Top of the league and top of the world.
I used to love cars. Spent a fortune on them over the years.
The one I loved the most was a 1966 MGB Roadster. I bought it in 1990, it had been restored lovingly to concourse condition by an enthusiast who came on hard times during that particular recession.
I saw the pictures of it before the chap had worked his magic. Even then it looked nice and he said it had always been reliable. But afterwards? Oh, it was a thing of beauty. Stainless steel wire wheels, leather upholstery – the whole nine yards.
Of course he might have not bothered and simply sold it and bought a nice new Golf GTi. Thankfully he didn’t. He worked with what he had and in the end he produced a work of art. Can you see where this is going?
Yes? Thought so.
Well our wonderful set of players are quickly turning into a thing of beauty. Just as my MGB was.
Even when, like yesterday, it’s just cruising around in second gear.
I thought yesterday was a very professional job. We started off totally dominant although never getting into top gear. After the Welsh Wizard scored the opener, we dropped back into second. And paid the price. Not that an equalizer had looked on the cards, but we had stopped dominating.
But what happened next?
Well we moved up into third again and wrested control back. And it looked like we could , if need be, move through the gears further if it became necessary. It looked to me that the many games this eleven has played recently meant they were happy to conserve energy and win with as little physical exertion as possible. That’s what we did.
Three points and top of the league.
I don’t want to go over the top in praise of the team, because it could come back to bite me on the bum.
However, I am as happy with this team and squad as I have been since 2004.
I love this bunch of lads and I love what I am seeing.
Happy days.
Positively Arsenal 
One time. Sure of it.
LikeLike
And where did DUPS go to??
LikeLike
Like others, I am astounded by these early Arsenal quotes. I suggest PG embed one or two into or below the masthead of PA, with the date, or even without might be better.
LikeLike
trying to pick my team for tomorrow.
is fabianski injured? if so then viviano may start. jenko will come in for sagnavaro, nacho for gibbs. wenger may want to use tomorrow to see if arteta and flamini can complement each other, i see two of them starting. if walcott is not fit then one of apom or ryo will play. giroud will play if walcott is not available. we need players upfront who have scored goal recently. plus bendtner hasn’t played any game in a year. we are playing westbrom so no need to take too much risk.
viviano
jenks mart vermaelen nacho
arteta flamini
serge ozil ryo/apom
giroud
LikeLike
Giroud can’t play its not worth the risk, chuba scores goals for fun if supernic isn’t ready, art, nacho, Jenks, TV are certain starters with the other positions taken up by some of serge, ryo, Hayden, eilsfield, frimpong, nico, oolson, with maybe even a few others like boo on the bench only kos of the recent first eleven will be included
LikeLike
Those are great quotes. Isn’t it striking how well written the pieces are, and just by an ordinary bloke. Puts us to shame. Well, not steww and the fine writers at PA, but most of us. (banned smiley face)
Remember Herbert Chapman’s book, reprinted for members a couple of seasons ago? That read like an Arsene Wenger handbook – the same resonance through the ages. That’s what continuity of club values means.
LikeLike
@ arse_or_brain
Trouble is, loads of our great kids are injured – and I think Frimpong isn’t totally fit. It’s going to be a real problem for the manager.
LikeLike
ZIMPAUL
I like that idea very much. The best lime from the old program up top showing the continuity of the ARSENAL traditions from inception to 2013. For all to see and read every time and know who we are and what we shall never become..
In form Swansea and Napoli are waiting in the wings and THEO’S injury is a bit of mystery so we don’t know if he will be available soon. FABIANSKI isn’t on the injured players list so for me he gets the call. CARL, TV, MONREAL, AND THE SACKER.
ARTETA, RYO & NICOLAS B also get the call. I would give GNABRY A START. TWO MORE PLAYERS from the youth rank . Maybe even HYDEN for SACKER. strong enough but a bit disjointed since they haven’t played together much. Protect the first stringers for the difficult games coming up.. These guys should be able to get a good result.
LikeLike
HAHA. FUNGUN & A OR B. BEAT ME TO IT. Sorry for repetition.
LikeLike
EndOfAnEra.com ……..still laughing…
LikeLike
dc:
You’ve certainly got those rules correct. I’m stunned by their simplicity and accuracy.
100% pass for Arsenal reffing rules, but you may have to add ManU rules too. Say, : Kung Fu kicks, Handballs in their pen. area, last man pulling down opponents, etc
So yes, you’ve passed the theory test, and in order to obtain your FIFA badge I guess you’ll have to do some kind of “physical” test???
