Dodging the Dripping Pan ducking stool, magazine editor Andy Lyons, writer Harry Pearson and host Daniel Gray discuss Football Art and Statues from Jody Craddock’s paintwork to The Erratic Clown of Belgrade via Arsène Wenger’s Miss Marple likeness. Magazine Deputy Editor Ffion Thomas previews WSC issue 439, Record Breakers brings us a Beckenbauer ballad, and we continue our sprightly feature The Final Third, in which a guest contributes a match, a player and an object to the WSC Museum of Football. Joining Dan as our visiting curator this time is Andy Powell, author of Doing the 92 Haiku.
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Stories
As Arsenal celebrate their 125th anniversary with the unveiling of three bronze statues outside the Emirates, Jon Spurling looks at their somewhat disputed origins
With a parade of former stars prior to the league victory over Everton, and the official unveiling of the bronze statues of Herbert Chapman, Thierry Henry and Tony Adams outside the Emirates Stadium the day before, Arsenal celebrated their 125th anniversary in some style. Over the last few years, the Arsenal History Project, run by the Arsenal Independent Supporters’ Association (AISA), has undertaken a review of the club’s often murky formative years. One of the main drivers of the Arsenal History Project, Tony Attwood, commented on his blog: “In the early days of writing histories of the club, people relied on their memories or occasional comments from others. This built up a range of documentation all based on the flimsiest of evidence.” The Woolwich Arsenal blog has highlighted and questioned several elements of the story of the club previously been taken as gospel.
Dear WSC
Although I thoroughly enjoyed the article on footballing statues (Striking a pose, WSC 294) it did miss out one rather infamous example – the Ted Bates horror show of a few years back. This short-lived “tribute” to the former Saints player, manager, director and president was astonishingly inept, with legs roughly half the length they should have been. To add to the indignity, more than once a resemblance to dignity-phobic Portsmouth owner/asset-stripper Milan Mandaric was pointed out. The overall effect was of a top-heavy, inebriated and besuited dwarf waving at passers-by. Not really the ideal summing up a lifetime’s service to a club.
Keith Wright, Cheltenham
A West Midlands derby leaves the home team just about over the safety line, while the visitors are left with the volatile mood swings familiar to anyone who has experienced a relegation scrap. Adam Bate relives the action
I’m meeting an old school friend to go to the game. Although we are both Wolves fans, he lives behind enemy lines – near the Mailbox in the centre of Birmingham. He greets me at the door with a sheepish raise of the eyebrows. No words. We both know this is not a social call. Such is life for the supporters of a team in the midst of a relegation battle.