Chas Newkey-Burden's Blog, page 3

Never stopped me dreaming

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And this is how good it feels at Wembley, as nine years of hurt comes to an end.

The cup that cheered

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It was the final of 1979, with Alan Sunderland’s dramatic under-the-wire winner, which made me collapse longingly at the feet of football forever. Throughout the 1980s and 90s, the FA Cup Final was one of the most important days of the year for me, as joyfully anticipated and relished as Christmas Day and my birthday.

The television coverage began around midday. As the opening drumbeat of the Grandstand theme rang out, I would eat my first handful of crisps or, in later life, crack open my first lager, of the big day.

The build-up was curiously compelling: roving reporters collaring kooky fans for interviews on Wembley Way; helicopter cameras following the team buses as they inched their way to the stadium from their respective hotels; the be-suited players’ pre-match stroll on the turf, during which they would gaze around the stadium as if they had never seen turf, terracing or floodlights in their lives.

I’ve written for the Daily Telegraph about the lost joys of cup final day. You can read the rest of my article here.

Oy, Oy, my boy is Goy

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The fashion designer, Risk, has made a range of Jewish-themed clothes, including this ladies’ t-shirt: Oy, Oy, My Boy Is Goy…

Three things you may like to know about Nigel Farage

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This article from 1999 taught me three things I never knew about Nigel Farage:

1) Soon after he took over as party leader, a clause on the party’s membership form which said racists were not welcome in Ukip was removed.

2) He caused alarm in his party when he had lunch with a BNP researcher who has written an “expose” of Jewish people in the media, and rambled about how mass, non-white immigration into “every white country on earth” is a conspiracy “in line with traditional Jewish messianic thinking”.

3) That Farage has often used words such as “nigger” and “nig-nog” at Ukip social gatherings.

Wow.

Footballistically Arsenal

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I was a guest on my favourite podcast, Footballistically Arsenal, yesterday.

If you want to hear me explain why Arsenal are the Paula Radcliffe of football, what happened the time Dennis Bergkamp rang me as I was drunkenly queueing for a shawarma, and why the wondrous Per Mertesacker is my player of the season, click here.

66 not out!

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Happy birthday, Israel. Love you lots!

Arsenal: by mystical appointment

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Many Kabbalists believe that The Zohar, the main book of Jewish mysticism, has unique magical powers. Even by just holding or owning a copy of the book, they say, you allow its powerful energy and light to enter your life.

I love this story of how The Zohar helped Arsenal FC build their new stadium.

After earmarking the site of the new ground, just 500 yards from Highbury, Arsenal’s first job was to convince the owners of the site’s 254 existing businesses to sell-up or relocate.

Antony Spencer, an Arsenal supporter and Kabbalah enthusiast who first proposed the site, was given the task of meeting with each business owner in turn, and negotiating with them.

He managed to convince them all to move. Except one.

Garage owner Jimmy Damianos had built his business from scratch and was deeply proud of it. Having once been forced to leave his native Cyprus, he was determined not to relinquish his site, whatever price Arsenal offered him.

Even when Spencer visited the garage and offered Damianos £2.75m for a site worth a few hundred thousand at most, the owner refused to budge.

But unless he sold up, the entire stadium project was dead. After Spencer left that seemingly-fateful meeting, he decided to have one last go. So he returned to the garage, clutching a copy of The Zohar.

He waved it in the air and asked once more for Damianos to reconsider. This time, the Cypriot agreed. When asked later what made him finally concede, he said: “The signs were right, I could sense the energy between us.”

This story can be found in Alex Fynn and Kevin Whitcher’s magnificent book Arsenal: The Making of a Modern Superclub.

Read my previous post about Arsenal’s new stadium here.

Follow me on Twitter here.

In Wenger I trust

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Arsene Wenger has confirmed he will stay on as Arsenal manager beyond this season.

After months of speculation over his future, he said last week: “Look, I have said that many times already, I have given my word to this club and that I want to continue where I am. That means to stay.”

So that’s that. Or is it? Curiously, he added the caveat: “Unless I decide otherwise.”

I’ve been an Arsenal fan for 34 years, and I hope he decides to stay. Whatever happens next, I’ll never forget what Mr Wenger has done for Arsenal, and I’ll never forgive the supposed Arsenal ‘supporters’ who have turned on him over the last few years.

Some of the ‘Wenger Out’ brigade have even said they hope Arsenal will lose the FA Cup final, as defeat would hasten the departure of the Frenchman. A curiously narcissistic position: they want him to fail at Wembley so they can be proved right that he’s a failure.

These are not supporters; they are little more than glory-hunters. Well, if they genuinely expect success every year (as opposed to very, very much hoping for it) they should support Apple, not Arsenal.

I find warfare morally repugnant and as a person I’m a bit of a wuss. But oh me, oh my, I reckon I’d take up arms to defend Mr Wenger. I certainly trust him to know best when it is time to stay and when it is time to go. Until he decides the latter, I back him 100%.

24-hour Israel

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Sleepy dream

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Good grief! Is there anything less funny than hearing a woman relate a dream she’s just had? “And then Quentin was there somehow. And so were you, in a strange sort of way. And it was all so peaceful.” Peaceful?

(Christopher Hitchens. Arguably.)

Did the Hitch have a point? I’ve no doubt that anyone relating dream they’ve just had is boring, but is it any more boring when women do it?