gooner’s ejaculations were so shocking that, in spite of our upset at the score, we lesser gooners started to laugh out loud.

  I mention the episode because it identifies the true strength of feeling to which the passionate fan – if that is not tautological – is subjected to, and his helplessness in the face of it. I am certain that ostensibly, at least, given the evidence of their ‘always look on the bright side of life’ chorus, the Blackpool fans did not experience this. It could be argued, I admit, that strength of feeling is inversely proportionate to expectation, and that because not even the most optimistic Blackpool fan really believed that they would win, the resulting emotion in defeat was less disappointing, hence the singing.

  I cannot accept this and this is why. In the early 1980s, I took my then young son, who was miraculously born loving Arsenal, to see Wealdstone v Boston United in a mid week Gola league (conference) match. Wealdstone had defeated Boston in the Gola cup final at Wembley the previous season, and I suggested that we take my stepfather, a Wealdstone and Bury supporter, who lived in Harrow, to the ever-missed Lower Mead ground at the back of the Dominion Cinema.

  The crowd was quite reasonable although the weather was cold and typical of late November. The match was remarkable; not because Wealdstone won 8-0, but because they scored a hat-trick of penalties – something I have only witnessed the once. At the end of the game as the crowd began to disperse and the Boston players trudged shamefully towards the stand and the comforting bosom of the dressing room, a single Boston fan, possibly the only one at the match, or, certainly still inside the ground, lent across the advertising hoardings and berated the Boston players with the following tirade, reminiscent of Basil Fawlty’s attack on his broken down Mini:

  ‘You bastards, you fucking useless bastards. It took me six fucking hours to drive down here. I nearly crashed twice because of the snow. I took a day off work and lost a day’s wages to come and watch you load of shite and you can’t even make the effort to fight back. You make me sick. Look at you. Going for a nice shower! What about me? You make me sick. I’ve now got to drive back up the motorway and be up for work at 6 in the morning. Well, that’s it. No more, I’m finished. I’ve had enough. That’s it.’

  His voice tailed off and he sunk back, as we, the Wealdstone fans, and he, stood in silence, while some of the Boston players had actually stopped walking. All of a sudden, the Boston fan leapt up to the hoarding again and screamed: ‘And I’d fucking well better see an improvement at Telford on Saturday!’

  The Wealdstone fans applauded.

  Passion; love; sacrifice; prejudice; anger; faith; amnesia; loyalty; hope; and the greatest of them all; forgiveness.

  

• Arsefan101 says on September 3rd, 2010 at 10:36 am on An International on a Friday? Walcott vs Bulgaria…:

  Interesting to see how Walcott was left out of the World Cup squad but is now the one everyone is talking about… Arsene is always right… I think Walcott will have an amazing season!

  

• Tom G says on September 2nd, 2010 at 10:23 pm on Transfer Deadline Day Round Up…:

  @kameron.
  brilliant stuff.

  

• Berth says on September 2nd, 2010 at 10:19 pm on Premier League Squad Reaction:

  we have been through these analysis of other teams being short but tgen winning the league involves quality in key areas. We wont win the league am afraid

  

• Bonathan says on September 2nd, 2010 at 7:08 pm on Premier League Squad Reaction:

  Don’t always find myself agreeing all of your posts ‘usual’ but i think that’s pretty accurate summation of the situation we find ourselves in.

  I think the ray of light that could be the difference for us this year is the hope that many of our ‘youngsters’ are really going to come of age. Yes, it’s what we keep saying every year, but there has been a continious steady improvement in the quality of the likes of bentner, diaby, denilson and song. Walcott has really made an impression early on this season and hopefully that can continue and we can get a few other nice surprises from the likes of Vela, Ramsey, Djourou, gibbs and dare i say it, fabianski.

  I look around and i see a man utd team who’s attack is so heavily reliant on rooney (throughout a season) it’s unreal, and has a rio ferdinand who will never get back to his best. A man city team that i expect do do better but i think winning the title is still beyond them at this stage. A livepool squad that is still a bit thin. And Granted, chelsea have an impressive squad, but even they seem a bit short in the CB area if they suffer a couple of injuries. For these reason’s, we are still very much in with a shout. However, there’s no doubt we would have all felt much more confidant with a world class goal tender

  

• theusualsuspect says on September 2nd, 2010 at 9:58 am on Premier League Squad Reaction:

