A stroll ....

West Ham have turned down our initial bid for Rice according to Jacob Steinberg and City now in for him according to Ornstein.

Full set of fixtures.

Looks pretty good to me. Nice first 3 games, home finish.

The only tough part is having to play 4 of our toughest away games of the season in the last 9 games!

Easy start to the year but Spurs and Man U away in our last 4 games.

Supposed offer was £80m plus £10m add ons - West Ham want at least £100m

Don't like the idea of City getting involved. Lots of talk that Rice wants to stay in London. Is that enough to persuade him not to go to City?

Get it done lads this is going to be such a *%^@*** pain if this gets mudrykd

If you want an understanding of how West Ham do business I would urge you to read the book ‘legacy”by Michael Gillard. Details the tactics employed to ensure West Ham got the London stadium deal also their links to some seriously ‘proper” people.

You’ll need to move quickly and not dwell because those people are born spivs and will want to create an auction.

Each of our champions league games is followed by a home match. That’s quite good because we’ll be more fatigued and although there are no easy games in the league there are some that the best teams can win even if they’re at 80% or need to rotate a bit

Be careful of Richmond. A dangerous team.Their captain is that bloke we never managed to sign - Tot Ali Uzelez. How Arsene tried but could never convince The Bored to splash the cash on him.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/20 ... city-offer

The scythe takes its daily toll, but news of Glenda Jackson's passing will be sad for "My Generation." Women in Love - she was magnificent.

You won't hear Sky Sports or ESPN say this

We've pulled out of the Caicedo race. He's off to Chelsea.

*Edit - Although Fabrizio Romano says nothing fully agreed yet.

What an actress she was. Very sad news.

What the hell does Mikel and Edu see that the rest of us are missing regarding Havertz that is worth at least 70 mil?

Who chooses these songs? Still looking through Mikel tinted glasses, still not seeing the 'it' factor. 24 is a good age. Play where?

Why would we cool our interest in caicedo if we wernt confident on Rice

Id rather we spent our money on Caicedo than Havertz. As much as I'd like another forward we scored more goals last year than any year since 1964, and that was with Jesus injured for 3 months.

Even if Rice and Caicedo were our only bits of business this summer it would be phenomenal

Wow, we were that bad?! Tottenham as well and how did Carlisle even make it up in the first place?

Final Division One table 1974/75.

Imagine clinching the title at Old Trafford? That would be great day.

I believe Spurs will not be a serious threat in the new season

They need a rebuild. Not sure Ange is the person who they will have the patience with. But I never write any team off before the season commences.
I would never want a NLD away in the last couple of games.

Whatever position we need to be in, we better have it sewn up by mid April. Going to WHL and Old Trafford among the last 4 fixtures doesn't bode well.

No point analysing it too much the fixtures all get moved around anyway!

1974/75 was an incredible season. With four or so games left (42 in the season at the time, two points awarded for a win), there were at least six clubs still in contention for the title. Meanwhile, we were a scary two points clear of the relegation zone, despite only having conceded 43 goals in 36 games (more or less our record last season). Sorry the pic is a bit blurry.

Manager Alan Ashman had a lot to do with it.

The Arsenal 1st team squad with the FA Cup at Highbury, August 1979. Back row (left-right): Terry Neill (manager), Don Howe (coach), Liam Brady, Steve Gatting, John Devine, Steve Walford, Pat Jennings, Paul Barron, David O'Leary, Sammy Nelson, Malcolm MacDonald, Fred Street (physiotherapist), Wilf Dixon (assistant coach). Front row: Alan Sunderland, Brian Talbot, Graham Rix, Richie Powling, Frank Stapleton, Pat Rice, Willie Young, David Price, John Hollins.

I love looking at old stuff (old to me, maybe not to some of you) and its always a rabbit hole. I see something interesting and then start looking it up, etc.

C'mon Carlisle!



It's only Chelsea, c'mon.

