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Essentially it comprises 128 pages of informative and entertaining ‘elevens' and there are absolutely loads of them starting with the ‘Absolute best Gooner moments'. This list is in itself enough to provoke about an hours argument on an away trip to Blackburn, or wherever, on the ommissions amongst the eleven chosen games and a huge debate about their chosen running order. Was Arsenal's 4-0 win versus Everton in 1998 really better than Arsenal's Fairs Cup win over Anderlecht for example? And given what an excellent job Damian has done throughout, how could he possibly omit the 1971 1-0 victory at the Lane from this particular list? The eleven chosen would certainly all be up there in anyone's best moments – but would they exactly match yours?
To give you an idea of the diversity contained in these pages what follows is just the A to C of lists, which are: Ashburton Grove facts, Autobiographies, Bad boys, Bad hair days, Baldies, Bench warmers, Best books, Best bosses, Best foreign signings, Best-named players, Bogey teams, Boo-boys, Captains of their countries, Care to step outside, Celebrity Gooners, Championship-winning captains, Championship winning seasons, Charity Shield wins, Cleopatra's nose moments, Club records, Coincidence or is it, Cultured left feet and Cup runners-up medals. So given this initial sample I trust you get the general idea of the full A-Z. The full monty includes many varied headings and amongst my personal favourites are: ‘Players we love to hate' ‘Penalty shoot-outs', ‘own goals', ‘one-cap wonders', ‘one-club wonders', ‘nightmare debuts', ‘nicknames', ‘moustaches', ‘most significant historical moments', ‘great keepers', ‘great Herbert Chapman moments', ‘Epics', ‘Eccentrics', ‘Dream debuts', ‘Feuds', ‘Flop stars', ‘Unlikely goals', ‘Firsts' and ‘Wengerisms'.
I first stumbled across this book at the checkout counter of an HMV store where upon opening it at random my eyes fell upon number 5 in a list called ‘Scandals' – it reads as follows: "5 Ooops, how clumsy". ‘Arsenal are – unofficially – accused of throwing games at the end of the1928 season to ensure Tottenham's demotion. Uncharacteristically, we lose 2-0 at home to Portsmouth and 1-0 to Manchester United. Both Clubs finished a point above Tottenham'. How could I possibly leave such a book in the store given that this was the first segment I read? It was so right up my street.
Naturally you won't agree with some of the more subjective listings included, because any such list is open to debate, but the author has certainly dug deep and pulled out numerous facts, figures and reminders which both educate and very often amuse. Any doubts that this title was written by a dedicated Gooner can be instantly dispelled with a brief look at ‘Players we love to hate' where he offers very brief descriptions on the eleven detestable gits he considers meet the bill. Teddy Sherringham is described as ‘smug, baiting, flash git, Grrr' - Roy Keane as ‘the devil incarnate' - Dennis Wise as a ‘poisonous dwarf' -Graham Roberts as a ‘evil slathering merciless monster'. Ok so maybe the decriptions are just a tad mild, but there can no doubting Damian Hall's Gooner credentials.
‘Arsenal – The Top 11 of everything Gooner' is a delightful pocket book and it certainly wouldn't be unreasonable to consider it for future inclusion in one of it's own lists; namely ‘Best Books'. Maybe it'll make it there in time.
Arsenal – The Top 11 of everything Goonerby Damian Hall
Price £4.99
Published by Rough Guides
Available from all the usual places you buy your Arsenal books, or from any decent Bookseller if you quote the following ISBN number: 1 84353 561 0