Le Grove

I think that’s the way the song goes.

So it’s 7 years since Arsenal through and through David ‘Rocky’ Rocastle, passed away.

I won’t dwell on his history save to say he never stopped running his whole Arsenal career.

My abiding memories of him were scoring against the spuds in the semi final of the League cup and crying his eyes out when Georgie boy told him he was going to Leeds for £2 million quid, or something like that.

Letting Rocky go was as strange a decision as Wenger letting Merson go some years later.

Rocky you may have gone to Leeds and the chavs, but you’ll always be remembered for being a gooner, I seem to remember you coming back to Arsenal and being employed by the club in some role years later, but I can’t remember what.

If you’re up there reading this, the team need you now, so do what you can if you would, again!

You’ll always be remembered for being a true professional, a great and tenacious midfielder and a fantastic role model to all the then kids, many of them now grown up Grovers, so thanks for the memories Rocky!

Two days to go until we play the first leg of our quarter final Champions league game against the scousers, I’m quietly confident only because we’re a better team, Diaby won’t be playing and everyone will be up for it.

I’m sure they’re always are up for it but with the season rapidly coming to an end and the premiership cruelly drifting away, this team is playing for it’s future.

I think the boss may have had a tough decision coming up with Kolo or Phil but with Kolo playing right back he may have had his hand forced and the problem solved.

So the only decision for me now is to start with Theo, don’t screw around, we’re a better team with him playing, the rest pick themselves.

Click here if you want to buy a Rocky Rocastle ‘T’ shirt and click here if you wish to contribute to the Treehouse Charity or do both!

It would be great if you could post on the official Rocky7 website, leave your messages of support there, I know Rocky’s family will read them!

Have a good day Grovers, and enjoy the video clip!

So when the dust has settled on this fantastic 3 points we have to put things into perspective, so in this short post today I’ll try my best.

1) We never beat Bolton at the Reebok so I don’t care how, there’s a saying in golf ‘there are no pictures on a scorecard’ meaning who cares how, the important thing is, the 3 points.

2) 10 men, we only had 10 men, we only had 10 men (there’s a song there somewhere)

3) We were 2 down

4) Wenger made substitutions when we needed them for once

So a big thank you to Krusty the clown for the assist to Captain King Billy Gallas, who had a great game by all accounts, and a captains one at that.

Hopefully Bolton will get relegated and we won’t have to go to that backward part of the country again for a few years, unless that is we go to see fat Sam in a pie eating contest as that’s all he’s good at or Preston North End win promotion.

Nothing much else today save that Rafa has already agreed terms with two youngsters and one senior player and Wenger says he’ll try and keep his team together before he buys Ben Arfa, or at least that’s what I think he’s saying!

Have a good Sunday Grovers, it’s been a while, let’s hope that Middlesbrough and Everton win today so we can smile all the way to Mondays post.

Get in!

‘Cesc’s shot rolls agonisingly over the line!’

Those words my friends are the sweetest words I have heard in weeks!

Dipstick Diaby got himself sent off for a horror challenge, we had loads of possession and still managed to find ourselves a couple of goals down.

Adebayor and Walcott came on and changed the game!

Willy G knocks one in at the back post from a corner… get in!

RvP smashes home a penalty to level… get in!

In injury time Cesc (Samuel OG) duffs it in… queue pandemonium in the house of Pedro! Get the fuck in!

I’ve just seen the boys on TV going nuts.

Winning the game in the manner we did will have huge ramifications. It will bring back the belief, it will bring back the confidence and hopefully it can be the starting point to a successful end of season run!

Next up, Liverpool… its going to feel like ground hog day for a while!

Come on you GOONERS!

More thoughts tomorrow!

Ok Grovers, Adebayor gets rested, Wenger speak for ‘I’m dropping him as he hasn’t scored in a long while and Bendtner has’ so he gets his chance with Robin.

Good call boss, it’s been a long time coming, we all agree here, it had to be done, and with the Pool games coming up, could be the toe up the arse our young African needs, not to mention what it could do for Bendtner’s confidence.

This kind of game is perfect for a big lump like super Nick, so Nick, if you’re reading, make the most of it son, step up to the plate and do us all proud.

I don’t think Bolton are the dirty bastards they used to be under the fat mannerless bung taking scumbag, and without Gardner and Nolan, they have lost a lot of testosterone, so I expect us to get back on track.

