0MOH, I am impress with your writing style. I understand you self published and I congratulate you. Did u produce enough to market copies.

Thank you very much. 'The Seventeen Year Drought' was always intended as a personal pleasure project, so I produced only enough complimentary 'hard' copies for my family, friends and a few libraries. When I can get around to it I will make it freely available online. Although quite different in scope, the book covers the Arsenal years 1953-1970, the period of Jon Sowman's excellent 'The Long Sleep', which is commercially available, and which I heartily recommend, especially as part of the proceeds go to Bob Wilson's charity.

I will be interested in reading the book when it is available. I think it is a great achievement and I congratulate you. I read a lot and what you have reproduced on here is an easy read but shows an underlying wordsmith.

Ian Ure was also ahead of his time in terms of his preparation. Influenced by the great Australian runner Herb Elliott, he was into eating all the right foods well before many other British players. When we signed him he was regarded as one of the world's best defenders, and he remains one of my favourites. I wrote this of him: 'I have to select a man who admitted in his autobiography that he only became a footballer because as an unemployed eighteen year-old he had nothing better to do! Ure’s resilient and self-sufficient character was born out of his working-class upbringing in Ayr. He was only fifteen when his father died, and he soon learned how to look after his family. He put the hours in to make himself a model professional player, and wanted others to respect his worth. He could be hard-nosed and as unflinching in his contract bargaining as he was in the tackle. Arsenal was always his team as a lad, so when he moved south from Dundee in 1963 Highbury was a natural home. Ure was tall and lean, and his head of hair, as white as gin, gave him a striking presence. He was always immaculately turned out and fastidious as his team mate Jim Furnell recalled. ‘He had new white laces in his sparkling boots, new studs and meticulously taped his shin guards on. The tapes had to be spot-on, all the same length. He’d try about six pairs of shorts on until he got it right. He was unbelievable. Then Frank McLintock would ruffle his hair up and he’d go mad. Frank did that once before a team photo and when Ian saw his hair was ruffed up he ripped the photo up!’ Some may remember Ian Ure as a perfect combination of imperfections, especially when his mistakes led to losses, but considering he often had scant supporting cover from his midfield or attacking colleagues, he was mostly magnificent. He is in my side alongside Simpson and Neill as a carver of meat for men.'

Hey Decaf - you getting ‘power shedding’ in your area - Eastern Cape, aren’t you? I’m in the Western Cape and we’re getting 5 hours of power cuts a day. Pain in the arse.

As things stand with the assumption the out of contract players would all leave... Jenkinson and Chambers probably surplus as well.

GK: Leno
Defenders: Bellerin, Sokratis, Koscielny, Monreal, Mustafi, Mavropanos, Holding, Kolasinac
Midfielders: Xhaka, Torreira, Guendouzi
Attacking mids: Mhkitaryan, Iwobi, Özil
Forwards: Aubameyang, Lacazette
Squaddies: Martinez, AMN

Internal solutions? Nelson, Willock, Emile Smith Rowe and Nketiah should be good enough to be squaddies... offer new contract to Welbeck? Another GK would be nice but seems like we need another centre mid. Must make plans for Monreal and Koscielny's replacements as well.

French Football has produced their list of the 50 greatest managers. It's not mine. There are two Arsenal managers in it. Chapman at 24, Wenger at 32. Can't work out why Klopp is as high as 27. Sure, he won a couple of Bundesliga titles at Dortmund, comfortably Germany's second biggest club who, not under Klopp, have won the Champions League. But he hasn't won any at Liverpool yet, and may not this year either.

I suspect Wenger would have come higher had he not hanged around with us for so long like a bad smell, damaging the club in the process.

I reckon any assessment of Wenger at Arsenal has to be considered in stages. I accept some will want to split these into shorter periods, but an obvious way of doing it was the Highbury and Emirates years. What a difference!

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.mirror ... 155314.amp

Oh it's not too shabby. Who wouldn't want a bruised banana....or a few stripes. And it's Addidas.