Wolverhampton Kickstop v you, me, and the rest « Untold Arsenal: Arsenal News, supporting the club, the players and the manager

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By Tony Attwood

This little piece is written on Tuesday night, and left for my co-editor Walter to publish at an appropriate moment.

I can’t beat his 2593 mile round trip from Antwerp to the Ems, but I am travelling from my home in Northamptonshire to a conference centre that purports to be in the middle of Sherwood Forest, where I shall deliver a lecture on stuff, and how to do it, before partaking of a lunch, having a swim (if I can) and then driving from the green and pleasant, to the Black Country ready for the game against some team or other.

Black country indeed. Not my favourite part of the world – although all the museums in Ironbridge and up and down the area that celebrate the launch of the industrial revolution are worth a look, if you haven’t been there before.  It is quite something to think the whole industrial thing, with the railways, the roller coasters, the rain, all that, it all started in these few towns.  Apparently they invented coal there.

But if one is a supporter, one supporters and my 9835 mile round trip is nothing.  I shall be there.  Doing my bit, and probably getting rather wet.

Last time at Wolverhampton Kickstop I sat right at one end of their away stand (they are very nice in that they give the away support the whole of one side of the pitch – or at least they have done in the past).  That is if there is enough away support.  I imagine they put the Tiny Totts half way up a pylon.

Wolverhampton Kickstop have their own song which the man on the loud hailer encourages them all to sing.  It is to the tune of Hi Ho Silver Lining, only they change the words “Silver Lining” to “Wolverhampton”.  Pretty damn clever that!  You don’t get to invent the industrial revolution unless you have that sort of brain power.

So, what will we get?  Your guess is as good as mine. Good players don’t become bad players over night, when the chips are down someone ought to pick them up, at the end of the day it gets dark, on the other hand I have four fingers and a thumb.  (Sorry Walter, that’s what us native English speakers call “meaningless gibberish” – just ignore it).

I asked Phil Gregory to write this column, given that he is normally more coherent than I am, but he claims the university is working him too hard and he doesn’t have a moment to call his own.  (Now that’s a new one on me – a student who is working!  Have you ever heard of such a thing?  I certainly haven’t. None of my students ever did – I must toddle over to his university and find out how it goes).

So I don’t have the usual Untold source of who’s who and what’s what in the teams.  According to the AFC web site today Diaby, Vermaelen, Gibbs, Ramsey, Almunia and Frimpong are all at the chemists, but the rest of them are fit.  We shall see.

Here’s a line up then…

Fabianski

Sagna, Squillaci, Djourou, Clichy (Eboue)

Song, Wilshere (Denilson, Eastmond)

Cesc (Nasri)

Walcott, Chamakh, Arshavin (Bendtner, Van Persie, Rosicky, Vela)

Unless the Lord Wenger does something extraordinary and puts JET and Lansbury in the mixer, the crew must be selected from that lot, but who, what, how, where, when, whether, weather, waterproofs, Wensleydale, and Good King Wenceslas . I have no idea.

In fact I have no idea.

So no change there.

PS: if you get to see it on a TV feed, I’m the guy in the hat.

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