My Eyes Are Bleeding, Stop It Hacks.
May 5th, 2010 by 'holic
I’ve read only the front page of a news aggregation website this evening, and guess what this little lot has in common?
Matthew Upson, Scott Parker, Gianluigi Buffon, Felipe Melo, Marouane Chamakh, James Milner, Gary Cahill, Joe Hart, Joe Cole, Arda Turan, Mamadou Sakho, Loic Remy, Thierry Henry (yes, really!), Mark Noble (stop chuckling at the back).
I see some of you are ahead of me. That’s fourteen players we are set to sign today, and this season hasn’t even ended. Newspapers are just throwing hedgehogs at the dartboard in a bid to make the biggest impression, and surely nobody is lapping this up?
A look at the forums and comments fields today suggests otherwise. People, please don’t do it to yourselves. Anyone fancy a wager that twelve of those fourteen are not at the Grove next season? You know, I might even be tempted to lay thirteen.
Citeh Get What They Deserve – Nothing!
The only team not to attempt to beat us in the last few weeks, and therefore the only team who failed to do so, paid the penalty for their abysmal lack of ambition tonight. If Roy Hodgson is the manager of the year, then Mancini must rival Benitez for the ‘cock of the north’ award. Money will never buy class, or history.
102 Responses to “My Eyes Are Bleeding, Stop It Hacks.”
At least City will have less pull for players next year. Let’s thrash Fulham this weekend, with JET and co.
Cock of the north it is Holic. A stiff one for me please.
Heh, good one ‘Holic.
Cheers
Good post ‘Holic
Looks like we will need to WIN our last game now to avoid finishing 4th but hey it will be rather funny to see them in the Champions League.
As for Citeh well as ‘Holic said himself money can’t buy you success and look at how much money they’ve spent?
Win the last game please!
All I know is that the boys had BETTER be on for this last match.
Spuds players have their tails up (I can’t wrap my mind around Champion’s League matches at Whiteout Lane).
One more lackadaisical performance and we will be qualifying again next year.
… it’s like a slow motion car wreck, this season.
Well put, holic.
spurs will get nailed in qualifiers coz they wont be seeded either. good times
Well if you lot lose to Fulham it would really make our season.
It’s going to be a tense day on Sunday. We lose & Spurs win and we find ourselves in CL qualifiers after a World Cup. Not the ideal way to start a new season. With what’s on the line & Fabianski in Goal, anything could happen. I do hope Fulham field a weakened side. I’m nervous now about that 3rd spot. Unbelievable when a month ago we were being tipped as possible Champions.
One would hope that Spurs progress in the light of Arsenal’s regression will open some fans eyes about Wenger’s feeble handling of the club since 2005. Will Wenger spend or feed us his usual excuses. Stakes is high!
Go suck on it, Peter… sorry ‘Holic, but I can’t contain myself.
Scotch (any) please, sir.
Dear Holic.. We want 4th.. The night was perfect .. a large contingent of English players .. Capello checking them out before a massive selection. I will say this and I know your members will try and ridicule me but Bentley is class. I wish he could reach a high level of consistency. Wenger was wrong to ship him out.. As for the Arsenal second team .. They are nothing with out wenger.. Adebayour is a bit part player and Toure is spineless. Viera a joke! Be glad you got shot of them all they are shit
Large whisky please bartender needs must as I think I just saw Spurs celebrating winning a trophy, I haven’t see such horid scenes on my Tv since I watched nightmare on elm street ๐
Hate em but they deserved it, look forward them getting stuffed in qualifying ๐
Up The Arse!
Classic Chippy !!! ๐
You need humour in weeks like this ๐ we will put them back in there place next season, Youve got to let the dog wag his tail occasionally otherwise the pet becomes a bore ๐ And remember a football rivalery is for life not just for Xmas lol,
You doubt Wenger!How can you-he’s signed on for another two years!!.All our troubles are over!!!!.AKBs rejoice.Djourou and Gibbs are almost like new signings and we must have faith in Fabianski.Sol,Chamakh and a midget centre back will sign to preserve stability and we can look forward to keeping pace with Spurs.What a great night!
You certainly do Chippy and you have put a smil on my face for sure, thank you.
