August 31, 2006: Arsenal Sell Ashley Cole to Chelsea

March 17, 1978: Elvis Costello & The Attractions release their album This Year’s Model. It included a song titled "I Don't Want to Go to Chelsea."

If only Ashley Cole had listened to that song.

For the record: Costello has said he's a Liverpool F.C. fan.

*

August 31, 2006, 20 years ago: On the last day of the Summer transfer window, Arsenal F.C. sell left back Ashley Cole to Chelsea F.C., sending him from North London to West London.

They didn't have much choice.

Making his Premier League debut in 2000, Cole established himself as the best English left back of his generation. He helped Arsenal reach the FA Cup Final in 2001, win the Premier League and the FA Cup in 2002 (winning both is called "The Double"), win another Cup in 2003, produce the PL's only unbeaten season in 2004, and win another Cup in 2005. At 24, he had already won 2 League titles and 3 FA Cups, and had played for England in the 2002 World Cup and Euro 2004.

Unfortunately, like so many other great athletes, he began to confuse payment with respect. English football fans express payment in weeks, not years. He wanted £60,000 a week. With the exchange rate then in effect, this amounted to an annual salary of $3.2 million. Arsenal offered him £55,000 a week -- about $2.9 million a year.

For a team as big as Arsenal, an additional £5,000 a week shouldn't have been too much to keep the man who, at the time, was the best player at his position in the world, maybe 2nd at it to Paolo Maldini of A.C. Milan, and only 24 years old, 12 years younger than Maldini.

But Arsenal vice-chairman David Dein, responsible for such negotiations in place of manager Arsène Wenger, wouldn't pay the extra 5 grand. In his autobiography, which he appropriately titled My Defence, Cole described hearing that over the radio while driving on London's beltway, the M25. "Trembling with anger" as he put it in his autobiography, he pulled over, picked up his phone, and called his agent, Jonathan Barnett. He yelled, "They are taking the piss, Jonathan!"

The expression -- also known as "taking the mickey," which comes from Cockney rhyming slang, from "Mickey Bliss" -- is roughly equivalent to the American expressions "busting your chops" or "busting your balls." But Cole considered it a sign of tremendous disrespect.

In January 2005, Cole and Barnett met with Chelsea's manager José Mourinho and chief executive Peter Kenyon at the Royal Park Hotel in Lancaster Gate, Central London. Simply having the meeting, without having informed his current club first, was a violation of PL rules. So was negotiating a transfer without the permission of the current club. By offering a contract, of any amount, Chelsea were violating a rule as well. The process is called "tapping-up."

Word got out, and while it didn't seem to affect either team on the field as the 2004-05 season came to a close -- Chelsea won the League, and Arsenal won the Cup -- on June 1, an independent commission charged by the PL with investigating the story issued its findings. Cole was found guilty, and fined £100,000, or about 2.6 times the amount of additional money he was demanding. He would have been better of if he'd just sat there and taken it. Chelsea were found guilty, and fined £300,000. Mourinho was found guilty -- a manager should not be present at such a meeting -- and fined £200,000.

Arsenal fans turned on Cole, calling him "Cashley." Rumors abounded, some with more merit to them than others. He was married to Cheryl Tweedy, the lead singer of vocal group Girls Aloud. The joke was that she, white, had to marry him, black, to prove she wasn't a racist; that he had to marry her to prove he wasn't gay. Another rumor spread that he had a gay affair with Jermaine Jenas, a star player with Arsenal's North London arch-rivals, Tottenham Hotspur; and that, for reasons known only to him, he shoved a cell phone up his ass at a party.

The familiar terrace chant, "Ten men went to mow, went to mow a meadow!" became "Ten men went to bed, went to bed with Ashley!" And the rhyming of his name made another song easy: "Oh, Ashley Cole, yer a fuckin' arsehole!"

Cheryl and Ashley got together in September 2004, and married in July 2006, but divorced in September 2010, because of Ashley's infidelity. With women. In March 2006, Ashley sued the tabloids The Sun and News of the World for printing a story about a gay orgy he supposedly attended. Both papers issued retractions, and he retracted the suits.

It's almost as if the whole thing was totally for show.

Cheryl kept using the name "Cheryl Cole" for legal reasons, but became simply "Cheryl" for her music releases -- as if she was Cher or Madonna. (Well, she sings better than Madonna, anyway.) In 2014, he married French restaurateur Jean-Bernard Fernandez-Versini, but they divorced in 2016. She then got together with former One Direction singer Liam Payne. She had a son with him in 2017, but they broke up the next year without having married.

(UPDATE: Ashley married Italian model Sharon Canu in 2023, after they'd already had 2 children together.)

Cole played the 2005-06 season with Arsenal, helping them reach the UEFA Champions League Final. On August 31, having been held out of the team's 1st 2 games of the 2006-07 PL season -- a draw against Aston Villa in the 1st competitive match at the new Emirates Stadium, and a loss away to Manchester City -- Arsenal bowed to the inevitable, and made a trade, a rarity in English football: They sent Cole to Chelsea for £5 million and centreback William Gallas.

Cole made a public statement saying he forgave Arsenal team management for their treatment of him. He... forgave them? They didn't do anything wrong. All they did was offer a great player 91 percent of what he thought he was worth.

Gallas did next to nothing for Arsenal, developed a bad attitude, and was gone within 3 years. Cole played 8 seasons for Chelsea, and, while his private behavior, legal and otherwise, remained troublesome, his on-pitch reputation only grew. Between the 2 London clubs, ended up with 5 Premier League titles, a record 7 FA Cup wins, and, with Chelsea, the 2012 Champions League title.

He played for England in the 2006 and 2010 World Cups, and, after they failed to qualify for Euro 2008, in Euro 2012. He left Chelsea for Italy's AS Roma in 2014, came to America in 2016 to play for LA Galaxy, and after 3 years there, closed his career in 2019, back in England with Derby County.

He then went into coaching. At Derby, their manager was his former Chelsea and England teammate, Frank Lampard. He made Cole the academy coach. In 2022, Lampard and Cole went to Liverpool-based team Everton.

In 2023, they left Everton together. Cole then joined Birmingham City, where their manager was his former England teammate, Manchester United start Wayne Rooney. In 2024, he began working with England's Football Association (the FA). In 2026, he became caretaker manager of Cesena, a team in Italy's Serie B, until the end of the season.

