The Merged George Graham Superthread!

[Redarmy]

The man who put Arsenal back on the map with sustained success, for the first time since the Chapman era

Sadly the turning point came against Benfica in 1991, then GG decided to change to dour football, which is unfortunately what he is tarred with now. By all accounts we played great football in the first five years, almost doing an Invincibles in 1991 (Fuck you, Chelsea).

Shame about the bung. Brian Clough would have been done for it too had he not retired two years previously. GG did give the money back. I hear he was on £300K a year, so to see The Old Fraud on £8.3M a year as he has become less successful boils my piss.

1994-95 was a terrible season. We were perpetually two losses from relegation. He had lost his eye for a player and would have struggled with increasing player power and money coming into the PL. Sad to see it end as it did, but at least it wasn't the drawn-out-over-eight-years situation we have now with TOF.

I can't blame GG for taking the Leeds and Scum jobs. Even their fans knew he was Arsenal through and through.

I suppose TOF could have truly overhauled GG had he won the CL in 2006, but the past decade has well and truly put him below GG.

He certainly built the club in it's modern form, no matter what shit TOF spouts on the subject (when he's not doing down our history).

Didn't ferguscum admit that he had received money, put it in his office safe, and then handed it back the next day (or within a few days) ?
As you say, the bung culture was rife back then and GG was a scapegoat for the system

yeah he ended up the fall guy...they was all at it

[denhaaggooner]

The best of wankers years were with the Arsenal core , when the Romford Pele and Keown left it started going downhill from that point . I will always remember the GG years when The Arsenal were a respected and feared club , players wanted to play for them unlike now .

[GranadaJoe]

The best of wankers years were with the Arsenal core , when the Romford Pele and Keown left it started going downhill from that point . I will always remember the GG years when The Arsenal were a respected and feared club , players wanted to play for them unlike now .

The point you make about 'respected and feared' is a good one. Even if other fans and teams didn't like us, none of them would want to see our name drawn out the hat alongside theirs.
Now most top clubs hope exactly the opposite.

[StuartL]

Any doubts about who was responsible for Arsenal becoming the club it is today can be put to bed. Before GG took over we were a team from the distant past apart from an amazing 1971 season the year I was born.
My first memory was the 1978 defeat to Ipswich in the cup followed by the 1979 amazing 3v2 win against United.
In the 80s we were lucky to finish in the top 5 although we had some decent players and I grew up seeing Liverpool win everything and thinking I will never live to see the day we win the title.
Forward to 1987 and suddenly we win the Littlewoods Cup. Two massive wins against Spurs and Liverpool were the start.
Our youth players combined with such clever signings as Alan Smith bring us back from no mans land.
We all know the story of 1989 but unless you lived through the decade you just would not know how amazing it was to do that.
Only Leicester last season can claim to have done something more impossible. 1991 we go one game unbeaten and romp home.
After that we become a cup team and seem to win something every season ending GG SUCCESS with a win in the cup winners cup in 1994. So no it was not Wenger that changed Asenal whoever came after GG had a very hard act to follow. You can say from 1997 to about 2006 Wenger had proved to be better. Now if you look from 2006 to 2016 you have to revisit the stats and see that we went so far backwards it's impossible to see any manager other than Wenger surviving

Loved watching Arsenal during the George E Graham years, was my era for home / away / Europe

We had briefly had a fantastic unbeaten run that had seen us top the league, but the youngsters couldn't sustain it but it gave the club, players and fans enormous positivity to use as a springboard to push on.

Not just Smith, but Winterburn from Wimbledon, Dixon from Stoke, Bould from Stoke, Marwood, Sheff Weds, Richardson from Everton, all came into the team as bargain buys, but they all worked their nuts off for the team, they all carried the work ethic that would serve so well.

It still rankles that George's Arsenal were labelled "boring " across his tenure, the last couple of seasons sure, but in 1989 we won the league because we outscored the free flowing ,attacking marvels that was Liverpool. Think we were top scorers in 1991 too ?
iNo team that had at various times Merson, Rocastle, Limpar, Wright playing going to be boring - the problem was the opposition found it tough to score against us, with a fantastic back line and Lukic then Seaman in goal and a hard working tough tackling midfield.

[Brightonnxtround]

Are chambers and holding our new winterburn and bould?????
I very much doubt it don't you

[donaldo71]

You really had to be an Arsenal supporter from 74-86 to realise the job GG did for us.We were a fucking joke.GG was our Bill Shankly he gave us our pride back..He laid the foundations for others to build on. 7 of 1998 double team were GG players The back 5, Parlour and Wright

The likes of Walcott and Ox wouldnt be still at the club picking up mega wages under GG

[Perryashburtongroves]

87,89,91,93 twice and 94. All times when I was so proud to be an Arsenal fan. I actually can't remember the last time I was proud of the club under Wanker. Definitely not any time in the last decade. There are striking similarities between the last days of George and the last fucking decade under the old fraud but think about this, George turned up at Arsenal and after one look told the world that it would take him three years to win the league. He did it. No excuses, no moaning about other teams, no complaining about tiredness or fucking handbrakes being on, no whining about teams spending more money or not being able to find players. He just went out and drilled the team until they were winners. Now think about that fucking coward Arsehole Wanker and compare the two. Think about how we won the league 5 years before Wanker took over but 15 years before George. Think about 87, 89,91,93,94 and how those players would rather die than give up. Then think about Wanker and think about how that fraudulent, disrespectful *word censored* claimed he buit the club. Now someone do a banner with George and Herbert Chapman on it and the words: 'They built this club.'

[Sean]

[hertsgunner]

You really had to be an Arsenal supporter from 74-86 to realise the job GG did for us.We were a fucking joke.GG was our Bill Shankly he gave us our pride back..He laid the foundations for others to build on. 7 of 1998 double team were GG players The back 5, Parlour and Wright

The likes of Walcott and Ox wouldnt be still at the club picking up mega wages under GG

Your post is spot on mate, I really loved the siege mentality that GG built up around the club, the class that he installed in the players and on our travels I really loved belting out boring boring Arsenal as we turned over some scummy northern team just to wind the locals up and send them home with the hump.

[Nos89]

Found my poster of the 88/89 league winning team today. So damn happy

[Sean]

You really had to be an Arsenal supporter from 74-86 to realise the job GG did for us.We were a fucking joke.GG was our Bill Shankly he gave us our pride back..He laid the foundations for others to build on. 7 of 1998 double team were GG players The back 5, Parlour and Wright

The likes of Walcott and Ox wouldnt be still at the club picking up mega wages under GG

Your post is spot on mate, I really loved the siege mentality that GG built up around the club, the class that he installed in the players and on our travels I really loved belting out boring boring Arsenal as we turned over some scummy northern team just to wind the locals up and send them home with the hump.

Who can be the next GG for us after these past eight years of shite? I can't trust this board to appoint anyone with the balls that GG had

We need our pride back.

[goonersid]

I loved GG but it had all gone stale and we were in decline when he left and I was glad to see him go!
That said I think he would have had the dignity to walk away anyway had results continued.
Still our greatest ever manager of the modern era and ten times the legend and gooner this current fuck will ever be

[robbo10]

Are chambers and holding our new winterburn and bould?????
I very much doubt it don't you

More like our Stepanov's and Cygan's.....which is sad because with a decent defensive savvy coach they could become decent centre halve's i don't doubt,but when your watching Mertersacker and Kosielny make error after error week after week you don't have a chance.

[markyp]

id love it if GG came out publicly against Wenger

[robbo10]

id love it if GG came out publicly against Wenger

GG has more class than that