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ArseWeb Cup Final Page
Wembley Stadium, Saturday May 16th 1998. kick-off 3pm
News
- 16th May - ARSENAL COMPLETE THE DOUBLE!!
- A historic second double for the Arsenal. Read the
ArseWeb report. Links to
other reports will be also added to the list on that page as
they come in.
See ArseWeb shop to purchase
the video
- 15th May - Bergkamp out
- AFCi confirm today that
Dennis Bergkamp will not be fit for the Final. Assuming that this isn't
a case of mind games, Wenger will presumably
pick 2 from Anelka, Wreh, and Wright, although he has been reported
today as saying that Wright is not fully fit and if he starts a game
at the moment he would not finish it. Apart from the strikers, the
team (if there are no new injuries that we haven't been told about)
picks itself: Seaman Dixon Adams Keown Winterburn Parlour Petit Vieira
Overmars Anelkas Wreh/Wright.
.
- 14th May - injury update
- According to today's papers, Dennis Bergkamp has now kicked a ball
or two and his hopes for Saturday have raised slightly. Wenger is
quoted as saying that his chances have gone up from 30% to 40%. However
at ArseWeb we have heard that things might be going better than has been
revealed officially. See yesterday's ANR
exclusive.
- 11th May - Parade on Sunday 17th
- Regardless of the result on Saturday, the Premiership trophy
will be paraded from Highbury to Islington Town Hall on the
morning of Sunday 17th. The women's team will also be
parading their two trophies. It starts at 10.30am and is
expected to reach the Town Hall at 12noon. The route is on
this AFCi page
- 11th May - updates and AFCi
- Petit and Wright both played in the loss
at Villa yesterday and are both said to be fit for the Cup Final
(and the World Cup). Dixon missed the match with a slight ankle
injury but is not a doubt for the Cup Final. Bergkamp is said to be
extremely doubtful. If he can't kick a ball on Wednesday then he's
out.
AFCi have had a brilliant new idea with their new
FA Cup Special page.
Now what genius thought of that, we wonder...
Amongst other things, including ways of spending money on official
cup final paraphernalia, there's a songs page featuring several (unheard
by this author) Anelka songs, a couple for
Wreh, Vieira, Petit... but nothing for Bergkamp or Wright! Do the authors
have inside info on Wenger's team selection and Dennis's fitness, I
wonder? Perhaps not,
after all there's no Adams, Keown, Winterburn, etc. Not a very helpful
page really, as they don't tell you the tunes, and many of the songs
haven't been heard for years if at all. Use the
ArseWeb songs page instead.
- 5th May - injury updates and colours
- First of all, in case you missed it, we won
the Premiership
on Sunday by stuffing Everton. So
the double is on. In fact it'd be a kind of quadruple, as Arsenal
Ladies won the Women's FA Cup on Monday to add to their League Cup
(they even emulated the men's 93 feat by beating the same team in both
finals).
Manu Petit's injury from Hutchinson's horrific "tackle" on Sunday,
together with the groin strain Manu already had, could well keep him
out of the remaining 2 Premiership games, but there's a good chance
he'll be alright for the cup final. Bergkamp is still very doubtful.
He's said that it's getting better every day, and that he won't risk
letting the team down by playing if it hasn't cleared up properly.
For the Cup Final, WEAR RED AND WHITE if at all possible,
rather than the change colours of yellow and blue. Since there's
no clash, both teams will play in their home colours. There was
a plea from the club over the tannoys at the Everton match, asking
everyone to be as colourful and noisy as possible.
- 1st May - Replay date
- Lee Dixon was on telly last night. He said that his testimonial
against Benfica, originally scheduled for Monday 18th May, had been
postponed on Police insistence, because of a possible cup final replay
on Thursday 21st May
- 30th April - Banner Competition
- It's been reported on Capital Radio that David Dein has announced
that there will be prize for the wittiest banner at the final. To
qualify, banners must be 4' by 5', red and white and contain no sticks
or anything offensive. Before you get too excited the prize is said
to be a new home shirt, with runners up getting end of season videos
and the cup final record. Still, if it encourages more colour in the
stadium, good luck to him.
