Arsenal Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread

OPENROAD

itsjaybud wrote: »

Just seen this on youtube, away to spurs back in february! I knew the police presence is high around these fixtures but i didnt think it was this extreme! The atmosphere must be so intense! Anyone being to arsenal spurs within the past few seasons?

edit: btw i know the lad recording it is a total plank!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgGFqysm5g4

Can only speaak for Arsenal against spurs at home i.e.Highbury/Emirates, nothing like this to be honest. Have never seen any trouble at home mactches and you have Arsenal/spurs fans mixing after the match and on the tubes with nothing more than banter. I have been told things are different when Arsenal play spurs at white hart lane when Arsenal fans usually get a good police escort after the match. Have done a few Arsenal/Spurs in FA cup semis on neutral venues such as Old Tratford and again no trouble. Have seen little or no trouble involving Arsenal fans over the years, champions league final in Paris was great, such a friendly atmosphere.

Pepe LeFrits

Green Hornet wrote: »

Seems to be a few whispers about Big Al for England again:

http://www.sport.co.uk/news/Football/16713/Shilton_Capello_should_ignore_Almunia_claims.aspx

Wont happen although I think he's at least as good as what they have.

I'd hope he never plays for England. I quite like not having to worry about him getting injured on international duty, and we can do without the media circus - we've seen what the English media did to Spunky.

OPENROAD

Pepe LeFrits wrote: »

I'd hope he never plays for England. I quite like not having to worry about him getting injured on international duty, and we can do without the media circus - we've seen what the English media did to Spunky.

Would agree I am hoping that Adebayor has another falling out with the Togo FA. I don't remember things being bad with Seaman and the media were they?

Pepe LeFrits

They shredded him after the Ronaldinho lob... just in case he wasn't upset enough. Never mind the years of outstanding service he gave them.

OPENROAD

Pepe LeFrits wrote: »

They shredded him after the Ronaldinho lob... just in case he wasn't upset enough. Never mind the years of outstanding service he gave them.

True forgot about that, he did get a lot of stick now that you mention it. He was a great keeper,remember being quite upset initially when we signed him from QPR at the time as John Lukic was a great keeper also but Seaman was special and won the crowd over very quickly.

yahoo_moe

OPENROAD wrote: »

champions league final in Paris was great, such a friendly atmosphere.

+1 to that. Just wish I'd gotten a ticket after flying over!

yahoo_moe

Ok just reading something in L'Equipe that sparked a quick question for you all. And keep it clean, no Googling...

How many goals did Nicolas Anelka score for Arsenal before leaving for Madrid?

Royale with Cheese

yahoo_moe wrote: »

How many goals did Nicolas Anelka score for Arsenal before leaving for Madrid?

Not that many if I remember correctly. 30 or thereabouts?

keano_afc

Yeah not that many, I think he had one half decent season. I'd say around 25 or so.

L'prof

I'll go with 24 or 26 :cool:

Frisbee

28 according to wiki

Pepe LeFrits

I edited wiki to 28 to throw you off. HA HA!!!!!!

Nah, I really didn't.

keano_afc

You sir, are a cheat.:D

yahoo_moe

Ok I'm obviously the only one who thought that'd be higher. Not by loads, but I figured he'd have 40-odd. I mean he'd 90 games, including 73 starts...

28 by the way is the exact answer as Frisbee's Wiki-ing (maybe I should have specified no Wiki-ing as well as no Googling) said.

Frisbee

yahoo_moe wrote: »

Ok I'm obviously the only one who thought that'd be higher. Not by loads, but I figured he'd have 40-odd. I mean he'd 90 games, including 73 starts...

28 by the way is the exact answer as Frisbee's Wiki-ing (maybe I should have specified no Wiki-ing as well as no Googling) said.

Sorry I thought you just wanted to know. didnt realise it was a quiz.
What do i get for winning?

keano_afc

Frisbee wrote: »

Sorry I thought you just wanted to know. didnt realise it was a quiz.
What do i get for winning?

10% of his next signing on fee.

yahoo_moe

Well you get to look up Wiki for me anytime I'm too lazy to do it myself

Or you get to provide an enlightening, little-known Arsenal fact of your own.

