Every supporter of every club has the local derby thing, so as Gunners, let’s remove the Totnum lot from the discussion.
In most people’s sights are the team that were our closest rivals during the few periods in our history that we were the dominant club. Therefore I’m sure back 1934 there were a few Sunderland haters 🙂
We can probably pin you down by your age. Leeds Haters: you’re 60+ aren’t you? I could go on. Through to Pool, then on to the United lot, but you get my drift.
More recently, we have the oil money haters. I’m always a little uneasy about this group of two as you open an ethical can of worms that goes down the rabbit hole of sponsors/owners etc, and simply that we, The Arsenal, are a major part of the whole obscene money merry-go-round.
Ok, that’s about it for a quick conversation starter. What I’d love to unearth is an Arsenal fan who hates a Grimsby or Bolton with every fibre in their body 🙂
Arsenal News 24/7
arsenalarsenal.net 
Cheers, Micky.
An interesting thought.
If you discount the spuds, in recent times I’d probably go for Stoke.
Away trips to that soulless monstrosity full of orcs seething with hate on top of a windswept hill were generally extremely unpleasant experiences. Even worse was that their intimidation tactics often seemed to work.
Then I got to thinking, was it just Pulis’s Stoke I disliked so much? Nah, Hughes’s was just as bad.
I’m a little too young for all that early 1970’s FA Cup rivalry with them.
It amused me when I looked up their current manager and found out he’s called Nathan Jones and they sit at 15th in the Championship. Not sure I could dislike them quite so much at present!
I think over the years, I have really disliked:
– Man Utd
– Stoke
– Chelsea
– Bolton
Man Utd because there were some players I could not stand like Van Nilsteroy, Kean, Neville, Stam, Brown
Stoke because the way they always played, rough and long balls
Chelsea – only the Mourinho I years…
Bolton – the Big Sam years
Speaking of Bolton, Sam Allardyce has always been loathsome but his Bolton side including Campo and Okocha had some style even if they were managed by a gum-chewing, suit-wearing thug.
Fine starter Micky, thank you.
1. Stoke
2. Dirty Leeds
3. Any team managed by Pulis or Merinho
My dislike of Stoke is not recent. When I was knee high we lost 5-0 to the bastards having been kicked from pillar to post on a ploughed pitch. And the ref received a gold watch post-game from the Stoke BoD.
This hurts … Mickey Thomas is 51 y.o. 😱
In my mind’s eye he remains a callow youth.
Great idea for a post Micky .., thanks.
Yes I agree about Stoke. The fact that their despicable fans still sang that song when Ramsey came back from the leg break is unforgiveable in my eyes.
I have a deep dislike of thuggery in football. I remember with horror the time I took my young son to the Emirates for a game against the totts and the line of police that separated the two sets of fans on the concourse just ran out and a horde of miscreants charged across and started throwing punches at anyone in their way. I know it’s discounted for the purposes of this discussion, but the totts outweigh the total dislike I have for all the other teams put together.
Based on the thuggery index I’d have to include Leeds, West Ham, Chelsea and Millwall
At least our sacrifice of deliberately losing to Citeh didn’t do unrewarded with the dippers dropping 2 points. Might have been all three but for the incompetent linesman.
I love that Hartson does the diving hands 😀
Very interesting, Micky.
My views on other clubs can be graded at any given time, and the one I most dislike can change dependent on a number of ancillary factors, such as the manager(s); how successful they are; how good/rubbish we are by comparison; etc.
To answer the question ‘what does the club you most dislike say about me (you?)’ is easy —
– I am an unrepentant, one-eyed Gunners fan, utterly biased, and totally indifferent to the success, or otherwise, of all other clubs, because I dislike all of them to various degrees, from time to time — and that will never change.
A perfectly sensible, mature and reasoned definition, as you will agree, I am sure.
Can’t be around, but Millwall could be my No1 as they were very nasty to me indeed once 🙂
RA, spot on with his def.