LikeLike
Passenal,dc & Evil
Great stuff from W Arsenal’s early programmes. I feel emotional when reading that stuff – because that is how I think about the club. Pure class.
shottagunna@10:32 pm
Thanks for documenting the crap written about Arsenal’s finances.
Aman
Thank you.
LikeLike
Rantetta
Thanks.
I think Steww might appreciate where I got the idea for the three laws, if he is as big a nerd as I believe him to be. (Winky smiley face).
LikeLike
rantetta at 10:29 am
Re Finances – I don’t think I am over-reacting. Already the Guardian, which btw is the simply a purveyor of stupidity and conventional nonsense about English football, is already stoking the idea that cash = profit and that Arsenal should go on a spending spree. Of course they use the whingeing of AST as the leverage to stoke the fires.
http://www.theguardian.com/football/2013/sep/23/arsenal-supporters-investment-club-profit
LikeLike
Shotta
You are spot on. AST and Payton need to be pulled-up, big time.
Looking at the finances, the Özil deal looks even more audacious for the club than I originally thought.
LikeLike
I’m all for peace love and understanding but anyone who is happy to get splinters in their Arsenal whilst denying the malicious stupidity of the AST can fark right orf. Pardon me.
LikeLike
The End has passed and whilst staring into the depths I may have missed the beginning of the next volume.
Arse.
LikeLike
sorry but i dont agree with this whole arsenal tradition nostalgia, at least not in the universal sense i understand it today with Wenger;s principles and philosophy ingrained not only in football department but his sophisticated european /worldwide approach on off pitch related activities.
The manner he talks is not the traditional manner of arsenal managers talking or any english managers historically. The manner he searches for footballers and what he looks for is not the same as what previous managers were looking for in the 30s 40s 50s 60s 70s 80s etc etc. He looks for flair, intelligence, technique and internal drive, before him they probably just looked at ohysical attributes ONLY). The type of football the teams play from youth to first team has nothing to do with past traditions. Even the profile and character of the players is totally different, even moreso for their skill/technical package. The idea to not talk/ tap up/provoke as to disturb other clubs is not arsenals tradition its Wenger ethical business practices which have transmitted from him to the whole of the club. The idea to focus on world class academies and insisting on an attacking philosophy with one touch football was certainly not part of arsenal’s tradition before him. The way i see it, it is Wenger’s sophisticated and superior international football culture that has transmitted on to local arsenal and passed on as a kind of tradition that was always there.
Two decades ago we had players collapsing on the grass due to previous night’s alcohol and drug abuse, a manager taking money under the table, and as for history many talk about norris bribing to get arsenal to stay in the first division….i dont know if its true..i wasnt alive to see the facts and determine…. Yes indeed you could say that im harsh. There is nothing as classy as an henry a rosicky or an arteta about dein, graham or any of the players we had before wenger…in fact you could term us as totally classless during those years. We would beat people for the 1-0 ….. and our players were surrounded by scandals. the only “scandal” i have heard off in the last two decades re: arsenal players was bendtner caught with his pants down outside a club……..
it is my opinion that arsenal was a typical mediocre london team with patches of domestic success scattered around 110 years of existence, a club which wenger turned into a world class 7 star hotel…when you rise up the ladders you also change your behaviour…..the areas wenger has taken this club were virgin territories for the club so how can anyone claim that the club always had the class and tradition it enjoys today…we got our first european champions final in 2006…….
if youre talking about internal traditions …like keeping the same furniture, curtains and colours to move to the new ground and antiques , or having newcomers sing in the dressing room and all that then ok but that has nothing to do with the universal class and respect we receive today due to our ethics in football practices on and off the pitch.
LikeLike
“He looks for flair, intelligence, technique and internal drive, before him they probably just looked at physical attributes ONLY).”
That so Hunter !
Just luck we signed Dennis then ?
Baffling how we ever ended up with Liam Brady ?
David Rocastle ?
David O’Leary ?
Or George Armstong ?
Or George Eastham ?
We have a history of nurturing young talent, and of signing very good players and improving them. Bugger all to do with ‘physical attributes ONLY’
It started long before Arsene
It will continue long after Arsene
LikeLike
Hunter, true that Wenger revolutionised English football, has kept Arsenal competitive even against the odds and has built squad after squad that plays exquisite football.
