Written by CarlitoII
It’s time to fly the flag, to stand up and be counted, to be unequivocally and shamelessly chauvinistic about all things Arsenal. Today, we fight for our pride!
I may be preaching to the choir on this one but a re-affirmation of all that the letters AFC stands for is long overdue.
History
We are the most successful club in London and the third most successful team in English football history. Herbert Chapman was our first visionary manager, introducing numbers on the back of players shirts for the first time, developing under-turf heating on his watch and creating new playing systems (the famous W-W) that are still relevant today: http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2010/oct/26/the-question-barcelona-reinventing-w-w
The way we won the league in ’89 has never been matched for excitement by any other league-winning club and the Graham years featured a back four that was so famous it inspired references in films!
And then we have the league and cup doubles in’71, ’98 and 2002, the league and FA cup double in ’93- the first time this was done, and we were the first team since Preston in 1888 to go an entire league season without losing.
Not only do we have an immense history of success, we also have a history of ‘firsts’ in innovation and changing the game that has inspired the whole of world football.
Kit
No team anywhere in the world has such an elegant kit. The red shirts and white sleeves have been copied but never bettered!
Financial Dealings
I don’t believe any club in world football has been entirely honourable in their financial dealings. That said, with the exception of the Graham Bung story, our club is world-renowned for its transparency in financial dealings and its unwillingness to get involved in the murkier transfer dealings. I believe that the owners of the club have always been keen to set the standard and operate as gentlemen. Long may it continue!
Scintillating football
Aside from Barcelona and the current Spanish national team- which current team can compare to the mighty Arsenal for attacking fluency? The oohs and aahs than emanate from the stadium and pubs across the country are testament to the “fantasy” of our players and the vision of our manager.
Amazing Youth system
We produce more first team top level footballers from our youth team than any other in the country. West Ham and Manchester United may feel they have a claim but neither have a next generation as promising as ours.
Beautiful stadium
The Mothership! The beautiful, curvaceous, state of the art arena which we now call our home. It needed to be to follow on from the uniqueness of Highbury.
Heroes
We all have our favourites and I’m not old enough to talk of the players from the 70s and early 80s. But there are so many! All teams have their heroes but does any team treat their heroes with such devotion? Two that strike a particular chord are Rocky whose song still echoes around the ground on most matchdays and Eduardo’s reception on scoring a late goal in our recent Champions League encounter with Shaktar. You wouldn’t want to play for any other club would you? If you hear our ex-players talking about Arsenal you would be forced to agree.
Villains
There’s just something about the way we treat our villains- from Totnum to Cashley. There is so much humour and banter and very little true bile. Yes we hate them, but we’re secure enough in our own identity not to take it to extremes. When you compare with the way the spuds treated Sol or West Ham and Millwall go for each other- it makes me proud to be a supporter of the greatest club the world has ever seen!
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Thank You Carlito for a great start to the day. No one but us knows what it’s like to be an Arsenal fan.
There is one stick I want opposition fans to stop hitting us with, lack of atmosphere. It’s time to turn up the volume at the Grove, sounded like it was rocking despite the Beebs best efforts to have all the crowd mics turned up to listen to the Tractor Boys.
In the main Arsenal do things right, you can keep the silverware if it means we have to behave like Chavs and Citeh to win them.
As for spuds fans, well you’d expect them to be a bit jealous but sometimes I wonder what swamp they have just crawled out of.
Totally agree CarlitoII. I just posted this on another blog but it seems relevent to post it here as well.
We haven’t won a won a domestic trophy for five years and seem to get a fair load of stick for it.
So who has won all the 15 trophies up for grabs? Well they are spread across five teams.
Liverpool and Portsmouth, both who won the FA Cup once and the Spuds, winning a solitary Carling Cup. The other 12 have been cleaned up by Chelski and Manure.
So in effect there are 24 other Premier League clubs who also have not won anything over the last five years. Most have not won any of the big three for a far longer time than us.