- 30th April - Bergkamp injured
- Bergkamp's struggle could be even harder. He pulled a hamstring
against Derby. The return of Ian Wright
looks significant again.
- 29th April - Gillespie injured
- Newcastle winger Keith Gillespie is facing a struggle to be fit for
the final. He hurt himself crashing into advertising hoardings
during Newcastle's humiliation at Tottenham at the weekend.
- 29th April - Cup Final Song
- Arsenal go into the recording studio tomorrow to record the
Cup Final song - a version of Donna Summer's "Hot Stuff".
It was originally released in 19797 when it reached number 11
and stayed in the charts for 10 weeks. The record goes
on sale "in all good record shops" on Monday 11th May.
- 28th April - Bad News for Wheelchair users
- According to a radio news report today... Arsenal and Newcastle
each have 100 places for disabled fans. Wembley only has 60 places,
30 for each club.
- 25th April - European question settled already
- Thanks to Arsenal's win over Barnsley
and Chelsea's demolition of Liverpool, Arsenal are guaranteed a top
two spot. So Arsenal will play in the Champions Cup and Newcastle will
play in the Cup-Winner's Cup next
season, regardless of the result of the Cup Final.
- 23rd April - charridy interview pool
- Reported in the Standard last Friday: The money paid to players
for Cup-Final interviews is traditionally paid into a pool and then
divided equally among the players. This season the players have
decided to donate the pool to charity. It is likely to be in the
region of £55000
- 20th April - ticket news
- The club has a small number of tickets left (having now allocated
season-ticket/bond holders tickets - haven't heard of any arriving
yet though). They are going to write to TRS members asking them to
apply. You need to have this letter to apply, and success will be
based on how many games have been attended (perhaps only TYRS members who've
been to lots of games will even get the letter).No applications will be
accepted without this invite letter. To hear the AFC recorded message
on this ring 0171-704-4242.
This information doesn't appear to
have got to AFCi yet. They're saying there are tickets available
at £25, £17, £15 (restricted view) and £10
(severely restricted ie no view) and this was updated today.
See their tickets page
- 17th April - Omens
- We've added a section on Omens, good and bad. It's
lower down the page. Please use
the link there to send us your suggestions.
- 14th April - Referee
- The ref for the final will be Paul Durkin, who is also to be
England's representative at the World Cup. Durkin is the ref
who sent Emmanuel Petit off when the ref ran into him back
in October (see report). He
also sent Adams off in the last game of the season at
the Baseball Ground in the
last match of the 96-97 season. He did redeem himself more
recently when he admitted to having mistakenly booked Patrick
Vieira in our away match at
West Ham this season (that's the League draw rather than
either of the two times we've put them out of cup competitions
at their place this year). See the Refs section
for details fo our record under Durkin.
- 11th April - dress rehearsal
- Read the match reports from
Arsenal's Premiership thrashing of Newcastle.
- 9th April - tickets for sale
- Apparently the London Ticket Company (0171 925 0682) are
claiming they can get tickets for the Cup Final. They are
charging £550 for tickets of face value -!! (thanks
to Gary & Andy for the info).
- 9th April - the End of Wembley
- According to Newcastle TeamTalk they have been allocated the tunnel
end of the ground. So Arsenal get the, err, "other" end (West).
- 8th April - TICKET NEWS
- According to the Arsenal box office:
Arsenal have been allocated 25000 tickets. Only
season ticket holders, bond holders, and executive box owners
will get tickets. No applications on the basis of TRS
membership will be fulfilled.
See AFCi for details
of how to apply.
According to the Wembley box-office:
Tickets from 50 pounds and down are for the lower tier only.
Higher priced tickets are more likely to be at the sides
of the pitch (rather than at the ends which at Wembley are a long
way from the action). You can try ringing them (0181 902 0902)
but basically they can't be very helpful, because the division
into categories for this match is different to that they use
regularly (eg England games).
Wembley is a funny ground. Front row seats can be superb if
by the centre-line, or terrible if at one
end (especially the end away from the tunnel). You pays your money
and you takes your choice. Good luck, and remember, being there at
all is the main thing!