However, what I think the other commentors are referring to is the class and morals of Arsenal. Arsenal might have been average, typical English team. The point is that, (as shown in the program notes from Highbury), Arsenal as a club have always strove to be morally decent. Values such as not physically hurting the visiting opponent are high values indeed, even in today’s football.
Just as Wenger made us into one of the most amazing teams in the world, the club also provided an environment and backing for him to do that. Imagine if Arsene was at Chelsea. Even with all the firepower there, defeats would happen. Can you imagine Wenger’s response to Abramovich when the latter strolls into the dressing room and questions his tactics? How long do you think Wenger would have been there to prove his incredible talent?
LikeLike
Just luck we signed Dennis then ?
there are books that suggest that wenger asked for that transfer in the year before he joined when negos were ongoing between him and dein. before joining us wenger was approached also by olympiacos. wenger asked for stadium and training ground as absolute minimum. Thank god them useless cunts in piraeus had none such things or else history could have been different.
the history of norturing young talent was made with englihs/brittish ideas in mind….not the universal/international standards we see today. right or wrong?
when you say very good players what are the criteria? good for english type football only?
LikeLike
I am sure that at every stage of our history (including the recent past), we have fallen short of our standards in some areas some of the time. The drunken period doesn’t represent the entire century and a bit of Arsenal tradition which preceded AW. And if we are brutally honest, not every season of AW’s 17 in charge has been a festival of scintillating football – but he has always aimed to follow his philosophy of beautiful football. The point is that we aspire, and the aspirations are remarkably consistent over time, if you look at the programme as an example and Herbert Chapman’s handbook as another example. The move from Plumstead to Highbury was as audacious as the move from HIghbury to Ashburton Grove.
Arsenal is the most or second-most important manager Arsenal have ever had. His innovations changed and influenced not just his club but English football. However, you are confusing the evolution of Arsenal into a global football club, which AW did have, and is having a major hand in, with the establishment of Arsenal as a venerable football institution, which predates AW.
LikeLike
Hunter,its no more fair to look at a low point of Drink,drugs and bungs,as it is to look at a high point of invincibility.
Class ,it appears,has always been the bedrock of the club.
LikeLike
Meant to say “Arsene is the most important…”
LikeLike
As to Herbert Norris, get over to Untold Arsenal and ask Tony Attwood for the full story and the context.
LikeLike
Hunter, true that Wenger revolutionised English football
He revolutionised Arsenal most of all…and consequently english football as a whole yes.
his training policies
his managerial policies
his financial mind to deal with player values and contracts thus giving arsenal competitive advanatge on and off the field
his football playing policies
his communication policies
his academy policies
his player recruitment criteria and transfer policies
the stadium design, construction etc
the temperature and length of the grass on the pitch
etc
which of the above were part of Arsenals tradition then?
Arsenal had a lot to learn to be able to stand in the elite salloons wenger brought us…these seminars of behaviour and practice were not part of the clubs culture before him
and as for morals……again i will say that wenger;s morals have transmitted onto Arsenal same way his class has. they are the same thing.
LikeLike
Hunter13 – Doesn’t do shades of grey, only black and white.
Oh Hunter, our Hunter.
LikeLike
the club also provided an environment and backing for him to do that.
ok fair enough ….but in my eyes when youre a bit primitive and an intelligent being comes and shows you the civilised way and the way of progress and you feel and you can see that there is a lot to learn form this intelligent being, you DO provide him the support.
they were in the dark, operating the club like a small corner shop…when wenger opened their eyes and showed them the “new world” they would have been mad and stupid not to let him in total control.after all he knew more than all of them combined.
LikeLike
lol its not balck and white…just brutally honest.
LikeLike
However, you are confusing the evolution of Arsenal into a global football club,
but that is my point….. today we are BIG…..because wenger got that local mediocre club thinking internationally and globally instead of locally…
LikeLike
thinking and acting
LikeLike
@ hunter
Not honest, just confused. AW himself gives credit to the board for their courage and ambition.
One correction as an example – the stadium plan was hatched before AW came along. He had input into the design of the stadium, he prescribed the pitch, he wholeheartedly backed the idea – but you simply cannot dismiss the contribution of Danny Fiszman and Keith Edelman, for example. They are the ones to whom we owe the conception of the stadium and the financial plan which has seen us arrive at this point. The board wanted to take a great leap forward and in AW they found they had a manager, perhaps the only one, who matched and understood their ambition and could steer the football club through that period and beyond.
LikeLike
Shotta
There’s no question or evidence of you over-reacting.