Whether Ashley Cole will ever be forgiven by Arsenal fans remains to be seen, but he set the pattern for future dodgy moves for players, including Aliaksandr Hleb in 2008, Emmanuel Adebayor in 2009, Cesc Fàbregas and Samir Nasri in 2011, Robin van Persie in 2012, and Alexis Sánchez in 2018.

So far, though, it looks like, as Billy Joel once claimed in a song, Cole would rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints. (Not to be confused with Southampton F.C, whose team is nicknamed the Saints.)

July 22, 2006: The Emirates Stadium Opens

July 22, 2006, 20 years ago: The Emirates Stadium, the new home of North London's Arsenal Football Club, opens, just 500 yards from their former home since 1913, Arsenal Stadium, nicknamed Highbury for its neighborhood.

Arsenal had played at Highbury since 1913, but after the Taylor Report demanded that all British soccer teams convert to all-seater stadiums, its seating capacity was reduced to about 38,000. In order to compete for top players with the more successful teams in Europe, Arsenal needed a bigger stadium with better amenities to meet revenue needs.

The first event at the 60,704-seat bowl is a testimonial match for retiring forward Dennis Bergkamp.

The current Arsenal players are joined by several former club stars in a game against the club with whom the man Arsenal fans called "God" began, AFC Ajax of Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

The 1st half was each team's current players, although several on each side were unavailable due insufficient rest from the recently-concluded World Cup. Arsenal would have Bergkamp (the guest of honor usually plays in the testimonial, presuming he can), but no one else of note, as Thierry Henry was being held back for the "Legends" team in the 2nd half. In contrast, Ajax were able to field Maartin Stekelenburg, Jaap Stam, Wesley Sneijder, Jan Vertonghen, Klaas Jan Huntelaar, and a man who would later captain Arsenal, Thomas Vermaelen. In the 37th minute, Huntelaar scored the stadium's 1st goal.

Bob Wilson, the goalkeeper for Arsenal's 1971 Double-winning team, introduced the Legends teams. Ajax's players included Frank Rijkaard (who had just managed FC Barcelona to defeat Arsenal in the UEFA Champions League Final), Marco van Basten, Edgar Davids, Danny Blind, twins Frank and Ronald de Boer, Edwin van der Sar, and Ajax' greatest legend, Johan Cruijff, 59 years old and 22 years past his last competitve match, who managed and appeared as a substitute.

Arsenal's legends included Henry, David Seaman, Lee Dixon, Nigel Winterburn, Patrick Vieira, Steve Bould, Ian Wright, Emmanuel Petit, and 3 men who had played for both teams: Bergkamp, Marc Overmars and Nwankwo Kanu. Also appearing for Arsenal, though he had played for them for just 2 seasons, was Giovanni van Bronckhorst, who had captained the Netherlands at the World Cup, but had starred for Ajax's arch-rivals, Rotterdam side Feyenoord, and had played against Arsenal in the recent CL Final. No hard feelings on either side.

In the 55th minute, Henry put a shot past van der Sar, then the star goalie of Manchester United. Ronald de Boer missed a penalty in the 61st. Kanu gave Arsenal the lead in the 80th. Every Arsenal player seemed to be trying to Bergkamp the ball to let him score, but it just didn't happen. It did still end 2-1 in Arsenal's favor. Afterward, Bergkamp said a few words to the crowd, and was picked up on his teammates' shoulders, and given a lap of honor.

The 1st competitive match at the stadium didn't go so well: On August 19, 2006, Arsenal opened their Premier League season at home, against Birmingham team Aston Villa. Olof Mellberg, a Villa defender, scored the 1st official goal at the stadium in the 53rd minute. Gilberto Silva scored the 1st Arsenal goal in the 84th, and the match ended 1-1.

Arsenal were in a transition period, and not just from the old stadium to the new one. Paying off the stadium debt meant selling off some stars, including Vieira the season before, and Henry the season after; and some players who were not yet stars.

Manager Arsène Wenger had won 3 Premier League titles and 4 FA Cups, including 2 Doubles in 1998 and 2002. But now, he had broken his great team up and rebuilt around youth: Whereas the centerpiece of his trophy-winning side had been French-Senegalese defensive midfielder Vieira, it would now be Spanish-Catalan attacking midfielder Cesc Fàbregas.

But it never seemed to be enough. There was a 2nd-place finish in 2008, trips to the Semifinals of both the CL and the FA Cup in 2009, and defeats in the League Cup Final in 2007 and 2011. But he couldn't finish the job. Over the next few years, for reasons of both finances and players' egos, Wenger would also have to sell Fàbregas, Ashley Cole, Freddie Ljungberg, Jens Lehmann, Aliksandr Hleb, Emmanuel Adebayor, Samir Nasri and Robin van Persie. Wenger still managed to win the FA Cup in 2014, 2015 and 2017, and keep the team in the top 4 places in the PL, thus keeping them in the CL.

Some of these players were more easily forgiven for leaving than others, but many fans blamed Wenger, rather than team management who had to pay off the stadium's debt, for a period of "decline" that would have been considered a spectacular success by most teams' standards. Many people, including Arsenal fans, blamed the new stadium itself, claiming it lacked sufficient "atmosphere." Fans of arch-rival Tottenham Hotspur, as they had with the previous stadium, called it "The Library," since it sort-of rhymed with "Highbury." Begging the question: How would a Tottenham fan know what the inside of a library sounds like?

On a personal level, knowing that the United Arab Emirates are a dictatorship, treating women, immigrants, and people of religions other than Islam badly, but ignoring such things if they happen to be wealthy tourists for their resort cities such as Dubai, I would prefer that both the stadium's name and the team's shirts would no longer have Emirates Airways as a sponsor.

In 2018, Wenger was given the 1960 Casey Stengel treatment, and he "resigned." Then came a true decline, but it was stopped before it could become disastrous. Mikel Arteta, one of the Cup-winning players Wenger had signed, became the manager, and won the 2020 FA Cup, before restoring Arsenal's PL position. In 2026, he won the PL title.

Statues of Wenger, Bergkamp, Henry, former Captain Tony Adams, 1930s manager Herbert Chapman, and Ken Friar, who started working for Arsenal as a 12-year-old messenger boy and, in 2022, is the 87-year-old president emeritus of the club, now stand outside the stadium.

The Emirates Stadium has hosted international matches, including 9 by the Brazil national team through the 2025-26 season. It has also hosted concerts, including by Bruce Springsteen in 2008, Coldplay in 2012, Green Day in 2013, and The Killers in 2022. In 2008, considered "a shining example of Anglo-French co-operation," it hosted a summit meeting between Prime Minister Gordon Brown of Great Britain and President Nicolas Sarkozy of France.

