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It gives me no great pleasure to draw your attention to the following, but we're an Arsenal news service, Graham Stack is one of our players, and there's an undeniable (and
never-ending interest) in potential successors to David Seaman.
Let's face it, if we sign a Rustu Recber or Marcos when Seaman retires, Stuart Taylor could feel it's time to move on for the sake of his career, and Stack could end up as our number 2 number 1.
Stack is on loan at Beveren in Belgium, gaining useful match experience (and some experience of crowd trouble too). And getting plenty of practice, if the last 2 results are any indication of the quality of the defence in front of him.
Steffan Jarman writes...
"Last week Stack he had to endure a 7-1 rout at Anderlecht and
yesterday Club Brugge whacked in another 7 goals."
"According to the Gazet von Antwerpen, Graham says he is not a happy camper at all. He left the ground shortly after the Brugge game ("I can't stand losing"), but apparently some of
his team mates stayed on and had a bit of a party (!)"
"He was particularly upset as an Arsenal scout was at the game to check on his
progress, and to make matters worse, his parents had flown over especially
from Spain to see young Stackie in action."
Many thanks to Steffan for the link and translation, from us but presumably not from Graham. Still, it's got to be better in the long run (from our point of view at least) than going
somewhere where the defence never lets the other side get any shots on target.
If any Arseweb readers happen to have seen either of these games,
or any other Beveren games recently, and can comment on Stack's role in these goals (who knows, maybe they'd have let in 20 if not for his heroics...), we'd be delighted to hear from you.
Rupe adds...
Our thanks to Franklin Deliege for his response...
"...not seen any Beveren games but have read much about it in
Flemish papers. Stack has been described as 'promising and talented' by goalkeeping legend Pfaff (who started his career at Beveren).
One has to sympathise with Stack because Beveren is a really small
club fighting relegation and financial disaster. It's full
of African players because of the link with Ivory Coast (see Kolo
Toure & brother) who find it difficult to adapt to the weather and pitch conditions, and who may indeed throw a party
even when defeated. It's a hard school for Stack."
"Reagrding the other Arsenal players currently at Beveren: Halls is still injured (has only played a few games ) and Chilvers is off with
another club."
"Stack seems to be well liked though and
popular because of his reaction to 2 invading fans. Football
over here is from another planet and surely it'll be an
experience for Stack. Hope he'll be our nr 1 oneday !"
Rupe adds...
Alan Davies saw the Bruges game on Eurosport. They (Bruges) are running away with the league, apparently. Alan says, "Beveren's defence reminiscent of Zaire 1974. Stack blameless." Good to hear it.
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