- 7th April - French duo clear to play
- The Cup final on 16th May clashes with a French world
cup training camp. Previous "club vs country" problems over
Vieira and Petit have lead to worries about their
availability for the final. However French boss Aime Jacquet
has put those worries to rest by announcing that they will
be allowed to stay with Arsenal for the match. In fact, he's
even said that they can stay for the replay, if it goes to
one, which would mean them missing the whole camp. There
are no matches arranged for the French National team over
this period.
- 5th April - Arsenal reach the final
- Read the ArseWeb reports from
the semi-final. Includes a comprehensive list of other
reports from the match that can be found on the Internet.
History
This section is by Derek Brownjohn.
- Historically, both Newcastle and Arsenal are among the giants of the FA
Cup.
- However, Newcastle's pedigree is rather more historical.
- They've only reached the final once in the last 40 years (1974 when
Liverpool won 3-0)
- They last won it in 1955, beating Man City 3-1.
- Five of their
final appearances came between 1905 and 1911, though only the 1910 FA
Cup ended up in Newcastle, after a 2-0 replay victory over Barnsley.
In
contrast Arsenal have now reached the final 7 times in the last 30
years, winning it on 3 of those occasions.
- The two clubs have met 5 times in total in the FA Cup, but Arsenal have
only come out on top once, winning a 5th round replay in 1936 (3-0 at
Highbury, following a 3-3 draw at St James Park), on their way to
beating Sheffield United in the final that year. Two of the other FA cup
clashes have been at Wembley itself.
1932-
Arsenal team: Moss; Parker, Hapgood, Roberts, Male; Jones, John, Hulme, Bastin;
Jack, Lambert
Newcastle team: McInroy; Nelson, Fairhurst, McKenzie, Davison, Weaver, Boyd,
Richardson, Allen, McMenemy, Lang
Newcastle won 2-1 in the notorious "ball over the line" final. Arsenal's
midfield maestro Alex James missed the final through injury, but
nonetheless Arsenal had the better of the first half and went 1-0 up
through Bob John. Just before half time came the incident which turned
the match. A long pass up the right wing appeared to clearly cross the
goal-line before the Newcastle inside forward Richardson reached it. The
Arsenal defenders relaxed but Richardson crossed the ball anyway and
centre forward Jack Allen put it into the net. To the amazement of
almost everybody in the stadium the referee signalled a goal.
Encouraged, Newcastle were a different team in the second half and Allen
duly scored his second goal and the winner. In the league, Arsenal finished
second to Everton, despite losing fewer games.
1952- Arsenal team: Swindin; Barnes, Smith, Daniel, Mercer; Forbes, Roper, Logie, Cox;
Holton, Lishman
Newcastle team: Simpson; Cowell, McMichael, Harvey, Brennan, E Robledo,
Walker, Foulkes, Milburn, G Robledo, Mitchell
In 1952 Newcastle triumphed again, though the 1-0 win this time came in
rather different circumstances. As in 1932 the Gunners were chasing the
double, and as in 1932 failed to win either trophy, but this year their
chances in both the league and FA cup were badly compromised by fixture
pile-up and injury. After the two games on 5th and 7th April needed to
dispose of Chelsea in the semi-final, Arsenal played no less than 7
league games between 11th and 26th April before the final on the 3rd
May.
Not surprisingly they fell just short in the league, a 3-1 defeat away
to West Brom in the penultimate game meaning they had to beat Manchester
United 7-0 in the deciding match at Old Trafford to deny United the
title. The Gunners lost 6-1 and compounded their injury problems when
centre half Arthur Shaw fractured a wrist. He was playing as a
replacement for Ray Danial who had himself suffered a broken arm two
weeks previously. For the final however, Daniel was allowed to play with
a cast on his arm. Arsenal also started the game with Jimmy Logie
carrying a thigh injury, and half an hour into the game their problems
worsened when Walley Barnes twisted a knee and couldn't continue.
