Thursday, May 18, 2006

Proud to be a Gooner

Er, I wrote this when slightly worse for wear at 1 am yesterday. After wondering whether it was wise to post I thought yes.

Bumper Goonerboy today in honour of our heroic performance in Paris, with three posts to raise spirits. So without further ado here is the aforementioned post, sorry if it's a bit mawkish but I still mean it now when completely sober:

A few reasons why I’m proud to be a gooner. In no particular order.


Because I remember Alan Smith scoring the only goal when we lost our only game in the 90/91 season.

Because the first time I saw Arsenal play, me and my Dad got soaked by sitting in the front row of a half empty North Bank.

Because I remember Steve Morrow breaking his arm.

Because I remember Arsenal Parma in ’94. Alan Smith scoring after Tomas Brolin had hit the post.

Because of Dennis’s penalty miss against United in ’99, and Giggs subsequent goal.

Because of Marky Marky Overmars sticking one past United in ’98.

Because of seeing Arsenal Wimbledon 5-0 in’98.

Because of Arsene.

Becase of the Marble halls. The first thing I saw the first time I entered Highbury. [Get in!]

Because of Paddy coming on as a sub for Raymond Parlour early on against Sheff Wed early on in his Arsenal career.

Because Jens won us the FA cup last year

Because we are the only invincibles.

Because of Thierry.

Because of the back five.

Because of Dennis.

Because of Highbury.

Because of Arsenal in Paris in 2006.

Naturally, I could go on. The main point I wanted to make is that we lost tonight, but we can hold our heads up high.


‘When I was just a little boy’, seven to be precise, a part of my heart became devoted to our football club. I implore you all, wherever you are, to go out with your Arsenal shirt on this week. I will be.

Proud to be a gooner. Always.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

im very pitty casue i cannot feel the real spirit to be a Gunner cause im from Macedonia and i can only see Arsenal ond TV but today i feel it for a little the honour to love team who can show pride and attitude.

GO ARSENAL!!!!

Anonymous said...

Yep, proud to be a gooner today! When faced with a gloating Manc this morning who said you lost, I said the whole team made me proud by their effort and morally we won. We had no one on our side except justice and sometimes justice makes you wait.. but our time will come, mark it down, make no mistake.. WE WILL WIN THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE SOON.

Anonymous said...

We have to be proud!We lads did their best-great spirit,passion,team work...
Let`s hope Henry will stay and with a few summer singings we could strenght the squad and be back for more.
Thanks guys for give us such a great season in Europe and let`s do this again next year,but this time - with the tittle!
P.S. shame on you norwegian reffs,you were shocking!

Anonymous said...

dublin gooners just back from paris feeling very empty but at same time very proud,good to good to be good to be a gooner,i love arsenal even more today ,if thats possible,our day will come thanks for the memories

Anonymous said...

man you speical Arsenal Supporter i am clapping for you .. yes thats the real and the real thing we are proud to be a gooners .. thanks Arsenal thanks for every ech players .. thanks for anyone wear or flaging arsenal logo in stade de france ..

Arsenal
4
ever

Anonymous said...

Couldn't agree more, I am so proud of the team after last night. When Lehman was sent off, I was thinking "oh no, disaster!". But the boys didn't let me down. They could have easily given up and been crushed by Barca, but the spirit and determination they showed was magnificent. Only if they actually won the thing could I have been more proud. The performance of the team last night is a sign of great things to come and I will be amazed if TH leaves now.

Anonymous said...

They weren't crushed by Barca, but by the referee. He admitted later on, that he have made a mistake by sending Lehman off. If he didn't do so, Arsenal would win, despite the Barcelona's opening goal. I'm from Bulgaria and I support Arsenal since '93. Our guys didn't let us down, it was the referee who FUCKED UP OUR EFFORTS! MAY HE ROT IN HELL!

Anonymous said...

