Hey RB - Long time no see. ;-)

Not sure what you mean by this 'the police don’t arrest then release pending further enquiries surely not ?' Can you just explain a little more for me. Are you suggesting that's exactly what they do. They should not arrest unless they have evidence which is sufficient to establish guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. That is, is there corroboration, forsenic, independent evidence. Then they might arrest. Then the CPS see if they agree there is sufficient evidence but have to additionally determine the further question is there a reasonable prospect of a conviction. Arrested, released on bail while they pursue further enquiries for a person who is not going to abscond is ridiculous.

As for jurisdiction you may recall I said this right at the beginning that it may be an issue. How they could even accuse him is totally beyond me. Even a simpleton would know that they had to establish jurisdiction before telling the press anything or even talking to the complainant. Of course you can release such information in order to murky the waters around a fair trial. Personally I think a fair trial is now an impossibility.

Tavares very close to a season long loan to Marseille. Straight loan no option to buy.

Also read Arsenal have a sell on clause for Guendouzi, who was caught up in some more nonsense in a pre season game. Whatever it is with him he seems to find trouble, I’d guess he finds it difficult to keep his mouth shut on the pitch.

Unfortunately Soc a lot of the sports articles especially are repeated at regular intervals.

Check the date of the article and ignore it if it is old.

The death of Terry Neill sees the passing of one of my favourites. I have probably posted this before, but this is how I recalled him in words some time ago:

"In an era when Arsenal players were generally low profile Neill was a character and a half. To misuse the poet Mandelstam, I loved his bubble, the salt and sugar of his words...My admiration stemmed largely from watching his pivotal role in securing the only trophy I had seen Arsenal win, namely BBC’s Quiz Ball. In the tense televised Cup Final between Arsenal and Dunfermline Athletic the Arsenal team of Mee, Ure, Neill and guest Jimmy Young performed as a unit, but for me the intelligent Ulster man was the crucial difference between the two teams. From the screen he came over as confident without vanity, a captain not a king. On the field I loved his rugged defending. A hard tackler he could leave a leg looking like it had been chewed by wolves...The two sides of Terry Neill attracted me. On the pitch his skills were utilitarian and understated. He was a straightforward stopper, like granite in the one-on-one duels and a good organiser. As a fan you always knew Terry was giving everything for you and the team. That he fell short of greatness was not for the want of seriousness and dedication to his profession. Off the field he was far from the football norm. He valued education and was a reader and lover of music. When he was hurled into football manhood by Billy Wright, who made him captain at just twenty years of age, he took the role on with style and wisdom beyond his years, despite some dressing-room cynicism. Throughout his long Arsenal career he represented the club to the outside world with intelligence and wit. When interviewed he was comfortable, confident and not frightened to show he was a speaker of fine words. It was no surprise at all that he became a manager. Peter Storey recalled him as ‘full of smooth Belfast brogue, to such an extent that he was sometimes mistaken for Arsenal’s manager long before he took the job in 1976.’"

Sad news omoh. Obviously I wasn't around for his heyday but his name is mentioned enough with the repsect it demands and being an Arsenal man, I felt a connection tangentially.

Bernard: have you ever written about your Terry Neil encounter in The Gooner? How long did your meeting with Terry Neil last? Where did it take place? We’re you offered refreshments? Did was it your first time inside the Marble Halls (I’m assuming that’s where you would have went)?

OMOH: that’s a lovely piece of writing.

When I was in primary school, my dad had a warehouse in Islington. One of the main workers there was called Steve who was a die hard Gooner from south London. I remember one time when I was visiting the warehouse with my Dad, Steve told me how he was good friends with The Arsenal manager Terry Neil and he’d prove it by phoning him then and there, in front of me. He proceeded to dial a number and then chat to Terry Neil. I was completely awestruck and have never forgotten that moment. It was a good few years later I discovered he had only been pretending.

Love it! I have a similar story about my dad. When I was primary school age he showed me a team photo of him as keeper for Arsenal. Although a black and white photo his team mates were wearing the famous white sleeves, so for years I thought this was all true. I even took the photo into school to impress people. The fact that the shot was taken on Blackheath rather than at Highbury should have rung a bell, but as I so wanted it to be true, it didn't. It finally dawned on me some years later that the old man was in fact goalie for Hartley's jam factory, who happened to have a kit similar to The Gunners.

I may well have mentioned it in The Gooner but can’t remember doing so. I definitely have here though, in the dim and distant past. I must have written around a hundred articles for The Gooner, and while I don’t recall many of them I’m sure I didn’t base a whole piece on it. But as I say, it’s not impossible I passed reference to it in passing.

He had an office at Highbury and it was in that. From memory I was offered tea or coffee, my guess would be a biscuit as well though as I don’t eat biscuits I’d have turned it down.

My dad had taken me to see Herbert Chapman’s bust before but I imagine this must surely have been my first visit deep into the ground, as it were.

Don’t forget, this would have been around forty years ago now. The thing that sticks in my mind the most was what he said about Steve Williams.