I has been a misreable few weeks for us Gooners but hey I don’t think it can get any worse.
I wan’t to see some serious action at the Grove…
Arsenal 4 Life…
There is no seeding in the qualifiers for the CL and, anyway, Spurs are more lkely to finish 3rd than we are on current form.
Quote from Arsene from Arsenal.com:
“I think we have been in the race this year with the team we had. We will be stronger next year just with the internal improvement and with the experience these players will have now. The additions will be minimal but if there are some they have to be really top class.”
Good posts tonight and yesterday ‘Holic. You sum up the feelings of a great many people very well.
Our players better show up on Sunday and sort out third place. Although Fulham will have one eye on the Europa League Final, their second stringers have grafted out some decent results in recent months whilst ours have shown a complete lack of spirit and application since the Barca games. If we take Fulham’s weakened selection for granted we will suffer the biggest embarrassment in 20 years with the scum finishing above us. It just doesn’t bear thinking about. Please NO!
Stiff drinks all round and fire in the belly for our remaining squad!
So ‘holics. We have the supreme irony of the LWC’s playing in the Champions League in the very season when we will be celebrating the FIFTY years since they won the last of their TWO championships, and how we will celebrate.
Now, anybody care to guess who has won two championships in N17 since then? ๐
Arthur the Gooner, that is REALLY scary!
Arthur, Your welcome and your very very correct it’s been an awful few weeks but as the good man Holic said in a previous post the next trophy will taste all the sweeter,
Holic, Haha even on the darkest of evenings you can find a shaft of light I’ll have another quick double to celebrate that Fact ๐
Up The Arsenal,
Barman – there was seeding this season I think. And we’ll hopefully wheeze over the line into 3rd in true geriatric style anyway
The seeds were put together, Charlie, hence why we got Celtic.
UEFA wanted the little clubs to play each other so some of them qualified.
That should help the LWC’s.
@ArthurTheGooner: No, realistically we only need a draw and one point – unless you seriously think Spurs will put 11 past Burnley.
“The next trophy will taste sweeter” – that’ll be the Emirates Cup then heh ๐
congrats tottenham on qualifying for C/L and mr redknapp also very well done. hope we meet in the final next year although our chances of getting there are pretty slim as you guys well know but for you who knows?, you have a lot of British steel there in the squad and robbie keane coming back from scotland so you can look forward with optimism and dream sweet dreams for now
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Out of interest, ‘visionary’, which fucking team do you support?
You know, just curious.
“British steel? Keane? Sweet dreams?”
Nurse not brought your tablets again?
Severe Sky sports news warning:
David Bentley celebrating in his pants will haunt me forever.
The funniest part about Man City playing for a draw against us: If they’d lost, they would have had 65 points going into the Spurs game, needing a win to leapfrog them. Instead they had 66 points andโฆwait for itโฆneeded a win to go above them them! A loss wouldn’t have had nearly as negative an impact as the win would have been positive. But I hope they make the most of that point they snatched at the Grove.
At the risk of exposing myself as the relative Johnny-come-lately that I am, what does LWC mean?
@ Visionary:
Totteringham = Brittish steel = Rainham Steel = Scunthorpe = Scunthorpe United… Hah!
Remember Everton in ’05, failed to qualify for the Champions League proper and then failed to qualify for the UEFA Cup group stage. This after finishing fourth the previous season… We must not slip up on Sunday as having to qualify after a World Cup would be a nightmare..As for Spuds they deserved it over the season, but it is a poor season, top three haveTwenty Two defeats between them and no Premier team got past the quarter finals of the Champions League…Worst season since ’94-’95 I reckon.
In a way Spurs qualifying is better for us (hard to believe I know) but if City had qualified the transfer market would have gone through the roof, they would have bought the Premier League next season on the strenght of qualification this season. Now only players like our ex Togo international will join them. Having said that I can’t see him at Eastlands next season.
Three London teams in the top four and another London team in a European Final…Where is the power base now?
Lily White cunts I’m guessing but I may be wide of the mark on that!
