It’s 7 bags of leeks now, the robbing barstewards.

Oh, and I only take the girlfriend to Tenby.

Last night was really unusual for me. A cup final I actually wanted Liverpool to win. I actually felt dirty wanting Liverpool to win but at least now I can get back to routinely wanting them to lose.

Glad it was a dire match. Doubt many new fans would go to either club after a game as boring as that.

Your probably right that that its going on somewhere. The performance of Russia st the last world cup is a case in point. There must be other Rodchenkovs that havent been caught.

RIP Antonio Reyes. Am I correct in thinking that he is the first of the invincibles to leave us.

Danny Rose has actually taken over from Kane, son and alli as the worst of the bunch.

I’m worried spurs will realise they can really cash in on Eriksen this summer. He’s pretty inconsistent at the moment (I’d take him over Özil don’t get me wrong) but if Real came in with a £80-100m bid they should sell Eriksen in a heartbeat. Only 1 year left on his deal, I would back Poch to spend that money well and create a better squad

https://sincespurslastwonatrophy.co.uk

I know they’re better than us right now but it is worth remembering this amongst all the praise spurs get

They were.

Don't know about you, but I have always felt powerless as a football supporter, for the simple reason that I am. In my time following Arsenal I never had a single call from George Swindin, Billy Wright, Bertie Mee, Don Howe, Terry Neill, George Graham, Bruce Rioch or Arsene, seeking my input. It is a disgrace, but I reluctantly live with it.

Yes, he s our guy, and until he is not we have to get behind him. Objectively his first season was no disaster. Some missed opportunities, but European qualification and a cup final appearance, is worthy of some trust. For now.

Yes, though I think Sol Campbell once died at half-time only to be later resuscitated.

I agree. They were just the better of two tired teams, yet missed a good opportunity last night. Having been sparkling all season Liverpool were bang average and got away with it. The dreadful penalty decision seemed to freeze the game.

They shouldn't have been in the final, they only got there because of VAR which for the last 50+ years of the 'European cup' was not in place, they got extremely lucky against Ajax as well, scoring on 96', this isn't even me being a biased gooner, objectively speaking they were very lucky to get there.

As for fans being powerless, this is a total myth, fans have all the power - walk away if you disagree with what the club is doing, there is always the excuse that someone else will come along and fill your seat, but that is just that - an excuse.

Tourists might have filled the ground whilst we were a CL team but now we are a full on Europa league club I don't think they'll be queuing up round the block to see us play Torpedo Moscow or FC Qarabag..

Was thinking of Arsenal players I've seen play for us in a competitive first team game who have now died. In alphabetical order I can think of: George Armstrong, Alan Ball, Tommy Caton, Jose Antonio Reyes, John Roberts, Dave Rocastle, Paul Vaessen.

Have I forgotten any?

Spurs were the better of two poor teams and Liverpool were there for the taking.

It was a club-defining opportunity, to lift the CL would have catapulted Spurs onto a new global level.

Thank goodness they did an Arsenal and bottled it.

Having said that I thought the pen was soft and thankfully they didn't really get the run of the ball at key moments.

Allisson gave an assured goalkeeping display, catching when he needed to catch and parrying or punching it well out of the danger area when required. His distribution was excellent as well.

Well I know you weren’t going to speak up against Wenger but others did. But ultimately it made a difference. If people don’t even speak up on forums against Kroenke and players failing to put in effort then nothing will change. We may feel powerless and probably over here more than those in the uk but make no mistake clever organisations monitor the media. Whether we are clever as a business only time will tell. Spare seats also tell. Let’s see what happens in the transfer market as to whether there will even a little change next season.

Dreadful spectacle last night. I thought VVD and Allisson were what made the difference. A couple of good saves from the GK at crucial times and a really solid central defence performance with a few timely interceptions and challenges from the CB. I suppose you get what you pay for.

Agree that Liverpool were poor and that the Shite could have taken them. Massive error from Poch to play Kane who was clearly not ready for the game and did not even get a chance to fall over in the box.

Also agree it was a club defining game and thank god for us they did not take their chance. Still plenty of catching up for The Arsenal to do.

Let's hope for some carefully invested funds in the playing staff and some shipping out of those who are clearly not up to the task. Bring on the kids to fill in the squad places and go for a much stronger defence minded summer window.

