Arsenal News » Tonight’s ref: the inside story, plus the journos prepare their excuses

Tonight the ref is the number one ref in Belgium.   Or as Zafod Bebblebrox says in the Hitchhikers’ Guide “Belgium Man!”

Here’s the assessment of our resident Belgian Referee: Walter Broeckx……..

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I really hope he doesn’t screw up on us.

Last season he had the Liverpool – Real Madrid game and before the game there was an article in the Flemish press where he said how he loved to go to Anfield and he visited the museum and what a great club Liverpool was.

He then refused to give Madrid a few important decisions and they lost the game rather heavy. They still hate him for that in Madrid but I bet they even didn’t know what appeared in the Flemish newspapers before kick off.

So it could be that he just likes English football and this could mean that we could benefit from that.

BUT… he is named as one of the candidates to do the final at the World Cup. It will be his last big tournament as he has to stop after next season as a Fifa ref because of his age.

And if you remember the piece I wrote to you about how Uefa could influence referees I could imagine the next conversation between a Mr. Bribethemall and De Bleeckere: Well Frank, you are named as a candidate to do the WC final this year. Yes, Mr. Bribethemall, that would be a great achievement for me.

Mr. B: Well Frank it would help you if Uefa and Michel Platini could back you for this final. Did I even mention that Michel P. doesn’t like Wenger ? Yes they are both French but he would hate it if Wenger would win the CL. You really need his support regarding the world cup, my dear Frank. I think you know what I mean, Mr. B.

I just hope he has a good game and we have a nice and undisputed win.

Enjoy yourself tonight

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Meanwhile….

In the dim and distant reaches of Docklands, the English press are waking up to the horrible possibility that Arsenal might actually win something this season – besides the inevitable Youth League and the Women’s League.

Thus conferences are being held all around beer stained tables as the men in dark glasses come up with their excuses.

First, they can talk about the bookies taking a hammering, by still offering 5-2 on an Arsenal win.  And they might even comment that Bet365 are taking a hammering since it was realised that Bet365 sponsors Stoke City.

So, silly bookies as a first line of deflection.  And then…

Next up is the quality of the league is in decline. Arsenal would not have won if Man U had been buying.  Arsenal would not have won it last year.  Stories will abound of the fact that Sir Alex F Word is now demanding £250bn to buy a new squad and Mr Abromavich has mortgaged another set of oil wells.  Arsenal won’t win it next year.

After that its, “Arsenal can’t be real champions because Man U and Chelsea beat them.”  In other words, the other games in the campaign don’t happen – just the top four games – ignoring the fact that in the past, on that basis we would have won the league.

Then there will be the reversal of reality pieces. Bendtner’s finishing is so fluky that some of the shots will go in by chance and this will always bemuse the opposition who are used to precise finishing.  It lowers the standards of the league to have Bendtner there.

Then we will have the fact that after the Shawcross disaster, other clubs laid off Arsenal out of sympathy.  Arsenal won it on the sympathy vote because clubs weren’t trying enough.  (And if you think this is fantasy land, you were not listening to the radio or reading the papers after we have won things in the past).

What must not be mentioned is that this is the youngest team to be serious challengers for the EPL. And that we have got JET and Wilshere just on the edge of breaking through.  Plus all those guys who have been kicked and hacked to pieces through the rotational fouling system that now dominates English football.

Anyway, who cares about journos?  You can read all the reality you want here.  And if you watch on TV, just turn the sound off.  (Actually if you are listening on radio, turn the sound off there, too.)

Walter Broeckx and Tony Attwood, 2010

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UNHEARD ARSENAL

Last night at Wigan, the crowd chanted at Liverpool, “Europa League? You’re having a laugh”

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ARSENAL IN THE FUTURE

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ARSENAL IN THE PAST…

• Arsenal’s darkest hour
• The days when football journalists could write, entertain and make us laugh (a true newspaper report about Arsenal in the 1930s)
• “Making the Arsenal” – the novel.  The most extraordinary book about Arsenal ever.  And that’s unofficial.  Available from Amazon.co.uk and from the publishers direct.

The sound of Arsenal winning the league is (c) the sound of everyone who kept faith, and never once started moaning that Wenger must go, we need more players and Bendtner should be shot, giving a rather smug grin.

Editor’s PS: For midweek games I have to leave work at about 3.45pm and get back home about midnight. If you post a piece for the first time, or post a piece with a link in it, the item will be held in moderation until Wednesday morning.