Why is everyone worried about our squad for this season? We have 4 world class keepers, the envy of every other side and they will be rotated so that they all play once every 5 games, to keep them fresh and on their toes.
We have Sagna and Eboue who absolutely love each other and they have formed a pact so there is no bitterness whoever plays. Then we have Clichy and Gibbs. Clichy is changing his nationality to Ukrainian as he is embarrassed to be French and he knows that Gibbs will soon be taking over, yes an English left back,heavens forbid,therefore watch for an imminent departure by Clichy.
Song, our most improved player, will surely be in demand by some other club soon, most probably City, with a swap plus cash for the return of Adebayor. Vermaelen should be captain and he is the lynch pin and if he doesn’t get the armband he will demand a transfer, as Cesc has already told him privately that the armband is his.
If we’re lucky Djourou might actually complete one match while Koscielny will come goodif we give him three or four seasons. Traore, can’t go back to Pompey as they are nearly bust. Diaby is fighting fit, therefore expect at least 5 games from him, and I am told he is trying his very best not to break a team-mate’s leg.
Rosicky is only 30 so has at least 6 or 7 years left. Nasri is a star and has progressed so much pre season that another club will rape us yet again for his services. Wilshere at 18 is a future captain of England though he might get the record for the most red cards in a season.
Denilson like Bendtner has been on the nest too much and both will suffer terminal groin strains. Walcott has just realised that the England team he hopes to represent is in fact at football not the 2012 Olympics 100 metres sprint.
Arshavin will spend more time on his own web site and will finish up with his own chat show between games, as he never gets out of a stroll.
Vela wins the glamour stakes but will he actually get two consecutive games as commuting on a daily basis from Mexico will surely take its toll. Chamakh is everything we wished for and no worries about him as yet, as he hasn’t learned the ropes at Arsenal.
Gallas has decided it is better to play for us at 5K a week even if he scores the odd own goal. RVP is our star player, will he, can he, please, last a full season and of course Ramsey will be fit and ready to go in about 18 months.
Footnote: Gibbs,Wilshere and Walcott have made it into the England squad for Wednesday, so they are sure to be rested for a few weeks as we have to limit the younger players’ chances .
Finally there is Fabregas. Watch this space.
Written by kelsey
Arsenal News 24/7
arsenalarsenal.net 
Morning all
A bit of fun from kelsey to start the morning off.
I’m still really depressed about conceding 5 goals on Saturday – whatever Arsène says about it being a friendly and not reading too much into the game – I can’t imagine the manks or chavs conceding 5 goals ever!!!!!!!!
Nice one Kelsey,
I love the writing style, the content and the tongue in cheek part too. 🙂
Morning RA – I’ve written a really realistic post about our defending but I thought I’d save it for a bit later. News is we’re in for Given again now as well as Reina 😯
Morning Peaches,
The media love to start rabbits running or to distort the truth for a story. It’s their job to create interest. Even spurious interest.
But that plonker Alan Shearer commenting on Keiron Gibbs and Jack’s inclusion in the England team doubts their impact, then compares them to others in the Arsenal team with whom they are “competing”.
Jack v Fab
Keiron v Sagna What?? Idiot! 🙂
i’m just waiting for the shit to fly on this post kelsey, its amazing how many blog readers dont get humour!
yep peaches me depressed too…. will settle for spahic and schwartzer now…. please.
i’m not confident going into the liverpool game at all really, considering they have a full team to pick from!
alan shearer never fails…… to annoy me
I don’t get it?
Just discovered that the ‘sagna – spahic’ story that was posted on Arsenal.com yesterday morning has now been removed – whats that all about????????
Theres a link on lg to the story – I’ll see if I can get it.
Heres the link to the Sagna – Spahic story thats now been removed – bet someone got a slap for that
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?hl=en&source=hp&q=cache%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.arsenal.com%2Fnews%2Fnews-archive%2Fsagna-spahic-is-good-enough-for-arsenal&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=
PEP GAVE BARCA ALL THE CUPS BUT THEY ONLY GAVE HIM ONE YEAR IN CHARGE. FABREGAS IS ONLY GONNA STAY WITH ARSENAL FOR ONE SEASON THE SAME AS ARSENE’S CONTRACT IS FINISHING AND SO BARCA NEED A NEW COACH.
Humour tinged with a hint of reality? Funny, but I actually think our chances – like last year – are brill if we get a keeper and keep injury free.
You haven’t mentioned that our star player is now Eboue now that’s progress
Iconic.
didnt stop the mail from running the story this morning!
Anyone got any ideas for a starting line-up against pool on Sunday, just thinking about who’ll be in goal is a joke isn’t it?
is sagna arsenals big mouth xavi?
i bet the montpelier fans are loving our “tapping” up
Did they????? Does it have legs then do you think? Not that its particularly exciting – I heard weeks ago that it was going to be Anton Ferdinand.