Thanks for the link to the Guardian piss. In the early 2000’s I loved this rag, and the OSM. (Observer Sprots Monthly). During the 90’s I fawned at David Lacey, and on one occasion I saw Richard Williams give a speech in a pub in Marylebone – which made me swoon.
However, somewhere along the line I realised that – for all that newspaper group’s exposures, they ****ing hate Arsenal and all it represents. Thus ended my love affair with them – a long time ago. They are after all (as fellow Untolder, bob, has pointed out long ago – the Manchester Guardian, regardless of offices in Farringdon).
From: http://www.theguardian.com/football/2013/sep/23/arsenal-supporters-investment-club-profit
Arsenal’s chairman, Sir Chips Keswick, talked up the signing of Özil – calling him “one of the world’s best players” – but said the club would continue to follow a prudent course.
“It is my job to ensure we steer further along the course we have set,” he said. “We must continue to grow commercially to provide the club with the best opportunity to achieve success and we must do this in a way which remains true to our values and which ensures and protects the long-term sustainability of the club.”
“He underlined, however, that significant sums remained available for Wenger to spend, if he deemed it necessary.”
This quote directly above is from Owen Gibson, the writer of the article.
No, Owen Gibson, Sir Chips said ” the club would continue to follow a prudent course.”
Sir Chips didn’t say that significant funds remain available, which is why there’s an absence of “s (66’s and 99’s. Dats wot der called, innit?).
All of that is just a little bit of the whole article. An article that panders to the extremely narrow view of the AST, and an absolutely minuscule representation of the Guardian’s anti-Arsenal rhetoric that has been published FOR YEARS!
The amount of weight given to comments from AST is disgusting, in my opinion. The article panders to the SSFM (spend some ****ing money) brigade.
So, Shotta,
No chance of “over-reaction” on your part.
Merely a big thank you from me for pointing out some of the stuff published (in just ONE publication) that panders to Arsenal haters (not “supporters”).
LikeLike
What happened to that idea for an open letter along the lines of “The AST/Tim Payton do not represent the views of Arsenal fans”?
LikeLike
from cavemen to james bonds
from riding bicycles to flying jets and nasa spacecrafts
from a sailing boat to a nuclear submarine…
fungunner the satdium plan might have been on the cards since the 70s or 80s but only one person made it possible with his success and attraction of world class footballers, sponsors etc…and ability to balance it all with modern football requirements…he didnt do it alone…im not saying it was all wenger….but the way the club THINKS and OPERATES today are methods which are not exactly traditionally english/brittish…
i will admit that the commercial aspect of running the football club is proper western, english american capitalist way ( marketing, selling merhcandise to less developed countries etc) and even that was found wanting for the past 15-20 years. However anything else besides commercial , anything that has to do with football related activities on and off are in my mind an import of Wenger.
LikeLike
Hunter,If you cant credit the club for having the courage to appoint Arsene and the belief to allow him his head,then you are no better than those who insist the club was “great” before he tipped up.
There can be no question that Arsenal were special(in terms of the domestic game) and were for 100 years before Arsene arrived.
LikeLike
Could it be that Mr Wenger was aware of Arsenal’s history, inc. their early aims and ‘marketing’, and that those – as well as Dein’s input – were deciding factors in Arsene accepting the job in the first place?
LikeLike
The board wanted to take a great leap forward and in AW they found they had a manager, perhaps the only one, who matched and understood their ambition and could steer the football club through that period and beyond.
I think its the other way round. The will to do so might well have been there by board but the execution method and the hows of it where totally unknown and lacked the experience or even the strength. Strength to develop came from wenger;s success. Success came because he was way too forward in his thinking and planning in comparison to anything english football had experienced before.
LikeLike
rantetta September 24, 2013 at 12:57 pm
parts of it yes ..but not all of that. Arsene was lookign for the standards to be of sufficient quality for him to work on and improve. As long as we had a stadium and training ground whcih were ‘ just good enough” and since it was in England, in a league that is more serious than say the portuguese or the greek or any south med one, he had no reservations in joining. Also back then english clubs were known for allowing managers time to work on their ideas. something that wasnt as popular in say italy.
LikeLike
pedantic george September 24, 2013 at 12:56 pm
100 years of what though? 100 years of the class we see today? no chance….
im not discrediting the club george just telling my version of the truth…its like lets say when you or i were eating with our hands sitting down on the ground and someone came and showed us to eat with knife and fork on a table with a plate ….
