Tag Archive | sports

Arsenal Versus Bournemouth: DNFTT

I stepped from solid ground and plunged into the vortex that is Youtube. As I swirled and plummeted farther and farther from reality my original intention of a harmless browse through a couple of football related videos became a distant and unreachable shore. Each link I clicked, each clip selected automatically for me by one […]

Arsenal Versus Southampton: Feast Day

To be precise it’s the feast day of St. Joan de Lestonnac who was, by all accounts, an all round good egg and particularly nice to children, the abused, those rejected by religious orders and widows. There have been many miracles reported to have taken part in and around the vicinity of her tomb and […]

Arsenal Versus Burnley:

When chaps of a certain vintage, that is to say elderly gents like yours truly, hear the name of Burnley FC a deluge of images at once swamp the imagination. Muddy, potholed turf, balding players, comb-overs streaming in the wind behind them, leather case balls, concrete terraces and, invariably, a dog on the pitch. Burnley […]

Arsenal Versus Chelsea: Unfinished Business

Lots of football fans are spending a lot of time discussing the various merits of teams not their own. There is even a rift among Arsenal fans – but fear not for this is a rift of the gentlest and least acidic nature – as to whether Leicester City should stop irritating everyone and bugger […]

Arsenal Versus Stoke: Keep Buggering On

I’m taking part in something called the six week challenge. It happens every year and the local radio station, of which my show is a small part, is an enthusiastic participant. The joy for me has always been that they start the thing in November and I am therefore ready equipped with an excuse. November […]

Arsenal Versus Liverpool: Tuning Up The Orchestra

Our little break from the long mountainous climb to the Premier League summit didn’t last long. A quick kick about on the plateau which is the FA Cup third round with hard working but ultimately out classed, out passed, out manoeuvred and out scored Sunderland and we are back onto the steep slopes. We travel […]

Arsenal Versus Sunderland: Sparkling Near The Brim

Is it just me or does it seem an awfully long time ago that we last had a game of footy to contemplate? I suspect the schedule of one match every twenty minutes which we experience over the Christmas and New Year holiday acclimatises us to a more frantic agenda. Combine that with the ominous […]

Arsenal Versus Everton: Meaningless Methadone

When I finally stopped drinking the need to have a glass of liquid ever at hand remained with me. I used grapefruit or cranberry juice mixed with carbonated water. This provided a necessarily bitter beverage and a useful prop to ease me into my sobriety. Cigarette smokers have a variety of patches, gums and electronic […]

Arsenal Versus West Brom: The Final Curtain

I was driving down the A367 yesterday afternoon on the way to a garden centre. A part of the ancient Fosse Way, the A367 once rang to the hob nailed Caligae of the Roman Legions but nowadays is home to a series of pedestrian crossings and a seemingly unending sequence of roadworks. In short it’s […]

Famous Fans and My Favourite Player

Matt Lucas was the star turn at the Arsenal foundation ball earlier this week. The porcine baldy is of course a fan of the club and his presence allows me to steal a march on Mel for once. Obviously being an ex publican I cannot compete with a Lahndan cabbie for “guess who I had […]