Chippy wins tonights free drink ๐
Cheers Holics! Well at some point it had to come to this. We just need to stand up and finish the business. We are the Arsenal. I don’t care what 11 we put out at this point. Our B teams in the past have devoured many a more experienced side in the past (Carling Cup games, anyone?) We cannot fear anyone right now, least of all Fulham for fuck’s sake. Now we must stand up, devour them, and close the fucking gate on this season. Tottenham can spend this summer having night sweats about who they’ll face while we re-focus and take over next season.
Double me up, please, barman.
Its painful to say this but they will probably beat us to third.
We have no steal or fight in our team.
The weakest selection of goalies in the top half of the league!
Hopefully a good pre season and all our players fit, and we will be able to regroup then come out fighting.
But the team needs to pull together and really want to win.
Watching tottenham give it to city tonight had me thinking, and these spud muppets have a better squad than we have at the moment and they 100% fight for the team more than we will.
Sad to watch really but hey ho we are lucky enough to be the 3rd richest team in the world… funny that statement when we never buy any decent players ?
hmmmmm
GREG
Gee ‘Holic, I thought that my algebraic linkage of the Spuds to SU would qualify for that free drink… guess I need to be more inventive. ;(
Well that nearly had us fooled Greg, but you LWC’s never were the brightest lamps in the mine, were you?
Cheers Holic
Im never to tired for an extra beverage,Must say it’s showing your Of a certain vintage Holic haven’t heard that for donkeys years ๐
Goonerholic you are deluded mate I love arsenal with a passion!!!
And hate that twitching cnut!!!!
But you have to admit it we have fallen apart and it does not look like ending… Hopefully we wipe the floor with fulham and as said previous close the gate on this season and think about next season.
And the worst part is every season we get hopefull ( i wont say excited lol) that he will be real top talen and we are let down.
Lets hope I am wrong and he pulls of some magic signings that will have us all watching the world cup with smiles knowing we have class players.
My comment about spurs team because that is where you think I am a tottenham fan came from is just as it is pal… when I watched them tonight they showed a passion that WE HAVE MISSED at arsenal and that is fucking sad mate!
GREG
Personally well done Spuds begrudgingly you have to admit they deserve it.
The Qualifying draw is seeded it is split between champions and non champions. Ajax and Zenit St Petersburg are already in the draw. Celtic have an extra Qualifying round. Spurs are actually ranked 30th in Europe (due to their UEFA cup runs) so are likely to be seeded.
No true Arsenal supporter would say Arsenal have “the weakest selection of goalies in the top half of the league!”
They’d say we have the weakest keeper selection in England’s top three tiers!
nah there has been 81 goals against the burnley keeper lol… I cant find flappy and albundy worse than them lol.
But that is my point aswell what the hell is a top 4 team doing without 1 class keeper… ffs what are we playing at!!!
Cant knock our policy really because we at one point owed 600 million and we now owe something like 175 – if I read correct.
That is some business and something we should be happy with but we have the money – again if I read correctly lol. I know its crazy to keep talking about players but we need these in my opinion.
top class striker because as good as RVP, you never know about his injuries.
top class goaly – most important!
top class center back.
top class midfielder – hopefully a play maker when fabregas gets knocks!
get rid of
Vela, Arshavin, diaby,
GREG
Go suck on it, Paulie.
Sorry, ‘Holic
I’ll give you deluded, Greg.
Someone who says we never buy any decent players.
How stupid is that? So the first eight months of this season count for nothing with you, do they? Vermaelen, Arshavin, even Campbell, these were not decent signings?
Grow a pair fella. For eight months we were in the mix, and destroyed the LWC’s 3-0 lest ye forget. I’ll grant you the performances of the last month have not been acceptable, but the spine of the side has been missing.
To make out that month outweighs the rest of the season is plainly ridiculous.
and I will drive sylvestry for free to the nearest airport.
Now I aint a gooner I dunno who is lol
Greg!!!!
I was debating whether to go on Sunday or not, but deffo will now that 3rd isn’t yet certain.
The shysters are going to have to stand up and be counted if they want to play for us next year.
Holic, are you seriously suggestion you prefer Sp*rs for CL over City?
Fuck the money power of Citeh, this is Sp*rs FFS! Cannot stand their gloating
Chamakh is an obvious signing.
