Hello and how are you?

Tuesday the 4th of March sees the Mighty Cannon set up positions against the Dutch side Philips Sport Vereniging Eindhoven in the latest installment of Champions League games. Kick off at the Philips Stadion, Eindhoven is at 8.00pm western European time.

Its seems an age since we physically played against West Ham and a while since the sterile and hope-breaking draw against Forest, yet the psychological hangover from it seems still to be hovering around? Perhaps the bitter emotions from our losses to ManUre and Newcastle in both cups was sweetened somewhat a bit now that those clubs have also made an exit? Personally I would like City to drop out of the FAC and give some other teams a crack at glory.

Statistically we can still win the league, but I’m not sure anyone would put money on it, certainly not me, it didn’t seem like we were ever really it in, but just chasing the horizon? All any of us can hope is for a decent run-in now that the Lenz ist da and reach Maytime with some dignity? The Champions League being our last (very slim) chance of glory, we can team up with our old pal ‘hope’ and go a wandering up the garden path and still formulate some Champions league dreaming? Feels tough to commit to any kind of day-dream though doesn’t it?

So here we go again, the same old narrative this season: we are utterly able to beat this PSV side, who lost against the Go Ahead Eagles on Sunday 3-2, but we are also utterly capable of being beaten or just making another frustrating, teeth-grinding draw, he said covering all angles.

West Ham/Forest debacles crushed us and ‘hope’ at the same time, and that was a tough blow to all of us; management, team, and fans. But on we go, where there’s hope there’s life and a chance, and its worth trying and failing than not trying at all? Pre-Wenger we would have (probably) still been excited by this fixture, and perhaps that shows how far he took us and how high our expectations really became? I’m not sure I liked privileged attitudes as they stink of false hierarchies and past histories that deny any current form and I feel a bit disgusted with my own lack of interest. But really I think I’m also trying to protect myself from more hurt Arsenal-wise. 

I sincerely hope you guys feel more positive and excited about this game, please tell me about any thoughts you have.

Eindhoven finished 14th in the CL first stage, but did beat Liverpool, and succinctly beat Juve in the play off matches. They lie in second place to Ajax in the Eredivisie, by some eight points.

Sorry I am unable to go into how they play, or who plays for them, I just haven’t followed that league for many years. Theres no need for me to go into how we are, because you guys are Johnny on the Spot and have a dang good idea of whats happened this season, so I won’t insult your intelligence by giving a half baked insight into this or that.

PSV have been given by our friends at statto HQ a 25.8% chance of winning, whilst the Guns of Ashburton Grove have been given 47% chance of winning. Come on Arsenal, give us something to feel good about!

Well, all apologies as that’s all I can muster, take care of yourselves. Don’t forget to like and subscribe and follow me on Instagram. 

COYG!

Mills

Hello and how are you?

Premier league week 27 sees the Mighty Cannon hauling its Arsenal up to the waist lands of England to make a visit to PL third place Nottingham Forest and the City ground. Kick off 7.30pm western Europa time.

As I sit and try to cobble together some kind of rambling in the forest of my mind, it feels like we are at the beginning of the end of winter? Normally I love winter, the bare bones of the trees, the introverted feeling of hibernation, the silence, the expectancy of spring. This year I hated it, with the crowning glory being the turd that some twat shat-out in our stairwell at the weekend. Its seemed like nothing but a drag? Or a dag? The poor fentanyl heads are becoming more and more and getting with each day more aggressive, and what was once a nicey-nice! wander around the park is now on- the- edge- of- my -nerves in case of  (as Tommy Tucker sang ): some fool might wanna fight. But then fear seems often everywhere these days, sometimes I wonder whether to not switch the internet on in the mornings and delve into its bubbling world of toil and trouble. 

After the disappointment of the West Ham game, I’ve spent ages thinking how can I write something that’s a least a bit more positive for an intro to the game. Then I started instead thinking about all the things that are crap in the world, at least from my perspective, and saw the worlds hypocrisy and corruption lying before me. 

“wtf is this?A John Webster play, the skull beneath the skin?

