Neighbourly disputes must be the oldest cases heard in any court around the globe. We argue with our next door neighbours, countries go to war with neighbouring nations, football fans fight supporters from another neighbourhood.
Tottenham and Arsenal fans look the same, they live in the same area, many are related to each other. So why the hatred?
I am guilty of hating Spurs for many years simply because other Gunners did and until my gorgeous gardener and Tottenham supporter enlightened me. He told me about Henry Norris’ dealings and about the Portsmouth game. I must admit I was quite shocked. If that was true, then I could understand them hating us. I started the research and oh my God, he was right and there was more.
Tottenham Hotspurs has been founded since 1882, four years before Arsenal. They moved to White Hart Lane in 1899, fourteen years before we muscled in on their territory. Unsurprisingly the emergence of another club in North London, less than 5km away had not been well received by Spurs supporters. They and Clapton Orient protested, but permission was granted for us to move to the beloved Highbury. Little did they know then, that we are not only going to get even closer, but to completely overshadow them for decades.
Spurs hate Arsenal because we muscled in on their territory 99 years ago, but did they not pull just about every trick in the book to secure a move to the Olympic Stadium, which is bang in the middle of the West Ham territory?
The relationship between the two clubs worsened in 1919, when football resumed after the First WW. That year Tottenham were relegated to the lower league, because 4 years earlier they finished last, yes 20th. Two top teams from the lower league as well as Arsenal who finished 5th were promoted to the top league. Tottenham were furious and blamed Arsenal for taking their place in the top league.
Nobody, except perhaps for Henry Norris, knows the rationale behind those moves and we might never know, however the fact that Spurs were relegated had nothing to do with Arsenal; they went down because they finished at the very bottom of the table. Arsenal or not, they would have been relegated and therefore THFC’s main reason for hating us simply cannot not justified.
Another reason often brought to the table by Spurs’ fans is Arsenal’s home game against Portsmouth in 1928. It was the last game of the season and Tottenham needed a favour; unless Arsenal won, Spurs would be relegated. We lost to a very poor Pompey team and Spurs were relegated, again. Some wild allegations followed, suggesting that Henry Norris rewarded the Arsenal players with luxury gifts, ie fridges. Again, these are anecdotes rather than facts and therefore I do not deem that as a genuine reason for hatred.
During the WW2 the unbelievable happened – Tottenham shared their stadium with the enemy, The Arsenal. While Highbury had been requisitioned for the war effort, League football was suspended and Highbury became a cornerstone of London`s defence plans. While the training pitch was used for storing materials and weapons, the main pitch was used as a training ground for the Islington Air Raid Precaution team. The brand new West Stand became an air raid shelter for residents and the lush East Stand a first aid centre. For the next 5 years we had no stadium. The Germans did what nobody else managed – they brought the two clubs together, united against the Nazis.
Sadly, almost as soon as the war ended, the hostility resumed on both sides.
Most recent reasons for Spurs fans to justify their hatred of everything that’s Arsenal are: Gunners smell – a sewer run through the pitch in Woolwich and the new stadium is built on the rubbish dump site; Arsenal are arrogant cheats and the most boring team in EPL; and last, but not least – Wenger poisoned the whole Tottenham team in 2006 to rob them of 4th spot in the table.
Tottenham are an old and proud club, with many trophies and a solid fanbase. They play some exciting football, have a good team and without a sugar Daddy figure, they like us are competing at the top level. You might not feel sorry for them for losing their spot in the CL qualifiers, you might even laugh at them because of it, but with your hand on your heart you must admit that they deserve the Champions League place more, much more, than Chelsea do.
To summarise, there is plenty of history of mutual dislike, but very little to convince me that it can be justified by either of the Clubs.
Is it possible that we could heal the wounds and unite against the South West Londoners? Could we let THFC play on our pitch when they are building their new stadium? Ok, sit down, gosh some people are jumpy! It ain’t going to happen!
I am going to try to be kinder or rather less abusive towards the Tottenham fans; I will not wish them ill or laugh at their misfortunes. And I sincerely hope they do well in the coming season, as long as they don’t do as well as Arsenal, of course.
Written by evonne
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Very brave post evonne.
To me it’s all part of the rivalry that always exists between fans that are neighbours. I think it’s fun that we hate them and they hate us. One side of my family are spuds and my brother, but he lives in New York so we only get to hate by text when a game is on 🙂
As long as the hatred is only about the football it’s fine isn’t it or am I being naive.