Chas, correct much to do with whose in charge.
-Leeds cos of Revie, but more Bremner, Giles and the giraffe.
– Bolton cos of Allardyce
– Stoke cos of Pullis
..BUT surpassing them all, Manure cos of Ferguson and Chelski cos of Moaninho.
Never hated Totnum, just laughed at them, sorry!
I have been reading up on the back posts as I have not always been able to do so ‘live’.
A ‘discussion’ betwixt Chas and LBG caught my attention and reminded me of something I may already have mentioned on AA, as it was years ago, those who were alive then may have forgotten, so here goes.
I had an early morning business meeting in a huge office block. I was the only person to get on a particular lift after parking my car in the basement.
Just as the lift doors were closing a postman squeezed through the doors, and said “Mornin”.
The lift started and before we got to the next floor it was obvious he had let off a sly seeper, which was spreading and appalling.
The lift stopped – he got out – gave me a grin, and as it was then the ground floor, many office workers crowded in. Disapproving tuts, nose holding and gasps for air quickly ensued.
I needed the 10th floor – and the pong lingered all the way.
That was wrong on so many levels!
chelsea. always. Mourinho, Ranieri the dead man walking, JT, Drogba, racism, horrid Stamford Bridge. They bought trophies that were ours to win.
brilliant RA
I think the worse year for us was 2006. We lost everything that year that we were supposed to win 😦 After that, the club went in another direction and we lost attractivity as well…
2006:
Lehman – Lauren, Toure, Campbell, Cole – Ljungberg, Gilberto, Fabregas, Pires – Bergkamp, Henry
vs
2019:
Leno – Bellerin, Sok, Holding, Kola – Ramsey, Xhaka, Torreira, Iwobi – Laca, Auba
According to the French press, the English press has indicated that Arsenal will have 45 to 51 Mln EUR to recruit players this summer. They will also be able to re-inject any cash they make from players sold to other teams. Emery is said to want 3 players minimum.
RC
Not the English press, one wanker, John Cross in the Mirror, who always argues he is an Arsenal man and always drags up any dirt/ negative info he can about the Club, and others believe he has the finger on the pulse. His current go to is Manu Petit, to get a comment on on how bad Arsenal are at everything.
Sorry, know a lot about this guy. Seen him in a Chelsea shirt before and suspect his allegiances lie there. Challenged him by e-mail once on his bile about the Gunners, and he made a stupid mistake and gave me his personal email address rather than the paper’s football one!! Wind him up every now and then on that, and he gets very angry!
RA. “I am an unrepentant, one-eyed Gunners fan, utterly biased, and totally indifferent to the success, or otherwise, of all other clubs, because I dislike all of them to various degrees, from time to time — and that will never change.”
Perfect.
LBG .11.13 Ooh, you are naughty 😀
LBG – you are the best 🙂 Please rile him up as much as possible, especially if he is a Chelsea fan.
Good idea for a post Micky.
Surprisingly my most intense dislike was for Man U during the Fergie years, they were treated as untouchables by the refs and got away with all sorts of foul tactics. My worst moment was the Rooney dive at Old Trafford that stopped the invincibles unbeaten streak.
Another thing that may be surprising, for some, was that back in the day at Highbury we would mix in with the away fans and there was very little trouble, there was some but not as much as you might think – even when Spurs visited.
I did some research and could not find a specific time when away sections were created – does anybody know?
RC78, if your 10:55 is correct then we are doomed to getting 2nd tier players in the 15/25mil range which does not bode well for our future.
Kronke spent a fortune on the Rams – he should (and could) do the same for us – big money talks and creates winning teams.
It all began with the Arsenal of the 30’s when Herbert Chapman splashed the cash for David Jack, Alex James & Cliff Bastin to create the best team in English football.