Royale with Cheese

yahoo_moe wrote: »

Or you get to provide an enlightening, little-known Arsenal fact of your own.

Not a fact really more of a list. Everyone can feel free to add to it. I'll edit it to update it when people add names, and we can all marvel at it's greatness.

Players Wenger tried to sign

Cristiano Ronaldo
Ibrahimovic
Ronaldinho
Kalou
Alonso
Arteta
Ribery
Babel
Beckham
Kranjcar
Cech
Ashton
Drogba

The one that got away
Yaya Touré

L'prof

Royale with Cheese wrote: »

Not a fact really more of a list. Everyone can feel free to add to it.

Players Wenger tried to sign

Cristiano Ronaldo
Ibrahimovic

Ronaldinho

Frisbee

keano_afc wrote: »

10% of his next signing on fee.

Please Citeh. Please, please, please....

Frisbee

Royale with Cheese wrote: »

Not a fact really more of a list. Everyone can feel free to add to it. I'll edit it to update it when people add names, and we can all marvel at it's greatness.

Players Wenger tried to sign

Cristiano Ronaldo
Ibrahimovic
Ronaldinho

Also not a particularly great player, but he tried to sign Kalou.
Tbh I'm glad we missed out on that one....

L'prof

Royale with Cheese wrote: »

Not a fact really more of a list. Everyone can feel free to add to it. I'll edit it to update it when people add names, and we can all marvel at it's greatness.

Players Wenger tried to sign

Cristiano Ronaldo
Ibrahimovic
Ronaldinho
Kalou
Alonso

Wish we got Alonso that time!

Frisbee

Royale with Cheese wrote: »

Players Wenger tried to sign

Cristiano Ronaldo
Ibrahimovic
Ronaldinho
Kalou
Alonso
Arteta

Arteta aswell.
And did Wenger ever actually try to sign Kranjcar? Or was that just newspapers looking for a story?

Royale with Cheese

Never heard anything substantial on Kranjcar. What about Babel? I remember Arsenal's name being thrown around a lot the summer he joined Pool. Thank God he didn't sign, would far prefer Kalou over him.

Mgoraf

Ribery
Ryan Babel

yahoo_moe

I'd reckon he did - particularly since he was interested in Arshavin at the time too.

Wonder will he go for Kranjcar again this summer as a Rosicky replacement actually?

He also tried to sign Beckham. I remember Beckham even flew over to play 40 seconds in Keown's testimonial around that time - presumably partly to try and win over the crowd in case the move went through.

EDIT: Oh and Yaya? He did have a trial...

Frisbee

How in the name of hell did I forget Yaya Toure.
Although Wenger didnt try sign him after the trial so maybe that doesn't really count...

Pepe LeFrits

Royale with Cheese wrote: »

Not a fact really more of a list. Everyone can feel free to add to it. I'll edit it to update it when people add names, and we can all marvel at it's greatness.

Players Wenger tried to sign

Ibrahimovic

Try again please boss!

Wenger also went for Cech, but couldn't get a work permit for him.

Royale with Cheese

Pepe LeFrits wrote: »

Try again please boss!

Wenger also went for Cech, but couldn't get a work permit for him.

Ah yeah, I remember that now.

therecklessone

itsjaybud wrote: »

Just seen this on youtube, away to spurs back in february! I knew the police presence is high around these fixtures but i didnt think it was this extreme! The atmosphere must be so intense! Anyone being to arsenal spurs within the past few seasons?

edit: btw i know the lad recording it is a total plank!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgGFqysm5g4

Quite a few of the lads in that escort fit the profile that would make the police want to provide that level of policing, if you know what I mean

There's always a big police turnout for the derby at WHL, and the corner of Park Lane and the High Rd is a flashpoint as Arsenal fans leave the away end (just outside the Spurs club shop). I've seen a few ordinary Goon fans take a hammering around there, which sickens me. If you're interested in a barney you should be man enough to face off against another interested party, instead of slapping some teenager wearing colours. A lot of the clashes that do occur do not involve guys who would be considered "firm", certainly on the Spurs side, they're usually just mouthy cowards. Most of the real action takes place well away from the ground, though I've had the undoubted pleasure of being the in the wrong place at the wrong time at both grounds when things got a bit hairy...:(

