School's Game With Adams, Rocastle, Thomas

The final home game of what was a pretty depressing season all round. We had seen the likes of Liam Brady and Frank Stapleton leave with little in the way of replacements; John Hawley and Ray Hankin puh-leeese.

On 31 October we played Coventry at home. It was our 12th game of the season, we were 17th and had scored just seven goals!

Anyway, fast forward May and we hosted Southampton. Before the game there was a school's match with some interesting names on the team sheet!

John Dickinson

Football was a very different beast back in the early 1980s as this message from the local plod shows.

The message appeared in the programme, on page 16, at the following home game against Liverpool.

Page three had a full page tribute to chairman Denis Hill-Wood who had also died.

Of the 24 pages in the programme, one and a half were given over to death...

Johnny Hoy

To show you how out of the loop I was at the Arsenal I have only just realised the significance of this letter!

It comes from Arsenal v West Ham United in 1982/83 season, a game better known for the smoke bomb and the stabbing of an Arsenal fan after the game.

Indonesia Dream Team v Arsenal 2013

Lion City Cup 2013

 Arsenal sent a young team to compete in the annual Lion City Cup in Singapore.

The programme was a colour A4 affair which soon ran out of stock meaning a second run was needed.

The Arsenal team picture actually comes from a team in the 2111/2012 season!

Arsenal featured in their line up a lad named Faiq Jefri Bolkiah, a Brunei lad related in some way to the Sultan of the country!

Some pictures of Arsenal's game against Eintracht Frankfurt can be seen on Asian Football Pictures

Arsenal v Eintracht Frankfurt (Lion City Cup 2013)

Born Is The King Of Highbury

Singapore Fan Gets Free Look Round Highbury

Today of course there is nothing strange in seeing visitors from South East Asia at the Arsenal; it's a massive market football clubs are looking to bleed dry in the same way they have bled the fans on their own doorstep.

This letter comes from Gunners Magazine Volume 1, Number 12 which dates it at the begininng of 1995/1996 season.

It's a sign of the times of course but no shop staff would allow any fan to have a peek round the ground these days. Nope, pay your money like the rest of us!

I wonder if the writer, Lau Kok Gim from Singapore, is still a fan?

The magazine, by the way, boasted 52 pages and cost 2 GBP, unlike today when it costs 3.50 GBP and has 100 pages.

Oh Rocky Rocky, Rocastle

I missed Rocastle's Arsenal debut. I had gone inter railing round Europe as one did in them days but I saw most of his games that season. And the next. And the title winning season. And his last game for the Arsenal.

Don Howe was the manager who gave Rocastle his debut and in the following programme against Aston Villa he said 'I was very pleased with David Rocastle's first team debut last Saturday. David gives 100%, has lots of skill and he's a good tackler.'

Americans like to say they remember where they were when JFK was shot. I remember where I was when I heard Rocky had been sold to Leeds United. I was in England and had a job driving a seven and a half ton truck which got a flat tyre outside the Clock End!

I got talking to a security guy there, top fella, who helped me get it fixed and of course inbetween him turning nuts and bolts I pummelled him with questions. I asked if any players were leaving. 'Rocastle' he said. I was gutted and stopped helping him. Why? Why were we letting one of our best players leave?

I was at Elland Road a couple of years later and we gave him a massive reception. He then moved to Manchester City and we again travelled in numbers to support an average team and Rocastle got another impressive reception from us.

None of this stuff like Robin Van Persie etc get today. We felt Rocky never wanted to leave.

Rocky was one of us but he had gone. Left the Arsenal.

Unfortunately I never got to see him when he was playing in Malaysia and I have now forgotten when it was I heard he had died.

Players die all the time. From my era the likes of Paul Vaeseen and Tommy Caton have moved on but with no disrespect to those two Rocky is still remembered. Against Reading recently the 12th anniversary of his passing was marked by the loudest cheers of the day.

None of the current crop will be remembered in such a way as Rocastle. He left the Arsenal 20 years ago, many of our current support will never have seen him play. I did and I felt a shiver down my spine as the Rocky Rocastle chants echoed round the bowl with that simple image, the thumbs up, on the large video screens.

My 3 year old son has a Rocastle t shirt and he wears it proudly. Often it is his first choice to wear. Rocky was my era. He was there when George Graham turned an average team into a great team and he was a huge part of that metamorphosis. It was clear he loved the Arsenal and in return we loved him. He seemed genuine, unaffected. He had come through the ranks and during 1991/92 when we played some explosive stuff he was at the heart of it with fellow South London boys Michael Thomas and Ian Wright.

Some Familiar Names

If a football programme could be described as epoch making it is surely this one. The issue for the first game of the 1983/84 season against Luton Town perhaps marked Arsenal's arrival as a club with an eye on the bottom line for one.

It was our first real decent programme and the season marked the first time we changed the front cover picture every game. There was a new editor in place and a whole range of new features prompting Miller and Lerman in their excellent book Arsenal FC The First XI Official Programme Guide 1946 - 1993 to describe it as 'an instant hit with the fans'.

There had been nothing wrong with the more traditional approach but the previous seasons had certainly seen the quality of the programme fall behind clubs like Leicester City and Aston Villa whose colour packed issues were well received by fans and collectors alike.

Some familiar names get name checks in the programme. Jerome Anderson was introduced as resident disc jockey; he went on to become a high profile agent and his involvement with Blackburn Rovers is well documented. He got his break spinning tunes at Highbury!

