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Erling Haaland is the difference Those of you with long memories may remember this blog at the start of the last season when I asked could we win the Premier League and did so by comparing City’s likely top 11 against Arsenal’s. I struggled to put any of Arsenal above a City player but I gave a draw between Jesus and Haaland on the basis that Jesus is proven in the PL and Haaland might not succeed as greats have not before him, one notable such was Andriy Shevchenko, who I believed was going to make Chelsea unstoppable. I also said that this was probably going to make me look foolish as I expected Haaland to shine. He did, in an unbelievable way. Pep, the Spanish guardian of the Viking god So, honestly, have you ever seen a better striker? I can’t think of any and I have been watching football for a long time. He had 52 in all competitions last season in 53 matches. Arsenal had 103 in 49 matches. So one guy gets more than half of all our players? He has 8 goals from 9 appearances so far. We have 15 from 8. So he is still scoring more than half our goals already? City get the Viking God, not Arsenal If he stays fit, I think he may be the main reason that City do extraordinarily well again, leaving the lesser teams to pick up the scraps. The fact that City changed their style of play to suit this machine tells you everything about him. Now, it seems he wanted to come to Arsenal, and Odegaard was pushing for this but he elected to go to City and nobody could blame him. Barring City getting punished for irregularities, he will win lots of trophies and Arsenal will struggle to get the big ones. Sterling's record to go? I want to put him into Arsenal terms. He has 62 goals for City already. Many big Arsenal names have fewer for us. Kanu has 44, Wiltord 49, John Radford and Kevin Campbell 53, Fabregas has 57. They all played for many years for us. If Haaland gets 53 again he will jump up into 6th place above Olivier Giroud on 105. He was the fastest to 50 goal contributions since they started tracking such things. If he gets similar figures for next season 2024/5 he will be pushing Ian Wright’s record. It is incredible. Bye bye Sterling’s record? Of course it may not happen. He may lose form, get injured, lose confidence, in fact anything could go wrong, but I have a feeling that this guy will keep pumping in the goals. For City, most probably. If he does manage 50 plus he will jump up into 3rd on City’s all time list behind Raheem Sterling on 131 and Sergio Aguerro on 260. Aguerro’s is a good target but Sterling’s certainly isn’t. 500 for Haaland, why not? Would he have scored so many for Arsenal? I don’t see why not, but Arteta would have to be humble enough to be willing to change Arsenal’s style of play to accommodate him. Pep, the modern day genius did. The point about Haaland is that he doesn’t get many touches. He makes many runs, often into great positions but regularly doesn’t get the ball. And so he is the epitome of the old commentators cry, “He did nothing in the game except score a hat trick.” Arteta too much of a purist for Haaland? Arteta seems to prize hard work above all else, and a guy who doesn’t seem to do much except score may be a big ask for him. A long ball aimed at De Bruyne and Haaland may feel a bit Sam Allardyce to Arteta. Plus Pep has the assurance of a guy who has won big trophies at big clubs. Arteta is having his first go. He may have felt it was too large a risk with the ball to go long. I guess we will never know. Would Arteta have controlled him or unleashed him like Pep Nobody else among the top teams play like City do now. Yes, City have a strong pressing game aimed at getting the ball back quickly as do all the major teams but Pep is willing to lose it by directing all efforts ultimately at the Norwegian. All their players know that this guy is unique. He will win trophies for them. They will get caps and acclaim as winners. Is there anyone for us out there? Despite all the goals and the big transfer fee allied to the incredible hype, he seems a very likable person. I reckon he would have loved Arteta’s Arsenal as Odegaard worked his De Bruyne magic for him. I think Haaland would have been the missing link, the goalscorer that we have been waiting for since Henry. Although Henry could score by himself and that is not really Haaland’s forte. Henry could get us the win. Haaland is getting them the win. And there is one big advantage of the long ball, so beloved of all the underdogs everywhere, you can keep your players back, ready to fight if the ball is lost. Ivan Toney the Wright guy? I do not see any one else out there in the Premier League who might come to us. Ivan Toney is being promulgated but, while he will bring a physicality and a target to all our incredibly talented suppliers, I am not really convinced of his class. Ivan Toney - can we take a bet on him? But he does seem the best option there is. I feel he would score for us. He could supply enough of them to give City a very hard time and, if he blooms totally by being surrounded by Saka, Odegaard, Martinelli, Trossard, Jesus, etc., and knocking in 30 plus a season then City had better beware. Ian could always score for us We are scoring lots of goals at the moment without our strikers knocking in too many. What would we be like with a striker who would score lots of goals? I suspect it is the missing link. We didn’t get Haaland but we need to get as close as possible to the next best thing. Maybe Toney is that. If he turns out to be an Arsenal player not a Brentford one, January could be interesting yet. Another gear in our car would be very nice at that point. And hey, Ian Wright was 27 when he joined us and scoring for a lower London team when he came, same as Toney now. Could he be our new Ian Wright Wright Wright?

