London Calling

Fortunately (for you!) there was only one match this week so I’ll need a lot less words!

 Charlton.

 Funny to think that but for the foresight (and machinations) of Sir Henry Norris this would probably be our biggest local derby of the year.  Certainly Charlton are the nearest club to our geographical roots, and maybe in some alternative universe this game is the biggest game of the season for both sets of fans.

It’s easy to speculate about how we would have done if we had stayed where cabs don’t go at night (‘South of the river Guv?  At this time of night?’) but I think it’s fair to say that we probably wouldn’t have enjoyed the level of success that we have.  The one thing we can be certain about is that it would have added another hour on to my journey for each home game so if only for that selfish reason I’m glad we did!

 Talking of travel – I bought a new car last week.  Now this may not seem like much but if I tell you that out of my last four cars (at least 15 years worth) one was inherited, one was given instead of a debt I was owed, one was actually won in a card game and the other was part of a pay off when I left a job it’s slightly more surprising.  Jazz needs a new car so we were out looking last week.  We went to see one and the guy had an old Mazda 323 on the drive as well.  Half joking I said I might have bought it if it was for sale and it turned out it was going in auto-trader that week.  Half an hour later I’d spent £600 quid!  Ok, we’re not talking something that will last forever but it’ll be fun to drive for a year – especially compared to my ever-unreliable Peugeot (which Jazz is now driving as she hasn’t found herself a car yet!).

 Now, with all that talk about new cars I suppose I should have driven down but as I had to get there and back in a day it was the train again.  Ended up sat opposite an interesting and friendly Irish couple.  He was a writer (proper one – not like me…) and they did a lot of travelling so we had plenty to talk about.  That’s when we could hear each other – unfortunately there was a young child with its parents that were the sort that think everyone wants to hear their brat squealing and screaming for a couple of hours.  Thankfully they weren’t on the train all the way down though, and as they got off I commented to my travelling companions ‘And chav begat chav’.  Mr Irish obviously liked the line and asked if he could use it, so if you ever see a book out called ‘And chav begat chav’ you’ll know where the title came from.

 I got to Highbury quite early and decided to just go for a stroll round the ground and down to Ashburton Grove.  First time in a couple of months I’d taken the stroll and the place is really coming along.  There was a piece in the programme about the first seats going in last week and apparently 4000 a week are arriving (from the far east and flown in on Emirates…) until they’re all in.  I know that nothing is going to be done to ‘dismantle’ Highbury until the safety certificate is granted on Ashburton but from everything I’ve heard the stadium is far enough ahead of schedule that even a small disaster won’t impact on us opening next season there.

 Strolled back round past the main entrance and there was Gilles Grimandi signing autographs.  A vastly underrated player (and an absolute model professional) during his time at Highbury he’s now a scout for us in France and is very much an Arsenal man.  He was obviously in a hurry but made sure he signed for everyone that wanted, and whilst I didn’t want an autograph I did want to shake his hand.  (In my best French) I said ‘Glad you played for Arsenal mate’ to which he smiled and said (in English) ‘Thanks’.  Ahem.

 A couple of pre-match liveners in the 12 Pins then it was back to Highbury.  As with Fulham this is a London derby, but not a big derby match.  Having said that they’ve turned us over a couple of times so despite admiration for the campaign their fans fought to get the club back to The Valley a few years ago a nice thrashing always feels good.  And that’s what they got…

 The team is starting to purr now and whilst Charlton home is one we should really always win there have been plenty of games this season that we should have won but didn’t.  I’ve talked a few times about how football is all about going on runs and the recent run of victories has done wonders for the confidence of the team.  We’re starting to play with the same verve we had a couple of years ago and the youngsters are really starting to believe in themselves.  Some of our interplay was just devastating and this team certainly has the potential to eclipse the 49-ers – and don’t forget we’re still playing with only one of our first choice back four.  At times I almost found myself feeling sorry for Charlton because for all their honest endeavour they didn’t have a prayer.

 After the third went in (and what a gloriously Wengerball goal it was – back heel clearance from Gilberto in our box and 10 seconds later it’s in the back of their net) everyone eased off.  It wasn’t just the players; it was the crowd as well.  Game over, job done and after the last couple of home games it’s not really surprising that this one petered out. 