On the reserves and youth page there is a picture of Terry Burton while the final paragraph says 'Youth players to watch are imposing centre half pair Martin Keown and Tony Adams'...prophetic words indeed. Adams was to make his debut later that season at home to Sunderland and had a reasonable career I think!

A very young looking Paul Johnson gets mentioned on the Fanfare looking forward to a busy season with the Travel Club which he ran so efficiently. Today he arranges the travel stuff of the first team, not the fans and also has the subs stretching after games. I was jealous of him then when I travelled to away games and I am jealous of him now!

The Junior Gunners was entering its first season and the mascot was a seven year old lad named Daniel Quy and it looks like he is still involved with the club on the travel side! Eee, last time I saw him lad, he were wearing short trousers etc!

Then there is the front cover of Tony Woodcock. Wearing a red shirt with blue sleeves. Were we worried? Remember, this came the season after our away shirt was green with blue sleeves! So, were we worried this was to be our new shirt? Damned right we were. At least until we read it was a one off for the Boys Brigade Jubilee against Aberdeen. Boys Brigade eh?

My Home Debut

This was the first time I made my way to the Marble Halls. I went with my old man who I am sure did not enjoy the experience one little bit and from my point of view I can't remember too much either!

I know we stood on the North Bank. I know West Ham wore white and I saw Clyde Best play keepy upy. And the highlights were shown the next day on The Big Match.. And the game ended 0-0.

Beyond that I remember zilch.

The win at West Bromwich Albion last Saturday marked my 39th anniversary...

Indonesian Arsenal Fans Look Forward To Visit

The Arsenal Indonesian Supporters Club celebrates its 10^th anniversary this year in the best way imaginable. They will welcome Arsenal as they come to the country for the first time since 1983 when they played games in Medan, Jakarta and Surabaya.

This year Arsenal will play just the one friendly as part of an Asian jaunt that is also reported to take in Japan and Vietnam so there time in country will be limited and strictly controlled; fans hoping to bump into players like Theo Walcott and Per Mertesacker in Plasa Senayan are likely to be disappointed.

But that is unlikely to dampen the enthusiasm of the passionate Arsenal fans desperate for a chance to see their heroes in the flesh.

Rawindraditya is the head of the Indonesian Supporters Club and like the other fans he is excited about July’s visit. As we sat in a bar in CITOS he proudly boasted of the Supporters Club, their numbers and their achievements.

‘We had about 200 go to Malaysia in 2011,’ he said, ‘for Arsenal’s first friendly there. We had the largest banner and there were many more fans that travelled over from Indonesia.’

That number of 200 was just those that travelled on the official tour. Many, many more made their own way, not just from Jakarta but Bandung, Semarang, Medan, Pekanbaru and other points of the Indonesian compass.

The support that night from the Indonesian Arsenal fans was perhaps the first indication the country was an untapped gold mine. In recent years Manchester United and Everton have pulled out of high profile friendlies in the country, the first because of a bombing directed at the team’s hotel, but while the likes of LA Galaxy, Bayern Munchen and Inter have visited no English club has bothered.

This July potentially sees three with Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea looking at games in Jakarta.

Out of a national membership of 6,000 Rawaindraditya anticipates about 1,500 will come to Jakarta for the weekend from around the country, staying in a hall specially booked for the visit and the club leader has been racking his brain as to how to keep the visitors busy during their short stay in the capital.

‘We are waiting for details from Arsenal what events they will hold,’ he explains. Typically the club would have a meet and greet session where fans could line up for an opportunity to have their photograph taken with a player and perhaps have their replica shirt autographed while a training session open to the public is also a common event but nothing has been confirmed by the club.

In the vacuum Rawindraditya is thinking about hiring 30 buses to take the supporters on a city tour round Jakarta! The normal options, a futsal competition for example, would be difficult to organize as Arsenal’s visit coincides with the fasting month of Ramadhan.

Given the holy month the supporters club are also asking members to bring books which will then be distributed to local orphanages.

It’s not just Indonesians looking forward to the game. Rawindraditya has been in contact with supporters from Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Philippines and Australia who are looking forward to enjoying the spectacle of a near full house at the cavernous Bung Karno Stadium.

After me asking several questions Rawindraditya decided to turn the tables and ask me one. He leaned forward, eyes burning, ‘why is our membership increasing? We have eight years without a trophy yet still more people want to join. We have problems keeping up with membership packs, so many want to join us.’

It’s obvious he is strung by criticisms from football fans in England who blame Asian fans for the direction the game is taken. They are, it is perceived, the ones who willingly pay the prices for replica shirts and other merchandise and are happy to pay the high ticket prices the club demands and receive.

‘If we are glory hunters why don’t we stop supporting Arsenal and all support MU (the Indonesian way of saying Manchester United)? Why do our numbers go up every year?’

‘We have more members than Liverpool and Chelsea. Only MU have more than us.’ He laughed when I asked about Manchester City. ‘Forget them’.

Answering his own question he feels people are attracted to the Arsenal by the football philosophy of Arsene Wenger. They are happy to see the beautiful football even if the team doesn’t win. Something that is certainly at odds with an older generation of fan who recall the success of the George Graham years built on a solid defence. He, like many others, doesn’t understand the debate among Arsenal fans in England whether Wenger should stay or go. ‘Look what he’s done’ is his reply to that.

Indonesia is a long way from London N5 and it is fair to say despite the dreams the vast majority of the Supporters Club will never get to see a game in England. For them the Arsenal coming to Indonesia is a dream come true, a tale they will never tire of repeating to their mates and family for years to come. For them an Arsenal without Wenger is unthinkable. They are just looking forward to a memorable visit.

