Andy Kelly

Yep, and all there in a letter from the Chelsea secretary to West Ham secretary.

Me too, funnily enough. Trying to explain to Man City, Chelsea & Newcastle fans that Littlewoods / John Moores didn't bankroll Liverpool's 1960-1990 success but they refused to accept the truth.

So much easier to analyse back in the good old days before parent companies, amortisation and all the other financial jiggery-pokery.

Oasis need to re-record Don't Look Back In Anger and change the lyrics to:
Please don't put your life in the hands
Of an AI chatbot
That will fuck it all up

Not a great deal in the grand scheme. Out of interest, how do you decide which company's accounts to compare when a football club is part of a group. For example, why do you choose Arsenal Holdings rather The Arsenal Football Club? Which companies do you use for Man City & Chelsea?

How much did KSE put into Arsenal in 2024-25?

Christian Norgaard

Noni Madueke

1994 - Christian Norgaard (2025 - )
2002 - Noni Madueke (2025 - )

Sir Robert Bellinger

George Bradshaw

Arthur Milton

Lassana "blink and you missed him" Diarra

Today's Arsenal birthdays:
1910 - Sir Robert Bellinger (1960 - 2002 director)
1913 - George Bradshaw (1935 - 1936)
1928 - Arthur Milton (1945 - 1955)
1985 - Lassana Diarra (2007 - 2008)

Tried to bribe their way into the Southern League, which failed, then tried it with the Football League clubs who were more than happy to accept their money.

We should change our name to Aaaaaaarsenal, like those taxi firms in the Yellow Pages.

Every non-Arsenal fan screaming conspiracy after a former Chelsea player and a former Man City player drew the balls.

It's not short for Association Football Club. It's just AFC Bournemouth.

This was the first mention of the word "gooner" or "gooners" in the official match day programme - 9 September 1989.
thearsenalcollection.org.uk?page_id=7259

If it is, we must have the podgiest fans!

It looks like the clubs with the bigger stadiums have a bigger reliance on matchday income, Chelsea must charge premium prices and Man City are more reliant on their dodgy sponsorship deals.

Just to add some more info to the earlier years. Additional income came from programmes and handbooks, and then from 1925 rents received from houses that the club bought and rented out to players and staff.

Arsenal's accounts for 2024-25 were published last week and I was fascinated to see that gate receipts now account for just 22.3% of turnover. The table below shows how reliant the club has been on gate receipts since WW1.

Ben Cook

John Woodward

Thomas Cruise

Today's Arsenal birthdays:
1933 - Ben Cook (1951 - 1956)
1936 - John Woodward (1951 - 1953)
1991 - Thomas Cruise (2006 - 2011)

1987 League Cup final: Arsenal v Liverpool Looking back at the first time Arsenal won the League Cup, as they come from behind to beat Liverpool in the 1987 final.

New blog out looking back at the 1987 Littlewoods Cup final between Arsenal and Liverpool:

that1980ssportsblog.blogspot.com/2026/03/1987...

#AFC #Arsenal #LFC #Liverpool

Yes, it contains the historic programmes that the club uses in its contemporary programmes and on its social media, such as reddit. I'm co-writing a series of articles in this season's programme that features programmes from The Arsenal Collection.

I would have kept my £100 anyway as you wouldn't have found the word "gooner" in any Arsenal programme in the 1960s (nor the 1970s) if you had taken the time to check.

I'm saying the club is mistaken. There's a fair amount on the website that is incorrect.
How about this. You go through those programmes on The Arsenal Colllection. If you can find the word "gooner" in any of the 1960s ones I'll donate £100 to your favourite charity.

Any chance we can have lockdown weather again? This "get back to the office you slackers" weather is crap.

Programmes The matchday programme has been the staple diet for informing fans of news about the club since the late 1880s. This section will include a wide variety of programmes – home, away, first team, rese…

All of the Arsenal programmes for the whole of the 1960s are available to view on The Arsenal Collection. The word gooner doesn't appear in any of them.
I started watching Arsenal in 1975 and can remember "ooh to be a gooner" starting in the early 1980s.
thearsenalcollection.org.uk?page_id=372

It dates back to the early 1980s. It wasn't used in an official match day programme until fairly recently as it was first associated with a hooligan element which the club didn't want to be associated with.

Interesting fact: they’d rerecord the B-side a few months later and it would become their biggest hit.

Stopped at number 3 in the charts, thus failing to emulate his two brothers who topped the charts in the 1960s.

Mal Griffiths

Peter Davies

Andrew Two Saints aka Andre dos Santos

Today's Arsenal birthdays:
1919 - Mal Griffiths (1935 - 1938)
1936 - Peter Davies (1957 - 1959)
1983 - Andre dos Santos (2011 - 2013)

I thought you were going to bed.

Bit like someone having to explain to you the difference between an owner and a sponsor. Night.