Good Morning Positives,
An interesting evening at Gander Green Lane. The expected result and, on reflection, an evening that I probably should have expected. The non Leaguers came on in the same old way, and with our superior firepower we despatched them in the same old way. Twas it (almost) ever thus when a very big club meets a non League minnow?
I admit I had been hoping for a more resounding victory, three goals up at the half hour market least, and the chance to ease off for the remainder of the game before a 5-6 final count. That is not however the Arsenal way, and in spite of my jitters it made for a better match to watch, with Sutton still dashing forward until the final whistle.
Of our players I thought Rob Holding had a good game, growing assurance on a windy night and a pitch though flat had an unusual bounce and the speed of the ball across the plastic was slightly different to grass The Ox was probably our best player, albeit a late entry. Industrious at the back when he needed to be, willing to give us width going forward. I shall forgive his error in the final few moments as by them as in Munich, the result was never I doubt. And Theo of course, captain on the night and 100 goals up. To be honest Theo had one of his less effective games I thought last night and what the plastic pitch offered him in speed of movement and acceleration it seemed to reduce in his ability to control the ball. Good night for Perez again. As I have said before, other than two or three PL clubs, the Spanish striker would walk into most starting line ups in England.
The negative sides I believe Alex Iwobi has his ankle strapped and iced after the kick he took. And Jeff ? Not a good night for him last night, hesitant from the start and the game went on around him. Hard to recognise the player who performed so well, so confidently, in the last round at St Marys. I think a loan spell and regular week in and week out football for JRA an absolute necessity.
Our opponents, 293 places below us in the English Football League pyramid, or some such tosh, acquitted themselves admirably on what as probably a match they will remember forever. For a few, particularly Deacon, it must surely be a ticket to back into a league club and rekindling their former ambitions.
That is all from me today. I see we did not give Sutton a pennant at kick off – much to the hilarity of the BBC commentators. We are however a little classier than that.
We have a lengthy break before the next game, and it is a biggie. Perhaps a chance to relax and breath a little, for the players, the manager and above all the most important group of all at our mighty football club, the fans. Enjoy your week.
Positively Arsenal 
you know how Walcott despite scoring his 100th goal for the club yesterday, some AFC fans, journos, pundits etc still call him a failure. Well he has reached 100 goals not far over a 100 games sooner than Ryan Giggs, who these same AFC fans, journos and pundits would describe as an all time great. Theo has just 7 games short of 600 to score another 69 goals to surpass Ryan Giggs’s career total. Walcott has got his 100 goals in 370 games, so anything along the same rate of scoring over the likely remaining years of his career and he will easily surpass Giggs stats.
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Rich, God help Wayne Rooney if they ever decide to charge him for using expletives at match officials, he would be banned for years.
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another comparison for Walcott would be George Armstrong, he played 621 games for Arsenal, all but 14 of them as a starter, and he scored 68 goals. Isn’t it odd how we treat some players so differently to others
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more empty seats at the Etihad stadium than at the Emirates during a boycott
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Wenger should be given a one year extension for each of the fucks offs to Taylor
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According to Times journalist @hirstclass, any club – including rivals of City – can sign Joe Hart this summer for £20m.
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The achievements of George Graham as a manager of the Arsenal, cannot be ignored because of financial greed.
What the case displays, is what role did David Dein, play in this drama?
IF, David Dein was in control, surely he must have rubber-stamped the Graham purchases and sales?
The amount refunded by George Graham at some stage in the 1996/1997 Financial year was, £482,205. We are not told, how this sum, was arrived at!
Curious enough, I have download the FA charge sheet against Mr Wenger. The facts, and not the fiction.
So much tittle=tattle is produced by the EPL, FA, UEFA and FIFA, no wonder nobody at the Arsenal bothered to read the following excerpt, from an instruction by a functionary stuck in the bowels of the FA.