SOURCE - an edited version of this appeared in Jakarta Globe 22/3/13

Steaming In

I always used to read the letters page in the programme back in my day. Not because there was anything interesting in them, there usually wasn't, but because you soon got to recognise the names of frequent contributers and one day when I have a whole day free I will track down the thoughts of Max Kester, an absolute legend who kept his local post office busy for many a year.

For now though I will use a letter from a gentleman named Colin Ward. No idea who he was, never knowingly met or saw him though undoubtedly we were at the same games for several years.

Thug lit is quite the thing these days with one time hooligans hanging up their sneakers and tapping out their life story with tales of 'never run, never done' monotony. Fair play to them, if there is a market there then why not? I'm only jealous I have done nothing in my miserable existance to write about.

Back to Mr Ward. He wrote one of the earliest thug lit books, called Steaming In, which I read many years back. From what I recall he seemed to spend more time writing about Chelsea than the Arsenal which would have been quite appropriate given my limited understanding of that era and culture when we had no firm anyway.

The book came out in 1989 and according to this blurb is to be reissued later this year.

His letter was very well received by the programme editor obviously as can be seen by his reply. I wonder how much this letter influenced him to take up writing full time?!

Arsenal Celebrate Contract Extensions

There was cause for much merriment, so the club had us believe at least, last December when it was announced Kieran Gibbs, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Jack Wilshire, Carl Jenkinson and Aaron Ramsey were reported to have signed extended contracts to keep them at the Arsenal for the foreseeable future.

Given that players like Robin Van Persie and Cesc Fabregas had moved on as well others whose contracts had been inexplicably allowed to run down this multi extension signing was supposed to show the future of the club was in good hands.

Add Theo Walcott into the mix and there was a core of six British players who, it is hoped, would be at the heart of the Arsenal for years to come.

For a saddo like me the date of the announcement was interesting. OK young men signing a bit of paper before Christmas is unlikely to have me racing to the advent calender in glee at my age but the announcement on 19 December mirrored a similar event back in 1987. Which was announced in the programme for the Everton game of that season on the same date.

George Graham was manager back then and he was proper chuffed 'absolutely delighted' in fact to announce a similar contract signing bonanza.

To put in context memories are long among football fans and we at the Arsenal are no different. We still recalled how Liam Brady and Frank Stapleton were allowed to leave years earlier and were never adequately replaced.

Italian football then was the place to be. It was the biggest and most glamourous league in the world with the most cash and players like Brady, Trevor Francis, Mark Hateley and Ian Rush were among those tempted by the bucket fulls of lira on offer.

Hence the thrill when Tony Adams, David Rocastle, Michael Thomas, Paul Merson and Perry Groves signed new, improved contracts while Paul Davis signed an extension.

And it's fair to say that lot turned out alright in the main. I say in the main. You could argue Rocastle and Thomas were sold when they still had much to offer but certainly Adams went on for another 15 years while Merson had the best part of a decade before moving on and Davis, after a shaky start in the first team developed into a very tidy player indeed who should have won caps for England and would have if he hadn't decked Glenn Cockerill a year later.

Of half dozen who signed contracts recently it remains to be seen who of them goes on to have an Adams type impact on the club. It could be argued the likes of Ramsey and Oxlade-Chamberlain have regressed this season through being played out of position or not getting enough games. And Theo Walcott surely has to be on Crimestoppers some time soon as a missing person; he has done nothing since signing.

Only time will tell if the current crop of young, promising types have the same impact as the earlier vintage.

Players' Christmas Party 1982

Little Mac

Brian McDermott got sacked yesterday by Reading so I thought now would be as good a opportunity as any to recall his Arsenal career.

He made his debut against Bristol City in 1979 coming on as a substitute for young winger Mark Heeley and made one further appearance that season a couple of weeks later against Manchester City which would have been the first time I saw him play.

The following season he only managed a further appearance from the bench against Norwich City and, this being the campaign when we played 70 competitive games, he must have been wondering whether he had a future at the club.

It wasn't until November 1980 that he finally started a game, at home to Brighton which we won 2-0 with Little Mac scoring the second of the game.It was also his second in consecutive home games after coming off the bench to score against Norwich City 10 days earlier.

All told McDermott managed 26 appearances that season, including off the bench, and scored five goals. Only Frank Stapleton (14), Brian Talbot and Alan Sunderland (7 each) netted for league goals.

One though did come in the 2-0 over Aston Villa on the day they were crowned champions, Pele did a lap of honour and 57,000 + filled our Highbury.

He started the 1981/82 as a first choice wearing the number 9 in the first half dozen league games but this was a team struggling; they managed just four in those games and Little Mac scored none of them. He was to start just three more league games, scoring one goal against Everton but he fell off the radar as the season progressed and made just a single sub appearance in the last two thirds of the season; that in the 1-3 home reverse against that lot from up the road.

He did better in the UEFA Cup campaign, starting three of the four games, coming on as sub in the disaster in Winterslag. He scored a crucial goal as well, away to Panathinaikos, to set us on the way to a 2-0 win in Athens.

1982/83 saw Terry Neill spend big on Lee Chapman and Tony Woodcock which saw McDermott slip further down the pecking list. In the first half of the season he made just two appearances off the bench in the league and scored both times. He didn't return to the first team until the middle of April, after a short spell on loan at Fulham, when he began a run of seven consecutive games, scoring another two goals in a team that was struggling for consistency.

