ARSENALISM©

arsenalism © WILL RETURN NEXT SEASON

Facts can be manipulated to provide damning evidence. Facts can also be used to tell a story without emotion. Facts in football always have a context and mitigating circumstances and from this point of view Arsenal Football Club should be seen, on the one hand, as just another Football club, yet on the other to be a club standing for something more. The Arsenal does have the status of one of English Football’s big clubs; that’s fact. On this basis there should be an element of expectation and intention to compete for honours. Let’s talk about Pre and Post Emirates. The proclamations from the board, when leaving Highbury, were that Arsenal would compete at the highest level because the move would enable the club financially. In the years leading up to this we were doing just that. Champions League final, FA Cup win, Premier League Championship; the definition of competing at the highest level in many ways. This in fact was ratified by the fact that in those year...

arsenalism © WILL RETURN NEXT SEASON

Okay, lets not get carried away but shall we all enjoy the 17th consecutive St Totteringham day? ARSENALISM WILL RETURN NEXT SEASON

"ask not what you can do for your club, ask what your club can do for you" Another underwhelming season reaches its fitful climax. At stake qualification for a tournament that we look nowhere near to winning, but a tournament that brings in revenue and supposedly acts as bait for luring quality players. It's all a bit 'Lasagne Sunday' tomorrow; scraping over the left overs of the season. No trophy at stake just claiming the mythical Golden Fleece like ECL Qualification. Said qualification kind of masks a season's inadequacy (whoever claims it outright today). In our case the statistics are, Won 20 drawn 7 and most damning, lost 10. That's not to say we aren't as mediocre, in league terms, as Chelsea and Newcastle who have also lost 10. Difference being Chelsea have won the FA Cup and are in the ECL Final, Newcastle's form represents a big step forward, therefore they have in effect done better than us this season (and it's not over yet)....

http://youtu.be/wrGKg9fXMGY inside Yankee Stadium When I visited the New York Yankees stadium last year I couldn’t help but notice a similarity. Here was a team playing the peoples game, a team with a great history based in the USA equivalent of London; New York (it’s not Washington; all they share is capital city status). They had moved to a new stadium, a stones throw from the old one in which they had many great moments and I was about to see what the new Yankees Stadium looked like. We parked in the excellent parking facilities adjacent to the ground. Of course this was not downtown but it was still the city so to be able to do this was absolutely convenient. Around the ground Yankee shirts were everywhere; the iconic pinstripe unchanged for decades. Baseball caps, still the same as they always have been proliferated; available in numerous sizes to fit the smallest or largest of craniums. The entrance to the stadium. No enclosed turnstiles. Entrance by sh...

New Premier League Logo? http://youtu.be/rHovxVWAEzU Glutton Bowl So if Manchester City win the League they will play Chelsea in The Community Shield 2012. This will be the exact moment that the big money Chickens ploughing untold Millions into English football will have come home ready to settle down. If you can countenance Chelsea also winning The Champions League it will amplify the strategy of buying success. Abramovich’s plan will have worked; and it only took nine years. The Traditional big English clubs are Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal, Everton and Sp*rs. That’s kind of accepted and backed up statistically. These clubs, including our own, have no divine right to anything; that’s not the point. What is the point? Money talks. That’s the point. All the clubs who did not heed the warning can’t exactly find easy answers either. This English football thing of ours began to chase the Euro with enthusiasm with the SKY deal and ever since money has bee...

 http://youtu.be/QX0r6DsvXAU AST visit the powers that be Not so Super Hoops A new home kit (order yours today and get a lovely presentation box and maybe win a Citroen!), a summer tour, Lukas Podolski (get your season tickets while they're hot), groundsman of the year, Live screening of our trip to WBA; only £8 and you can enjoy a delicious tepid and flat £3.90 beer, "Third place is in our hands", yadah yadah yadah... All distractions; shiny baubles if you will, from the harsh reality of another season of under achievement. Yes I know about the mantra of a ECL place being achieved, but that's no certainty as I write this. The fact that Sp*rs and Newcastle chucked a rubber ring into the ocean for an Arsenal side treading water awaiting a lifeline, means we may yet stagger over the finish line to pick up the Bronze medal. Tremendous stuff I'm sure you'll agree. But fear not and above all remain calm: all is well, all is well. http:/...

In the weekly pursuit of points yesterday's result could be seen as a resilient response with some bad luck leading to a valuable point. But in the context of a must win scenario that is crucial to the future of this club, we were, again, found wanting. The current Arsenal squad is a paradox; ability v mentality. The Arsenal of 2012 refuses to accept the mantle of greatness, it defers from acknowledging a historical context of being one of the big boys. This Arsenal appears to be happy with a status of second rate, this Arsenal accepts mediocrity, this Arsenal seems happy to assume underdog status. Our club have seemed to settle for being second rate. Title challenges, cup finals, taking on the big boys. It's all gone by the by as we've gone mediocre as our default. We look in the rear view mirror and we see Newcastle and Sp*rs. We've seen Chelsea usurp our position and we have seen Man City challenge the status quo. We have allowed our club to decl...

http://youtu.be/9hJMf1md-KM who will be having a laugh? You get the feeling that all matters at the top of the table will remain unresolved until next weekend. United and City should go to the last day and the fate of The Arsenal, Sp*rs and Newcastle may be the same; Newcastle and Man City is the key game for a number of reasons, and Chelsea could need to put all their eggs in the Champion's League final basket. It's tight at the top alright. This afternoon's game at home to Norwich,the last at home this season, is a must win scenario. Given Villa's awful form you would have to think Sp*rs will get three points tomorrow thereby setting up a last day of some tension. Almost a mirror image of the final day at Highbury when we faced Wigan and Sp*rs, despite a predictable Sheringham missed penalty, succumbed to a dodgy Lasagne,  and a goal from Yossi at Upton Park. Newcastle are buoyant but their game against City may burst their bubble. The race f...

Make that 17 years HAPPY St TOTTERINGHAM'S DAY  13th MAY 2012 Image courtesy http://footballandail.blogspot.co.uk/ ARSENALISM© RETURNS NEXT SEASON

72. 70. 69. 68. 67. 66.   71. 69. 68. 67. 66. 65.   67. 65. 64. 63. 62. 61.   And the bonus ball: ECL Qualification.   Check your numbers on 13th May  

 Spare a thought for Liverpool, a team that have a League Cup triumph to look back on and an FA Cup final to look forward to, but their latest defeat at once impregnable Anfield means they have dropped a staggering 59 points in the league. Without the cup runs they would not be in Europe next season which is unthinkable for a club of their stature and history on the continent. Would I swap positions with them and have a mid table finish but domestic silverware? I think probably not, I think that in league terms we've shown some positive signs that may indicate the process of re-establishing ourselves as contenders is not too fanciful an idea. Our trophy drought has to be looked at in context. Yes we've not won the league since 2004 but for Liverpool , whom we are domestic peers of, it’s been 22 years; we should remember that a gap of eight years points to losing our way. When you start talking in decades (plural) it points towards a deeper decline. It also hi...