Fans of other big clubs, or would-be big clubs, wanted their own showplace stadium now. Manchester City had already gotten one in 2003. In 2016, West Ham United moved from Upton Park in the East End to the 2012 Olympic Stadium, renamed the London Stadium, not tucked so deep into East London, and, like Arsenal, their fans complained about a loss of atmosphere.

In 2019, Tottenham, a.k.a. "Spurs," having left their old White Hart Lane stadium, and spent 2 years playing home games at Wembley Stadium while the new stadium was built on the site of the old one, moved into Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, which, to one-up Arsenal, had a slightly higher capacity of 62,850. Of course, Arsenal fans called The Lane "The Shithole," and noticed that the new stadium, from the outside, actually looked like a toilet bowl. Clearly, Spurs management didn't think the design through. Nevertheless, it has begun regularly hosting regular-season NFL games, as had the old Wembley, the new Wembley, and rugby venue Twickenham Stadium.

In Liverpool, Everton FC replaced Goodison Park with Hill Dickinson Stadium in 2025, while neighboring Liverpool FC have instead chosen to modernize and expand Anfield. Also in 2025, Manchester United approved a 100,000-seat "New Trafford," a.k.a. "Wembley of the North," adjacent to Old Trafford, hoping to open it by 2030. Contractual issues still stall West London team Chelsea FC's plans to either expand or replace Stamford Bridge, mostly rebuilt in the 1990s and 2000s but with one stand still in use since 1973.

July 3, 2001: Arsenal sign Sol Campbell

Sol Campbell with the FA Cup (in his right hand)

and the Premier League trophy (in his left)

July 3, 2001, 25 years ago: Arsenal Football Club sign Sol Campbell. The centreback had been Captain of their North London arch-rivals, Tottenham Hotspur F.C., and had led "Spurs" to the 1999 League Cup. But, his contract having run out, he was not given any assurances by team management that they would bring in new talent to improve the team.

In contrast, Arsenal offered the 26-year-old East Londoner the chance to stay in London, and play Champions League games. After he had rejected all overtures by Spurs, and from European giants FC Barcelona, Internazionale Milano and Bayern Munich, Campbell signed with Arsenal. Spurs' Captain was now the rock of Arsenal's defense, ready to replace the aging team Captain, Tony Adams.

Tottenham fans were livid, turning as red as their rivals' shirts. Not with embarrassment, as they should have, but with rage.

Result? In his 1st season with Arsenal, they won the Premier League and the FA Cup -- the Double. 2nd season? The FA Cup again. 3rd season? An unbeaten League season, clinching the title at, of all places, Spurs' White Hart Lane. 4th season? Another FA Cup. 5th season? Arsenal reached the Champions League Final, and Sol scored in the game, although Arsenal lost.

He then left Arsenal, signing with Hampshire team Portsmouth FC. In 2008, Portsmouth made an unlikely run to win the FA Cup, with Campbell as Captain.

To this day, Spurs fans sing about Sol being "Judas," and that's one of the more printable things they say. But he says he has no regrets.

Since he made the North London switch, Spurs have won just 2 major trophies, and that's if you consider the League Cup to be a "major trophy," doing so in 2008, meaning that Campbell still outdid them that season by leading Portsmouth to the FA Cup; and the Europa League to be one, doing so in 2025.

July 3, 2001 was a Tuesday. Folarin Balogun, a Brooklyn native of Nigerian descent who has played for Arsenal, AS Monaco, and the U.S. National Team, was born on this day.

Arsenal Is For Anybody

Notice the Yankee caps.

Today, Arsenal Football Club took a 1-0 lead over Paris Saint-Germain after 6 minutes of the UEFA Champions League Final in Budapest, Hungary, and couldn't hold it. All the money that PSG got from their owners, the oil-rich slavedriving royal family of the Middle Eastern nation of Qatar, and the assistance from referee Daniel Siebert, and the game ended 1-1 after extra time. PSG then won on penalty kicks, 4-3.

At the end, I felt like I did when the Yankees lost Game 7 of the 2001 World Series: Drained, too tired to feel anything more than disappointed. It took longer for the steroid use of the opposition to be revealed in that case. In this case, as with Arsenal's defeat to FC Barcelona in the CL Final 20 years earlier, the dirty play and the favoring thereof was obvious while the game was in progress.

It was the biggest game in Arsenal's history, and they lost it -- through little fault of their own, but they did lose it.

And I, for one, have never been prouder to be an Arsenal fan.

It is true that, as late as the morning of March 22, Arsenal were still eligible for all 4 trophies for which they were eligible. That day, they lost the League Cup Final to Manchester City. On April 4, they lost to Southampton in the Quarterfinal of the FA Cup. On April 19, they lost to Manchester City, which took their Premier League destiny out of their hands. They were still in the Semifinal of the Champions League, but it was looking like they would go 0-for-4 in trophies.

But they beat Atlético Madrid in the CL Semifinal, and advanced to the Final to play PSG, the defending Champions, who had eliminated Arsenal in the previous season's Semifinal. And Man City faltered, losing League games. Arsenal won their last 5 Premier League games. On May 19, Man City lost to Bournemouth, meaning they could no longer finish ahead of Arsenal. Arsenal were the Premier League Champions, for the 1st time in 22 years. It was their 1st trophy in 6 years, since the 2020 FA Cup.

Upon the final whistle of City's defeat, thousands of people descended upon the Emirates Stadium in North London. Wherever Arsenal fans gather, they gathered: In Manhattan, in Montreal, in Mombassa, in Mumbai, in Melbourne. All of England's "big clubs" have fans from all over the world, but most of them don't celebrate diversity like Arsenal do. Even the new Mayor, Zohran Mamdani, is an Arsenal fan, and has seen games at one of the Arsenal bars in Brooklyn. (But he's also a Mets fan, so take his Gooner status with a grain of salt.)

Today, I saw the match in the space that used to be the home of the NYC Arsenal Supporters, on East 14th Street between 2nd and 3rd Avenues in Manhattan's East Village, before it began filling up and became a victim of its own success, leading to O'Hanlon's, a block away on 14th between 1st and 2nd, becoming the new headquarters. From 2011 to 2019, this space was known as the Blind Pig, named for an alternate term for a speakeasy, one of the secret bars that sprang up all over America during Prohibition, 1920 to 1933.