Those seven games saw us LWLWLWL but with the big money signings injured, as was Alan Sunderland, McDemott was left to partner the likes of John Hawley and Vladimir Petrovic as we struggled big time. Crowds dropped, the Manchester United game attracted 23,602, and it was left to the experienced Brain Talbot to shoulder the goal scoring burden with five in that mini run.

The following season saw Charlie Nicholas arrive meaning we had four strong strikers (Woodcock, Sunderland, Chapman (ha ha) and Charlie) and McDermott must have been wondering just what he needed to do to get a game. yet he started the season in fine form, scoring on the first day of the season against Luton but after just four games was dropped to facilitate the return of Alan Sunderland and he was back to his usual role of bit part player.

He managed just one more goal that season at Villa Park when we won 6-2 on the day Woodcock got five but Neill was sacked in December and under Don Howe made just three more appearances, his last against Notts County at Highbury.

During his five years on the fringes of the Arsenal team he managed 44 starts coming on as a sub 28 times. He scored 13 goals in that time.

Never the best player in the world but possessing some skill and pace McDermott perhaps suffered from his light build but he always gave 100% during difficult days for the club and I for one was happy to see him do a good job with Reading.

History was always against him. He was too late to be part of the Brady/Stapleton/O'Leary/Rix generation that came up through the ranks and coloured our expectations of Arsenal youngsters. He was part of the Davis/Meade/Whyte/Vaeseen group who all struggled to make an impact at the Arsenal; it took Paul Davis five or six years before he could really feel he belonged to the club

Wembley International Tournament 1988

Back in the late 1980s, early 1990s AC Milan were without doubt the biggest club in Europe and Italian football the most popular league.

Milan boasted a Dutch holy trinity of Marco van Basten, Ruud Gullit and Frank Rijkaard but the local lads weren't bad either. Consider Paolo Maldini, Franco Baresi, Roberto Donadoni, Alessandro Costacurta and Carlos Ancelotti. Yep, the bloke who managed Chelsea for a while.

Back then European teams would often stage mini tournaments, usually featuring four clubs, but as ever England was behind the curve. Until, that is, 1988 when Wembley Stadium decided to get in on the act.

They invited Milan as well as Arsenal, Bayern Munchen (sorry, calling them Bayern Munich is naff; Bayern is the German spelling of Bavaria, Munich the English spelling of Munchen) and that lot from up the Seven Sisters Road who had just signed Paul Gascoigne.

Also featuring in the Milan squad, under Arrigo Sacchi, was goalkeeper Giovanni Galli. I have no idea whether he played or not but that is not relevant. His son, Niccolo, was to later sign for Arsenal as a defender just over a decade later and was highly rated by the club until, tragically, his life was taken from him in a car crash.

The Bayern squad is not without interest either. Their keeper, Raimond Aumann, went on to play for the club for many, many years and is still involved as a Fan Co ordinator while new signing Johnny Ekstrom was tall, blond and Swedish. Another Scandinavian was Erland Johnsen who was to sign for Chelsea within 24 months of this competition.

Bayern's coach that year, his first of three stints, was Jupp Heynckes who of course steps down at the end of this season to be replaced by Pep Guardiola.

Arsenal won the trophy defeating Bayern 3-0 and Tottenham the following day 4-0. For several years I had the video and it got pretty well worn I can say! At least we won this trophy emphatically. At the end of the season we went to Anfield needing to win 2-0 to lift the title and we managed it in the last minute thanks to Mickey Thomas.

A long season, a long journey and one that began at Wembley against Bayern.

The programme for the two day tournament was a typical oversized Wembley affair priced at 2 quid and featured a couple of pieces by the eternal Brian Glanville reflecting on his Milan memories.

All Smiles In The Dressing Room

Wally Walford

Remember them Persil away days? Football fans up and down England suddenly showed an interest in the washing up powder being used to keep  their clobber clean to collect the tokens that entitled them to a free ticket on the train.

Me? I used one for the first time to go to Norwich away in 1981.

Nothing game in a nothing season though we did finish 3rd behind Aston Villa and Ipswich Town.

This particular game was remarkable for very little. It ended 1-1 but it marked Peter Nicholas debut and started a nine game run that saw us finish impressively.

Around the same time we signed Nicholas Steve Walford moved out, joining Norwich City just before the Arsenal game.

Now typically when a player moves to a new club they say nice things about their previous one. Not Wally Walford. He was interviewed in the programme for the Arsenal game and he was less than diplomatic about his former club.

Some of his quotes make interesting reading!

"I was fed up at Highbury and was going home from the club not wanting to play anymore'.
"I had the stuffing knocked out of me with Arsenal. I constantly found myself being good enough to play in the first team but never it seemed sufficiently capable of holding down a position'.

There was of course a very good reason why he was never an automatic first team choice under Terry Neill and Don Howe. He was crap!

Miserable git! He was signed from Tottenham reserves and became a bit part player for the Arsenal which has to be an improvement.

For many of us from that generation he nearly went down in history as the man who nearly lost us the 1979 FA Cup Final against Manchester United. For those who have no recollection that  was the game we were coasting 2-0, replacing David Price with not long left. Our 2-0 lead was soon pegged back and it took Alan Sunderland's last gasp winner, he prodded the ball home before Walford could have a sniff, to win us the game and many pointed the substitution as upsetting the rhythm of the team.

For those of a more recent era the north London born Walford in many ways resembles Pascal Cygan though he had more hair. Their stats are similar as well, Walford playing 98 times (including sub appearances), over a four year spell while Cygan managed 98 games in a four year period.

