football rambles

For some reason Arsenal seem to think that the more crap that they give away the more fans they'll attract. I have a more novel idea, why don't they just spend the money on assembling a squad who can at least compete for a UEFA cup spot instead of wasting money on cheap gimmicks? To be fair I received free tickets for this match - and I usually do from the official fan club. However, all the lads were away for this game, but I still managed to pick up some, when Nadiya spotted some girls handing out free tickets outside Teatralna Station. That said, I also bought 2 and don't mind paying for them. Arsenal's tickets cost 5 UAH (about 45p), which sounds ridiculously good value for money even if you compare it with Dynamo (25UAH), Metalist (35UAH) and Chernomorets (30UAH). This still doesn't stop people touting the free tickets outside the ground though. Added to this ol' concker head was handing out free flowers and there were free snacks and soft drinks for everyo...

Arsenal are playing Karpaty Lviv next Sunday, although I'm on holiday so hopefully I'll get to the Obolon game on Wednesday the weather is dreadful today, so it seems like an opportune moment to look at one of Ukraine's most famous teams. As I have stated before Karpaty were formed in 1963 as an alternative to the hated local army team SKA Lviv. They quickly gained popularity due to the fact that they only recruited local players and quickly became a symbol of Ukrainian nationalism in the most nationalistic of Ukrainian cities. To this very day they are seen as a symbol of nationalism and their president Petro Dymynskiy has called for a cap on the number of foreign players Ukrainian league teams can have. A fact that caused so much trouble with Metalurh Donestsk officials (their club has 20 foreigners on their books) that a deep animosity has grown up between the clubs. Karpaty were originally formed by members of Silmash club and they joined division 2 of the Soviet League...