Occasionally I get asked by SovSport magazine in Russia (where else would it be?) to comment on some aspect of English football for them. Latest questions: Why did English teams all do badly in the Champions League this season, and will Chelsea get through their Europa League quarter final against Rubin Kazan? Obviously you’re an…

Below is the text of an email sent by Arsenal fan Tony Ward to the AST and AISA, both of which Tony is a member. The AST and AISA both have members who are at all positions on the spectrum of fan opinion, so it’s difficult for organisations to take up too much of a…

Just came across this Evening Standard cutting from 29 February 2008. Much has changed behind the scenes at Arsenal since.  Even by this time David Dein had been ostracised and sold his shares to Usmanov, making Usmanov at the time the largest shareholder. But some of the other comments are telling. The AST five years…

Now we’re in the cold light of day, what does losing to Bayern mean for Arsenal? Firstly it means it will be at least nine years without a trophy, which is the longest period in my lifetime. The longest since the great drought to end all droughts of 1953-70. We’ve been in a few finals…

Look at this impressive line up Arsene can call on when we still need four or five to win the tie with 20 minutes to go. We’ll be fine. I’m chilled about this. Last eight, here we come! Hope we get Barca again! I hope we don’t have to bring Stepanovs on, mind, I’d put…

Of course Arsenal CAN beat Bayern, and of course they CAN win by enough goals to see them qualify for the quarter finals; it’s just not very likely. Not right now, anyway. Bayern are a high quality team in top form and Arsenal are a slightly lower quality team who have not managed to string…

So now we know that Dennis Bergkamp will be the next statue at Arsenal. Not really a surprise – he only really has Thierry Henry as competition for the title of ‘Arsenal’s Greatest Player In Living Memory’, and Titi already has a statue. When the AST asked members last summer who the next statue should…

They must be. It’s the only explanation for this: It also makes it even more illogical to pay them huge wages in the first place, that the rest of us have to subsidise. I see Brad Friedel is one step ahead – he hasn’t even waited until he’s retired. Maybe I should have titled this…

Well yesterday was depressing – not so much the result, but the manner of defeat. Total lack of concentration for five minutes – though the warning signs had been there all game, as similar through balls to those that led to both goals were cut out by the last defender two or three times at…

This is largely an amalgamation of a couple of my blog posts from last summer. On the day of the North London Derby it seems unfortunate to have to discuss all this, but the supposed £1.5 billion bid is the big news of the day. So it seems timely to think about why supporter involvement…