Back to Walford who also lent his name to an English soap opera suburb ( or maybe not) he joined Norwich at the same time as Martin O'Neill and obviously the duo hit it off big time as O'Neill entered management and has had Walford as his assistant at Wycombe Wanderers, Norwich City, Celtic, Leicester City, Aston Villa and Sunderland.

They are shown in the picture on either side of the geexer in white socks

League Cup Semi Final Huddersfield Town 1968

This is an odd one. Back in 1968 we were looking at 15 years without a trophy and had reached the League Cup semi final for the first time. The League Cup was a much maligned trophy when it was first introduced at the turn of the 1960s and Arsenal never entered the first few competitions.

We managed to overcome Coventry City, Reading, Blackburn Rovers and Burnley before being drawn with Huddersfield in the semis. There was a close bond between the two clubs courtesy of one Herbert Chapman who had led the Yorkshire team to three successive titles in the 1920s before moving to the Arsenal.

Despite being just a semi final win away from Wembley it seems Arsenal fans weren't in a rush to book tickets for the 2nd leg at Leeds Road with the club advising fans they were better off booking tickets through the home team as the Arsenal weren't going to order an allocation!

Those fans who did make the journey were left at the mercies of British Rail as the suggested timetable shows. I went to see Huddersfield play Arsenal in a League Cup tie in 1986 and from memory it was a reasonable hike from the station to the ground. Not uncomfortable but around 20 minutes perhaps. We had a special train that night so that left after the game was over and we had been escorted back.


In the programme from the home leg of the semi final, an evening game which kicked off at 7.30 on 17 January, fans were advised to take the train from Huddersfield at 21.08. In other words they would have had to leave the ground halfway through the second half if they were to have any chance of catching their train! And I imagine staying in a Huddersfield hotel was not an option for many!

After winning the 1st leg 3-2 we would have travelled north with a slenderest of leads but goals from Jon Sammels, David Jenkins and Frank McLintock ensured we would be Wembley bound where we lost 1-0 to Leeds United.

100th North London Derby

Quite appropriate as we face them later on tonight I think. Back in January 1987 we were at White Hart Lane for what was the 100th North London Derby and as well as a slightly special programme this large brochure was also produced.

On the front cover are Charlie Nicholas, Glenn Hoddle and Kenny Sansom and if you need to ask who they are then perhaps you need to brush up on your history.

A picture of Hoddle without his best mate Graham Rix does look a bit odd; a bit like Lassie watching his best mate leave town on the last train.

The split between the players, two Arsenal and one Tott, was to prove very significant as we were to collide with them a further three times over the next couple of months...three times altogether at White Hart Lane and each time we won 2-1!

More of the same tonight would go down very well but I look at the likes of Koscielny, Gervinho etc and I don't see the same passion for the Arsenal players like Kenny and Charlie used to have.

They call it modern football...

The Club Shop

It may seem hard to believe today what with dedicated websites and slick brochures but Arsenal's attempts at marketing themselves have not always been cutting edge.

For those interested in buying the replica kit, and for sure there would have been no Chinese kids interested in strutting their stuff down Shanghai High Street in the latest Arsenal shirt during the time of their cultural revolution, only kids sizes were available.

Don't ask me about the prices!

Note how it took 'requests' from fans before the club even stooped so low as to market their goods in this way; things were much less commercialised back then, greed was considered a bad thing. Of course the club may have been putting some spin out...

Devonshire Arms, Fraser's Hill, Malaysia

Arsenal here, Arsenal there etc. This letter from 1992 has former Arsenal player Joe Wade in Malaysia playing golf and hitting a pub for a tipple.

I don't recall too many ex players writing into the programme over the years, and if I can recall Max Kester from two decades ago believe me I can remember some right old shite!

Bloody Pigeons!

We're The Schoolboys Highbury!

1978/79 was the first season my picture appeared in the programme and this, from Tottenham at home in that season, marks my colour debut!

I'm in the Schoolboys Enclosure which was the lower tier of the East Stand closest to the North Bank.

In later years, like many of my generation, I was to make the move from Schoolboys to North Bank to Clock End, a rite of passage no more I guess at the soulless bowl we now call home.

Marvin Berglas's Magic

Marvin Berglas is one of those names I grew up with instinctively connecting him with the Arsenal. In fact it has taken Google to find out he is in fact a magician which explains the title above!

In the programme from Everton at home in 1978/79 he is giving his views on programme collecting. I hope, as he is a magician, he can bring my collection back to me (!).

Interesting the prices he quotes from over a third of a century ago.

The 1923 FA Cup Final he reports being sold for 95 quid while another favourite is Manchester United's last game pre Munchen air disaster when they played at Highbury in 1958. That programme goes for six pounds!

However he blots his copybook by suggesting the Everton programme itself could well be worth a few bob in a few years time...not yet it ain't but an interesting piece indeed for people who like collecting programmes.

Martin The One Time Hooligan

Arsenal have never had much of a hooligan following. Even back in the bad old, good old days of the 1970s and 1980s Arsenal never attracted the thuggish elements that clubs like Leeds United, Middlesbrough and Chelsea could boast. I know this is true 'cos I have seen the movies and read the books so there!

So at a time when clubs up and down the country were pleading nothing could be done about the hooligans that plagued their clubs we had Badger, Make Money Girls and the police band. And to be honest they don't make for great reading!

But we also had Martin and you can read his story from a programme against Ipswich Town. He used to collect other teams' scarves, preferably when they had been removed from the wrist of one of their supporters.

