Hello and how are you?
Good summer so far? Mine has been an oddball; wiping away the pooled tears from the champions league final loss, rankled by refs at the World Cup, more demise in the family, a freak pulling a gun (are you sure, it’s says here gub?) out on me in the park, some mad-hippy-oddball proclaiming to all and sundry in ear-shot that we are all going to (fkn) die ( hey man, whoa man, thanks man!), boiling weather, more boiling weather, even more boiling weather with extra humidity and high dew points, Ed Gein lookalikes in the park who look they might do an Ed Gein on yer grave, getting chewed up by the gosh darn skeeters( thanks coming over) and spending ages listening over an over to the Small Faces Immediate years, especially Ogden’s Nut gone flake ( the anniversary version with the Fly on it), and making a wrong turn and heading down bad-timey memory lane and having to do a quick three point thought turn and mosey on out of there and back to the land of normal and of course, wishing it was cooler.
What did you guys get up to?
Amazing how quickly that world of the Small Faces vanished, yet at school we were not taught even the most basic facts concerning how elements of life operate, and a major one of those is the constant state of flux and mutation we are in. Sometimes if we were prepared, or had some even tiny understanding, it might help, when one day you wake up and the worlds totally different to that which you were born into? “what the fork am I doing here?”
My first Community Shield was the Charity Shield ( and I suppose it always will be, just as it will always be the league cup) back in 1979.
The Alan Wunderland (as the Match annual later christened him)-led Arsenal, the 1979 cup final winning team, and took on super-star, mean-machine League winners Liverpool. I didn’t see the game; the kid next door I think was a Liverpool fan and he had a copy of the programme or got hold of a copy. I was really jealous at the time, as it had some fantastic pics of the lads, and I can still remember the captions from when he showed me, Pat ( Jennings) with the ball, Pat (Rice) with the cup, and some top images of Liam Brady with the lid of the FA Cup. I have a copy now and it’s still a favourite in my collection.
In our image-laden, spoilt, minutiae-covered times, this all might seem daft but, in those days, there just wasn’t access to endless photos of your favourite players, even if you bought Match or Shoot! Nor was there 24hr Arsenal news from thousands of outlets. Somehow as a fan you wanted to see more pics, more action, I mean there wasn’t even much football on the tv in those days, what were they thinking? They ( the powers that be) already knew where there’s Polloi there’s brass, having milked people dry for years. I suppose for good or bad we are now in the antithesis of that time? Still being milked of course.
Anyway, The Gunners got mashed 3-1, and went on to play fifteen thousand games that season and came out empty-handed at the end of it, and to make it worse, we waved Liam goodbye as he searched for glory in other climes. Strange how that game stayed in my mind, I can even remember seeing the highlights for the first time. It could have been a really high scoring game, it really could.
I’ve only ever seen one Charity Shield in the flesh, Liverpool v Everton (dang I can’t even remember but it must have been 84?) it was a pile of shite, we had got tickets for the Milk Cup final in 84, as our mates dad was a milkman, and that was a top day out, as we were in the Everton end. For the Charity Shield we were in with the Liverpool fans (wii golf bad shot sound). Plus, the bloke who got us the tickets had to bring his old man, who was a tool. He’d caused me some real poop a few years before for not addressing him as Mr. so, I gave him the old no speak. Up yours Mr. Even his son thought he was a tool.
Naturally like you, I watched every Community/Charity shield each year, but they now seem a massive blur. Digging out some on You Tube and the memories come flooding back, my memory needs a jolt these days, it took me three hours to remember my brother’s mate with whom we went to Sunderland -Arsenal with back in the 90s, so maybe it’s just older age. Or being thick as dung?
Of course, it’s an odd game, maybe the oddest of the year? Thank the stars that play with Sams laughing dice, that it’s not called the Super Cup in some cheesy, unnecessary rebrand, that just irks the old folk. Anyway, it is odd; you win and we all celebrate, you lose and out comes ye old excuses ” who cares, it’s just an over glorified friendly!”…
Should a team play hard to win or take it easy like Seaman did with the worst penalty ever taken in a charity shield game? Some say he’s still laughing about it. What can a girl do? Me no know.
Of course, to make matters worse, it’s against Man City, who must be still holding onto a case of the old green-eye after watching us win the league. Plus, there will be massive speculation as to whom plays, the stars that went the furthest in the World Cup still haven’t rested, so any shuffle around might bring some interesting variations for both sides?
