Arsenal Tone wrote:https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-62472100
That's a big name gone
My mum was a fan. RIP
by UFGN » Mon Aug 08, 2022 8:39 pm
Arsenal Tone wrote:https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-62472100
by VCC » Mon Aug 08, 2022 9:36 pm
by Ach » Mon Aug 08, 2022 9:38 pm
by starmandb » Mon Aug 08, 2022 9:56 pm
by UFGN » Wed Aug 10, 2022 10:48 am
by Zenith » Fri Aug 19, 2022 7:22 pm
Steve Braddock: 1964-2022
It is with deep regret that we report the death of our Head Groundsman, Steve Braddock, after a long illness.
Born and bred an Arsenal fan, Steve joined the club in August 1987, after a chance meeting with George Graham, who informed him that the club was looking for a new lead to be responsible for the pitch at Highbury. After getting the job, he set about creating a playing surface at Highbury that would be the envy of the footballing world – and he achieved exactly that.
Under Steve, Arsenal’s pitch at Highbury became the game’s gold standard. He understood the art of preparing a pitch better than anyone in the game. Indeed, his skill and passion for groundskeeping earned him many individual accolades: numerous Premier League Pitch of the Season awards, ‘Turf’s Top Influencer’ in 2019, and in 2020 he became only the second person in history to enter the Grounds Management Association’s Hall of Fame.
Typically, any awards that came Steve’s way would be met with a self-effacing shrug followed by a few words praising those who allowed him to continue with his work at Arsenal and how wonderfully talented the next generation of young groundskeepers he mentored were.
Steve ensured the Highbury pitch was perfection for our final season at the stadium, but by then his role as Head Groundsman saw him dedicate most of his time to the 11 pitches at London Colney. Ensuring the pristine surfaces the players trained on during the week were an exact match for those they played on at the weekend.
His dedication to the Arsenal pitches was truly remarkable – every Arsenal colleague who knew Steve well has a story to tell about the great lengths he would go to guarantee the pitches could be at their very best.
Always keen to discuss ideas with grounds teams from a whole range of sports, he knew that researching and embracing the latest technology and methodology could be beneficial to his playing surfaces and to those who worked alongside him. He was also passionate about finding sustainable solutions through groundskeeping, showing a great interest in biofuels for example.
Not only was Steve a truly great groundsman, he was also a wonderful teacher and mentor. Many groundskeepers Steve has developed at the club over 30 years have progressed to the very pinnacle of their profession – all educated and still inspired by the best in the business.
And Steve’s mentor? He always said that after losing his parents at a young age, Arsene Wenger became a father figure and the pair enjoyed a wonderfully productive relationship, remaining very close until the end of Steve’s life.
As we emerged successfully into the bright, new Premier League era, it’s no understatement to say that one of the key characteristics associated with the era was that our pitch – be it at Highbury or Emirates – was perfection – ‘the carpet’ as it became known to many. This admirable aspect of our identity is because of Steve Braddock.
He once said that when he went to his first ever match at Highbury as a boy, the one image that stuck in his memory wasn’t the players, or the crowd, but ‘the beautiful grass’. Steve dedicated his life to making sure our grass was always beautiful, for which we are eternally grateful.
Our thoughts are with Steve’s wife Shuk, their daughters Jasmine and Lily, Steve’s sisters Janice and Susan, and all Steve’s family and friends.
In Steve’s memory, our men’s first team will be wearing black armbands at our match at Bournemouth on Saturday.
by Ach » Fri Aug 19, 2022 7:29 pm
by VCC » Sat Aug 20, 2022 12:15 am
by UFGN » Sat Aug 20, 2022 12:25 am
by Va-Va-Voom » Sat Aug 20, 2022 2:30 am
by UFGN » Sat Aug 20, 2022 3:30 am
by Zenith » Tue Aug 30, 2022 8:44 pm
Mikhail Gorbachev, who ended the Cold War, dies aged 92 -agencies
MOSCOW, Aug 30 (Reuters) - Mikhail Gorbachev, who ended the Cold War without bloodshed but failed to prevent the collapse of the Soviet Union, died on Tuesday at the age of 92, Russian news agencies cited hospital officials as saying.
Gorbachev, the last Soviet president, forged arms reduction deals with the United States and partnerships with Western powers to remove the Iron Curtain that had divided Europe since World War Two and bring about the reunification of Germany.
When pro-democracy protests swept across the Soviet bloc nations of communist Eastern Europe in 1989, he refrained from using force - unlike previous Kremlin leaders who had sent tanks to crush uprisings in Hungary in 1956 and Czechoslovakia in 1968.
But the protests fuelled aspirations for autonomy in the 15 republics of the Soviet Union, which disintegrated over the next two years in chaotic fashion.
Gorbachev struggled in vain to prevent that collapse.
On becoming general secretary of the Soviet Communist Party in 1985, aged just 54, he had set out to revitalise the system by introducing limited political and economic freedoms, but his reforms spun out of control.
His policy of 'glasnost' - free speech - allowed previously unthinkable criticism of the party and the state, but also emboldened nationalists who began to press for independence in the Baltic republics of Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and elsewhere.
Many Russians never forgave Gorbachev for the turbulence that his reforms unleashed, considering the subsequent plunge in their living standards too high a price to pay for democracy.
After visiting Gorbachev in hospital on June 30, liberal economist Ruslan Grinberg told the armed forces news outlet Zvezda: "He gave us all freedom - but we don't know what to do with it."
by UFGN » Tue Aug 30, 2022 9:03 pm
by Highbury Hillbilly » Tue Aug 30, 2022 9:21 pm
UFGN wrote:It could have been so different for Russia after the curtain fell. A fresh start. Instead they got a toxic brand of communism followed immediately by an equally toxic quasi-dictatorship, barely concealed behind a mask of democracy. Their people have been robbed and gas-lit at every turn.
The harm that selfish men do in pursuit of money and power..... willing to throw their whole country under a bus in the process