Gunner's Diary

Hey Junior Gunners!

Here’s the latest on what I have been up to:

Sunday, August 23 2015
I was live on BT Sports tonight over at Borehamwood for the Arsenal Ladies league game against Chelsea. Nearly 2,000 fans turned up, great support! At half-time we went around the pitch giving out lots of goodies which included Ladies kit from last season and footballs which I kicked into the crowd. Chelsea Ladies came out on top winning 2-0.

Monday,August 24 2015 
Arsenal 0-0 Liverpool
Monday night football at the Emirates and our opponents were Liverpool in the Premier League. The game was live on Sky Sports. I got a special hello from Kolo Toure as he came off the Liverpool team bus. I think he will always have a special affection for us. I carried out all of my usual match day duties including the penalty shoot- out at half-time. It was a disappointing result though, we should have won had Aaron’s goal not been disallowed. 

Wednesday, August 26 2015
You have probably seen lots of celebrities taking part in the dizzy penalty challenge recently. Well today was my turn! I headed up to the Training Ground to join Theo Walcott and Mikel Arteta in this test in which you spin around a football 13 times before running up to take your penalty. You can see what happened when I did mine from the photo below. I blame the rain. This was a lot of fun nonetheless and is a great initiative that is raising awareness of The Global Goals, a campaign aimed at ending extreme poverty.

Thursday, August 27 2015
I had a very special request today to attend the annual sports day at the Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospice. I went along to the event being held at a school in Southgate. The children were taking part in all sorts of sporting activities which included football, tennis, basketball, cricket and many soft ball sports. It was a great day for the boys and girls and their mums and dads and family members alike.
Later that evening it was off to Borehamwood for our Ladies Continental Cup tie against Reading. We won 2-1 which made us favourites now to go through to the quarter finals.

Friday, August 28 2015
Our Soccer School boys have been at Highgate Wood School all week so I popped along on the last day to hand out all of the medals and certificates to everyone who had attended. At the end I stopped behind so everyone could grab some pictures. Then back to the Emirates for our Under-21s' game against West Ham United. A crowd of over 2,000 turned up to watch so it was a busy night for me. We won 5-0 so a great end to a very busy day.

Saturday, August 29 2015
Newcastle United 0 Arsenal 1
An early kick-off live on BT Sports today. Not a great game but 3 points none the less. A deflected shot from the Ox gave us the only goal of the games after they had had a player sent off.

Monday, August 31 2015
I was at a wedding reception that night at the Park Plaza Riverbank Hotel in Vauxhall. As soon as all of the toasts were done I made my grand entrance. It was a Jewish wedding so I was taken straight to the dance floor where I danced with all of the men, then over to the ladies side to dance with the ladies. They certainly know how to celebrate a wedding, I have never danced so much in all of my dinosaur years! By the end of the evening I was out on my big feet, but had a fantastic time.

Thursday, September 3 2015
One of our partners had a football tournament at the Community Hub today so I called in to meet and greet everyone as they arrived. Later in the evening I was on hand in the Diamond Club to present their awards.

Saturday, September 5 2015
Paradise Park Children’s centre just up the road from the stadium was the venue for me today. There was a fun day going on so I was there to make sure everyone had a great time.

Sunday, September 6 2015
Today I was at Regents Canal in Islington for another fun day. There were lots of activities going on. I had to make sure that I did not fall into the canal or knock anyone in with my big tail!

Thursday, September 10 2015
Always one day I look forward to in the calendar year is the photocall day at the training ground for our annual team picture. All of the first team squad were present as well as all the Arsenal Ladies team. I had my picture taken with the guys, standing at the end next to Mathieu Debuchy. I stayed around to say hello to a few of the players and shook Mr Wenger’s hand.

Saturday, September 12 2015
Arsenal 2 Stoke City 0
After a home defeat and a draw it was nice to get back to winning ways at the Emirates. Theo and Olivier hit the goals and we would have had many more had it not been for the fine form of their goalkeeper Jack Butland. I met the team coach before kick-off, then took part in the penalty shoot- out at half-time.

Sunday, September 13 2015
I was due to attend the Ladies Continental Cup match today at Borehamwood today but the fixture against Manchester City was cancelled at short notice.

Wednesday, September 16 2015
Our Community department had a project at the City and Islington College in Angel today so I went along to try to promote activities like table Tennis, badminton and basketball. There were hundreds of students around and I gave out leaflets promoting the various courses. Then later in the day I was at another community project, a storytelling session at a local primary school. It was for the Islington Adoption Services and we read stories to adopted boys and girls and their foster carers.

Thursday, September 17 2016.
I was doing a spot of promotional filming for BT Sports today. It was down at the Olympic Park, Stratford, where BT have got their offices. I was jumping up and down on a trampoline while being filmed making star jumps and other different movements. Allof the big names from BT Sport have had a go and I took my turn after Michael Owen and David James. Ian Wright and lots of the Rugby World Cup players have all done it too the previous day. Have a look out in the next few months when the advert will be aired. It was great fun and will look wicked, I can’t wait to see it.

Saturday, September 19 2015
Chelsea 2-0 Arsenal
Another early kick-off this time away at Stamford Bridge against Chelsea. We lost 2-0. Not going to say too much other than that.

Getting ready for the first derby game against Spurs on Wednesday in the Capital One Cup.

Come on you reds
Big hugs from Gunner