Ex-Gunner Watch

[halfvolley]

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2011/11/23/ashley-cole-played-drama-danny-dyer_n_1109768.html

This is just what the world needs. Danny Dyer and Ca$hley in a television drama about a football agent.

Kill me now.

 

[Uncle Mike]

December 1, 1886: If the gentlemen behind Untold Arsenal and the Arsenal Independent Supporters Association are correct, and I suspect that they are, this was the day, 125 years ago today, that Arsenal Football Club was founded.

The first game was on January 8, 1887, at Plumstead Common, 2 miles away from the Royal Arsenal at Woolwich, against a nearby club called Erith, and Royal Arsenal won, 6-1.

Using surviving published accounts, the Untold Arsenal/AISA men have demolished the myth that the first game was played on December 11, 1886, on the Isle of Dogs, at what was then the home field (pitch or ground, as they would say) of Millwall Rovers (now just "Millwall"), against Eastern Wanderers, a 6-0 win by the club then known as Dial Square (a section of the Royal Arsenal where the first players worked). There is, in fact, no surviving contemporary evidence that this game took place or that the name Dial Square was ever used by the club.

While the December 11, 1886 match at the Isle of Dogs almost certainly didn't happen the way later histories of the club would claim, and as the club's official website still claims, Royal Arsenal did play Eastern Wanderers at home a few weeks later and win, and then Millwall at the Isle of Dogs a few weeks after that and lose, before beating them at home a few weeks after that.

Here's a link to the first part of a four-part series that explains what I'm talking about in better detail:

http://www.blog.woolwicharsenal.co....-your-arsenal-history-you-are-in-for-a-shock/

But, much like the story of Abner Doubleday inventing baseball at Cooperstown, New York in 1839, when all the available evidence shows that it was impossible for him to have done so, and that he never made such a claim in his lifetime, and that there's no evidence he even liked baseball or so much as ever saw a game in a rather distinguished life that saw him become a hero of the American Civil War... what has become accepted as "historical fact" is not going to change in the minds of most people familiar with the Dial Square/Isle of Dogs story. Just as Cooperstown will always be "The Birthplace of Baseball," December 11, 1886 will probably always be the birthday of Arsenal.

 

[mistaT]

Eboue game winner
<a class="postlink" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=L2hgmvKOWS0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... 2hgmvKOWS0</a>

He may no longer have a place here, but he'll always have a place in me heart

 

[Beksl]

He's already kissing their badge. How I hate seeing players doing that after they've been at a club for just a couple of months. No real intent in this IMO.

 

[redwhiteAustrian]

True, I cringed a bit when I saw Gervinho doing that after he'd scored vs Wigan.

 

[mistaT]

He's already kissing their badge. How I hate seeing players doing that after they've been at a club for just a couple of months. No real intent in this IMO.

Yeah, rather see a bow to the fans 8))

 

[outlaw_member]

One of my friends saw Samir Nasri on Oxford Circus a little while back, so naturally he approached him. Hilariously enough, Nasri decided to claim that he in fact was not the **** that we've all now come to hate. It doesn't end there, my friend then saw him inside one of the many nightclubs that inhabits the area, where he unsurprisingly had hired out his own table. Anyway, a guy in close proximity of Nasri managed to drop his drink, causing Samir to jump up onto the seat like it was the ****ing plague.

P.S. It's amazing how quickly time flies. Many were praising Frimpong for giving it to Nasri the other day, yet it seemed like just yesterday when we were lauding Nasri for retaliating against Barton.

 

[viper_001]

You think the fans hate Nasri now? Wait until he inevitably joins Tottenham on loan after getting tired of riding the City bench.

 

[SomGooner]

My brother and couple of his mates met him and Sagna at this restaurant on Edgware Road and he said he was amazing with them and was more engaging than Sagna who was busy chatting away on his phone while Samir happily shared few laughs with them and even taunted one of the guys who was a Sp*d and when they were leaving he came over and said Bye and told them that he'd paid all their bills!!!

^^^it was nice of him but he's still a ****.

 

[mistaT]

Another nice goal from Eboue:

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=txdjuss2kfo" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... xdjuss2kfo</a>

 

[Segway]

Lehmann having a go at Man ****ty. Excellent stuff:

Former Arsenal and Germany goalkeeper Jens Lehmann claims the Champions League is better off without Manchester City.

City were eliminated from the competition despite beating Bayern Munich 2-0.

Lehmann, working as a pundit for Germany's Sky television, could not hide his pleasure at seeing City drop into the Europa League as Napoli joined Bayern in qualification from Group A of the competition.

"Man City play very, very boring football," he said. "They just make their opponents fall asleep with lots of possession.

"But to be honest, that is not tactically very demanding. The way they play here is the way any amateur team plays, only not on such good grass.

"They just pack men behind the ball, have five against two and just move the ball around. The goal then just comes from a fortunate circumstance."

Lehmann, who played in the Champions League final for Arsenal against Barcelona in 2006, albeit for only 18 minutes before being sent off, was also unimpressed by the atmosphere at the Etihad Stadium.

"There was no life in the stadium," he said. "It was dead. The fans are so quiet. You have got to say, though, that they have not got anything really to get excited about here.

"They had possession all of the time, albeit in their own half where nothing was happening.

"It is a shame because it is not typical English football. Napoli have heart and passion and I liked them. It is good that they have gone through.

"We don't want to see Manchester City in the Champions League."

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.teamtalk.com/news/2483/7362088/Lehmann-City-not-good-enough" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.teamtalk.com/news/2483/73620 ... ood-enough</a>

:mrgreen:

 

[Bossa]

HAHAHA Jens is a legend!

 

[Uncle Mike]

Jens being sane. I like it.

Will there be a gathering of old-timers as part of the 125th Anniversary celebrations?

 

[Irish_Owen]

Jens, my love for you will never waver.

 

[Arai]

Legendary stuff from Mad Jens....

Nail them!

 

[Vela]

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.talksport.co.uk/radio/kickoff/blog/2011-12-08/van-der-kraan-we-are-convinced-bergkamp-will-return-arsenal?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.talksport.co.uk/radio/kickof ... um=twitter</a>

 

[Irish_Owen]

http://www.talksport.co.uk/radio/kickoff/blog/2011-12-08/van-der-kraan-we-are-convinced-bergkamp-will-return-arsenal?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Pat Rice to retire this season, and Bergkamp to replace him?

May be worth a bet.

 

[Kain]

Really interesting interview, cheers for linking Vela.

The whole Ajax system appears to be in turmoil because of bad communication of people at the top. I want Bergkamp to return to the club and help Arsenal behind the scenes as much as I want a new striker to replace Chamakh, I just hope it is what Bergkamp wants and he feels ready at this stage of his non-playing career to do so rather than rush in to doing so.

 

[Vela]

Remember Bergkamp is still scared of flying. Think Bergkamp will go in to the youth and academy coaching first here. And Steve Bould get's promoted to assistant manager.

 

[Irish_Owen]

Remember Bergkamp is still scared of flying. Think Bergkamp will go in to the youth and academy coaching first here. And Steve Bould get's promoted to assistant manager.

He's assistant manager at Ajax, so I assume he'd be ready to fill in that position here, too. As for Steve Bould, I'd be almost equally happy at that appointment.