  We have been able to name a decent squad and with this rule coming into place I dont know how these clubs like Citeh will survive. But I still feel we have missed a trick.The story is well known. The expense of the stadium forced short-term belt tightening so that the future could be a prosperous one. We had, still have if you ask me, the best man for the job driving Arsenal forward: a man with a flair for spotting and developing young players and who prioritises a seductive brand of the game that did much to draw the sting of reduced competitiveness.But as with all painkillers, it can only go so far. We are ensconced in the E******s, paying through the nose for the years of plenty we were promised, which have not strictly arrived. We must accept that things don’t change overnight, that Man City and Chelsea have shifted the goalposts somewhat, and that relative to 88 other clubs, ours is hardly an unfortunate position. Maybe we are being just that little bit impatient as we wait for big signings and big victories but the manager has done little to discourage it of late. Despite his contract extension, the long-termism of his squad management has us wondering how much closer we are to winning the league again and still threatens to draw his time at the club to an unfortunately sour conclusion.Melodramatic? Maybe, but dissatisfaction with Wenger is at an all-time high, the gap between Arsenal and the top two is still as wide as last season and the competition from below is stronger than at any other time in Wenger’s Arsenal career.This transfer window was a chance for Arsenal, for Arsene, to fix problems that have been all too evident to onlookers. It was a chance to push us right back into title contention as United and Chelsea had another quiet summer. It was a chance to insulate ourselves against our wretched injury plague and a winter that includes European ties in midweek followed by away games to Chelsea, City, Sunderland, Villa and United.While I won’t belittle the possible contributions that can be made by Chamakh, Koscielny and Squillaci this squad is still worryingly flawed and fragile for one with realistic intentions of winning something meaningful in May next year. We have little chance of coping with extended absences for Van Persie, Cesc and Vermaelen, injuries to two of our top centre backs exposes the permanently crocked Djourou or significantly weakens our midfield through the redeployment of Song and, most importantly, we continue to rely on a goalkeeper who is more likely to cost us five points a season than save them.Arsenal has the money to do things differently. There is simply not the desire. This might not just be about Wenger’s preference for proving wrong those that doubt his young charges. The board have ignored a tangible sense of divergence between the manager and the fans by extending his contract already, so they can clearly live with healthy P&Ls and no silverware. But, when the manager clearly ties his lack of activity in the transfer market to his concern for not stunting young players’ development, he places himself and his project in the firing line.Djourou, Denilson and Diaby can be identified as players to whom Wenger has given the benefit of the doubt. In doing so, three have faced increased scrutiny and less patience from the stands with Diaby the closest to redeeming himself but still with plenty to do. Add Sczeczny to that list. With a handful of marquee keepers with plenty in the tank – Buffon, Stekelenburg, Lloris – ignored for a 38 year old for whom £5 million was eventually thought too much to spend, it seems clear that Wenger wants to leave the path for the young Pole to assume the number one role relatively clear, perhaps as early as next season. The pressure on him is growing already, and there’s no guarantee he will thrive under it. In the meantime Arsenal’s hopes rest in Almunia rediscovering and then improving on his form of two seasons ago (and remaining healthy so that we don’t have to endure Fabianski). If he doesn’t, and it is unlikely, then the fans will most likely be forced to suffer for another season, many conscious that the short-term has been sacrificed again for the untested potential of youth.Arsenal have made a decent start to the season. A creditable if blunt point at Anfield and romp in the sun against Blackpool told us little, while victory against Blackburn spoke of renewed enthusiasm and determination. But the season has hardly started. The churn of games, the arrival of high-pressure clashes with fellow title contestants is on the horizon and this squad will need to show steel it has not yet managed. The run of fixtures and competition from elsewhere in the league is more intense than ever, but Wenger’s principles have not bowed. For everyone’s sake, including his but especially ours, let us hope he is proved right

  

• Berth says on September 2nd, 2010 at 8:57 am on Premier League Squad Reaction:

  Theo has improved undeniably but its still early days and we need performances like these against teams like Chelsea and united.

  

• Sam says on September 1st, 2010 at 10:32 pm on Transfer Deadline Day Round Up…:

  Chelsea have named just 4 homegrown players & L’pool have named just 21 overall. Will this affect their season? Sure, yes, right?!

  

• Sam says on September 1st, 2010 at 10:15 pm on Transfer Deadline Day Round Up…:

  VJ – who says Gomez is better than Almunia?! Have you forgotten his blunders when he started out at Sp#rs?

  I’ve been so looking forward to a world class keeper (by the way, Heart is still unproven), but since the transfer window closed, Almunia is my No. 1.

  A keeper’s confidence & performance depends largely on the defence in front of him. Let’s hope our GK & defence can inspire each other.