In 2019 -- before COVID -- the Blind Pig had to close, due to a rent increase. Coyote Ugly, the bar made famous in the 2000 film of the same title, moved around the corner from 2nd Avenue into the former Blind Pig space. Obviously, the decor is different, but the space is still recognizable. As with both the Blind Pig and Coyote Ugly's former location, the bartenders are still, as the English would say, "fit as fook." And they were willing to take in spillover customers who couldn't get into O'Hanlon's.

When it was over, the consensus was that we were disappointed in the result, and angry at the officials, but the Premier League title was no consolation prize, it was still something to celebrate. (Indeed, Arsenal will have its trophy parade in London tomorrow.)

As with my fellow fans of the Yankees and the New Jersey Devils, I have "found my people." And the hope for more trophies over the next few years, under manager Mikel Arteta, is strong.

We are The Arsenal: We are for anybody willing to join us, and we fear nobody.

Arsenal Are the Premier League Champions!

Today, it was 103 degrees in Central New Jersey. But I didn't care: I wore a polyester shirt and a wool scarf.

Today, May 19, 2026, at 4:25 PM U.S. Eastern Time, 9:25 British time, despite a goal in the 95th minute, Manchester City ended its game with AFC Bournemouth in a 1-1 draw. This means that they cannot finish ahead of Arsenal FC in the Premier League table. This means that, for the 1st time since 2004, Arsenal are the Premier League Champions!

It is the 14th title for the club. Under the old format, the Football League First Division, they won in 1931, 1933, 1934, 1935, 1938, 1948, 1953, 1971, 1989 and 1991. Under the current format, the Premier League, they have won in 1998, 2002, 2004 (going unbeaten, the only team ever to do so) and now, 2026.

Having won the FA Cup right after his arrival as manager in 2020, having previously won it with Arsenal as a player in 2014, Mikel Arteta has now won the Premier League title as a manager.

Tonight, the 115 rule violations for which Man City have still not been punished don't matter. Their manager, Josep "Pep" Guardiola, who cheated like hell at FC Barcelona and then Bayern Munich before Man City decided they would do anything to win, legal or otherwise, leaving after next Sunday's season finale doesn't matter. All the cheating that was done to Arsenal in the intervening 22 years doesn't matter. All the accusations that Arsenal are "boring" (we've heard that before) or won because of VAR (Video Assisted Referee, as if getting calls right was a bad thing) don't matter.

All that matters is, Arsenal have triumphed.

Someone said online, "We've gone from the drama of the Aguero moment to referees watching a screen to give a foul from a corner to decide titles. Premier League is a mess."

Wrong. As if Sergio Agüero's goal to give City the 2012 Premier League title, before Guardiola got there, was better than Michael Thomas' goal to give Arsenal the 1989 title.

The Premier League is not a mess. It has reached the minimum it always should have. We have gone from referees giving Guardiola at City, Alex Ferguson at Manchester United, and Jose Mourinho wherever he has managed (mostly at Chelsea), calls they didn't deserve; to forcing the referees to acknowledge their mistakes and get the calls right, so that the team that actually deserves to win the League title actually wins it.

It reminds me that, in 2015, Met fans demanded that Yankee Fans root for their team in the World Series, because they were "the New York team."

Really? Met fans have never rooted for the Yankees because they were the New York team in the World Series.

They didn't root for the Yankees in 1963, 1977, 1978, 1981 or 2024, when we were playing the Los Angeles O'Malleys.

They didn't root for us in 1962, when we were playing the San Francisco Giants, and wouldn't have rooted for us in any of the other seasons when the Giants, had they made it, would have played the Yankees.

They didn't root for us in 1964, against the St. Louis Cardinals.

They didn't root for us in 1976, against the Cincinnati Big Rose Machine.

They didn't root for us in 1998, against the San Diego Padres.

They didn't root for us in 1996 or 1999, no matter how much they hated the Atlanta Braves.

They didn't root for us in 2009, no matter how much they hated the Philadelphia Phillies.

They didn't even root for us in 2001, against the Arizona Diamondbacks, after the 9/11 attacks, when New York really needed that World Championship, more than it needed the one the Mets won in 1969, more than it needed the one the Yankees won in 1977.

But Met fans wanted Yankee Fans to root for them in 2015, Oh, hell, no!

But then, baseball doesn't have promotion and relegation, does it? If it did, the Mets would currently be struggling to get back from Class AAA to the major leagues.

Now, there have been fans of other teams who have said they would rather see Arsenal, or anybody else, win it than see Man City (or, at least, Guardiola) win it again.

But the vitriol of people who didn't want to see Arsenal win it...

I know why. It's because Arsenal have always been seen as a "foreign team":

* The team began in 1886, and while some of the founding players were English, some were Scottish, including the original Captain, David Danskin.

* In the 1930s, they won the League 5 times, and the FA Cup twice, with Scottish forward Alex James and Welsh players, halfback Charlie Jones and forward Bob John.

* They won the League in 1948 and 1953, won the FA Cup in 1950, and were runner-up in both in 1952, with Scots Alex Forbes at right half and Jimmy Logie at inside right, and Welshman Walley Barnes at left back.

* They won the League and the FA Cup, "The Double," in 1971, with Scots Bob Wilson in goal, Frank McLintock as centerback and Captain, and George Graham and Eddie Kelly in midfield; Welshman John Roberts as another centerback; and starting right back and reserve left back Sammy Nelson were from Northern Ireland.

* They won the FA Cup in 1979 with "The Irish Connection." Midfield wizard Liam Brady, forward Frank Stapleton, and centerback David O'Leary were from Dublin. And 1971 holdovers Rice and Nelson, goalkeeper Pat Jennings, and manager Terry Neill were from Belfast. And centerback Willie Young was Scottish.

* Graham became manager in 1986, and built a League title winner that included 1979 holdover O'Leary, and one of the earliest continental Europeans to make a difference in the English League, Swedish midfielder Anders Limpar. He also built one of the earliest English Champions to have a significant black contingent, with players like David Rocastle and the aforementioned Michael Thomas. He then went back to Scandinavia to get Dane John Jensen.

* Arsène Wenger became manager in 1996, coming from France, and built a true United Nations roster, with Europeans, Africans, Europeans of African descent, South Americans. He won The Double in 1998 and 2002, went unbeaten in winning the Premier League in 2004, won FA Cups in 2003 and 2005, and reached the UEFA Champions League Final in 2006.