He does seem to pine for the days when 'you could clump someone on the back of the head and the police wouldn't touch you' so I wonder where he is now and what he makes of CCTV, banning orders et all

South Korea In Singapore

The idea that Arsenal spend some of the summer months in Asia is nothing new of course. Back in 1990 they headed to Singapore to play a friendly against South Korea at the National Stadium which has now been demolished.

An interesting brochure was put together to commemorate the game. Interesting for me at least. The front cover pictures seem to show South Korea in action at the National Stadium itself while the Arsenal pictures came from their first game of that season at Old Trafford against Manchester United, a game we lost 4-1.

Then there is the player in the Chelsea shirt! Obviously the brochure producers couldn't find a picture of Colin Pates in an Arsenal shirt!

One player missing from the pen pics is Craig McKernon but then that shouldn't surprise us; he so rarely featured for the Arsenal spending most of his time with the club injured!

The game itself took place on 9 May, just four days after the final game of the season, a 2-2 draw at Norwich, and we won 2-1 with Alan Smith giving us a first half lead before a Lee Dixon penalty won us the game second half.

We did put a full strength team out for the game with McKernon on the bench alongside other serial benchwarmers Gus Caeser and Alan Miller.

For nostalgic petrol heads there was a two page advert in the brochure by Lada!

Pat Rice, MBE

Look at the hair. The shirt. The tie. The trousers. Grateful you were never brought up in the 1970s?! Pat Rice was our captain then and in this picture he is sat with our groundsman of the time, Fred Vigo.

35 years later and Rice finally severed his connections with the Arsenal. This week has seen him down Buck House filling in her maj on George Graham's defensive philosophy and Arsene Wenger's tactical nous.

Bet he wasn't smoking a pipe mind!

Peter Simpson Testimonial

Peter Simpson is another of those players who arrived at the Arsenal in the early 1960s and hung around for about 15 years seeing average merge into legendary and back to nondescript in a career that saw him play nearly 500 games yet not earn a single England cap.

Read any memory of him and the word laid back just cries out from the pages. Stan, he was nicknamed after  the comedian Stan Laurel which may give a clue to how he was perceived by his team mates, was not the kind of central defender to do things rashly. Perhaps it is no coincidence his best form for the Arsenal came when he was partnered by Frank McLintock who was less backward in coming forward.

Indeed McLintock, captain during the 1970/71 Double season, describes his one time partner as 'an underrated player 'indeed,  he is the last person to recognise how good he was' in his memoirs True Grit.

Terry Neill played alongside Simpson in the years preceding the double and later managed him for a while when he returned to the club in 1976 and recalls a story from the mid 1970s in his autobiography. Simpson had called into Neill's office and said 'I'm worried about my form. I think I've lost my enthusiasm and my pace.'

Neill retorted with 'you've never had any great enthusiasm or pace but I think you're are one hell of a player.Now get out of my office!'

In the programme for Simpson's testimonial against Tottenham in 1976 Bob Wilson, by then the only pro Arsenal voice in a Liverpool fawning media, wrote a witty page extolling Stan's qualities.

Interestingly the programme has Steve Gatting, now back with Arsenal on the coaching staff, wearing number 3 while the match report shows John Radford as an unlikely left back. Oh, and do you recognise our sub that evening? Parker as in Brian, our reserve goalkeeper

Wilson's final game for the Arsenal came in 1974 at home to QPR afterwards there was a bit of a bash. Simpson was among the first to arrive and among the last to leave. Rather than accept a lift home he said he was happy to walk 'don't worry about me Bob, you know how much I love training' and off home he walked with 'a cigar in one hand and a glass of champagne in the other'!

I don't think they make players like him anymore which is a shame.

The Day The Babes Died

Much of Manchester United's current glamour predates the likes of Beckham, Cantona, Best and Duxbury. The Busby Babes were apparently a great side. I never saw them play but those who did, and I once went to a BBQ with Gordon Nutt, who played for Arsenal against them in what was to be the last time many of them played alive in England, says they were amazing.

Remember, no TV in them days so nothing on You Tube.

Anyway, Busby survived, dragged the survivors from the wreckage and built another team who conquered Europe in 1968 and a legend was born with a holy trinity of Best, Law and Charlton.

And Best, it will be remembered, grew up a fan of the biggest club in  the country, Wolves!

The airport in Munchen where United came to grief was later used for concerts and I must admit on one mad night I went to see ABBA tribute band Bjorn Again there after seeing 1860 Munchen earlier in the afternoon.

It was fitting therefore that the 25th anniversary of that disaster should come against the Arsenal in a League Cup semi final at Old Trafford. They had won the first leg 4-2 at Highbury and the second game didn't have much to commend it.


You know things are grim on the field when the biggest cheer of the night came when the scoreboard announced Ken and Dierdrie would be staying together! (Coronation Street in case you didn't know!)

To quote from the newspaper clipping of that game. Little did the write know just how long:

Never have I seen Manchester United greater - nor have I seen such superb fighting spirit in an Arsenal team for many seasons. All the 63,000 spectators at Highbury will agree this was a match to remember for a long, long time.

A Red, Red Robin

It smacks in a way of the big boys looking for revenge pretty damn quick. In 1969 Arsenal lost 3-1 to Swindon Town in the League Cup Final; as shocking then as it sounds now. Within 6 months we were inviting the Robins to Highbury for revenge, sorry, a friendly.


Stinks, doesn't it? Sounds rather like the school bully and alpha male, you know the one who got all the girls and none of the acne, got beaten up behind the bike sheds and he wanted a piece of revenge...in his back garden.