Walcott, Wilshire or Wright? On the surface this is an easy question, the answer is Wright, right? But today I will take a look at 2 players who almost became Arsenal legends and one who did. Jack Wilshire, Theo Walcott and Ian Wright and show up some surprises along the way, I hope. Wrightly so - A true legend I reckon most of you are saying there is no comparison. In the list of 50 top players voted by Arsenal fans, Wright was number 4, and Walcott and Wilshire are nowhere to be found. https://www.arsenal.com/history/gunners-greatest-50-players All suffered bad luck Strangely enough, though, one area where they correlate is bad luck. Injuries curtailed and derailed Wiltshire and Walcott’s careers and Wright’s difficult upbringing, his inability to attract a top team when young, and strikers considered better than him for England, all conspired to make his career a long battle. Walcott - exciting at his best Both Walcott and Wilshire had better achievements for England. They had more caps, Walcott 47 and Wilshire 34 to Wright’s 33. Wright never made it to a major championship, the others did. Wright rarely played competitive matches, the others did. Both played underage international football, Wright didn’t. Wright, even at his best, was the backup for England. Even after their injuries, England managers were trying to put Wilshire and Walcott back in. 2 wunderkids For Arsenal, Walcott and Wilshire were among the youngest players to make competitive debuts, Wright didn’t get there until he was almost 27. They were hailed as wunderkids, Wright was unknown as a teenager. Walcott still managed far more games for Arsenal than Wright, 397 to 288. Wilshire a respectable 197. Could Wilshire have been as good as Vieira? The one big difference, of course, between the legend and the nearly men, was injuries. We can all accept that both Wilshire and Walcott would have been Arsenal and England superstars without the injuries. They were truly superb, playing in big matches for the 2 sides and receiving huge acclaim. Walcott would surely have scored lots more goals and maybe even secured that striker role he so wanted. At 33, he could have surpassed Henry and still firing more in for Arsenal and England right now. Wilshire could have become the midfield maestro, dominating teams to this day while being accepted as a great in the Vieira mould. Both could be challenging Henry and Bergkamp for that top two position in the Arsenal great list. At their best they were supreme If you have watched these two at their best and most of you reading have, you know I am not talking nonsense. Injuries diminished their power, whether mentally or physically, or both, I am not sure. And so they are nearly men. It must be tragic for them to know that they were doing everything right, their careers progressing in an amazing way at a young age, making the step up to the big teams and having a huge impact, and then it all goes wrong through something they hadn’t got control of. Injuries can be the cruellest event in a footballer’s life. In fairness to both, they never stopped trying, and nor did Ian Wright. Poor Ian never got a real chance at England If Wilshire and Walcott’s hardest battles were with injuries, Wright’s were with life and football itself. He had to constantly pick himself off the floor to get his life back on track, from having a young baby as a teenager, to going to prison, to not making it at football trials, to being a black footballer when all they received was horrendous abuse, to being overlooked for England when he desperately wanted a real chance, to be used when it mattered. Yin and yang But perhaps his biggest piece of good fortune came, as in life it often does, in a mixture of good and bad luck. Bruce Rioch was appointed after George Graham’s meltdown with the bung scandal. He didn’t seem to like Wright and the feeling soon became mutual. He banished him to the wing and often didn’t play him. Now despite the perception that Rioch was a disaster, he actually improved Arsenal from 12th to 5th. In normal circumstances, he would never have been fired. But himself and David Dein (maybe deliberately so) didn’t get on, Arsene Wenger had already been lined up, and of course, David Dein was a big fan of Ian Wright. Arsene Wenger came in, Wright was restored, his career and trophies came back on track, and he even got 8 caps in 1997 and 4 goals, but again mostly in friendlies. 