During this period, it became impossible to win the Premier League with a team of all Englishmen, or even of all men from the British Isles. A foreigner-filled lineup became necessary. But it seemed as though English referees were treating all Arsenal players as foreign, including the Englishmen; and all players on certain classically English teams -- the Manchester teams, the Liverpool teams, Chelsea, West Ham, Newcastle, etc. -- as English, regardless of their national origin.

Arsenal finished 2nd the last 3 seasons, behind Liverpool once and Man City twice. This time, nothing stopped them, not even a bad defeat to Man City a few weeks ago.

So, if you like, call them "the worst Premier League Champions ever." You have the right to be that stupid. Call them that.

As long as you call them the Champions.

Their game on this coming Sunday, away to South London team Crystal Palace, now means nothing. But the following Saturday, they will play in the Champions League Final for the 1st time in 20 years, against defending Champions Paris Saint-Germain, in Budapest, Hungary.

With the big domestic trophy in hand, there will be desire, but no desperation. The season is a success, regardless of what happens in Budapest.

But they've been the best team in the CL all season long. One more game.

May 17, 2006: Arsenal's Champions League Robbery

Top row, left to right: Sol Campbell, Jens Lehmann, Gilberto Silva,

Emmanuel Eboué, Kolo Touré, Robert Pires.

Bottom row, left to right: Aliaksandr Hleb, Cesc Fàbregas,

Freddie Ljungberg, Thierry Henry, Ashley Cole.

May 17, 2006, 20 years ago: North London soccer team Arsenal FC reach the UEFA Champions League Final for the first time, at the Stade de France in the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis.

The fact that Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger got a team with Emmanuel Eboué at right back, Aliaksandr Hleb at left midfield, and the weak-minded (and not yet 19-year-old) Cesc Fàbregas in central midfield into the Final shows that he was a better manager than Alex Ferguson, Jose Mourinho, Pep Guardiola and Jürgen Klopp could ever be.

FC Barcelona were managed by Frank Rijkaard, who had won the Champions League, then known as the European Cup, as a player with AC Milan in 1989 and 1990, and with Ajax Amsterdam after the tournament's name change in 1995.

This team was absolutely loaded, with the great Brazilian forward Ronaldinho; Cameroonian forward Samuel Eto'o, rising Spanish stars Xavi and Andrés Iniesta, Swedish star Henrik Larsson; and national Captains Carles Puyol of Spain, Giovanni van Bronckhorst of the Netherlands, and Rafael Márquez of Mexico.

(Lionel Messi had already made his debut for Barcelona, but was not listed as a starter or a substitute for this game. Former star and future manager Josep "Pep" Guardiola was wrapping up his playing career elsewhere.)

When Arsenal goalkeeper Jens Lehmann was sent off with a straight red card in the 18th minute by referee Terje Hauge -- dubiously, if not incorrectly -- and Wenger had to send in backup goalie Manuel Almunia, later so bad he was nicknamed "The Clown" by his own team's fans -- he had to take off an attacking player to meet the down-to-10-men requirement, and he chose Robert Pires. A massive mistake.

Arsenal actually went 1-0 up in the 37th minute, thanks to a header by Sol Campbell. And they held that 1-0 lead into the 76th minute. And then...

Well, you didn't expect FC Barcelona, one of the dirtiest sports teams on the planet, to let that pass without cheating, did you? Eto'o's equalizer was clearly offside, but Hauge gave the goal. And then, in the 80th minute, Juliano Belletti put Barça up, 2-1. That was the final score.

Juliano Belletti

This turned out to be the last game for Arsenal for Pires, Campbell, the tapped-up Ashley Cole, and the retiring Dennis Bergkamp. And it was the beginning of the end at Arsenal for Thierry Henry, who captained Arsenal in the game, and picked the worst possible time to have a bad game. He did win a Champions League title... with Barcelona in 2009. By that point, Guardiola was managing them to tainted glory, and Messi was, along with Cristiano Ronaldo of arch-rival Real Madrid, being called the best player in the world.

I hadn't yet become an Arsenal fan. Which is a good thing. This game, known to Arsenal fans as "Heartbreak In Paris," the closest they have ever come to winning the Champions League, came just 6 days after my grandmother's death. I did not need this added to the list of things on my mind.

Arsenal would also be knocked out of the CL by Barcelona, albeit in earlier rounds, in 2010 and 2011, the latter being one of the most dubious games in team history, worthy of its own post, which I have written. Arsenal reached the Semifinals in 2009, but were knocked out by Manchester United; and 2025, knocked out by Paris Saint-Germain (PSG), who went on to win the Final.

In 2026, Arsenal have finally reached the Champions League Final again. It will be played on May 30, at the Puskás Aréna in Budapest, Hungary. The opponent will be PSG -- with some irony, the team that plays its home games at the Stade de France, site of Arsenal's heartbreak 20 years ago.

March 31, 2001: The Death of David Rocastle

March 31, 2001, 25 years ago: David Rocastle dies of lymphoma. He was just 33 years old, and was one of the best English soccer players of his generation.

He was born on May 2, 1967 in Lewisham, South-East London, the son of Caribbean immigrants. He was 5 when his father died of pneumonia, and his mother remarried and had 2 more children. He became an expert schoolboy midfielder, to the point where Terry Murphy, a scout for North London team Arsenal Football Club, told team owner Peter Hill-Wood, "I think I saw a Brazilian today." Murphy also discovered centrebacks Tony Adams and Martin Keown, and midfielder Michael Thomas.

Rocastle, nicknamed "Rocky," and Thomas joined midfielder Paul Davis and forward Kevin Campbell to give Arsenal one of the earliest groups of talented young black players in England. He made his debut early in the 1985-86 season, and a replay of the 1987 League Cup Semifinal, away to Arsenal's North London arch-rivals, Tottenham Hotspur, he scored the winning goal as regular time ran out, sending them to the Final, where they beat Liverpool.

He gained a penchant for superb dribbling and passing, and scored some wonder goals. He was a key figure in Arsenal winning the Football League Division One title in 1989, with Thomas' goal in the last minute of play against Liverpool clinching it. But a knee injury in 1990 curtailed Rocastle's career. He was able to help Arsenal win the League title again in 1991, but in the 1992 off-season, manager George Graham, sensing that, despite being only 25, the knee injury had ended his effectiveness, sold him to Yorkshire team Leeds United. This proved to be incredibly unpopular among Arsenal fans.

