ARSENALISM©

Is the Premier League beginning to take shape? early season pace setters Man City are at the top and unbeaten, no real surprise given that their expenditure has resulted in a very good squad and they have an elite manager who has jettisoned those that were not up to muster. Everton are the 'surprise package' doing well early on and Chelsea and Liverpool, both of whom have no European distraction, are in prime position for qualification places. Sp*rs are doing pretty well and are therefore being their usual over zealous selves. So what of the Arsenal? We entered the season with a squad that featured a number of players who the manager said weren't ready: why this state of affairs exists is beyond me and we got off to an abject start at home on the first day of the season yet have gone unbeaten since, in part to late winners and penalties. And as for Manchester United? The Specious one is not exactly sprinkling fairy dust at Old Trafford, in fact he is cutting quite ...

In international terms England are a mid table team who have won one trophy in 144 years and therefore fans should realign their expectations accordingly. I am no fan of Sam Allardyce but England won an away game in a competitive fixture yet the complaints ring out. What do people expect? English players are not as good as their foreign counterparts: simple as.   There is not one of those so called ‘world class players’ available to the England manager so it’s more about a collective approach. Winning is everything, win first then look at style later. England are not entitled to be an attractive team who bater the opposition, England are a team who simply don't have he resources of previous England teams who reached Semi-Finals, there is no Gascoine, no Shearer, no Gerard, no Owen, no Lineker, no Campbell or any players that you could imagine doing well at an elite european club. The dearth of outstanding English talent goes deeper and a solution will take ...

"and that's that" It's over, the season that is, put out of it's misery for another year and Sky Sports had their Super Sunday planned: The Mancunian battle for the Champions League, but sadly external events put paid to that, so it was the Emirates and St James' Park where the real drama happened; ten goals across two games and the media predicted end of St Totteringham's day had to wait another year. Yes it's been 21 years since that lot finished above the Arsenal. I'm not one for viewing supremacy/bragging rights over our North London neighbours as some sort of triumphant vindication but you know what? it was bloody funny, hysterical even, that after such ballyhoo, hoopla and talk of power shifts Sp*rs metaphorically pierced their foot on a spike. Cometh the hour cometh the capitulation. let's get this in context: the self proclaimed best Sp*rs team since sliced bread lost 5-1 on a day when all they needed was a draw to clinch s...

The death of hope is what does the damage. The realisation that there is a metaphorical treadmill and that we are all on it hits hard. A treadmill of underachievement: I should say now that rather than repeating myself all references to underachievement are in the context of achievement being commensurate with resources, revenue, location, opportunity, ambition, tradition and reassurance from the people that run Arsenal Football club (there that’s saved me having to place caveats all over the place) We were sold a dream, a dream of seeing the best players playing at the Emirates stadium and elbowing into the European elite, we were told to show patience and we were asked to dig deep into our pockets but that dream died some time ago  and for some time now I have stated that I believe that there is something rotten in the state of Arsenal and it is my view that rot stems from two sources: The Board of Directors and, more to the point, the current Arsenal Manager. “How ...

Put Simply (at the end of the season) I've always tried to be measured and dispassionate about the Arsenal but honestly, how many so called elite clubs would put up with Wenger's record over the last ten years? His stability in the post is purely down to commerce and today is the day where, personally, my patience is at an end. He must go if we are to be a club with the ambition to match our financial position.  Measured you say, how so? Measured about the realities of modern football and the fact that no one has a divine right, measured about the limitations but also measured about the business of the game but having invested in the club emotionally and financially for a significant part of ones life the expectation is that the club employs those fit for purpose and Arsene Wenger has not been fit for purpose for a decade and his stability is based on finance.  Defining moments in the destiny of a club? We've had many but for me personally this is the ...

And so our campaign to retain The Cup for another year has started in earnest with a reasonably comfortable win over Sunderland in what was a pretty dull third round. When I say The Cup I am of course referring to the grand old FA Cup: that trophy that come the Final at Wembley, if you're Team is not in it you want them to be.  Those that denigrate the competition obviously don't understand its significance to English Football and its place in history. Many a team are known as cup specialists and this is curious because those teams don't have particularly good records in the FA Cup. Take Tottenham for example: they last won it 25 years ago, which although not as long ago as their last title win (55 years) is quite a lengthy passage for a "Cup Specialists" club. We are the club with the record of wins and those wins have often been in the context of doubles of one kind or another. Our last two wins in the competition were very different: the first...