I said yesterday that we’re not supposed to believe anything until its on Arse.com and then they print that rubbish – someone must’ve got into trouble for that
almunia
sagna jd tv clichy
frimpong nasri wilshire
eboue chammer aa
thats my bet
Morning all. how could i forget our star man lionel 😉 and a header to boot.
Line up for Anfield.Easier to say who won’t play.
RVP,Cesc,Denilson,Bedntner.+
Maybe some on International duty.
by the way where are mexico playing Spain.
at mexico
Morning clockendjim – I’ve always said that if Eboue could find the goal he would be really dangerous – he plays as if his life depends on it – love him.
Something must have changed for players to be shooting from outside the box now or mabe they’re only allowed in pre-season
I agree with your front six tommy but how scary is it that they’re all so small!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I cant get my head around the fact that we cant play our best players even though they arent injured,it must go down as the very worst planning by Arsene ever,we are gonna get hammered.
Morning all, Nice one Kelsey. Good to see the comments are in the same spirit as the post
😆 dandan
GM everyone. No doubt Wenger is preaching about the finances of Arsenal FC. Until he rectifies the goalkeeping position and the cd and Arsenal can’t compete on the playing field it will be adios to him.
Mark my words.
Oh btw it aint going to be plain sailing assuming he strengthens the defensive weaknesses. If he doen’t it can only get worse.Fix it and the gunners may have a chance. No more 30 to one thousand passes before a shot is unleashed.
I know I will be crucified for saying the long ball to Rooney. He passed it to another striker. then the ball is in the net. Just three passes.
The name of the game is scoring and winning games and not engaging in endless passing and a beautiful spectacle. Get on with winning . I don’t care if the ball comes off the buttocks of any gunner as long as it ends in the net.
Always trusted Wenger and his decisions until recently. Would it not pay dividend to spend 55 million on a centre back Goalkeeper and Defensive Midfielder which would ultimately lead to a real title charge. Merterseker, Reine and Mascherano would surely deliver us the title this year so why doesn’t wenger swallow the pill and do it.
PEP GAVE BARCA ALL THE CUPS BUT THEY ONLY GAVE HIM ONE YEAR IN CHARGE. FABREGAS IS ONLY GONNA STAY WITH ARSENAL FOR ONE SEASON THE SAME AS ARSENE’S CONTRACT IS FINISHING AND SO BARCA NEED A NEW COACH.
Strangely so would we if your conspiracy theory comes to pass.Maybe Guardiola could come here and bring Messi with him. That would make Cesc think.
I appriciates the writer.
THE REAL GUNNER!
Morning all,
Fun post kelsey 😛
Surely Serdar Tasci is a better bet than Spahic, he’s younger, a better player and would be cheaper (apparently!).
I can’t believe people are still going on about Reine, that’s a non-starter as far as I’m concerned. There may be some mileage in Shay Given. The question is, would citeh feel they had to sell/send out on loan either of their two top keepers just because they say they want to be 1st choice GK?
Morning Rasp – obviously neither of our top two keepers are bothered about making a fuss about the pecking order they’re just happy to have a job 😉
Morning peaches,
Every now and then I am reminded of Maureen’s comment – “Arsene Wenger has the easiest job in football”, sadly Almunia and Fabianski must feel quite secure as it appears our manager is prepared to tolerate their repeated cock-ups.
I think the Sanga – Spahic got removed because it is the official Arsenal Club site and when you think about it, Sagna is doing the same sort of “player tapping up a player” thing as the Barcelona lot were with Cesc….
Has anyone other than Diarra ever challenged Arsene to play them or let them go?
I can see Nikki B feeling a bit jaded if he doesn’t get to play…….kelsey could be right maybe Sagna and Eboue have made a pact 😉
Microraptor – do you think players have access to the Arse.com site, can they put up a story themselves? I’m sure that everything that goes up on the site has to be sanctioned so ooops something went very wrong with that one.
I’m pretty sure that Sagna said nothing of the sort, like 90% of the other players who are ‘quoted’ on Arse.com. Its just club spin. Why would Sagna be taking an interest in such an obscure player?
Why so much doom and gloom? Considering Wenger’s net spend over the past six years has been about £5m a year, we’re not in bad shape. As for Mat’s comment on why he won’t spend, have you considered this: We simply don’t have the money and Wenger is reluctant to bring players in over the ones he has coming through. He has a project aligned with the available speding while we pay for the Emirates and, like it or not, it means little spending and big development of youth. It might not bring lots (any) trophies, but spending doesn’t guarantee trophies either. And at least our future is protected.
Hi heffer,
I’ve said as much regarding the money several times. We do have some money in the bank but are extremely reluctant to use it on players. I think we are saving to pay for the Queensland Road project which was part of the deal to get the planning permission for the Emirates. The council restricted the capacity to 60,000 as a means of ensuring we would complete the project. I think Arsenal want to increase the capacity of the stadium and are saving money for that commercial purpose.