(iii) Once the Participant has left the technical area the Match Officials are
not required to ensure that this instruction is complied with. It then
becomes the responsibility of the home club’s stewards to ensure the
dismissed Participant is safely chaperoned to a designated seat in
the Director’s Box.
So, if a guideline, for a certain Mr Anthony Taylor, then he needs to rectify his ignorance, of his responsibilities at football stadia!
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reports that Gary Lewin has rejoined Arsenal to work with the Ladies team on a short-term basis for ten weeks
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next time we have Anthony Taylor as ref at the Emirates we need the entire crowd to chant over and over and over, especially on his dubious calls.
“you are dishonest to your federation”
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I think we might need Gary Lewin in the first team as well…..apparently now a renowned hamstring specialist…..great he is helping the ladies, but Rambo and Coq could do with his help
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From Walter the ref from UA
WalterBroeckx
21/02/2017 at 11:48 am
Menace I must say that I have experienced (and it wasn’t a pretty experience) that myself.
In my playing days (oh long long time ago…) once had a match (my second last one) with a bad ref who allowed all kinds of dangerous tackles.
Twice I has hit with a studs on my shin challenge and not a foul was called. My leg hurted and after the match I got a bump on my shin.
One week later… I played bad. I couldn’t hit the ball like I was used to but as I was rather two footed (not close to Cazorla of course) I used my left foot most of the time. And then….another lunge in the last minute of the match. Studs on my shin and crack. Not the Eduardo but the Ramsey legbreak.
That was the end of my football career at the age of 19.
When I talked with the doctor later on I mentioned the accident the week before and the bump and bruise I got from that match. He said to me that I probably will have suffered from a hairfracture in my bone and that it was only waiting for another hard tackle to completely give way. He said that even if they had taken an X-ray (we are talking of the early 80ies) they might have not been able to see it. But when there is such a minor crack the leg becomes different and so that explained my bad ball treatment in my last match.
If I had taken maybe one or two weeks off, the crack might have healed and the bone would have been strong enough to get kicked. But now it wasn’t. Oh, the last lunge was very similar to the Collins tackle in Iwobi.
And the point that makes my angry is that the ref and the media laughed it away. Just as the ref did in my second last match. I still feel angry about it when I think about it…”
Fins
Your comment on UA sums it up (as they all do) (injurously defiantly fkry smiley thingy)
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The departure of George from the club was, as the phrase goes, “shrouded in mystery” NOTH. Looking at the history books now you’d get the impression that once the accusations of the cash from Rune Hauge had been paid direct to the manager that the board immediately dismissed him.
My recollection is that the matter rumbled on for weeks and it was only as a result of the team’s poor league results that the sacking of George came about, and even then it was a reluctant move by the board who had no replacement in mind. In fact, according to the article written at the time, it was 4 months.
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/graham-vows-to-contest-his-dismissal-1574356.html
What is inexplicable is he had already paid the cash back to Arsenal, who accepted the money and allowed him to remain in his job and manage the team, the PL then had an enquiry which GG clearly thought was a kangaroo court, after which he was sacked.
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Apparently Wayne loves a pasty, occasionally THE PIE, whilst on the bench to help keep his moral up in the bitter eviscerating cold found at non-league games. Steww will vouchsafe that this is simply the truth. That a betting company have noticed Mr Shaw’s propensity and weakness for the warmth of a well-nuked bit of pastry is opportunistic but should not lead to damning incremination of the innocent participent of the tooth. Seriously did it affect the result? Um no. Betting corruption – look East, or West, my son for far worse. Other than hoping to God the Arsenal players do not decide that it’s the new nutritional superfood in which case we are truely doomed.
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Now on to something far more serious…. The truely heinious crime of stating “You are dishonest to your federation” to which a Mr Taylor decided was an indication that he was allegedly not an impartial person despite numerous examples of this being very accurate. My perceived explanation is that other than “you fucking cheat, you’re a W**nker” and other similarly basic English phrases that are screamed into his face most weekends by the captain of England, most of the Chelski and Ure (well nearly all the other Premier league) players and virtually all managers, there is the simple and unadulterated thought that perhaps Mr Taylor cannot comprehend the subtleties and the finesse of the statement and has misconstrued the message. Your imagination can fill in the blanks that the poor man had to endure whilst grappling with such a viscious and venomous assault.
