{"id":13643,"date":"2026-06-26T05:48:06","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T04:48:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=13643"},"modified":"2026-06-28T18:51:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-28T17:51:12","slug":"the-sound-of-the-terraces","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=13643","title":{"rendered":"The sound of the terraces"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"getty embed image\" style=\"background-color:#fff;display:inline-block;font-family:Roboto,sans-serif;color:#a7a7a7;font-size:11px;width:100%;max-width:594px;\"><div style=\"padding:0;margin:0;text-align:left;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/79649310\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color:#a7a7a7;text-decoration:none;font-weight:normal !important;border:none;display:inline-block;\" rel=\"noopener\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/div><div style=\"overflow:hidden;position:relative;height:0;padding:64.98316% 0 0 0;width:100%;\"><iframe src=\"\/\/embed.gettyimages.com\/embed\/79649310?et=VkOiyZA-Ttxu_0pdfOUvew&amp;tld=com&amp;sig=nTi1P9wK3-PTcunsoY450ngjinIWJvwsE1L7xLvnCyI=&amp;caption=true&amp;ver=1\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" width=\"594\" height=\"386\" style=\"display:inline-block;position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;margin:0;\"><\/iframe><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Arsenal has always been a singing club. It\u2019s one of the things I most love about going to football. The creativity mostly comes from away fans as they make up songs on trains, in buses, in pubs and in away concourses all over the land. I remember my son and I going to Leicester away and visiting an away pub just ten minutes from the ground. As we walked in we were hit with a wall of noise. A lad was standing on a table, pint in hand, leading chorus after chorus of a song which was new then, but soon became a terrace favourite.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Danny Ceballos<br>Danny Ceballos!<br>Drinks Estrella, Eats Paella<br>The boy is f*cking magic!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I first went to Highbury in the seventies. Apart from the band of the Metropolitan police, there was another ritual in front of the North Bank. As the players warmed up, we would sing their names and their songs. Liam Brady was my favourite back then. We serenaded him with<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One Liam Brady!<br>There\u2019s only one Liam Brady!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But that wasn\u2019t good enough for Chippy. He wouldn\u2019t acknowledge the fans until we broke into a song which actually had been Charlie George\u2019s originally, now reworked for Brady.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Brady, Brady, Brady, Brady<br>Born is the King of Highbury!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At which point he would raise an iconic arm and salute us!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Another one was<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe all agree<br>Rixy is better than Hoddle!\u201d (Spoiler \u2013 he wasn\u2019t).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There are so many favourites over the years. A couple just for memories (share yours in the drinks)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He\u2019s tall<br>He\u2019s shit<br>He plays when no-ones fit<br>Big Cygan, Big Cygan, Big Cygan!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Don\u2019t blame it on the sunshine<br>Don\u2019t blame it on the moonlight<br>Don\u2019t blame it on the good times<br>Blame it on Eboue!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But this piece is about this last, Premier League winning, season. There are fans that make a lot of noise (Palace, Newcastle). There are fans that only have one song (Sp*rs and that dreadful dirge). Right now, I don\u2019t think there is any team with more songs about individual players. I counted 18 of the current first team squad who had their own songs sung this last season. Here they are, with just the first line (full lyric available on request).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Individual players<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hincapie (Pierro Hincapie, the Arsenal get excited just to see him play)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Saliba (Tequila!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Gabriel (You\u2019ll fall in love, I know you will)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>White (Benny Benny White, Benny White, Benny Benny White!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Saka (Saka, Saka, running down the wing! Saka, Saka, hear The Arsenal sing!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lewis-Skelly (49, 49 Lewis-Skelly!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Rice (\u201cWe got him half price\u201d which morphed into \u201cHe said it\u2019s not done, he said it\u2019s not done\u201d in May)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Zubimendi (Last Christmas I gave you my heart, but the very next year you gave it away, this year, to save me from tears, I\u2019ll give it to Zubimendi!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Martinelli (His name is Gabi! He\u2019s from S\u00e3o Paulo! And he plays for Arsenal!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Trossard (Trossard again ole ole!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Havertz (Waka waka hey hey!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Gyokeres (He comes from Sweden, the girls are very nice)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Odegaard (first heard at Goodison three years ago, \u201cBeen dreaming all day of our number 8, Martin Odegaard Oi! Oi! Oi!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Merino (woah, woah woah woah woah, woah woah woah woah, Mikel Merino!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Timber (Jurien Timber, he\u2019s our Dutch defender, he never gives the ball away!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dowman (Super, super Max, super, super Max, super, super Max, super Maxie Dowman!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Eze (My favourite player song of the year and worth quoting in full)<br><br>You can hear them crying at the Lane<br>Eberichi scores again<br>He called Mik Arteta, he said Wow!<br>F*ck off Tottenham, I\u2019m a Gooner now!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Madueke (da da da, Noni Madueke!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I can only count four current players without their own song: Raya, Calafiori, Mosquera and Norgaard. Work in progress!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Team songs<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You know all the usual ones and they all appeared, including &nbsp;a ten minute long version of \u201cSo Paddy got up\u201d at Portsmouth. The most frequently sung team song as the season went one was of course<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We won the league at Anfield!<br>We won it at the Lane (Twice!)<br>Stamford Bridge, Old Trafford<br>No-one can say the same!<br>Mikel Arteta\u2019s Army!<br>We\u2019re Arsenal through and through<br>We\u2019ll sing this on the North Bank<br>And in the Clock End too!<br>Ole, ole ole!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The brilliant North London forever was one of the sounds of this season. And the old self deprecating Arsenal humour follower the spirit of \u201cBoring Boring Arsenal!\u201d with<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cSet piece again!<br>Set piece again<br>Set piece again Ole Ole!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At West Ham, as we began to believe, a couple of songs rang out. Firstly, when Trossard scored and some of the Arsenal fans in the home end outed themselves by celebrating and were roughed up, the away fans immediately struck up with<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe sit where we want!<br>We sit where we want!<br>We are the Arsenal<br>We sit where we want!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And quickly followed by a repost to all the Arsenal haters out there<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe are unbearable!<br>We are unbearable!<br>We are unbearable!<br>We are unbearable!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But my favourite team song of the season, was the one sung when Thomas Frank was the manager up the road and pictured holding an Arsenal branded coffee cup. It was particularly loud and frequently repeated as we stuffed them at White Hart Lane.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cArsenal Boys, are on a bender<br>Thomas Frank is a silver member!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Have a good Summer all.<br><br><br><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Embed from Getty Images Arsenal has always been a singing club. It\u2019s one of the things I most love about going to football. The creativity mostly comes from away fans as they make up songs on trains, in buses, in pubs and in away concourses all over the land. I remember my son and I [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12,23,26],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13643"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13643"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13643\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13692,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13643\/revisions\/13692"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13643"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13643"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13643"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}