That makes a lot of sense Rasp and I have similar thoughts myself. Look at the space between our seats – the club could easily rip those out and extend the capaicty by putting in seats closer together. I also understand the stadium was built to be easily extended. I agree with the spending philosophy to be honest. Even if he spends what we have, he can’t compete with man city and chelsea… so why bother. We need to accept that in the grand scheme of our history we are in a period od consolidation and prtection. When football implodes, we will remain. many won’t. Fans need to just relax a little and enjoy the football.
Danish Gooner. I dare you to be positive once. Just once.Say one reason why you support arsenal but dont hurt yourself.
Heffer, Rasp,
You both sound sensible and realistic.
All the talk of Arsenal being a “big” club with lots of money, which we should/must spend is wishful thinking and based on guesswork.
The fans frustration is not helped by talk of buying “top, top” players by Arsene, or “Arsene can spend £35m on a player if he wants, the Board would find the money” by Mr Hill Wooden Top. Or alternatively, we are told, “we won’t be held to ransom” by Mr Gazidis.
We get little info from the club, perhaps understandably, but what does come out is contradictory and perplexing.
🙂 goonerwife,
heffer,
I agree with all you say. Unfortunately the destination of Lady Nina’s shares could play a pivotal role in the future of the club. If they are acquired by one of the larger shareholders, we could find ourselves in the hands of a single foreign owner and who knows whether that is in the club’s best interest?
Afternoon all. If we are saving to build up the stadium, it doesn’t make sense for Arsenal to publicly declare that they can compete with Chelsea regarding transfers, or for Gazidis to drop hints, saying we have money, now we want trophies. On goalkeepers, if Stoke’s Begovic is good enough for Chelsea to consider, shouldn’t we be looking as well? Another goalkeeper, Paul Robinson hasn’t done much wrong since his very public gaffe against Croatia. To concede two against Celtic & five against Legia is shocking, and merely picking up where we left off last season! Any reason why Fabregas & van Persie shouldn’t be ready for Anfield?
Hi Red Arse, Graeme Green,
If I could change one thing about the club it would be the PR department. Some of the stuff they come out with is insulting to the intelligence.
GG, sadly Gazidis and AW tell ‘professional lies’. They’re akin to professional tackles. They’re wrong, but considered a necessary evil for the greater good of the club…… but I hate it all the same!
Cool write up Kelsey….and well said Heffer.
Afternoon all.
Hi Sharkey,
I know injuries are involved, but don’t you find it concerning that none of Denilson, Diaby and Song have featured in a warm-up game?
None of us want the health of the club compromised, but is there any point having an 80,000 stadium unless we can be competitive? We have a glaring problem the whole world can see, surely there’s money available to fix it? Even though we’re all trying to keep our spirits up & dreams intact ahead of the season, Ancelotti & Ferguson aren’t as scared of us as we are of them, and that is depressing.
Rasp,
I’m Song’s biggest fan, and can only hope that he’s starting on Sunday.
I don’t obsessively follow ‘the news’ so I really don’t know why Alex hasn’t featured in pre-season yet. Did I miss some info about him being injured..??
We live in hope GG. You have to speculate to accumulate in business, so perhaps an investment of £15-20m in the 2 players we need would pay dividends. I agree with you, but somehow I fear it is not going to happen.
Re PR, I think you have two issues here – that much of what you read about us being interested in players simply isn’t true but gets many ‘fans’ excited by the paper talk and, second, that the club will always come out and say there is money available for players… otherwise we end up with a fire sale because clubs know they can put pressure on to buy our best players. On my first point, soes anyone really think that wenger would spend £23m on Reina (or any goalkeeper)? That would make him our record ever signing. It’s crazy paper talk. I thihk Gazidis is doing a sterling job, not least around the arsenalisations stuff which is starting to give some soul to the Emirates ar last. You now, there are many more reasons to be cheerful than downbeat. I would rather be in our situation than Chelsea’s, Liverpool’s or Man U’s.
hi heffer,
of course 99% of it is paper talk and you absolutely right that we wouldn’t pay £23 million for Reina (and I doubt Liverpool would let him go).
However be it pre season friendly or not we conceded 7 goals and a missed penalty in our last one and a third games, and hopefully that will remove any complacency the boss has about our defence regardless of personal.
You can’t say “be it a friendly or not” because that does matter. Koscielny is still getting to know his defence and the team that played was chopped and changed… and missing key players including fabregas and van persie.
btw, those of you who don’t think RVP and CF will play on Sunday are likely to be surprised. There is no way he will leave them out.
I think you’re right Heff.
They may not get 90mins each, but I’d expect RVP to start and Fab to at least be on the bench.
Maybe thats the other way round, with Fab starting and RVP coming on.