To be honest I think most of us have written the title off this year, so anything now and we’re in bonus territory, I looked at the table today and Liverpool are only 8 behind with Everton 2 behind them, now whilst that is a long way, don’t forget we have dropped 11 points in 5 games, so a win against Bolton is a must.

Wenger says he wants Flamini’s future sorted out by April so he’ll know who and what he needs to buy, that’s a little hint I think, but I hope the people that are responsible for this season long debacle learn from this, it cannot happen again, that’s 4 years of will he? won’t he? and as a fan it’s totally unacceptable.

It would be remiss of me to not thank all you Grovers for the record breaking day on the comments yesterday, a whopping 326, and all top banter so well done and keep it up, I think we can start pushing Arsenal now for what we want at the Grove, we represent a huge part of the stadium so will be putting together a plan with other sites to do something about the atmosphere, and we have a steward in our camp as well so we can get our point across through him with regards to slack cutting on match days, we will of course keep you informed.

This site is independent and takes no money from advertisers, it’s a love thing. We do this as Arsenal fans for Arsenal fans, so thanks for blogging and have a great day.

I’m going for 5 nil, bold I know, but some team, sometime are going to be on the end of the rogering we keep threatening, so why not today eh!

Metz super kid Miralem Pjanic is being strongly linked with us by their manager, he is quick and pacey, passes well and scores goals, Metz for the record is where Bobby Pires and Adebayor began their careers (Petr Cech as well), although only 17, this kid, like Ben Arfa, looks like he would do well at Arsenal.

However that’s the 4th 17 year old we’ve been linked with this week and as I said before I wish we’d go for a grown up.

We had a Palace fan on late last night telling us how good Scannell is and what a good signing he’d be so there maybe some truth in that one.

There was a lot of Ade bashing going on yesterday but I think all the guy needs is some competition and maybe a toe up the arse by leaving him out, I think he’ll be a top player, remember Flamini? He used to come on and get booked within 5 minutes, at least Ade can score goals, give him time I say, but Arsene, drop him occasionally for his own good as well as ours.

Seb Larsson has been mentioned as a possible new recruit, sorry Seb, you’re not good enough and we don’t like how you acted when Eduardo got butchered.

Sagna is out for between 3 and 5 weeks, so that could be his season over but I’m comfortable with Eboue and Hoyte, we also have Kolo and Song who can play there so I’m not too worried.

I read yesterday that our own Henri Lansbury, is being compared to Beckham and Gerrard but is also becoming a bit of a party animal, if the comparison with Gerrard and Beckham are his footballing skills then okay, or is it because Gerrard and Beckham are thick? I hope it’s the former, but Henri, knock the partying son or Wenger with let you go and you could end up like Pennant.

I hope it’s not true though as we’re all looking forward to seeing in the first team next season and he Grovers could be the Flamini replacement.

One more day to go before we can talk football again and I hope we can return to our winning ways.

Enjoy today Grovers for tomorrow we dine in Hell.

Rumours abound regarding us signing Sean Scannell, the Palace wonderkid, I’ve not seen him but people (Blogs) say he is the next big Irish (Born in Croydon?) hope, is he too young for us or is he a perfect Wenger signing? Time will tell I guess, but we all know we need a winger.

Vela is playing on the wing but I think he’s a forward so this rumour may have some substance.

Gilberto came out and said that Billy Gallas has the support of the dressing room, if that’s true, I’m glad, we need unity and if it’s true then Gilberto has gone way up in my estimation for saying that about the player that replaced him as captain, so a big well done to Gilberto (yes I know he wasn’t captain but he was captain elect).

All the players are saying we need to win our seven remaining games, so at least it shows they can add up, but it does show they are still trying, let’s not forget that this time last year we were chasing 4th and out of all the cups and we could still do the double, we can but dream, but that’s what football is all about.

I am amazed that Rosicky had the nerve to join his national squad this week, when he hasn’t played for the team that pays his wages for months, if someone can shed some light on that I would be appreciative.

Big Nick scored for Denmark yesterday and Arsenal hopeful Franck Ribery done for England, I watched a bit of it but to be honest, if it’s not Arsenal, I’m not interested.

I’m wondering if the boss will blood some youngsters, like Barazite at Bolton, see if they have it for next season, I can’t see Wenger signing any big players, but you never know, he may surprise us all.

I expect big Phil to play at the weekend and maybe he’ll rest Gallas, we have a huge week coming up and I would think he’ll be looking ahead, Rosicky normally plays well against Liverpool, maybe he’s thinking about bringing him back for that one, I wonder if the Czechs will release him, we can only hope eh?