Later, I knocked on the door of Statto HQ in hope of getting some figures, and they had pinned a sign up saying: “gone fishing”. But there was a ‘post it ‘next to it claiming that the Mighty Cannon has a 37.2 % chance of winning, and Man City with a 35.4% chance of taking home the shield.
Next up, the season starts, as we host a Friday-night fling with new boys Coventry City. Till then, COYG!
Mills
Positively Arsenal 
ah Match, Shoot, Football Monthly and several others I can no longer remember the name of, spent nearly all my pocket money on them as a kid(who am I kidding, long in to adulthood). Here is one for ya, I had known the name David Rocastle for months from match reports, but got a big surprise when I finally seen a photo of him and he was black. Oddly only a few days later RTE showed an Arsenal game live and there he was and boy was he was a special player.
On the topic of black players back in the, our 3 degrees, Chris Whyte, Paul Davis and Raphael Meade.
Chris Huggy Bear Whyte had an odd Arsenal career, in fact he had an odd career, off the field stuff derailed him for a while but he sort of fulfilled his potential at Leeds. Remember when Arsenal used him as striker for a while and it looked like for a short while( a very short while) that he would make a go of it.
I really rated Raphael Meade, but he was a confidence player, and at that time we hadn’t a good enough team to give a young lad confidence, he used to score in batches, and I remember him scoring 2 v Spurs in I think a 4-2 win, and he done the same v Watford the same season if I’m not mistaken. But injuries seen him in and out and off he went and I used to see his name pop up as a scorer on a more regular basis in the Portugal leagues.
Paul Davis, oh what a player, oh what a upper cut. That punch probably cost him an England career. but probably worth it to smack that racist twat from Southampton. I always wondered what the black players at Southampton thought of the cunt and having to share a dressing room with cunts like that.
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Arsenal today linked with Galatasary right back Wilfred Singo, the 25 year old Ivory Cost International, seems we want him on loan with an buy option but Gala only willing to do permanent deal
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reports in Italy say Martinelli’s agent is there at the moment for talks with Napoli, who are also interested in Gabriel Jesus.
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Ismeal Kabia has joined St Mirren on a season long loan
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i remember the PD left hook Ed, bloody Case should have gone, I recall him booting PD after the penalty, he even took a long run up. Raphael Meade and Chris Whyte did us proud in those days. COYG!
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Raya
WhiteMosqueraGabrielCalafiori
Bruno GMLSOdegaard
MaduekeHavertzTzolis
subs
KepaHincapieZubimendiMerinoRiceEzeDowmanSakaGyokeres
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Nwaneri along with Martinelli, Jesus and Vieira don’t make the squad, is that the clearest hint that they have no future at Arsenal
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reports that Saliba will be out for 2 to 3 months without an operation, but if its deemed he needs the operation it will be another 5 to 6 months after the operation.
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Mills wasn’t it Glenn Cotterill that Davis chinned
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26 seconds in and its 1-0 to the Arsenal, Calafiori with the goal, MLS with the assist
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yes it was Ed, busted his jaw in two places from what I recall, stopped his England career as the FA was trying to clean things up. No one seems to have talked about it, but I think Glenn was in Pauls poop during the game but the ref wasnt giving anything, but he had said something vile to Rocky and the rest was Rocky 2!
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Havertz makes it 2-0 to the Arsenal, Tzolis with the assist
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Calafiori booked for diving
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HT: Arsenal 2-0 Man City
Calafiori and Havertz with the goals
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3-0 to the Arsenal, Odegaard
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can we get five?
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Tzolis had the assist for the 3rd goal
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Sounded pretty good. COYG!
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Well that was fun
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sure was George, kind of unexpected? COYG!
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seems Rodri is joining Barcelona
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I see many fans demanding Arsenal sign a couple of forwards, namely a left wing and a striker, but looking at the squad as it stands our biggest need at the moment is right back and right central defender. Timber and Saliba are out, it is not known when either of them will be fit, and in the case of Timber we can’t rely on him staying fit with his track record. Ben White can cover right back and right central defender, but he can’t play both at the same time, and with his injury record we can not rely on him to stay fit either. Do we really want to see Declan Rice at right back or CB for an extended period of time.
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as for bringing in a top class left wing I think Arsenal should be contacting PSG and making a bid for Kvaratskhelia and if they don’t want to do business then make a big offer to them for Doue. Both for me are better than Barcola
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you what might work and not cost a fortune to do for RB and RCB, a double swoop on West Ham, Wan-Bissaka for RB and Mavropanos for RCB, both solid experienced players who should not cost massive fees and we’d still have White and Mosquera ahead of them or fighting for the positions with them.
