@FC

An Arsenal Memory

Hi Internet! I recently was ask about my Arsenal fandom and why I've been a mostly fanatical overseas supporter since the mid 1990s. While my first real high level exposure to the game came in USA 1994 (and the Dutch Master himself Dennis Bergkamp) it was the web that allowed me to follow the game. Why Arsenal? Seemed to be the team that everyone hated which was good enough for me. What turned me into a lifelong fan, however, was understanding Arsenal's history and culture. While other websites (www.stevegleiber.com/?, later arseblog.com) were valuable it was this @FC blog from the indomitable Red Geezer that taught me what it meant to be an Arsenal supporter. From the Arseblog bookish thing:

There was also this site called @FC, the Red Geezer, who wrote the most incredibly biting and funny match reports. It would be a lie to say his ability to look at Arsenal with passion and humour wasn't an influence. Around the time I started Arseblog he stopped writing his site. Maybe I was in the right place at the right time to fill the gap he left behind. Whoever you are, Red Geezer, if I had a cap, my cap would be doffed to you. I have a nice hat though so I'll doff that instead.

So I guess that means no one quite knows anything about the gentleman. Reading @FC during the 97-98 double winning year was in retrospect a life altering experience for me and I'm sure I'm not the only one. I put it to you, internet people, does anyone know anything? Have old archives saved? Stories? Anything?

Oh found this on an old Arseblog posting, the only sample of @FC I could find on the web...

The peculiar Southampton manager, scouse ‘hardman,’ David Jones, said after the game, talking his own brand of complete bollocks, that ‘the boy Vieira knew that he had been in a game.’ This translates, broadly, that Vieira had been elbowed in the face by Mark Hughes and kicked black and blue by the Saints’ ratpack. Good old Hughsie also kicked Adams and nearly eviscerated Martin Keown before finally succumbing to his usual yellow card.

This broadly summed up the game; an hour and a half, that seemed a lot longer, of tedious football, punctuated by niggly Southampton violence. Some people might see Southampton’s performance as ‘spirited’ but it was no more than opening up all the cages at the zoo and letting all the animals run around. If I lived in Southampton and if this was the only ‘entertainment’ in the area, I’d think I’d rather sneeze into a hankie and watch the snot coagulate than watch this grisly bunch of gimps go through the motions.

I mean how good is that? Hit me up at muddywerksmusic@gmail.com if you have anything to add.