So why do most pundits highlight Arsenals plight rather than other clubs. It’s not like we spend a fortune and are expected to win trophies. Wenger doesn’t overstate his case anymore than his manergerial rivals. We are not a team stacked with stars but perform as a balanced team, mostly. So why all the crap thrown our way?
Arsenal play a brand of football that should be admired not bemoaned and the English game is littered with so many ex Arsenal players who in many teams are stars. Wenger has introduced many ideas that are now commonplace in most clubs such as dietary control, specialised training and the youth academy.
We are not in any great financial trouble and we have a state of the art stadium and training ground to be proud of.
So why all the aggravation?
I’m not sure I know, xenophobia? jealousy? history? or just bloody mindedness?
Whatever the reason let’s hope we can give it right back to them this season. If not this year, I think we all know we are not far away.
We don’t know how lucky we are!!!!
Morning all,
Perfectly timed and absolutely justified post carlito. Not only is the team gaining momentum but the supporters need to play their part and fuel the ‘belief’
Welcome Willo, great comment and thanks for the clip – don’t you just love the aussies?
Morning all
Happy days in Goonerville and thanks Carlito for the post.
With the imminent closure of the transfer window and the lack of centre-back arrival its a good job that we’ve put a run of results together and I can feel pretty relaxed about our team🙂
Good points GiE about the mikeing (is that a word) up of the stadium on Tuesday night, I thought the atmosphere was really good and although there was a bit of shoooshing we didn’t really allow it to become quiet.
I love the fact that whatever spuds do they’re always the villains even if they take points off of the manks or chavs to help us win the title🙂
That’s the spirit Cralito. I swear some fans think we only started in 2004 and wonder why we didn’t do back to back Invincibles.
GiE – “In the main Arsenal do things right, you can keep the silverware if it means we have to behave like Chavs and Citeh to win them.”
110% Agreed !
Great, great post Carlito, absolutely love it.
Beautiful post, especially given the large cloud of negativity over Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal.
Slightly off subject, the idea that Wilshere is the new Gazza as suggested by BR has been running around my head, this is not meant as a criticism of the suggestion; it’s just that I’ve been wondering if there might be a better comparison. The funny thing is that out of all the players who have played in England’s midfield I’m not sure that there is one. The alcohol thing has nothing to do with it and should not come into the equation; Wilshere seems as good as Gazza going forward but I expect Wilshere to be a far better defensive force. Hhmmmmm, no, I don’t think I can improve upon the idea that Wilshere is the new Gazza.
Moore is just too iconic, although, Wilshere was brought up in a West Ham supporting home.
@Rasp – Cheers for the welcome, though in fact I really destest Aussies!!!
But I do find New Zealand quite pleasant.
Hi Guys,
Lovely stirring Post Carlito. 🙂
Reminds us we have the right to be proud and passionate, but also compassionate to the have nots like the Spuds and the Chavs!!
Willo- top comment that and the adjective that comes to me is “right-minded”! Welcome to AA🙂
London, I think you are right and I would go further by saying that England has never had a midfielder of Jack’s type. He most reminds me of players in the current Spain team, and by saying that, I mean that I think Jack has the potential to be better than any other England midfielder
You may well be right there Carlito.
I already believe Jack to be better than any other England midfielder. The others can be effective at times/on their day. But none offer the variety and inventiveness of LJW.
He defends, attacks, passes long and short, keeps the ball, dribbles, runs off the ball. None of the others tick as many boxes.
The key difference is that Xavi wouldn’t be able to play his game with Gerrard and Lennon on either side- where are the supporting cast? I have a feeling that Wilshere will disappoint in England colours until there are one or two others who can play keep ball, touch move touch move football with him. The young lad McEachran at Chelsea is showing promise to be such a player but remains far too callow for now.
London- it’s just come to me- what about Paul Scholes?
BFB- que?
I think WordPress gave us BFB Carlito🙂
I’d agree with the Paul Scholes comparison for LJ if indeed he needs to be compared to anyone – he could turn out to be such a megastar humself that others will want to be compared to him.