Swindon would have been onto a hiding to nothing. Make a bit of cash yes but then have the Arsenal say look, we can beat you!

But it was only  meaningless friendly. It was to be 10 years and a bit before the Arsenal met Swindon again and that too was also in the League Cup. The first game at Highbury was a draw before Swindon, then in the 3rd Division, or was it the 4th, won the replay at the County Ground 4-3.

So it was that we entered the last decade of the century and Swindon still had the upper hand over us. And if we're weren't meeting in Cup games there was little chance of ending that hoodoo. Until Swindon went and got promoted to the Premier League. We played them twice of course in 1993/1994 and beat them twice. It's taken a long time but even now has the slate been wiped clean? Those twin defeats still appear in the record books, they will never be eviscerated from our memories.


There is another team nicknamed the Robins who have a hex over us...but let's not go there eh?

G"Day Mate. When We Hosted The Aussies

This was never the most exciting game Highbury has witnessed but it holds a personal resonance for me. From this friendly in late 1984 three years later I was to make Australia home for a few years, not always legally (!) and many of the names became familiar to me.

Striker John Kosmina of course had a short spell with the Arsenal in the late 1970s but made little impact and soon returned down under; now he is coaching an A League team I believe.

My first game in what was then known as the National Soccer League featured a dark haired striker who reminded me of Kevin Keegan with his mobility and directness despite not being the biggest player in the world. His name was Frank Farina, then with Marconi, who later blazed a trail to Europe at a time when player rarely did.

Then we have Ian Gray. He played for Australia against England in 1991 and had the misfortune to score the only goal of the game in the wrong net. I also think I may have met him one night at an FA Cup Final showing in Sydney but cannot swear to it. Tragically died a few years back.

Little Joe Watson, a few years later I saw him score a cracking goal for APIA, 35 years plus, in the mud at St George Stadium.

By the time I moved to Australia I had of course forgotten all these names; I had to start from scratch. But you just gotta love some of that facial hair!

DownUnder before Shanes and Megans turned it into a cast for soapies!

Arsenal's First Asian Tour

Arsenal recently confirmed they would visit Indonesia later this year for the first time in 30 odd years. The last two years they have been to Malaysia and China twice as well as Hong Kong.

Their first trip to Asia came in 1968 when they played games in Japan and Malaysia and in the programme for the opening game of the 1968/69 season Bob Wall wrote a few paragraphs about the trip.

As was the club's habit in the years following the Munich air disaster the team took separate flights east, one group flying via Hamburg and Anchorage, the other through Paris and Anchorage.

Arsenal were less impressed with their Japanese opponents, Wall describing them as a good Third Division, but recognised the hard work being put into football even then and talked about their desire to appear at the World Cup one year. They didn't just appear of course. 34 years after Arsenal's visit they co hosted it!

Indeed Wall, recognising the potential, said that 'they will become a force in the world football scene before very many years have passed'.

The first game was against an All Japan XI in Tokyo in front of 50,000 fans, what was a record attendance for football back then. We won 3-1 which was not bad against a Third Division team I guess though Wall commented the pitch was not that good!

The second game was in Fukuoka where the pitch was worse and it rained most of the time. Arsenal won again, this time 1-0, and so they returned to Tokyo for the final game, a sightseeing trip to Kyoto being wiped out by the inclement weather.

Some confusion surrounds the attendance in the second game. Wall says it was around 20,000 while Fred Ollier in the fantastic Arsenal A Complete Record goes for 10,000.

Back in Tokyo and again another record attendance for Japanese football with 70,000 filling the National Stadium and we won 4-0.

Then it was off to Kuala Lumpur for a final game which we won 6-2 against a President's XI which Wall describes as players from 'various different Asian countries'. Substitute David Jenkins scored a 16  minute hat trick in that game.

23/05 All Japan XI 3-1 (Gould, Radford, Neill)
Wilson, Rice, Storey, McLintock, Neill, Simpson, Radford, Court, Graham, Gould, Armstrong
26/05 All Japan XI 1-0 (Simmons)
Wilson (Furnell), Rice, Storey, McLintock (Woodward), Simpson, Court, Radford, Jenkins, Graham (Simmons), Gould, Armstrong
29/05 All Japan XI 4-0 (McLintock, Jenkins, Radford)
Wilson (Furnell), McNab, Storey (Rice (Nelson)), McLintock (Woodward), Neill, Simpson, Radford, Court, Jenkins,Gould (Simmons), Armstrong
02/06 President's XI 6-2 (Jenkins 3, Gould, Court, Simmons)
Furnell, McNab, Storey (Rice), McLintock, Neill, Simpson, Radford, Court, Graham (Simmons), Gould (Jenkins), Armstrong

Check out the line up in the first game. Of those 11 players no less than seven returned to Arsenal at various times in their careers for various jobs!

Today's tours are very different of course with national media following the club and regular updates on line and on Arsenal TV meaning not much gets missed back home. These days fans can be expected to be waiting at the airport to greet their jet lagged heroes, camp outside the hotel (I know one guy who checked into a hotel in KL but spent the night at the same hotel as the players hoping to get Andrei Arsharvin to sign his shirt!) and catch a training session.

Sunderland & Angry Of Hammersmith

With Arsenal travelling to Sunderland today I thought it would be a good idea to look back at a previous encounter between the two teams and it wasn't difficult to decide which game...I only have the one programme from Roker Park back in 1985!

With Newcastle and Liverpool still to visit Roker the Arsenal game on 9 March 1985 produced the Mackems largest home crowd of the season which was odd when you consider the home team were 5th off the bottom and we were 5th off the top.