The rest of the list – well, the majority seem like a waste of breath or paper, assuming they are still tearing down rainforests to support that party that doesn’t believe in equal rights for the citizens of this country (no, not the bnp, the tories who have a prominent minister compare something people are born with to those with a ‘mental illness’ and that they can pray the gay away. This is the Tory party people, don’t believe in equality because a guy in a cloud wrote a book 20000 years ago that says its ok to indulge in slavery if you release your slaves after 7 years of unpaid tortorous labour and that homosexuality is an abomination – good old leviticus! lets live our lives by it! let’s also take back rights for women and people of other skin colours or religions! a man on a cloud told me so! and this is how to run a country, honest!)….
Ok, where was I…
For some reason, Buffon just makes sense to me. Wenger has a good working relationship with Juventus (Henry, Vieira, inviting them to the Emirates Cup), he wants out without any other obvious suitors (Cesar, Cech, Given, Casillas, Valdes, Reina all fill untouchable spots, Utd can’t afford him and he took relegation over AC Milan) and we can finally afford the best, in a position where we know we are buying.
Sakho hits a little too close to home to be true. Extremely talented, surprisingly experienced given his age, not too expensive, African French, strong, tall, quick… It’s a story that assumes that the only players bought in the past 14 years were Henry, Vieira, Diaby, Sagna and Wiltord. Personally I’d much prefer Douglas from Schteeeve’s team but what do I know?
Anyway cheers for a good season’s worth of reading ‘holic. If I wasn’t absolutely skint atm, I’d say have one on me. Maybe have a few on me next season.
I knew LW stood for lilly whites.. C was left up for grabs ๐
Dear Greg,
I think your ethos, your pervassive negativity, your earth shattering shallowness, would be better suited to Le Grove, or the other bastion play ground-esque gash; the Online Gooner. Loads of know it alls and glory boys skulking round there. ‘holic, with a couple of others, are for the more balanced, adult supporter. Note the operative word in that sentence – supporter. We all know what the side needs and don’t need to see it written down everywhere…links in with the post, what?
If you want trophies every season, if that defines your club for you, go and support those clubs – I bet you will find the whole process sordid and empty. Until then, take your shit somewhere else, you ruined my read.
AB
Holic
Harry Redknapp is my manager of the year.!!
Spurs were bottom when he took over,to get them to the CL qualifiers is a fantastic achievement.
I don’t quite understand all the animosity from Arse followers towards the Spuds,but perhaps i come from a diff generation where vitriol and hatred aimed at our neighbours wasn’t something old style Gooners indulged in.
I’ve got good mates who are Spurs supporters and we always have a laugh together when we play each other and we accept the result whichever way it goes and carry on regardless.
I don’t know the age spread of fans on your site Holic,but judging by all the bitterness and bile being spouted at the Spuds,i would be really surprised if many of them were of my vintage.
I must say i am even surprised at your venom towards them.
You are not much younger than me,yet you seem to hate them with a passion as well.
I realise that some supporters from down the road are absolutely beyond the pale in the way they behave when we play each other,but that doesn’t mean we have to lower ourselves to their level.
WE ARE ARSENAL,and we should be above all that.
Judging by your site,everyonewho blogs here loves their club with great passion,so let’s stick to discussing our wonderful club/manager/team, and not waste our breath disparaging our neighbours.
@Samuel
Buffon will never be ours mate. His wages are like 4million per year- we will never be able to afford that.
Sakho – that would be one amazing buy. I know he is young but the guy is the captain at 20 FfS. He’s a leader , hates losing and puts his life on the line – much like Vermaelen.
I must admit i am still mightily pissed off that we go into the final game in the position we are in. The last month or so have been a disgrace. I was hoping for my usual end of season jolly. Arrive early, few cheeky scoops, a wander to the ground to watch a convincing win and then back to the tollie for beer and free chips. But no. I will be there on edge because of the recent inept displays by so called internationals. And it does not make me happy. I refuse to contemplate the unthinkable.
