Fulham. West London, down at the end of the Kings Road and near the river. There you go, ‘O’ level geography put to excellent use at long long last. I’ve never been inside Craven Cottage but I did walk past it once when lost and looking for the five million (one million if you believed the police) others who had invaded the capital for a CND march. Must’ve been 1983 and thank goodness I went as without my encouragement and support for unilateralism I doubt Gorbachev would have had the courage to eventually dismantle the Soviet Union.
I have heard it’s a nice ground, in fact a friend of mine prefers it to all others and he’s visited many of the professional stadia in this country so perhaps he’s on to something. As far as I’m concerned Fulham brings back memories of an unlikely cup run in the mid seventies. I was a teenager in that benighted decade and the FA Cup final was a firm fixture on everybody’s calendar. You watched it on the BBC, you flicked over to see if it looked any different on ‘the other side’, and you ran out onto the street at half time, case ball under your arm, to re enact the first half and again after the final whistle to relive the match with your mates. Ah the innocence of lost youth.
The seventies were an extraordinarily good time for me FA cup wise. The drill was to support Arsenal. Well of course. However in the unlikely event that they had failed to make the grade you had to select one of the two competing teams and get behind them as if your very life depended upon it. This made the final matter that little bit more. In adult life people use online bookies for a similar purpose. In any event we enjoyed the final regardless of who was in it, usually supporting the underdogs but always backing not Leeds and not Man Utd. Why was it such a purple patch for me? Well, despite having to fill in with proxy support for the likes of Newcastle, Sunderland and Southampton I still got to witness Arsenal play in no less than five finals between 1971 and 1980.
The only game I couldn’t really get excited about in all that time was Fulham versus West Ham in ’75. The West London side should have ticked boxes. Playing in the second division conferred unquestioned underdog status, and they had the fading legend that was Bobby Moore playing for them, which was precisely the sort of stuff I needed to have them as my team for the day. For whatever reason that year it dawned upon me at around 9.30am, and about half way through Cup Final It’s A Knockout, that I actually didn’t give a stuff for either side. I cannot explain why, but if the word ‘meh’ had existed then it would have neatly summed up my feelings on the ’75 final.
Modern day Fulham is a rags to riches story beginning in March 1996 when they languished in 91st place in the football league hierarchy. They recovered from the edge of the abyss and then were moderately financially doped by the owner of Harrods and rocketed up through the divisions to the Premier league. They really are the antithesis of Arsenal in many ways, not least the endless manager go round with a succession of coaches as far apart in football philosophy as Keegan, Hughes and Hodgson. They’ve given us a few decent games in recent years and I don’t doubt that they’ll be stung by their most recent embarrassing scoreline and won’t relish another humiliation. So thanks for that Chelsea you bastards. They have a few players who know their way around a football pitch and a goalie who often seems to save his best for when they play us. However well or badly they perform today I just hope and pray that they don’t attempt to emulate Moyes shameful tactics on Tuesday night, which were quite simply unforgivable. And be honest who wants to see a pleasant young man like Phillipe Senderos sent out to try to injure a fellow pro? It’s a hideous thought.
Closer to home now, and we had news yesterday of a Positively Arsenal triumph. Our very own Mel O’Reilly has been working tirelessly behind the scenes to get the club to act more radically on it’s pricing structure and so the news of ‘Mel’s Scheme’ as the club will doubtless be calling it which broke across all major news outlets was music to our ears. In years to come the futuristic equivalent of bloggers will talk of how they first watched Arsenal because of the tenner teen ticket introduced under ‘Mel’s Scheme’ which made watching the world’s premier super club affordable to the meanest of incomes. Doubtless the statue will follow and the O’Reilly Stand should be a formality. Congratulations, and I hope this doesn’t mean you are now too good to comment on our humble blog.