Thinking on Reyes

People have written on here he could have been as good as Ronaldo. I absolutely agree. His ceiling was definitely as high the only thing was he seemed to lack self confidence that Ronaldo has in abundance and he couldn’t adapt to life in England. If he could have mastered that he would have been one of the greats. For me he was another superb Wenger signing

I read he crashed his Mercedes Brabus at 120 miles per hour. I’ve always owned fast motors and last week bought an AMG Merc and there is something wrong about the car in as much as in its sports mode it seems to want to drive at insane speeds feels uncomfortable just as a run around and you have to be really careful with the power at your disposal.

Genuine sadness at his passing but when I heard for some reason I wasn’t shocked. Sometimes there’s something about some characters psyche or aura where they are on the edge. Reyes seemed like that. Anyway I hope he rests in peace

Bayern put Jerome Boateng up for sale for £20m. He’s 30. Would you go for him?
I want young signings.....but if the club bought Sokratis for £20m as more of a short term signing to ‘try’ to add some experience and stability then Boateng is better

Absolutely
Unless, there are question marks over his fitness, he would be an excellent signing. If we did nothing this summer but sign good defenders, I would be ok with it, despite the fact that we need improvement elsewhere too. I've said it before, but I'd push the boat out for Declan Rice. Can play centreback and midfield and if he turns out to be the real deal, he could transform us.

Terry Neill did phone me up to ask me to go in and meet him. I'd written a letter to him and as I wasn't ex-directory in those days, he was able to get my phone number and call me.

I don’t think we should be signing many more players in that age bracket right now.

I think we need to look to the future

I was obviously very relieved when Liverpool beat Sperz last night, but now the dust has settled a bit, i'm a bit jealous that Arsenal seem far away from appearing in the CL, never mind actually being in the final. I don't even like the CL thanks to Wenger's Arsenal being spectacularly non competitive despite being in it for 20+ years. But seeing all those Liverpool fans having a big old party in Madrid makes me a but sad for the drift we've experienced over the last 10 years or so...

At what point do we as supporters start actively campaigning for the removal of our couldntgiveatoss owner?

I think you've mentioned that before, Bernard. It's just brilliant. Sone contrast with today's players and managers.

A few weeks into the season I said we would see Kroenke our protests within 2 years, pretty much still think this.

I felt exactly the same watching that game last night. Were years away from those two teams. Kroenke let Wenger run us adrift and there’s now no money or value in the squad to rebuild either. Next year will bring the end of emery and the realisation will set in about where we actually are as a club and that pro and cons of a managers approach are irrelevant

Did you go and see him?

I wrote to GG in about 1986 to give him some advice about who to sign. At the time Brady was coming back to the UK and I wanted Arsenal to sign him. George was very polite in his reply and gave me a considered argument as to why it was not the right thing to do. He did talk about a new generation of young players and how he did not want to stifle their progress. He was right.

Too old and no resale value. Also wages probably too high and I bet he is not hungry enough. I want players with something to prove who are at the start of their career and are on the way up, not on the way down.

I must be in a minority of one but let’s get this right, that was sp**s 20th defeat of the season, if they had fluked a win last night they’d have been the weakest team to get their hands on the trophy since Mourinho’s cheating Porto outfit. The way they and Potch have been lauded is quite bizarre.

I agree. I've been stunned by all the 'Tottenham were the better team' type of stuff that's been coming out. They had plenty of possession but what did they do with it? It was like watching us towards the end of Wenger's time with a 'let's pass it around amongst ourselves rather than try to score' attitude.

A dismally boring game between two teams way below their best. But of the two, I always thought Liverpool were more likely to score than Tottenham.

Yes I did. It was Brady I'd written to Terry Neill about too. I remember one of the things he asked me was who I'd like him to sign. I said Steve Williams. He said words to the effect of no, because he's a nasty bit of work.

The reason he gave was that Southampton used to invite local school teams to their training ground to play their first team. Apparently Steve did everything he could to not only beat them but not let them score. The other Southampton players were comfortable with letting the school kids keep the ball a bit and score.

I thought it showed Steve had a winning attitude. I'm also glad Don Howe clearly thought differently to Terry.

