Morning all.
’Things ain’t what the used to be’ – a line from an old song which I just about remember. Not the original version of course as that was well before my time, as was the first north London Derby.
There are plenty of local derbies in football, Reading v Oxford or Swindon is my most local but divisions divide them so seldom do they materialise. There’s Utd v City in Manchester, Everton v Liverpool, Southampton v Bournemouth, all in the top flight of English football. Any fixture between London clubs is considered to be a local derby but none come as big as the one in the north.
The rivalry between the two clubs kicked off in the early 1900’s when Arsenal moved their ground to north London. To date, 185 matches have been played since their first game in the Football League in 1909. 77 wins for Arsenal, 58 for Toots and 50 draws. So we’re ahead as far as victories go but that’s history and as much as it’s great to look back in life, what’s the point? History is not for budging but the present is, so too the future and that’s what’s important in life.
History is often great to look back on with many fond memories but it’s about learning too. Learning from mistakes which have been made and rectifying them. Not that we do very often and I mean in life, in general. But I’ll stick to football this morning, or rather The Arsenal against the Toots.
Despite my many trips to Highbury and The Emirates, I’ve never experienced the atmosphere of an NLD but I’ve heard stories and plenty of them. The battles/fights on the pitch as well as those off if between fans the hatred between the two ran deep. Whether that’s still the case I don’t know and if it is, the media have clearly missed it. Actually, I hope it’s lessened because ultimately it’s really not worth it. As far as The Arsenal goes, just let football do the talking because three points to the red corner matter much more than a fat lip to the guy wearing a white shirt.
Back in the days of George Graham and Tony Adams, there was usually only one winner and that pretty much continued to be the case through the Arsenal Wenger era too but recently the tables turned. They were the ones finishing in the Champions League place, they were beating us at WHL and started taking points off us at home too. The media loved it of course as ‘the power in north London had finally shifted.’ It hadn’t and still hasn’t of course because despite all the gushing over Poch, Kane and co, they’ve done nothing other than get whipped in what was an awful Champions League Final.
I know Arsenal haven’t faired any better, but at least a few FA Cup trophies came our way whilst we had a manager who was declining rapidly, not the next best thing since sliced bread Poch!
Anyway, normality was kind of restored last season. But for a referee howler, which won’t go unnoticed now that VAR is in place should it happen again, and a moment of sloppiness from Aubameyang, we’d have done the double over them last season in the league. Plus, those two points dropped alone would have been enough to see us finish 4th and them 5th.
But as said already, history is there for learning because it can’t be changed. We have another year of Europa League football and we have to suck it up. At the same time, Unai Emery and his players have to make sure that that little bit of history is not repeated. We have to return to the Champions League and beating one of our rivals in the top four race will certainly do us no harm at all, even this early in the season.
Other than the three points though, the getting back to winning ways, the fact that we’re at home and a boring two week international break follows etc, does an NLD matter to you any more than if we were playing Chelsea, Leicester, Crystal Palace or any other Premier League club?
Will you be getting wound up, nervous and excited as the clock ticks towards 4-30pm tomorrow afternoon? Does this match still get to you like it did when Adams or Vieira led the team through the tunnel and onto the pitch? Or the days when players like Parlour, Rocastle, Thomas, Dixon, Keown, Winterburn, the list through time is endless, gave every last ounce of energy to ensure victory was ours?
Is this match still The Arsenal against that lot, or has the extra bite to this match gone?
Morning all.
Montreal has gone back to Spain. What a shame. A thoroughly well made player. We shall miss him, especially tomorrow, I suspect. But good luck to him he’s been a very loyal servant to Arsenal football club.
Monreal ffs
I thought he was meant to be going after tomorrow’s match..
Oh well, good luck to Nacho, he deserves it.
Morning Wavy, all.
Good morning Rico and Wavy.
NLD is always a bone of contention in my household, how could it fail to be with a Spurs supporting wife. 😉
With the Spuds having lost a few important players and only a soggy sticking plaster covering the fracture between Levy and his Argentinean manager, there couldn’t be a better time to “welcome” the dwellers from the New Swamp.
It would be very nice to take three points off them and open up an early season gap.
As to the rivalry, I don’t see it so much in the players, most are cosseted millionaires remote from day to day contact with “the other lot” and largely out of touch with the fans. Long gone are the days when players and fans from both clubs would meet up in local boozers and seedy gambling clubs.
All the same I’m, as always, looking forward to the game.
Morning all,
Obviously, the NLD doesn’t mean as much to me as it does locals but it’s always nice to roll them!!
I doubt very much it means as much to players nowadays, for similar reasons to us overseas fans.
It can’t, and passion can not be manufactured, imo.
Ups the Left back ante , could have done with him tomorrow but it means a start for Kolasinac and a reshuffled defence.
As I said yesterday , I wish him well ,he fought for us in a fully commited way as you would expect from a man bought up in a culture of bull running . His honesty and influence on the youngsters will be missed .
Morning Cicero.
Willock, AMN and Nelson know what the derby means or at least they should. Freddie too because of his past experiences.
Someone has to spread the word.
My guess is Luiz will have a lot to say ahead of the match too.
Sorry to see Nacho leave but it had to happen sooner or later. At least there was no ill feeling, which can’t be said about the departure of Koscielny.
I chance for Kolascinac to make an impression perhaps? Before Tierney finally attains full fitness.
It’s not been the same since we left Highbury, we lost a big part of the clubs history when we left the Marble Halls. The Emirates is nice and shiny but it’s soul less to me, maybe if and when we win the League there it may change, but for me it’ll always be Highbury….