47 is a lot of caps for an injury prone footballer If Rioch hadn’t been fired, I reckon he would have sold Wright that summer of 1996. He was almost 31, and other than Man Utd, all teams were downward for him. He would not have become quite the Arsenal legend, finished anywhere near 4th in our all time list and, like Walcott and Wilshire, maybe not even make an appearance there at all. And that could so easily have happened. So the bad luck at having Bruce Rioch brought in was followed immediately by Wenger, and the extraordinary improvements he made to the careers of the old pros he inherited. Wenger was so important to all three Wenger was crucial to the careers of Walcott and Wilshire. Walcott was bought in at 16 for big money for such a young player but had to spend some time in the academy, being helped along by Liam Brady and Wenger. The same with Wilshire, who was already in the academy. He gave both their chance very young and they were teenage prodigies. Their career could have been stratospheric if they had just normal injuries to contend with. They still managed good careers, lots of England caps, crucial Champions league matches and playing at the very top of football. Ian Wright must look at such players breaking through as kids and say, I had to do everything in football the hard way, they had their career mapped out for them, given help at every step, I just had to never give up on my dream or I would never have made it. Fight till you die Credit must be given to Walcott and Wilshire though, because they never gave up, Walcott is still playing, and if someone offered Wilshire a chance, he would probably take it, as he has that never say die spirit. Coaching the Arsenal kids is a great job for him, as he can see every scenario in front of them, from rejection to huge acclaim, and he knows that the most important thing, is, like Ian Wright, belief in your ability. You must never give up. Could Wilshire somehow conjure one last comeback for Arsenal? Ian Wright overcome his mental struggles. For Walcott and Wilshire, maybe it was the injuries themselves that took the edge off their football abilities. I don’t believe it was their attitude. They have never stopped believing in themselves. I would love to see them have a last fling at the top with Arsenal. Possible? I doubt it, but in football you never know. Wilshire is there and seemingly in training he is amazing still. An injury crisis to midfielders and strikers, Wilshire gets thrown in, Walcott is brought back on loan, they fire Arsenal to the top and the fairytale is complete. For me, I would be nearly as happy as they would be. Ian Wright, Jack Wilshire and Theo Walcott have brought me many ecstatic days. All will feel that they could have achieved more. Wright, if Arsenal had come when he was a teenager and England had seen his potential, and Walcott and Wilshire had not had their cruel injuries. But let’s celebrate 3 heroes of the Arsenal – the three W’s. They deserve a statue for their sheer grit and belief in themselves.

Arsenal, English? Really? My top 2 English teams for Arsenal (at least 100 appearances) David Seaman John Lukic Ashley Cole, Lee Dixon Kenny Sansom, Viv Anderson Tony Adams, Sol Campbell Martin Keown, Steve Bould Peter Storey, Michael Thomas David Platt, Ray Parlour Bukayo Saka, David Rocastle George Armstrong, Charlie George John Radford, Ian Wright Alan Smith, Malcolm Macdonald Arsenal are an English team. Arsenal are an English team? Really? So who is our best ever manager? The Englishman Herbert Chapman or the Frenchman Arsene Wenger? Not so easy to say but Wenger has far more trophies and upgraded Arsenal to the top of the pile when Manchester United, full with money, stars, and a huge fanbase, were in their prime. I think you have to put the Frenchman ahead, just. More trophies = Better? Our best ever player? Also French. The magical Thierry Henry. It is very hard to put a real English contender against him, especially in my time, which, as I find it too hard to judge players from the past, means I can only go on their records. So, Cliff Bastin (396 appearances, 178 goals) is behind Ian Wright (288 appearances, 185 goals). Not a true reflection as they are totally different eras. Ian Wright is a big favourite of mine, as he is to us all here in ASCB, but I have to concede he wasn’t as good as Henry or Bergkamp. The tall one is Ian Wright Our English defence were so good Our best goalkeeper? Well, certainly Seaman has some competition in Jennings, or Lehmann, with all three having their champions. I would go for Jennings. With fullbacks there is an argument for English dominance as indeed in defence generally. David O’Leary, Terry Neill, Frank McLintock, Per Mertesacker, Laurent Koscielny, Bacary Sagna, Kolo Toure, Pat Rice and Sammy Nelson were super players but as you can see from my 2 teams up above, the English defenders could hold their own against the best of the outside brigade. In midfield not so much. Brady, Vieira, Fabregas, Cazorla, Pettit, Pires, Ljungberg, Rosicky, Ozil, Ramsey, and others would have to be just that bit stronger than the 4 I have nominated above. On the wing, I chose Saka and Rocastle with just behind them Charlie George and Geordie Armstrong, who often played in a 4-3-3 which was a bit different from today. But are they better than Brady, Pires and Ljungberg who often played on the wing and Marc Overmars, Sylvain Wiltord and others? I would say that again the outsiders were a bit stronger. Super, super foreign stars up front Up front, it is very hard to make a claim that the best English forwards are