But for all of the nefarious shenanigans that wobble around in everyday life, there are still things worth getting up for, things worth engaging in. George’s heartful and honest piece after the meeting with the Irons provoked some great responses, the likes of which I haven’t seen anywhere for some time at least, not just opinions but really interesting thoughts, getting right under the dog skin of so many aspects of Arsenal world; what’s going on, how it is to be a supporter and how places like PA can give people a voice. And in all the midst of this is the fact we are still (for a while) 2nd, and when we want (allowed?) can play some good football, ok not vintage Wengerball, but ok football?

More and more, it feels like a season of missed opportunity, conservative mistakes and a kind of thwarting of play? To win 5-1 against City yet lose to West Ham is a great indicator of our yo-yo season. Even our goals at corners seem to have dried up.

“the food at the restaurant is so terrible”

“yes, and such small portions!”

 Of course it isn’t over, but our gut feeling and those eleven points Liverpool carry, says it is. But surely isn’t it worth the team coming together and just concentrating on winning each game and forgetting the title race and forgetting the punditry and try to just start playing some more elaborate, intelligent, hungry, goal-scoring football? I’m mean, what else is there to lose? 

“2nd place you fool, don’t you understand Artetaball?”

Forest were hurt badly by Newcastle, and were 4-1 down at one point, so who knows how they are feeling? I’m sure their fans will be pumped up for this, so I hope we won’t let them come at us and play with the handbrake on. Al Capones guns don’t argue, but Arteta’s handbrakes hinder?

However I was glad to see Mr.White back in action, something positive?

How do you feel going into this one? I’m sure Forest will be relishing the chance to put us to the sword, its been years since they found themselves in such a position and after us they take on the misfiring Man City and will want to be chipper for that one. They have good form but the thrashing by Bournemouth shows us that we can also give them a deForesting. Timber! Winning would put us nine points ahead of them, I’d rather have that than have them breathing down our neck, we have to at least come second this season to give us something to grab onto next?

The Arsenal have been given a 53.4% chance of winning and the Sheriffs men 20.4% chance of mustering up a win. So statto HQ still favours the Mighty Cannon. That was until after the visit of West Ham and its now gone down to 47.8% and Robin Hoodies are up to 24.6%.. Hold on, breaking news, the Arsenal are back up to 48% and Forest down to 24%. 

As fans we were all hacked off by the result on Saturday, but so were the lads and Arteta, so perhaps they might all have had a dang good look at the situation and come bouncing back with a mighty win?

Now stop that laughing you lot!

Well, that’s it, a bit of a wander in the minds forest, I can’t see the wood for the trees, not much of a forest more a copse? But as Einstein said “people love chopping wood, they immediately see results”. Thanks Eini, not exactly the theory of special relativity, however I’ve passed your quote on to the Arsenal and they hope to chop down the Forest and get result, a three pointer.

Cheers, and look after yourselves.

 Mills.

COYG!

I will say good day, but it actually is a miserable dank day which is matched by my mood.

I was minded to say “I’m done, I’m out, have a good life”, shut the blog down and live out what remains of my days as an occasional spectator of Arsenal and indeed, football.

Then I asked myself why I feel this way? How have I reached the point where I feel like throwing in my hand , getting up and walking away from the table? Well it will take some explaining and I apologise now for the self indulgence that will follow.

As a boy I had no affiliation to any football team, I was a Rugby League lad and my interest was in Wigan Rugby and snooker.

In my late 30s I had moved to Blackburn and married my 2nd of 3 wives, who was a Rovers fan, so she/we invested in Sky Sports. Now I like sport, so I would watch football if, and only if, it was a entertaining game.

Arsenal signed Dennis Bergkamp and I had heard he was a special player. So I started to watch Arsenal games to check him out. He was special so I started to take an interest. Then, then came Arsene Wenger, and I started seeing a team play the most beautiful, entertaining football I had ever seen, anywhere. I couldn’t wait to watch rhem and suddenly realised I had become a fan of this club that was 200 odd miles away , situated in a city that I had visited, and quite frankly, didn’t like one little bit.

