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January 31, 2005

Bye bye then...

Posted by gcurtis at 11:04 AM | Comments (0)

So, do you want Sheffield or West Ham?

The draw for the fifth round of the FA Challenge Cup was made this afternoon in London. Arsenal have been matched up against the winner of the Sheffield United v West Ham replay. The game will be played at The Home of Football on the weekend of February 19th/20th.

Check out the full draw by clicking on the "Show me more" link below. Of the rest of the fixtures, Wayne Rooney (if he dares play) will face his old club Everton at Goodison Park, Chelsea have a tougher game against the Geordies at St James' Park and Brentford or Hartlepool United have a good money making trip to the south coast to face Southampton at St. Mary's

Posted by gcurtis at 09:21 AM | Comments (10)

January 27, 2005

No coverage of Arsenal v Wolves...

The Arsenal v Wolves FA Cup Fourth Round fixture has been replaced by the Derby v Fulham game on Roger's Sportnet this Saturday. Sorry folks, but that means we're not going to be able to see The Arsenal play this weekend (again...). If you're in the house (or at work) with an Internet connection you may want to try BBC London - I got live commentary from the Arsenal v Stoke game that way in the last round.

In fact, this page says that the game will be available online.

UPDATE: The page says that the online service is not available outside of the UK... despite this, I was able to get the Stoke game last time... I'd recommend trying anyway!

Posted by gcurtis at 11:05 AM | Comments (8)

January 26, 2005

Would you like to be in a book about Arsenal?

I got this interesting request from Teabag this morning... If you'd like to help or contribute, you can contact him via e-mail at chrisathanasi at hotmail.com (or PM him on the Forum). Sounds like an interesting project so help him out if you can! -- NY Gooner

Dear Fellow Gooners,

I am in the process of researching material for a book I am writing about Arsenal and their fans and I was wondering if any of you would like to appear in it?

Following the recent problems with racism in football I decide to write a book about Arsenal and its vast array of world supporters. Why does someone in Africa support a team in England? What makes a person in Australia get up in the middle of the night to watch a live game from North London? Why would an Italian from Turin support Arsenal and not Juventus? Why would any American follow the current English football champions and not the winners of the "World Series" in baseball?

What I would like are any supporter's stories of when and how they became Arsenal fans? Was it a player, the color of the shirts or seeing them on TV that made them choose? What made them choose Arsenal as opposed to any other club? To what extremes do they go to watch the team? How do they show their allegiance in their part of the world? Have they ever visited Highbury? Basically anything which tells us why Arsenal is their club. If there are any photos which can be attached this will also add to the story.

Anyone who contributes will have their story and name mentioned in the book.

I can be contacted by e-mail on chrisathanasi at hotmail.com

Kind regards,
Chris Athanasi

Posted by gcurtis at 10:37 AM | Comments (2)

January 25, 2005

London Calling, January 25th

Dear NY Gooners,

1-0?
As matches go this has to go down as the greatest 1-0 thrashing for a long time - if the game had finished 6-1 it would have been more just, given the number of chances we had. How Thierry did not edge four goals closer to Ian Wrights' all time record is more down to Given's fine display than poor finishing. We started the game like a team with a point to prove and we could have been one up within 30 seconds but luck saved Newcastle and this was to be the precedent for the rest of the game.

The fluency of our game was back and it was no coincidence that Vieira had one of his best games so far this season. Dennis was also on fire for the first 45 minutes with Thierry and Bobby taking over in the second half with the type of football we have become accustomed to watching in the last few seasons but that has been of short supply recently.

Special praise must go to Mathieu Flamini, I have to hold my hands up and say I didn't think much of him in his first few appearances but was willing to give him the benefit based on the fact that Arsene very rarely buys duds. In the last few games before his injury he showed signs of feeling more comfortable amongst his more established counterparts. His constant harrying and probing runs gave us another option in midfield and Vieira obviously benefited from Flamini taking some of the defensive responsibility from him. Fabregas is definitely the better player but it's no doubt that Flamini brings more as a team player at this moment in time.

On the subject of midfield players the talk at the game is that Arsene will be buying an experienced international in the transfer window now that Mr. Ed(u) has decided to bugger off to sunnier climes, and, by the way, having frozen my nuts off by the end of this game I don't blame him. The two names being talked about were Van Brommel and Davids, the latter purely being a stopgap until the end of the season.