LikeLike
The way the club thinks and operates today *is* traditionally Arsenal. We have always aspired to being classy, we have always tried to innovate and look ahead, to think big while remaining a “family club” and not forgetting our roots and support. Sometimes we’ve failed, is all. Some of the specific characteristics of Arsenal FC today are down to AW, but the tradition of thinking big and behaving with class and dignity is not.
LikeLike
ok forget class cause i understand the word differently than you guys so lets just replace class for level…. (?) ..does that help ?
right then, the level arsenal operates in and the level of sophistication in training, playing, transfers, communications with rest of industry etc is the kind of level that Arsenal had never reached in 100 years of existence till someone grabbed us from the hand and guided us there…..
is that better?
LikeLike
“the history of norturing young talent was made with englihs/brittish ideas in mind….not the universal/international standards we see today. right or wrong?”
Not sure where this might be going Hunter – are you suggesting Herbert Chapman was deficient in not signing up a few German/French/Italians during the late 20s or 30’s ? Are you taking Bertie Mee to task for not signing Beckenbauer and Gerd Muller ? Perhaps George should have snapped up Roger Milla in 1990 ?
Unless I have totally forgotten my football history it was very, very rare for any overseas player to play in the English Leagues before the mid to late 80s. The manager who probably did more to encourage the influx was Bobby Robson at Ipswich it Thijssen and Muhren were a great success, and the slow trickle they started has turned to a flood with the funds available since the advent of the PL.
I don’t think Arsene invented buying overseas players either for Arsenal or in the EPL. What he is good at is getting the best out of the players he has. He is not the first of our managers with that talent and he will not be the last. As Arsene himself has said he is not interested in the origin of a players passport
LikeLike
Some of the specific characteristics of Arsenal FC today are down to AW, but the tradition of thinking big and behaving with class and dignity is not.but the tradition of thinking big and behaving with class and dignity is not.
hmmmmm i dont want to disappoint you but the words associated with asrenal ebfore wenger were words like
boring
thuggs
drunks
gamblers
under the table money takers…..
this is not my personal discovery…this is what i came to know Arsenal as….when i got on board this voyage. Arsenal represented everything that is the complete opposite of what it represents today…
as for our football style…well….. the less said the better….lol…
LikeLike
Unless I have totally forgotten my football history it was very, very rare for any overseas player to play in the English Leagues before the mid to late 80s.
and why is that you think? is it cause this league and the football here was a bit primitive..??
LikeLike
I don’t think Arsene invented buying overseas players either for Arsenal or in the EPL. What he is good at is getting the best out of the players he has. He is not the first of our managers with that talent and he will not be the last. As Arsene himself has said he is not interested in the origin of a players passport
i never said he was the first to bring foreign players to england , but he did it to gain advantage for arsenal and went against the TRADITIONAL logic of the country’s league that wanted english/brittish lads getting stuck in eachother and to play a brutal game of hardmen bashing eachother running around like headless chickens.
LikeLike
but anicol…not caring about players passport being english is something he got heavily critisised for.
why did he get critisised for it then if it was the norm to have foreigners playing here?
LikeLike
“hmmmmm i dont want to disappoint you but the words associated with asrenal ebfore wenger were words like
boring
thuggs
drunks
gamblers
under the table money takers…..”
And now Hunter the words ‘associated’ are – unable to win any silverware, fans screwed over season after season, Boooooooed off the Emirates pitch, sell their best players, manager’s a dictator, end of an era etc.
Yes there are always idiots around
LikeLike
“but anicol…not caring about players passport being english is something he got heavily critisised for.”
By Alan Pardew Hunter – I did not realise you took the Newcastle’s manager opinions so much to heart – although he was at West Ham then I think
In fact I do not think anyone takes Pardew’s opinions seriously
LikeLike
We have always aspired to being classy, we have always tried to innovate and look ahead, to think big while remaining a “family club” and not forgetting our roots and support.
^^^^ seriously now? ……always?
thinking big? like how big? madrid big? bayern big? ajax big? milan big? or do we mean big for england and locally in the area? look ok perhaps we have a difference in interpretation of the words “big” a/o “class” when it comes to football…its cool….i never meant to offend…its just that tome big is seriously big and we were never in that category prior to wenger and in terms of class i think of buffon lippi wenger baggio van basten cruyyf maldini bergkamp …lol…rolls royces ….. certainly not merson or ….o;leary…..please…
our roots and support? you eman the ones who want their ‘old arsena’ back ? they talk about roots as well …an era from which we have grown out from and gone on to better & bigger things…
LikeLike