Firstly, apologies for the lateness of this report. My original, very angry report was written and despatched in an hour but seems to have been lost in cyberspace. This will be a different account with less match detail, more reflection and with the benefit of being able to cool down after over twelve hours following the final whistle.
Last night saw what may be a pivotal moment in our season. Wolves began the match two points behind and with clear and realistic designs on at least a European place. They concede very few goals and their record against the better clubs this season is far from shabby. Our team was nearly at full strength although the absence of Tomayisu was exacerbated by the presence of Cedric. To be fair, on the night he was part of a resilient and courageous back four which ultimately morphed to a back five and then to a back nine. ESR began on the bench and our two central midfielders emerged from the naughty step after recent red cards. Leno was an absentee after a positive Covid test.
The first half was competitive, relatively sterile and very even. Neither side was able to impose themselves for any length of time. Arsenal built mainly on the left with Martinelli exhibiting combativeness and clearly increased body strength. Early observations that I made were that Tierney lacks some of the dynamism of previous seasons but none of his commitment which was still admirable and Lacazette is not a satisfactory focal point especially when pushed into the most forward offensive position. He could rarely retain the ball. Few early chances materialised. Partey got lucky when he miscued an attempted clearance which rebounded off Jimenez to Ramsdale. We had two sides with enviable discipline and a coherent shape. Arsenal were effective out of possession with a 4-4-1-1 and worked extremely hard in a high press. Wolves are not high scorers and looked as if they lacked a cutting edge too. Where was a goal to come from?
It took 25 minutes to find out. Arsenal had a left-wing corner blocked, White returned it into the danger area. Lacazette challenged Sa entirely legitimately and the ball fell to Gabriel a yard from goal where he turned the ball home. Despite protests from both players and fans Michael Oliver found no reason to disallow the goal.
Wolves 0 Arsenal 1 – Gabriel 25
Wolves retaliated and Xhaka did exceptionally well to steer a fierce left-wing cross away from Jimenez. Wolves piled in crosses (all game in fact) but our central defenders dealt with them admirably and Ramsdale claimed crosses whenever he could. Shortly before half-time we produced our best move of the match. Saka combined with Ødegaard, showed superb control and pulled the ball back for Lacazette to hit a fierce half-volley, sadly straight at Sa.
Michael Oliver had begun in indulgent mood allowing several bookable tackles to go unpunished but changed tack to book Partey, Saiss and inevitably Xhaka before the interval. Xhaka’s naive shirt pull allowed Neves, arguably the equal of Ward-Prowse with a dead ball, a free kick on the edge of the box on the cusp of the interval. Fortunately, he screwed it wide. We led at the interval after a decent, committed performance.
Half-time – Wolves 0 Arsenal 1
The second half swung into action with play following a similar pattern to the first half. Arsenal pressed effectively, Wolves were able to feed their wingers who put several dangerous crosses into the box but we held firm. We were not at our best as an attacking force largely because Lacazette for all his admirable qualities can’t hold the ball up well enough. He is far more effective dropping deep but that leaves us short in central attacking positions. The tempo of the game increased and then exploded around ten minutes into the second half. Martinelli was piqued by the non-award of a free kick out on the left. He tried to prevent a quick throw (which was actually a foul throw) but didn’t and Oliver played on. Martinelli raced after the substitute Chiquinho and clearly pushed him. To everyone’s surprise the referee decided that these two fouls constituted a red card as both merited a yellow card. I will give my feelings later on the referee’s approach to the game. At refereeing school (if they have one) pedants could pat him on the back for enforcing the letter of the law. But a game poised delicately and with a decent and reasonably controlled cut and thrust was totally disfigured by the sending-off. The worst foul of the game by Neves on Lacazette just before was shown a yellow. Oliver in his best jobsworth mode could have punished it with a red. But he didn’t and Arsenal conspiracy theorists will have their own thoughts about it.
Arsenal had replaced Ødegaard with ESR and brought on the quite admirable Rob Holding, scruz’s best mate, in place of Saka. Shortly thereafter, we saw a great chance to increase the buffer in the scoreline when Lacazette got in on the left but curled a loose shot wide. It was a poor effort and he was ultimately withdrawn for Nketiah. He had run his legs off as he always does but he is not the answer in that position.
Things appeared likely to go pear-shaped very quickly when Xhaka turned the ball into his own net after Jimenez had challenged for a free kick. Thankfully the offside flag was raised and we – and Granit – escaped. The rest of the game was an exercise in Arsenal resilience with Wolves bringing on an extra striker and ESR on occasions trying to dribble the length of the field with no support. Our three centre backs played admirably. Holding made nine clearances in his 19 minutes on the field. Ramsdale made a couple of fine saves, most notably a fine tip over from Saiss and after five added minutes, Michael Oliver had no option but to blow time. It was a great rearguard action with the whole team totally committed and our organisational qualities in defence were amply illustrated on numerous occasions. It is invidious to pick heroes on the night but I was incredibly impressed with Gabriel whose presence and intelligent defending enabled us to repel the amber wave.