One interesting fact on sky tonight was this. They showed the net transfer spending of the top clubs over the last 3 reasons. Citeh had spent something like 200 million. Spuds had spent in excess of 70 million. We were 22 million in credit. Thats right, 22 million in the black. It is all well and good trying to pay for the new stadium in record time but i just cant help wondering what might have been if we had re invested some of that cash on a few more top quality signings? As the third richest club in the world you would not think that too much to ask. Would you? The alternative might be to get onto bupa and order a truck load of spines and a bucket of bollocks. We seem to be devoid of both at the moment.
We need a positive result and performance on sunday. Dont let me down boys!
Spuds clinch 4th spot for the first time – 4th mind you – and unbelievably, yet inevitably, the tv commentator delivers the line, “are the glory glory days coming back to White Hart Lane”.
They’ve never yet played a single CL game.
One effing 4th place and no doubt the power base will be shifting along the Seven Sisters Road (again – yawn) and Sp*rs will now be able to add “even better players to their squad”.
So, here is next seasons ideal Spud scenario.
They provisionally agree signings with a host of super-stars.
They then lose their qualifying tie, crash out of the CL and said super-stars all refuse to join. Forgive me, but would they then get a Europa League spot? Hopefully they would, as that would knacker their league campaign.
In the meantime, their current best players have all left, disgruntled at the proposed signings, and they finish 11th in the league, as usual.
Well you’ve got to think positive this week.
Nice to see you here again, Clive. If you see a copy on eBay, look for a book called ‘The Battle of London’ by Rex Pardoe. It was published early seventies and explains some of the things opposing supporters got up to back in the twenties even.
I think you are of a vintage where the clubs collaborated during and after the war, when relations improved after the groundshare at the Lane.
That changed by the time I was a teenager, although I do accept the feelings are stronger today, borne out of a frustration I suspect that only a very of small number of fans in relative terms get to see the away game in the flesh, and those that do go get a rough ride as a result.
Funnily enough they may just provoke a reaction in the Arsenal boardroom now. I suspect the sealed purse is having its drawstrings loosened as we discuss their qualification for the Champions Fifty Years Ago League. ๐
I’m with you Steve T. I was looking forward to getting a snifter in before the game then an easy day at The Grove, followed by a decent bladdering in The Bank of Friendship or one of the many hostelries on that side of the ground.
But….we have to make sure against Fulham. Can’t see Fulham being too keen on stretching their players, but with one of our circus acts in goal you never know.
Anyone would have thought Jesus had landed for the second time the way the Spuds had landed. Sorry that should have read ‘first time’ for our Kosher neighbours.
Sorry holic. Forgot to mention your assessment of citeh during my rant. I agree totally. I hate everything that clubs like that stand for. I would suggest their board deserve some sort of hampton award as well as Mancini.
Holic
I haven’t been away mate,i just post my blogs quite late in the evening and sometimes they get missed.!!
But i have posted stories here before about Spurs and Arse games even in the late 60’s where my Dad and i would stand on the terraces at White Hart Lane amongst the Spuds supporters and never had any trouble or felt threatened in any way.
The banter was always enjoyable and when the game was over regardless of the result,the catchcry was,” see you next time,good luck”.
Did you feel threatened or see any violence at the Lane the night we won the league in 71.??
I don’t remember any.
So when did it start getting violent and vicious.??
It certainly passed me by.
goonerholic i support the arsenal and if you read my post properly you could come to that conclusion, other persons on here wished the neighbours well also, cant see the problem with that and indeed sweet dreams to them because it ain’t going to happen in reality. i would not give array manager of the year, that id give to the fulham manager and respect other punters even if they do not agree with you as it shows a distinct lack of class and decency on your behalf
I’m with you to an extent Steve but as someone who’s unfortunately seen the brunt of the fucked up financial situation (ty for screwing up the past year for graduates trying to find a decent job country, i invested in my education to… work part-time in tesco and move back home) I can understand the cautiousness of those who work with something worth hundreds of millions that people love dearly. I mean think, we pay over one milli a week in wages, that’s that 22m gone in under half a year or 1 year’s loan payments and change.