I've not seen an escort like that for Spurs at the Emirates, but I know plenty of fellas who've been stopped under Section 60 by Islington police. One difference between the two games is that Spurs fans tend to spread out quite a bit beforehand, whereas a lot of the more gamey Arsenal fans tend to get sewn up early and directed to a couple of selected pubs on the High Rd. There are very few drinking options for Arsenal fans near WHL. Some people might say the Arsenal mob like to make themselves seen by the police, which might explain why they get an escort in the first place...;)

Arsenal's firm has been very active of late I'm told, particularly the "yoof".

Oh, and but for the timely intervention of a baton-wielding copper after the 4-4 this season, my mate would have got a few slaps as a couple of Goons recognised him as we headed out of the ground. One of the blokes steamed past me but was laid out by the copper before he could swing a punch.

Frisbee

I really fcuking hate those tools who think battering each other is cool because of what team you support.
How is putting someone in hospital with a broken jaw showing support for your team?
Idiots, the lot of them.

Pepe LeFrits

Yep, it's fairly neolithic alright.

'This is joke oooOohh my gosh'

*cringe*

OPENROAD

therecklessone wrote: »

Quite a few of the lads in that escort fit the profile that would make the police want to provide that level of policing, if you know what I mean

I've never done the Arsenal match at spurs, I do know that Arsenal fans have been complaining for a number of years that the police have not offerered them enough protection at games and have been asking for better protection.


My own experience on match days over the years at home is that their is little or no trouble and I'm not just talking about around the ground,pubs in the area in general. As said even after Spurs have played at the Emirates/Highbury, the fans mix after the match and on the tube without incident.

SlickRic

Wenger tried to sign Dean Ashton to your Academy when he was at Crewe.

Also Didier Drogba when he was at Le Mans in the French 2nd Division.

Frisbee

Just watched that Song interview on the website. Seems like a pretty nice guy.

Also he's married with two kids. Never knew that.

yahoo_moe

therecklessone wrote: »

Arsenal's firm has been very active of late I'm told, particularly the "yoof".

That's weird - having never noticed anything around match days, or heard of any major incidents, I always assumed Arsenal didn't have much of a 'firm' culture.

As for signings, never knew about Cech or Drogba. Either of them would've been tasty - plus I wouldn't have had to hate Drogba

Actually - best XI that Arsene almost signed... how about?

---

Cech

---

---

Ronaldo

---

Alonso

---

Beckham

---

Ribery

---

Ronaldinho

---

---

Drogba

---

Ibra

---

Bit short on defenders so reckon we could go 3-5-2 if we can find 3 super solid centre back types?

SlickRic

yahoo_moe wrote: »

Bit short on defenders so reckon we could go 3-5-2 if we can find 3 super solid centre back types?

micah richards was rumoured, so you could pretend you tried to sign him :pac:

OPENROAD

yahoo_moe wrote: »

That's weird - having never noticed anything around match days, or heard of any major incidents, I always assumed Arsenal didn't have much of a 'firm' culture.

They never really have compared to other clubs even years ago when hooliganism was rife and they certainly don't these days,well certainly not in and around grunds home or away and as far as I'm concerned that is the important thing,any thing further away has nothing to with Arsenal or football.

jank

OPENROAD wrote: »

I've never done the Arsenal match at spurs, I do know that Arsenal fans have been complaining for a number of years that the police have not offerered them enough protection at games and have been asking for better protection.


My own experience on match days over the years at home is that their is little or no trouble and I'm not just talking about around the ground,pubs in the area in general. As said even after Spurs have played at the Emirates/Highbury, the fans mix after the match and on the tube without incident.