I am not sure whether it was the fact we went into this game more relaxed or if it was pride that gave us our game back but whatever it was we all left Higbury a lot happier than in previous weeks, it's amazing what one result can do for morale.

The War of Words
You can call me biased if you wish but am I the only one who thinks that it's that Scottish twat who starts these stupid arguments and if he kept his fat gob shut Arsene would not feel the need to react? For him to accuse Arsene of wanting to fight him has to be one of the most ridiculous things I have heard in a long time. When are the FA going to come down on "old red nose"? Surely his comments brought the game into disrepute? I think their reaction sums up the fact that the tail is finally wagging the dog.

Now Arsene is too much of a gentleman to say it so I will do it for him: "Shut your mouth you drunken, demented Scottish prat. Now piss off back to whichever hole you crawled out from and take your pathetic attempts at intimidation with you, you sad old man".

The Legends of the Hall
When selecting Christmas presents it always helps to know what the person you are buying for likes. I am lucky to be married to a great woman who knows me inside out and this year Joanna bought me a truly wonderful gift, a "Legends Tour of Highbury" with one of my childhood heroes, the one and only
Charlie George.

Walking to the ground on non-match days is a strange feeling, a bit of a ghost town. No smell of frying onions, no shady ticket touts (scalpers), no merchandise sellers and no crowds, just normal streets in North London. How Islington council ever had thoughts of letting Arsenal leave the area is beyond me, Arsenal is the area.

I met up with my slightly physically-challenged mate Katia outside the ground (by the way Kat, when your skis go one way don't try going the other). I was half hoping that the tour would be just us two and Charlie but there were around twenty in our group; haven't these people got anything better to do?

We were met at the main entrance by the legend that is Charlie, who led us into the Marble Halls. After we had signed in and got our passes (plus gift bag) he took us up to the director's lounge. I don't want to get all arty here but you could feel the sense of history in the old building and, if it was possible, boy, I bet these walls could tell a tale or two.

The director's lounge is a lot smaller than I expected but very tastefully decorated and it got me to thinking whether they ever gave us poor sods a thought when we are freezing our nuts off in the middle of winter while they sipped their brandies at half-time - no, of course they don't. In the lounge you are given a choice of hot drinks or orange juice and biscuits whilst Charlie signs autographs and has pictures taken with gob-smacked fans, who in their normal lives most probably have respectable jobs, who are upstanding pillars in society and who can definitely string more than three words together without going ga-ga. I could not believe I was standing next to and having my picture taken with the man whose 1971 FA Cup winning goal was the first time I had cried over a football match; well, apart from the time I got kicked in the "nether regions" by Michael Meanie after I scored a goal against him in his back garden when we were 7.

Once in the director's box you really realize that there is a "them and us" situation in football. I played Sven to Kats' Nancy and the thing I noticed was that if Sven leans forward slightly he could quite easily throw things at Arsene without him noticing. From the director's area we followed Charlie down to the changing rooms. Charlie is chatting all the time giving us stories and recollections about his time at Arsenal, some funny, some obviously recited for the umpteenth time.

Entering the changing room and seeing all the shirts hanging out in the place that they would on a match day was brilliant but this is where it got silly as grown adults rushed to the sit in front of their favourite player's shirt. It was dog eat dog in there and I didn't really care that the kid was only six; I wanted to sit in front of Dennis' shirt - so the kid can come back when he's older and stronger and then he can push others out of the way.

Charlie talks us through his personal thoughts of the current team, which I will tell you about at a later date and then you are given time to take photos, not only of the changing room but also the shower and toilets, and yes, before you ask, I did have a photo taken in one of the cubicles - what is the point of being in the Arsenal toilets if you can't say you sat on the same throne as Dennis or Thierry?

From the changing rooms it's through the players tunnel, again a lot smaller than what it seems on TV and out to the dugout. The thing that struck me was how bad a view Arsene has, which makes it all the even more remarkable that he can see things that we cannot (or not in some cases) and he manages to make the decisions he does during games. From the dugout it's on to the final part of the tour, the Arsenal Museum in the North Bank, where you can see a collection of shirts, medals and a chance to view a history of the club in the mini-cinema plus classic memorabilia such as Mickey Thomas' boots that he wore the night he scored that goal.

If you come to London make sure you book a tour, all-in-all well worth 30 pounds and, for those a little younger, you can book a tour with either Kenny Sansom or Paul Davis.