Full time – Wolves 0 Arsenal 1
However, this game will be dominated by the debate over the red card. Martin Keown, God bless him, called Oliver a pedant. It was the perfect word. No other team in England would have had a player sent off in those circumstances. The two offences were scarcely violent and any reasonable referee would have been content that a yellow card would suffice for Martinelli. No Wolves fan could surely believe their luck. Referees have a duty to uphold the laws of the game but they need to leaven this with an understanding that it is a spectator sport, a competitive spectacle and before you unbalance a game in that way you need to consider proportionality. Allowing lots of potentially bookable fouls to go unpunished raises the temperature of a game and leads inevitably to flashpoints although the Martinelli situation was a very muted flashpoint. Arsenal’s red card record is nothing to be proud of but it is also ridiculously harsh. They are a team that tackle less than almost anyone in the league. They are paying the ultimate penalty far too often for infringements for which almost all other sides are not being punished. Does anyone believe that a Liverpool, United or City player would have been shown that red card? Arteta’s bemusement at the final whistle was understandable. He has not produced a team of thugs and they are being very harshly dealt with by the wretched PGMOL – an organisation that I contend is not fit for purpose.
But let that grouse not mar a potentially huge victory and a springboard for a real crack at attaining a Champions League place!
Arsenal travel to the West Midlands to take on Bruno Lage’s Wolves side at Molineux on Thursday night. The Gunners, looking to bounce back to winning ways, following a hugely disappointing January, will hopefully be refreshed following ten days of warm weather training over in Dubai. Lucky for some! Due to our elimination from the FA Cup, it will have been eighteen days since Arsenal last kicked a ball in anger by the time kick off comes around. We find ourselves in the potentially advantageous position of having only league games to contend with from now until the end of the season.
Despite not having been in action of late, Arteta’s side have been in the news a lot due to the busyness of our departure lounge over the course of the transfer window. Most notably, the club captain, Pierre Emerick Aubameyang, to Barcelona. Many questions have arisen regarding Arteta’s side’s squad depth going into the final 17 games of the season, particularly in the striker department. The only recognised strikers at his disposal are Alexandre Lacazette and Eddie Nketiah. Those two players have a grand total of three premier league goals between them this season, all from the Frenchman although Nketiah does have five goals to his name, albeit mostly against lower league opposition in the Carabao Cup. Of course, Gabriel Martinelli can also play down the middle, so he is another option, but we are scraping the barrel a bit in that area of the pitch.
In terms of the opposition, our recent record against Wolves leaves a lot to be desired. Since their return to the topflight in 2018, we have just one win against them in six meetings. That came in this fixture two seasons ago when Bukayo Saka’s first Premier League goal and a late Lacazette strike gave us a 2-0 victory during Project Restart behind closed doors. But other than that, there have been two draws and three defeats. Wolves did the double over us last season (who didn’t?) with both games being particularly bleak for differing reasons. We went down 2-1 at the Emirates but the game was overshadowed by a horrific head collision between Raul Jiménez and David Luiz. The Mexican striker was knocked unconscious and suffered a fractured skull which left many fearing for his career and more importantly, his life. Thankfully, he was able to make a full recovery and has been a key part of Wolves’ success this season. It also brought about the long overdue need for concussion substitutes which have been successfully introduced. The return fixture at Molineux saw a repeat of the same score line but in very different circumstances. Arsenal outplayed Wolves in the first forty-five minutes and led 1-0 going into first half stoppage time before referee Craig Pawson gave David Luiz a straight red card for the offence of breathing loudly in a built-up area during the hours of darkness. Wolves then inevitably won the game 2-1 thanks to their numerical advantage but the officiating sparked outrage in the realms of Arsenal Twitter which is a dark place even at the best of times. Hopefully we can finally get one over on the Midlanders on Thursday evening.
Wolves have been a fantastic addition to the league since their promotion three and a half years ago, with their fast-flowing entertaining style of play drawing plaudits from far and wide. They enjoyed consecutive seventh place finishes and incredibly managed to qualify for the Europa League in their first season back which I don’t believe had been done before, at least not in the Premier League era. They proceeded to storm their way to the quarter finals before losing to eventual winners, Sevilla. In fact, they would have qualified for another season, but our FA Cup triumph meant that we took their spot in the competition. Looking back in hindsight, we would have probably been better off offering them our spot in Europe given what happened the season after, but UEFA probably have some reason why you can’t do that, like integrity, or something. It is noteworthy perhaps that their rules don’t include playing finals in Europe. Worth looking into in case we qualify for that ridiculous Conference League competition. Beggars can’t be choosers of course but I don’t think I would be alone in saying, I would rather stick my hand in a blender then watch our second-string side plug away on a sand pit against Bate Borisov at 3pm on a Thursday afternoon. I digress.