Well we all know that spurs fans are a bunch of .... actually lets not get into this.!:D

OPENROAD

jank wrote: »

Well we all know that spurs fans are a bunch of .... actually lets not get into this.!:D

To be fair the vast majority of spurs fans are fine.

therecklessone

OPENROAD wrote: »

They never really have compared to other clubs even years ago when hooliganism was rife and they certainly don't these days,well certainly not in and around grunds home or away and as far as I'm concerned that is the important thing,any thing further away has nothing to with Arsenal or football.

They've traditionally been in the shadow of West Ham, Chelsea and Spurs on that front, but gave a good account of themselves on occasion. Lets not forget Copenhagen, shall we?

Like I said above, I've had the misfortune of being in the wrong place at the wrong time on a couple of occasions now, and I've seen a turnout from Arsenal. They are highly thought of these days.

And whether you or I associate it with football or our clubs doesn't matter, the fact is they associate themselves with the clubs. It doesn't go off in or near the grounds because they are not stupid enough to get involved in sight of CCTV.

yahoo_moe

If you ever wondered what happened to Glenn Helder, there's a documentary on his post-football struggles...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNLQ3fHSSjc

Comes across as a bit of a prat to be honest - I'd say he'd quickly lose my sympathy if I saw the full thing anyway.

EDIT: Found this article on him too, which goes into more detail.

http://www.thecnj.co.uk/review/2009/020509/feat020509_01.html wrote:

The Review - FEATURE
Published: 5 February 2009

When the beautiful game turns ugly

Glenn Helder once dazzled crowds at Highbury with his skill and represented a glimmer of hope at a grim time in Arsenal’s history – but, as a new film reveals, gambling and a near brush with death ruined his life and career, writes Richard Osley

GLENN Helder is angry his showboating talents with a football haven’t made him a millionaire, even if by his own account it was his flashy BMW which helped save his life.
His gambling debts running out of control and high-interest loan sharks on his tail, the one-time Arsenal winger was discovered slumped by the roadside a few years back, fighting for consciousness. Police officers found him eyes-closed and confused from downing 20 highly potent sleeping pills.
Whether it was a cry for help or a genuine attempt at suicide, it marked the lowest point for a man whose name still resonates with football fans in north London.
With his frizzy mop, Jheri curl hairdo and a penchant for over-the-top tricks with the ball, Helder was one of the first foreign footballers to be given that semi-racist “exotic signing” label by the cliché-ridden hack population in the Arsenal press box.
Equipped with speed and skill, his first matches at Highbury were full of promise – tantalising close control and the ability to spin past defenders as if, like those hoary old clichés have it, they weren’t there.
He turned up from Holland in 1995, in the days before entire teams consisted of players from abroad and on the cusp of the multi-million pound television sponsorship deals which turned football into the bloated, gold-plated industry it is today.
He cha-cha-cha’d around opponents, raised hopes and then, almost as quickly as this Dutch glamour boy had come, he had gone – dropped and sold on not just by Arsenal but dumped by the raving egos of the Holland international side as well.
In a flash, a star in the making had been taken from us and nobody really knew why. His name – or his hairdo at least – still haunts the fans who remember Arsenal’s bluesy mid-1990s, a fractured time before Wenger, Henry, Fabregas et al and the Emirates Stadium.
But then, just last month at the Amsterdam Film Festival, a documentary about this unpredictable figure suddenly emerged – Glenn Helder, C’est La Vie – to fill in the gaps.
Film-maker Jessica Villerius has spent days with Helder, charting an angry decline from the Premier League to jail via too many casinos and a brush with the psychiatrist’s clinic.
The transformation is striking. Helder’s head is bald, his worry lines stretched with anger and bitterness. A bulging-eyed talking head, Helder spits out missive after missive: his ex-wife’s boyfriend at the centre of most of his wrath. He is angry that footballers make more money now than they did when he was playing and claims those who came after him have more help with the pitfalls faced by young men with too much money and adulation.
Some have claimed he might suffer from a narcissistic mental illness – but he refuses to accept the diagnosis.
In 40 minutes, he wavers. Sometimes the world is to blame, sometimes he admits he is a “loser” who has brought most of his misfortune on himself.
At Arsenal, Helder got injured, spent more time running up casino debts than training and was shipped out by Arsene Wenger. A destructive cycle began. He failed to impress elsewhere, the high-stakes gambling continued and then he was sent to jail for beating up the new partner of the mother of his child. Not long before, he had thrown the sleeping tablets down his throat.
He describes the scene: “I went to the place where everyone stops to sleep, near a roadside restaurant I pretended to be asleep and I took 20 of those bloody pills. I was lucky because people noticed my car. Everyone was asleep but that car stood out. It was a BMW 8 Series. By coincidence a police car drove by. If they had been five minutes later, I would have been dead.”
It’s a sad admission for anybody who first saw him twirling down the wing in an Arsenal shirt, a perfect example of a wasted talent.
He tells Villerius’s film mournfully: “Behind the smile, my heart is black as coal.”
As teams like Manchester City and Chelsea attempt to attract the world’s best talent with wages that go up as the rest of the world’s economic fortunes go down, Helder is agitated that he now has a pension paying “less than what a beggar makes”.
Whether he is narcis*sistic or not, Helder watches old VHS tape of his only Arsenal goal, getting “goosebumps” and agonising over what might have been.
He adds: “When I go for a job interview people say: “You mean you’re the Glenn Helder? They think I’m joking. They expect me to drive up in an expensive car. But I go there by bus or train. Let’s face it, I should have been a millionaire by now, with my talents. And that’s putting it mildly.”
He looks up and with those worry lines appear*ing deeper and deeper he adds: “Nowa*days players are taken care of. The clubs even give them underwear.
“You’re responsible for your own actions but I should have gotten a harder smack on the head. There were warning signs but they weren’t strong enough.”
For all the pain he has been through, Helder is hard to like – so stubborn and angry, you want the curly-haired showboater to somehow time travel back on to the screen.
Yet, his fight to get access to his son and a lifetime of debts is a worthy warning sign for the footballers in fast cars unlikely to be thinking about what their 30s and 40s and beyond will hold. There will be other Glenn Helders, maybe not to such a near-suicidal extreme, that find out that when the game ends, what comes next is not always as fun.