I Heard It Through The Grape Vine
Okay I didn't expect the club to make the announcement about the kit last week but this is what I had as this weeks "grape vine": "The new kit for next year will be purple, as that was the color we wore when we first played at Highbury". By the way, next week's winning lottery numbers are 6, 18, 20, 30, 37 and 43.

Life After Arsenal
Brendan Batson played for us in the early 70's and then went on to Cambridge United before finding fame and fortune with WBA. He is now the assistant secretary at the PFA.

Spotted out and about
Jeremie Aliadiere having dinner in Pizza Express Southgate with his rather attractive girlfriend. Spotted by my daughter Marina.

Players We Have Been Linked With This Week
Niko Kranjcar (Dynamo Zagreb) Midfielder.
Trianis Dellas (Roma) Greek Euro2004 winning centre half.
Timo Hildebrand (Stuttgart) Another German keeper. What happened to once-bitten?
Gerard Lifondja.(Anderlechet) 15-year-old midfielder (15?).
Stefan Klos (Rangers) What is it with us and German keepers?

Useless Arsenal Trivia
A total of 12 players have played both for Arsenal and in the USA. The first was Bill Harper in 1927 who played for Fall River and the last being Steve Morrow who played for Dallas Burn.

Celebrity Gooner
Michael Moore, film director.

This weeks "Totally Irrelevant" link to Arsenal
Sparta Prague changed their kit from black and white stripes to red following the visit of their president to England in 1906. He was so taken aback by Arsenal's red shirts that he took a set back with him and they have been the team's colours since then.

All the best,
Teabag

Posted by gcurtis at 09:47 AM | Comments (0)

January 24, 2005

Henry is your Player of the Year for 2004

	After an extended period of voting, you've selected Thierry Henry as the New York Gooners Player of the Year for 2004. Henry swept the votes with 42 - 31 more than Freddie, who finished in second place. After that, votes were fairly evenly spread through most of the major contributors to a year that saw us seal a League victory without losing a game. Cesc Fabregas came in third place (after just half a year at the Club), Ashley was a vote behind in fourth and surprisingly, given many of the comments about his performances, Jens Lehman was in fifth with five votes.	poll_process(12);?>
The new poll is a topical one: given the almost certainty that Edu will be leaving the Club this month - presumably for Spain - do you agree with Arsenal's decision to play hardball with him?

Posted by gcurtis at 01:03 PM | Comments (0)

January 21, 2005

Phew... Campbell and Lauren extend contracts...

According to Arsenal.com, Sol Campbell and Lauren have agreed contract extensions, ensuring that both will be Gunners for at least two more years. Lauren had previously rejected a single year deal but accepted the new offer from the Club.

Arsenal FC is also reporting that Johan Djourou and Justin Hoyte have also extended their contracts.

Posted by gcurtis at 11:56 AM | Comments (0)

January 18, 2005

Arsenal v Wolves Fixture Info

Arsenal's Fixture News Service has confirmed that our Fourth Round fixture against Wolves will kick off at 10am (NY time) on Saturday January 29th.

Soccertv.com is reporting that this game will be shown LIVE on Roger's Sportsnet in Canada and on TAPE DELAY at 12pm on FOX Sports World in the USA. UPDATE: Jack has confirmed that our game will be shown LIVE in Nevada's at 10am on the 29th. Since this is a Canadian telecast, entrance will be FREE! It is likely that Nevada's will be the only bar showing this game in the city since I believe they're one of the only ones with the Canadian package. If a replay is necessary, it will be played at Molineux at 10am (NY time) on Saturday February 12th.

Posted by gcurtis at 11:49 AM | Comments (0)

London Calling, January 18th

Dear NY Gooners,

Stop the World I Want to Get Off
For all intents and purposes it's over. If we were being honest it was over before the Bolton game but now it will need a gigantic slip up by Chels' for us to have any chance of retaining our title and there's not much chance of that happening at the moment. Before I go on, can any of you who saw the game please explain to me how the shortest player on the pitch can score with a header inside the 6-yard box?

I did not make the journey to the wastelands of the North West but my niece Maz did and she says that filing out of the ground after the game the general consensus was that we have handed the title over without much of a fight. It's true that Chels' are playing well but if we played to our best we would have at least made a fist of the situation and there would not be a ten-point gap with just over a third of the season still to play.

