Tim Cole, Bob Hobbs, Arséne Wenger, Jeff Lancaster and Nick Lellenberg (l. to r.).
Photo by Stuart Macfarlane.
Notes from Bad Waltersdorf: The Arsenal America 2009 Preseason Tour Diary
by Tim Cole, Bob Hobbs, Jeffrey Lancaster & Nick Lellenberg
26 July
Hallo from Nick, Tim, Bob, and Jeff!
Bob:
Barnet was my first match on this trip; Homeat, mixmastermat and Matt’s brother and father along for the fun. The banner got a good position thanks to Nick and Matt and I’m sure some of you got a squint at it on ATVO.
Jeff:
This is my report from the game with SC Columbia Floridisdorf. A 7 – 1 win after going down 1 – 0 with an EA1 “mistake” just before half time. The quality of the two teams showed as within a few minutes we were 2 – 1 up. The second half was a “pull away” with a further 5 goals, but E.25 a ticket to stand on a grass bank was not too good in the worst ground we will play in. A very hot day resulted in Bob having his sun screen confiscated as a “security risk” !! A 2 hour drive each way by my good self from Bad Waltersdorf to Vienna and back resulted in a direct “pit stop” at the “Blue Room” bar at B.W. upon arrival back at “base camp”. Not much achieved from a footballing front in this game, but a good start to the vacation. Great weather from there on, only adds to this being a great trip. How great will follow from this point onwards in the rest of the gang’s update. From Bad Waltersdorf this is Jeff L. signing off for “Arsenal America TV”!
Tim:
A side trip to Maribor in Slovenia to watch a Champions League qualifier with W.I.T. from Georgia. (Not the U.S. state! ). Prior to the game a sightseeing trip of a nice town (in a crumbling eastern European sort of way), and a good lunch at an Irish pub, called “Patrick’s Bar” which is well worth a stop for good food and good local Union beer. After taking the tickets prior to the game at the box office and a visit inside the ground and pictures taken of the four of us with an Arsenal flag, we then re-located to a very nice bar, right on the river in an old guarding “gate fort” where good wine and good Lesko beer led to a bill of E.16! A hasty retreat was made, just in case there was a mistake in the bill! The game itself was good and interesting with a 3 – 1 win to take them into the next round, but according to a “Maribor Ultra” who actually gave us a scarf, said they won’t be playing AFC next as they only play “Champions” ! The day rounded off by watching wonderful Slovenian girls hanging around on street corners at the end of the game on the way back to B.W. All the cars were hooting at them, in the traditional “Slovenian mating call” way.
Nick:
The next day after Maribor we all went to morning training in c40 degree and rising heat, and then continued up the hill to the spa. All kinds of different pools and it proved the perfect thing for a hot day. We all decided not to go to afternoon training and instead stayed until we went to the Safen Hof for dinner with Judy and Alison. Fabulous meal, including Bob’s 50 euro menu with 8 courses and wonderful venison and a 65 euro bottle of wine, we were then all offered a drink on the house afterwards. Some of us went to the Blue Room, unsatisfied with the night, and Jeff and I stayed until 4:20am, closing the place up as we left. Lazy lazy day the following morning as nobody woke up before noon, except for Tim, who was up early in a spritely western European manner, while the rest of the gang crumbled in a typical eastern European way. It was nothing personal, purely business. Friday evening, we went to the training and got Gilles Grimandi, Pat Rice, Mart Poom, Vito Mannone, Aaron Ramsey, and Bakary Sagna to sign the Arsenal America banner. Followed up that with a big bqq in Eltendorf put on by Andreas Kovacs, with the Dover Gooners, etc. Good turn out as well by the Vienna Gooners, Maidstone Gooners, and the Supporters Club with Jill Smith.
Saturday, we went to Vienna since there was no training, and ran across a ten-year-old Dutch boy celebrating his birthday wearing an Arsenal shirt. We told the family about Bad Waltersdorf and hoped they might be able to come down for training. We really enjoyed Vienna and took in all the sights and sounds. We all went back to the Blue Room, which I shut up again…college wasn’t that long ago…
Today, we were all up early for training…for once…and got over and got the banner in place. During the course of training we got Senderos, Arshavin, Silvestre, Denilson, Eboue, Vic Akers(Arsenal’s most successful manager), Vermaelen, Eduardo, Bendtner, Almunia, and then Traore. Still missing Rosicknote, Diaby, and Wilshere. The dutch kid and his family came, and we were able to arrange for Robin van Persie to take a picture, which became an autograph and photo session with the boy. Off to Hungary tonight for dinner on a cross border trip. More to come soon!
26 July II
Nick:
Evening training session earlier, we got some additional signatures on the Arsenal America banner. Boro Primorac, Clichy, Djourou, Diaby, Rosicky, Wilshere, and Sczcesny all signed it. We called out Gallas, but, being miserable for some reason, declared “non”, and walked past us. Hmm…ok. Anyhow, I think we’re only missing Vela (not here), Theo (not here), Fabianski (not here), Nasri (not here), and Gibbs (not here). On the whole, not bad at all. However, at the end, we were able to ask Vermaelen if he would take pictures with us, and he said ok right away. So props to him.