Scholes is not bad Carlito and probably a better comparison than Gazza. If Wilshere becomes anywhere near as good as Scholes offensively then I think we may be in for a even bigger treat than any of us have dared to imagine because we know that he has the defensive side of his game in the bag and that is something that Scholes never got to grips with.
Snap😆
Jack seems to have more flair than Scholes. The Ginger Ninja just killed players with his intelligence, movement, and simplicity.
Jacks flair and dribbling will see him create a new template. There will deffo be ‘the new Jack Wilshere’ comments about upcoming talents before too long
To clarify, I mean – add Jacks flair and dribbling to the Ginger Ninja’s repertoire
Just wanted to applaud the following:
Carlito for a lovely post, makes me feel warm inside.
Exile for “In the main Arsenal do things right, you can keep the silverware if it means we have to behave like Chavs and Citeh to win them.” Spot on.
Sharkey for bigging up Exile.
Willo for his love of NZ, top top country, love it (the fact that one of my brothers lives there helps).
And Willo for his 9.51am comment, completely agree.
Afternoon all, Great post Carlito,
My admiration for AW is motivated by the knowledge that he has brought all the tradition and Class that is Arsenal together Wrapped it in football that is pure gold and transferred it Cart Blanche to his inspirational stadium
its W-M , not W-W. apologies for being so pedantic!
lets keep the feet on the ground …..
Well said DanDan. A few days I made a similar comment stating how Arsene and Arsenal are a match made in heaven, and us fans are the lucky beneficiaries.
But for some – Arsene’s just a greedy man only interested in his ‘bonus’. Completely ignoring that at any time in the last 12 years he could have earned much larger salaries elsewhere.
Excellent Carlito !!! I am proud of the fact that we have a recognised system and that we have refused to buy into the capitalist model that many others have.
The thing is looking at football objectively there is a finite number of ‘world class’ players available and only a handfull of clubs who can afford/want to pay the ridiculous fees they command. It is a fact that every super star known to man was a ‘nobody’ at some time. We have used our common sense, developed a DNA of future performance and chosen younger players on that basis.
I have scratched my head in the past wondering why we seem to always be questioned in ways that other teams are not . Thank god Richard ‘that is aresenal’s nth red card under Wenger’ Keys has gone
To other fans t probably seems like chest beating but we should rightly be proud of where we sit in modern football as this is just the start
I for one will observe with amusement how the spuds negotiate the improvement on their playing stadium whilst continuing to deliver on the pitch
Great point Sharkey. Wenger could have earned so much more money by moving to Real Madrid for example.
If all the spuds in all the world put their heads together they could not have come up with a more divisive way to undermine Arsenal than to suggest that Wenger is some how financially incentivised, by some kind of bonus scheme, for not buying players.
Great post Carlito. If only some others in the blogosphere had the sense of perspective that you display.
I am not jealous of any other fans. I never grudgingly wish I had ManUre’s trophy haul or Chavski’s money or Citeh’s enormous squad of enormously paid enormous egos.
But I reckon that most fans of other teams are secretly jealous of us. They look at Arsenal and see an club that oozes class through its very pores. As Carlito says, from the way we do business to the way we play football we are, quite simply, a cut above. And the others know it.
On the “Jack reminds of….” debate I would make the following suggestions:
Alan Hudson
Tony Currie
My only comparative player for LJ is the one and only Alan Ball.
GiE
Bally was a great player – but I think Jack has more guile and vision. Bally’s style was non-stop energy, box-to-box, great tackler and a good passer.
Perhaps Jack has a bit of Ball and a bit of Currie in his game…
I’m not sure I like Capello heaping all these expectations on him at just turned 19 though.
Gordon Strachan was not unlike Jack, feisty,skillful and a great engine
I am going for a 26-0 victory on Sunday which will make it three correct predictions in a row.
Strachan and Ball had similar qualities (apart from both being gingers!). If Jack fulfils his potential he could have all their qualities with an additional dollop of Hoddle/Brady/Fabregasness…
London
A 26-0 victory for whom?