GN5 – no clue 😦
I hope PSG beats Man Utd but I am not confident as we have lost Neymar to injury…Neymar is our X-factor…
I think Tuchel will play conservatively at Old Trafford with a 3-5-2 with:
Buffon – Kehrer, Thiago Silva, Kimpembe – Meunier, Di Maria, Marqunhos, Verratti (if fit otherwise Draxler), Bernat – Mbappe, Cavani
-> Not a bad team but not a great one either…
Man Utd team expected:
De Gea – Young, Lindelof, Bailly, Shaw – Herrera, Matic, Pogba – Martial, Lukaku, Rashford
-> Tuchel will want to block: Martial, Rashford, Pogba and Lukaku. So I expect Meunier to start ahead of Alves and Tuchel to go to a back 3.
Brahimi available for free this summer: Arsenal, Milan and Watford are monitoring the situation
GN5. As far as I can recall there was an away section to the right of the Clock End in the ’60s (from the NB end).
Never one in The North Bank though we did get infiltrators.
Wow that was a short post ,
Chas did u forget to include the rest of it lol
Still a great post
Yea the linesman was bad yesterday, didn’t even flag origi missed Chance
Chas I get the feeling you don’t want pool to win
The land of the wind and ghosts #bestlineever
Lol @ RA
Fred
Are you saying you can’t believe how the lino doesn’t flag when he’s bang in line?
What is this all about?
For the offside goal it was all about the completely incompetent lino getting into such a stupid position he couldn’t see along the line.
For this one what possible excuse could there be?
Both beggar belief.
I didn’t realise that Everton v Man City was this Wednesday.
That explains why people who pay attention doubled up on City players this week in FF.
Will Everton just roll over to shaft Liverpool?
Yes, I agree with the others, that really is a good idea for a post.
RA’s comment is top draw.
Still don’t like Leeds, opps, what a give away, I’m only 42 honest!
LB
I’m afraid I have to agree with FRED, who rightly pointed out how little effort Chas had clearly put into the post. My view is that it is a reflection of Chas’ rather casual attitude to life in general
Ok, to summarise blogger’s views, it appears that Stoke and managers with a more agricultural take on the beautiful game come out on top (or is it bottom?)
I think this reflects well on AA, as I’m pretty sure many would be gripped by jealousy and envy of clubs based on wealth or success
Micky it’s a good thing you never wrote that post or you would be the one to take Fred’s wrath.
I think Chas should have stood up and accepted the criticism like a man – don’t you?
Yes, I do GN5
I think we both noticed how slippery he was in skipping around that Fred comment. Complete snake if you ask me
and tomorrow we could do “most loathsome managers in the history of the game”
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Chas
I think Micky should do the post tomorrow. ” How Milwall were very nasty to him once, and how it has influenced his views on life”.
Ha ha LBG
The incident did not influence me one bit. My mind was clear beforehand that i didn’t enjoy the company of skinheads. The nastiness followed my airing of those views 🙂
Is that a snake Chas? 🙂
Mav left out of the Europa League squad for the knockouts due to “rules”.
Means you can use him more often in the League, Dick! Don’t let us down, and get Ainsley in centrally if you are not going to use Mesut!
oh, just got it, it’s a “what, me?”
I thought it was Fred’s signature, Micky!
🙂
A post on the Arsenal game that had the biggest effect (positive or negative) on you most would also be interesting.
Micky you are very correct he’s very snakelike, but he could be a Cobra and spit some venom at us!
In order: Mancs, Spuds, Chavs, Northern Oilers, Orcs. What it says about me: like fairness in sport and hate trophy buyers with silly money, never was more angry than at Stoke away when Aaron’s leg was snapped in two, Mancs and Spuds are eternal scumbags. Now also hate Warnock’s Cardiff because he is a silly Brexshitter (sorry Micky). 🙂
In
Micky/GN5
Watch out the “Revenge of the non- Whiff” is coming!
Fred’s in!