On a personal note, I have to take my Mum out today, so if you see me I’ll have my phone off and fingers in my ears hoping like hell to avoid the result. The plan is to watch Arsenal Player on Sunday morning which in the past has turned into a real trial. When I first subscribed the good folk at dot com used to think it was a wizard wheeze to display the score prominently on the front page of the web site. In order to bypass this skulduggery I saved a short cut to the Player itself on my desktop. Then they decided to put the score below the video of the match itself. Genius. I mean that doesn’t destroy the pleasure of watching at all does it? I assume I wasn’t the only one to moan about this as they have subsequently taken remedial action and the score no longer appears on the day immediately following the match . However they are nothing if not cunning at the Arsenal. The people who run the site are as devious and mischievous as Tomáš Rosický turning pirouettes in amongst the opposition midfield for laughs (like he does). When you open the relevant page they have a still from the match in the window where the video plays. The last time I sat down, congratulating myself on managing to avoid any mention of the match all day Saturday and Sunday morning, I opened the page to see this still image, a freeze frame from the match and guess what? It was from the 82nd minute, at which point the game stood at 2 – 1 to the Arsenal. How did I know? Well in the top left hand corner of the image there was the time and the score. Absolutely fucking unbelievable. In the game in question we had been trailing by a single goal until very near the end and so all the tension and surprise , the anguish and relief were neatly, surgically removed for me. See, who says we are afraid to criticise the club on PA?
In any event, I’m not very good with that kind of thing so if you happen upon me treating my dear old Ma to a cream tea in Burnham On Sea this afternoon, best not mention anything about the match. I may be a pacifist who saved the world from nuclear annihilation, but things might still get a little messy.
Positively Arsenal 
Ideal world? EPL? Pfffffftt……HAAAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH……HHHHAAAAAARHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAA…uuuuurgh dearie me.
LikeLike
🙂
For an overseas follower like myself, Craven Cottage represents the quintessential english vintage.
Two different worlds eh?
LikeLike
Indeed, Arshavin23. Indeed.
LikeLike
“Against Everton it was a very physical game. Somewhere I feel that physically we were a bit jaded today in the second half, maybe because we gave a lot against Everton. I’ve seen that Everton lost at Sunderland. It was a very physical game on Tuesday night.
on the second-half performance…
I put it down to psychological reasons and to the fact that we didn’t want to be stupid. You are a bit under pressure when you play 11 against 10 because you think that with every foul you risk a second yellow card so they do not go in the challenges. The crowd is behind their team. it becomes a different problem. In the end, we have a fantastic spirit and that got us through.”
http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/wenger-on-red-cards-and-a-crucial-win
LikeLike
AW said it all really. Everton shot their bolt on Tuesday and made the game into a cup final. The result is that they are fucked and we are knackered. Week off now though.
LikeLike
Snap, Passenal
LikeLike
I think I have a problem with communication on this forum. It is alarmingly frequent that people misinterpret me or me them :(.
I have a lot to learn I guess.
LikeLike
Arshavin23 that’s exactly what I was thinking! It looks like a beautiful place on television…
LikeLike
You seem like a good sort, Arshavin23. Don’t be offended.
LikeLike
Slow on the comment button again means I need to clarify, Arsh23. I was referring to your comment re: Craven Cottage.
LikeLike
Oh it is a beautiful place. Alabamagooner. Best to go there in the summer on non-matchdays though.
LikeLike
Some history!
“It is located next to Bishop’s Park on the banks of the River Thames. ‘Craven Cottage’ was originally a royal hunting lodge and has history dating back over 300 years”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craven_Cottage
LikeLike
I’m sure that’s true, Frank! Winter wind off the river must be brutal.
LikeLike
There’s a Michael Jackson statue at Craven Cottage? I take back everything nice I said.
LikeLike
Arshavin23 – Don’t take it personal. You will discover Gainsy doesn’t hold his punches if he think he is right, which he usually is btw. But he is quick to admit it if he is wrong. Everybody has their own style.
As for Mel, he seems like a randy “old” goat. Someone tell his wife about Sian, please.
LikeLike
Will you please leave something to be published tomorrow?
I have just finished it and when I catch up with the comments people have raised all the point I make.Now it will look like i am a plagiarist
LikeLike
Fawk ‘en ‘ell that was harder than expected.