I think I’m in a similar state of mind to Peaches – however good our attacking and creative game is looking (and it does look very good, even before Cesc or RvP play, and before Arshavin gets motoring as I hope he will this year), the fact is our defensive abilities look deeply problematic.
In part it’s personnel, we know an additional, credible CB is needed, and we all want someone else between the sticks. But it’s not just that – it’s been said plenty of times before, but the level of defensive organisation at Warsaw was pathetic. Why can’t a defensive line of Vermaelen, Sagna, Clichy and Koscielny (which might be our first choice back four) coordinate themselves, at least approximately?
I really hope AW is going to deliver an improved defensive capacity – it’s not in his gift to decide these things on his own, but to do our attacking game justice, it is essential he succeeds in his recruitment efforts. The time is getting shorter now, with three weeks of the window remaining. Chelsea and United were ok yesterday but with a bit more steel (just two more players and a bit of time for them to bed down) we can beat them, we’re not that far off. The trouble is we’re still waiting and defensive performances like the last one just feed our neurosis.
Chelsea and the mancs have better teams than us because of their clubs are running a very risky spending strategy. The glazers have piled a massive debt on man u so they are def spending money they don’t have; while if abramovic walks away from chelsea they go out of business over night. I’ll stick with our moody back line and hope we can last 2 months longer than last season in the race.
@ Peaches: “Has anyone other than Diarra ever challenged Arsene to play them or let them go?” Lehmann when Almunia was picked over him at least came close, as did Wiltord when he got pissed off with being played on the right all the time. Bentley also comes to mind.
@ Graeme Green: The fact that Chelsea are rumoured to be looking at Begovic is no recommendation – Cech is a star of course, but I wouldn’t want to have either of their current back up keepers any more than I want Fabianski, so it means nothing if they think Begovic might suit them. As for Paul Robinson, just one word: no. (And I don’t even think that goal vs Croatia was his fault – that was Gary Neville not playing a back pass to the side of the goal plus a god-awful divot in the pitch.) We need a keeper but we don’t need to make a bad situation worse by bringing in mediocre dross for the sake of signing someone.
If we don’t sign a proper GK (and I really hope we do) I would quite seriously think we should give the short to Szczesny – Casillas was about 20 when he took over in goal for Real Madrid, so in a sense why not?
Agreed Heffer – I continue to consider Chelsea’s trophy successes since Abramovich took over to be illegitimate, they represent nothing in sporting terms. But that doesn’t excuse our defensive failings because (a) we have some money to spend and (b) even ordinary players can organise themselves, so our talented players should defeinitely be able to do that, as a minimum.
oh i definitely agree we can be a bit more organised at the back. It’s shocking how much we panic when a ball comes into the box. But I suspect the problem might not be the defence, but the missing midfield chalenger/fighter. I think the defence feels very isolated at times with the lack of someone to get back and help them. I have written many times in my own blog of the need to sign a midfielder who plays like Vieira, rather than just looking like Vieira.
I think RVP may even start, but with cesc coming back from Mexico, highly unlikely.
What is the news on Song and Denilson ?
Song critical, Denilson dead, I believe
I’m lovin this fresh new view from Heff
i don’t know where people are getting the “idea”we can extend the ground capacity-i was talking to charlie george recently & he was adamant that it was NOT possible & nor would the council ever approve it-personally i always thought we should have gone for 70-80,000-but would we have filled it regularly-that’s the 100 dollar question?
manu have been buying the league for years, I see no difference between that and what the chavs have been doing more recently.
Charlie George is definitely the man I would consult if i needed some architectural advice. Seriously, love Charlie though I do, the only time I have ever spent with him is in the bookies on the Essex Road and I have to say, his tips are as good as good as his stadium-building knowledge. They can extend if they need to, but are worried about not filling it – esp on league cup and fa cup games… and when we play stoke.
Agreed Lonond. There’s this ridiculous notion that they don’t spend but they snap up these £20m players almost on the quiet: Carrick, Nani, Andersen, the german bloke from England etc etc.
Afternoon All,
Red Arse,
Agree totally regarding the PR,
London,
I always thought Man United were self financing, The Glaziers changed all that buying the club on borrowed money but i may be wrong?
Agree on Chelsea its all artificial and they will implode at some stage as will City who have taken spending cash to a new sickening level if its true that Bolleteli turned down 180k as not enough money the world has gone truely mad.
Don’t forget Ferdinand, Rooney & Berbatov for a combined total of about £90million. Even so, I think tactically Ferguson is better than Wenger.
thanks for the advice on”charlie”hef!have to dissagree about stoke though-i think it would be a full house!why?first,the hope of seeing shawcross get his just desserts wink! wink!and secondly to humiliate that c**t pulliss!&hisbunch of knuckle dragging cloggers!!