I’m out………………….in case I get Whiffed.
In the early 70s, Leeds and Stoke (I think I mentioned on here before that my first match at Highbury was in 71/72 when we lost 1-0 to a f*ckin’ John Ritchie goal.) Then later, the Scousers (strange nobody mentioned them) and Wolves because of getting beaten up at the 78/79 semi final at Villa Park (as described in my one and only post on AA) Then on to Man utd, then Chelsea.
Still hate them all, besides maybe Wolves..who I seem to have forgiven with the years.
What does it say about me? Well, that I’ve been around for quite a while, even though I’m also only 42, honest!
Spurs would be on the top of the list I we were allowed to include them.
BR, you mentioned ‘infiltrations’ in the North Bank. Was anyone else there for a home match ’76ish against West Ham, where thousands of WH ‘took’ a big chunk of the NB, left central (looking towards the pitch) At oone point in the game, maybe a couple of hundred Chelsea fans suddenly raised their scarves and made themselves known over towards the part near the West Stand.
THEN, a similar sized group (maybe bigger) of Spurs fans did the same, in between The Chelseas and the Arsenals who had been pushed Right central, sandwiched between the rival hordes.
I was to the left side of the NB and could see the whole thing kick off.
The safest place to be was in the Clockend!
Sorry about the length of this – but it’s well worth a read.
Arsenal manager Unai Emery will once again have sparse resources at his disposal this summer with the club set to hand him a mere £45million to spend in the transfer market.
Having been told he could just make loan signings during the January transfer window, the Gunners boss will again be forced to work within stringent financial boundaries in the summer as he looks to reshape his squad.
Here, Sportsmail assesses why the ninth-richest club in world football finds themselves consigned to the bargain bins.
How much money do Arsenal make every year?
The last set of financial results saw the club post a healthy after-tax profit of £56.5million, up on the £35.3million from the previous results. It suggests Arsenal are still strong financially. But according to the latest Deloitte Money League, their total revenue was down from £419m to £389m. Yet the fact they are ninth-richest club in world football indicates they still have significant financial clout.
Is Kroenke taking too much money out?
It’s an issue that has infuriated sections of the Arsenal fanbase in recent years. But perhaps the more pertinent question is why isn’t Kroenke putting more money in?
Well, and Arsenal fans won’t want to hear this – under the businessman’s control, the club have spent significantly on the playing squad in recent years. The wage bill has gone through the roof, the club smashed their transfer record three times in the space of five years on Mesut Ozil, Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. Arsenal have spent extensively during the recent Kroenke era. Whether the expenditure has proved value for money is an altogether different argument.
What are the restrictions on the wage bill?
Their wage bill is at the absolute limit, mainly due to the decision to award Ozil a contract worth £350,000-per-week. The deal essentially means the club – in terms of playing contracts – are punching well above their weight.
The repercussion of that deal are starting to take hold. A restricted playing budget in terms of wages and fees is something manager Unai Emery will have to contend with moving forward. Under Financial Fair Play regulations, clubs can only increase their wage bill by seven per cent per season. Arsenal are approaching that threshold with the current wage bill around £210,000,000 in the latest financial results, hence the restrictions.
Their wage bill is at the limit, mainly due to the decision to give Mesut Ozil £350,000-per-week
And who are the top earners?
Ozil by a country mile. Aubameyang earns close to £200,000-per-week, Henrikh Mkhitaryan is on £160,000-per-week while Lacazette’s deal is worth in the region of £140,000-per-week. There are then a host of players earning at least £100,000-per-week. In short: Arsenal’s wage structure is at breaking point.
Why are they letting Aaron Ramsey leave on a free?
The decision is believed to have been taken by Emery. But the financial implications on the decision are clear. Ramsey, rightly so, would have expected a new contract worth well in-excess of his current £100,000-per-week wage – perhaps close to double that sum. The club were prepared to give him an improved deal, and Ramsey was ready to sign. But the offer was eventually retracted, with sources claiming Emery – knowing the budget he is working to – believes the money could be used more efficiently elsewhere.
