The commonly accepted story is that the first substitutes during competitive football matches were used in the qualifying tournament for the 1954 World Cup, with the very first being Richard Gottinger of West Germany (who replaced Horst Eckel) in their match against Saarland on October 11, 1953. (Saarland is part of Germany, but in the…

Former Gunner Brian McDermott, now manager of Reading and amateur Matt Lucas-alike, is interviewed in the London Evening Standard today. The interview is by Mihir Bose, who is not only a Spurs fan but normally dimmer than a three watt bulb. On this occasion he has started his piece with the important stuff, though: McDermott’s…

Harry Redknapp is a funny looking bloke. Even funnier if you squash him up a bit. You can squash Fat Sam too. Strangely, this makes him look like Kenny Dalglish.  

I’ve written about Sylvain Wiltord before here, because I never thought he was very good. But Twitter, in the shape of @goonerdave66, tells me he scored a hat trick on Friday for Nantes at the age of very nearly 38. Dave thinks Wiltord was, maybe even is, very good. I disagree. Even after he (Wiltord,…

Peter Marinello signed for Arsenal in January 1970, for a club record £100,000. The best part of three years later this feature appeared in the programme for Arsenal v Norwich on 21 November 1972, a League Cup Fifth Round match. By that time Marinello had already made 11 league appearances that season, equalling the total…

Twenty-five years ago, before transfer windows were invented, Alan Smith signed for Arsenal from Leicester then was immediately loaned back to them to try and save them from relegation. As it happened we then had to play them, and this piece from the Easter Monday programme on April 20, 1987, has Smudger telling us how…

There’s something slightly odd about Roberto Di Matteo’s head. His eyes are too far up. They should be more in the middle. Like this: Though there is a slightly unfortunate resemblance to Graham Norton.

“Arsenal are the club I supported as a lad and I have many happy memories,” said Harry Redknapp as he visited Highbury on October27, 1987, for a Littlewoods Cup tie as manager of Bournemouth. “You always have a feeling you can beat the Tottenhams and the West Hams but Arsenal have a little bit more…

As we all know, Chelsea are now the biggest club in London, as evidenced by their long and glorious history, stretching back almost a full decade, and their list of titles that is as long as Sheffield Wednesday’s and nearly half as long as Everton’s. And their position as England’s first franchise club, formed to…

Alisher Umanov, the world’s 28th richest man according to Forbes, richer than anyone else in either Britain or Russia, has a few Arsenal shares – but how many? According to Arsenal’s website, as at 13 April, the answer is 18,455, or 29.66% of those issued. And according to the Plus Markets website, no Arsenal shares…