GF60 writes;
This was written some 6 years ago and at last we have to concede that St. Tott’s can have a break. But at least we have a pot to show for it and can claim that we’ve won the league, cup and shield on their home ground!
There are no games in the season that fill me with more terror than the Spuds. It’s 90 minutes of having a pulse rate way too high for an old fart, bitten fingernails, and nervous twitches…and that’s when we’re a few goals up.
Yes it has been 10 years almost to the week since the scrawny chickens raised more than a croak in the league against us. Our record since 1999…10 wins, 8 draws 0 defeats. But every year the tension gets higher. Every year, the thought that they could fluke a winning goal against us, or even worse a winning own goal, with their supporters carrying on as though they’ve just won the World Cup, the European Cup and Aunt Gladys’ tea cup, is sufficient to give any Gooner the horrors.
And that’s the biggest problem. Their supporters just have no class. It’s not a question of 3 points…or the loss thereof that fills me with terror. It’s the spuds rattling on ad nauseum that they are North London’s finest.
They do that regardless without even beating us; St Totteringham’s day being an unfortunate fluke; the absence of a Championship at the slough of despond for 48 years, a mere oversight. Of course we know it’s all bollocks but they still believe that wishing it to happen will make it happen. They are so pathetic.
They still get more pleasure from us being beaten by anybody in preference to their side actually winning a game. Which probably explains why they’re such a miserable shower…they get little in the way of happiness.
My first exposure to a derby probably explains my antipathy to most spud supporters (although many old friends are spuds!). Funny I’ve never disliked the side as such and used to visit regularly when we were away and they were playing some good football back in the 50s and 60s.
It was 1950, I was 8 years old. My gran, a spud I fear to say, had lost the battle for my allegiance 2 years earlier when I was taken to see my first game at Highbury, and decided that my Christmas present should be a seat next to her on the 23rd December.
Equipped with rattle and scarf I was in my element up until the moment that I realised that we’d lost 1-0. Then the tears came. As did the whispered comment from the spiv type sitting next to me, “That’s yer Christmas present yer little Arsenal shit.”
Now I’d never heard the word before and gran hadn’t heard the comment so nothing was said until I got home and asked Mum what a “shit” was. I got a clip around the ear and the warning that I’d get no Christmas presents this year or any other year if I ever said that word again. And the final blow…”no more watching football for you if that’s the sort of language you learn.”
That spud took out about 10 months out of my supporting programme and might explain partly my ethos that “If it’s bad for the spuds, it’s good for Gooners”
Having said that there is a big BUT. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I for one object to the fact that the Chel$kis and Manchester F***** United have taken the spuds previous pride of place in the jeering/taunting stakes. It’s not really our fault, the spuds have been more deserving of sympathy, a pat on the head and “There, there, there” than a good gloat.
They are the real oppo, always have been, always should be. Please may they never screw up another season like 1977/78 and get relegated… because a season without “the terror”, is so terribly boring. But it goes without saying that should the impossible ever happen… we screw up, St Tott’s day does not occur and we’ve been beaten by the spuds… it will be next century already so I can just roll in my grave.
Gf60
(Not quite the right one) 
Positively Arsenal 
Lovely, as relivant now as it was back then even after last season. In titles their are still trying to catch up with our 30’s total and in stadium terms they are still catching up with 2006.
All in all their still miles behind.
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Another good piece gf60, many thanks! Did your old Gran give you loads of crépe when she found out you became a Gunner?
My first derby game I had a similar experience, I was the same age as you, and some Spud who was about 30-35 came up to me on the way back to his seat ( I was standing up looking around like a twerp), and said to me ” take a seat and what your team lose”. Arsenal won 2-0. I was a bit scared as he seemed a bit unstable, and was throughout the rest of the game,I kept an eye on him as he was several rows in front, but really I thought ” what an weirdo picking on a kid!”.
Spud fans in the West stand didnt give a dang who they were sitting with that day and were really aggressive throughout the game. The NB was a war zone before the game, and I spent much of the game watching the fighting, and feeling terrified also watching people being stretchered away by the ST.J’s ambulance guys ( I always thought they were so kind and tolerant), there was also a load of fighting in the corner where the NB joined the West stand. It was all pretty over whelming watching seemingly “grown ups” beating the poop out of each other. Now I know its sadly normal!
