Right, a few shorts to get through, as Jeffrey Bernard might have said.

Barnet book signing

I have to publicise book signings so I won’t feel too lonely at them.! They are a great deal more fulfilling when people actually come along to get their copies signed! So it’s time to create a bit of awareness for a Saturday morning (tomorrow) signing of the book I co-wrote with Alex Fynn - ‘Arsènal: The Making of a Modern Superclub’.

Both Alex and myself will be at Waterstones in Barnet doing a signing session tomorrow (Saturday 13th September) from 11am. It’s in the Spires shopping centre, and the full address of the store is 2 The Spires, High Street, Barnet, Herts EN5 5XY. There’s a map here. If you can’t make it on the day, but wish to reserve a signed copy, then phone 020 8449 8229.

Reviews of the book can be read elsewhere on this site, Arsenal World and A Cultured Left Foot for those that want to know more before deciding to buy.

And there’s an adaptation come extract you can read to get a flavour of the book that was printed recently in The Observer sports section

If you wish to buy the book by post, onlinegooner readers can get over £2 off the £12.99 publishers’ online price, making the book £10.91 plus postage and packing. Simply click here and select ‘buy now’. In the window that opens enter the word gooner in the promotion code box and the deduction will reduce the price when you press the ‘go’ box next to it.

There’s another signing planned at Borders in Islington for early evening on Thursday 25th September, at which we’re scheduled to be joined by former Arsenal legend Alan Smith, who features in the book in the chapters leading up to Arsene Wenger’s arrival.

Simon Barnes

This (the fourth story – scroll down the page to read ‘Arsenal always happy to live the dream’) has already been seen by a lot of people, but for those that have missed it, it’s worth a read. Barnes is a journalist who enjoys sport for all the right reasons, and will always advocate the things that benefit sport. He has enjoyed the privilege of being able to write in his own style on any number of sports for The Times for a number of years, principally because he is more of a talented writer than a mere journalist. The message might cause a dilemma in these times of doubt for many Gooners.

Blog plug

We get contacted periodically to give new blogs a mention. Here’s one - goonergetya. Scroll down and on the right hand side is a list of past entries. The writer’s fairly prolific in his posts, although it will be interesting to see what happens when the squad reviews run out. ‘Eboue – Ass Master’ is a good title though, so on that basis, there’s hope for the future. There are a lot of Arsenal blogs out there these days. 239 of them on OleOle alone. I don’t have time to read them all…

The writer of goonergetya just wants to know that ‘some1s looking’. I’ve looked, and I’m intrigued by the “starting team selection (baring in mind injuries)”. I try to avoid thinking of the concept of baring when I’m trying to work. It leads to ideas in my head that are best left elsewhere. Try changing the spelling to something that Simon Barnes might write and I’m more likely to return.

Charity update

We gave a fundraising tribute match a plug back in August, about three weeks ago. We were subsequently contacted by Mike Sparkes who told us the event had raised even more money than in 2007, despite it being a very wet day. Here’s a press release reviewing the event that Mike emailed to us…

The 3rd annual ‘Tom Sparkes Memorial Match’ was played at the Bucks CC FC ground in Stoke Mandeville on the 31st August. Despite the weather on the day being dreadful, the event raised over £3,700 for the ‘Willow Foundation’. Willow provides ‘special days’ for young adults aged between 16 and 40 years with terminal or life threatening conditions.

Wendover residents Sue and Mike Sparkes who have organised this annual event since the untimely death of their son Tom aged 28 said, ‘the weather on Sunday really did put the dampers on the day and the number of people attending was down on last year. However, the amount raised for the charity was significantly more! In the difficult economic climate we’re currently living through, it’s amazing how generous people can still be! The success of the event was due to the hard work of a lot of people too numerous to name here, but special thanks to Bucks CC Sports & Social Club who hosted the event, and The Raj, Wendover whose Indian Bar-B-Q ran throughout the day and was enjoyed by all’.

Mike added in his email to us: "Any Gooners wishing to make a donation to this worthy cause can do so at: www.justgiving.com/mikesparkes - we’re still hoping to hit our £5,000 target!!!"

At the moment, just short of £4,000 has been raised, so if you’ve even a fiver to spare to enhance the life of someone who has less days to enjoy theirs than most of us, chip in and up the total.