Under Bruno Lage, Wolves have been much more solid and harder to break down and perhaps less exciting to watch than they have been in years gone by, but they still sit healthily, in eighth place on 34 points. In fact, a win would see them overtake us in the table. I think we’ve seen this film multiple times before. They have however allowed Adama Traore to go on loan to Barcelona in a move many expect to become permanent which is good news as far as Kieran Tierney is concerned. The Spanish winger seemed set to go to Spurs, but he rejected them presumably because they’re not very good. And I suppose there is the fact that Barcelona is nicer than Tottenham. As are most places. I think it was Angel di Maria who remarked, “It always hurts when you are doing well and then you hear you might be going to Tottenham”. Not hard to see where he was coming from there.
In terms of the starting line up this is personally what I’d like to see:
Ramsdale
Tomiyasu (if available), White, Gabriel, Tierney
Partey, Sambi
Odegaard
Saka, Smith Rowe
Martinelli
I would love to see a 433 formation with a Partey and Sambi pivot with Odegaard pulling the strings in the play maker role. Also, I hope Martinelli gets a go down the middle since the other two strikers are clearly not part of Arteta’s long-term project. Personally, I think he will opt for Xhaka to come back into the side if his suspension is over which I believe is the case. Time will tell.
I will be at Molineux for this one so hopefully we pick up a vital three points in our top four charge. COYG!
Just a couple of weeks ago, on 11th January David Faber, aka the Goonerholic, would have been 65, had he not been taken, before his time, on Christmas Day 2019. A few of us toasted his memory in the Drinks on that date but serendipity has provided us with an opportunity to mark it more formally, albeit a couple of weeks late, with a special blog during this Interlull, a term, now forever in the Lexicon, first coined by Dave’s good friend Arseblog.
Dave was a very special guy and a cherished companion to many Arsenal fans, for some in person pre- or post-match for others through his ‘Goonerholic’ blog or his frequent appearances on the ‘Arsecast’ or the ‘Bergkamp Wonderland Podcast’. His wit and wisdom were expressed through sparkling prose on his blog or in dulcet tones (with more than a hint of his Islington origins) in a podcast or over a pint of the black stuff and were beloved by many. Furthermore, a nicer man you will never meet. As headlined on his blog Dave ate, slept, breathed and drank Arsenal. His knowledge of the history of the club and his commitment to following the Arsenal were second to none. A visit to his blog – still accessible online thanks to the good auspices of Invinciblog and linked in the right margin – and a perusal of the posts on the history of the Arsenal will provide younger Gooners with a glimpse of the traditions of the club. It wasn’t just the marble halls that distinguished the Arsenal from other clubs. As a man, Dave seemed to epitomize those old Arsenal values. Dave’s writing drew followers from all over the world and when he passed, those of us who knew him through the Arsenal discovered that there was also a large community of music aficionado acolytes with whom he engaged late into the night on Twitter who were as bereft as we were. As regular visitors to Goonerholics Forever will know, this blog was set up by some of Dave’s friends to preserve the community and traditions he established and we are delighted to have an opportunity to mark what would have been his 65th birthday with a blast from the past that is quintessentially Goonerholic.
A pre-prandial aperitif in Pinner before the 2014 FA Cup Final. With a seat in ‘Club Wembley’ where no club gear was permitted, Dave ingenuously adopted the attire that originally inspired Herbert Chapman to introduce Arsenal’s white sleeves. Photograph by BtM.
Last week, out of the blue, Block 5 Gooner offered us the transcript of an interview he had done with Dave in December 2016 as part of a series he was producing with notable Arsenal accounts off Twitter. We are delighted to publish it as a late tribute to Dave.
On the Block 5 Gooner Interview today I speak to the legendary Blogger – Goonerholic!
Goonerholic, or David to you and I, as well as being a regular guest on the Bergkamp Wonderland podcast, is one of those Arsenal supporters that has simply seen it all. If you were to look up the word ‘gentlemen’ in a dictionary you’d be sure to find a description that aptly portrays this fine fellow.
David, thank you for taking time to chat with me. So, to start with roughly long have you supported the Arsenal? The short answer is all of my life. Mum made ‘the infant me’ Dad’s responsibility on Saturdays. He went to the Arsenal and so did I. Although he didn’t remember my first Arsenal match he did take me to my first England match against Russia at Wembley in October 1958. I was 18 months old, so I expect 1958/9 was my debut season.