Seeing the passing of Gordon McQueen took me back to that brilliant Cup Final day at Wembley.

Me and my mates all met up at the Swiss Cottage pub for a couple of swift pints. While there we all chipped in a tenner and had in on AFC to win 2:0

Off we went to Wembley....Bakerloo Line....?..... and were comfortably in control....two up with a few minutes to go ....then McQueen scores....ah well we've done our bet but so what we are going to win the Cup....(it was a much bigger deal back then).....aargh no McIlroy equalizes.....ah bollocks....then the inestimable Chippy drives on knocks it to Rixy who crosses for the (in my opinion) under rated Alan Sunderland at the back post. 3:2 Cup Final Magic

Oh what a day....back up the West End for a proper drink.....I think I finished up in The Cavalier in Russell Lane in Whetstone rather the worse for wear

Brexit update. It’s great !

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... brexit-tax

My recollection and viewing of the Cup were somewhat different.
I was working in Longreach -about 700kms inland from Rockhampton. Small western town but Rugby league followers generally. Saturday got up did the shopping and went to the pub mid afternoon after doing some study for upcoming exams. I had already checked that our only TV channel (ABC) would have the cup on live starting around midnight. Drank with mates thru until closing time 10pm. I mentioned I would be watching the cup so about 5 of them came around with a couple of cartons. Just to spite me they decided to barrack for United. By the time the cup started a few blokes were asleep. By the second half I was the only one awake surrounded by empty tinnies. WE were strolling it and I felt great and then of course the McQueen goal accompanied by my loud swearing. Woke a couple of them up and then United equalised and they gave it to me big time. To be quickly silenced by our winner. I had a last drink to watch us lift the cup and went to bed leaving the sleeping dead for the morning. No one to really talk about it with the next day as they were not really football fans. Still it was a good night.

Surely they can just recover that from the £350 million a week they are saving now ?

Nice one Gaz thanks for sharing…. An interesting comparison!
The Arsenal family as represented on this forum is spread far and wide as well as being multi generational

In other news Happy Fathers Day to all you Arsenal pops

Your ignorance of financial political matters outshines your total ignorance of all things football.

Is there not a Dandy Football forum you could join to get the kicks you obviously desire.

The Guardian sheeeesh what a tossers newspaper......

Great times. Its sad how devalued the FA Cup is now.

Non football but interesting nonetheless. Luc Longley, an Aussie that was part of the MJ era Bulls. I hadn't realized just how much of a cultural and personality difference he was to the team. A gentle giant thrown into a league where most of the players came from very tough, inner city playgrounds and that mentality was used to fuel how they played the sport.

It didn't matter if you didn't grow up in that environment. There was a player on the Detroit team in the '80s and '90s named Bill Laimbeer. At the time it was a joke that he was the only player whose father was richer than he was. His father was a former big company exec worth millions. Bill grew up in the very rich area of LA area called Palos Verdes. Beautiful area overlooking the ocean on cliffs. Laimbeer was known as the dirtiest player in the league and the only player Larry Bird hated and would never ever be friendly with.

Philly was no different growing up. Basketball at the playgrounds was rough and tumble no matter the area of the city. The Black, Italian, Irish, Puerto Rican and Jewish areas of the city played similarly. It was a Philly thing, a gritty city.

I didn't realize at the time watching the Bulls just how tough it was for Luc. I liked him. The European players who come into the league are fully aware of the style and know they have to adapt. And similarly did, they played tougher than they did in Europe.

Are there any factual inaccuracies in the Guardian article? You don't mention any.

Looks like Chelsea are going to be saved by various Saudi deals to purge their squad. I’m sure I read something about the Saudi’s having some form of stake in Chelsea and suddenly Koulibaly who is 31 and who Chelsea signed for £30m odd and on huge wages is now being offloaded to Saudi. Kante and Ziyech off there as well.

Do i take it you're not UK based? The Guardian is as pro Labour as the BBC is anti Conservative.
Take everything they say with a pinch of salt.