The poor poor man.
Four games – simply a disgrace.
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I think, unfortunately for Arsene, he could and would have got away with a slap on the proverbial wrist for his four letter verbal tirade at Anthony Taylor – he apologised immediately afterwards, heat of the moment etc, no harm done.
The laying off on of hands though – on live TV – that uncorked the disciplinary bottle.
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Checked Twitter this morning to see a bunch of reactionary nonsense by a prominent podcaster about how AW and AFC have fallen behind because they can no longer sign the best French players.
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Good Morning, Mr Anicoll, sir, but have you been at the Vino this morning?
What or not, say you with on and off and uncorking disciplinary [wine bottles?]
— “The laying off on of hands though – on live TV – that uncorked the disciplinary bottle.”
I have enough trouble understanding them there words when they is in the Kerrect order, and all that – off on of – what dat? lol
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Anicol I have to agree about the contact. Personally if Mr Wegner deigned to lay his Godly hands on my mere person I would not wash for like forever and proclaim such a blessedness to the world on all forms of social and analogue media (also for like forever). But NOTH @ 20:16 regarding the due process does put Mr Taylor in a rather akward position. My view is that he deserved at the very least for his transgression a friendly Scottish kiss. Still bless the fragile soul.
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It is hard to believe that a jolly, round, Sutton man deciding to mess about playing up to his image and scoffing a pie at an inappropriate moment suffered the loss of his job because of it.
What an indictment of the pomposity of the FA and the other Betting authorities to pick on a guy who made no secret of his, perhaps, ill judged clowning around, instead they always fanny around when serious money, and doping is alleged common at league clubs elsewhere.
Where is the sense off on of that?
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I have usually moved on to decaf my this stage of the morning H so I think the little grey cells are over-firing !
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“he always refs Ars like that”
http://www.football365.com/news/michael-olivers-arsenal-record-and-other-referee-oddities
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Miss no chance of pulling the leg of any non-decafineited personage, say I. lol
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Sorry that should read Mr T receiving the Scottish salutation. Also thank you Henry for pointing out the early disgorgment of the disciplinary bottle. Completely missed, although apparently not by the tribunal whose early start is possible given their decision.
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Right – I am off to Untold Arsenal to be told more of the untold refereeing clangers or should that be clangorous? [lol]
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Anicol you will find that Arsenal sacked Graham right after an interim report by a Premier League inquiry into financial irregularities in the game had decided he had charges to face. Arsenal had backed GG up till that point, they even allowed him to sign John Hartson only a month earlier and Glen Helder only a week before his sacking. But once the PL report came out he was sacked right away.
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I know Eddy – that is what the report in the independent I posted the link to said.
What is less clear, if you read the 100 word statement from the board at the end of the article, is what it was in the PL inquiry report that caused the club to sack him on the basis of his not having acted in the best interests of the club. They knew what he had done. They had received £285k in payment from GG – which I cannot see the club was entitled to than GG if it was a ‘bung’ but allowed him to stay in post and manage the club for another four months.
If he had done wrong by taking the cash then sack him – gross misconduct. Why wait 4 months ?
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St.GG was sacked for trying to do what his mates like El Tel were doing?
And that AFC don’t concduct their business like the Tottenham’s of this world?
Is that the short version that could possibly be used to end the thread?
We could all just blame Vengaaaarggghh and happily move on (even though this all happened before his signing…)?
Have to say Young Pep rose in my estimation after his public disgust at the gaffers treatment from the hacks. Well played Pep.
