At Christmas 2007 I was given a laptop. I was introduced to the internet for the first time. Within months I had found Newsnow and a lot of Arsenal blogs. This was fantastic for me as previously all I had had was newspapers and Sky Sports, also I seem to remember there was an official Arsenal channel on Sky. Anywho, these blogs were a great new thing for me, I could read, comment and be in contact with other Arsenal fans, for the first time almost.
What I soon found was disturbing. The vast majority of these Blogs were absolute negative crap, and the comments sections were worse. Then I struck gold. I stumbled across peach of a blog and a peach of a blogger at A Cultured Left Foot.
This was a daily blog written by Yogi’s Warrior, or simply just Yogi, as we called him. It was well written, and fully positive, the vast majority of the comments were from smart and articulate fans. I started commenting and it almost became an obsession. The next 3 years I spent on that blog, constantly commenting and occasionally Yogi published a blog I had written. It was a wonderful place and I really enjoyed my time there.
Sadly the prevailing wind on the blog changed and I found myself fighting more than having fun. Yogi tried to keep me in check and despite his best efforts, I overstepped several marks, and my time there came to an end. But a wonderful time I had there.
I still had occasional chats with Yogi on twitter and in twitter DMs. He was always polite and humorous, and that’s not easy with me rattling at his cage. We also had The Slow and Dirty Show, with our friend Stew Black in common, Yogi loved music as well as Arsenal
When some of the regulars on A Cultured Left Foot were expelled and some others decided the mood of that blog was unacceptable, we started Positively Arsenal, basically in the hope we could recreate a comments section like the one Yogi had cultivated. So this very blog came about because of Yogi.
I learned today that Yogi (Stuart) had passed away after some weeks of illness. It’s a sad loss to all that crossed his path, both real and virtual. He was a lovely man, a true gentleman and he, his blog, his enthusiasm and love of Arsenal will be badly missed.
I thanked him many times for all he did for me and all he gave me, and I thank him again, one last time.
Rest in piece Yogi, you will never be forgotten.
Positively Arsenal 
So sad to hear this news, often took a look on his blog.
A bad couple of months, we have lost two decent Arsenal fans and bloggers
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Thanks for letting us know.
Although I left the blog a while ago, not because of Yogi, as his daily blogs were excellent, but because of the attitude of many of the correspondents, I still looked there regularly to enjoy his witty and informative words.
I noticed that in recent weeks there has been no activity on ACLF and feared the worst.
I am sorry that we have all lost a valued and articulate colleague. I am sure he will be missed by many.
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So sad to hear this.
One of the best daily reads on our club.
RIP.
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What an excellent writer. Given me somewhere like 20 years of excellent articulate succinct thoughts. Like the article itself, I found it harder to remain aligned when things went a bit wrong for our club. But I could be nothing but respectful, for the most insightful blogger of his time, even in the years where it did not always resonate with me personally. RIP!
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Wowsa. I have almost the same history at ACLF as George. I must have been posting there slightly earlier starting in 2006 and can remember the commotion George created after he started posting.. I too had tried many blogs before and in those days Yogi and ACLF was a haven for those who who wanted a place of positivity and lively, intelligent interaction. Thanks to Yogi I came to know many fine Arsenal supporters of a similar mindset who remain friends to this day. While we might have gone separate paths since 2009, when I followed George to Positively Arsenal , I appreciate Yogi for providing us with a welcoming platform from where I never stopped expressing my support of the Arsenal. I extend my deepest condolences to his family and friends. RIP.
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It was 2013 when we came here Shotta, The RVP debacle, was when it all went tits up on ACLF.
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Nice one George,Yogi was indeed a gent. The standard of his writing on a daily basis was addictive to check out,and the community he created back in its pomp was wonderful. Hopefully he’s up there now sharing a pint with Dave Goonerholic bunnying about Arsenal.
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George, absolutely brilliant piece!!!!! I have followed his blog since day 1 and have shared his thoughts and blog since that day. His blog was not only a place for futbol but life and to find out he has passed is absolutely heart breaking. I live in the States and often times filled his blog with transfer rumblings and discussions with a wide variety including Bill! Yogwas a BRILLIANT man and a gentle soul. Thank you for letting me know as I don’t have social media.
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RIP YW. Brilliant writer and a fantastic passionate fan of our glorious club. He will be sorely missed. My condolences to his family
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RIP Yogi.
he ran the best Arsenal blog on the net at one point. A cultured blog.
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C , I remember Bill, he papped on incessantly about “defence”
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Sad news, thank you for letting us go.
I’d gone to check in on aclf for the almost the first since that period when we’d all left, I wanted to read/hear Yogi/Stuart’s thoughts about the return of “Arsene’s eyes and ears” to the club, and all that it signified. And was worried when I saw no recent articles.
