The Gooner - Issue 224

[augie]

There's a lovely WAG on page 11. Mrs Rosicky. Ten out of ten for yummyness.

Seen that photo myself but thought that it was a wind up - I'll tell you this, if I was in rosicky shoes and getting 60k per week while being married to that then I would be claiming to be injured 90% of the time too so as to spend more time shagging her

[Mike1]

I thought it was a very good issue, balanced and interesting to read, with one exception.

The chap (Damian Hall?) who responded to the letters. Now, I don't mind people who make their opinions clear, but if anyone disagreed with his (absurdly positive in my opinion, totally correct in that of others) worldview, he just mocked them, or responded with a barely coherent non-sequitur. By all means, have a positive, pro-Wenger contributor respond to the letters page, as it wouldn't be fair to just have negative ones, but at least make it one who responds to opposing letters with thoughtful counter-arguments??

Rant over

The letters editor is a bit of a thankless task to be honest, which is why you rarely catch me doing it. You can't express much of an opinion, let alone explain your view and give counter-arguments because there isn't the space to do so and it may also be repetitive given the rest of the fanzines content. We encourage whoever is editing the page to respond to each letter as it breaks the page up a bit and they can hopefully inject some humour, which is something we are forever being told The Gooner lacks. And it's impossible to please all the people all the time. I actually quite enjoyed Damian's replies and thought it was a good balance.

Glad you like the issue overall though.

[Mike1]

an ad for the gooner

cant comment as royal mail are very slow when it comes to getting my copy here to ireland before thur

i get mine about 2 or 3 weeks after it's released, which means that usually when the fanzine is all doom and gloom, i only receive it after 3 or 4 straight wins, or vice-versa - when i get this edition we'll probably be 8th in the table again

Welcome to our world of putting it together. We start planning an issue at least 3-4 weeks in advance of it coming out and although we try to leave it as late as possible for some of the topical stuff, it's still written a week or more before anyone else gets to read it. Issue 223 was a good case in point. Went to press just after the Sunderland FA Cup defeat hence we were all pretty down and couldn't bring ourselves to do anything other than a negative front cover with much of the content matching that tone. A week later and we'd just beaten Spurs 5-2. Cover didn't seem quite so appropriate even though I know there would have still been plenty in agreement with the sentiment of it.

The best ever was issue 60 (I think) when I wrote an editorial defiantly proclaiming that there was no way George Graham was going to be sacked. It went on sale on the day he was sacked.

[SammyDroppedHisShorts]

I thought it was an excellent issue, they normally are after a good run of results, full of good vibes and even Taliking Reds was fun to read for a change

Two sides of the same coin I felt was full of way too many questions which perhaps should have been explored further.

Howard Lamb wrote a decent article as did the excellent Spy, and yes Mrs Rosicky is one mighty fine lady.


But Dwight Hart-Lane maybe laugh out loud, loved the last two frames
The article on Reg Lewis was informative and a good read albeit a bit short.
Grounds for concern is a great series and I congratulate Charlie Ashmore.
Turning point was well balanced as was the usual excellence of Mickey Cannon.

I didn't like the Lady Arse article one bit, bored after the first three questions.

But the away end was the best article in the whole issue IMO. Always great to read what the Middlesex boys have to say lol

Excellent issue!

[SWLGooner]

I thought it was a very good issue, balanced and interesting to read, with one exception.

The chap (Damian Hall?) who responded to the letters. Now, I don't mind people who make their opinions clear, but if anyone disagreed with his (absurdly positive in my opinion, totally correct in that of others) worldview, he just mocked them, or responded with a barely coherent non-sequitur. By all means, have a positive, pro-Wenger contributor respond to the letters page, as it wouldn't be fair to just have negative ones, but at least make it one who responds to opposing letters with thoughtful counter-arguments??

Rant over

The letters editor is a bit of a thankless task to be honest, which is why you rarely catch me doing it. You can't express much of an opinion, let alone explain your view and give counter-arguments because there isn't the space to do so and it may also be repetitive given the rest of the fanzines content. We encourage whoever is editing the page to respond to each letter as it breaks the page up a bit and they can hopefully inject some humour, which is something we are forever being told The Gooner lacks. And it's impossible to please all the people all the time. I actually quite enjoyed Damian's replies and thought it was a good balance.

