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.

AJAX ARCHIEF

Programmaboekjes (vanaf 1934) | 1970 | | pagina 11