  

• RVP says on September 1st, 2010 at 9:29 pm on Transfer Deadline Day Round Up…:

  what is our 25 man squad ?

  

• vj says on September 1st, 2010 at 5:23 pm on Transfer Deadline Day Round Up…:

  Compare our teak and spurs team
  GK
  Almunia vs Gomes,, Gomes wins

  RB
  Sagna vs Corluka,, Sagna wins

  CBs
  Dawson vs Vermaelen,, Vermaelen wins

  King vs Squillaci,, Squillaci wins

  LB
  Assou-Ekoto vs Clichy,, Clichy wins

  Midfield
  Song beats Huddlestone and Palacios, but they beat denilson

  Cesc beats Van der vaart and modric

  Walcott beats lennon

  Strikers

  Don’t even talk spurs Van persie and chamakh can be defoe and crouch every day

  I haven’t mentioned Bale, hes very good, love to have him

  As for depth They have more depth in defense with Bassong Gallas, but we have nasri, rosicky, ramsay, diaby, wilshere, bendtner, vela

  this is to quell any fears arsenal fans might have about spurs being stronger now, we have a good squad, I believe that Almunia will step up because he knows hes out by January if he dosen’t, this may be a blessing in disguise. We have cesc and van persie back, Squllaci will play, Walcott is on fire, If we can string together 4 or so wins we can worry chelsea when we might them next month at the bridge

  

• andrew says on September 1st, 2010 at 5:00 pm on Transfer Deadline Day Round Up…:

  @kameron

  Excellent contribution. Please post again soon.

  

• GLONDON says on September 1st, 2010 at 4:52 pm on Transfer Deadline Day Round Up…:

  I just hope wengers plan not to sign a keeper and defensive midfilder doesnt backfire – Can you imagine the Drog up agianst us – God i am praying already

  

• GLONDON says on September 1st, 2010 at 4:52 pm on Transfer Deadline Day Round Up…:

  we don’t need VDV – a good player yes – but not need at our club where we have enough of creative players.

  

• goonerman says on September 1st, 2010 at 3:56 pm on Transfer Deadline Day Round Up…:

  the one thing im waiting for and i simply cant wait is for a spud fan in the heat of the moment becuase im always having arguments with my spurs mates, they will say van der vaart is better than fabregas and at that point i will physically piss my self with laughter!

  

• goonerman says on September 1st, 2010 at 3:46 pm on Transfer Deadline Day Round Up…:

  we cant be addidng someone like van der vaart to the team just becuase hes going cheap, would he get in the starting line up?? i doubt it hes similar to rosicky nasri and even wilshir let alone hed be behind cesc anyway plus the others allready have premier league experience and know the arsenal way! he will add quality to their team but he is no world class player

  

• Nick says on September 1st, 2010 at 3:36 pm on Transfer Deadline Day Round Up…:

  I’m behind Almunia. I have to be because he’s our #1. I personally don’t understand the reasoning behind making a move for a #1 keeper like Schwarzer unless you are really gonna do everything to get him. Just throwing out an offer, another offer and then not signing him is just risky in terms of unsettling your teams #1 as is. It’s one thing if it’s a young guy you want to bring in to mold and coach up. But a keeper like Mark would most undoubtedly be brought in as #1 and that will wreck the confidence of your current. And when he can’t afford to lose any more confidence it’s a very risky play.

  Also, pissed if Spuds do manage to finalize their deal for Van Der Vaart. For 8 million that’s a steal and we should’ve landed him for that kinda $$$. I love his play and will hate to see him in a Spuds kit.

  

• Bonathan says on September 1st, 2010 at 3:32 pm on Transfer Deadline Day Round Up…:

  Yeah, we’l just have to make do with what we have. Until january at least.

  I must admit, shay given and Igor Akinfeev would have been the two options that i’d have got excited about. Don’t think much of schwartzer or Lloris anyway.

  given wasn’t allowed to come and akinfeev was young enough to severely disrupt the development of our 3 promising young keepers, currently headed by the amazing flappyanski!!

  Let’s hope he’s worth it!

  

• Rasmus says on September 1st, 2010 at 3:30 pm on Transfer Deadline Day Round Up…:

  Yeah, we’l just have to make do with what we have. Until janruary at least.

  I must admit, shay given and Igor Akinfeev would have been the two options that i’d have got excited about. Don’t think much of schwartzer or Lloris anyway.

  given wasn’t allowed to come and akinfeev was young enough to severely disrupt the development of our 3 promising young keepers, currently headed by the amazing flappyanski!!

  Let’s hope he’s worth it!