I always find it absurd that clubs (other than City/Chelsea) can afford to spend so liberally on transfer fees, and almost ignore the wages, signing on fees, agent fees, commercial aspects, bonuses etc. Assuming City don’t bid for every player we go for like Chelsea once did (chelsea being smart enough to go for the best of the french leagues instead of lol kaka and terry etc.), we are becoming cash rich at a time when transfer fees aren’t what they used to be because no-one can afford bidding wars and players are running down their contracts. We are essentially looking like what Utd were last decade up to Berbatov.
That said, fuck it, I enjoy success as much as anyone.
Re: Buffon – 4 mill a year? So… about what Cesc is on?
Also minus Almunia and Fabianski from our wage bill is what… 50k per week? That’s half of it sorted.
Someone wake me up this has to be a nightmare . It has to be !!!!!
Well we are in credit. Great. but our team is a different story- this team is the worst in the EPL on current form- I’m talking about our first 11 minus 5 first choice players- Fulham are a better team than us- better organised, better balanced and they can defend as well. so dont hold your breath-
London will a tough place to be for Gooner fans this summer when
Chelsea win the EPL and FA Cup; Fulham win the Europa League Trophy
and Spurs pip Arsenal for 3rd place. Oh my !
Holic,
Just re-read your post. You omitted the transfer deal that is 99% certain – Ryan Babble.
I definitely read it somewhere. Could have been one of my previous posts mind.
One more game to go and I can devote my time to casting real flies for real trout.
Hmm, my mate had to go the hospital after visiting WHL coz some Sp*rs roughed him up. He says he hates going to mid week games (coz they start late and usually are the worst) .
LWC – I really should have figured that one out by myself. Thanks, Chippy!
I’m really nervous about Sunday…
I am with Clive on this , from the late 50’s it was WHL one week Highbury the next. As a kid in North London away travel did not exist in those days, neither did the M1 for that matter. School friends were split between the two. The ” hatred came when we got stronger and their push and run team broke up. They were always condescendingly nice when they had the upper hand but once we started to get on top things changed. Anyway Nelson’s Blood for me.
I do love seeing all these Spurs fans popping up on here at times like this, in the best traditions of the internet troll with nothing better to do.
As for Sunday, we’re at home, so I’m confident. Our dismal performances of late have pretty much been away from home so hopefully we’ll have just enough in the tank. Immensely irritating it’s come to this but that’s something to dissect later.
Yes agreed Charlie , it should not have come to this but I suppose if nothing else it would seem to be the wake up call our leaders need. Hopefully it will encourage the soul searching from the board and the manager and perhaps the realisation that the players have got it too easy, might just strike home.
richy
That’s a bit rich coming from LWC like you, oh my!
BtM, Babbel wasn’t on the front page yesterday. I was just using one page to demonstrate how crazy the speculation is. I’ll wager by the end of this week we will have been linked with at least thirty new signings in the last seven days. Why read the nonsense?
A word for everybody else. I have had to ban my second individual last night. Not bad in just under four years I suppose. The ground rules are simple. Disagreeing with me is fine. Explaining why you are anti-Arsene or individual players is ok as long as you don’t resort to mindless abuse. That is where I draw the line.
And if you make threats against ‘holic you should be aware that I will trace your ip for future use, especially when you have the same isp as me, Greg.
Gregy boys made a cardinal sin has he, Never understood the Keyboard warrior side of things especially if you dont know who your abusing !!
To Lighten the mood this morning Free Drink for the first correct answer i know its like a GMTV question but its just a bit of fun :
I always thought he struggled to understand the offside law, after tonight I wonder if he knows it exists.
Also what is it with his massive jumps with no head on the ball ?
Sorry big disapointment in many ways
Who are the Fans talikng about ? This beleive me was one of the nice ones it seems our old friend has been up to his old tricks lately ๐
chippy, I think they are talking about… hmm… hang on, let me see now… ummm, no, I just can’t see who that would be…
Getting rid of that plonker along with Toure was a really good move on Wenger’s part.
Order em up Lars theyre on me ๐
The big divide started (obviously!) when we nicked their star defender: Willie Young, that riled right up let me tell you! Also, maybe slightly more importantly Pat Jennings. And then of course recently when Sol made the small journey over to (mankind) us!
When I was at school 1960-70s the hostility was never that bad at all. West Ham on the other hand were very hostile!