There will be plenty of people talking over the next few days about where it's all gone wrong and how we are over as a major force in English football but I don't buy into that. No team in history wins everything all of the time and we do not have a divine right to the Premiership and we haven't become a bad team over night. What is upsetting is how far we have slipped from the wonderful team we were watching last year. I don't know why, but the harmony does not seem to be there. Did the team achieve too much last year and are now find it hard to live up to expectations? In 'Rocky III' Apollo told Rocky that the reason he would not win was because he did not have the 'Eye of the Tiger' - the hunger to succeed. Last season we wanted to win the Premiership more than anything else after the season before, when it was felt that we had let the title slip from our grasp, and I am hoping that we will want to prove all our critics wrong next season. Wining things is all about belief, the belief that you will not lose, the belief that the opposition will not score against you, the belief that you are always going to win no matter who you are playing; we for some reason seem to have lost that belief.

We have gone into the last couple of games on the back of a Chels' win which has extended their lead from 5 to 7 then 10 points and it looked like the players were saying "why bother?," the desire seems to be lost in them. Who is to say what may have happened if Chels' had dropped a couple of points in either of those games, would we have been more determined to win our games?

Who knows? There will be plenty of time at the end of the season to discuss the rights and wrongs of the this season, the Vieira fiasco, the goalkeeping situation and our strength of squad, but who is to say that we cannot achieve something historic this season by going on to win the Champions League -it's not beyond the realms of possibility.

So let's hold our heads up high and remember we still support one of the best teams in England and Europe and count yourselves lucky that but for the grace of God you could be supporting Sp*rs.

Transfer Window
Arsene says that he does not like fishing in the 'Transfer Window' as the price of fish tends to go up during January. So we can only presume that there will be no bids for the Chelsea pair of Claude Mackerelele or Carlo Codicini and neither for Sean Sprat-Philips or Ledley Kingfisher, but he was hoping to finalize the contract of Lemon Dover Sol Campbell.

I Heard It Through The Grape Vine
We will be signing a midfielder this month.

Life After Arsenal
Chris Whyte left us and had success with Leeds winning a championship medal. He is now a chauffer.

Spotted out and about
Gael Clichy in 'Game' a computer shop in Enfield buying 'Pro-Evolution 4'. I wonder if they play as themselves.

Players We Have Been Linked With This Week
Gabor Kiraly (C.Palace) Tracksuit wearing Hungarian shot stopper.
Mickael Essien (Lyon) Linked almost everyday with the Ghanaian, too expensive and will end up at Chelsea.
John Ruddy (Cambridge) Add to keeper list
Alexei Eremenko Jnr (Lecce) Finnish playmaker
Christian Abbiati (AC Milan) Another keeper, this is getting boring
Andrea Caracciolo (Brescia) Forward

Useless Arsenal Trivia
Since the 1930's one of Arsenal's traditions is that they have flowers in the colors of the visiting team placed in the boardroom and VIP lounge.

Celebrity Gooner
King Olav V, former king of Norway.

This weeks 'Totally Irrelevant' link to Arsenal
Back-up keeper Stuart Taylor is currently on loan to Leicester City. Contrary to his surname he could not make a suit for you, unlike my farther who was a qualified tailor (I know it's spelt differently).

All the best,
Teabag

Posted by gcurtis at 10:11 AM | Comments (4)

January 12, 2005

Blackburn Rovers v Arsenal Time Change

The kickoff time of The Gunners' visit to Ewood Park on Saturday March 19th has been moved forward, from 10am to 7.45am (NY time). It will be televised in the US and entrance for this game at Nevada's will be FREE!

Posted by gcurtis at 10:16 AM | Comments (5)

January 10, 2005

London Calling, January 10th

Dear NY Gooners,

Up for the Cup
The 3rd Round of the FA Cup conjures up images of small-town clubs visiting grounds that they have only ever seen on TV, fresh-faced kids hand in hand with their parents looking up at a big stadium and wondering where the corrugated fencing is, and teams with a mix of experienced journey men and enthusiastic youths. Welcome to 'The Romance of the Cup'.

It's true to say that the FA Cup may have lost some of its appeal to the bigger clubs over the last few years - now ranked 3rd in their priorities behind the Premiership and Champions League - but to everyone else it still remains the best knock-out competition in the world.