Good days blogging yesterday and some interesting viewpoints on managers past, I still have a big soft spot for Georgie, at least he doesn’t slag us off when he’s on TV.

A note for new Grovers certain words aren’t allowed on this site let me refresh you on what we don’t comment on, peoples religion or peoples race, we have a world wide audience and we welcome anyone who supports Arsenal, any nasty comments get binned.

Finally, a big happy birthday to Arsenalfcblog.com I hope you have a great day Mr Spanish Fry!

Happy blogging Grovers!

Not a lot today other than Cesc says the Premiership is the best league in the world, Clichy says we can still win the league and we’re being linked to defender Zapata, midfielder Zdravko Kuzmanovic and young Palace kid Sean Scannell, whoever they are, frankly I don’t care who they are if I’ve never heard of them.

Gallas says he has no friends at Arsenal save Theo Walcott, then went on to name the entire Chelsea squad as mates, but the translation could mean he was referring to only English kids so his options were limited.

I say time for Billy to go, he’s now in his 30’s and I really don’t think the captaincy has proved to be the Wenger masterstroke the ‘Arsene knows’ brigade had hoped for, but the season isn’t over yet so we’ll wait and see.

To all those out there that believe in all things Arsene, and yesterday there weren’t that many let me tell you what we said and what we didn’t say.

1) Nobody has said we think he should go

2) Nobody has said he is a bad manager

3) Everyone loves him and what he has done for the club

4) What we are saying is he has got it wrong, the squad is too small and too young, by bringing in fresh faces it will do the team good and give the supporters a lift.

Vieira said it, Henry said it, Gallas said it, Freddie said it, and we’re saying it, so we can’t all be wrong, can we?

It must also be said that George Graham, with less money also achieved quite a lot, Arsene isn’t the only manager that has done something great for Arsenal, we are all Arsenal fans first, this is not the Arsene Wenger show, it’s the Arsenal one, please remember that, also we have done more for Arsene’s career that anyone so let’s not forget that either.

So the message for todays ‘Arsene knows’ lovers is this, we love our manager and don’t want him to change or leave, just spend some of our money on a few world class players, you can start with Benzema, Quaresma and Ben Arfa if you want, if that doesn’t work out I will personally prostate myself outside your office with this blog rolled up and jammed up my arse, but please stop buying kids that you have no idea how they’ll turn out.

And if you do (like Theo) then play them, they have to be better than Eboue.

Have a great day Grovers and prepare to vomit when overrated Beckham gets his 100 cap tonight and joins the immortals.

He should have stopped at 50 and this circus would have stopped with it years ago.

Good to see Capello dropping big dim cheat Terry but strange to see he promoted drug taking Ferdinand as an example to the kids.

Okay the Ben Arfa story, Wenger said,

“He is a great player and Arsenal is a potential destination for any great player.”

What does that mean? We know that boss, it’s you we need to convince, but with Vela being shoehorned in for left wing next season, I would be surprised.

Martins for £10 million being lined up? I hope not, we need established, great players to come in, not ones that can’t cut it with relegation strugglers.

Flamini again says he wants to stay, well stay then and sign, either that or just go, I for one am getting bored with that story.

We had a great rant yesterday, welcomed on board some new bloggers and some bloggers we used to know when we went on other sites, welcome to the Grove.

Don’t forget we post EVERY day, even when we don’t get the result we want and even when there’s no news, we still have you Grovers to talk to, which makes us all feel like a family.

When we usually have a rant, we get a lot of ‘Arsene knows’ twats, yesterday we only had one, so either they’re getting the message, or more and more people agree with what we say, so a good Easter for blogging but a bad one for football.

I have more or less given up on the Premiership but we still have the Champions league to go for, if we could only get a fair shake from the refs we still have a great chance, but the league run in reminds me of 1989, it’s not over yet Grovers even though it feels like it is.

Maybe deep down now Arsene does at last know these kids need some help and maybe we’ll see some movement in the early summer, we have a host of clubs getting closer to that 4th spot, so we need to get going and shore up the cracks before we become one of them.

It’s a long wait for our next game, then they come thick and fast, take heart Grovers, we ARE STILL in the big one and still have all to play for.

Second in the league would be good as it takes away qualifying but first hasn’t gone quite yet.

Onwards upwards and keep your peckers up, this will go to the wire, let’s see if we have the stomach for it.

Have a great day and get your comments in, we appreciate them.