I enjoyed watching and rooting for this glorious team so much that I became fanatical about it, suddenly understanding the “fan” bit of fanatical. I was hooked in a big way, even although I didn’t understand how the hell I had become so addicted. But addicted I was.

My drug of choice became Arsene Wenger, I admired everything about him, the art of his football, humour, intellect, loyalty …… well everything. He and his glorious band of brothers obsessed me.

Then I found the online communities of like minded people which I loved and eventually started this very blog. It was a great time.

Around 2010 the “Wenger out boys” had appeared and I simply couldn’t understand their ignorance and stupidity. I just couldn’t grasp how anyone with an IQ over 50, couldn’t see what a fabulous job he was doing with not only no money to spend, but having to sell players to pay off the fabulous stadium he had moved us to. This mob eventually became the majority of fans, but as we have seen with Brexit and the election of Donald Trump, the majority can be really stupid.

Anyway, around 2016 I resigned myself to the reality that with the American and Russian owners at war with each other, Ivan and Arsene locked in a power struggle, the fans and media making it all but impossible for Arsene to work effectively and with Arsene pushing 70 candles, the great man’s glorious time was coming to an end. At this point I was hoping and advocating for our club captain to work as Arsene’s assistant for his final 2 year contract and take over when he left us. That of course didn’t come to pass and Mr. Emery replaced my hero with Mikel moving to the oil barons in Manchester.

The Emery era was disappointing but mercifully short lived and my man Arteta was installed as head coach. What could go wrong?

I had noticed that after Arsene left the games didn’t mean as much to me, defeats didn’t hurt as much and the wins didn’t involve any of the art like football I had become accustomed too. My passion was on the wane it seemed. On reflection I think this was withdrawal symptoms from Arsene and a bitterness I held towards the fans, board and media for the way Arsene had been betrayed. But the appointment of Arteta gave me brief hope that the fire would be rekindled. I don’t care what anyone says, hope is never good, it invariably leads to disappointment. And it has.

I was deflated with the loss of our technical players, we used to watch the likes of Ozil, Santi, Jack, Aaron, Rosicky, Arshavin and now we just don’t have anyone like that. Yes we have some very good players, but the robotic style and the reliance of effort over technique makes watching rather like seeing an artist do paint by numbers and then having to sit and watch it dry. It does not entertain me even when we win.

My admiration for Arteta was lost with his treatment of Mesut and it’s been down hill since then. I don’t trust a word he says and his army of sycophants turn my stomach. There is no joy in the way his teams play football and therefore none in watching it. It’s more José Mourinho than Arsene Wenger without the winning stuff.

It’s reached the point where watching has become a chore, and it shouldn’t be like that. I have always cared about the ethos of the club and the loyalty that was an integral part of it under Arsene. I feel like one of the loves of my life has been stolen from me.

I am fully aware that this is supposed to be POSITIVELY Arsenal, but it’s far from that with me at the helm. I used to have wonderful people like Stew Back, Andy Nichols, Arsenal Andrew and Frank to guide me but they are all gone, and who can blame them?

If not for Mills, there would be nothing on this site, certainly nothing of positive value from me.

Anyway, I’m going to cart on until the end of the season than have a think. I hope something happens that revitalises me because this is no fun for anyone.

Thanks for your time.

Pedantic George.

Hello and how are you?

Saturday the 22nd of February sees the Mighty Cannon back in action against our east London chums, West Ham, for the second and last time this season. Kick off is at 3.00pm western European time at Ashburton Grove.

Well time flies even if you’re not having fun or speeding out of Trumpton with a cargo of contraband? Time doesn’t fly at all, in fact what is time? It took me years to work it out, but I would be interested in any thoughts you had. What is interesting is that Einstein was correct when he said that time would go quicker the more we interact with technology. The days seem to slip through your fingers like small granules of sand. 5,4,3,2,1.

Is interacting with technology your life now, it is mine. I lament the days when I was closer to nature, even in my local park, nature has now been hacked and slashed and turned into anything but the tiny haven for animals and birds that it was and populated humans looking at their phones rather than any interesting flora, fungi or weather patterns. Humans seem to often think (for various reasons) that they aren’t part of nature, which seems very odd. If we aren’t then what are we?