Rasp and I are not around much today so can all regulars keep an eye on the site in case we get invaded please 🙂
I’m definitely on holiday today 🙂
I have light hearted banter with Spudders, for a while during the late 90’s early 00’s they were a mere irrelevance.
Playing us was their cup final, oh how I long a return to those days 🙂
Its not the club I dislike, its the attitude of some of their supporters. We’ve had years to crow about our superiority over them and yet it was more classy to just dismiss them as also-rans. I’ve never one out of my way to wind up spurs fans. But this season when they believed thay had finally triumphed over us, I had to endure some pretty distasteful stuff.
Alan Sugar does himself no favours with his ongoing war of words with PM on twitter.
Wowee,
That is very well written and researched Evonne.
The all new mature Evonne. I, on the other hand, am very immature, and was reading the Pompey story with tears of laughter rolling down my cheeks.
I do have two very good chums who are Spuds, but I can honestly say, that apart from them, I have never met a Spud that wasn’t an utter cretin.
Fear not though, the rivalry is all but over, as they are about to sink like a stone.
A nice thought evonne. As someone whose football experience was only from in front of the TV, a half a world away, Spurs were pretty much always irrelevant to me. There are no Spurs fans around here and as such the rivalry passed me by. At most Spurs were cause for mild amusement with their constant obsession with Arsenal and annual proclamations of how THIS WAS THE YEAR they would finish above Arsenal. It wasn’t until my travels to England and of course to watch Arsenal that I ‘learnt’ to hate Tottenham. I’m not sure I still do, but their attitude is annoying, especially taken in conjunction with the differential attitude of the media towards us and them. So, can we all just get along? Like I said, it’s a nice thought. I just don’t think it can happen. Unless you can find both us and them a common enemy.
Also, regarding your research on the history of Arsenal, Norris etc. and how it relates to the Spurs..Might I suggest taking a look here.
http://www.blog.woolwicharsenal.co.uk/tottenham/
well researched post. But as far as I’m concerned they can suck a lemon. They are our rivals, and there is nothing wrong with some good old fashioned rivalry! Makes games like the one in Feb all the more sweeter!
@ Rasp
who is to say Arsene is developing a jack of all trades midfield with a lot of versatility. Imagine a midfield three of Jack, Song, and Arteta where all three can rotate around in positions. It’d sure as hell confuse the opposition and cut out any chance of tagging a player out of the game. This also helps when injury strikes or when a player gets caught out of position. We don’t sit there thinking ‘Sh*t Jack is left to mop up’ because we know he is competent defensively. Jack of all trades master of know you say, not with these three. Arsene you genius: the evolution of a player (versatility)
Brings a tear to my eye
play at our stadium! Arsenal fans the world over would riot! I’d rather sign terry, lampard, rooney and barton
Another very good Post, Evonne, well done! 🙂
Sir Henry Norris was a very successful businessman and politician from a humble background. To succeed in the social environment of that era a person from a ‘poor’ background had to be smart, work hard, and also be ruthless, and he was all that.
Some Spurs fans, who know bugger all about the footballing skullduggery that was rampant in the early years of professional football, have simply used him as a convenient scapegoat for their own management short-comings.
They have been pretty successful in their propaganda to the extent that even some Arsenal fans also believe their nonsense, perhaps because they feel, wrongly, that ‘Sir’ Henry came from a privileged and corrupt background.
This type of ‘hatred’ of neighbouring clubs is common throughout the country. Manyoo v ‘Pool; Luton v Watford; Southampton v Portsmouth; etc, etc, so it is nothing special, except Spurs like to portray themselves as put upon martyrs. Pish!
I’m personally happy with rivalry but not hatred.
When me and my Arsenal supporting friends were nippers, an adult spurs fan spat on one of my mates (I guess we’d have been about 13 or 14) on the steps of a tube station on the way to a match. It was an unprovoked attack, and totally uncalled for.
But that was one dickhead, not all Spurs fans.
I have no doubt that if you talk to enough spurs fans, you’d find a similar story about something equally bad that an arsenal fan once did to them.
And that person would be one dickhead, not all Arsenal fans.
Some people are smart enough to see past the dickheads. Some are not. Simple as.
Quite right, RobM.
One reason to hate Spurs is the way they sing “Oh When The Spurs” these days. They’ve tried to turnin into some club anthem when in reality it is used by so many clubs it’s boring.
