Humans of the Arsenal

“It was just everything - the greenness of the pitches, the noise of the crowd. It was the atmosphere around the place because obviously, it was something of a journey for us coming up from the Thames Valley. 

“So it'd be the food beforehand, the journey over, it was brilliant.” 

How much has the matchday atmosphere changed? 

“Yes it's changed in as much as the people who come are very different from the people who used to come in the 1960s. You have a much broader range of class of people. There's much more of a mix of men and women, it's a fantastic experience these days.” 

Do you think it’s for the better? 

“I really do, because for me now, the football in those days in the 1960s was everything. These days, the social side is everything. I'm glad I'm still an Arsenal supporter but getting down here and meeting people is great.” 

Have you had any Arsenal-related experiences that you’d never forget? 

“I'm very lucky being a blogger. I do get an invite to one or two things, not as many people think; for me meeting Robert Pires was an absolute joy in recent years. 

“But going back again to the 1970s, I had a season ticket in the old East Lower Stand at Highbury and the players would come through the corridor underneath there before the game. And so you would get to meet them all before the game, get their autograph in a way that perhaps kids today don't. 

“You haven't got to go back too far and you might have met one or two of them in a pub after the game. That certainly won't happen today. 

“And the other thing that happened as well - because they knew you. I used to go to away games every week and you would get players coming out and giving you match tickets whenever they were playing away from home as well, which was great. But I can't imagine that happening today.” 

Did you meet anyone in particular at the pub? 

“The golden era would have been the late 70s, early 80s with the likes of Liam Brady, Frank Stapleton, David O'Leary.” 

Has anything shaken your faith in the Arsenal? 

“I'd be a liar if I said no. 

“It's an emotional experience following a football team or any sporting team. 

“I guess it depends where you're from. But no, it doesn't shake your faith at any stage.” 

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Here’s to you, Dave. 🥃 

Goals from Kim Little and Vivianne Miedema ensured that North London was painted a lovely shade of red. 

Taking place at the newly rebuilt Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, the match was the marquee game of the league’s ‘Inaugural Women’s Football Weekend’, in which Arsenal also sold its entire away ticket allocation of 3,000.

As the mercury hit the early thirties at Meadow Park, the Gunners were simply too hot to handle for the Lilywhites, simply withering away in the late August summer heat. 

Herbert Chapman and Unai Emery can be seen looking over a large sheet of plans. David ‘Rocky’ Rocastle giving the thumbs up. Ian Wright’s beaming in bruised banana bearing a bright smile sitting atop the cannon.

There’s also Bernd Leno, rolling balls across to the foot of the cannon, in front of Sead Kolašinac. Daniëlle van de Donk painting ‘Victoria Concordia Crescit’ on tippy-toe. Mesut Özil locking and loading. And the triumvirate of Alexandre Lacazette, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Vivianne Miedema, ready to shoot on sight. It bangs. 

"36 days on the road. We drove from Fresno on the West Coast in the States, all the way to New York City and then back to California. Along the way we stayed with other Arsenal fans - they would open up their homes and let us hang out for a night or two, take us out to their pubs, their bars where they watch matches. 

"So I really got a cool cross-section of how people support Stateside in their towns. So it was really really rad. And then obviously kind of culminated in the friendly at Red Bull Arena in New York City." 

Where did you stop? 

"A lot of places man. It was Oklahoma City, Kansas City, Chicago, Cleveland, New York. Raleigh, Durham, North Carolina. Triangle Gooners, Atlanta Gooners, New Orleans, Austin. Orange County, back to Fresno." 

What did you take away from the experience? 

"Honestly man, you email people and you don’t know how they’re going to respond. First of all, I’m just a stranger. I’m just some dude who’s like, ‘Hey I support the same team. Would you mind me crashing for a night or two?' 

"But everybody was super warm and super hospitable and open. 

"And there’s kind of that instant connection that you have when you support a team like Arsenal, there’s a definite sense of community." 

So how do you find 50 people in Fresno that support the Arsenal? 

"I used to live in London and so I would start coming to matches, and then when I moved back, convinced my best friend to just start watching matches with me because it's something for us to do on the weekend. 

"And then it was like, why don't we just do this with a whole lot of other people, but didn't really know if there was anybody else supporting Arsenal. But it was really just through word of mouth, getting a bar to open up, and a lot of social media for connecting with folks. That's how we kind of grew our core." 

Arsenal also earned their 18th victory of the season with a 1-0 win over Manchester City, thanks to a rocket of a goal taken 25 yards out by Emma Mitchell.