GG,
Tactically id tend to agree, but its kinda
“like fighting a war with a water pistol” (Strachan tm) in so much that Fergie hasnt built a brand new stadium which has tied Wengers hands for years, Thats not to say i think he hasnt made mistakes in what he has spent because he has,But without financial restraints they were pretty much neck and neck for the first 8 years of Wengers reign,
If Wenger does not bring in what we so obviously lack in the next 3 weeks i will go from sitting on the fence into the we probably could do with a change of manager,
Hi Chippy,
I have been looking at the reports that Arsene has been knocked back in trying for Hart and Given.
We are back at square one in looking for a GK, almost 10 weeks after the finish of the season. Arsenal are still looking apparently.
Surely for the right price we could have bought someone by now. Being cynical, by right price, I mean an offer the other party will accept. In Arsenal’s eyes, the right price, means “cheap”. Sorry but there it is. Money is short.
Rasp , Of the Arsenal shares Red & White holdings own 26.5%. Stan Kroenke has 29.9% and Lady Nina has 15.9% so if either of them buy her shares they would not become a direct majority owner. However by owning over 30% of the shares they would have to present an offer to all other shareholders and could, possibly, then become a majority shareholder.
I take your point “King” but mine was more around the fact I begrudge paying good, hard-earned cash to watch that disgusting kick it up in the air shite they will bring with them. Which brings me to someone else’s point earlier about accepting long ball football if it’s successful. Two things: who has ever won anything for a sustained period with long-ball football? And two, where is the enjoyment in watching that anyway.
Chippy – that is an absurd statement. Which manager would you trust to keep us in the top four on £5m net spend every year? The one who has done it for eleven seasons? Name your man… who would you rather have? Say Mourinho and I will take the afternoon off work to reply to you!
I am pretty sure the club wanted to build in excess of 60000 capacity but were flatly refused by Islington Council for H & S grounds.
Is money short, or is there a takover loming.
The next season could be historic for the club.new manager, new owners and cesc leaving.
I am not in favour of any of these,though in all probability we may be under new ownership, therefore following like sheep to be able to compete.
I have strong feelings about ownership of clubs.The vetting procedure is laughable, liverpool being the prime case.
thanks for wasting my time , if this is your idea of humour i hope you get run over by a bus
Graeme Green; I believe that SAF’s prime tactic is called – ” The Fear of Christ” ………He preaches it to his team during half time prayers.
Morning gunnern5 and if ss that was directed at me, you stupid man can’t you see irony when its put straight in front of your face, and secondly no need for the swearing thanks.
Neck & neck to a degree Chippy, a year after Wenger’s first Double they did the Treble, and they beat us 6-1 at OT when we had Stepanovs! I can only recall us beating them by a two-goal margin once, when Ferguson gave Beckham a couple of stitches after we beat them 2-0 in the FA Cup. They regularly beat us by at least a two-goal margin, the last of which was in Jan at the Emirates.
Peaches: What does SS (at3:25) stand for? I would guess Silly Sod at best!! I’ve got a bar of acid soap for sale – and I know who needs to buy it!
Red Arse,
Mate im buggered if i can work out our transfer policy, It seems bizarre to me that we are still a centrehalf light and are no nearer getting the Keeper we need so badly and yet the season starts in 5 days even after all the bollocks spouted on Arse.com again about the need for sorting out our defence here we are again praying for some late deals with absolutley no time to bed them in so very strange !!!!
I cannot see City letting Hart or Given join us they would be mad to strengthen a rival for the top 4 especially as moneys no object, I could see them stringing us along and then pulling the plug at the last moment to shaft us, If either went anywhere i couldnt see it being a rival in the premier league,
Hi Kelsey, Good piece – I wondered what I was reading at first (my hair started to bristle), but when I saw you were the author I realized that it could only be tongue in cheek. If SS directed that at you I’d kick his Arsenal right off the site……
now now gunnern5, i’d like to think this is a forum for opinion. he’s entitled to his. healthy debate is much more fun than everyone having a love in. Speaking of which, Chippy, which manger do you want in instead of AW? Come on, let’s hug this one out…
@ London and Heff: As Chippy says, the difference is in what is sustainable, because that is what is real. United spend lots of money but they have built themselves to a size where the money represents the size of the club. In fat, they (and Liverpool) are now having to sustain rapacious owners. We also spend money (at least we used to….), and that is part of the reason we are a bigger club than, say, West Ham, but we spend within our limits.
The Chavs, unlike United, Liverpool or us, are nothing more than the expression of billions of dollars worth of oil assets that were misappropriated from the Russian people. That money could as easily have been spent on Yeovil Town or Dagenham & Redbridge, and they could have “won” the silverware that has gone to the Bridge in the last five or six years. I exaggerate of course, and it is true Chelsea were doing stuff under lovely Ken Bates, but the bottom line is Chelsea couldn’t exist at the level they’ve been playing at without a continuous flow of Russian cash.