The players today are too friendly pre match, the last time there was a real antipathy was when we were going at it with Man Utd. I miss the teams coming out separately, that set the atmosphere, I can still recall the feelings of dread when the old Leeds came out at Highbury, they didn’t give a fcuk, they strutted around, Bremner, Giles, Hunter, Jones, Clarke, Charlton, Lorimer, Madeley. We boo’d them constantly and they loved it, that was a game of passion, you could feel it, nowadays they’re all too chummy…
Maybe Liverpool and Man City have that feeling now, I would imagine that the fans of those two teams are more focused on that game that when they Man Utd now…
Back in day it seemed to mean more to the likes of Mullery, England, McLintock, Graham, Gilzean, Radford, Greaves (an Arsenal fan btw), Storey, Knowles, Simpson, Kinnear, Wilson, Jennings, Armstrong, Beal (I can still see his own goal), Chivers, Simpson et al…
That was a North London Derby….
As a fan, I think the feelings lessen as you get older, I’m certainly not as invested in the NLD now as I was 40 years ago, then I’d be thinking about the game more than a week beforehand and the fans would be chanting ‘We hate Tottenham’ etc when Arsenal were playing the previous fixtures against say Coventry or West Brom, much to the confusion of their fans.
That doesn’t happen now so much, if at all…
When I first saw the fixtures the visit to Liverpool stood out as the big game and tbh it’s still lingering on my mind… Playing Tottenham was an afterthought.
I’d have butterflies in my stomach days before, now all I’m thinking about is going to work tomorrow.
Unfortunately the fixture has been sanitised, it’s lost something and I doubt that it’ll return – well not for me…
Afternoon Rico…
Apparently Elneny has joined Besiktas on loan…
I still laugh when Wenger apologists say that he left us a great squad…
So great that we can’t move them on, stuck with Mustafi until January it seems…
Football in general has been sanitised and the NLD is just a by product of the system it’s worth 3 points the same as all the other games.
Rivalry used to be the energy of the masses whether you were Clock end , North Bank , and some east side or even Paxton , Shelf , Park Lane . It was the identity and the bragging rights at school , work , Pubs etc .
People from both clubs lived together. At my school it was about 60/40 to Spurs as at that time they had just had the 61 double and were considered top dogs . Kids didn’t support Liverpool or United but now the fans are scattered , it matters little to my neighbours so I don’t get the week before wind ups and certainly after the match I can go to the pub and it won’t be mentioned.
I suspect it is pretty much the same for many of us , certainly none of the guys that had seats around mine actually lived in the area , Essex , Hertfordshire , Kent in the main , sorry Rico I did not know anyone from Berkshire but I am sure that they were there.
I grew up 4 miles from Highbury , it was a regular talking point , the first fixture you looked for , I doubt it’s the same for those being bought into the two clubs who probably live 30 or 40 miles away.
Sad but a number of economic things have changed the whole picture , football is a TV sport , the fans in the stadium are a by product in fact the clubs want them to be BUY products , the atmosphere has gone and the rivalry that lasted all season is now built up over two weeks unless there is a cup meeting.
I will still sit on the edge of my seat as most will but it’s definitely not the same.
Hi Kev, great comment to read. I knew someone would go back further than me and my money was on you, Potter and Rick. Lol
I agree re moving from Highbury to Emirates. It might be new and bring in more revenue etc but there’s no heart or soul in the place.
Although I suspect tomorrow might see the place wake up a bit.
Also, I think life in general is very different now. More people work at the weekends etc, kick off times are over the place and there’s Sky Sports etc. Why pay for a ST when one can watch the game on tv on a cold winters evening..
Wenger played his part in the Emirates now being soulless too. We moved just after the invincibles had started breaking up and the replacements together with the football began its steady decline.
If the move to the Emirates was going to cripple us financially as his type of signings would suggest it did, was it really such a wise move?
Exactly Rico, I’m very much a TV fan now, going to the Emirates is a pain in the arse, all Islington Council are worried about is how much revenue they can raise from parking offences.
The people who live in Islington now are mostly a mixture of middle class yuppie types more interested in where they’re having their next ponicified lunch and an immigrant working class who are more focused on getting on in life and couldn’t care less about football.
I’m not sure where the next Charlie George is coming from…
I doubt there were many Potter, couldn’t get a ticket easily, let alone an ST. The list was long because people really wanted to go whereas now, that doesn’t always seem to be the case.
Liked your comment too.
The closest we’ll get to him Kev we’ve just said goodbye to as Jenks was the only one I can think of who went from being in the stands, or posh seats, to playing for the club.
Nowadays, I suspect those coming through the academy never made it to the stands before signing on for the club.
Potter, sanitised indeed………players can’t even contest a dropped ball anymore, they always got the crowd going, why would anyone want to take it outta the game.
As for the Wegner apologists I wouldn’t be too hard on them, I’d say the majority never travelled to Highbury and only know the Emirates, probably why they still throw tantrums if you dare mention his name in a bad light.
It’s not all bad rico, just think if Charlton get promoted this season we can all look forward to a good ole fashioned Woolwich London derby again next year…..who the fcuk are tottenham lol.
Man U drop two more points away to Southampton.
Evening all and thanks Rico.
To me this game is the be all and end all, no other game comes close, infact the only game I`d rather win than tomorrow is when we visit their new shit hole !
I hate them more now than I ever did ……………I hate them more today than I did yesterday, but not as much as I will hate them tomorrow.
If we lose against them knuckle dragging morlocks tomorrow I will dig up my dead mother in law and punch her in the face !……………………….and I dont really want to do that incase she`s still breathing !
I`m willing to have pistols at dawn with any fcuker who thinks they hate them more than me ! ………………..obviously that wont be Kev as he`s gone all soft with them ! hahahahaha
Battle Fever is brewing nicely…………………………
I miss playing them Micko, a guaranteed three points… usually. Curbishley wasn’t it?
New post up now