The Merged George Graham Superthread!

[EC3]

id love it if GG came out publicly against Wenger

Offer him £100 and he will

[Perryashburtongroves]

id love it if GG came out publicly against Wenger

Offer him £100 and he will

Tell him you're a Norwegian agent.

[Henry Norris 1913]

id love it if GG came out

bet you would

[Nos89]

Graham must be seething at the complete lack of ambition at the club, and how they have destroyed the pride he re-installed at the club. We need another Graham to come into the club, not another Wenger.

[Sean]

Graham must be seething at the complete lack of ambition at the club, and how they have destroyed the pride he re-installed at the club. We need another Graham to come into the club, not another Wenger.

Spot on there

[DB10GOONER]

Been reading Perry Groves' autobiography and whilst good old "Number 1 is Perry Groves" comes across as a dimwit and a bit of a twat at times, it's a good read about how the game used to be. His recollections of George Graham in particular got me thinking back to that era. GG's time at the club coincided with my late teens and early twenties and a time when I had a lot of cash, no commitments and a group of diehard Gooner mates - so The Arsenal was a massive part of our lives and we went to a lot of games at Highbury, a decent few aways and a handful of quality European trips too. GG became a real hero to me, a charismatic father figure that you respected and could rely on to deliver the goods without fail. He was the man that single-handedly gave The Arsenal back our pride.

There was no 24 hour TV coverage of football in the early days so most of what we heard about the club/manager/players was through the newspapers and snippets on Football Focus or MOTD. Because of not getting drowned in coverage, there was a certain mystique about the club and GG in particular. There was a perception of class and quiet professionalism. I'm a traditionalist. I loved the idea that our captain picked the sleeve length on match day. I loved the way GG (and the players) turned up for games in the club blazer and slacks, the way GG would start a game thusly attired and as the game progressed he'd end up with the blazer and tie off and his sleeves rolled up, a man deep in his work. I loved watching him on the line - always directing, coaxing, the odd bollocking, but never petulant hysterics. His image as a tough manager, a disciplinarian, often put me in mind of the tough, well-respected Scottish sergeant major you'd see in war movies like The Wild Geese and I always thought if GG told you to charge that machine gun you would fucking charge it.

He gave us wonderful days and nights. The league cup win against massive favourites Liverpool. Then the beauty, the majestic glory, the fucking in your face awesomeness of Anfield 89. Anfield 89 will never be topped by anybody anywhere ever. Fuck off man citeh - doesn't even come close. That 1991 team that only lost one league game. One game away from being the Invincibles. The glory of Copenhagen 94. The cup double back when both those cups really meant something. So many great memories.

Of course the GG era ended badly. The game had changed and to a certain extent GG was getting left behind. He had turned our championship winning 1991 side into a cup team by 1993 (albeit a successful cup team!) and then the bung fiasco put the final nail in his coffin. I always thought the board used the bung thing as an excuse to remove GG. Every other fucking manager was at it and it still pisses me off that the only manager to lose his job and have his reputation tarnished was GG. FA fuckers. I even forgave GG's tenure with the vermin as it was obviously just a nose thumbing exercise aimed at the Arsenal board.

GG will be 72 in November. Just say that number - SEVENTY TWO. Fuck me the years have flown by. In my mind's eye I still see GG as that dapper manager in his early 40's, handsome, strong, charismatic, leading his beloved Arsenal to glory. I can't picture him as an old man.

With the negativity around Wenger and the club, and with this forum turning into (as Quartz called it before he flounced off ) "a hair-splitting, inward looking, pit of negativity" I'd like to have a thread that harks back to a happier time.

So I would love to hear all of your memories of GG, the good and the bad and the quirky.

And let's keep the Wenger shit to a minimum.

This thread is for George Graham, Arsenal Legend.

[flash gunner]

Loved my time as a gooner during his time as manager. So many trophies/brilliant away days

Can never forgive him for managing the scum!!!!!

[augie]

I loved the man as a manager and he is still the best manager we have had in my time on this earth - people (akb) point to wenkers early successes and hail him as a genius, but they choose to ignore the fact that he took over a squad that had at least half a dozen league winners in it. GG took over a team and a club that was in disarray - too many big name players living off their exploits elsewhere, and a lack of unity in the club and the fans over the treatment of don howe. GG came in and enforced The Arsenal Way on the players and he was ruthless enough to get rid of those "big names" - he instilled a sense of pride and honour in the players and he instilled a siege mentality which also seemed to work. I remember watching the end of season video of the season where we had the brawl at old shatford - he had to appear to be giving the players a bollocking over their conduct but you could see that he didn't mean a word of it and his performance for the camera's was worth an Oscar nomination at least

Yes his football had become sterile in his last couple of seasons and yes he had run out of ideas and the club needed a change of manager, but I still point to the fact that we won the cup winners cup just 9 months previously which showed a pragmatic man who prioritised winning over style (in total contrast to the c.unt we have now ). I will always resent the way the club handled his removal as manager - a man who had served the club so well as a player and as a manager should have been allowed to resign instead of being sacked, but our snobs on the board were so intent on showing the world that they wanted to be seen to be taking action that they treated him shabbily imo

[denhaaggooner]

He was MY Arsenal , the stadium , the fans , even the board , the GG era was when I truly was a gooner . I fucking love Arsenal but I hate what we have become

[Jumpers For Goalposts]

Best memory of the Great Man is my mate Pete and me going to get our tickets (can't remember which cup match) from the old East Stand Box Office, one weekday spring morning.