I met many good people on his blog and that was because he was a good person.
Thoughts are with his family and friends.
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I have been an arsenal fan since 1964 and I too hate all the negativity around the club especially from the media. I mean take yesterday on the BBC, the presenter said that’s 15 of the 16 times played but ne very mentioned the one left oh that’s it the game was Bournemouth v The Arsenal so petty had it been Liverpool,Man Utd or Man city playing I’m sure they would mention it and dont get me started on Talksport. I would love to do a blog but dont know how.
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Thank you for your mention of Stuart. He has been a consistently excellent blogger on all things Arsenal for as long as I can remember. I have made many friends via his site over the years and enyoyed several very beery days out at the Arse with Stuart and other ACLF’ers. Great times.
Many of us have had our differences over the years but we all, I am sure, respected YW.
We will all miss him and it is regretful that the community that he built will be no more.
My thoughts are with his wife and young family. He was too young to lose.
Take care of you and yours.
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RIP Yogi’s Warrior, The Arsenal blogosphere will be a lesser place without him.
A nice piece George.
I picked up that he was having some health issues from A Cultured Left Foot, but didn’t realise it was life threatening. I read an obituary that mentioned he was only 53 and leaves a wife and three kids. That is very sad and I hope the best for them.
Come On You Rip-Roaring Reds!
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Alas it is really YW… Sorely missed. So sad, He really wrote so well on many fronts – tone, content, etc..
I really remember that RVP rumbling times that truly had more to do with the comments section than the blog itself… giving birth to PA. Hmmn. Those days eh… Hmmn. There were all sorts!
Clearly there was a break there and I for one didn’t really have any personal contacts with him but his blog reflected his great personality even without meeting or interacting on twitter and other platforms with him personally apart from his blog.
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Brought up memories of ZimPaul all over again! So sad
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Thank you, George, for this eulogy.
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YW helped me at a difficult time and gave me the chance to write about Arsenal, which meant a lot. It was only then that I understood the time and energy that goes into a blog, which he wrote pretty much for free, daily, to an exceptional level for 15-odd years while managing a sizeable online community. For whatever it’s worth, that’s a serious feat and points to a lot of love and talent.
This is by-the-by at this point: But I don’t think the differences are or were ever that great. None of the old rules apply anymore anyway.
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Today’s post is up. If you have missed the previous one about the sad passing of Yogi’s Warrior, give it a read.
Love you all.
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Didn’t know the man but sounds like a good one. Nice tribute to him.
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Thanks for the post George, this is really sad. I checked on his site last week only to realize there was no recent post. I think the last post was 27th December, I feared the worst. This is surely an End of an Era. Just like the post on that fateful Friday that sparked the exit of several ACLF’ers.
My condolence to his wife and children. Also to the community he left behind.
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Terrible news, YW you will be missed not only by all of us who actively engaged in ACLF but by the many others who just wanted to read your insightful and intelligent musings on our club.
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I believe the majority of regulars from the get go drew our catchment from ACLF. I had it bookmarked on my browsers on various devices, thanks to the eloquence, wittiness and grace of YW. I received a good deal of my Arsenal education from there and have continued to do so here. The falling away following the RvP debacle might have had a feel of inevitability about it when some of the passionate readers joined the sunshine bus (I sure didn’t want to be left behind and so I made for the beeline that was this site).
His dedication to a blog a day would always be admirable and he would be surely missed.
My thoughts are with his family and loved ones.
Adieu, Yogi Warrior!
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Quite simply without him, none of us would be here. I am still shaken by the news.
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A lovely piece George and many welcome comments from so many of us who were first acquainted through his very fine blog. Like Steww I remain very shaken and saddened by the news of his passing – he really was not an old man at all.
I was fortunate to meet Stuart (and Consolbob) two or three times back in the day when I was a season-ticket holder, in a pub close to the Holloway road, before games.
There were times when his blog and the fireworks known as the ‘comments section‘ were, for me, the most entertaining thing on the interweb (and that included the staid-by-comparison likes of Twitter and Facebook). Not merely wise and often alarmingly prophetic, it was frequently extremely funny. It was certainly a stellar crowd and the roll-call of missing friends is sadly starting to grow. The likes of ZimPaul, Frank (who just vanished) and now Yogi, were all inspiring and insightful in their own very different ways. I learnt a great deal about the meaning of support – especially positive support – from so many of this crowd.