And the one thing I’d like us to stop sections of our fanbase doing is referring to them with the Y word. Anyone that uses it should think about sections of our support, I know their own fans use it but it does not make it right.
haven’t been around much so not sure on any updates, but i hope all is well RA
Hi guys, thanks for your kind comments
I worked with 3 spurs fans – one was nice, one so-so, and one utter front bottom. So, I cannot really paint them with the same brush.
Two incidents were very unpleasant – in a sports shop a 5-year old looked at Arsenal shirt I was buying and said ‘That’s a piece of shit’. Just as well I am aware that hitting children is illegal these days.
Second was on Piccadilly line going to Highbury to a North London derby. A group of Spurs fans got on the train at Wood Green and started riot. Train was stopped, police called and scum removed. I don’t think they were sorry to miss the game, it was another spud bashing 🙂
Hi Oz, 🙂
Been pretty much up and down lately, but that is only to be expected, I suppose. Hospitals always spook me.
I have been given a sense of perspective, this week. A friend of mine who is a very fit athlete, and loves diving all over the world, including the Great Barrier Reef (one of my fave places too), had an op a couple of days ago to remove half of his lungs (cancer), and that stops me feeling too sorry for myself.
I have my fingers crossed for him.
Hope all is going well for you and Mrs Oz!
I haven’t seen much of RurP recently, probably enjoying fishing in the beautiful country, and now we have another Aussie on AA!
The more the better. 🙂
I hope you and your mate come out on top RA, sorry to hear.
Cheers, all is well down here.
Not to sure where RuVP has ducked off too, he needs to get back on here the lazy sod. Hopefully he’s working on that technology post. Scott is a welcome addition, good to have some Aussies on here that speak some sense.
Oz, 🙂
Nice one Evonne.
Growing up in an Arsenal family, in Highbury there was no other option but to hate Tottenham. I remember asking my Dad why we hated them and his answers were never specific – most likely because, like me, he never really knew. I believe this was also true with the majority of the Spurs supporters.
In the years before rival fans were separated I never experienced anything more than friendly banter with Spurs supporters.
Over the years I’ve read and researched all of the varying/underlying reasons for the rivalry and the only one that makes any sense to me is Sir Jack bribing those that were voting for the additions to the 1st division in 1919. Sir Jack became well known for his slight of hand/wallet.
Hi, Evonne,
Very charitable, you are to be commended ….WELL DONE….very noble.
But heres the thing:-
*Spurs getting relegated and us getting promoted despite coming 5th – RESONABLE IN MY OPINION.
*Spurs getting relegated after we have lost to a poor pompey team – ABSOLUTELY HILLARIOUS
*Lasagnagate – IF I LAUGH ANY HARDER MY SIDES MAY SPLIT!
STAND UP IF YOU HATE TOTTENHAM!!
ps.only thing i will not STAND for is anti semetic chanting.
We are the arsenal!
goonerjake
RA, i hope all goes well, i went for minor surgery last week, and hospitals creep me out totally also. The trick is to not let worries make things worse. —-
—— i think i have an interesting perpective on spuds rivalry. As a relatively new gunner, without all the hatred growing up. I find myself ” hating” the clubs that i believe are ruining the future of the league, and the sport. Thats the rich pig owners who are spending so much as to make it impossible for any average or lower team to compete. They are raising the bar so high on transfers, but also salaries, and this is only getting worse. City, and chelsea the worst so far, but look out for malaga and psg also. What they pay reserve players is disgusting compared to normal teams, and this is killing competition. I did not want city to win for this reason. And then chelsea in champs league! and look what theyre spending now. In a way, we have more in common with spurs, because they have a reasonable budget to work with, and must look for value, even if they follow our scouts all over the world.——————— But, Arsenal are hurt more than anyone by this, because, aside from the money, many great players would be attracted to us for all the right reasons. Great style of play, history, stadium, city, wenger respect, fan base. But players like aguero, hazard, hulk,mata, silva, cavani, and many other top tier will only look at money.
and if you care about the league and the sport, imagine how hard it is for the teams below us. I know we overshadow them a little bit in spending power, but only by a reasonable amount, and i dont expect utopian equality anyway.
so this is why it killed me to watch the idiots in the media proclaim how good it was for the sport when city took the title. Its exactly the opposite.
Evonne. A very well researched and written post.
But ….. whilst agreeing with your unease about the word “hate”, I do actively dislike Spurs. Shit club, shit fans(apart from my family and my many Spud mates).