Like Chippy, I pray for the day that the plug is pulled on Chelsea and City so we can all watch them die. But in truth Chelsea’s “project” (hate it when that word is used in football) of establishing themselves as a global force is almost complete: I was at Windsor races yesterday, at which there were loads of kids in football shirts as the day was sponsored by the PFA, and I reckon that 90% of the shirts were Chavs. Even accounting for geography, it was a lot higher than it would have been five years ago.
GG,
Dont remind me of that game !! I was sat in the Stretford end, nightmares of epic proportions lol, Add to the beating, it took nearly 10 hours to get home!! its a game ive erased from the memory bank 🙂
Yeah i see where your coming from but i always thought for about the first 8 years the head to head record was pretty equal i may be wrong on that tho,
Heffer, So we just carry on revisiting the same mistakes and problems its starting to get a Groundhog day feel, Clough won Two European cups for Forest but eventually relegated them im not saying Wenger will do the same but good managers come and go and the club still goes on,
Anfield89 – you’re right that chelsea have grown in popularity, but I disagree that world domination is anywhere near close. Go overseas and other teams are much more popular. Also, it’s not come to the point at which it makes them sustainable. Abramovic has a clause that says if he sells up or walks away he takes a one-off payment of £500m with him. If he gets bored, Chelsea will do a Leeds but on a much biger scale. They won’t be able to pay wages, so there’ll be a fire sale of their players and they will fold. I’ll be watching on, laughing that they sold their history for five years of success.
Interesting comments from Shay Given appearing on newsnow – sounds like a loan move for one of him and Joe Hart next week is more of a real possibility than just papertalk.
Graeme G: Our home record in the PL against Man U is not bad it’s our away record that stinks. At home our record is W7, T6, L5. GF27, GA24. Away = W3,T5,L10. GF3, GA24. We did manage to beat them 3-0 in 1998/9 and 3-1 in 2001/2, both at home.
Chippy. We spend £5m net every year. Do you know whwere that puts us in the spending leagues? In the bottom five. Wenger saw this period coming (when we would be skint) and prepared for it with a fantastic youth policy which would be enough for us to compete. There are only two trophies to compete for and we come close each year. You have to look at the bigger picture. Do you think Mourinho, Benitez or even Ferguson will keep us in the top four on £5m a year? I’ll settle for groundhog day cos that’s the best we can have without jeopardising our future.
Heffer, I said just the other day, given what he has done at Everton, I think David Moyes would do a good job at a big club, why not Arsenal? Ferguson has mentioned him as a successor at OT (but we all know Mourinho wants that job).
Sorry heffer i posted that before seeing your reply, Im not on the Board so thats a decision theyd have to make but if it was down to me id go along the lines of Hiddink or Van Gaal at a Push Guarddiola if we could get him which is not as daft as it seems as there is no doubt within the next 2-3 years he will want to test himself in the Premier League, Mourinho not a chance, hate the bloke and hes everything that Arsenal are not he would be gone in 6 months bit like clough and leeds they would never fit IMO,
26May1989, You must live around my way in that case Chav central round Middlesex 🙂
Chippy, Heff,
Watching your chat, I have to say my opinions, (which are admittedly mixed anyway) are swayed this way and that. You both make valid points.
In fact, I think that you are saying much the same thing at root, just in diffeerent words coming from different perspectives. 🙂
Good afternoon all, have been out most of the day but am delighted to see Heffer is a kindred spirit, well done sir and thank you.
AW has worked miracles and will stay.
Have just heard Shay Given interviewed on 5 live he is adamant that either he or Joe Hart will leave the club by next week because they both want and need to play in the big games.
Our defence will be added to and we will have a good season. Funnily enough Sylvester Stallone was Interviewed just before before Given and he said he doesn’t mind people chucking negatives at him because out of that comes positives. if that is true then by the look of the Arsenal blogs we have a massively positive year ahead.
Once again cheers Heffer.
hearing rumours that matin o neill has resigned
Red Arse,
Makes the day go quicker 🙂 !!!
At which point its been a pleasure fine sirs and ladies im now of home !!
Joe Hart or Shay Given will do us just fine, preferably Given.
He has quit 😯
wow bad timing for them
brad friedel anyone!
Nab Richard Dunne
@ Chippy: Guardiola would be a great successor – better to be reunited with Cesc in North London than Catalonia! Quite like Frank Rijkaard too. Agree re Mourinho – a superb tactician but an utter dickhead who would destroy what we’ve become, hope we never see him managing the Arse.
And I’m a little way from Chav Central but NW London is too close for comfort these days – it’s like a rat infestation out there!
Much of the chat on all the blogs that I have read centres on Arsene Wenger. Most of it, sadly, denigrating him and appalling in its ignorance.
So, for what it is worth, this is what I think about Arsene.
First, I am not an AKB, as no human being is perfect or has the market in wisdom, otherwise we would have a new God.