How come Fulham turned up all FA cup semi final style on us today?
Give credit to marriner and massy for making most of the calls right today. However i have watched Giroud’s tackle on replay on setanta TV several times after the match and he genuinely got a bit of the ball first- which would be justification for staying on the pitch if he was playing against the arse. Sidewall = 100% ladyparts.
BFG was motm at both ends, kozz was not far behind. Really worried about our midfield today but they were a bag of nerves.
A narrow pich like Fulham’s meant that going down a man didn’t make much difference to their defence.
Hold to the guns lads,
Hold fast!
LikeLike
Gains
I’m sure bbc tonight won’t show the camera angles I saw today.
Yellow at most, but as I said 100% contact with the ball first, and the follow through was downwards on top of the ball.
IF it was a dirty tackle I would call it against Giroud, but at the time i genuinely didn’t see it that way. I was w,arching it on tv not a t the match.
LikeLike
I myself have arrived at an Arsenal game at Craven Cottage by boat…..we lost and our fans booed Alex Song.
LikeLike
Frank,
Last year’s boat?
LikeLike
The whole place has had an air of gloom about it since Dodi bought it in a Paris underpass with Princess Diana.
LikeLike
Looked like a red so I don’t blame the ref but it wasn’t studs up. George, just make some shit up, I do and I seem to get away with it.
LikeLike
We won. F*ck ’em all.
A beautiful Spring day and the Arsenal got three points. Nothing can bring me down. Not even the thought of Stoke staying up. Nope, not even that horrific possibility. Nothing. Not even Alan Hansen. Hmmm. I must not watch MOTD. I must not watch MOTD….
LikeLike
November 2006’s boat, double canister
LikeLike
I suspect that the cunt who manages the cunts and the idiot child he has adopted will get the shock of their lives next Sunday. Just a hunch.
LikeLike
I stand corrected.
Think I saw that on YouTube, Frank!
Looked like a good day out – pity Fulham won, they have a weirdly good record against us. Today was bigger that the actual result – if you get me.
Twitchy lost again today, I just hope he hangs around for one more week so we get a chance to put in the coup de grace. He is now blaming mark Hughes on sky sports news.
I thought the Alex Song today thing was about him wanting to come back. He actually started tonight for barca.
LikeLike
Do you live near Muscle Shoals, Alabamagooner? If so I am sure that is just as good a Fulham which is actually in Putney really. Chelsea is in Fulham though, and West Ham is in East Ham.
LikeLike
Frank 9:57pm
No training required this week, all Wenger has to do is show the lads DVDs of the last 20 years of AFC vs manure matches.
We will see them ‘out here’.
I am really looking forward to giving Grecian 2000’s new pals the ass whopping they truly deserve.
Chance of Giroud appeal for red card = 0.05 / being a gunner.
LikeLike
I think that Olivier is an end of season casualty, DC. I will miss him and look forward to next seasons campaign with him leading the line, especially as I suspect that he will have another partner up there. Mustn’t grumble though. We will be OK. Third, I reckon.
LikeLike
I also think that change is in the wind. AW will stay and Arsenal supporters are gradually beginning to get it. EPL title next year anyone? I think that might be the case.
LikeLike
Ox and Poldi are pretty sure now to come good, n’est ce pas Frank?
And Gerv.
I am beginning to worry about Theo, but not at doomer levels. He needs to get physically involved in games when it is not going his way but there was no width today for him to find space at all.
LikeLike
I am sure we have options and I am sure that Theo will step up too
LikeLike
Frank 10:29pm
I think are hitting a nail on the head there mate,
AFC ‘supporters’ get what has happened for the last 8 years and know we are really nearly back to the best level of football we have ever had.
As for ‘fans’ fuck them.
Nobody chooses AFC, the gods choose You for AFC and every day of your life you have to show that you deserved that decision.
Loyalty is not optional.
unbelievable belief . Always.
LikeLike
DC, it would have been difficult for him on that tiny pitch.