Yogi once explained to me in the pub that he’d started his blog to while away the small hours whilst looking after his young kids, one of whom required extra care for medical reasons, I recall. In his own modest and unassuming way, he was absolutely mystified and surprised in equal measure at the growth of the ‘comments’ section. That comments section was the absolute envy of so much of the football blogging world, a genuine community of fellow followers that was rarely replicated elsewhere. He once explained (during RVP-gate, I think) that whilst he hated to act in any censorious fashion, once his young boy in particular started showing an interest in the blog, he felt he had to tone down the Comments section, clean up the language and clamp down on the aggression that had crept in. And, as has been noted, this ultimately led to the birth of Positively Arsenal, to George’s eternal credit (despite him being one of the naughtiest contributors, I might add).
The other blog I routinely read (but which had a less ‘lively’ comments section) was that of the Goonerholic who passed recently. In fact it is his funeral this Friday. To effectively lose two of our greatest pillars of support in the same month is scarcely believable and both will be hugely missed.
Thoughts are with the family and friends of both great Arsenal men.
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Such sad news. I too was impressed with yogi’s blog. An extraordinary ability to write daily with such quality, intelligence, interest and freshness!
I too had the privilege of being expelled by yogi at the same time as the grumpy one and shotta. I too found the mood had changed to negatively for me and I overstepped the mark and was given my marching orders.
RIP Stuart Alias Yogi’s Warrior
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Very sad to hear the passing of Yogi, have always been an avid reader of his blog.
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Like everyone else I’m shocked and sad to hear YW had died I had no idea his illness was life threatening, indeed it is a mark of the man he was, that he kept the blog going during this time.
I can add nothing to tributes already paid to this lovely gentleman,
My condolences to his family and friends may he rest in peace
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I’m struggling to absorb the gap that’s opened up through Yogi’s passing on. For me he was the Alpha and Omega of Arsenal blogs, in that over my 8 years of participation I never thought it necessary to go elsewhere (until just now, when I became curious about what had happened to him and stumbled on your site, George).
All the rightly appreciative and admiring things have been said by others here already. For me it’s a double absence – Yogi’s writings on his beloved club were peerless, and the community of regulars propping up the ACLF bar became such real characters in my imagination, I wonder how to find again such educated and entertaining AFC conversation.
I liked your piece on Yogi, George, so here I go (come)…this man needs new opinion-drinking companions. I can’t say I enjoy moving house, but needs must in this case, so I come with a wide open mind.
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I’m shocked and sad to hear that YW has died, I had no idea that his illness was life threatening but its a mark of the man he was that he kept the blog going during this time.
I cannot add anything to the tributes that have already been paid to YW except I will miss everything about the blog and community he has informed and mentored for many years.
Condolences to his family and may he rest in peace
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What a loss! A month long fear confirmed.
What Mel said above. And Birdkamp.
RIP Yogi.
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Only found out about Yogi’s death a couple of days ago; I recall him mentioning he had been ill last year, but it was only after checking on the ACLF blog day after day in early January that I started to fear the worst. Still have the link on my favourites.
I never met my namesake, but chatted with him online a few times. Loved the blog and the atmosphere around it – apart from the afore-mentioned RVP handbags time. It felt like a proper community with the same names checking in every day – I see a few of them in the comments here – whether they are season ticket holders, those of us who now hardly go to games for whatever reason (I now live in Devon) and even those overseas such as C in the US. Losing that community felt as bad as losing the man behind it; it’s like the pub landlord had died, the pub closed down and your old pals are all now drinking in various other establishments.
Best wishes to Stuart’s family. Their loss is greater than ours.
Looks like PA will be my new “local”….. anyone for a pint?
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Like many of you I read ACLF daily and had communicated with Stuart several times I only occasionally posted and knew that this blog had been set up for reasons which are not important at this time.
There are keyboard warriors everywhere unfortunately and other so called Arsenal fans that have no knowledge how the club works or even our iconic history.
I believed Stuart had a kidney operation and knew he had a Spanish wife and that he was comparitively young..
It has taken me a while to find out what happened and only a short while ago we also lost Goonerholic.
I don’t wish to intrude but felt the need to acknowledge this sad news. Thank you. R.I.P. Yogi.
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I’m really sorry to hear about Yogi’s passing. I was mostly a lurker on ACLF and I maybe posted twice. Yogi’s was an excellent blog to an Arsenal fan of approximately the same age. I grew up and spent most of my teens watching a mostly naff Arsenal side and was pleasantly surprised in the late 80s and thereon.
Stuart’s blog was my daily breakfast reading . I shall miss it.
Best wishes to his family.
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RIP Yogi. Fantastic blogger. My condolences to your family
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Sad to admit that this is the first time I’ve tried to figure out why ACLF went silent. RIP Yogi, and thanks for providing so many Arsenal fans with a place to come together, and the positive legacy you left.
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