Good call dandan. And perhaps LJ could be likened to another Scot, Archie Gemmill.
Obafemi Martins has been signed on loan by Brum. A front line of Zigic and Martins at Wembley, with a combo of some of Hleb, Bentley, Larsson and Bowyer providing the ammunition? Could be interesting.
Hi Dandan
The criteria was which English footballer does our Jack resemble. My 11:06 explains it. I like the Alan Ball idea.
Rocky, Hudson and Currie may be better suggestions but my memory is fading.
Hudson on his day was sensational, but like many at that time like a pint on a Friday night, consequently he was very in and out, certainly his best years were at Chelsea,
My memory of Currie is as a guy who liked to hit long passes rather than do the hard miles, though to be fair he had a lot of injuries, but perhaps like you I am getting past it. LOL
My memories also can’t be trusted dandan, as anyone in my family will attest to. I just remember watching games in the ’70s when Hudson and Currie were displaying a wonderful range of passing – really pulling the creative strings in their respective MFs.
They may well also have been lazy beggers who loved a pint and a fag, but I don’t remember that bit🙂
I bet Rocky if you speak to Kelsey he will tell you about Hudson and his watering holes on the Kings Road.
London- I’m off down the bookie’s now that the oracle has spoken again😉
Iron Man- I always thought it was the WM but then the guardian article I linked to called it the WW and I bowed to their greater readership! (because the Grauniad never mis-spell anything of course, silly me :-~ )
Dandan- I can see the Strachan comparison. I’m too young for the rest of the named being discussed😦 SS, is that “the other site” casting aspersions on our manager’s transfer dealings- I caught the end of a row on twitter about it. If so- “For Shame”
Class post Carlito.
Yes, I remember Edgware born Tony Currie,especially playing for Sheffield United and was always amused when he came up against our right back.
Currie and Rice 😉
Jack reminds me of liam brady more than anyone, and oh my doctor sends his regards.
I have to blog between popping pills,not an easy task.
So we have a gamble on our hands with no transfer news except we MIGHT loan or sell vela for Cahill + some cash.
I used to live off the Kings Road in the eighties in Flood Street right opposite Margaret Thatcher,which was good mainly for the police presence.
Hudson was a great player and Osgood was a yob.Tambling wasn’t bad either.
Has red arse run out of ink 😉
Hello Kelsey
Sorry to hear you’re on the meds.
If Jack turns out to be another Brady, I’ll be one very happy Gooner.
Currie and Rice😀
I suspect Redders is keeping his powder dry.
I fully expect some top class Red Arsing in due course today.
Hello kelsey – nice to see you🙂
to see you nice😉
Carlito – might be ! I’m not commenting any further about ‘that lot’.
However, I will say that that ‘argument’ was forcibly rammed back down the throat from whence it came, by some noble souls who have more time and patience than I have.
Peaches did you get my emails
SharkeySure- I just took them up on it on Twitter- it was a shabby implication to make and unworthy of anyone calling themselves a fan.
Rocky, I agree re Cappello and his building up of LJW. Its too much ‘big talk’ too soon. Just play him there vs the Danes and let Jacks feet do the talking.
Having said that, Jack looks completely unfazeable at the moment.
@26may
With that line up they wouldn’t park the bus would they?
I’m just hoping “we’ve got Cesc, you’ve got Bowyer” song doesn’t come back to bite us in the ass.
I’m completely clueless about twitter, but I’ll try and check it out later. I’ll fail.
dandan – thank you, yes I did🙂
AW has just said chesney is his NO 1 keeper yessssssssssss
No pressure then😦 sometimes I do think AW says things he shouldn’t but hey ho – just gonna check Chesney’s twitter😆
Hi Dandan
Wenger was trapped into saying that Sz was number one by the journo asking a question in such a way that he had no choice.
In the interview it was clear that Wenger regards Sz above Almunia in the pecking order but he didn’t make it clear that he thinks of him above Fabinaski.