a match for the best foreigners. The four Englishmen I have chosen were super players but the contest is phenomenal. Henry, Bergamp, Kanu, Anelka, Sanchez, Aubameyang, Van Persie and others of the Wenger era were true superstars. In the end, I probably have to concede that only in defence, including goalkeepers, can Arsenal claim to be an English team and even then with strong competition. Anyway this week I decided to take a look at who would be our first and second best English team. One rule was at least a 100 competitive matches so it knocked out guys like Ramsdale, who is surely itching to make my list. Send me VIP tickets for every match, Aaron, and I will put you top . I chose Seaman over Lukic, mostly because that is probably the consensus choice but truly John Lukic was a superb keeper and only a shade weaker. Ashley Cole and Lee Dixon over Kenny Sansom and Viv Anderson, Very little difference. Superb players with lots of England caps. Adams and Campbell, wayhey! In central defence, I chose 2 legends, Adams and Campbell over Keown and Bould and probably most people would agree with that. Again I should say that I am choosing from 1969 onwards, the year of my conversion to the Arsenal cult, so the great defenders of the past are omitted. Surely a dream defence? In central midfield, I chose Peter Storey, who was true class. He could play across the defence and in midfield, always won the ball and made himself available for a pass. Alongside him the legend that is Michael Thomas, who scored what was for me our greatest ever goal against Liverpool at Anfield to win us the title. It’s only Ray Parlour and David Platt provide good backup but probably the first 2 have the edge here. Saka our future GOAT? On the wing, Saka is surely destined to be a world great and we all love David Rocastle but the competition is huge with Charlie George, a massive fan favourite in my time, and the sublime Geordie Armstrong, our top appearances up to David O’Leary. Very little difference here. Ramsdale next to make my list? I chose John Radford and Ian Wright up front against SuperMac and Alan Smith. Radford was my hero, scoring vital goals, always leading the line and scoring 149 times. Always someone ahead of him for England and he only got 2 caps. Geoff Hurst and Bobby Charlton, anyone? Ian Wright also lost out to Lineker and Shearer but battled his way to 33 caps all the same. In my time no Arsenal centre-forward claimed the top English spot for any length of time. Can Nketiah? He has managed to be the underage top scorer. Time will tell but at this juncture it seems unlikely. Does Englishness matter? And so there you have it. Would My top English team beat my second best? I guess so as in one or two areas they are stronger. But it is tight and could not be guaranteed. I don’t feel they could beat the best foreign 11 though. Spot the Englishmen! So, to answer my question, posed at the start – is Arsenal an English team? Sort of is my answer. The best players come from everywhere, including England. The fans also come from everywhere as anyone who has been at the Emirates can testify. The owners are American and lots of the staff are from everywhere. Is it important? I don’t know. I think it could be if Arsenal don’t get back to the top. You do need the locals to support and a strong English presence will always help in that regard. Now we have so many English guys playing and starring in all sectors that we probably have the strongest English team at the moment of the teams in the top five. I await the day the Irish make a comeback and we get a Bulgarian superstar for our English team. And c’mon the Arse! These Englishmen looked to be the future. It is hard to make it at Arsenal

Santa Gus comes down your chimney with lots of presents Hey all you wonderful Arsenal fans out there, do you want ideas for Christmas presents and maybe warnings for stuff to avoid? You have come to the right place here on the most wonderful Arsenal fan site of all. https://arsenal-bulgaria.com Because today I will give out some recommendations for Arsenal books and some that you can miss unless you have a particular interest in the esoteric. Now, as you can probably guess, the team here at Arsenal Bulgaria.com are an erudite bunch. We have our own messenger space where deep philosophical brooding on the state of the Arsenal is the norm. Highly intelligent argumentation happens all the time. A poor simple guy like me gets lost, they are so smart. No spam ever comes from their lips. Seriously, though, they do an incredible job, writing, analysing, going through the history and staying up-to-date on what is happening at the Arsenal so you can read straightaway the latest news in Bulgarian. For those of you who don’t speak English, this is a great boon. My little sideshow, London Calling, tries to give a different perspective on what you can read anywhere else. And this is my take on some of the books I have read this year. Well worth reading I will start with Ian Wright, because