But I agree it would be same with them pesky Chickens!
Thanks again! Cheers!
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Good read Gf60 and indeed as relevant today as it were circa 2011!
“their supporters carrying on as though they’ve just won the World Cup, the European Cup and Aunt Gladys’ tea cup, is sufficient to give any Gooner the horrors.”
Not much has changed. The Spuds, though a bit of an irritation of late, yet still as amusing as ever.
And I totally am with you on the ethos.
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Great stuff Gf and you’re right – even when the neighbours have been an awful football team they have somehow managed to rouse themselves to give us a serious game.
Makes you wonder whether, instead of the various crooks and incompetents they had in charge at the Lane (Scholar, Venables, Sugar among others), they had enjoyed good ownership they may have had a new ground 10 years ago.
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Congratulations to Ainsley Maitland-Niles who enjoyed a semi final win with England’s Under 20s in South Korea against Italy. The final against Venezuela is on Sunday, kick off 11.00 UK time.
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SV Werder Bremen ENVerified account @werderbremen_en
BREAKING: @SergeGnabry has activated a clause in his contract and will leave #Werder at the end of the month.
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I loved that GF 60 – we could have been down the pub, with you giving a real fan’s perspective on what is important and what is not, and highlighting an incident that relates to similar experiences that we all go thru at some stage – there are real shits in the world ready to dump on the young and the innocent.
I too have had friends who were, unfortunately for them, Spuds fans, and yet before we each knew of each others’ allegiances we got a long swimmingly and that never changed.
I knew you had great stories in you, and it was a pleasure to read of your experiences, thank you. I hope I am not being too demanding when I say, ‘More, please’.
So with my non-existent dictionary firmly grasped in my real hand, I had better buzz off before Anicoll realises I was even here! lol
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Begone unquiet sprit !
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Thank you GF60, for sharing your memories, for catching that unmistakable flavour of the football fan so neatly.
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Héctor BellerínVerified account @HectorBellerin
Don’t believe everything you read…
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That was great fun to read, thank you.
But I’m afraid I’m going to disappoint you. When I was growing up a Tottenham-Arsenal debate in some vacant parents living room was enough to inspire me to find more appealing company. And that was before I fell in love with footy (distracted by playing other sports for a while) just before the CWC run, so inevitably i saw Utd and now GazCorp-upon-Thames as the major rivals for AFC.
Levy’s genius business plan of appointing his contractor so late in the day (commission? Madness? Who cares!) means that the tinies tiny revival will probably not last. The theme park they are building would make Banksy jealous.
Having written that who here was not greatly amused on the last day of last season? Possibly the best end of season without a bauble that anyone could ever imagine. Tears for the tinies, tears of laughter in N5. And that’s before I get onto the lasagne.
I could go on but I’ve met and known so many graceful and football loving fans from the wrong half of north London (therefore Aw and latterly AFC appreciators) that I’ll stop there!
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‘Ektor ‘ain’t going nowhere. Not for a bit.
The clue is the accent. He’s gone native!
Another meme/story that was palpably b*ll*cks.
Season’s only been over a week and that’s two stinkers that people have been sniffing at. (Let us all hope that I’m wrong on one and not the other!)
You know that the cricket is on right?
How about l’boules?
And who could resist the old favourite of smacking oneself in the face repetively with a mouldy kipper? to be fair it’s great sport when compared to the transfer tittle tattle…
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However if ‘ektor had his leg broken on the eve of a WC when he was in the Spanish squad and the pgMOB crook standing in front of the play wouldn’t call even call a foul (we’ve seen a fair few of those!) then no one could begrudge him wanting to leave (how he would go about it would be another matter entirely).
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Emirates spokesman: “Emirates strongly denies the rumour about sponsorship of Arsenal’s kit coming to an end, which is categorically untrue”
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Kolasinac: “I spoke to our old coach, Norbert Elgert, who has a close relationship to him (Özil). He said he’ll welcome me really well here”
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–
Random tangent:
Conte, Young Pep, Deschamps were all deep lying CMs. I was going to write water carriers but I saw only a little of Guardiola.
Where did Big Weng play? I think it was in defence but of course the expertly written wiki page says less then the sweet FA on the actual footy. Must’ve been written by a blaggers!