Thanks chippy, you can be sure I will ๐
time for our players to come back from summer vacation there is a small job to do this sunday
Looks we will only have Clichy back for Sunday’s game against Fulham and Arshavin will be able to start too! No one else is back unfortunately.
behind the 8 ball but not nasri
They have a MASSIVE job to do on Sunday without a doubt!
Nasri, I hope they can because in any sport once you’ve switched of mentally it’s very hard to switch it back on ! I’m pretty sure we will get the 3 points mind in fact I’ve done us 3,1 as Fulhams minds will be on next Wednesday and rightly so, If we were at the cottage I’d be more concerned that’s for sure and anyway I’ve decided to try and be positive till Monday at least ๐
Personally, I don’t think it would be a gamble to start JET, Eastmond, Gibbs, Djourou, and Mannone alongside van Persie, Eboue, Cambell, Nasri and the like. This players are good enough and may not yet have turned off their drive. It actually may be important for those guys to begin ahead of the Fallen…
And between you and me, I don’t trust Asharvin right now. I’ve appreciated a lot of what he’s brought in his time here, but I just don’t believe his commitment right now.
The rest are either too depressed, dejected, bored, or as Matt thinks- protecting themselves for the summer. This last bit may be true for some- Diaby, Vela, probably Gallas- but not as convincing of an argument to me as Matt seems to believe. Anyways, i ramble…
Thanks for the boards, Holic. So useful on these dull, aching days between inglorious performances…
OK, Tottenham and Arsenal, and the hatred. Don’t want to do this in depth in the drinks as it may make a summer series on the blog, maybe. I’ll agree with you, Clive, to an extent. I think the modern troubles started perhaps a little later than it did with some of the northern and midland clubs, but certainly by the late sixties, up until Tottenham’s relegation in 76-77, we took over the Lane on derby day. Obvously ’71 was a special occasion, and nobody was going to get chucked out having queued all afternoon to get in, but the thousands dancing on the pitch afterwards gave a clue as to the predominance of red in the ground that night. A year earlier I remember going there unaccompanied for the first time just days after we had won the Fairs Cup. We lost 1-0 to a Gilzean header, but cleared out the Park Lane, Paxton, and Shelf in the process, which was a regular occurrence at that time. The tables turned in their year in the second division when they made up over half of the crowd at Highbury for Peter Simpson’s testimonial, and entered the North Bank in big numbers for the first time. I think the real hatred grew in the next few years as they terrorised ordinary Arsenal fans at the Lane. Most mobs tried to keep the aggravation ‘in-house’ but I witnessed women, children, and on one occasion a disabled supporter get grief at the Lane. Those things you don’t forget.
Like you, I still have some friends who are old-school Tottenham, and Chelsea in fact. We all agree things have gone a bit far. These days only small numbers of visiting supporters can get tickets so sadly are sitting targets for mobs happy to take advantage of the numerical advantage and apparent slacker policing in N17.
I do feel for the younger fans today who will never know what it was like to watch the North London derby when it was not all ticket and we would take tens of thousands to the Lane, and they would be at Highbury in similar numbers. I wouldn’t attempt to glorify some of the things that went on either, but the atmosphere was very special in a way that will never be repeated, sadly.
And you could wind each other up at school, or in work, or in the pub, without fear of something silly happening. The banter could be very special.
I think the hatred started when we discovered the webbing between their toes and we all realised that they smelt a bit funny.
Just a possibility.
That too, Steve ๐
I used to think they were born in donkey jackets…
Holic, why is the policing slacker around WHL? This is the EXACT complaint my friend told me.
Wish I could tell you that, Sajit. It’s one of lifes mysteries that the force at our end of Seven Sisters has always been a bit more ‘concientious’, shall we say.
I have the same question sajit posed – I’ve had too many bad run-ins with those funny-smelling web-toed monkeys. And I agree with Steve T @ 87.
All I can say about the game last night is – it’s utterly hilarious to see a game that proves that even Peter Crouch is a better player than the Ade-offside-clown. Poor Tevez, he really deserves a better partner up front. Would’ve helped him win the game.