Can you remember watching your first Arsenal match? Sadly no, I was far too young. My first memory of watching the Arsenal is an Inter Cities Fairs Cup match against Royal Liege in 1963. It was Bob Wilson’s fifth game for the club. We drew 1-1 with a second-half goal from Terry Anderson.
From ebay.co.uk
When you started to attend regularly which end did you stand at Highbury? Clockend or East Stand as a child. Dad stood with some of his old friends in the same spot to the left of the clock most games and I had a stool on the big step at the back. Once old enough I alternated between the North Bank and Clock End.
Who currently is your favourite player at the Arsenal? I’m not sure I have a single favourite. At a push I would plump for Laurent Koscielny who has improved so much in his time at the club.
I’m loving both our central defenders, both Rocks.
Who would you say is your favourite all-time Arsenal player? There are so many contenders but in the end it has to be Dennis Bergkamp, or God as most would acknowledge him today. We were so lucky to enjoy him in his prime years.
So Dave, do you have a most memorable Arsenal match? I could not separate three. The night I watched us win a trophy for the first time against Anderlecht in the Fairs Cup Final in 1970, winning the league at White Hart Lane a year later, or beating a very strong Parma side in the Cup Winners Cup Final of 1994. All joyously celebrated among like-minded souls.
Our defence in the Cup Winners Cup final was immense! Shutting out a brilliant Parma team.
Do you have a most memorable Arsenal goal? No brainer for me. Liam Brady at the Lane, Christmas 1978. His celebration in front of the Shelf just added to the brilliance of the strike, so that just pip’s Thierry’s remarkable solo effort and subsequent celebration against the same opponents at Highbury.
Image from Arsenal.com. Check out that shot! (or view here if you have an Arsenal.com membership)
What about a favourite Arsenal chant of yours? We are the Arsenal and we are the best… It is sung too seldom these days, but it is as true today as ever it was.
Tell us David, do you have any pre-match superstitions? Not these days. I used to consider my original 1970s Umbro home shirt lucky, and wore it in Copenhagen against Parma. I still have it, but it seems to have shrunk!
What’s your favourite away ground that you’ve been to? Craven Cottage for me. Good pubs and that walk alongside the river through the park, then into a proper old football stadium. I loved going there all my life and I hope they get back to the Premier League one day.
Another one of Archibald Leitch’s Stadiums.
Which fixture or teams do you fear and or hate playing the most? Tottenham away these days. Before all-ticket matches came in we would take thousands to the Lane. They weren’t as disagreeable when the numbers were even. Nowadays, they terrorise soft targets there. Cowards, all.
Are there any teams you have a soft spot for? Stirling Albion. My Mum was from there and when the Supporters Trust took the club over I bought in. When Rangers were relegated to the fourth tier of Scottish football I bet against them in all four league encounters. Thankfully the Binos won one and drew two so I made a small fortune. “Can we play you every week?”
The Binos’ club crest. Image from BBC News.
Perhaps there’s another reason for that affiliation? Image from The Scotsman.
Have you got an Arsenal humorous moment? Finding the team hotel in Leipzig when it was still in East Germany. Terry Neill invited us to join the post-match craic. We had to sing for our supper. I did ‘maybe it’s because I’m a Londoner’ which resulted in Liam Brady and Sammy Nelson ripping the piss out of me, bless ‘em.
Ha-ha! I’d have loved to have seen that!
What’s your expectation for Arsenal this year (2015-16)? Premier and Champions League! Ok, maybe just one, possibly the former. We have improved the last couple of seasons and the squad is getting close to where we need to be, and we have some attacking options rather than just burning Giroud out every season.
We do seem to be improving each year.
What’s your favourite Podcast? A Bergkamp Wonderland and the Arsecast for obvious reasons. I wish the Tuesday Club would get it back together.
And your favourite Blog? Another no brainer. Arseblog. A great friend and good counsel when I don’t know what on earth I’m doing.
Who’s your must have Twitter follow? @WestStandTone especially at North London derby time. He’s a top man.
Can you recommend another Twitter user who you would be interested in hearing interviewed? I hope @RajPatel (but I haven’t asked him!)
Time for some quick fire questions:
Red or Yellow?Red
Clockend or Northbank? North Bank
Sitting or Standing? Standing
Best ever AFC Goalkeeper?Seaman
Best ever AFC Defender?Adams (sorry Peter Storey)
Best ever AFC Midfielder?Bergkamp
Best ever AFC Striker?Henry
Best all time Captain?Mclintock
It’s been an absolute joy for me to talk with you David and once again thank you your time.