Hi Peaches
Most of the time Wenger doesn’t say and certainly doesn’t mean the things he is accused of, it has more to do with the crafty questions posed by the Journalists.
It funny talking to Brentford fans they still lovingly refer to Sz as their keeper……bless.
Thanks London I had a feeling that might be so, Why am I so cynical about todays Journo’s?
Hi Guys,
Had my first little walk in the (brief) sunshine today. Stumbled a couple of times but, “non, rien de rien,
non, je ne regrette rien.
Ni le bien qu’on m’a fait,
ni le mal,
Tout ça m’est bien égal. 🙂
Edith Piaf — I love her music.🙂
Freezing, stumbling, weak but it was great to be one of the great unwashed again, you’ve got to hang on to this short life and her fabulous song sums up my feelings sooo well!!🙂
Come on you gorgeous Gunners!!!
It is quite telling that since Sz has been in goal no one on the site has called for a new keeper. The whole thing is a great relief as I felt that the keeper question was really getting us all down. This is probably as obvious as writing grass is green but hey ho.
RA
I have been out of the loop, what has been the matter?
Dandan, London,
Sneaky journos, or not, Arsene has said just what I wanted to hear! Szcesney No.1
Go Chezzer, Go Arsene!! 🙂
RA
He said he is number one for Sunday, he didn’t say that he regards Sz as the clubs first choice keeper which we all would like to interpret it to mean.
There is a really humorous chain of belief: Journo asks question, Wenger gives answer, journo translates it to mean what he wants it to mean, it appears on NewsNow and is gospel in blog world. This isn’t a dig at you RA, I am sure I have been as guilty as the next Arsenal fan of believing what I want to believe but it does make me chuckle.
London,
Don’t want to bore you guys again. I was taken to hospital with mucho blue lights about 3 weeks ago. Ridiculous temperature, unable to sit up in bed, let alone stand up, without collapsing. Kicked out of l’hospital after 3 days, with unknown virus and confined to bed for most of the last fortnight. First time out today for 10 mins.
What a life saver my laptop has been to chat/read all the lovely Arsenal stuff with you guys on AA!!!🙂
Wooo, have you found out what the virus was? Don’t worry about hogging the blog they are all busy cooking dinner.
London,
Your 6:33 is spot on!
London,
I was, for the first time in my life, really scared as I thought it might be curtains. In and out of consciousness.😦
The docs did not know what it was, just “a virus”. When I stabilized they thought I would be better at home, unless I got worse. I am well on the mend now. 🙂
Got to go and have a little sleep, again!🙂 Thanks for asking.
Still a bit worrying I am sure not knowing what it was exactly, anyway, enjoy your nap.
Hi London – I think you’re absolutely right about journos asking a question, wanting the answer to be such snd such and telling it as gospel ….. I’ve just told Rasp and he’s really excited at the thought of AW saying it ….. bless😀
RA – you picked a freezing day to re-acquaint yourself with the great outdoors but an improvement on being stuck in bed I’m sure🙂 Have a nice nap.
You picked a very cold day to re-acquaint yourself with the great unwashed. lol
Hi Peaches
When we think about it, common sense tells us it is only a question of time before it is a fact that will no longer need confirming by Wenger or anyone else. Sz is simply very good.
….. and AW did say before the start of the season that he didn’t know who his No1 keeper was so the bait was set for the trap then.
Still, he does seem to me to give confidence to the defence and several of us have in the past months pointed out that that was important. My heart was in my mouth the other night when he and Sagna clattered into each other – just our luck I was thinking😦
When Fabianski has recovered I bet he’s back in as number one. As far as I can see AW was saying that Chesney would be No 1 this weekend.
I should add that I think Chezzer is the better prospect, but knowing how AW works I really think he’ll go back to the Fabster.
Hi Rocky
That was the impression I got from the intereview as well.
Re the ‘sterling work of your average journalist’. The Fabregas quotes about Rugby, were a complete set up. He was asked do you think Ipswich played like a rugby, side. To which he responded: I don’t know if it is long ball or it is a rugby kick but it worked for them. In England, a lot of teams play like that and it works for them, they create chances like that and it is their football. We just have to put the ball on the floor and try to play football.”