Last time I wrote I found myself standing at the cemetery gates and asking myself was this where I wanted to be? During the ManUre game I had a certain media outlet’s commentary which was utterly biased against Arsenal, I only know this as I’m mostly biased towards Arsenal. This coupled with the live action, the more my blood pressure became intense, the more it became obvious the Guns weren’t going to win and the more it didn’t become a game any more, as I started thinking about a person I knew (who supported ManUre) who used to come up to my face and go on about “the Arsenal darkies”, at the time I was a snowflake about racism (now I’m just a snowflake about life) and had been actively involved the anti-apartheid movement. I hated the job I was in and at that moment and all my life, I almost couldn’t swallow that shit. But what to do, they said it, it was nasty, undignified, cowardly and antagonistic, I expected better behaviour, but why? Later such words didn’t affect me. But I ask myself wtf am I holding on to this, or any of the other horrible behaviours I experienced? Even worse why am I projected them onto other situations and ironically causing new prejudice myself?

I don’t think its just a football ‘problem’, but attaching things to phenomena and its creates all sorts of problems that aren’t really a problem and makes complex situation out of very little? Must have been terrible for Kai and Sophie, anyone whose very had life threatening forces coming for them knows that its traumatic, but the trouble is trauma gets worse the more you think about it, even more so the more the years fly by. By the time the inevitable penalties were coming around I knew what with the pain in my arm and jaw and tight chest and blurry vison it was switch that shite off or pop yer nat wats. Switch it off I did. I love Arsenal but not that much. I’m sure she has other lovers much more loyal though and perhaps already some pushing up the days eyes?

By way of therapy ( as well as trying to get some exercise, and failing to get rid of anxiety) I ended up watching all three series of Loudermilk on Netflix in the evenings, which I can recommend is much more interesting than having a heart attack or stroke over Arsenal fc FA Cup failure. Ed, I appreciated the words you wrote that day, thank you!

I found Loudermilk a really interesting series, about an asshole/good bloke who was a music critic and a head who sobered up and runs a group of other various ex-heads and we participate in the absurd, strange, funny and sometimes profoundly moving scenes with them. Anyone whose struggled with any kind of addiction, the episode involving Mugsy Bennigan in series three, I’m sure you would find quite moving, I did to tears.

 I’m not much of an ideologist more interested in how it is and how it was, but I love that different voices and creations are coming forward in out time, oddball series like Shorsey and Letterkenny. Yet the over whelming nature of all streaming systems can leave you greedy and perhaps less cherishing than in days of yore when you got on the bus or train to buy a record or book etc or had to get your arsenal to the Kino for a film? Same in Arsenal world, how strange in my lifetime to go from starved to overwhelmed for all things Gunner?

What to do, all things change. If we try to conserve we end up trying to freeze things but this itself comes about because progress doesn’t always seem like progress? How anything plays out we don’t know, even the destruction of the earth doesn’t mean the end of on-going effects.But being stuck in the world of not knowing isn’t much fun either, and that’s where I swim these days, in fact probably all my days.Anyone got any armbands or rubber rings? This was something else that struck me while away from PA, how often loud voices pose as knowing voices, seems quite audacious and I can only say I envy their confidence!

Each game I suppose will now be about adapting to our injury problems in some ways its pretty interesting, who knows if any new youngster will make their way onto the stage and blow us away as they try and hope to grab our attention and later a big cheque.And for the shit they’ll pick up on the way, grab that cheque son, grab it. West Ham have had a kack season but still are a threat, but on our home turf I expect a decent result.Come on you Gunners give us five again!

The Arsenal have been given a 73.7% chance of winning and the Irons only 9.8%. In my true style I will be going into the game with my usual jellyfish emotions, hoping for a win but expecting anything could arise. But the more players like Merino that rise up and bang in a few goals the more of a smile we can expect on Gooner faces? But private faces are wiser and nicer than public faces in private places said Auden but the Small Faces reminded us to keep it all together, when half he moon is taken away.

Look after yourselves, till the next time. COYG!

Mills