itsjaybud

The good ole Sun!!

Bit of a strange one? The all round funny guy and arsenal legend that is Paul Merson returns to the bookies, but in a good way this time??!!


http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article2339454.ece

yahoo_moe

2 new twists on the "people generally don't go on to better things when they leave Arsenal" story anyway...

OPENROAD

therecklessone wrote: »

They've traditionally been in the shadow of West Ham, Chelsea and Spurs on that front, but gave a good account of themselves on occasion. Lets not forget Copenhagen, shall we?

Re Copenhagen, from my understanding Arsenal fans were attacked by Galatasaray fans now if I was there I would have very quickly made sure I left the area,obviously a minority didn't and as a result 37 fans were banned from Highbury.

I've been going to Arsenal matches for over ten years now and can honestly say I've seen only two incidents of very minor trouble in the ground and in the areas surrounding the stadium including European trips and as mentioned Paris was probably one of the best trips made with Arsenal and Barcelona fans mixing in the days leading up to the match and after.

IMO the important thing is that their is little or no trouble these days in and around the general area of stadiums, if anything takes place a few miles away it has nothing to do with Football or the clubs in question.

Indie18

OPENROAD wrote: »

IMO the important thing is that their is little or no trouble these days in and around the general area of stadiums, if anything takes place a few miles away it has nothing to do with Football or the clubs in question.

Even if the trouble is in and around the stadiums it has nothing to do with football, its just scumbags being scumbags only that they are doing it in a teams colours. These people have no more interest in the football side of things than I do in cricket.

Evil_Clown

Let the International break injury conveyer belt begin :mad:
I hope Wenger lets rip at this Jean Thissen fella if anything happens

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=631408&cc=5739

Frisbee

I have a really bad feeling about an RVP injury...

Galvasean

TBH I wouldnt mind adebayor hetting a run out for Togo. Let him get some match practice. Id rather not see an unfit Adebayor taking up space for arsenal while Eduardo sits on the bench.

Evil_Clown

Frisbee wrote: »

I have a really bad feeling about an RVP injury...

Please God no !!

*touches wooden desk*