 Having said that I was very happy to see Henry in the press complaining that we should have kept going and kept playing.  Every game from now until the end of the season is going to be a big game and the players simply can’t afford to ease off, no matter how understandable it may be on occasion.  Wenger said a week or two ago that Thierry was growing into the captains role and I think that’s true.  Whatever job you do sometimes it can be difficult at first when you’re promoted but it has always seemed as though the other players were behind him so he must be doing something right.

 There was one point that Charlton equalled us on.  Early in the second half they won a corner and the crowd around were baying at the ref because the ball wasn’t in the quadrant.  The ref went over and to much hilarity from the fans in that corner made the player move the ball.  A bit later we had a corner in front of their fans and exactly the same happened – which led to the biggest cheer from the Charlton fans all day. 

Finsbury Park is being redeveloped and they’re making a right cock-up of it from what I can see.  There’s only one way in now and it can be a bit of a crush so the police decided to try and filter people over the road to the station.  Unfortunately their ‘plan’ was so flawed it must have been designed by computer.  They stood at the bottom of St Thomas Road and stopped everyone.  Didn’t matter where you were going, they blocked the road.  Of course this created a crush and everyone is jammed in.  So 100’s of people jump across to the next road and get out through there.  Seeing people going ‘round’ the incredibly unimpressive barrier those that had been held back pushed through and it turned into a complete farce with a constant stream of people crossing the road as a forlorn copper repeated ‘Stay behind the barrier, stay off the road’ through his megaphone to general derision and absolutely no effect.

 I had an open ticket on the train so the earlier I could get on a train the earlier I’d be home and less than an hour after the final whistle I was on the train back.  Fortunately there were no screamers on the train this time; unfortunately there was no ladies hockey team about to get on the train at a later stop like last week…

 Strangest thing about the day – being home in time for Match of the Day.  Doesn’t happen often.

 Hleb.

 A special mention this week for our number 13.  He’s really starting to impose himself on games more and whilst there is still plenty to come from him he’s learning his job very well.  If you look at old interviews and such like he prefers (or certainly did prefer) to play centrally behind the attackers but has had to learn how to be a winger.  He’s not a goalscorer so it was great to see him on the score sheet and he’s really starting to understand what’s going on around him.  Most importantly this run of form has come at just the right time for Theo Walcott in that it takes pressure off him and stops the clamour for the kid to be brought in immediately.

 FIFA and Racism.

 FIFA have announced that with immediate effect draconian measures can be taken against clubs where there is a problem.  Although I agree with Wenger that it is a system that could be open to abuse something had to be done and it should have happened a long time ago.  It’s easy for people in England to be smug about it being a foreign problem and whilst it’s true that a lot of good work has been done over here we must remember that it’s not that long ago that it was a major problem in England and there is certainly no room for complacency here or anywhere else. 

Fixtures.

 Ok, this is the week Sven wins the World Cup.  Part of the fixture jigging he wanted means that this week the quarter finals of the FA Cup are all being played this week, rather than at a weekend as usual.  Personally I’ve always though it was a silly plan because at the end of the season the players will have played the same number of games they would have done so I really can’t see where the advantage is supposed to come from.  As an aside seven of the last eight lost their league matches at the weekend, the only winners came in the game between two of them!

 Wembley.

 Well, not ready for the Cup Final, now it appears it won’t be ready for the Charity Shield next season.  A recent piece in The Guardian estimates the final cost of the stadium will exceed £1bn (against an original £350m) and the whole thing has become a complete farce.  Compare and contrast with Ashburton (which with all the rest involved is actually a far bigger job) and it shows what an amazing job the Directors have done getting it built.  In fact the only thing that has gone right at Wembley is that the arch was connected to the roof last week and it held it up without problem.  (edit – Oops, it’s Monday morning and the Wembley site has been evacuated after a girder fell from the roof.  I reckon it might be finished in time for the Olympics in 2012…)

 Seats.

 Arsenal are selling off all the seats at Highbury.  For £20 you can buy the seat and back and for another £20 have them made into a chair so you can sit on it forever.  Do the club really think that we’re sad enough to buy old seats out of the stadium (especially non-season ticket holders who would get a random seat)?  Too right we are, and if my brother doesn’t want his then I’m having a pair!  Funnily enough I’d been concocting a plan to get my seat out of the stadium that was so bloody complicated that I’m happy to part with £20.  Actually, that’s probably why the club did it because I can’t have been the only person thinking like that.

 Well, that’s it for this week. 

Come On You Red(currant)s!