Official...

...Gooner

mad redo1 attended the first Arsenal FC Supporters Malaysia Annual General Meeting at the Kelab Golf Negara Subang last night. Thus now he is an official member of the supporters' club which could be traced back to 1999 when fellow Gooners got together to watch their team playing an end of the season friendly match against Malaysia at the Nasional Stadium.


Those who gathered at the Sunway Resort Hotel in the afternoon prior to the match then began organizing get-togethers to watch Arsenal matches and from there it went from strength to strength even not in an official manner.

mad redo1 however could only join the viewing party on rare occasions due to logistics.

Then this group of began seriously to get the club registered with the Registrar of Society and as a result of that the first AGM was successfully held last.

Congratulations to those who were elected as office bearers and may you serve with honour, integrity and dignity.


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Hunt for Sunglasses...

...and a Few Other Things.

If you had followed 'pekebende' over the last few years, perhaps you will be familiar with this friend of mine who currently earning his 'rezeki' in the middle east. Well, he is back in town for a few weeks together with his family. Last year he came back to look for a reliable pair of sunglasses.

Would you believe it that the first agenda after coming back to town is embarking on another hunt for another pair of sunglasses after losing the one bought last year at a mosque while doing the 'Umrah'.

That was what we did and again we went to Penney Pang located at Jalan Air Jernih. His experience in using Ray-Ban propelled him to the brand's showcase but after trying a number of models none managed to really tug his heart.

Then mad redo1 who was browsing through at another showcase suggested that he should give the 'Rudy's Project' collection a go, Hilmi did just that. Wallah! He found the sunglasses that fulfil his requirements. The price was nearly RM700 but a 30% discount brought it down to just under RM500.

During his browsing too mad redo1 found the one that really tugged his heart but with a price tag of well above RM700, despite the pretty persuasion by the girls at the counter mad redo1 decided to let the head ruled his heart this time around, though he made a silent pledge to have it one day... better yet, if anybody out there is generous enough to buy one for him, eh? (Dream on, mad redo1...)

However, after concluding the business at the optometrist, our sight was caught by the newly opened al-Ikhsan store, the second one in kT. Initially there was no intention to purchase anything but merely to feel the environment of a new store.

Unfortunately, mad redo1's attention was caught on the price tag of the Arsenal away jersey for 2008-09 season which had been marked down to just RM129. This was the result of The Gunners having released a new away jersey for the upcoming season. This time the heart ruled mad redo1's head.

Now, there will be a few photos in the future with mad redo1 wearing the above attire.

Then in the afternoon, mad redo1 together with Linda and the AKSes brought the youngest AKS to the clinic for another scheduled shot. She tipped the scale to a 6.4kg mark, which was still alright for mad redo1 to carry her around.

Then when it came to the shot, just a short cry and after a few moment of rubbing her tender and soft butts everything was okay again.

That was quite a day for mad redo1.

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And the Award Goes to...

...Cristine Ronaldo & The DOGba!

It is not a good week to be an Arsenal fan.

Losing to manure in the Champions' League semi-final ensured another season without trophy, after being knocked out by Chelski at the same stage in the FA Cup earlier.

After a reasonably good season previously, I half expected for another assault on all front by Arsene Wenger's boys. They did just that only to falter at crucial stages again.

One thing for sure was we kept suffering at the hands of actors at those crucial moments.

Last season it was the fine double Dutch performance by Dirk Kuyt and Ryan Babel against Liverpool in the Champions' League quarter final stage. This season it was the turn of Cristine Ronaldo when he felt the breeze of an Arsenal player and thus had to make his obligatory dive, earning a free-kick which he scored.

Then another fine act by Dogba at the Emirates today led to another free-kick which Alex scored against the run of play. Sometimes I really wish we have these kind of actors in our squad to earn us free-kicks and penalties that would help us winning more matches.

Not since Robert Pires left for Villarreal anyway.

Seriouly though, we need more experience in our squad and a more clinical finisher. It was a pity that Eduardo missed a large chunk of the season after surviving the murder attempt by Martin Taylor on that fateful day at St Andrews. In his few appearances this season, the Croatian striker showed what we a good player we have been missing this season.

Cesc Fabregas was a shell of his former self and did not command the pitch as much as his talent demands. His long term injury also robbed us from his service though for me it was a welcome one as he needed the break after playing football all year round previously.

After a productive first season post Thierry Henry, Manu Adebayor was courted by almost all the big guns in Europe, which in effect turned my support against him. Right now I will be very glad to see the back of him given somebody give Arsenal a large amount of dough.

What else to do for us Gooners than to look forward to next season.

Hopefully there will some moment of joy that will see our name written on any one of the major trophy next season... provided we win it without having to resort to award winning acting in our part.


...

Blown Away...

...at Anfield.

Going back ten years ago to the month of May, Arsenal fans congregated on the away section at Anfield to watch The Gunners taking on defending champions Liverpool in a match that will decide the destination of the First Division title.

Two Scots were at the helm of both teams, Kenny Dalglish for Liverpool while Arsenal were coached by George Graham. Both were legends at their respective clubs during their playing days.

Liverpool were the favourites and they needed to draw or in the worst case scenario, just a single goal defeat which seemed very unlikely as they were unbeaten in front of the Kop all season long.

Alan Smith glancing header from a free-kick put Arsenal ahead. However it seemed Liverpool will settle for the 1-0 defeat as it meant they would be crowned champions again. Steve McMahon famously indicated they were just one minute away from achieving that objective.

However, with just moments to spare Arsenal managed to break down another Liverpool attack and John Lukic threw the ball to Lee Dixon who played it directly into Liverpool's half. Smith laid the ball into Michael Thomas's path, aided by a deflection suddenly found himself with just Bruce Grobelaar to beat.

He kept his cool and prodded the ball past the goalkeeper and as the ball hit the back of the net, Thomas just lost control in wild celebrations with his team-mates.

That morning, I aced my economics paper.

Then yesterday another thrilling match was played between the two with Liverpool needing to win in order to push Manure all the way for the Premier League title.

True to script, the home side banged on Lukasz Fabianski's goal throughout the first half but to no joy. The young Polish goalkeeper who had a match to forget against Chelski on Saturday displayed the reason why Arsene Wenger brought him to the Emirates in the first place.

Then against the run of play Arsenal took the lead. Andrei Arshavin finished smartly as the Gunners capitalised on an error by Javier Mascherano and went off the pitch at half-time one goal to the good.

Unlike their predecessors in 1989, the current Arsenal defence are more vulnerable and against Liverpool there was always the possibility of them conceding.

True enough, ten minutes into the second half the home side was already leading 2-1. At that time I did not see us coming back but Arshavin certainly proved me wrong.

 Calm and composed he drilled home the equaliser after Fabio Aurelio gifted him with the chance in the 67th minute. As it was previously, the lead did not last long and a well taken goal by Torres five minutes later brought the score level again.

I thought the match will end all square but when Fabianski's punch found Walcott, whose pace brought him into the Liverpool area, I thought we could find ourselves winning the match. The England youngster found Arshavin whose left foot shot showed the quality that he posseses as the Russian beat Pepe Reina for the fourth time in that match.

But when it was announced that there would be five minutes of added time, I knew that we would concede again. Sadly, I was right but it was such a match that a draw was the right result for me.

How I wish our local football could be at that level.


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