I was tempted to call this piece “Moneyball: moneybollocks!” I haven’t seen the film starring Brad Pitt, who I only mention for the purpose of search engines, but the concept is simple enough: beat your richer opposition by being smarter with your resources. Well I think we all agree that Arsène Wenger does that –…
I was inspired by a picture of Arsenal’s 1975 squad, featuring Brian Kidd. He had a lot of hair. Far more than was sensible. So I had a look to see who should join him in a Bad Hair team. 1 David SeamanWho else could it be in goal? Honourable mention to the wavy 1970s…
This weekend we play Norwich. Remember when we played them on the opening day of the 1992 season and got stuffed 4-2? The North Bank was literally silenced. More nostalgia, this time from The Gooner issue 116. During the 1992-93 season the North Bank was even more quiet than it is now. However, there was…
My appraisal of Sylvain Wiltord, from The Gooner issue 122. I still can’t believe he was Arsenal’s most expensive ever signing for a while. This was written in Spring 2002, and a couple of months later he sealed the title win at Old Trafford. That wasn’t enough to change my opinion of him, though. There…
It’s another Spurs piss-take! I wrote this over ten years ago, coming up to the 40th anniversary of Tottenham winning the League. I gave it to a website some Gooners had set up called Scum40, and from there it spread round the internet and then got printed in The Gooner issue 112. It even reached…
As Sir Alex celebrates 25 years at Man U, there is no doubt he has been a pain in the arse for Gooners in particular for most of that time. I was more than fed up with him by 2001 when I wrote this comparison for The Gooner issue 117. Who should we hate more?…
Ah, the good old days of European trophies . . . and last minute defeats to flukey goals by ex-Spuds. These appeared in The Gooner in issues 123 and 129 in 2002. 4 May 1994 Arsenal 1 (Smith) Parma 0 European Cup Winners’ Cup Final, Parken Stadium Copenhagen. Attendance: 33,765 This was the first time…
Stan Kroenke spoke to both the players and the press last week (31 October). I don’t know what he said to the players, but I’ve seen the full transcript of the press chat. As a week has gone by, the value of this ‘news’ has dissipated, so I will quote some of what Stan said…
angryofislington 