Here is the official position of FC Barcelona with regard to transfers this summer, as stated by Sandro Rosell in a recent televised interview: Barca’s maximum transfer budget this summer is 45 million euros. However, Rosell stated clearly and unequivocally that Barca WAS NOT willing to spend more than 40 million on Cesc. Unless Arsenal is willing to sell Cesc for less than 40 million, he is NOT going to Barcelona. End of story. Also, while Rosell did appear to confirm that Barca was in negotiations over certain other players, he claimed that he had “no idea” whether or not the club might try to sign Cesc this summer. Personally, I would read that as “no.” However, if Barca IS in negotiations to sign other players, that would take an even bigger chunk out of the 45 million before Barca would have money to spend on Cesc. Reading between the lines of Rosell’s interview, I don’t think that Barca is even planning to make an offer for Cesc. Finally, I want to address the issue of Cesc’s supposed “dream” to return to Barcelona. I have heard Cesc state publicly on more than one occasion that he is happy at Arsenal, and does NOT want to leave Arsenal to go to Barcelona. All he’s ever said is that he would enjoy having the chance to play at Barcelona SOMEDAY, but he has no idea whether that will ever happen. But he’s perfectly happy at Arsenal. Personally, I would suggest that you take Cesc’s word on this, as opposed to the words of various “others” who have attributed to him this supposed “desire” to leave. Ok, that’s the end of my “Cesc transfer saga” rant. In truth, if you don’t believe me by now, you probably never will, so I’ll leave you to it. Cheers

Anonymous said...

Oh, and on a related note to the above post:

I would also like to make it clear that Barcelona DID NOT make a 27 million euro offer for Cesc, as was reported last week. If Barca had made an offer, it would have been formally announced by the club, which has not happened. We’ve also had no official statement from Arsenal about any “offer.”

In fact, the whole story emerged from an EXTREMELY dubious and completely unsourced claim in the Sun that Sandro Rosell had called up Ivan Gazidis and made a “verbal offer” of 27 million, which was immediately rejected. Personally, I don’t believe it. And in any case, a “verbal offer” isn’t really an offer at all. So, Barcelona has not made any offers for Cesc this summer, and I don’t expect them to.

Think about it. If Barcelona is so short on money that they can’t afford to make color copies, then surely they don’t have enough extra paper lying around to be sending it straight to the rubbish bins in the Arsenal offices. It doesn’t make any sense

Anonymous said...

This Cesc Fabregas saga is beginning to do my head in a little bit.

I'm starting to feel like I'm having a Déjà vu.

I'm starting to feel like I'm having a Déjà vu........eh? I swear I wrote that a minute ago.

To be honest I'm still very confident that Cesc will be an Arsenal player next season.

I know he is suffering at Arsenal, so much so he'd rather join Millwall than stay with us, but unfortunately Barcelona don't seem to value him that much.

If they did, then they would put his transfer as a priority over the Sanchez deal.

Instead they continue to flirt with Cesc like the time, and I swear on this, Rihanna did with me in a strip club one night.

Then I woke up. Sweating.

Barcelona continue to flash their knickers at our skipper in the hope he will put in a transfer request to pull those knickers down.

Well, I can't see him doing that because;

A) Despite him being in an Arsenal 'hell' he does genuinely love us,

and,

B) By all accounts he has a mega monster munch whack of loyalty money he would miss out on if he asked for a transfer.

Now Pep Guardiola has said his club have until 31 August to do a deal with us for Cesc.

Arsenal should say bollocks to that. And they should say it in public too.

And by the way, I would love to see Arsene Wenger saying bollocks.

Call a press conference and tell the whole wide world and its entire stinking existence that Barca have until 30 July to meet our terms or they can just jog on.

After that date we will ignore them like my guvnor does me when I ask for a pay-rise.

This saga is taking over our summer and I'm sure that preparations for the new season must be being affected by it.

If we are spending all our time fighting Barca off then how can we concentrate on getting the players in that we need?

Also these players might want to see if Cesc is still at Arsenal before they sign.

It is fast turning into Farcelona more than Barcelona and this farce needs to end before I go more loco than Britney Spears.

Anonymous said...

People go on and on about Wenger inheriting Adams et al, and yet it was Wenger, not Graham, who assembled the Invincibles back four of Lauren, Campbell, Toure, and Cole. This was a greater feat than anything George Graham did.

In short, Wenger DOES know how to put together a defence, but for a variety of reasons–not least of which financial, and having to compete with sugar daddy clubs for Europe’s top players–has found it difficult to do so in recent years. “Replacing” the Invincibles with players of equal quality was a difficult task made almost impossible by the building of a new stadium in the midst of an economic meltdown, all the while trying to operate in a self-sustainable way.

I’m not saying I like the team as it is, and my posts on here often reflect concerns I have with personnel and managerial decisions, but the level of vitriol aimed at the club is baffling. I completely understand the frustration experienced by supporters. I, too, am frustrated, and there are times I want to bash my head against the wall, particularly when we seem to continue to prioritize the signing of potential in a summer which demands proven experience, but I cannot see the sense in people then calling Wenger a “cunt-faced wanker” (as some have done here and elsewhere), not now nor ever, and certainly not before the transfer window has closed.