Photograph by @LucyGooner
Goonerholics Forever are indebted to Block 5 Gooner for sharing this piece from his archives.
The death of Ray Kennedy prompted an outpouring of praise and appreciation for a player who had achieved a huge amount in a career plagued at its end by the effects of Parkinson’s Disease, the condition which eventually claimed his life at the age of 70. Whilst Arsenal fans can be paranoid about media bias it was reasonable in this instance to focus on the fact that he achieved the bulk of his success with Liverpool. But he was an extraordinarily decorated player and in the first four or five seasons of his remarkable career he achieved that success with Arsenal.
This appreciation of a very important figure has been constructed around a central piece by our old friend Ray Coggin, a frequent and welcome contributor to the site. It then draws on memories from some of Ray Kennedy’s teammates and a number of Arsenal fans who remember the impact he had on our club. To score one goal of epic importance in the history of a club is a remarkable achievement. To score two, as Ray did, is extraordinary and assures him of a permanent place in any Arsenal Hall of Fame.
I will let Ray Coggin introduce this tribute,
‘Older fans will be aware of course that previously, on the 3rd May 1971 the great “double” winning team secured the club’s first league title in 18 years at our old “home” ground, White Hart Lane. This was thanks in no small part to the rapid emergence of a talented young striker by the name of Ray Kennedy, not to be confused of course with my mother’s brother, my uncle Ray Kennedy, sadly not related! Arsenal’s Ray had formed a formidable partnership with John Radford and together their goals had propelled Arsenal forward to great things, ending the club’s years in the doldrums.
‘Ray Kennedy came from the humble mining community of Seaton Delaval in Northumbria. His father Martin was a miner and his mum Veronica, a housewife. Like many boys in the north east Ray possessed a great talent for playing the beautiful game. A local scout for the Potteries club Port Vale had spotted Ray playing for his school and alerted his boss, none other than the great Stanley Matthews as to Ray’s potential. Stan Matthews made it his job to visit Ray’s parents to persuade them to let him sign schoolboy terms for Port Vale. One can only imagine the pride that his parents must have felt when, out of the blue they were paid a visit by one of the greatest names in English football.
‘Unfortunately, Matthews later decided that Ray wasn’t going to make the grade as his physique wasn’t suited and he would probably remain too slow to make it in the professional game. So, Ray returned home and began to play for local side New Hartley Juniors. That successful, free scoring team were winning enough games to alert more scouts and he was soon noticed by Arsenal. So as a seventeen-year-old he found himself being taken on by Arsenal as an apprentice. Six months later he had done well enough to be given a professional contract and he signed in November 1968.
‘Only ten months later in September 1969 Ray was given his big chance when he was named as a substitute in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup game against Glentoran. It was the beginning of the long running troubles that had broken out in Northern Ireland and the weekend had seen rioting and arrests in Belfast with 1100 British troops being flown in to keep the peace. The game went ahead in front of a crowd of 13,000 and Ray came on to replace John Radford in a game that Arsenal lost 0-1. Having won the first leg 3-0 at Highbury the Gunners went safely through.
‘I was at the Highbury game with my sister (Bodrum Gooneress). Arsenal must have lost the toss and attacked the North Bank in the first half. The quite sparsely populated game, with only 24,292 in attendance, meant that the stadium was almost two thirds empty. This gave us the opportunity to walk from the North Bank through the West Side Terrace to the Clock End for the second half. This was the only time the gates were unlocked for a first team match in my experience.
‘On the 18th October 1969 Ray made his First Division debut at Roker Park, Sunderland in a 1-1 draw. His first goal came on the 28th February 1970 in the home game against Sunderland in a 3-1 win. He really cemented himself in Arsenal history when he came on as a 77th minute sub against Anderlecht in the first leg of the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup final at the Constant Vanden Stock stadium, Anderlecht. In the 82nd minute Ray headed a consolation goal to reduce the arrears to 1-3. He took no part in the return leg at Highbury the scene of the famous 3-0 final victory, but it was that headed goal that turned the tide in Arsenal’s favour.
‘The following season, Ray firmly established himself as a first team legend. He got his chance due to a serious injury to Charlie George. Ray came into the team to partner John Radford and formed a formidable strike force that brought our first League Championship since 1953, culminating with that winning header against Tottenham in May ‘71.