Every dog has its day as they say, as Exeter proved against the Mancs. Stoke's visit to Highbury was a potential banana skin for us and the only losers would have been the home team as at the end of the day no one expected them to win. We owe a lot to Stoke as they provided us with 50% of our famous back four in Dixon and Bould and their older fans have never really forgiven us for a last gasp penalty in the 1971 FA Cup final on the way to our first double.

Stoke came into this game with an absolutely abysmal record recently but that meant nothing as they set about us as if this was a cup final, which for them it was. Former North London boy and life long Arsenal fan Ade Akinbiyi gave our centre backs an afternoon they will not forget about in a hurry. He ran them ragged and it made a mockery of the label he once had as the worst centre forward in the Premiership whilst with Leicester. He had a perfectly good goal disallowed and from where I was sitting I could not see any infringement. He set up another chance after steamrollering Toure by the by-line and it was his header which Lehmann could only parry that lead to their goal scored by Thomas who, along with Taggart must be the fattest pair of centre backs I have ever seen.

We had a few chances in the first half, the most notable falling to Van Persil who must improve on his shots to target ratios: he had 4 chances but missed the target with all of them. This will come with experience as he will learn not to take snapshots and compose himself more when under pressure. There's no doubt we knew we were in a game and we came out in the second half more determined but again Akinbiyi never gave up and he had a thunderbolt of a chance from just outside the box, which cannoned off the crossbar with Lehmann well beaten. Some good goalkeeping by Simonsen had kept them in the game but our goal finally came after some relentless pressure. After some good work by Toure, cutting the ball back following a corner, it fell to Reyes to smash the ball home right-footed.

We pushed for the second and it eventually arrived from a right-wing cross by Pennant and a backwards flick-come-pirouette by Van Persil. The second goal seemed to knock the stuffing out of Stoke but full credit must be given to both the team and their 9,000-strong set of supporters who took the whole of the Clock-End and never stopped singing, most notably a rendition of Tom Jones' classic 'Delilah' - for what reason I am not sure.

Of our players, Eboue looked impressive for his first start but will need some work in the gym to beef up a bit, Senderos looks to be getting stronger and more confident with every game, Reyes looked sharp on his return and Pennant ran around a lot. Lehmann on the other hand looked a lost soul and I
think his time with us is all but over, which is a shame for the man who was an important part in our 49-game run and Premiership title last season.

So, it's onto the next round and a home tie with Wolves later on this month. Roll on Cardiff!

Man Shity
This game was one too many for us over Christmas and it took its toll on the youngsters in the side. It was a little bit too much to ask for from a group of kids to play so many games in such a short period of time and this is when our depth of squad was finally found out. We went into this game without Bergkamp, Reyes, Gilberto, Campbell, Lauren, Edu, Cygan, Flamini and Aliadiere; that's a total of 9 first team players unavailable to us and I say that there is no team in the land who could cope with that sort of injury list, not even Cheskavich. The talk before the game was all about when we last had so many debutants in one season and, to be honest, no one could remember, not even my good mate Andy.K who is a fountain of knowledge when it comes to Arsenal.

Our cause was not helped when, on top of the number of injuries we had, both Vieira and Henry also decided they wanted to go missing leaving the kids like Senderos and Hoyte over exposed. There were too many stray passes in the first half especially from our captain, one of them leading to an excellent goal from the SWP, how can a person so short be such a brilliant player? I have never seen Ash given the run around as much as he was that night. The kids looked nervous especially Hoyte and he was not helped by the barracking from the crowd, especially from some prat a few rows behind me who knows as much about football as Jason K. I heard him scream at Van Persil to "move his lazy arse" and for us to sub Hoyte. One of these days I will find out who this idiot is and give him some lip to see if he likes it.

In the second half we set about their goal like there was no tomorrow but the longer the game went on the more you felt a draw was going to be the only outcome, but we definitely had enough chances to win this game. It makes you wonder, if they had fallen to someone with the experience of Bergkamp whether the result could have been different? Arsene said in his post match interview that "in our build-up game we were a little bit not sharp enough". I think maybe our squad is a little bit over stretched enough.

I Heard It Through The Grape Vine
Ian Wright told AW about SWP when he was at Forest and before he went to City but they both agreed it would be too much pressure on him to follow in his step-Dad's footsteps at Highbury and that it would be best if he tried to make it elsewhere. Nice move gentlemen.

Life After Arsenal
Siggi Jonsson was signed by George Graham from Sheffield Wednesday, but only played a handful of games before he broke a leg playing for Iceland against Scotland. He now runs a football academy in Iceland with former Sp*rs player Gudni Burgsson.