Arsene is certainly a dedicated, hard working, honest, intelligent, polymath and multilinguist. And undoubtedly the best manager Arsenal have ever had.
Leave aside his achievement in taking a poorly run, disorganised, inwardly looking club and transforming them into one of the most successful and world famous clubs in the world. He has put the mighty into Mighty Arsenal!!! 🙂
But what of his recent record, and especially his buying policy? We have all heard that he is reluctant to buy “big” players to leapfrog his youthful home grown players and jeopardising their development. In addition, people refer to his supposed parsimonious attitude to money, etc etc.
I have already listed some of Arsene’s undoubted skills and attributes. So who can believe that such an intelligent man, who must know of the fans growing restlessness, would not buy suitable reinforcements for the team, where they are needed?
We touched on this earlier. There is more to his inabilty to buy appropriate defensive players, who he admitted himself we need.
I believe the Board have been disingenuous in implying there is money available to spend. Arsene is too loyal to say they are telling porkies, and as a result is carrying the fans ire on his own back.
The Arsenal Board are NOT united. They are also the main shareholders and we know how unhealthily competetive they have become, including the vicious sackings of David Dein and Lady Bracewell, orchestrated by Fizman.
I often feel like shouting at Arsene — watch your back, these people are not worth sacrificing your own reputation for. Sadly, he might hear me, but I don’t think he would listen. All credit to a special man!
Red Arse….its post like that that keep me coing back here.
Credit to the rest of you as well, inc the new boy Heff !
Again spot on Red Arse. Although it is not only inside the club his back is exposed is it…. The next fortnight will undoubtedly prove whether AW has a few pennies or not.
Sorry – distracted by having a job but back now. In short…
guardiola, Hiddink, van Gaal – none would do better than wenger… and there’s nothing to suggest any of them would want to come anyway once they saw the books because I honestly believe there is nowhere near the money everyone thinks.
Given – yes.
Hart – not impressed by him at all.
Friedel – No.
Ruchard Dunne – are you kidding me? That’s is the most ridiculous statement i have ever read in my life (only usurped by this one, of course)
Martin O’Neill – imagine that is down to the board selling Milner, so well played by him.
Red Arse – some valid points i think. I too worry the board will stab him in the back.
Thanks for the comments guys.
You realise on another blog I would be lynched. Not that I give a monkeys about that.
More of us need to speak up for the truth.
The truth is that we do not know all the facts, and to comment in the boorish way some do is simply beyond the pale.
Ruchard Dunne – nah
Richard Dunne – yes
Hear, hear Red Arse.
When I first started going to games regularly, around 1980, I looked at the many Liverpool fans from London and worried that we might acquire similar glory-hunting fans were we ever to become as successful as Liverpool. I hated the idea, and, while I also hated our mediocrity under Terry Neill and Don Howe, I revelled in our fanbase being more real than theirs. But it turns out my fears were well founded.
The irony of Wenger’s current situation, where he is continually slated by a vocal minority of Arsenal fans, is that it is his success that brought many of those fans to Arsenal. Of course, not all of the Wenger critics are more recent Arsenal fans and not all Arsenal fans under the age of 25/30 are Wenger critics, but there is a sense of aggrieved entitlement that comes across from many of the more hysterical critics of Wenger, as if they think they’ve been conned. Many of them started supporting Arsenal when there was only one rival on the block and when we had a vintage generation of players – the trophies and classic performances seemed to flow so easily, it seemed like it would carry on forever.
But life got tougher, principally due to the stadium move and Abramovich’s purchase of Chelsea. Those fans have lost faith in Wenger, many not understanding the boring complexities of finance and quickly forgetting what Wenger has achieved and ignoring what he has continued to achieve despite there being no money.
He’s not perfect, and I have my own criticisms, but he’s a great manager and a great man. Arsenal would be much weaker without Arsene Wenger in charge.
Ruchard Dunne is actually better than Richard Dunne!
We should by Ruchard so
Well said RA. Although David Dein is a posher version of ‘Del-boy Trotter’, there is no doubt that when he left us, some of the dynamic went too, and being the man responsible for Arsene Wenger’s appointment, Wenger probably feels a bit let-down. We definitely haven’t been the same club since Dein was forced out. Wenger has done more for the club than any manager in our history, and from that perspective alone, should be exempt from short-sighted criticism.
Graham Greene – in contrats to being let down, my understanding is that Dein tried to force the board’s hand by suggesting that if he went, Wenger would go too. To the contrary, Wenger has a project and refused to walk. Which is why all this talk about him leaving is rubbish. He always waits until his contract expires before signing.
If peaches was here she would confirm that Dein and Wenger are still very close friends, yet what makes it even more interesting is that dein’s son darren is Fabregas’s agent.