Frank, I’ll be sad to see OG’s season fizzle out like that – he has been an important player for us and will be a loss. I just hope others can step up and do the business for the next four cup finals.
LikeLike
Frank 10:44pm
Agree, glad to see Theo bang one into the back of the net today without much Self doubt from him, the fact that it was off side was marginal, but at least he finished it well.
There is a great player inside Theo, we just need to get that bit more out of him. But as for his current efforts – I will not complain about our top scorer this season.
LikeLike
Whoa, Frank. Muscle Shoals? You are steeped in Alabama geography. I do not live near there, but in Birmingham. I do travel through frequently, though, as it is on the way to visit family in Tennessee. Although it is on the river, it is also a land of concrete building storefronts, fast food restaurants, and abandoned big box stores. Florence, on the other side of the river, is much more quaint and small town Alabama. There is a great golf course there, though, if you like that sort of thing. Part of the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail, that runs through the state. And thus concludes my stint as an employee of the Alabama Tourism Department.
LikeLike
Pass
Yes, narrow pitch space didn’t suit Theo today. However people forget even when he does nothing else, he stretches a defence apart and makes spaces for our midfield.
A win away at Fulham doesn’t happen every week. I could pick holes in each midfielders performance but that sort amature armchair coaching shit belongs on other blogs.
We won.
Spuds are shitting themselves.
Mr. banana peeling feet is being rushed back from his agents tour of European cities.
It looks like QPR and Wigan will be doomed when play them but the final game against Toons looks like a massive one for the Geordies.
We will win our next home game.
LikeLike
I believe that Muscle Shoals has hosted a number of popular beat combos in the past, Alabamagooner? As for ‘quaint’, we do that in England quite a lot. Authenticity is what we crave, warts and all. I, for instance have never seen a ‘big box store’.
LikeLike
I will be sad as well to see nothing more of Olivier this season, Passenal. Three game ban for such a tackle exemplifies all that is wrong with the game.
LikeLike
We can appeal that.
And win appeal? Suppose that would rely on a on a neutral and Impartial FA panel.
Fuck, who am I kidding?. He’s a frog so he must be guilty.
LikeLike
We would not win an appeal though we might just as well try it.
LikeLike
You are correct, Frank. There is a reason the Alabama Music Hall of Fame is in Muscle Shoals. And I suppose “big-box store” is a decidedly American term, but I’m sure you’ve seen one. Wal-Mart comes immediately to mind. Sadly, I guess that is “authentic” nowadays, although I prefer the locally owned, “mom-and-pop”, small town shops.
LikeLike
It really does seem as though we could try an appeal. If the ban gets extended, it would only be for that one more game anyway.
LikeLike
One of my close friends from many years ago is an anaesthetist and trained at Queen Eilizabeth Hospital in Birmingham (England’s second largest city). He has lived in the US for many years where of course he is an anesthesiologist. If you look up his credentials on the internet you will get lots of hits from companies who list medics in the States and every single one of them claims that he was trained in Birmingham, Alabama.
LikeLike
What a star you are, Alabamagooner. Thank you.
LikeLike
Why, Frank. You do know how to flatter a lady. (You need to hear that in the thickest Alabama drawl imaginable for it to work. Think Scarlet O’Hara…)
LikeLike
Motd:
Walcott free kick to kozz at back post who flicks across the goal for BFG to head it in 3″ off the ground.
I forgot to credit Theo’s big improvement in set piece delivery today, there were lots of good balls in.
Last 10 games: 8 wins 1 draw 1 loss. Same as manure. “Downward spiral tm”
LikeLike
Motd:
Sum total of motd analysis is shearer having a ‘feeling’ we won’t make top four.
Big ears smiles.
Bitter jock grimaces.
Ladyparts’ the bunch of them, is this worth the licence fee folks?
LikeLike
No.
Yes, Alan has a “feeling”. It’s just a feeling he has.
LikeLike
Nobody cares about your “feeling” Alan. You are not mystic f*cking Meg.
LikeLike