What had happened though was that Sunderland had just reached the League Cup Final; their first major final since that famous day when they had beaten Leeds United in the FA Cup Final in 1973.

Days before Arsenal cruised into town Sunderland had beaten Chelsea in the League Cup semi final 2nd leg 3-2 at Stamford Bridge giving them a 5-2 aggregate win and a chance to play Norwich City in the final two weeks later.

Sunderland manager Len Ashurst wrote in his programme notes that he was writing them before the game at Chelsea so was blissfully unaware of reaching the final saying 'I wonder what the outcome will be'! Such was the whacky world of publishing deadlines I guess.

The 1st leg against Chelsea had been a firey affair off the field with the Arsenal programme posting a couple of letters from fans who had been upset with the incidents they had seen including the obligatory 'I probably won't go to another game'! All that was missing was some old duffer calling for the birch or national service. I wonder who the Sunderland equivalent of Max Kester was?!

Their last home league game had seen over 14,000 fans turn up for the Stoke game; with a Cup Final in the offiing the crowd doubled against the Arsenal as fans realised they had Wembley tickets to buy.

We didn't have many travel that day and the few we had we split between a pen on the open terrace and a few seats to the side.

I was in the seats and behind us were a few Sunderland lads, so much for segregation, and after the game, a 0-0, they come up and asked us for the vouchers that had come with the programmes as these were needed for ticket applications.

Where Was This Perry Groves World?

OK I may have been gone a long time but when I first started reading that Tintin lookalike Perry Groves had become a cult figure I had to reign in the horses. El Pel a hero?

Nothing against the fella, he was George Graham's first signing back in 1986, but I don't recall Highbury buzzing with love towards him. Indeed my memories of him, I called him Twinkle Toes because of the way he appeared to run on the tips of his toes, are of a hard working player sure but not much more. I certainly don't recall any special attention from the fans. In fact possibly the opposite.

Fast forward a couple of decades and the guy is now a legend. History has been kind to him and he is perhaps making more impact now than he did as a player, the Littlewoods Cup Final against Liverpool notwithstanding, through his work for the club and his shagging exploits in his book We All Live In A Perry Groves World.

It's not a bad thing of course this revision of history for the player but as this letter in the programme against Notts County back in 1991 showed five years into his Highbury career he seemed to have difficulties winning the support over.

Glory Hunting Tossers

1982/83 was a bloody awful season all round. We reached the semi final of the FA Cup, knocked out by Manchester United, and the semi final of the league cup, knocked out by Manchester United. In the second half of the season the faithful dwindled and the only league game to attract over 25,000 was Swansea City on New Year's Day.

Stoke City 19,428
Brighton 17,972
Forest 21,698
Luton 23,987
Ipswich 17,639
Southampton 24,911
Coventry 19,152
Man City 16,810

By the time we played United for the 4th time that season everyone was well and truly fed up with what was going on...or not and just 23,602 turned up for the team sitting 3rd. Yep, Luton and Southampton attracted more to Highbury than the biggest club in the world (trademark).

Against this  backdrop the club decided to increase admission prices! The team was going nowhere, the fans were staying away and Arsenal, in their infinite wisdom decided fans who wanted to stand would have to pay an extra 20p to watch their mid table heroes while seat prices ranged from 3.50 to 6.50.

Obviously the manager Terry Neill was aware something needed to be done. His splurge in the transfer market the previous summer had not been successful with only Tony Woodcock doing the business on a regular basis. Lee Chapman had become a target for the boo boys in record quick time while Vladimir Petrovic had taken a long time to arrive but departed pretty sharpish.

Neill returned to the transfer market at the end of the season, signing Ian Allinson, John Lukic and Charlie Nicholas and the fans responded with the opening three games of 1983/84 averaging around 40,000.

You Were Wrong Tony!

This comes from Tony Adams notes in the programme for a League Cup tie v Oldham Athletic in 1994.

You can see he doesn't anticipate his career lasting much longer, this game was 11 years after his debut against Sunderland, as he says outfield players can't go on as long as they used to.

He hoped to be proved wrong and he certainly was as he carried on playing for another eight years and said that Arsene Wenger was directly responsible for those extra years.

A proud man, I don't think Tony Adams likes to be proven wrong too often but on this occasion I am sure he won't mind.

Back to the game it was my last Highbury home game and Paul Dickov scored both goals to put Arsenal through to the next round. Dickov of course went on to manage Oldham and only got the tin tack earlier in the week!

Peter Hill Wood

It seems impossible to imagine an Arsenal without a Hill Wood. When I was growing up it was Denis and no one ever had a bad word about him. Read books by the likes of Terry Neill and Malcolm MacDonald, they all speak fondly of him.

Denis went and Peter took over as chairman. Now he is characterised as a bumbling old toff better known for mishaps than anything else. 'Thank you for your interest in the club', 'we don't want his sort here'.

And when the Arsenal introduced the controversial bond scheme in the early 1990s he called those who shelled the 1000 quid + 'suckers'!

When Peter was appointed to the board in 1962, the picture and text come from the West Ham United programme on 13 October, he became the 3rd generation Hill Wood to have served on the board and now, 51 years later he is still there.

That family must have some programme collection if they didn't use them to light their cigars!

Pity poor Peter? He was the only director, along with Robert Bellinger, without any kind of title! His old man was an MC but poor old Pete had to make do with an Esq after his name.

Another link with the past. Guy Bracewell Smith, who boasted an MBE and a BA, was a director back in 1962. Today a relative, Nina, is an Honourary Vice President