Leeds fans liked him, but injuries limited his appearances, and after 1 season, he was sold to Manchester City. After a difficult season there, he was sold to West London team Chelsea in 1994. He played 4 painful seasons for them, including loan spells with Norfolk team Norwich City and Yorkshire team Hull City, before closing his playing career in 1999, with a season in Malaysia, for Sabah.

He played 14 matches for England, and never lost: 7 wins and 7 draws. But he was never selected for a major tournament: Not Euro 88, not the 1990 World Cup, not Euro 92, not Euro 96. (England did not qualify for the 1994 World Cup.)

He married Janet, and has son Ryan and daughters Melissa and Monique. His brother Stephen played for Norwich City, and a cousin, Craig, went on to play for several teams, including Yorkshire team Sheffield Wednesday and Manchester-area team Oldham Athletic, and U.S. team Sporting Kansas City.

In October 2000 -- shortly before a previous Arsenal Number 7 with similar skills, George Armstrong, then an assistant coach, died at age 56 -- David Rocastle was diagnosed with terminal non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. He underwent chemotherapy, and announced in February 2001 that he was hopeful of recovery, but he died early in the morning of March 31, 2001.

It was mere hours before Arsenal were scheduled to play Tottenham at the Arsenal Stadium, a.k.a. Highbury. Some of his former teammates were still with the club. And there was the worry that the visiting "Spurs" fans, who hate Arsenal much more than Arsenal fans hate their team, might boo during the minute's silence that would be held in his memory before the kickoff. After debating whether to appeal to the Premier League (founded in 1992) to postpone the game, the Arsenal board of directors decided to go forward with it.

The silence was respected by the visiting fans. The game was a bit slow, taking on the character of the muted atmosphere, until Robert Pires found a goal in the 70th minute. Thierry Henry added one in the 87th, and it ended 2-0. As with Yankee Stadium the night after Thurman Munson's funeral in 1979, this may be the only time Arsenal fans left Highbury in tears after an Arsenal win.

Matching his uniform number, Arsenal fans still sing his song during the 7th minute of home games: "Oh, Rocky, Rocky! Rocky, Rocky, Rocky, Rocky Ro-cas-tle!" In 2006, Arsenal named a training facility at their academy after him: The David Rocastle Indoor Centre. Inside, there is a mural of him, and a quote which, while not originating with him, became associated with him: "Remember who you are, what you are, and what you represent."

December 14, 1935: Ted Drake Scores 7 Goals

December 14, 1935, 90 years ago: Arsenal Football Club, of North London, travel to Birmingham, and defeat Aston Villa F.C., 7-1 at Villa Park. Forward Ted Drake scores all 7 of Arsenal's goals.

Drake did this despite a nagging knee injury; despite having Alex James, the little Scottish dynamo who usually served as Arsenal's Captain, out with an injury; and despite Villa, having struggled but invested heavily in recent days, signing 6 players for national teams (England, Scotland, Wales, Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland), earning them the nickname "The Bank of England Club."

Drake scored 3 goals in the 1st half, reached 6 by the hour mark, and then saw the newly-acquired Jack Palethorpe score Villa's only goal. Drake thought he had a 7th when his shot hit the crossbar and bounced down, but the referee ruled that it had not crossed the line. In the game's last minute, he got his 7th. He had one other shot, which was saved.

At the time, this was believed to have tied the record for most goals scored in a Football League game, set back in the League's 1st season, 1888-89, when Jimmy Ross of Preston North End, the Lancashire team that went on to win the title and the FA Cup, English football's first "Double," scored 7 in a game against Staffordshire team Stoke City. Years later, research discovered that Ross had scored "only" 4 goals, and Drake had the record all to himself.

Just 12 days later, on December 26, Robert "Bunny" Bell scored 9 goals -- and missed a penalty that could have made it 10 -- for Merseyside team Tranmere Rovers against Manchester-area team Oldham Athletic. But this was in the Football League's Division Three North. Drake's record of 7 remained untouched for the remainder of the League's Division One. Nor has it been matched in the Division's successor, the Premier League, since its institution in 1992.

Drake helped Arsenal win the League in 1934, 1935 and 1938; and the FA Cup in 1936. In 1955, he managed West London team Chelsea to win the League title. This made him the 1st man to win the League as both a non-managing player and a non-playing manager. He died in 1995, at the age of 82. 

November 21, 1945: Dynamo Moscow Kicks Off Sports' Cold War

Yes, the fog was that thick.

November 21, 1945, 80 years ago: The most-hyped game of the 1st visit of a Soviet soccer team to England, the sport's traditional birthplace, takes place. In hindsight, it can be called the event that kicked of the sports division of the Cold War.

In Communist countries, sports clubs, and the teams they fielded, were sponsored by state-owned industries. The countries' armies sponsored teams named "Central Club of the Army," or "CSKA" in Slavic languages. The national railroads sponsored teams named "Lokomotiv." The auto industry sponsored teams named "Torpedo." The teams most hated by the citizens, but with the most funding from the government and the most favorable decisions from government-appointed officials, were named "Dynamo."

Football Club Dynamo Moscow won the Soviet Top League in 1936, 1937, 1940 and 1945; and were regarded, along with Spartak Moscow, as the best team in the Soviet Union. So when World War II came to an end, Dynamo wanted to test themselves against what was seen as the best competition in the world: The British.

This was the age of radio. Television existed, but it hadn't yet done much to cover sports. Most of what people knew about sports was what they read in newspapers. So there was very little information on Dynamo for the British teams they would be facing, and their fans -- and vice versa: Dynamo knew very little about their opponents.

Interviewed for a 2001 documentary, Dynamo forward Konstantin Beskov said, "Until those games, we only knew that England was the motherland of football, that English football was the best in the world." One of Britain's national newspapers, The Evening Standard, wrote, "Don't expect much from Dynamo. They are only beginners, blue-collars, amateurs." They would regret that dismissive derision.

On Tuesday, November 13, Dynamo visited Chelsea Football Club, at Chelsea's West London stadium, Stamford Bridge. Officially, the crowd was 75,000 people. It was probably much more than that, given English "footie" fans' propensity to jam themselves into those vast "standing terraces." It's a wonder there weren't more disasters like Ibrox in 1971 and Hillsborough in 1989.

Chelsea, prior to the 1960s rarely even a good team, much less a challenge for Dynamo, took a 2-0 lead. Just before the half, Dynamo were awarded a penalty. Leonid Solovyov hit the post with his shot, and the Soviet side went into the locker room embarrassed. Whatever was said to them in the locker room, it worked: They came back to tie the game, 2-2, fell behind 3-2, and then tied it again near the end of the game, to end it 3-3.