There are many who believe that Dein sold out purely for financial gain, but it is no coincidence that since he left the pressure on Wenger is telling and it shows in his face.Gazidis is a totally different type of person,yet Dein is still Arsenal through and through, and I for one would welcome him back any time.
Red arse, I was in the minority when we opened this site some 6 months ago that I felt that swearing was not necessary especially when on so many blogs the swear words are directed at our manager.I am no prude but anyone who can call our manager a c*** to me is no true supporter of the club, and i find it disrespectful.
It’s all about opinions, and though Wenger has his blind spots, i am sure when he leaves he will leave the club in the best possible shape that is possible for him.
he well may sometimes cover up, which manager doesn’t but he is no fly by night and i believe he always wants the very best for the club.
We can all play football manager, but we never really know what goes on behind the scenes.
I don’t know the internal workings Heffer, all I know is that Dein brought Wenger to the club, and since Dein left we have become less successful in terms of winning silver-ware. If that is because we’ve had to build a new stadium, then we accept the vision & the bigger-picture if ultimately it leads to long-term success and we become a club that achieves the same status as Man Utd, Liverpool, Barcelona & Real Madrid. We can only do that by winning European Cups.
Hi kelsey,
David Dein and AW are still very close friends … fact!
‘no true supporter’ is one way of looking at it, judging the ‘author’ to be as thick as shit is my view.
I spent many months on ‘the other site’ fightingbthe more extreme views on there and pulling people for their more vindictive and personal comments. The younger of the two Ringmasters, often accused me of picking on people or of moaning about the moaners. It was incredible.
I found I coud rarely have sensibledebate with anyone, cos there was always so much other extreme stuff to address first.
I read comments and post here and wonder how on earth I ever got drawn into that crazy circus !
Nite all
Red Arse,
Your comment @ 4:40 is excellent, we would quite happily have published that as a headline post 😉
Dein also wanted us to move to Wembley. What a disaster that would have been. And his tenure saw some distinctly dodgy stuff happening with the recruitment of players with questionable passports (Edu, Silvinho and that Latvian guy with a Greek passport come to mind). I’m not saying Fizsman’s great but Dein’s failings often seem to be ignored. Personally, I’m happy with Gazidis around, less flashy perhaps, but a sound operator.
yes Dein did want us to move to Wembley but that was as i understand short term.he also wanted the new stadium built at kings cross, which would have been more cost effective and would have housed more than the Emirates.That was rejected,
My understanding is Dein supported a permanent move to Wembley as tenants of the FA (which he was very big in at the time) and was against the Ashburton Grove move, but I don’t know that for certain.
Another area of Dein failings is in his sale to Uzmanov and in promoting uncertainty around the club by throwing in his lot with Red & White.
Dein undoubtedly did some good stuff for the club, and he deserves credit for those things, but he was a very mixed bag. I don’t regret his departure.
5 live are saying the final straw for Oneill was this morning the MD wanted to sell Brad Friedel to Fulham so they can sell us The Aussie.
I wouldn’t say world class keepers, have you got the right team mate? Not one of the keepers is world class
Haha very good Kelsey.
DD. Cant we just cut out the middle man and get Friedel ?
[…] Arsenal in Tatters Why is everyone worried about our squad for this season? We have 4 world class keepers, the envy of every other side […] […]
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A lot has been made by the AKB about our sound finances. They do have a point- we have a wonderful modern stadium, we do not have a sugar daddy (there are no free lunches), we do have a productive youth policy with great prospects coming through and have not wasted millions on players who are no good, the debt we have is big but well managed. Most of all we have a good team that has got into the CL for the past 10 years and a world class coach. Seems great doesn’t it- but its not quite what it seems.
No top club can produce enough youth talent to meet all of its needs, – its easy to over-estimate the progress of our young players and under-estimate the impact on them of losing experience year on year. Our finance model requires the club to sell players regularly – and this income does not get spent on buying new players- just check what happened to the money received for Adebayor and Toure last year- most was spent on reducing interest payments- and in a year when we had a one-off windfall from the sale of property.
What the club nor AKB don’t tell you is we cant replace the top players who have left the club or got too old. The real amount we had to spend this year before the sale of Eduardo was 35 million Euros including salaries- not 40 m GBP as was quoted by many. This kind of money is not going to enable the purchase of the 3 players we need- maybe one if we are lucky- and I am with Wenger- that it would be unwise to blow it all on a keeper. The team has had a poor defence for the past 3 years and the problem has got steadily worse not better.
When the spin is ignored we can see that the Emirates project is a success- in achieving what it set out to achieve- increasing the share value of the club substantially- which is great for those with shares. Yes it has given us a great new ground and a team which everyone admires – but one which has won nothing since the Emirates Project commenced and will win nothing without substantial increased investment in the team-However the much vaunted claim of financial sustainability is a myth- financial sustainability off the pitch maybe- but not football sustainability on it. Just where is the money for that going to come from ?