Tag Archives: Arsenal

Legacy fan

I have been an Arsenal fan from afar for the best part of 50 years. Living on the other side of the world meant that I either had to be near the radio for the classified results on a Sunday morning or hope our local daily had enough column space to print the results. on a Monday or Tuesday. I used to read Shoot magazine with my copy arriving at the newsagent weeks after it came out in England. The only TV coverage was Match of the Day The Big Match hosted by Brian Moore and the FA Cup final.

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England, London – a lovely few days to end a great trip

A cup of tea while we wait for the taxi.

After a little over 6 weeks away we are on our last day. An awesome trip that has saw us start in Tel Aviv, take a raucous Saturday afternoon flight to Rome, spend a week in Assisi, take the bus and train to Lecce, then head back to Rome for a delightful weekend before we discovered the delights of Portugal and then to London.

London is a convenient exit point for Adelaide and after a few days here that included a visit to The Emirates to see Arsenal’s first home game of the season, it’s time to head home.

We stayed in Farringdon. It’s more business and locals than tourists, meaning most sites are a tube ride away. But with an Oyster Card purchased from the local Off Licence (I love that term), getting to where we want to go is pretty straight forward.

After 6 weeks of travel we had low key plans for our time here, Continue reading

London, England – A boyhood dream

Today I did something I once only dreamed of – seeing Arsenal play live.

I don’t recall why I decided to barrack fro Arsenal. Living in Adelaide there is no logical reason but sometime in the early 70s I reached that decision. Beartie Mee was manager, Charlie George was someone I’d heard of and that was really all. I don’t think I knew they had won the double. This was a time when we got the classified scores on the radio Sunday mornings and the scores in the paper on Mondays. We had Match of the Day highlights during the week, and the only game we ever saw live was the FA Cup Final.

Fast forard 45 years and today I was at The Emirates to see Arsenal play Burnely.

It was a lunchtine kick-off which for a football novice was a bonus.

I wanted to soak up the day Continue reading

In Arsene we trust – End of an era

Arsene Wenger (Source: Goal.com)

 

“To all the Arsenal lovers take care of the values of the club.

My love and support forever.”

-Arsene Wenger

Sitting on the other side of the world last Friday night as The Adelaide Crows, my AFL team, won a thrilling encounter against the odds, my favourite person called out that Arsene had announced his retirement. I felt numb.

I have followed Arsenal since the early 70s where the only way to get news of how they were going was via the classified results on the radio on a Sunday morning and then perhaps seeing some highlights on Match of the Day on a Wednesday night. With the

advent of PayTV, I have been able to watch Arsenal play. The timezone means games are on at all hours of the night and with my only company the cat, I perfected the silent cheer so as not to wake the house when Henry, Adebayor, Giroud and now Ramsay, Lacasette and Aubameyang score.

For nearly half those years Arsene Wenger has been ever present on the boundary. His clenched fist cheer at a goal, sideline arguments with other managers and the fourth official, as well as his struggles with his puffer jacket are my memories of Arsene.

Like all Arsenal supporters and perhaps all football supporters, I marveled at The Invincibles Continue reading

On your own

I got up early this morning to watch Arsenal play Liverpool a big game in the EPL. Midweek games are really good because I can watch them before going to work rather than being up at all hours of the weekend.

Anyway it wasn’t going well for an Arsenal supporter 2-0 down early in the second half so I turned the TV off and decided to get an early start at work. By the time I got downstairs and my iphone had picked up the radio broadcast it was 2-2. Should I go back

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