You are right but its probably because they are so laughably unsuccesful for a so called big club, that there improvement as a team seems like a giant leap forward, even though they havent won anything of significance for 50+ years (not withstanding the Sun International Challenge Trophy (Swaziland) Winners 1983. which incredibly they have listed on their official site as honours they have won!).

6 european cups for Liverpool. Amazing. I didnt think it was handball but whatever.

Our match went as I expected hence my negativity prior. I had hoped I was wrong but it was plainly obvious during the last month or so of the season we can't win when needed.

I dont expect things to get better.

I saw Morinho and Wenger as pund8ts together and it was a bit surreal. Both men humbled so not as caustic.

Fabregas and Giroud both respectful to Arsenal. I thought Giroud was great off the bench for us prior to him being sent to Chensea. We could have used him in the run for 4th. The only reason why Fabregas wasn't brought back was the same reason Anelka could never come back. Wenger put his petti ess and hurt feelings over what the club needed. Jis so called rule over sold olayers not coming back miraculously forgottet n for Henry because Wenger decided when Henry left.

Emery has his job cut out for him. As far as the final Stan felt his son represented the family. Whatever his real reasons are for not attending his son made it. It would be a bad look if no one made it. My guess it was too long and difficult to get to the final. Unlike just one long trip to London or any European major city.

For the first time I dont think I will be excited about the upcoming season.

My fear is we become a club like Palace or West Ham wtc where we are constantly changing managers.

Arsenal fans are unrealistic. The expectations of Emery considering everything was unrealistic and we will quickly lose any repuation of being urbane, intelligent fans.

I see a dark period. Hopefully, I'm wrong. A lot of fans think our place in the football workd is bigger than it really is.

Your second paragraph missed the point. Of course the consumer ultimately potentially has all the power. If we all went on a general strike tomorrow we could resolve all the world's ills. However, we never have and never will.

I agree, Lom. It may be a case of use them or lose them with some of the outstanding youth prospects who are being courted by clubs in Germany.

Bielik did well at Charlton and is technically excellent and a big lump as well. Whether he has the mobility and sharpness required of a PL player is hard to tell.

There are reports that we are targeting some young south americans and I can completely see the logic in that. Whether we can beat others to their signatures given our budget and other considerations is another matter.

I think an advantage that Ronaldo had was his height and once he filled out his tall frame he was always going to be a handful for defenders both technically and physically.

He was also mentally tough with, by all accounts, an incredible work ethic and desire to improve. Reyes seemed much more introverted and found it difficult to settle outside of Spain.

Funny enough I had a call from Arsene once. He said he'd been reading my thoughts on Mertesacker on the Steve Gleiber Forum and said I was spot-on, he is a big useless lump and anyone who disagrees clearly know nothing about defenders.

Not to mention they were 5-10 minutes from being eliminated on matchday 4, 5 and 6 of the group stage. The quirk of the fixture list helped them massively in that they got to play a Barca B who had already qualified and snatched a late draw from them.
They comfortably beat Dortmund in terms of the score but anyone who watched the first half in Germany can tell you they were also very lucky not to be 4-0 down at that point.
Spurs would have been a very weak European Champions, and Liverpool are nowhere near the great European Champion sides we've had recently. Peak Barca, Madrid and Man U would have beaten them.

Well sugar ... aren't we all just little name droppers ...

I wrote to Bertie Mee said I was from NZ ..... asking if I could look around the ground .

He wrote back lovely letter said they were fully booked from Sept through to Xmas but " if suitable to my good self " I could join an existing tour party . Oct 1 1975 10.30 am .

"Perhaps I would be kind enough to let him have my views on this suggestion ".

B**&%%##d oil rig called me back two days before I could take up his offer .

Wrote back apologising ; enclosed a hankerchief / tie set for his trouble

Also wrote to Brian Moore got a lovely letter from him as well .

Don’t expect many posts in here over the next few days as ever Brit tips their hat and takes in the sage advice from Donald Trump. Perhaps he can sort out the state of our club on this visit. Such a helpful man who is not guided by self interest.

I was a big fan of Reyes. He had a powerful kick with hardly any back kick to it.
The elephant in the room is if Henry..possibly out of jealousy about his reception by fans, made him feel unwelcome. Only they know.

He was also a decent passer as well. I am still angry about the kicking he got from Man Utd mainly out fear he would do them what he did to Chelsea and the referee not protecting him. Sad news about his passing on.