With the score still 0-0, with 3 minutes left at the Lane, Ray Kennedy connects with a Geordie Armstrong cross from the left. From zapsportz.com
The ball soars past Pat Jennings and in off the underside of the bar to give Arsenal a 1-0 victory and the 1970-71 league title. From arsenal.com
‘At this time my home was in New Barnet. Local residents included people of the music industry that frequented the shop. One night in the launderette, I met none other than Arsenal star Ray Kennedy doing his laundry. He was at the height of his Arsenal career and meeting him in this unusual circumstance was more important to me than the other glitterati around me. Having Arsenal’s top scoring forward (we didn’t call them strikers then) as a neighbour really was rubbing elbows with the stars! He was packing up his washing as I walked in, and startled by his presence I asked him, “Do you have to wash your own kit?” He chuckled as he picked up his bag. Leaving he looked at me and said in his North East accent, “No, Bertie Mee does that!”
‘Ray topped our scoring chart with 26 goals in the 70-71 season, but in the close season first team coach Don Howe left the club to take up the manager’s job at his old club West Bromwich Albion. Don was replaced by Steve Burtenshaw which resulted in a perceived loss of effort on behalf of the squad. Ray again top scored with 19 goals in the 71-72 season, but the rot had set in on his Arsenal career. The strict physical regime that Howe had maintained disappeared and along with it, Arsenal’s fortunes took a turn for the worse. Ray’s form also took a dive and his weight had started to become a problem.
‘By 1973 Ray had suffered problems on and off the pitch. His health had shown indications of problems as early as 1970 but he was able to shrug it off until it got the better of him in later years. He blamed his loss of form at Arsenal on marriage problems and assured people that after the relationship ended his form would pick up. . Mee had brought in Brian Kidd to replace him and decided to move Ray Kennedy on, so he left for Liverpool in the summer of 1974.
Ray Kennedy signs for Liverpool. From lfchistory.net
‘It took someone with the genius of Liverpool’s Bob Paisley to have the vision to move Ray from the striker’s role to that of a midfielder. Ray’s career blossomed to make him one of the most decorated players in the history of British football. Even when his Liverpool career came to an end, he continued to add trophies to his lengthy well documented haul with a Welsh Cup winners medal with Swansea.
‘Sadly, his domestic life continued to be a struggle and the debilitating Parkinson’s disease that had probably shown manifestations in his younger years eventually got the better of him. It finally claimed him in November last year at the age of 70. The memory of him leaping to head those goals in an Arsenal shirt lives on with me and those of us lucky enough to see him play at both our homes at Highbury and White Hart Lane.’
Ray’s biography encapsulates the significance of a very fine player. His rise to fame was meteoric and very welcome.
Bob Wilson was someone who closely shared those successes with him.
Ray and Bob in 1971. From twitter.com
‘It was my absolute privilege to have been a teammate of Ray Kennedy. Unassuming, modest, a gentle giant of a player. Ray’s partnership with Raddy, John Radford, 50 years ago as we achieved Arsenal’s first League and FA Cup double, was outstanding. Fifty goals scored between them that season. Also, Ray brought us back from the edge of defeat and gave us hope in the 1970 European Fairs Cup Final 1st leg v Anderlecht with his late substitute goal. We all know what happened a week later, the first major trophy triumph for Arsenal in 17 long years. And then the headed goal one year later that made us the 1970-71 League Champions and gave me the best night of my entire playing career at of all places White Hart Lane.
Just a pity most of the rest of his illustrious career came at Liverpool. His courage and fortitude in accepting and living with his Parkinson’s disease from his early 30’s until his death speaks volumes for our friend. I will never forget his smile and happiness on that night at Spurs in 1971.’
Similarly Frank Mclintock when talking about ‘The Match of my Life’ called Ray ‘an unsung hero‘. He found it hard to believe that we could acquire a player as good as Ray in the way we did.
‘Another mystery was how Port Vale, locked for so long in the lower divisions, let Kennedy go. They decided he was not good enough, but for us he was a sensation, scoring 19 goals in the league alone that season. He was a strange boy, kept himself to himself and when he arrived we knew nothing about him other than that Port Vale had bombed him out. He and John Radford played so well together, scoring vital goals and dragging defenders all over the pitch. They were a terrific pair! ‘
Ray, Frank and Raddy after the ’71 FA Cup Final. From arsenalarsenal.net
Our own North Bank Ned also has fond memories of this lad from the North-East. But his memory is an unconventional one!
‘I remember well the first time I didn’t see Ray Kennedy.
‘It was in the March of his debut season, 1969-70. We were at home in the second leg of the Fairs Cup quarter-final against Dinamo Bacau, thrashing the Romanians, 7-1. Raddy got a brace. So did Charlie George and Jon Sammels.
‘But Ray Kennedy was nowhere to be seen.
‘Here’s the backstory.