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well it seemed the club was willing to stick with GG if the PL inquiry had not found enough evidence to charge him, but once they reported back that he was to face major charges that if found proven would lead to a ban, Arsenal washed their hands of him. some journos at the time suggested that David Dein was warned by friends at the FA that his position at the FA would be doubt if AFC did not take action v GG. It was also suggested that GG paying the club the £285K was actually an attempt by AFC and GG to subvent the PL inquiry and stop any major charges being brought against him.
The game was rife with managers getting bungs, but not only was GG the only manager to pay the price, Arsenal was the only club that had to put every detail of all transfers through the FA, so they could check that every penny was accounted for.
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Arsenal v Lincoln City
Saturday, March 11, 2017
Kick-off: 5.30pm
Live on: BT Sport
Read more at http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/20170222/date-confirmed-for-cup-quarter-final#bmKDAdDC7hvJxX5u.99
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on Friday Arsenal u23’s play Chelsea u23’s, kick off 1.30, and its live on Arsenal Player.
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Forget the brown paper bags that el tel and the like we’re using beforehand, Rune Hauge was used by many managers and he always operated in the same way ( a portion of the buying clubs payment would go to the manager and the fee the two clubs paid and received would never be the same). However once reporters in Scandinavia started investigating Hauge the cat was out of the bag and the F.A. needed to act and find a scapegoat quickly to take the fall. Ferguson had already taken many players from Hauge ( it was GG who introduced them) but having many friends and influence within the F.A. at the time it was important GG took the rap to stop people looking further. I have had this confirmed by both ex ARSENAL players and senior journalist.
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http://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/arsene-wenger-is-a-victim-of-his-own-success-at-arsenal-to-sack-him-would-be-unfair-says-liam-brady-a3473571.html
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A5, George Graham defended himself, by stating that he (GG) was a scapegoat.
Kate Hoey (former MP and Government Minister) was asking a lot of questions in Parliament, at the time. That lady, was a person of consequence, at the time in the Arsenal training camp. The real cause of the inquiry was the Sugar v Venables court squabbles, in the early 90’s.
I cannot find a copy of the Bungs Report (1997) by the FA. Graham was sacked because of the Interim Report.
In my opinion, any major cheques, would be countersigned by either David Dein, or Ken Friar as directors. Complete silence, on the part of the Directors.
George Graham, was a manger for Spurs – no defending a turncoat!
A long break, until the next cup final. COTG
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Henry WinterVerified account@henrywinter 1h1 hour ago
“Champions of England, you’ll never sing that” Leicester City fans to Sevilla’s.
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Bileys Mullet@BileysMullet
I hope Arsene Wenger is given a recording of Stewart Robsons advice and takes advantage of his huge 3 game managerial experience at Southend
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reports that Cazorla is out for the rest of the season, and that Elneny is out for 3 weeks with an ankle injury.
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How Wenger used Anthony Taylor to ensure FA ban wasn’t heavier
By Lee Hurley –
Feb 22, 2017
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Arsene Wenger’s legal counsel used footage of other managers who had been charged after bust-ups with officials but it was evidence about Anthony Taylor that reduced his ban to four games instead of six.
It was all about the ‘mitigating circumstances’ and the FA found that Wenger had enough of them to warrant a 33% reduction in his punishment. They initially wanted to ban him for six games.
Wenger’s lawyer, Mr Bennett, used video clips of Jose Moruinho, Rui Faraia, Mark Hughes, and two of Alan Pardew having run-ins with officials to try and set a base for the punishment, but the FA were unmoved. They found insignificant similarities to use them as precedent.
Mr Bennett then turned to the second charge, which had come about after Wengr had been instructed to leave the pitch and Anthony Taylor followed him.
The fourth official, who had reported to Jon Moss that Wenger had questioned their integrity (and told him to f**k off twice) reported that Wenger also pushed him twice.
Wenger’s defence was two-fold.
Firstly, he addressed the matter of him standing in the tunnel saying he was not clear on where he was to go. Although a letter had been sent around clubs clarifying this exact point, Wenger claimed that he had not read it. It’s a defence he’s used many times and one that I doubt would have stood up had it not been for Anthony ’don’t question my integrity’ Taylor giving Wenger the wrong instructions.