Growing up in North London it was inevitable I would have intense rivalry with the Miscreants, and always wished them a safe walk home to their caves.
They are faecal matter, always have been, always will be.
Raddy – 🙂
Raddy? Not like you at all 🙂 When I was doing the research I had to go on the Spurs sites, gosh, you would not believe what they write about us. There is even a site called ‘I hate Arsenal’. Not healthy
jnyc – agree. I said the other day that PL is becoming like eBay – Buy Now option for extra rich or bid/play the game and lose
Evonne
“Tottenham and Arsenal fans look the same”
Look the SAME?
Have you ever looked at them?
They drag their knuckles on the ground and drool from the corners of their mouths. Their backs are bent and mis-shapen, their brows over-large in the manner of Neanderthals and they have wee stains on their lower garments.
The famed anthropologist Richard Leakey places Totteringham fans somewhere between australopithecus and homo neanderthalensis in the time line of human development. In other words, they are a throwback to a period some 100,000 years before the emergence of homo sapiens.
The BBC have even featured the species on Springwatch!
Wow i just re-read my comment and i really went off! – 🙂 well, im passionate about these teams making things harder for us. It really adds to our struggles in the transfer market.
Mainly i want to say it was a courageous post by Evonne, and i agree with her sentiments. ——-personally, I would rather a team like spuds win honestly with hard work and effort than oily sugar daddies clubs. I pray that ffp has some real effect.
Hi JNYC, 🙂
Thanks for your good wishes earlier, and hope your op went well too.
Like you I am not happy with the unfair distortion money slopping into the coffers of certain clubs brings to their success in various competitions.
That said, I fear we have to accept that it is becoming more the norm, in European football nowadays, for multi-billionaire owners to pump obscene amounts of money into their clubs, making Arsenal, even with their own billionaire owners, part of the minority of ‘business led’ clubs.
FFP must work – or I can foresee the day when even our great club will be forced to join in with the ‘must buy’ trophies frenzy.
[OK, I must admit a vested interest here ….. I am a NY Giants and a NY Yankees fan, and they are both financially powerful, but the player draft ‘rules’ and the revenue ‘sharing’, respectively, ensure a level playing field in the NFL and MLB franchises …… so the circumstances are different to the way the “soccerball” leagues are run!!!!!!] 🙂
Being the eldest person on the site, with a built in distaste for Spurs supporters, I’ve got a simple question that in bound to generate a backlash.
“iWith the amount of heated dialouge that even those on a sensible site like AA, throw at Spurs fans – why should we expect anything different in return”?
Maybe it’s the miles in between us, and the fact that I’m fortunate not to run into any of their fans, but I no longer feel the level of distaste I did in my younger years
RL. That is not all.
There has been much on Danish TV about the move from water borne to land living organisms. There is speculation that there was an interim period during which legs and lungs developed, and it is mooted that this creature despite having no mental ability was capable of elementary speech.
Through molecular DNA analysis of Spurs fans, there appears to be just a few genetic variations between them and reptiliomorph reptilians. Which would indicate your timeline is too advanced!
It’s true I tell you ….
Another fine post e va va vonne !
Rock Candy,
I used to quite like you …………. sort of …………….. leaving aside my jealousy of your writing skills.
Then I read your description of Spud fans;
“They drag their knuckles on the ground and drool from the corners of their mouths. Their backs are bent and mis-shapen, their brows over-large in the manner of Neanderthals and they have wee stains on their lower garments.”
I cannot cavil about the description, it fits me to a “t” or should that be a “p”, but calling me a Spud is beyond the pale!
Booooo ………………….
Rocky – you nutter 🙂 No, my Spurs gardener was gorgeous
GN5 – try reading some of their views on Arsenal, like ‘Arsenal the stain on the underpants of Football’. You may change your mind
Evonne,
It’s tit for tit – but has been for several generations, gets to be a tad childish after a while.
GN5 – tell GM about childish. His younger broter was seriously injured by Spurs fans after a game.
Plus they don’t think it is childish, they genuinly believe that Wenger poisoned the whole team with lasagne
Evonne:
There are thugs among all supporters and Spurs fans are nowhere near as bad as those of many other teams – unfortunately it goes with the territory.
I was a bit taken aback by your need to research things having been told them by a spuds fan, I am guessing you are rather young?
The spuds maintained that after the war with the league being increased that they should havehad the right to remain in the top division. Henry Norris did something that enabled Arsenal to replace the spuds – no point in your article suggesting otherwise.