we all love him. My Life in Football is his second one and has been translated for you by the team here. You all have a copy. So is it worth reading? Yes it is. It covers his later career mostly, and also his domestic life and his difficulties with relationships. Lots of great football stories, insights to the various managers in his career, Steve Coppell, George Graham, and Arsene Wenger, and his disastrous relationship with Bruce Rioch. There is an honesty about Ian Wright’s 2 books and I can strongly recommend both. And this is even better Which brings me to Mr Wright: The Explosive Autobiography of Ian Wright, his first one. Honestly, I enjoyed this more, it gave a real feel for how he struggled in his early life, the immense difficulties in trying to make it all intertwined with a lively writing style that has you turning page after page. He scores a lot with this one It’s Only Ray Parlour, however, is the second best of the Arsenal bunch. This is such an enjoyable read, lots of funny stories, pisstaking of so many incidents and people, even Arsene Wenger is a target. Check out his story about drinks on the plane. And his story about Martin Keown’s final match. Grab this one, you will enjoy it. Our leader, our winner Sober by Tony Adams is also strongly recommended. This is an epic story of a man who came to personify Arsenal. A deeply flawed human being who had to battle against his demons to succeed. Bizarrely ending up in jail at the peak of his career, but coming out of it stronger, he was a winner, an onfield and off-field coach while still playing, the inspiration behind the team, putting up with all sorts of insults in his early and even middle career but ending up Mr Arsenal and still today, the icon of the team. Again you will enjoy this, lots of great insights and anecdotes. A great read My favourite will surprise you, I reckon. True Storey by Peter Storey is an immense book that never got the recognition it deserved. Probably because he was dismissed as just a hardman and a bit of a villain. He ended up in big trouble when his career ended with several criminal convictions and this was his attempt to give his side of the story. He was a good footballer and made a big difference to the Arsenal. Alf Ramsey famously dismissed him as a clogger for most of his career but when he finally picked him, chose him over several big names. He had a run of 15 straight games for England in his 19 caps. He never seemed to miss a penalty. But it is his after career that a lot of the book concentrates on. In those days footballers did not make big money and he set up several businesses which didn’t go well. Partnerships went wrong and there was a strong feeling of naivety in the real world waters he was now swimming in. Overall, a picture emerges of a good man struggling to get out, not having the nous to say no to a bad deal, but finally finding love and a sanctuary in the South of France. A story of redemption that would make a good film. It was mooted but never happened. It should. Everything is good about this one and its in Bulgarian Fever Pitch by Nick Hornby was also supplied by us for free and it is a great read for Arsenal and football fans. His god was Liam Brady and his description of the famous Liverpool Arsenal game is unmissable. Read it and enjoy. Interesting but not very exciting Arsene Wenger’s My Life in Red and White? Truly, it is not very exciting. A good insight to his early life and his football philosophy, his inner destruction when he lost, his man management, his attention to detail, his time in France and Japan and the glorious English years, it doesn’t really touch too much on the stories I wanted to read. The rivalries with Ferguson and Mourinho, the celebrated incidents, the sendings off to the stands, the insider personal football stories are at a minimum. Read it if you are interested in the minutiae of football. Oh and forget about Arsene Wenger - The Unauthorised Biography of Le Professeur by Tom Oldfield, it doesn’t bring much to the table. For the real fan, I suppose The same can be said of The Big Friendly German by Per Mertesacker. Great for those who want to find out about how German football is organised, how it was ahead of its time in training facilities, medical and physiotherapy and such treatments, but it is short on good football stories and insights. Thierry Henry: Lonely at the Top by Phillippe Auclair did little for me. I don’t think I even finished it. Nothing new in it. A great laugh I want to mention one more which has little about Arsenal in it but is truly worth a read – How to be a Footballer by Peter Crouch. This is a collection of funny stories about his time in football. Really superb, laugh out loud and you just keep turning the pages until you are finished. Hey, have a great Christmas, I hope you and Arsenal have a wonderful time and if you want a copy of any of these books, even the ones I don’t recommend, send me a message at gus_worth@yahoo.co.uk and I can send you a digital edition.