Pretty sad that we’re reduced to fretting about the last game of the season, at home, against what will probably be a 2nd Fulham team, to cement 3rd spot and prevent the scum from finishing above us.
……and a lot of them appear to spend far too much time apple bobbing in the chip pan.
Personally, I think LWC is being too nice.
Pint of bitter @Holic ๐
Holic
Funny you should mention Northern and Midland clubs,in all my years of following the Arse,the only time i ever felt i may not get home alive was at the FA Cup semi final against Wolves at Villa Park in the 78-79 season.
A mate and i drove up on the sat morning and parked a fair way from the ground and walked to the Stadium.
The atmosphere outside the ground before the game was absolutely poisonous,anyone wearing Arsenal colors was fair game and people were being bashed everywhere we looked.
The police had hopelessly underestimated the situation and could not control the mobs of people looking for trouble.
The game itslef passed off fairly peacefully with us winning 2 nil.
But if we thought the trouble before kick off was bad,it was nothing compared to the violence and terror after the match.
It was absolute carnage,and of course it wasn’t just Wolves thugs involved,it was also Villa headkickers who had been waiting outside in the streets and local parks waiting for us poor sods to come out.
There were running battles everywhere we looked,bottles/knuckle dusters/chunks of wood all being wielded in a frenzy of violence,it was truly terrifying.
I still to this day do not know how we got out of there in one piece.
If you think the Wolves and Villa supporters were just brainless morons then you can think again,because some of them were actually very clever.
They didn’t get too involved in the violence aroud the ground,they waited in the outlying streets knowing a lot of fans,like me and my mate had travelled up by car.
Now none of us Arse boys at this stage were silly enough to be wearing anything to identify us as supporters,but the Wolves/Villa bovver boys would approach everyone coming their way and casually call out,’ Got the time pal’ and of course then they had you by the balls,because if you didn’t answer you were gone,and once you opened your mouth you were also gone and got hammered.
My mate recently celebrated his 60th birthday and we were reminiscing about all our years following the Arse,and that semi final came up and he said to me he still doesn’t know how we escaped alive,and to be honest neither do i.!!
Those were the days.
Spu*s in the Champions League next year will be more interesting than another year of Loserpool. Also, if we draw them we can save on travel expenses. All to the good!
Clive, you said – “,because if you didnโt answer you were gone,and once you opened your mouth you were also gone and got hammered”
forgive my lack of knowledge but is it because London accent is different from Midlands accent?
Sajit
yes,London accent significantly diff to Midlands and Northern England.
Hence we were screwed 6 ways to Christmas on both counts.
Actually, I believe the intense rivalry, animosity, loathing and deep seated hatred began about 14 years ago in all honesty – when my sister married a Spud. ๐
The old” got the time trick” hey i was informed at a young age if ever that happened to my goodself i was always to get my retaliation in first with a swift kick to the nuts ๐ Then Run like the wind if said person was in a group lol !
My worst experience was a game up at Boro now they are one lot of Ugly big Fuckers ! Also used to Love a trip up to Liverpool where it seemed everyone from 10 year olds to 90 year old grannies would hurl abuse at us on our arrival to lime street ๐ remember as a kid looking out the windows of the bus taking us to Anfield or Goodison the rows and rows of boarded up windows !!
Times have defo changed for the better as an away fan but i do miss the sense of togetherness that an away trip would bring and of course the old Atmos that used to be generated,
Oh go on then, ‘Holic.
A lunch time pint to bring up the century!
I’m actually looking forward to the fulham game more than any of the ohers recently. It shows how much better games are when they mean something (other than pride, which you would hope to take for granted. Not that recent displays support that.).
I’m looking forward to a great day… as long as we win.
Every cloud….
So happy days if you’re a Spud.
CL comes to WHL.
Twitcher gets a windfall that’s already burning a hole in his pocket.
He can attract a better class of player to the Lane now.
Better class of player, more outlay, more wages, windfall for existing players who want to keep up.
Will ‘Arry show the same kind of financial savvy, prudence, diligence, call it what you will, that he showed at Pompey….
You fucking well hope so….Heh!
Bye bye Spuds. The CL could be the kiss of death.
Good first half lads now going to watch the second ๐