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im not sure they will let Mavropanos go Ed, especially after todays result? Hes a good player for sure…also would he want too come, he would only be a cover while at WH he will play every game possible.
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Mills there were rumors he wanted out of West Ham once they got relegated, also I’m sure our wages would tempt him. There is also the thing were a player like Mavropanos should back himself to win his place or at the very least get himself regular game time. Top clubs have a long line of players who were happy to be bit part players and win the medals and of course get well paid for playing very little.
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It’s probably just anno domine but I thought we’d had a Mavropanos before who didn’t work out that well. Is this a different Mavropanos? Also, why would PSG want to sell us anyone who would strengthen us, given how close the final was last year? On that theme, I can’t really see any close competitors wanting to sell us anyone, so I’d imagine we’ll be needing to develop potential, rather than buying any ready made superstars.
While I know the club is not run to suit me and my strange sporting enthusiasms, I find it much easier to get excited by someone coming through (Skelly for instance) or a relatively unknown purchase (Tzolis) making his mark. I know that most in this category end up disappointing, but oh the joy when it works!
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Tim, if we want to be a super club, we need superstars. No super club has been able to do it any other way.
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I think you are probably right George, but then again there are superstars and superstars, for not every superstar is going to want to be bothered on those cold and wet Wednesdays in Stoke. Unless you can pay astronomical and possibly illegal wages then I can’t see why the Premier League would be the first port of call for anyone already being brilliant at PSG, Real Madrid or Barcelona. You could argue that Haaland is the only genuine superstar in the Prem.
I followed the Vinicius Junior saga with interest, though always felt it unlikely. I was told he would make all the difference, but I wasn’t quite so sure, wondering what effect he would have on what seems to be a very tight-knit group of players who all seem to have egos suitably subsumed into the greater good of the team. I am not sure it does anybody any good to have one player on a completely different level of remuneration or media attention.
And perhaps that also makes me wonder what sort of superclub I would want a team I support to be. I don’t think I would find it easy to remain excited if the next few years saw Arsenal spending fortunes to guarantee top-level success, and if just about every game was a forgone conclusion. I enjoyed yesterday’s Community Shield win perhaps because I wasn’t really expecting it, but also because I felt I could share a sense of pride and achievement with players I’ve seen go through disappointments and setbacks. I suppose what I am really looking for is some sense of jeopardy rather than an easy route to the top.
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And aware too that that makes me a poor supporter, and also a hypocritical one, as real jeopardy would involve supporting a team much further down the pyramid. And also perhaps unwelcomely explains much about me, content with comfort but lacking the will to be any kind of lasting success.
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I remember the amount of stick Blackburn got for buying the league, ironically a critical mass that included chelski supporters before they were rich.
Crazy because at the start of the PL was when manure brought the league and won it for the first time in 3 decades. Yes they had kids but they also had first choice of players and that made the difference.
Since then we’ve seen chelski and city money launder massively to win the league.
Even Liverpool and ourselves spent massively in seasons building up to title success.
I think nowadays the most we can hope for is at least one academy player a season will make the squad and the club don’t use the 100% profit game to get rid of players that will obviously be good in a couple of years.
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outside, looking in, great discussion, brings up so many problems, that we’ve seen since Mouriniho turned up with his backer. We need superstars to even have a chance (which means all the capitalistic sytsems have to be geared towards paying for them), but academy great make us feel just as good. Of course with the summer transfer click-bait bs we dont really know what is a true narrative and what isnt? Was MLS rally going or just a bit of agrro from journos wh want to shake the tree? Something thats increasingly across the media as all falls now into some kind of political persuasion?
Heady, I really liked what you wrote, it highlihgts really the dilema of a fan, how passionate are you, what can a fan do, what is expcted and what if you just cant live up to certain imposed or expected values. I wish there was a bit more toleration across the board with different values. Some like thrash metal some like northern soul, and some like both, and some neither but neither are better just different, with different objectives
Sometimes I think realtive heiracrchies impose a kind of false judgement? But in football its simple: win or lose. Theres not much up for grabs, and 99.999% of teams will lose each season. Kind of nuts really that we should even go into a system with such poor odds? I think all voices are need in football as I suppose they all have a moment where they will work, whether one voice fits all things at all times, Im not so sure about but perhaps as time flies by in our short lives we can see different ways of enjoying football? Maybe its like Withnail and I? Many people just think its about getting arseholed, it is, but theres more going on behind those tropes that you can talk about in much greater depth? COYG!
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