Ian Wright: Right Wright Even this achievement he managed to make funny 58 today. Is he our second GOAT? He must feel that the gods conspired against him to ensure he wasn’t our GOAT because he was 27 before he finally made the big time at Arsenal. He still managed to become our best goalscorer, scoring good goals, great goals, scruffy goals, important goals, not so important goals, left foot, right foot, headers, and in off any part of his body that was legal. He was a poacher, a guy who could feed off scraps, he could accelerate to make space, he could dribble and make a goal by himself. If he was a bit taller, top defenders would have been crying even harder when they had to face him. His lack of height never deterred him, though, he would spring up into the air as if on, well, springs. Alex Ferguson once famously said that this guy is destroying us as he took apart the Man Utd defence. He was consistently our top scorer but unlike Henry, the team had bad seasons under George Graham, and, of course, the personally disastrous one that Wright had under Bruce Rioch when he banished him to the wing. A great role model But kids, if you ever need a role model, take a good look at Ian Wright. He grew up poor, black, in a bad part of London where drugs and crime were prevalent. He had a father who left and then a stepfather who abused him. He had talent for football but was small and struggled with that bane of a young footballer’s life, he was born in November, which meant as he went through the years, he was always up against kids almost a year older than him, which also was affected by his height, making him even smaller. He overcame a humble beginning He found it hard to get noticed at pro clubs, having some trials but never making it. By 21 he was still playing amateur and such players rarely make the jump to the pro leagues. That dream was more or less dead. He had essentially got married young, had a child, and had to work as a plasterer on building sites to get by. He ended up in prison for not paying tax and insurance on his car. So he was 21 years old, with heavy marital responsibilities, in prison and the one thing he loved doing in his life, playing football, was not going to be his salvation. But he decided, no, this prison cell is not me. I have the talent, I will force the belief to come, I will make it as a footballer. He needed a chance And of course, he did. Crystal Palace gave him a trial, liked what they saw, and his foreman at the building site gave him his blessing, said, Ian, go for it, I will always give you your old job back. This chance was all he needed. He knew that there were many super players playing in the amateur leagues that will never make it. But with grim determination, he vowed he would not be one of them. At Palace he showed he deserved his place at the top table I loved him when he was at Palace, and saw him playing against the Arsenal in the 80’s when I lived in London. The partnership he formed with Mark Bright was one of the best I have ever seen. The 2 of them were quick, could win the ball like midfielders, could hold the ball up, and terrorise any defence. They enabled Palace to play almost with 2 banks of four, and rarely give away goals. I was thrilled when he came to Arsenal, and I would have been delighted if we took both of them, although Alan Smith may not have been too happy. He soon settled in to become our top goalscorer. The hunger came from his life As I have said, though, he is a great role model. He had a hunger to develop, born of his years in the wilderness, he stayed on at the grounds to practice, working on his skills and probably felt a little of the imposter syndrome, that if he didn’t work hard, keep getting better, they might discover he was that little kid who was nearly a year younger than the rest, and not able to cut it at the highest level. At Arsenal, he became a great And so he learned from all the top players, as he got into the England squad, his own teammates and his opponents but he credits the arrival of Dennis Bergkamp as being the transformation in improving his skills. Bergkamp trained hard, but smart, all about becoming a better player, even though he already had sublime skills. Ian realised that the harder he practised, the luckier he would get. People would say, did he mean that, or was he just lucky? Clever training means that you develop the ability to do things that others can’t, and so they say that was lucky. Eh, yes, maybe a little, but it is born of all the practice. Time for regrets? He also had, in common with all great sportsmen, that overwhelming, crushing desire to win that made defeat unbearable. He wanted everything that football could give him, trophies, goals, respect and he got it all. Regrets? He probably has a few. More England caps and goals for sure. Lineker and then Shearer blocked his way. Going to Arsenal as a kid, like his great buddy, David Rocastle, would probably be another. Then he could have been our GOAT and the 185 goals he got from 27 years old would have been a dwarf figure, maybe 350 or 400. Henry would never have been able to leave us as he chased that record. Didn't really get the chance he deserved at England But perhaps that was never the plan of the cosmos. He had to suffer, he had to be humiliated in jail, to have had his difficult upbringing, to overcome it all on the way to becoming Wrighty, known by his nickname to all as if he is their best friend, a guy who has a joy for life, who loves laughing and smiling most of all. Have the greatest birthday ever We at Arsenal Supporters Club in Bulgaria have had many encounters with this extraordinary ambassador for Arsenal football club. My regret is that I wasn’t aware of their existence until a couple of years ago and I have never met him. I hope, one day, to rectify that. Happy, happy birthday to the right man, Ian Wright, Wrighty, keep smiling and always remember, you are our true GOAT for all the things you bring to the club. Some members of ASCB at a great day in their lives in Athens getting to meet the birthday boy. Our own Georgi Stoyanov meeting with Lee Dixon and Ian Wright in Sofia