Unai Emery was willing to let Aaron Ramsey leave the club in order to free up funds for wages
Unai Emery was willing to let Aaron Ramsey leave the club in order to free up funds for wages
But surely they will have to replace him with a similar high-earning player?
They will have to replace him for sure. But whether they make a like-for-like signing remains to be seen. The club’s recruitment team have been working under remit of the club’s restricted playing budget. Matteo Guendouzi arrived under the radar for a fee of around £7million in the summer. He looks to have a big future ahead of him. Arsenal will be hoping to unearth more low-key gems this summer.
How much has Mesut Ozil’s huge contract cost them?
A whopping £63million. An incredible amount of money. Given Emery does not view Ozil as a part of his long-term plans – an incredible mistake.
What other gaffes have they made with transfer dealings?
Allowing players to run down their contracts. Ramsey – a proven Premier League player – has been allowed to leave for nothing. In today’s market, Ramsey would be worth in the region of £50million.
Danny Welbeck – an England international – is set to leave for nothing in the summer when his deal expires. Jack Wilshere was allowed to leave for nothing last summer.
Rejecting a £60million offer from Manchester City for Alexis Sanchez in the summer of 2017 only to sell him in a swap deal with Mkhitaryan six months later. Mkhitaryan earns more than Sanchez did at the Emirates. And there’s plenty more examples.
Rejecting £60m from Manchester City for Alexis Sanchez to sell him in a swap was a huge error
Rejecting £60m from Manchester City for Alexis Sanchez to sell him in a swap was a huge error
ARSENAL’S TRANSFER DEALINGS IN THE PAST TWO YEARS
IN
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang – £57m
Alexandre Lacazette – £48m
Henrikh Mkhitaryan – £30m
Konstantinos Mavropanos – £2m
Lucas Torreira – £27m
Bernd Leno – £22.5m
Sokratis – £14m
Matteo Guendouzi – £7m
Denis Suarez – Loan fee of £2.25m
Stephan Lichtsteiner – Free
OUT:
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain – £34m
Alexis Sanchez – £30m
Theo Walcott – £20m
Olivier Giroud – £15m
Francis Coquelin – £12m
Wojciech Szczesny – £10m
Gabriel Paulista – £9m
Kieran Gibbs – £6.75m
Lucas Perez – £4m
Lol
Fred
Us being borassic is nothing to ‘lol’ about!
So, we may be 9th most valuable club in world football but we can spend less than Fulham.
Great
Horrible Whiff around here – I’m off our for some fresh air.
laughing at that
even better
John Matthews
I was at that game and in my usual place, right central and above the horizontal gangway. Impacted only in sense we moved “En bloc”, as a wave of bodies, common then, further right and then watched the game no longer under the Northbank cover.
My memory is from that point gates in the metal barrier between West stand lower standing and North Bank were locked.
LBG. I was usually right central too, as I was the following year (I think) against Tottenham. The ‘wave of bodies en bloc’ was really scary.
Just before kick-off, Tottenham scarves and songs came out everywhere around me and the couple of mates from school I was with.
A kid from our year at school, one of the few Spurs fans, was pushed into our amidst by the body flow and was about to denounce us……you could see it on his face.
With the pleading stares he got, he thought better of it (Thank F)
Had us sh*tting bricks though!
As far as I remember, we won the match, but had to shut up and look miserable.
I wish those people (such as the author of the 7.26) would stop trying to make out that Ozil is the source of all our problems. It drives me insane as to how much journalists go on about his wage as if he is the cause of all our woes.
When Ozil signed that deal he was worth two players, as far as I am concerned, for pure entertainment, he still is.
LB
And who would believe anything sourced by the Mail!
p.s. I got The BFG which is about right.
great start
love them both 🙂
out of interest, and I don’t know how I’d answer, why do you think BFG is “about right”?