The 10 gallant Gunners held out for 50 minutes, and indeed almost scored
11 minutes from time when a Lishman header glanced off the bar. Five
minutes later Arsenal bodies and hearts were broken. Holton and Roper
both went down injured, and with Daniel and Logie feeling the effects of
their injuries Arsenal were down to 6 able-bodied players. With the
former two both lying injured and the ref ignoring Mercer's pleas to
stop the game to allow treatment, Newcastle's Mitchell crossed and
George Robledo headed home off a post. Forbes later hit a post for
Arsenal, but the fates were against the Gunners and Newcastle became the
first club in the 20th century to win the cup in consecutive seasons. At
the banquet that night, captain Joe Mercer was moved to say "I
thought football's greatest honour was to captain England. I was wrong.
It was to captain Arsenal today."
Cup-Final Omens
| GOOD |
BAD |
| The last time Arsenal played Wolves in a semi-final,
we beat them and then went on to win the most exciting FA Cup Final ever,
against none other than Manchester United. 1979, of course.
|
As everyone knows, the Arsenal are traditionally
at their best when they're up against it. That's why so many of us are
so concerned by the fact that we're favourites now (in both competitions)...
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| The last (and only) time Chelsea got to European
Cup Final (also the CWC as this year) was 1971. We don't need to tell you
what Arsenal did that year!
|
...and that's why we at ArseWeb are so worried
by this lack of bad omens.... |
| This season we have done the double over
Manchester United (3-2 home and
1-0 away). The last time that happened
was in 1990/91 (we won the league). The time before that was 1978/79
(we won the FA Cup, see above). The time before that was 1970/71
(we won the double). (thanks to Dave Parboo for this) |
So that's the only bad omen so far - no bad omens.
There must be some more, please
send any you can think of and
we'll all be a lot happier......
|
| This season we played Leeds on the first day of the season.
The last time that happened was 1978/79. The only other time
was 1929/30 (we won the FA Cup). (Dave Parboo again) |
Derek Brownjohn has pointed out that
we have twice previously been going for the double, and been facing
Newcastle in the cup final. Both times we won neither the cup final nor
the league. (see Derek's History section, above).
This could be seen as one very big bad omen. Phew!
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| This season we played West Ham in both
the Coca-Cola Cup and the
FA Cup. The last time that we played
the same team in both cup competitions
was 1992/93 (when we won the cup double, beating Sheffield Wednesday
in both finals). (Dave again) |
Also, Lawrence points out that there is an
Arsenal equivalent of the Tottenham "winning cups in years that end with a 1"
thing. In the last 3 decades, Arsenal have got to a cup-final in the year
that ends with an 8. But unlike Spurs, we've lost every time (Leeds,
Ipswich, Luton). |
| This year we won the league by a single point.
When we won the double in 71, we won the league by a single point.
(thanks to Andy McLagan) |
Peter Sealy writes from Canada saying that on
a tour of Wembley he was told that one dressing
room at Wembley is considered luckier than the other, and the lucky one
is usually given to the the team that comes second in the alphabet.
As he also points out, this jinx may not apply to Arsenal. If it did,
we'd have to be the jinxed side every time we played there, and that's
clearly not been the case. |
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On a similar note, Steve Charters has heard that the
tunnel end (for supporters) is supposed to be lucky. We're up the other end
this time. Dunno where the Arsenal were for the Wednesday matches but out
of the 3 appearances 1978-80, the only time Arsenal won was 1979, when we
had the tunnel end. |
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However, the non-tunnel end has been better for us
more recently. All our Wembley appearances in 1993 (2 wins, 2 draws in normal
time) were at the other end. We were also at the "other" end for both
cup semis against Tottenham.
Could it be that which end of the
stadium you're in doesn't determine whether you win or not?! Seems
unlikely but I guess it'd be best to field a strong team just in case...
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Please send us any
items that you feel appropriate to this table.
Other Cup-final stuff
Match facts
- If Ian Wright scores (... if he's fit and if he's picked...)
in the cup final he will equal Ian Rush's
record of 5 FA Cup final goals.
Wembley
copyright belongs to original author where credited. otherwise © Rupert Ward, ArseWeb MMV
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