‘I was at Highbury that evening with a teammate from a midweek side. He also fancied himself as a tactical visionary. One of his theories was that to counter defences using a sweeper, teams should get rid of centre-forwards and play two wingers as Jimmy Greaves-like inside forwards. Not the twisty, little, bandy-legged wingers but the big, strong, direct, pacy ones.
‘This advice was freely given to any club. Still, my teammate thought Arsenal was moving in that direction by pushing George Graham back from centre-forward into midfield and moving Radford inside from the right-wing. What we needed to have done next, he thought, was to buy a left-sided equivalent — and not Peter Marinello.
‘He had seen this kid we had brought in as an apprentice from up North, where he had been scoring goals in amateur football by the dozen, play left wing for the reserves. He thought he might fit the bill, though he might be too slow for First Division football. This teenager had come on as a sub in a couple of earlier rounds of the Fairs Cup. Expecting the same against Dinamo Bacau, we were there to check him out with the first team.
‘A fool’s errand, as it turned out. Ray Kennedy didn’t make the team sheet even as sub.
‘It would be a year until I saw Ray Kennedy in the flesh, against Liverpool, as it happened, in the league at a jam-packed Highbury. Again, I was there with my teammate, who had snuck me into the press box (different times!). We slid past John Arlott, no less, to take our seats!
‘Kennedy, by then, was established as Raddy’s strike partner, vindicating my team mate’s early championing of 4-4-2 (even a stopped clock is right twice a day). But it happened by accident. Charlie George broke his ankle early in the season, and Ray got his chance. In football, them’s the breaks.
‘He scored 26 goals that season, but not that day. It was a tight, hard-fought game, much closer than the 2-0 scoreline suggests. Shankly’s Liverpool were mighty then. Ray had a couple of half-chances in the first half, but Smith and Lloyd snuffed them out.
‘It looked as if he would score late into the second half when he latched onto a flick from George Graham and rounded Clemence but lost the ball to Lloyd in the mud of the six-yard box. Raddy poked it off Lloyd’s toes and into the net.’
The Fairs Cup winning Arsenal squad. From onlinegooner.com
1970-71 was the zenith for Ray at Arsenal. But his important header in Brussels was arguably the goal that won us the Fairs Cup the season before – it was the only away goal by either side in the final.
I remember Ray well. I remember him coming on at the very end of a serious beating by Chelsea at Highbury in 1970 as a substitute given three minutes to turn around a 3-0 deficit. It was January 1970 and the two teams were heading in different directions. Fifteen months later I remember going to a wedding reception in Chelsea with my then girlfriend on the day we beat Chelsea 2-0 to pile increasing pressure on Leeds. Everyone bar us was a dejected Chelsea fan. It was a very nice feeling! The scorer of our two goals was Ray Kennedy. It followed on from his goal past Gordon Banks, a few days earlier as we reached Wembley in the FA Cup for the first time in 18 years. A few days after the Chelsea win we struggled past Coventry with a late strike from…you’ve guessed it…Ray Kennedy.In the following season he decided a three game FA Cup marathon with the only goal of the second replay against that season’s champions Derby County. The following season I remember him rising in characteristic Kennedy fashion to head the winning goal in a titanic FA Cup sixth round replay against Chelsea at Highbury. In his last season with us he scored our first goal of the season after three minutes against Manchester United at Highbury. His last goal was, I believe, our winner at Anfield which gave the title to Leeds United. It was that performance which persuaded Liverpool to sign him.
A typically dynamic Ray Kennedy against Newcastle, 1973. From The Grauniad
From that miscellany of Arsenal goals, it is clear that Ray was not just a great scorer of goals but a scorer of big goals in big games against big sides, the sort that remained etched in your memory forever. His departure to Anfield was a surprise and a disappointment as it is always sad to lose scorers of iconic goals who have made special memories for your club. Ray’s replacement, Brian Kidd was quite sensational in his first season in a terrible Arsenal team while Ray struggled initially at Anfield but the switch to a midfield role transformed him and the rest is history.
Arsenal and Liverpool, remain rivals whose history is intertwined with great games against each other, Cup Finals and championship deciders, pivotal games that embellish the history of both clubs and the rivalry is intense and enduring. But in one respect the clubs are united. United by the fact that a shy young lad from the North-East achieved feats of huge magnitude and significance for both clubs.
Burnley players were given double helpings of their managers favourite meal, following their game yesterday. Picture courtesy of Istockphoto.com
Arsenal were held by Burnley in a frustrating goalless draw at the Emirates on a bitterly cold January afternoon. Arteta made just the one change from Thursday’s disappointing league cup exit to Liverpool, with Rob Holding coming in for Takehiro Tomiyasu, who clearly wasn’t fully fit on Thursday. Due to Cedric also being unavailable, Ben White was shunted out to right back, a position he played in our Boxing Day thumping of Norwich.