Tommy Lawton, the former star of Liverpool team Everton FC who had recently been signed by Chelsea, said, "Dynamo were one of the fastest teams I have ever seen in my life. They flash the ball from man to man in bewildering fashion, often while standing still." Chelsea Captain John Harris said, "At least two of Lawton's kicks were of such a type that no goalkeeper would catch, but Khomich jumped like a tiger and caught them." The Soviet goalie was known as Tiger Khomich from then on.

On Saturday, November 17, Dynamo visited Cardiff City Football Club. England's Football Association, of which City were then 1 of 3 Welsh members, refused to rearrange their schedule to accommodate Dynamo, so City were the only team available, and they were in Division Three, equivalent to Class AA in modern baseball.

Wales, full of coal mines, steel mills and dockworkers, was openly sympathetic to socialism, and welcomed the Soviet team with open arms. But City were completely overwhelmed, as Dynamo beat them, 10-1.

The team with which Dynamo were most familiar, and the team they truly wanted to test themselves against, was Arsenal Football Club, winners of the Football League in 1931, '33, '34, '35 and '38. Dynamo badly wanted to play Arsenal at their North London home, the Arsenal Stadium, nicknamed Highbury for its neighborhood.

Having made trips to the Continent, including an annual home-and-home series on Armistice Day, November 11, with Racing Club de France in London and Paris, Arsenal were happy to make themselves available for this soccer "summit." But they could not do the same for Highbury: It had been commandeered by the British government at the outset of World War II, as an Air Raid Precaution Centre, and had not yet been returned to the club's control. Since 1939, Arsenal had been playing home games at White Hart Lane, the home of their arch-rivals, Tottenham Hotspur, a.k.a. Spurs, 4.7 miles to the north.

A dirty little secret had gotten out: Dynamo had "drafted" 4 star players from other Soviet teams, including Spartak Moscow and CSKA Moscow. So the FA made arrangements for teams to "loan" some players to Arsenal, including Stanley Matthews of Staffordshire team Stoke City, a winger known as "The Wizard of Dribble," and possibly England's best player at the time. Another loanee was Stan Mortensen of Lancashire team Blackpool. With massive hypocrisy, the Soviets complained.

(In 1953, Blackpool, having acquired Matthews, won the FA Cup Final, with Mortensen scoring the only hat trick in the history of the Final, but Matthews had put on such a show that it's still remembered as "The Matthews Final.")

The game was set for Wednesday, November 21, but, as so often happened in those days before environmental regulations were passed, leading to outsiders nicknaming London "The Smoke," a thick fog settled over White Hart Lane. Still, the place was sold out, 54,000 strong, and the FA didn't want to issue refunds, so the game went on. The Soviet officials insisted on a Soviet referee, Nikolay Latyshev, who had accompanied the team. The FA agreed.

Writer George Orwell, who had recently published Animal Farm (Nineteen Eighty-Four was yet to come), was in attendance, and called the match "War minus the shooting." The Soviet players, knowing Matthews was the best player on either side of the pitch, targeted him for rough treatment.

Both goalies, Khomich and Arsenal's Wyn Griffiths, took more physical assaults than shots with the ball. Griffiths sustained a concussion, and had to be replaced for the 2nd half. Harry Brown, goalkeeper for West London team Queens Park Rangers, was in attendance, and, since the Soviets had negotiated for the right to a substitution, something the FA wouldn't allow in League and cup ties until 1966, they allowed Brown to step in for Griffiths.

Dynamo scored first, but Ronnie Rooke equalized shortly thereafter. Shortly before the half, there were 3 goals within a span of 4 minutes: Mortensen put Arsenal up 2-1, then he took another Matthews feed to make it 3-1, and then Beskov put the ball past Griffiths to make it 3-2.

The 2nd half was a travesty. Solovyov scored to tie it up, but multiple witnesses claimed he was blatantly offside. Latyshev let the goal stand. A little later, Arsenal thought they should have been awarded a penalty, but Latyshev denied it. Shortly after that, he sent Arsenal midfielder George Drury off for throwing a punch. No one else claimed to see the punch.

Vsevolod Bobrov, who became one of the Soviet Union's first great hockey players as well, received a Solovyov pass while offside, and scored. The goal was allowed to stand. Rooke was nearly brought down by a rugby-style tackle by Dynamo Captain Mikhail Semichastniy, opening a cut on his forehead, but elbowed him out of the way, giving him a black eye, and driving a 25-yard shot that beat Khomich. But instead of rightly allowing the goal and sending Semichastniy off, Latyshev waved off the goal and called Rooke for a foul.

So instead of what it should have been, 4-2 to The Arsenal, with Arsenal having 11 players on the pitch and Dynamo having 10 at most, it was 4-3 to Dynamo, with Arsenal down to 10 and Dynamo fielding... no one was sure how many. Dynamo took advantage of the fog to put more players on, with some accounts saying it was now 15 against 10.

The match ended 4-3 to Dynamo. The Daily Mail wrote, "It was one of the most exciting games 54,000 people never saw." Unusually for the paper known in modern times as the Daily Fail, it was the truth.

The controversy threatened to cancel the 4th and final game on the tour. But the FA were making too much money to bow to the wishes of the fans, and the finale went on. On Wednesday, November 28, Dynamo were hosted by Rangers Football Club, Scotland's most successful team, at Ibrox Stadium in Glasgow. Despite Bobrov scoring what The Daily Telegraph called "as perfect a goal as has ever been scored at Ibrox," Rangers held on for a 2-2 draw.

Dynamo had finished the tour with 2 wins, 2 draws, and no losses. But all the goodwill they had generated in their games against Chelsea and Cardiff City was thrown away by their actions against Arsenal. The game with Rangers did them no good in the eyes of the British, or European, sporting public.

Dynamo would win the Soviet Top League again in 1949, 1954, 1955, 1957, 1959, 1963 and 1976. But they never won it again. Nor have they won its replacement, the Russian Premier League. They have long since been surpassed as Moscow's top team by Spartak and CSKA, and St. Petersburg team Zenit have also surpassed them among Russia's teams.

Nikolay Latyshev, the referee for the Arsenal-Dynamo match, went on to officiate at the 1962 World Cup Final, which featured a team from what was then a Communist nation, Czechoslovakia. But none of his calls in the game were considered controversial, and Brazil defeated the Czechs.

November 21, 1945 was a Wednesday. Actress Goldie Hawn was born on this day. 

