Recently 7AMKickoff did a great blog post about how important total spend (ie wages plus transfers) is in football success, rather than just wages spend being important, as recent theory has had it. It was a very detailed and informative blog post, so first may I say how much I admire anyone who puts as…

Is there too much football on TV? There might be now, but even in 1981 the question was being asked. This piece from the Arsenal programme of 20 April, 1981 (Arsenal v Palace, won 3-2; we were third in the table, Palace bottom) was prompted by the decision to show the full 90 minutes of…

A couple of weeks ago I wrote a blog post giving a better alternative to penalty shootouts, namely to count the number of times each team hit the post or bar during the 120 minutes, and in the event of a draw award the game to the team with most woodwork hits. I’m not claiming…

This picture of Arsene Wenger reminds me of something: It reminds me of this: But it’s not just silly walks Arsene specialises in. Summer is also the time for silly talk. John Cleese is a comedian; as well as the silly walks, he’s meant to say funny things. But the Guardian today quote Wenger as…

To tour or not to tour, that is the question This morning the BBC announced that Robin van Persie would not be going on the club’s tour of Asia, because he needs to stay behind and ‘work on his fitness’. Obviously the club don’t really expect anyone to believe that, so why they can’t be…

It’s July, there’s no football worth talking about, so in the absence of other entertainment here are a few of my favourite Arsenal players of ye olden times. Liam Brady – Who among those who heard it can forget John Motson’s commentary of, “Brady! Look at that! Oh, look at that!” as the King of…

Stan Kroenke doesn’t do method acting, he prefers to remain silent. So we have to guess what his motives are with regard to Arsenal. I think it’s a basic choice of two: make a quick buck (well, a few hundred million) and get out, or gradually earn back the money invested over a period of…

Here’s a table showing the increase in the highest price paid for Arsenal shares in the last 4 years, according to Plus Markets website. I must point out that the Plus Markets site doesn’t include the huge blocks that KSE bought from the other directors almost a year ago, and may not include other trades,…

Rio Ferdinand has waded into the John Terry race row by condoning calling Terry’s Chelsea teammate Ashley Cole a ‘choc ice’. Ferdinand denied that the term was in any way racial, saying in a series of entirely made up quotes, “I often call people by food names. I have a poor memory and it helps…

The papers love nothing more than an ‘Arsenal in Crisis’ story. Here’s one from January 1992, just days after the Gunners were knocked out of the FA Cup by Fourth Dvision Wrexham. The blame for the poor season is laid squarely at the feet of manager George Graham. A “Highbury insider” is quoted as saying,…