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…
When Tottenham played their first league match of the season against Man Utd it wasn’t a surprise they lost – Man Utd have finished above Tottenham in the league every year since . . . I dunno, the last Ice Age, probably. But the Spuds were forced to play without one of their best players,…
This letter was written by Gooner ex-pat Clive Hill, former season ticket holder, and sent to the AFC Board in the aftermath of the 8-2 defeat at Manchester United. One month on, Clive has not had any reply. With the club’s AGM imminent, it is perhaps a timely reminder of the feelings of many fans…
From The Gooner, issue 114, September 2001: I got my love of Arsenal from my dad, a lifelong supporter himself. My younger brother was also brought up correctly, but my sister, two years older than me, decided she had to be different. As soon as I was into football in a big way she looked…
On Friday, Evening Standard readers were treated to an exclusive column by Fat Sam Allardyce – oh what joy! What have we done to deserve such favour? Regular readers of The Gooner will know my opinion of Fat Sam is so low it’s barely measurable. Fat Sam professes West Ham to be ‘lucky’ that they…
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