Glad you like the issue overall though.

Must say I was thinking about that, it would be bloody difficult. That's not to say it's not generally done well, and I slated this guy in comparison to most other letter responders, so it's all relative.

[Mike1]

I thought it was a very good issue, balanced and interesting to read, with one exception.

The chap (Damian Hall?) who responded to the letters. Now, I don't mind people who make their opinions clear, but if anyone disagreed with his (absurdly positive in my opinion, totally correct in that of others) worldview, he just mocked them, or responded with a barely coherent non-sequitur. By all means, have a positive, pro-Wenger contributor respond to the letters page, as it wouldn't be fair to just have negative ones, but at least make it one who responds to opposing letters with thoughtful counter-arguments??

Rant over

The letters editor is a bit of a thankless task to be honest, which is why you rarely catch me doing it. You can't express much of an opinion, let alone explain your view and give counter-arguments because there isn't the space to do so and it may also be repetitive given the rest of the fanzines content. We encourage whoever is editing the page to respond to each letter as it breaks the page up a bit and they can hopefully inject some humour, which is something we are forever being told The Gooner lacks. And it's impossible to please all the people all the time. I actually quite enjoyed Damian's replies and thought it was a good balance.

Glad you like the issue overall though.

Must say I was thinking about that, it would be bloody difficult. That's not to say it's not generally done well, and I slated this guy in comparison to most other letter responders, so it's all relative.

Fair enough. I'll always defend all our contributors, but do recognise that some won't be to people's taste. Marc Ollington is the marmite of our writers though. Whenever he does the letters page, the mail-bag is full (slight exagerration, no-one send letters anymore which is hardly surprising given the cost) of people saying how much they love or hate him.

[augie]

Have to say mike, that I absolutely hate it when marc ollington does the letters page cos he just comes across like a smart arse who doesnt give a f**k about anything anybody else has to say - he may well be the complete opposite in real life but that is just how he seems to me when he responds to the letters

[REB]

i try to gloss over the letters page as its like reading a page off a forum. i did enjoy the piece by charlie ashmore on whl, always enjoy the spy , mickey cannon and phi walls anger management i can take it or leave it tbh,basil had a nice little piece gloating about her opus i always enjoy well played and the away end,lady arse is full of herself but found it a better read then it has been recently but i guess thats down to the team winning games, i know the gooner isnt everyones cup of tea so to speak but i enjoy it and always look forward to a new issue.

[flash gunner]

basil had a nice little piece gloating about her opus

ahhh the Opus she cheated to win

[North-Bank-1987]

Issue 223 was a good read, The article by John Brenan about Benayoun wearing the captains armband was painfully true. I shall be purchasing #224 at wolves away and am looking forward to hearing views of the turnaround!!

[REB]

basil had a nice little piece gloating about her opus

ahhh the Opus she cheated to win

still waiting for the forum to get an invitation to see it

[Mike1]

Have to say mike, that I absolutely hate it when marc ollington does the letters page cos he just comes across like a smart arse who doesnt give a f**k about anything anybody else has to say - he may well be the complete opposite in real life but that is just how he seems to me when he responds to the letters

Guess you don't like the podcasts he appears on then either?! He's a great guy, but guess not everyone appreciates his humour.

[augie]

Have to say mike, that I absolutely hate it when marc ollington does the letters page cos he just comes across like a smart arse who doesnt give a f**k about anything anybody else has to say - he may well be the complete opposite in real life but that is just how he seems to me when he responds to the letters

Guess you don't like the podcasts he appears on then either?! He's a great guy, but guess not everyone appreciates his humour.

Have to say that I have never them tbh mike
Anyway as I said already, marc might well be a great guy and I am not suggesting otherwise but maybe his humour doesnt come across as good on paper as it does in person ?

[SteveO 35]

I would like to see some more articles regarding the Imperious Abou.

There has been little or no coverage of the great man recently

[mcdowell42]

I would like to see some more articles regarding the Imperious Abou.

There has been little or no coverage of the great man recently

Hes fit for sat