As we walked past the main entrance there was George Graham standing at the big black doors - unable to get in. My mate Pete shouted "Knock a bit louder George" to which George laughed and said to us "Ah cannae get in".

I (being really quick witted ) couldn't think of a single thing to say and as we walked off George was eventually let in.

It must've been the early 90s and I remember it like it was yesterday such is my affection for that brilliant man.

[DB10GOONER]

Best memory of the Great Man is my mate Pete and me going to get our tickets (can't remember which cup match) from the old East Stand Box Office, one weekday spring morning.

As we walked past the main entrance there was George Graham standing at the big black doors - unable to get in. My mate Pete shouted "Knock a bit louder George" to which George laughed and said to us "Ah cannae get in".

I (being really quick witted ) couldn't think of a single thing to say and as we walked off George was eventually let in.

It must've been the early 90s and I remember it like it was yesterday such is my affection for that brilliant man.

Also loving your impression of George doing an impression of Fat Tongue Harry Kane!

[Bradywasking]

May have told this before. After the 1989 title win Arsenal came to Dublin ( September ish) to play Bohrmians in a friendly.. I went out to Dublin Airport for the day in the hope of meeting the players..Met up with another Gooner there and struck up a lifelong friendship.. He stood for my son and I was groomsman at his wedding.. Anyway we got to meet the players as they arrived..Theo Foley was GG's assistant at the time. He told they were staying in an airport hotel and said we should go over..We met the players properly there.. George came out of the lunch and we respectfully approached him..He barked at us "why are you lads not in work today"..Probably summed up his management style.
Loved him and his Arsenal but I feel regardless of the bungs he had reached the end anyway..

[DB10GOONER]

May have told this before. After the 1989 title win Arsenal came to Dublin ( September ish) to play Bohrmians in a friendly.. I went out to Dublin Airport for the day in the hope of meeting the players..Met up with another Gooner there and struck up a lifelong friendship.. He stood for my son and I was groomsman at his wedding.. Anyway we got to meet the players as they arrived..Theo Foley was GG's assistant at the time. He told they were staying in an airport hotel and said we should go over..We met the players properly there.. George came out of the lunch and we respectfully approached him..He barked at us "why are you lads not in work today"..Probably summed up his management style.
Loved him and his Arsenal but I feel regardless of the bungs he had reached the end anyway..

Was at that Bohs match with my best mate and his 8 year old Gunners-mad younger brother. I got separated from them after the game and when I met them outside matey boy and his bro were ecstatic. They had gotten into the Arsenal changing room and GG and the entire team had signed their t-shirts before the security lads kicked them out. I say "t-shirts" because my mates deffo were not wearing jerseys - I don't think replica Arsenal jerseys were actually available in the Oirish shops until the 91 season but I could be wrong in that?

[Skooner]

I first started to go to THOF during his era and have many great memories. One of my favourite quotes of his was when he signed Seaman. The rumours were doing the rounds before the end of the season that we were going to buy him and replace Lukic, it wasn't going down very well with the Northbank who sang "We all agree, Lukic is better than Seaman" but when it did get officially announced he said something along the lines of "I still think John is one of the top three keepers in the country, I just think David is the best there is". And that was typical of his attitude during that period, Lukic wasn't really costing us, but George knew he could upgrade and make us even better so he did (£1.3m, which I think, indredibly given today's prices, was a British record for a keeper). The following season we only lost one league game and only conceded 18 goals, at the time the second fewest ever in the top flight of English football.

The end was very sad given what he had given the club and I agree the board should have handled it with more dignity.

[Jumpers For Goalposts]

Best memory of the Great Man is my mate Pete and me going to get our tickets (can't remember which cup match) from the old East Stand Box Office, one weekday spring morning.

As we walked past the main entrance there was George Graham standing at the big black doors - unable to get in. My mate Pete shouted "Knock a bit louder George" to which George laughed and said to us "Ah cannae get in".

I (being really quick witted ) couldn't think of a single thing to say and as we walked off George was eventually let in.

It must've been the early 90s and I remember it like it was yesterday such is my affection for that brilliant man.

Also loving your impression of George doing an impression of Fat Tongue Harry Kane!

I remember George having a really strong Scottish accent. I worked with a lot of Scottish lads back then so I was used to the Glasgee twang but his accent was strong.

I often wonder how embarrassed the person that should've opened the door was. And I so wish I'd had the courage to talk to him.