Why were the spuds more deserving of a CL place than the chavs? They went in to the last month of the season under no misunderstanding at all – 3rd place definitely CL qualified, 4th place maybe. The chavs took a chance and concentrated more on winning the CL, than getting 4th place. Took a chance and it paid off (just).
I have absolutely no issue with some spuds fans, but have no time for their club at all. They are a club that likes to play the ‘woe is me’ card too often. Of the 19 times the league title has been won by a London club, 13 of those were by Arsenal, 2 by the chavs and 2 by the spuds. The spuds have been unable to get their act together for decades and they blame everyone else, particularly Arsenal for their failings.
They are a club with Teflon shoulders. Even tried a few seasons back to take the morale high ground about the number of English players they had and Arsenal didnt – note how quiet they are now. I see no reason to feel anything but contempt for them.
In my adolescent and pre-adolescent years ( currently 56 year old adolescent ) , I`d say over 90% of anyone I knew was a gooner, I can only recall two spuds up and till I left school, didn`t give them much thought. It`s just the club I hate. I hate their name, I hate their ground, I hate their colours, basically I cant stand them.
When I started work I got to know a few more spuds and to tell the truth I love the banter and that still carries on today.
What I cant fathom, Is why would any of them would have chose them over us ? , especially over recent years, we`ve a better team, better name, better colours, better stadium, better history,better looking, better humour, better everything , richer ( in the right way ), more fans, bigger and better in every way.
The only way they are bigger than us, is in their hatred for us, they hate us more than we hate them and I can understand that, given what e va va vonne has written and what I have said, can you blame them, their hatred is born through their jealousy and envy of us !.
May It continue for year after year, them hating us for that reason and also so we can do what us gooners do best, carry on taking the piss out of them !.
mystic – yes, I am very young. And single 🙂
Need a post folks for tomorrow ……..
paddypower @paddypower
Netherlands: Stekelenburg; Van der Wiel, Heitinga, Vlaar, Willems; Van Bommel, De Jong; Robben, Sneijder, Afellay; Van Persie
paddypower @paddypower
Denmark: Andersen, Kjaer, Agger, S Poulsen, Jacobsen, Kvist, Eriksen, Zimling, Krohn-Dehli, Rommedahl, Bendtner. Bendtner- funny!
mystic – I am only joking. I’m Polish and didn’t start my affair with Arsenal until 20+ years ago. My son went to a local school in Highgate and half the boys supported Arsenal; the other half were a bad lot. He became a Gunner and I simply followed suit. So, yes I am a relative newcomer to the AFC
In general, where is the AA support going for the Dutch v Dane game?
Where is our resident Dutchman? Might he like to wax lyrical about his national side for a post tomorrow?
Euros so far –
Arshavin – 9
Rosicky – 6
Chesny – 0.
bet u all van persie is at arsenal next season. In fact i gaurantee it.
Peaches – Holland for me any day of the week
mystic,
I think your find the chavs have only won the league once, however , they did manage to acquire it on three other occations at some considerable expence !.
evonne – you know how I love to support Nikki but he has dissed us and he doesn’t really want to be a gooner anymore so it’s Holland for me too.
Well done glic, that is very true 🙂
peaches i support the dutch when england are not playing. love the way they play. plus as alot of fellow fans said in a bar in paris during champions league final i am the second denis bergkamp. wish i could play like him, apparently i resemble him…. i dont see it but far too many people have said it… then again i get likened to tom hanks in casterway. again i dont seee that.
Anywaysss up thess dutchsshh
I shall be running my eye over this game, looking at 3 potential signings, Eriksen , Afellay and Sniejder. I have my side rule, compass and note pad. !.
I have a problem. Dutch roots and a Danish resident.
I want them both to win
hey RA, yes i remembered that u told me once u were a ny yankees fan. I have always cheered against them for the same reasons really, because they spend like crazy, and no one can compete, but i dont care about american baseball, i find it unwatchable. ——–
——– NOW, THE NFL, is the best run sports league in thw world, although the premiere league is my personal favorite, the nfl gets everything right, and they make loads of money too. I may write an article about this one day. They have a strict salary CAP for each teams spending, and a draft which gives the best young players to the worst teams in order,to the last pick for the champions each year. So, the worst teams can, with a little luck, and good management and tactics, can become dominant champions in just a couple years. Well run clubs can stay successful and in contention for very long periods of time. They also have video review, and a good fair way of implementing it, and it comes into play in almost every game, because we all realize there will be human error constantly in sports that move so quickly. They also have multiple referees who can make calls if they have a better view. . uefa and epl should study some of these practices that are obviously successful.