Spotted out and about.
Jeremie Aliadiere in 'Andy's Barbers' Southgate having his hair cut, what else.

Players We Have Been Linked With This Week
Samuel Kuffour (Bayern Munich) Big, strong and well-hard defender
Mathieu Bodmer (Lille) French midfielder
Abdoulaye Meite (Marseille) Ivory Coast defender
Michael Essien (Lyon) Ghanaian midfielder
Fernando Torres (Athletico Madrid) Absolutely brilliant forward, who we have no chance of getting.
Nicolas Anelka (Man Shity) The original horse face himself. I do hope his brothers are still in toe (not!)

Useless Arsenal Trivia
Sol Campbell's middle name is Jeremiah.

Celebrity Gooner
Ronnie O'Sullivan - world snooker champion.

This weeks 'Totally Irrelevant' link to Arsenal
Kolo Toure comes from the Ivory Coast but, although the country is named that, it does not have a coast that is made out of real ivory.

All the best,
Teabag

Posted by gcurtis at 11:53 AM | Comments (0)

It's Wolves in the Fourth Round!

The draw for the fourth round of the FA Challenge Cup was made this afternoon in London. Arsenal have been matched up against Championship-side Wolverhampton Wanderers. The game will be played at The Home of Football on the weekend of January 29th/30th.

Check out the full draw by clicking on the "Show me more" link below. Of the rest of the fixtures, Manchester United face a potential banana skin if they can get past plucky Exeter in the replay next Tuesday - a visit by 'Boro to Old Trafford (a team that has eliminated them from the FA Cup before); Chelsea will face Birmingham City at home and Southampton host their hated foes, Portsmouth. Meanwhile, Oldham Athletic get to host another money-spinning home tie, this time against another local rival, Bolton Wanderers.

Posted by gcurtis at 09:26 AM | Comments (0)

January 04, 2005

London Calling, January 4th

Dear NY Gooners,

Festive Spirit
If you had asked most Arsenal fans what they wanted for Christmas, apart from Jennifer Aniston under their tree, it would have been 9 points, so I guess one out of two isn't bad.

The Fulham game went the way of most Boxing Day games do in that it was a case of who ate the most Christmas pudding...

We started off well with Thierry on fire. Chances came and went with the only goal in the 1st half coming from the unofficial best player in the world. The second half saw Fulham attempt to try and get back into the game but, like the crowd, it was all a little subdued. But when the second goal finally came from the ever reliable Bobby following a fine move down the right most of us were just glad to hear the final whistle.

Newcastle away was a different story altogether. Again we started well and should have had at least one goal before Vieira's wonder-strike just before half time. Graham Souness's side came into this game under some intense pressure from not producing the type of performances their fans have come to expect from them over the past few seasons, and they came out in the second half with a point to prove; they showed a lot of determination but very little else.

Newcastle is a bloody cold place to visit at the best of times and in the deep of winter it is even harder, so to come away with 3 points is an absolutely brilliant result even if the performance was more fight than class. If Newcastle lacks warmth in weather it does not lack it in hospitality where the Geordies definitely know how to party and I would recommend a visit to the "Big Market," an area which must have the highest proportion of bars and clubs per head than anywhere else in the world.

New Year's Day saw us visit our former spiritual home of Woolwich to play Charlton, but over the last few years this has not always been a happy ground for us. This year it was a case of let's get in there, get the 3 points and let's get out. Charlton always give us a hard game at the Valley and, don't let the score fool you, it was a lot closer than 3-1. Freddie took his goals well, especially the second which was a great move and Van-Persil can definitely hit the ball given half a chance and, low and behold, during the season of miracles we finally won wearing that bloody blue kit.

So that's 9 points out of 9 and the only other thing we could have wished for was that Chels' and the Mancs could have dropped the odd point but that didn't happen. On the positive side we didn't either or else we could have been chasing shadows now.

So next year Santa how about maximum points as well as Jennifer Aniston, it's not much to ask for is it?

New Years Resolution
The word for all you NY Gooners for the New Year is: recruit. Spread the word and try and get as many of your workmates, family friends, partner's friends, the guy you sit next to on the subway, in fact anyone you come across into becoming an Arsenal supporter. Drive them nuts with everything Arsenal until they sign over their soul to The Gunners. I expect each and every one of you to recruit at least 5 people in the first six months of this year and 5 in the second half of the year and I want to see progress reports on a regular basis. So what are you waiting for, get out there and turn New York into an Arsenal town?