Popped into Hungary for dinner. Good times.
Also, the big group of Norwegian Gooners that were here (in addition to the Hungarian Gooners, Croation Gooners, Slovenian Gooners, Vienna Gooners, Bergamo Gooners, etc), put out a magazine six times a year, and in one of the upcoming issues, an interview about Arsenal America with me, Tim, and Bob will be featured in it. As well, one of the Czech Gooners took our picture and a picture of the flag, and will be posting it on the Czech Gooners website. So there’s some good publicity for the club.
27 July
Jeff:
We are back now from Hungary and stopped off at the usual watering hole, and then for some pizza, and had the Croatian head coach, Slavan Bilic sitting on the next table to us, after he too had just come back from Hungary to check on Eduardo for their forthcoming World Cup qualifiers. A chat, photo shoot and autographs with him completed a fairly good day in wonderful sunshine, and a trip around the town and some beers at a bar we were at last year with fellow Gooners from Hungary as hosts, plus us four, and others from England, Slovenia, Croatia and Austria. (The Norwegians were late in arrival ! ). An easy game, with the report covered elsewhere I won’t go into detail. Morning training completed the signing of the whole squad of the flag with Kolo Toure, and Gallas again refusing for the second day. A total of 20+ must have signed over the current period of being there. A good chat with Arséne Wenger this morning too. This is really turning into a great trip with us being the stalwarts, seeing it right through until the end. Last training session being Tuesday at 5pm, which we will attend before heading off to Hannover for the game in Germany on Wednesday. More later.
28 July
Jeff:
Kolo Toure did not attend training tonight at 5pm so we all think he is now off to Man. City. Watch the press for further details. We finally got Gallas to sign the Arsenal America flag on the third day after two days of refusal. TR7 finally got to kick a ball around after just running all week. He did a bit of practice on the far field with the keepers before being allowed to join in with the rest of the team for about 15 minutes.
Nick:
This was our last day and the final day in Bad Waltersdorf, and our final day in a crumbly eastern European setting. We hit up a lake today, and a farmer’s pub, and one last drink at the Blue Room. For this year. Training tonight was good. More people than we expected, but I managed Bendtner and Gallas to autograph last night match program, and we were able to get Gallas to sign the flag once he realized we were as much of a hardass as he is. So that makes a signature for every player here, minus those that broke themselves or did not attend, in addition to several coaches. A good week’s work. 500 miles to Hannover tomorrow morning in time for the match there. Watch for the banner.
29 July
Nick:
Hello all. This is the last update from preseason. This. Is. It.
Got to the match a little late tonight since the drive up to Hannover took around ten hours, and we topped out at about 117mph. But hey, we had to get there to see The Arsenal. It’s been an absolutely amazing vacation, probably one of my best three, if not the best. I fly off home tomorrow back to Northern VA. I hope you’ve enjoyed the updates, so here is the last one.
After the efficient myth of German autobahns has been exposed, the Hannover Stadium was very nice. It reminded me of the Emirates in a “mini sort of way” as it had the curves going around the stadium. Probably built or re-vamped for W.C. 2006.
A pretty poor game in a pretty poor kit, that I can’t “gell” with as being AFC in any way shape or form. But hey, when has a recent AFC kit done that??? At the end of the game Eboue came over and stood in front of the fans and threw his shirt, and his boots into the crowd in an emotional way, which is usually a sign that a player is about to depart. His shorts were given to an opponent! 1st base rumour is Fiorentina for 9 million GBP. As with Kolo Toure not attending the last training session and us now finding out he has departed for 17m, then “watch this space” as regards EE27.
Jeff:
I should be able to get in a little sightseeing of Hannover tomorrow with Bob before a probable twelve hour trip back to B.W. in order to depart Austria on Friday. It’s been an absolutely fabulous pre-season training trip, “par excellance” and it will take a lot to beat this one in the future. I just hope the forthcoming season is as good! From me there will be no further updates until I return to England on Friday afternoon, and then its “Emirates Cup” week-end.
Tim:
The last few days have been amazing. Those of you who have read this will get some of the flavor of it, but you have to come and experience it for yourself. Tonight, we went to an awful game with an equally awful kit in a beautiful stadium and had a fantastic time. If you ever want to get to know the best of your fellow Gooners, this is the place. Nick, Bob and Jeff have really helped to make my trip something special. We will laugh for years at the silly sayings and the crazy things we’ve done. The interaction with the players and staff are far above anything you will ever experience at a game. Really an amazing experience. I have ten more days here, but I have no expectation that they will compare. Auf Wiedersein!
Bob:
The others have covered pretty much all of today so this will be short. This trip has been one for the books. Jeff, Tim and Nick have helped fill the last ten days with gut busting laughter, bad puns and unbridled merriment. I’m really looking forward to next year with whoever makes the trip. Look for the banner at The Emirates Tournament as I’ll be there.
And as we sit here, enjoying some beers, two twats in Spu*s shirts have come over and sat down right next to us. Time to go give them some stick.
