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• The cliche 'a game of two halves' describes exactly what happened
at the Nou Camp against Barcelona. Comprehensively outplayed by the likes of Rivaldo,
Guardiola et al in the first half, the Gunners staged a remarkable and thrilling
second-half comeback to snatch the equaliser and an invaluable point. Two games at home
(well, Wembley) and one away in Stockholm should secure the points to qualify for the next
round.
• Nicolas Anelka has hit problems settling in at Real Madrid. No surprise there,
then. But what about his Highbury replacements, Davor Suker and Thierry Henry? Suker
boasts a fantastic scoring record for Croatia. When you look at his two goals against
Aston Villa last month, you realise why. No wonder a certain 'Match of the Day' panellist
said to Gary Lineker: 'He reminds me of you, Gary. He does his work inside the box'. Is
Suker the penalty box predator to replace Ian Wright? Certainly there was never any chance
of him playing a one-two with Dennis before the first goal against Villa. Bergkamp had
given him the chance. All Suker wanted to do was convert it. After a stuttering start
(remember Bergkamp's first few games?), the pacy, skilful Henry is finding the net. The
jury was out on his finishing, but his confidence is growing and the goals will follow.
• The providential £23million sale of Anelka to Real has covered Arsenal's summer
signings. As Wenger revealed, Suker wasn't initially on the Gunners' wanted list. But when
the chance arose, it was too good to miss. Likewise, the money from Anelka's move released
the cash for Arsene to pay a club record fee for Henry.
• Vice-chairman David Dein moved fast when Matthew Upson needed boots and shin pads
brought to Florence, the day after the Gunners had landed for their first game in the
Champions League last month. DD contacted Jonathan Metliss, head of City law firm SJ
Berwin's sports business division, who brought Upson's gear out with him on the day of the
match. And Metliss is a Chelsea fan!
• Only a small minority of the nation has been able to watch Arsenal's Champion
League games on TV. Less than 300,000 homes currently have ONdigital, which screened the
match. Their signal currently reaches only 60% of the country. (Anybody in N16 who watched
the game on ONdigital and can tell us about the reception quality?) Meanwhile, a
spokesperson for giant brewers Bass said: "It seems they (ONdigital) have no plans at
the moment to allow us to screen the matches".
• Guests at Arsenal's training ground recently Millennium Stars, a team whose
background must rank among the most unusual. Most of them fought as boy soldiers in the
Liberian civil war and it seems football has been their route back to some sort of
normality after the conflict. Naturally they idolise George Weah, the greatest Liberian
player of all. But they were delighted to meet Liberian-born forward Chris Wreh and Davor
Suker when they called in on the Gunners.
• Interesting entry in Arsenal's annual accounts, under Freehold Properties
Additions. The sum mentioned is £6.037million: a large chunk of which surely went on the
Gunners' new state-of-the-art training ground. Even so, that looks a sound long-term
investment, especially if those facilities help Liam Brady and his youth development team
attract the best youngsters to the club.
• Another interesting entry in the accounts... In 1998/9, the playing staff went down
from 63 to 58. But Arsenal's total wage bill rose from £21.882million to £26.478million.
In 1996, the wage bill was only £10.062million. That's a grand example of the way
football's finances have gone through the roof.
Why I Love the Arsenal
by Ms Gooner
Football used to be known as 'a man's game'.' Until fairly recently, players and
spectators were drawn from one half of the population and the atmosphere within the
grounds had hardly moved on from the era of the flat cap and meat pie at half-time.
Nowadays, however, women make up an increasing share of the audience and women's soccer
teams are no longer a rarity. The writer of the this article is a young professional woman
who thrives on the Highbury air.
When the editor first asked me if I would be willing to write a piece for N16 on my
adoration of The Arsenal, the euphoria of having just watched m'boys in yet another home
win and two pints of the Magpie's best (still can't bring myself to call it the Tup) must
have got the better of me. Now, some three months later, I am attempting to put pen to
paper in slightly different circumstances. Arsenal are close to mid-table (somewhere I've
haven't had to lower my eyes to for a while) and have already lost to Man U and Liverpool
this season. Writing a comical and witty piece about the Gooners is not so easy. Having
asked a few of my usually fairly witty co-supporters for ideas, I only got one reply,
'Arsenal are not funny'. I'm inclined to agree. I take Arsenal very seriously.
There are however some very good reasons why I am an Arsenal fan and before any Tottenham
fan quips, a liking for boring football is not one of them. Some of these are more serious
than others.
First the serious ones Arsenal are the best team in London and, among other things, they
are the only team never to have been relegated. They had the sense to move to North London
from the South a long time ago. They are machine-like, with an ever-steady back four
(alright, a little shaky recently, but the backbone's there) and although they can be
naughty boys off the field, they're generally loyal to the cause (Anelka, of course,
excepted). But everybody knows all of this.
On a more personal level, they have proved to be more reliable and dependable than any man
in my life of late and have the two qualities I always look for first in that department
style and stamina. Although Arsenal have never been the prettiest team in the Premiership,
the girlie side of me still has palpitations when I watch them limbering up. (OK, maybe
that's down to the hangover and the dodgy pre-match hotdog.)
Quite apart from being a welcome romantic substitute, Arsenal have also provided me with
one of the best reasons to celebrate in the past few years the Double. Admittedly, as with
many celebrations, that event also provided an aftermath that leaves me cringing the
memory, albeit vague, of my rather drunken stumbling from pub to pub along Church Street
with red and white ribbons in my hair. It has been rather difficult since to re-establish
my good reputation as a 30-year-old University Law lecturer, though some would doubt this
ever existed.
So why else should I support Arsenal? Various reasons. It usually means I can get a decent
conversation out of the grumpiest black cab driver; most of the fans are equipped with
mobiles (having loadsamoney of course), very useful for that half time match analysis; and
of course there's always the possibility that I'll meet one such fan in the
post-championship celebrations (!) this season and move to Essex.
Frankly, despite all this, the most important reason for my love of The Arsenal is that
they are not, and never will be, Tottenham Hotspur.
Editor - Any female Spurs fans care to reply?
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