There was a sense of pre match trepidation for this one; We were yet to win a game in 2022 and had exited both cup competitions in a matter of days. That said, this was our first league match since that exemplar of daylight robbery on New Year’s Day against Citeh. Burnley won the coin toss and made the typically spiteful decision to switch ends. The crowd groaned. I’m not sure if it’s just because I prefer it when we attack the North Bank in the second half, but we don’t seem to have a great record of winning when that happens. We kicked off and the Rugby League Rejects took all of six minutes to start time wasting. We still dominated possession although we struggled to find any sort of rhythm. Burnley had the first attempt of sorts as they worked the ball out to the left and Dwight McNeil, probably the only Burnley player who doesn’t look like he has a forklift truck license, struck a cross-cum-shot which Ramsdale palmed behind. We had our first real chance of the game when Ødegaard, Smith Rowe and Lacazette exchanged passes, with the ball then breaking back to Smith Rowe off a Burnley player. He cut it back to Odegaard who struck it hard and low, but it was saved by the leg of Nick Pope. The ball then broke to Lacazette in line with the penalty spot, who checked inside and saw his goal bound effort blocked by Ben Mee. Finally, a spark of life in what had been a drab affair thus far.
The game continued to drift along without a great deal of urgency from either side. Just before the break, we did manage to carve out another decent chance on goal. Tierney’s long pass found Smith Rowe who fed Ødegaard. The Norwegian, who always seems to play the right pass, played in Saka who cut inside onto his favoured left peg, and fired an effort narrowly wide of the far post. No goals at the break.
The second half began with Arsenal continuing to dominate possession without much thrust and Burnley looking for any sort of counterattack to catch us out. Their incessant time-wasting tactics continued with Nick Pope taking his sweet time over every goal kick. Clacking out his studs on the post on that state-of-the-art pitch will have enraged the groundmen I’m sure. Clearly, Pope is a big fan of those reruns of games from those 70’s games on ITV4 where there’s more mud than pitch. England’s fourth choice ‘keeper indeed. Arsenal plodded on trying to break down the resolute Burnley defence who, to their credit, stuck to their task. Sean Dyche has clearly introduced his gravel and earthworms’ diet to his players. On the hour we won a freekick practically on the 18-yard line. Ødegaard and Lacazette stood over it. The Norwegian skipper, who scored a brilliant free kick in the fixture at Turf Moor in September, almost repeated the trick with his effort skimming the roof of the net. Unlucky.
We then began a ten-minute siege on the Burnley goal where it seemed a goal was inevitable, but it just never arrived. We won yet another corner and Ødegaard’s quick thinking allowed him to fire in a sizzling low pass to Smith Rowe who was steaming into the box, but the England international’s well struck effort was brilliantly saved by Nick Pope. The Hale End graduate was at the epicentre of our next move which was really our best chance of the match. Tierney played another long pass down the left-hand side to Smith Rowe who peeled off the back of James Tarkowski and steamed past him, leaving the one capped England defender in the dust. ESR stormed into the box and cut it back to Lacazette who somehow stabbed it agonisingly past the far post when it seemed easier to score than miss. In fairness to the Frenchman, he was put under pressure at the last second by Ben Mee, but a striker of his quality has to be burying those. A real head in hands moment.
Arteta then made the questionable decision to take off Smith Rowe for Nketiah. I’m an Eddie fan but it really killed any momentum we had left. In fairness to Arteta, we had a real lack of options due to injuries and Afcon (no false positives here, Jurgen) which had decimated our squad in recent weeks. In fact, Nketiah was our only attacking option who had played in the Premier League. We had five academy players on the bench yet to make their premier league debuts (Alebiosu, Patino, Salah Eddine, Hutchinson and Biereth) and in fact Patino was the only one of those who had any sort of minutes for the first team and even he had less than 90 minutes under his belt. Is Arteta cutting off his nose to spite his face with the Aubameyang situation? There’s every chance the skipper could have made a difference today, he has an excellent record against Burnley, but fair play to the manager for sticking to his guns. However, the fact that the Eddie sub was the only change we made all game was telling. Our need for a central midfielder that doesn’t get sent off every other game and a twenty goal a season striker is getting more obvious by the game. A week left until the transfer window shuts. Tick tock, Edu, tick tock.
So, overall 2022 hasn’t been great for our lads. Stuart Atwell and Jurgen Klopp will pay for their sins one way or another. Another disappointing result against Burnley today. As William Makenzie said in the Inbetweeners movie, “I like football but not Burnley. Burnley can f*ck off.” Truly a sentiment we can all agree with wholeheartedly. Onto Wolves away in about 100 days’ time. Hope Burnley get relegated.
