A recently overheard conversation:

He's only gone and written another book! Who has? Kevin of course, you know Kevin - the editor of The Gooner. So what's this one about? Take a wild guess. The Arsenal? Might be... of course it ****ing is. Is it any good? Depends. Don't be silly how can it depend and what can it depend upon? How much he bungs me to plug it. Why would he do that? Well the publishers have got George Graham to write the foreword so who knows?

Actually as it happens GG donated his fee to the Willow Foundation. And as to the question is the book any good? Well yes and this review on another Arsenal website sums it up perfectly:

"It's exceedingly well written and features the key elements of Arsenal's history. Essentially it is a condensed history of the greatest Club on the planet and is produced in colour throughout with the exception of some rather fine historical black and white photos. In fact it contains masses of classic old photos, plenty of Arsenal memorabilia, plus numerous hand-drawn illustrations. It's all packaged in a variable mix of period retro-styling which will appear familiar to various generations of fans both past and present.

Being both London's biggest and most prestigious club Arsenal has plenty of history and it's well covered here. Starting with it's formation at the Woolwich Arsenal back in 1886, covering Chapman's famous thirties sides and going right through to the Wenger years.

Included in this action packed volume quite apart from a veritable myriad of pictures are the Story of the Gunners: Early Battle 1886-1924, Rise and Fall 1925-65, Greatness Beckons 1966-95. There are four classic Comic strip Histories which pick up on some quite entertaining incidents from the past, the badge of honour (the club's badges through the ages) and also stadiums past and present. The Invincibles get their own section. Great Goals provides 7 classics goals in a diagrammatic format, including Adams v Everton and Charlie George in the '71 final. Also crammed in can be found Winning on Enemy Turf (the somewhat unique Arsenal concept of winning the league at their rival's grounds) and the Illustrated History of the Kit.

Also covered are Tactics, Great Gaffers, Memorable matches, Chapman the Innovator, the Battle of Highbury - the match where 7 Arsenal men played for England against the then world champions Italy and of course an extensive current club directory. There is also a very comprehensive Honours and Records section which covers our Major Honours, Competition and International Records, Club Records, Individual Records and also notable First and Lasts."

Reproduced by kind permission of the Arsenal World book reviewer.

’The Pocket Book of Arsenal’ can be bought by onlinegooner readers direct from the publishers with a discount offer on the already discounted price. To take advantage of this offer, Click this link, select ‘buy now’, and on the next page you will have the opportunity to enter a promo code. Enter the word ‘gooner’ here and the amount is recalculated to £5.86, a £1.46 saving. Postage and packing (£2.79 in the UK) will be added before you complete your order. Other Arsenal books are available from Vision, and the ‘gooner’ promo code can be used to receive deductions on these too, so check them out.