Yes peaches,
If we get Usmanov in, we may also be able to purcase it and add to the collection that we have already won !. 🙂
Raddy , what colour are Dutch roots ? , anything like my grey ones ?. 🙂
Raddy – roots, always. I love England, but cut me open and I am all red and white
Jnyc;
I’m also a big fan of the NFL but they are only just getting to grips with the amount of devastating head injuries. They swept the problems caused by concussions under the carpet for far too long. It’s only in the past few years that they have come clean – and mainly due to several players with head injuries who are suing the NFL.
22 Minutes in and they’ve sent out an APB for Bendtner.
The commentator said it’s the DD’s that have taken the lead.
= Direct Danes
Big fan of Raddy’s 4:00pm theory 🙂
Sorry Total, I’m with Denmark here.
Still think France will win it. Is Podolski playing later?
Hoping for more from Eriksen this half. He has been anonymous.
True Raddy. Can’t see anything other than a Dutch win, but who knows.
I didn’t answer the headline question in the post.
The answer is No.
jnyc
I agree the NFL is well run. I can’t be bothered looking up the exact figures, but I think they have had something like 12 or 14 different Superbowl winners during a period when the EPL had had only four (and one of those – Blackburn – was a freak one-off). I suppose the EPL is up to five now, with Citeh having bought it.
I also think the NBA is brilliantly run and brilliantly marketed and they have also shaped the game in such a way that, more often than not, the result is still in the balance with a minute to go.
Redders
I’m trying to get more into baseball but struggling a bit… I probably need to go to a Jays game with a real aficionado who can explain the subtleties to me.
You’re not heading this way any time soon are you?
Rocky,
I believe that in 45 years 19 different teams have won the Super Bowl but 6 teams have won it 22 times so there is still a domination by a few teams.
Interesting Gn5
But if you count the number of teams who have competed for the English football league champions title in 45 years it must be something like 50 or 60, whereas I’m guessing the 32 NFL teams have remained pretty constant in that period (maybe a few changes).
So by that reckoning 19 winners out of (let’s say) 38 teams is much higher than England’s 11 winners out of (say) 55 in the same 45 year period.
A one in two chance of winning versus one in five.
The key point being, of course, that there is no relegation in the NFL.
This is what our Irish girlie thinks 🙂
80sirishlegend @80sirishlegend
Does Robben thinks he’s his own country? What a greedy bollix. Will Ronaldo out-greed him later?
4 seasons ago BR scouted Simon Kjaer as a player for Arsenal – even to the point of writing to Arsene Wenger about him. He was brilliant tonight.
Pod starting tonight
Sorry ArisTotal
But hopefully RVP will be back early to sort out his new contract and bring Sneijder with him !.
Next up , The Pod.
Is Goetze fit ?, I need to assess his ability , to see whether I get the cheque book out !. Oops I nearly let It slip out that I`m about to buy our club !. 🙂
glic. Can you run your eye over Schweinstieger while you are there? I am sure you would get a discount for two
TA – sorry, I tried my best shouting for holland 😦
GliC,
Ignore Raddy and just you focus on Goetze, but you will need your very biggest cheque book. Oh and forgoet all that Sneijder nonsense.
Goetze, Sneijder and Schweinstieger !, Start the league celebrations now Raddy ! 🙂
Come on Micky. Glic can afford both players , so why be churlish.
I understand Portugal have a winger called Ronaldo. Could be decent understudy for Theo.
Rocky,
While I agree that a higher % of teams have won the Super Bowl it is really down to the different process employed.
At the end of the regular season 12 teams, with at least one from each of the six divisions, enter into a one game knock out competition for both conference champions and eventual Super Bowl champions, this allows for the possibility of the “best” teams to be beaten by a “giant killer” and it happens quite frequently.
So it’s not a true comparison as the NFL is a mixture of both our league and FA Cup competitions.
BR 🙂
On a serious note, I genuinely think there will be a very severe cull at The Arsenal and I really do expect two very good signings to play with Robin.
Like GliC, I stare at leaves and things. Get feelings, I do. Its a West Country thing.
evonne
In all seriousness, another first class Post – all the more so because of its surprising content.