The Manager of Arsenal Does Not Owe You the Title

Mikel Arteta took over as manager of Arsenal Football Club in December 2019, replacing Unai Emery, who had replaced Arsène Wenger in May 2018, and took a situation that was not great, but not that bad, and made it much worse.

Emery took Wenger's team and brought it to what Wenger's worst critics lied and said he'd brought it to: Midtable mediocrity. Arteta, who had been one of Wenger's players, took Emery's team and won the 2020 FA Cup. He has now taken the team to 2nd place in the Premier League in 3 straight seasons. In the last 2 seasons, he has taken it to the Quarterfinal and the Semifinal of the UEFA Champions League.

There are alleged Arsenal fans who believe this is not good enough. They turned on Wenger when he stopped "challenging for the title" because he had to pay off the Emirates Stadium debt. They felt entitled to the trophies that Wenger won, and turned on him, without ever thanking him. They gave Emery the benefit of the doubt, even as he alienated and sold off the team's best players. They have not given Arteta the benefit of the doubt.

Now, we are in the Summer transfer window, and, as usual, these people are demanding that the manager "spend some fucking money" on "a world-class striker" who will "win us the title."

Which was done for Olivier Giroud, and again for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, and again for Gabriel Jesus. In each case, these same fans turned on them, calling them "shit."

Give me a break.

The manager of Arsenal does not owe you the Premier League title. He does not owe you the Champions League title. He does not owe you the FA Cup. He does not owe you anything other than his best effort.

This is true now under Arteta. It was true under Wenger.

Arteta took an Arsenal team whose honor had been trailed in the dust by those who claimed to be its most ardent fans; and whose best players had been alienated by a buffoon of a manager, who had followed the noblest soul in the sport, Wenger. Arteta took this team and restored it to a place of prominence, at home and abroad.

For those of of you who have shown him the proper respect, I thank you. For those of you who have not, it's time to start.

George Eastham, 1936-2024

George Eastham

American baseball had Curt Flood, who dared to attack the reserve clause, unsuccessfully; and Andy Messersmith, who provided the death blow to it.

English soccer had George Eastham, who killed its maximum wage.

George Edward Eastham was born on September 23, 1936 in Blackpool, Lancashire, England. His father, George Richard Eastham, played as a forward for hometown team Blackpool F.C., and also for Manchester-area team Bolton Wanderers. George Richard's brother Harry Eastham, also played forward for Blackpool, but spent most of his career on Merseyside, playing for Liverpool F.C. and Tranmere Rovers. The younger George became a forward, and starred for North-East club Newcastle United, starting in 1956.

Jimmy Hill had starred as a midfielder at West London team Fulham F.C., and later became Chairman of the Professional Footballers' Association, the players' union. At the time of the case, Hill was the manager of Midlands team Coventry City. Despite now managing a team, he recognized that the players and the managers had a common "enemy" in the team owners.

Jimmy Hill

The maximum wage was £20 per week -- with inflation, equivalent to about £357 in 2024, or, with the current exchange rate, about $449. That's not even enough to rent your own apartment, not in the suburbs of New York or London, let alone in either city.

And Eastham fell out with Newcastle management, and wanted to be sold, but they didn't want to sell. As with baseball's reserve clause, English soccer's version, known as "retain-and-transfer," bound a player to a team for life unless the club wanted to sell, and NUFC didn't. They didn't care if he was happy: The wanted him available and compliant.

Like Curt Flood would in baseball a decade later, Eastham compared it to slavery:

Most people called it the "slavery contract." We had virtually no rights at all. It was often the case that the guy on the terrace not only earned more than us – though there's nothing wrong with that – he had more freedom of movement than us. People in business or teaching were able to hand in their notice and move on. We weren't. That was wrong.

Eastham went on strike at the end of the 1959-60 season, moving south to work for an old family friend, selling cork in Guildford, Surrey, a venture which earned him more money than his Newcastle contract paid. Finally, in October 1960, Newcastle relented, and sold Eastham to North London team Arsenal F.C. for £47,500, an enormous sum for the time.

But Eastham had only gotten one thing he wanted, and considered the rest, freedom of movement and the abolition of the maximum wage, worth fighting for. Hill convinced the PFA to provide £15,000 to pay for Eastham's legal fees, and he took NUFC to the High Court.

In Eastham v. Newcastle United, Eastham argued that retain-and-transfer was an unfair restraint of trade, and that Newcastle owed him £400 in unpaid wages and £650 in unpaid bonuses. The judge, Richard Wilberforce, later a Baron, ruled that, since Eastham had gone on strike, he was not entitled to the money. So Eastham did not gain personally, other than getting the transfer he wanted, which he already had.

Mr. Justice Wilberforce

But Mr Justice Wilberforce ruled that the retain-and-transfer system was unreasonable, and struck it down. Eastham had won. This makes him English soccer's Curt Flood and its Andy Messersmith.

Eastham starred for Arsenal for 6 years, although it was a down period for the team. He, Joe Baker, Geoff Strong and Alan Skirton formed a great attack, but they had a poor defense. It would take a complete rebuilding process for Arsenal to become a power again. Indeed, having lost back-to-back League Cup Finals in 1968 and 1969, fans began to point out that, "Arsenal haven't won a trophy since the Coronation." It was true. Queen Elizabeth II was crowned a month after Arsenal won the 1953 Football League title, and their next trophy was the 1970 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, before winning the League and the FA Cup, "The Double," in 1971.

Eastham was the only Arsenal player named to the England team that won the 1966 World Cup on home soil, although he didn't play in the tournament. He did play for England in the 1962 World Cup. After the '66 edition, he was sold to Staffordshire club Stoke City, and, along with fellow '66 England hero Gordon Banks in goal, helped the club win their only major trophy in their 161-year history, the 1972 League Cup.

He later moved to South Africa, set up a sportswear business, and defied the apartheid government by teaching the game to black kids. He even brought his father George with him to coach, and he did so until his death in 2000. George the son became the chairman of the South African Arsenal Supporters' Club.

He died yesterday, December 20, 2024, at the age of 88. News reports of his death have made no mention of survivors, including a wife or children.

His death means there are only 3 surviving players from the England team that won the 1966 World Cup. Geoff Hurst is the only one who played in the Final. The other two, Terry Paine and Ian Callaghan, like Eastham himself, were on the team, but did not play in the tournament at all.

Hill went into broadcasting, working on ITV's The Big Match from its 1968 premiere until 1973, moving to the BBC for Match of the Day until 1988. He died in 2015.