When telling the manager to leave, Taylor ordered him to the ‘dressing room’ rather than take up a position in the Director’s box. “However, the Commission recognised that Mr Taylor, in fact, gave Mr Wenger the wrong instruction in telling him to go to the dressing room which would seem to indicate that despite the issuance of The FA’s guidance letter there still remains some confusion with regard to the correct protocol attached to Technical Area Dismissal’s, even with the Official’s themselves,” it said in the FA’s report on the case.
Wenger also said that he felt that Taylor had invaded his personal space when he had pointed at him, and Wenger had reacted instinctively to push him away – an action for which he apologised after completing his media duties.
READ MORE:
Arsenal 11th in UEFA rankings
The FA found that Taylor had not breached any rules by following Wenger into the tunnel in the first place. The FA rules state that officials are ‘not required’ to ensure a person who has been dismissed from the technical area leaves the pitch. But it does not forbid them from doing so.
The question then, should be, if the fourth official is in the tunnel, who is doing the duties of the fourth official while play is going on?
It seems the confusion over the guidance regarding dismissals from the technical area, coupled with the game almost ending, the penalty incident, Wenger’s behaviour in the previous seven years, and his immediate apologies and acceptance of charges, all went towards keeping his ban at just four games.
That, and the FA finding yet another rule that Anthony Taylor doesn’t seem to understand.
“The Commission did not consider Mr Wenger’s contact with Mr Taylor as being particularly ‘violent’ in nature” the FA Continued.
“Mr Wenger had initially taken up a stance with his arms folded and the pushing actions he made were, to the mind of the Commission, more akin to Mr Wenger moving the Fourth Official out of his personal space and asking to be left alone than an act of overt aggression.”
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Eddie,
I am glad no one has taken up your invitation to press the button on your 10:05 — we all know that to do so would blow up the blog – very naughty. lol
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“The Commission did not consider Mr Wenger’s contact with Mr Taylor as being particularly ‘violent’ in nature” the FA Continued.
“Mr Wenger had initially taken up a stance with his arms folded and the pushing actions he made were, to the mind of the Commission, more akin to Mr Wenger moving the Fourth Official out of his personal space and asking to be left alone than an act of overt aggression.”
Now, can someone put this on a banner and send to all the pearl clutching journos and pundits calling Wenger’s push a 300 (movie) like violent action against Taylor which would lead to even more violent acts against the refs because we all know that there is nothing that English people love more than copying Wenger’s actions.
Thanks for posting this Eddy.
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For those who are keen;
http://www.thefa.com/-/media/thefacom-new/Files/Rules-and-Regulations/2016-17/Written-Reasons/the-fa-v-arsene-wenger-written-reasons-2017-final.ashx.
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There’s been a lot of right/wrong spoken about the pie…but did anyone have a pie at Sutton? To my greedy eyes, it looked lovely. Was it and how did it compare with those at the Grove?
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I have no doubt the FA will publish the results of their enquiry into the Sutton Reserve Goalkeeper Pie Scandal I am sure we shall all know the truth.
Don’t, just don’t, start me on catering in football grounds.
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Former Arsenal youth captain, Jay Emmanuel Thomas has had his loan deal at Gillingham canceled, he had scored 10 goals for them this season, but they have sent him back to QPR. The thing is that as this has been done outside the transfer window, he can not play for QPR this season. So he will have no first team football for the rest of this season.
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I’ll try this again – all theo’s 100 AFC goals
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Leicester hhave sacked Ranieri the wobs will be spitting feathers
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As a neutral (?) I’m spitting feathers
Football is rubbish
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That red card has to be wrong: Ali’s not that sort of player……
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Appalling challenge from deli Ali – fucking disgraceful – my humble opinion is the Spurs and England superstar has a screw missing – erratic, stupid, violent and totally selfish.
Three game ban a joke
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