It’s nice to be surprised once in a while 🙂
I LOVE detesting the Spuds – because it’s fun. And I love them detesting us.
However, as others have pointed out, I feel a lot more kinship with them than I do with the Chavs.
You always reserve your biggest rivalry for your neighbour (Scotland-England, Poland-Russia – or is it Poland-Germany?) etc.
Sorry Micky, If I want Sneijder , I shall buy him, My son has just landed on my Mayfair and Park Lane fully loaded with Hotels and I`m rich !.
I`m impressed how we all manage to speak Dutch and German on here, the names just roll off the keypad !
Gn5
Good point. If anything it makes the NFL closer to the ECL (league stages followed by knock-out).
I noticed the leaves that fell off my trees were pointing in the direction of Northern Europe, It`s a sign ! and talking of signs, I saw 3 RVP signs on my way to Wadebridge today. I was thinking of nicking one untill I found out they are Rendezvous Point Signs for the emergency services !.
Rocky, almost – but the real difference is that in the NFL teams from 6 different divisions are in the competition and there is a huge disparity in quality of the teams.
Can you imagine teams from the top four English leagues playing off for the EPL title?
Old Hop Along (My name for Robben) is a greedy goit. Germany win for me. And yes ronaldo with out greed Hop Along
Still need a post for tomorrow ………….
Rocky – in poland we are not discriminating any of our neighbours. Just hate them all.
Podolski is great!
Peaches,
You do have another from me in the bank somewhere.
We must be able to think of a way of using the Euros without having to rely on match reports.
I’ll cogitate
Some kind of Arsenal keep him, flog him, buy him flavoured daily opener based on previous day’s matches.
Sod it. A lookey likey competition.
Ozil=?
Peaches
A brace in the bomb bay.
Thank goodness for a goal. I’ve only seen the second half but it’s been dreary and defensive.
Not seen much from the Pod.
Rivetting compared to the first half Rocky.
Pod? Every goal of his I’ve seen on youtube, he’s cut in from the right or come through the middle. On the left? Waste of money 🙂
Nite all.
I do think Portugal will qualify. Really nite.
I have never hated any opposition fans including the Spuds. I do like to wind them up once in awhile and really enjoy St.Totteringham’s Day…an annual event that has happened for the last 19 years.
The harmless banter between rival fans in most clubs today is mild in comparison to what occurred between rival gangs in the 60’s and 70’s. There never was an excuse for that tribalism and no place for it EVER in the beautiful game.
Evonne, if you want an in depth, objective review of AFC’s history with the Tiny Totts, go to untoldarsenal.com and see their excellent hiostory of Arsenal section.
You’re on a roll now evonne. keep it up. i don’t hate the spuds (my brother is one) They like being victims.
I hate Spurs. But that comes from being a gooner that does not come from london. I hate their shirt, I hate their emblem, I hate the fact every time I’ve been to the lane I have received real hatred outside the ground. Reminds me of birmingham of the south with their tottally agressive support. I had a stoke fan that’s a stoke fan living next to me and he said the only away ground he’s been to where he has feared for his life is the lane. Me not being so close have an objective view and believe me the spurs fans I know have treated me with nothing but contempt. Mind you that has come mainly through non london spurs fans. Maybe we non londoners have taken the rivalry to far. We just hate cos they are local because we have been told to and we don’t have any spurs connections ourselves.
I just read a funny story on Newsnow that Citeh are keen to offload Na$ri because he’s not as good as they thought he was. Haha.
Disappointing defeat for the Dutch today. I have this silly theory that if they win Euro 2012, Robin will have a fine winners’ medal for his collection and will be less persuaded to consider leaving Arsenal in search of trophies…
Do you think there is any truth to Arsene offering BD 25 million plus add ons for Goetze in the last TW but they wanted 35? Seems to have come out again. Greedy buggers BD, I hope uited don’t get their polish striker because he is a top notch player.
Schweinstieger…he is an amazing player, stuff M’vila get this bloke in. A shame it’d probably cost 40+ to get him as city and chelsea have circled around before
Djourou’s agent:
“If he leaves the Premier League, then he will play in Italy or Spain.
“I saw my client the other day and he was enthusiastic about both Napoli and Italy in general.
“So far we have received an offer worth €10 million [£8.1m], but it is up for negotiation.
“He wants to play for one of the top five Italian clubs.”
10 bloody million for Djourou, he must have the best agent out there. I hope he’s the agent for bendy, and denilson too!
