From Aleksander Włodarz: that Poland team
Dear Myles,
Thank you always for the blog – you were one of the reasons I glued to Arsenal for good having started back in that magical season of the Invincibles .
It all has started with the traditional antenna breakdown which made me go for a satellite one and as a result joining Canal Plus on which they showed Premiership…. where i soon discovered Arsenal team playing a playful and thrilling football.
As a kid i played in our local district team as a leftback – being two-footed I kind of filled that space.
To be called for a match against another district team was a big thing ! That was late sixties and seventies – times when we were all impressed by Górnik Zabrze and the Brazilian , Dutch and Polish national teams .
Thank you very much for remembering some of the great Polish players – that final in Germany still hurts after all these years .
I must’ve remembered your name from the record reviews section in magazines, as it struck a chord when I started looking for something to read on the Gunners .
As a student I travelled to London and used to work as a comis waiter during summer holidays first at Nello’s Restaurant in Richmond ( back in 1979 ) and then for the next two ones at Verbanella Ristorante on Beauchamp Place -just a stone’s throw from the Harrods ( and next to San Lorenzo ).
Those were amazing times for me as you can imagine. Managed to see some concerts ( Stevie Wonder at Wimbledon, Pink Floyd and Dylan at Earls Court , Steve Hackett at Hammersmith Odeon, Budgie at Camden and Danny Laine at Marquee .
Just when I thought my London times were truly over I have started visiting again recently and even got a ticket for the Arsenal match at the Emirates last season.
Keep up the good work, greetings from Poland from another AW.
Myles says:
Amazing that you should connect in that way.
I wasn’t a prolific reviewer of LPs because most albums were not worth reviewing.
Preferred reviewing gigs, much more of a challenge. Especially if the show hadn’t finished by the time I had to phone the copytaker at The Times.
My first LP review for Time Out was Tapestry and I reviewed St Dominic’s Preview for The Times and also for Oz, keeping a foot in both camps.
From Brendan : Polish players
Hi Myles,
My father-in-law has said the same about that game in ’74.
The Polish team of that year was amazingly talented, as it was in the Spain 1982 World Cup, with some of the same players.
Krychowiak is tough, and a battler.. but he can play. Believe me, having followed Polish football since the early 2000s, it has been hard to get excited about young Polish players (outfield players), when they’ve tended to end up in second-tier European leagues, or smaller clubs in the Bundesliga.
But to have a guy like Krychowiak dictating the play for a renowned Spanish team, and for him to win a European trophy with them… that is exciting. And not even mentioning Lewy, who doesn’t need much more hyping (he’s in danger of being overhyped at the moment, but he’ll deal with that, he’s not a player who bothers about what’s said about him).
Poland have a great opportunity, with these players at their peak.