Then offers of help and support began to come in
from places as far apart as Iceland and Brazil.
Many of the older ones who read this, will remember
the stylish play for Arsenal of Albert Gudmundsson,
who later signed professional for Racing. Now a
successful business man in Reykjavik, he has offered
to help Paris F.C. in any possible way. And so has
Amalfi from Brazil. A great forward in Paris when
Brazilian football was almost unknown, he played
against The Gunners in several of the Paris games
and now will scout the South Americas for talent.
Sedan, of course, will provide the base of the first
playing squad. And a French international, Jean
Paul Bras of F.C. Liège, has hinted that he would not
at all mind a move back to the city of his birthParis.
France plays in red shirts, white shorts and blue
stockings so the new club has decided on blue shirts,
white shorts and red stockings as uniform. The
Old Racing colours of course were the famous sky-
blue and white with their emblem, of all things,
a penguinWhat, I wonder, will the new club choose
And if you have patiently read this far, what, you
may well be asking yourself, does all this have to do
with the Arsenal of today?
THE AMBITIONS
It was on the morning of our match against Sunder
land. I was introduced to Vice-President Guy
Crescent and administrators Roger Meurice and
Henri Chipault in Bob Wall's office. We had a three-
hour bilingual discussion. They told of all that had
happened so far and of their ambitious plans for the
future. Their first home in Paris will be the famous
old Pare des Princes but a new stadium is under
construction a 100 yards or so down the road.
Capacity will be over 50,000 and the public will all
be under cover; the floodlighting second to none in
all the world.
Then a moment of quiet fell in Bob Wall's office,
I could feel a sudden tension. Guy Crescent broke
the silence and his face wore an anxious look.
"Soon after the start of our first League season, we
shall need a big attraction from abroad to play in the
new stadium," he said, "will you please ask Mr. Wall
if Arsenal would agree to a revival of the old Armistice
Day fixture in Paris. The public there have never
forgotten Arsenal."
As I put the request into English, Bob Wall did
not reply but a smile slowly spread across his face.
He rose to his feet, extending his hand across the
desk. The two men exchanged firm grips, a drink was
poured and then we all reached for our diaries.
Armistice Day this year falls on a Wednesday so
the match can be played on the date itself, a thing
not often possible in the past. Soon after this, our
Chairman arrived to beam his official approval and
join in the talk. I can remember at least two occasions
in the past when Denis Hill-Wood has replied to
the toast of the visitors in French at the Paris
banquetsand I doubt that many chairmen of
Football League clubs can do that Later I took
our French friends down to meet Jack Kelsey and
buy some Arsenal souvenirs from his fine stock in
the shop. Monsieur Crescent recognised him right
away.
STRONG SUPPORT
No doubt The Gunners will take strong supprt to
Paris in November. Will the future show us such
fine players as Austrian goalkeeper, Hiden, surely
the world's finest of his day And those two splendid
coloured players, Mahjoub, an international for
France and later for his native Morocco after inde
pendence; and Diagne, the slim and scientific
forward who was always such good company at the
get-togethers after the match. And Gusti Jordan,
one-time ironman centre-half of Austria who escaped
the Hitler invasion of his country and joined the
Racing Club. He then took French nationality and
ended as a double international. His battles with Ted
Drake were hard as steel. They had great respect for
each other on the field and a mutual liking off it.
I sat next to Gusti at a dinner once and we talked
about his duels with Ted. They even clashed in
The Football League when Gusti had a spell with
Birmingham City, scoring a goal against us one day
at St. Andrew's.
"Remember me to Ted when you see him next,"
said Gusti, "And tell him how I enjoyed those
battles against himthey were BEAL:TIFUI.
games!"
It seemed a strange sort of word to use but I
sensed his meaningthere was a relationship between
the two players as there was between the French and
the English clubs.
And that is what one hopes will be created in the
next few years between Arsenal and Paris F.C.
a very special relationship.
At least it's got off to a very good start.
EUROPEAN FAIRS CUP FINAL
11
In the event of Arsenal reaching the Final, 4S Sports,
Africa House, 64-78 Kingsway, W.C.2, in conjunc
tion with the Arsenal Football Supporters Club,
have made the following arrangements, depending
on who Arsenal's opponents will be
MilanArsenal v. A.C. Milan
One Day Trip: £17 Os. Od.
Two Day Trip: £21 Os. Od.
BrusselsArsenal v. Anderlecht
One Day Trip: £12 0s. Od.
Two Day Trip: £16 0s. Od.
The Final will be played on a home and away basis;
mid-weekdates to be decided. It will be between
April 21st and the 30th.
Solution to Arsenal Crossword No. 55
Across: 1. Cardiffcity. 9. Knee. 10. Bournemouth. 11. Silo.
14. Allison. 16. Suspend. 17. Meats. 18. Elbe. 19. Zero.
20. Gruff. 22. Hookers. 23. Flatten. 24. Neon.
28. Overtheline. 28. Earn. 30. Asgoodasnew.
Down: 2. Atom. 3. Dart. 4. Freedom. 5. Cool. 6. Tetanus.
7. Insidelefts. 8. Secondround. 12. Takechances.
13. Clubcolours. 15. Nears. 16. Stiff. 20. Greaves.
21. Flashed. 25. Trio. 26. Plus. 27. Once.