Zidane is an interesting one. Undeniably a better football manager then the Agent’s donkey now braying in Manchester, and a fair few others too (he brought through Casimero into his first team where other coaches had not been as keen, and there have been other calls that indicate that he is a good coach).
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Im pretty sure the Big Weng was a midfielder fins…could be wrong though?
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wenger was a central defender, but never really played at much of a high level
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“Hild moved Wenger from midfield to central defence, where he was positioned as a sweeper in reserve games”
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I am amazed Tony Adams hasn’t claimed that is why Arsene won’t give him a job at the club
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How long before TA is on AFTV?
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the list of players released or not retained by BPL clubs will be announced tomorrow
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fins
Guardiola was a ‘Cerebro’ deep lying ,Conte high energy ‘Water carrier’
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The youngsters closest to stepping up
Jack Wilshere, Kieran Gibbs, Wojciech Szczesny, Hector Bellerin, Alex Iwobi.
The aforementioned five have all broken through under Arsène Wenger in recent years. So who does the manager think will be next?
“We have some young players who will join the squad next season,” Wenger told Arsenal Player. “Like Reiss Nelson, like Ainsley Maitland-Niles already. So they are two players.
“So we have quality players who might have a chance next season and hopefully we will be able to do that again because that’s part of the DNA of the club as well.
“The first quality we have that will be needed is to keep the [first-team] players together. The team has learned a lot, but to transfer that into the new season the first ingredient and the first request is that they stay together, that they fight together.
“So that’s basically my answer: let’s keep them all together.”
Copyright 2017 The Arsenal Football Club plc. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to http://www.arsenal.com as the source
Read more at http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/20170608/the-youngsters-closest-to-stepping-up#poPojOJ72HTIImm5.99
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Thanks Ed. Seeing those blue and white hooped socks brought back many memories.
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Keep em coming gf60. Newbies, like miself, need blooding. Lol.
PS: Must confess that during the Glen Hoddle era the Spuds were well regarded in Jca. We love a decent footballer. Note Sol Campbell had Jcan parents. Tells you how deep Spud loyalties lie. Ha, Ha, Ha.
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Charles WattsVerified account @charles_watts
Yaya Sanogo, Stefan O’Connor, Kristopher da Graca and Kostas Pileas will all leave Arsenal this summer.
and just to show the sort of idiot fans we have here is a reply to the above tweet
Berna Yaz 1890-a @IlqarSeferli 8m8 minutes ago
Replying to @charles_watts
Giroud ,Walcott,Coquelin,Elnneny,Debuchy,Mertesacker,Gibbs leave
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Arsenal release O’Connor, Da Graca and Pileas
Arsenal have confirmed that young defenders Stefan O’Connor, Kristopher Da Graca and Kostas Pileas will leave the club when their contracts expire at the end of this month.
O’Connor, who joined Arsenal as a schoolboy from Crystal Palace in 2010, broke into the second-string during his first season as a scholar and went on to make his senior debut against Galatasaray in the Champions League during the previous campaign.
The centre-back subsequently had loan spells at York City and Maastricht.
Da Graca arrived at Arsenal as a schoolboy in 2014 and also featured prominently for the club at U23 level.
Pileas signed scholarship terms two years ago and was involved with the U23s early last season but it had been apparent for some time that he would be released.
Rather strangely Glen Kamara isn’t amongst the players who have been let go, suggesting that the Finnish midfielder may have a year remaining on his contract.
Chris and Joe Willock are also out of contract at the end of this month, but the fact that they haven’t been released indicates that it isn’t a foregone conclusion that they will leave.
Posted in Uncategorized on June 9, 2017 by Jeorge Bird
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you know how I say we can’t blame the attacks of Arsenal by the media when Arsenal blogs are at it, well here is a headline by an Arsenal blog(daily cannon) about AFC releasing Sanogo
Official: Arsenal confirm comedy striker to leave
I ask you, how thick, stupid, ignorant and pathetic do you have to be to call one of your own players “comedy striker”. These attention seeking brigade have no shame.