The 2004 Teabag Awards
Following every other award ceremony recently, I decided to follow suite and hand out my own for 2004. Some serious and some not so and if Jason K is not sure which is which can someone please sit him down and paint him a picture?

Arsenal Player of 2004
Thierry Henry - Dragged us through some hard times and gave us plenty to cheer about, the real world player of the year, for us anyway.
Young Player of the Year
Cecs Fabregas - Maturity beyond his tender years, boy can Arsene spot talent or what?
Goal of the Year
Thierry's second versus Liverpool at Highbury, the lift we needed just at the right time.
Performance of the Year
It was a hard choice between our FA Cup demolition of Portsmouth and Liverpool at home but I plumped for Liverpool because of the circumstances. This game came off our elimination from the FA Cup and Champions League to our two fiercest rivals, we were down 2-1 at half time but we showed the character we needed to carry us on to the title.
Celebration of the Year
White Shite Lane- Things don't get much better than crapping on the lawn of a neighbor you hate.
Mug of the Year
Danny Mills - He thought he could make a fool out of Thierry but left with egg on his face.
Best Away Fans
Portsmouth - for knowing a great team when they see one.
Quote of the Year
Alex Ferguson - "Arsenal will slip up. No team can go the whole season unbeaten". Wrong again Fergie!
Best Song
"We are unbeatable, we are unbeatable"
Bore Story of the Year
PV4's on-off transfer to Madrid in the summer
Bore of the Year
Our pal Alex Fergumoan, for not knowing when he has lost the plot and to just pack up and piss off.
Most Confused Supporters
Sp*rs who for some reason thought that it was a moral victory by getting a draw at their place even though we got the point needed to win the Premiership and humiliate them on their own turf with our celebrations. Poor, senseless fools
The "If that mob down the road can appoint a French manager how wrong can we get it" Award
Sp*rs and Jaques Santini.

I Heard It Through The Grape Vine
Following on from Gary Neville's claim that Rio Ferdinand is the greatest defender that England have ever had, old red nose is now claiming that Mr. Memory Man is the best defender in the World. Fergie also says that on Thursdays they will be having sponge with custard and that nurse will be round shortly with his medication.

Life After Arsenal
Alan Sunderland, our goal scoring hero from the 1979 FA Cup final. Was transferred to Ipswich and then played in Malta where he settled down and still lives to this day on a small island called Gozo.

Spotted out and about.
TH14 driving his brand new Mercedes sports near Cockfosters, North London by my wife Joanna, who nonchalantly said "That was Thierry who just drove past us" like it happens every day.

Players we have been linked with over the Christmas period
Sean Wright-Phillps (Man City) Midget midfielder
Edgar Davids (Inter) Midfield terrier
Sergio Ramos (Seville) Young forward
Valeri Bojinov (Lecce) Teenage forward
Andrea Caracciolo (Brescia) Fetus forward
Jussi Jaaskelainen (Bolton) Keeper
Sebastien Frey (Parma) Keeper!!..in fact any keeper over 16 and under 45 with a pulse and a pair of gloves.

Useless Arsenal Trivia
Youth team player Luke Webb is the son of former Manc & England international Neil Webb.

Celebrity Gooner
Harry Redknapp said that he has been an Arsenal fan ever since his Dad took him to games in the early 50's.

This weeks "Totally Irrelevant" link to Arsenal
Youth team player Michael Jordan is no relation to The Michael Jordan.

All the best,
Teabag

Posted by gcurtis at 09:15 AM | Comments (0)

January 03, 2005

Whose your Gunner of the Year?

Posted by gcurtis at 08:44 AM | Comments (1)

The Citeh game's on TV!

Citeh's visit to The Home of Football will be shown on tape delay at 5pm tomorrow (Tuesday January 4th). If you can make it, avoid the score and come down to Nevada's to see whether the lads can carry on their good form against the Blue Mancs...

UPDATE: Fixed this entry to correctly state that this is a home game...

Posted by gcurtis at 08:22 AM | Comments (3)

January 01, 2005

Happy New Year

Happy 2005 Everyone! My New Year's wish is that we retain the League Championship this year at a minimum; how say you?

Posted by gcurtis at 08:31 AM | Comments (0)