If he leaves for 10 million we should have another celebratory day!
Oz
You just have to take all those stories with a pinch of salt. Most of them are made up by the anti-Arsene army to bolster their position that he’s too tight with the purse strings.
I guarantee that 99.9% of all transfer rumours you read are total rollocks.
Oz
JD is a perfectly decent fourth choice CB. If we get eight million quid for him I would be delighted – and I would expect Arsene to spend no more than 3/4 mill on the replacement (or promote from the young ‘uns).
That was “three or four million” – not three-quarters of a mill!
So far the Arsenal loanees (and not yet arrived) are on top.
NikB, Arshavin, Podolski winners
RvP, Szczesny, Rosicky losers
(i know Sz didn’t technically lose but OT works for my next statement)
“More proof if any was needed of Arsenes awful coaching.” I expect to see that used somewhere during the Euros.
What was Arry saying on BBC tonight about Arsene? Twitter got upset but I wasn’t watching.
But Rocky i like to dream, like Micky and Glic, although I’m more of a ‘look out into the sunset’ type of guy as opposed to their looking at the leaves.
I agree Djourou is a solid 4th choice, and really stepped up 2 seasons ago when Verm was out. I’d expect Miquel or Bartley to step in. A rangers mate always says great things about Bartley!
Rocky the only players safe at City are Richards, Lescott, Milner, Barry, Hart…..homegrown rules again…think Clichy might count too.
Hi Evonne 🙂
Thanks for another very good post which has led to many good comments today. Personally, I don’t care much about the Spuds, but I can understand that those who have been subjected to violence from Spuds will have very strong negative feelings towards them.
Nice to see a few AA’ers supporting the Oranje today. 🙂 Micky, I always thought you were a weird fellow! 😆
I am still gutted: don’t mind losing against a better team, but today Holland were simply unlucky and missed sharpness upfront – especially our man RvP could have scored a hat-trick today. It was not to be, and it comes as no surprise that the attacking team just cannot get a penalty any more. 😦
It means the Dutch will have to beat the Germans on Wednesday and show the world what they are capable of. All or nothing: I quite like that!
BR: Kjaer was excellent and would indeed have been/be brilliant at Arsenal.
Night all.
Nice post, Evonne.
Growing up in North London, north of Tottenham, I learnt to keep my mouth shut about who I supported. Being spat at as a young lad for wearing red and white on Tottenham High Road, also leaves an indelible mark on a developing mind. The seeds of my dislike are far too deep for me to do anything about it now.
p.s. Chelski make my skin crawl too. 🙂
Motion Carried then. We really do hate Spurs (apart from the odd Mate). Excellent.
Who are Spurs???
Utd are the ones I can’t cop.
Every fan of theirs in Oz is so arrogant about it,it’s not funny.
Most I know will text me if they’ve won and Arsenals lost,but it’s always around 8am in the morning here,after they’ve woken and checked the results.
My response is always the same…..didn’t you wake up at 2am and actually watch the game??
It pisses me off,no end.
If City really want to get rid of Nasri should we offer £5m and wages of £40k a week?
We have more than adequately covered the loss of Nasri with the arrival of The Ox and Podolski.
I’d rather get Perry Groves to get his boots out of the attic than have Nasri back. He’s everything that’s wrong with the game today.
Even if Shitty offered to pay us to take the fatso back, we should say NO
That conversation could lead very nicely onto a post that Micky has written so can you chat about something else ….. 🙂
Raddy – how’s the mood in Denmark after yesterdays win? Are the Danes nutters when it comes to football?
Peaches – ha ha ha, glad to see you are feeling better today. Danes nutters ha ha ha ha. Sorry Raddy, I mean no offence to anybody, but all the Danes I met are soooooooooooo proper, diplomatic, thoughful, organised, clean, you know what I mean
I reckon we should take him back so we can sacrifice him to the injury gods at the first home game.
Euphoria over here and disbelief.
There are giant screens all around the city and as anyone who has been to Copenhagen can testify, the Danes like a beer. So, the atmosphere was fantastic .
The early kick off helped because families went. No police, no trouble.
Football is huge here with all the pubs showing the Prem and La Liga.
evonne. Danes are also sex-mad, heavy drinkers and very creative. A heady mix 😀
So it’s a no to the FFBW then? 😀 sorry need to stay off that topic.
What’s a FFBW? Are you being naughty, GIE? 🙂
Fat French Bench Warmer
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