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so from Arsenal’s released list we can see that either the Willock boys – Chris and Joe – have signed new deals, or at the very least the club are still in talks with them over new contracts and have till end of the month to get deals signed. Hopefully the club can get the deals done. Chris has made fleeting appearances for the first team already, although it may be worrying for the lad that Wenger has named a direct rival – Reiss Nelson – as someone who he expects to be part of the first team squad next season
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Sanogo is a better player than any of those people Ed. Whats tragic is the potential that is in him, couldnt quite squeeze itself out to get right to the very top, makes me feel pretty sad really. Im sure its tough for AW to let him go, as he could see the ability the lad has. These last months must have been tough?
But these ASB havent a clue how hard it is to even get to the standard Sanogo has. On a humane level, I hope the lad is alright and can still keep going and pick up somewhere else. And I hope his time with us doesnt leave him bitter.
Top be a profi and sustain it week in week out at a club like AFC is a tough one ( look at Vermaelen), the last thing the players need are the cruel judgmental sneers of cowards who could ever play themselves. Makes you wonder who the real comedians are?
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That’s a great photo of Rimmy Jimmer but I can’t work out when he played with Alexis Sanchez or is my eyesight getting really bad
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Rimmer Radford and Kelly – can’t make out who is behind the keeper but is John Pratt the Tottie?
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The man hidden by Rimmer in the pic ,I have a very strong suspicion is Alan Gilzean
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Krystian Bielik says that he is close to agreeing a deal to go on a season loan to Norwich City
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Ospina says that he has a contract at Arsenal, is happy at Arsenal, he wants to play more, and he could move, maybe to Spain, but his family are happy in England, so he will have to think carefully about his decision on his future.
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Alexis had an assist to give Chile the lead, one minute after coming on as a sub in the Russia V Chile game. It ended 1-1
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HT: Faroe Islands 0-1 Switzerland – Xhaka with a goal from the edge of the area
HT: Sweden 1-1 France – Giroud with the goal for France
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Giroud’s goal was outstanding, took down a cross on left side of the area and half volleyed it with loads of swerve into the top right corner of the goal. He is so under rated by so many Arsenal supporters it unreal.
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that was Giroud’s 27th goal in his 63rd game for France
now equal 8th with Benzema in their all time scoring list, Benzema has 81 caps.
Ollie is now just one goal behind 7th placed Youri Djorkaeff
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but the ASB say we should be spending £80M on Costa,
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Giroud’s goal
https://www.balls.ie/football/watch-olivier-giroud-goal-sweden-366754
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I guess that is what happens when you have a spud for a captain.
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FT: Sweden 2-1 France
Sweden now top their group, level on points with France, with Holland 3pts behind in third
Switzerland won 2-0 and are now six from six, 3pts ahead of Portugal, and a full 11pts ahead of 3rd placed Hungary
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OG
Masterly two touch finish
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reports from Russia say Arsenal have agreed a deal to sign 21 year old midfielder Aleksandr Golovin from CSKA Moscow for a fee that could reach £10M
The ASB are already in meltdown about it, funny as fuck.
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edu, that is why i laugh whenevr people suggest that giroud will leave if we sign mbappe or lacazette. at the moment, apart from speed, there is nothing those guys can bring to the table that trumps olivier. some people are just obsessed about speed forgeting that we have walcott who has not been able to challenge him. the only player that might be available and can reasonably challenge him is aguero. and they can easily play together as our front two in 3-5-2 formation. at the moment we are not even bidding for him. but since sanches isnt commiting to the club, i wouldnt mind aguero plus 40m for him.
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Arsenal looking to sign young Sunderland duo
http://www.sunderlandecho.com/sport/football/sunderland-afc/arsenal-make-5m-double-swoop-for-sunderland-wonderkids-1-8588738
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layksite, the reason some of us think Giroud might go if we do sign Mbappe is cos it would likely mean less starts for Ollie, and he, himself, has made it clear that he is unlikely to put up with less game time. Giourd is one of the best target men type of striker out there, but a bit like Theo, once we went to a 3-4-2-1 formation, game time and especially starts, dried up for them.
Giroud was plan B, nearly all season, first we had Alexis up front, and once Welbeck got fit, he was usually our first choice striker, Ollie started only 11 BPL games last season, Welbeck who missed half the season started 8. Giroud once again yesterday said he will not “put up with” an understudy role this coming season.
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