Now I can’t find the original question posted alongside the answer, or are we supposed to believe that an interviewer just held out a mic and said give us your thoughts.
But now Fabs ‘rugby accusation’ is ‘gospel’, and was even brought up by Lineker on BBC before this weeks game. Shocking.
So vela-ela-ela eh eh is off to West Brom… not a surprise.
And I see we are all delighted Almunia is back😆
Evening all,
Just a late night thought. The FA are a bunch of morons.
They make clubs produce a list of 25 players eligible to play in the prem and then fine Blackpool £25k for selecting 8 they deem not good enough. Blackpol narrowly lost that game against Everton 3:2 which is probably as good a result their 11 from the previous game would have achieved. We made 8 changes against Wigan and drew – by the same thinking, we should also be fined. It’s complete nonsense.
The FA are nonsense Rasp.
Sorry to be pedantic but I think they lost narrowly to Villa that aside I completely agree with your point.
West Brom should be good for Vela, thinking about it they are perfect.
I thought Jerome Thomas was playing pretty well at LW for them. I guess Carlos is going there to play as a striker then..??
Either way lets get a quick answer to the Vela conundrum. If the loan does for him even 50% of what its done for LJW then I’ll be a happy man.
I honestly don’t know how Arsene is going to keep so many great players happy in the medium to long term. Look how young our current midfield is and you still have to add Ramsey, Galindo and Aneke to it. There’s Vela, Afobe, Wellington and Miyaichi to be added to our forward line, Miquel and Bartley to our defence, and JET to our list of players who play anywhere (Eboue?).
All hail Arsene Wenger, laughing at large transfer fees since 1998, and making a mockery of the 25 man squad rule since summer 2010 !!!
Hahah You forgot about henry Norris!! His shady dealings got us into the first division in 1919 when arguably we never should have….. but.. I forgive him!!!!!
:>)
I can only think of Sir Henry as a lovable rogue, a bit like Arthur Daley, for those who remember Minder from the late 1980’s
” All hail Arsene Wenger, laughing at large transfer fees since 1998, and making a mockery of the 25 man squad rule since summer 2010 !!!”😆
Well the thing is Irish that there’s an ongoing argument ‘somewhere’ that Arsene’s a hypocrite for selling players at such high prices, whilst refusing to pay high prices.
You honestly couldn’t make it up !!
Nite all (Irish and Neamann !)
Ha ha Sharkey – indeed you couldn’t make it up😆
Night.
Ok! I’m back
Still in the mix to win 4 Cups. Now lets bring these babies home😈
Welcome back GG- get bored of paradise?😉
Carlito
Paradise is great, & I get Cable there so The Arsenal is always a remote control away😎
But I miss you lot😦 so I need to be back in town here to touch base with my Arsenal-Arsenal mates🙂
I’m lov’n RVP10 now!
This is such a great web site, full of great Gooners, including Londres🙂
Most I met on Le Grove. I should really thank Geoff & Pedro 4 all this feel good stuff, coz without them, some of us may never have met web wise.
We’re in The Cup😛 I’m so proud to be an Aussie. Nippon may win, they are a great team, but we are in the Cup.
England & Wales enjoy your ashes, coz they matter not to us😆 We are in The Cup.
I hear ya GG9, and I can deffo say the same about LG. But it really is just a complete madhouse these days.
Their ‘blog rules’ are a complete joke, and the way that they are arbitrarily applied is an even bigger joke. I was addicted to that site for quite a while, but now I only read it for its comedy value.
Morning all
Sharkey
I woz just on there, & got attacked by some sub continent blokes😆 I just can’t help myself with those particular dopey bastards chamonnnnnneeeeeeee😛
This wonderful site is far more civilised these days, especially for a gentle type like me, who just wants to bond with his fellow Gooners.
I mean charmmmmmmmmone sorry😉
Morning all
Sorry for the delay, there’s a NEW POST