Just because you’re blond, tall and german is not enough imo
Because when asked ‘What’s it like up there?’
I might reply, ‘ It smells of little people’
Either that or because I’m not a tub-thumping type like TA6 and to a lesser extent PV4 and definitely not a selfish striker, figurehead type.
he’s right, that really is a rabbit on skis
simple things to make you smile in the morning
ok, dashing time
Don’t normally ever come out ” who I want it to be” in these assessments……except this time. Patrick Vieira for me!
Morning All,
Is that Peter Beardsley standing to the right of the car?
Def rabbit on skis. We get a lot of them around here. They make good shhoting and eating.
I’m Frank McLintock. Happy with that.
Chas 06.11
Best one is Gove…..BUT waste of a good black plastic sack!
Yep, that is “Village” to the right of the car.
Frank McLintock 🙂
Chas @ 6:49
Yep – definitely a rabbit ski Jumping — it’s the ears that are a giveaway.😜
LB – you will soon be able to hate Leeds properly again. They are back in EPL with strong squad, amazing coach and his blue bucket and formidable journey to the top of the Championship. Beware, they are bloody good.
chas- so what was the second photo of yesterday? I cannot see what you and bro would do under a bridge in Croydon? Pimping? Pushing? nay, it had to be finsbury park
re quiz – me Thierry Henry?? I think not. I want to be Tony Adams, I drank, I look like him and love his quotes. Thierry in the yellow Renault makes me sick, does he really have to do it??
it was Seven Sisters Road,
Eddie. You are right, 7 sisters taken from over the road from the Rainbow (Finsbury Pk Astoria)
yes, my cousin had a restaurant there. you could park outside there in those days. Not a blue convertible BMW of course, but any other car
You are right. 😀
There is a New Post
Transfer and contract mistakes in the past 3 years:
1. Sanchez’s allowing to leave in January
2. Non-recruitment of a true DM
3. Ramsey’s non renewal
4. Ozil’s contract
5. Giroud’s sale to Chelsea
6. Xhaka’s recruitment
7. Mustafi’s recruitment
8. Non-recruitments of full backs
9. Non-recruitment of a top CB
10. Oxlade to Liverpool
– We could have had a value-added of 60 Mln from Sanchez’s sale
– We could have invested this money in a very strong DM
– Ramsey was to be a pillar of Emery’s team BUT the wage structure has lad to the worse situation ever, lettign Ramsey go. If you are a CEO, you secure Ramsey even on a big salary and then let…Ozil go to balance the books…If you want to keep Ozil and Mikhy, then you can sell Ramsey for 50 Mln…really poor management there
– Ozil’s renewal was a mistake despite his incredible talent. Too much pressure on the wage and creating envy within the squad
– We miss Giroud’s presence in the box, he was a great supersup and cup player and I think that he could have stayed as our 3rd striker and been useful
– Xhaka’s recruitment was welcome (even I was happy) but it is fair to say that he has disappointed. We expected a Xabi Alonso type of a player but we got a very pale version of Xabi Alonso….
– Mustafi – started well, then was very poor, started well this year but again back to his mistakes so a disappointing recruitment in the end
– We were nto happy with Chambers and Jenks at RB and still we did not go in the market to get a FB that could really challenge Bellerin. Monreal shows that he is better at CB since last year so we would have needed another full-back in our squad too.
– Sokratis, Holding, Mavropanos, Kos and Monreal are all OK but they are not Van Dijk, Koulibaly or even Bailly’s…We need a top CB and fast.
– Oxlade is a quality player, was really annoyed to see him join the Scousers. In Emery’s system, he would have thrived. Imagine: Oxlade, TOrreira, Guendouzi…an energetic trio.
Anyways, this summer – we need to sell players to free up squad and wage space…This is the summer that will define Emery’s success/failure at our club.
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