If you don’t mind me asking Bernard, how old were you when you wrote the letter? It’s a great story. Like an episode of Jim’ll Fix it but without the molestation.

That’s a nice story OMOH.

Help please - I'm trying to buy Bournemouth tickets but the Arse ticket hub seems to be bugrd.

Any info?

Just spent over an hour in the queue to the Box Office. Seems we only received a small allocation which sold out almost immediately.

Without knowing exactly when it was, I’d say early twenties. Maybe very early. I had definitely left home (by which I mean my mum’s house as my dad had died when I was at school) by then.

Always the case with Bournemouth DHD. Only ever got a ticket for Bournemouth away once, and that was the FA Cup tie two or three years ago when we had a bigger allocation with it being a cup game.

That is a lovely tribute, Hoy.

Thank you Decaf. The old players inevitably leave us, and too often the passing has a small impact. This time I am truly sad because Terry O'Neill was a big character. A little aside - I self-published a book about our 17 years without a trophy, and deliberately had a very limited number printed, as it was very much a personal thing for the pleasure of friends and family. I did send copies to various Arsenal people. No names, no pack drill, but Terry was the only one to acknowledge receipt with thanks. He jokingly chided me for not letting him print it, as I believe he had interests in a printing business!

Hi Bernard,
You mentioned knowing Alison Henley aka Fishbar awhile back on here. She played squash. If I recall correctly, she posted a lot on here.

We’ve loaned out okonkwo to Crewe. Seems a little weird that as Leno is obviously off and runnarson was being linked to a move to Denmark.

Going through a whole season with 2 keepers and no cover.

Yes she did play squash. To a good level. Put me up when I worked in Manchester for a while as she’d moved there. She moved to Glossop towards the end of her life and adopted the local side as her second team.

There was a bit a bad feeling or bad blood between the North West Gooners (a group of die hard mostly local Arsenal fans around Manchester) and people from Glossop’s side at her funeral. I think the club had put a tribute to her on their website when she died, but in doing so had given the impression she’d given up supporting Arsenal to become a full time Glossop fan.

The North West Gooners were a bit fed up with that as it wasn’t true. Her dominant affinity in football was Arsenal. She’d just developed a soft spot for Glossop’s team. I guess a bit like me supporting Arsenal but having a soft spot for Bayern Munich. She supported Arsenal, always did and always had, but had a soft spot for Glossop’s team.

Same principle as to why I think we still need to buy another striker. Only Jesus and Nketiah, with a not only inexperienced but unproven Balogun if he doesn’t go on loan, simply sounds inadequate for the amount of games we’re going to have in the Premier League, Europe and two domestic cups.

Agreed.

She was lovely. And I had the pleasure of meeting her a few times when we had the Bar 101 thing going at the Emirates.

It’s always nice to see a poster as a ‘real person’.

Your and Bernard's stories show what sort of a man he was.

Answering correspondence is a real marker of class and professionalism, in my book. It shows you haven't forgotten where you come from or starting thinking you are better than people who haven't achieved your status.

"Manners maketh the man"

She came across as very genuine and pleasant on the forum.

Hi ltg, Bernard,

Fishbar was lovely. Although I never met her we were both fans of the Ashes to Ashes series and we used to tease each other on the forum.

I was really sad when she passed.

As I was when Mee passed. His negativity about Arsenal was joyful especially the way he use to paint a picture beautifully in words about how and why were were going to lose a game.

Indeed. Some lovely characters on here down the years!

Just got online Ars 4 Sevilla 0

... after 25 minutes. Goodness!!!

For some reason, I'm remembering Reading 4 Arsenal 0, and Newcastle 0 Arsenal 4. It could still go horribly pear-shaped in this important fixture. Stay focused, lads.

Not sure if it's been mentioned, but Ødegaard has been named captain. Not very surprising, but at least it's official now.

A bit like last season it feels that if we can get our best 11 on the pitch more often than not we could be in for a great season. The 2 big differences from last season are a proper No.9 in Jesus and a decent amount more depth after the first 11. Tomiyasu, Tierney, Emile Smith Rowe, Nketiah and Vieira not in the starting 11 today.

Jesus is a fantastic inclusion to the team. Zinchenko too is a great addition.

Waiting anxiously for Saka & Saliba to sign their extensions. Please do!

As you suggest it was always going to happen. But nice to know that it’s now official. Saw a few morons moaning about the likelihood of Ødegaard being made captain quite recently on social media. But some idiots would complain about winning £149m on the Euromillions jackpot because it was less than £150m.

Gosh. 6-0. Looking forward to seeing the highlights.

From the play by play summary on Arsenal.com there were some really encouraging individual performances.

Fantastic pre season form.

But.

1. Palace will be a much tougher test than either the Chelsea or the Sevilla friendly.
2. We have some worrying injury issues, notably both full backs Tierney and Tomiyasu, Smith-Rowe as well.
3. Our squad, as others have mentioned, looks light for a season of 4 competitions which includes the interminable Europa League, with a winter world cup thrown in for good measure.

Now you can remember the one we won 6-0 after scoring 4 in 9 minutes in the first half.