There won’t be too much doubt about the winner of this poll but you have three votes …… so the second and third places will be interesting. If you’ve missed reading the posts this weeks profiling all of these forwards have a look in the side-bar and click on Greatest Forwards 4,5,6 and 7.
Thank you to GunnerN5 for all his hard work in writing the profiles for the players we have given you during the past weeks and to Gooner in Exile for compiling the posts for us.
All the posts are available if you click on ‘Recent Posts’ in the side-bar.
As a point of admin we are leaving the votes open until 24th July, so if you haven’t voted yet….what are you waiting for.
After the votes are counted GN5 will be compiling our greatest squad of 20 or so players, and also a top 50 players result.
Arsenal News 24/7
arsenalarsenal.net 
Good morning to you all.
I’ve voted, I think, but as I can’t view the results, I’m not sure.
Is the poll working?
I love hem
No SuperMac ??!!!
Voted 4 henry and dennis
Hi NG – yes the poll is working ………….
What!!!!!! Who’s voted for the dutchman ……. come on speak up 😉
Ted Drake deserves to be on the list and also Supermac
Peaches he now has 3 votes…can we get the up addresses of those who voted and ban whoever voted for him forever?
I went to vote Thierry, Wright, Radford and thankfully before I pressed vote realised I’d forgotten Dennis!! So unfortunately lost Raddy.
No Kanu??
Tom go back to last weeks vote and you will find Ted, no place for Supermac, Charlie Nicholas, Charlie George, Kennedy and many others due to them not completing enough games, as was stressed a number of times over the summer the selection criteria for being included was as much to do with longevity as it was about their abilities.
Lets be honest we’ve been lucky enough to have some wonderful players at the club, and GN5 spent a large part of the end of season making profiles for something like 120 odd players. Despite that large number players we remember fondly had to be excluded.
Actually you could write a post on a couple of the omitted players if you wish and submit to arsenalnuts, and we can use them later in the summer to fill the gaps of no news 🙂
Afternoon all.
Wow the votes are pouring in today and as expected the 3 hot shots lead the pack.
I’m happy to see that all of the players have at least 1 vote and well done to those who were able to vote for RVP based on his contribution as a player, which was simply tremendous.
Voting will be closed at midnight on Wednesday 24th and will announce our 25 man squad on Tuesday 30th and our top 50 on Wednesday 31st.
Hi AA’ers 🙂
Just wanted to say what a fantastic piece of work GunnerN5 and GiE have been delivering over the last few weeks: truly phenomenal stuff, and many thanks for the great insights, stats and general passion put into the posts. You have done the club proud! 🙂
they should forget speculation and do real business.coz we re bored of all dat speculation pls lets do the buying.gunners for life
Total,
I was like a child opening Christmas presents when I researched and wrote the posts. It was a bit like meeting old friends all over again and finding out a few surprises..
But it also is a great pleasure knowing that it was appreciated by other ardent supporters, thank you.
I noticed that Santos has finally been sold to Flamengo, one more for the out column.
GN5
It really showed and it is there for all Gooners to read for longevity! 🙂
No surprises from me: DB10, Wrighty and Henry (in that order!)
Who voted for Van Judas, should not even be in the poll in my opinion.
i should stick to my previous logic and vote for the best looking Everybody else did 🙂
I voted for God, Big Raddy and Geordie Armstrong.
Thierry didn’t need my vote.
Wrighty neither.
Couldn’t contemplate not voting for Dennis though.
goonerjake – GN5 explained yesterday how difficult it was for him to research and write about the dutchman ……….. 😦
Wise voting Chas and good choices.
I simply had to vote for Bergkamp, Henry and Wright – it makes me smile just to type in their names…………..
Well done, GN5, your marvellous odyssey has almost reached its conclusion, save for the collation of the results, and the grand promulgation of the ‘Super’ squad and best 50 players!
Well done, sir, and you should feel rightly proud of yourself. 😀
Now what we need you to do is to work out a list of the best AA bloggers for season 2012/13, and I do not care where I rate, provided I beat Rocky!! 🙂
Now let’s see what crucial matters need to be taken into account.
— Post writing :- Bollix that rules me out immediately.
— Quality of Post writing :- Well, all who wrote a Post are deserving of praise; GN5 for his Opus de miraculis footie; Rocky for sheer quality; Micky for humor; GIE for technical input; 26M for in depth, analytical input; Sheep for being the best Ovis Aries correspondent; GoonerB, Kelsey, JNYC, Terry and so many others for balanced, mature, funny or innovative Posts that make the reader want more.
— Comments :- Pithy and to the point is a category that DanDan, Chas and Charybdis reign supreme.
— Frequency of comments: Queen of the baffling, funny and feminine observations and questions has to be Evonne.
— And the rest I leave to the esteemed alumni and alumnae of AA.
Hallelujah!! 😀
Oh — and I voted for Titti, Dennis and Wrighty!
Red,
Oh dear, let me be the first to advise you of a huge oversight.
You have left out one of our top two bloggers, quick make your correction before he rages in protest.
RA he’s not one to rant and rave and he is most likely enjoying a nice glass of Chianti with some old Italian cheese and crisp crackers, while watching the Test Match.
We really are shedding pounds at the club with Santos going.
Ok seriously we have probably saved about £200k a week in the out column this year, maybe more, some of which has probably been spent on Theo’s wage increase, and maybe some more on the rest of the Young Guns who signed new deals last year, but still leaves a bit of room for 1 World Class wage, or 2 Top Table Names.
For clarity my defibition of World Class would be someone who can walk into any team in the world.
GN5,
You have highlighted one of the difficulties in attempting a humorous comment — you can offend those you mention, and you can offend those you haven’t! 😀
Not to worry — other than you — few read my puerile nonsense, which is evidenced by the paucity of return comments when Chas and Micky are not around. Which is as it should be. 🙂
Hi all
Hi all,
Sorry meant to pop on here a few weeks back – loved the article on Brady (Peaches text me), one player I’d have loved to have seen live.
I voted for DB10, Wrighty and Henry in that order. Love all three players, each with their own strengths. DB10’s intelligence, Wrighty’s smile when he scored again and the way Henry curls the ball into the net is pure …. no words for it.
I’ll be over for the Emirates Cup although I will be a complete football nerd and heading to both games on the Saturday so will be front row at Emirates by 2pm for the Porto vs Gala match.
Irish 🙂 how nice to see you again!!! you’ve gone all red
I will probably go on 4th August if my mate bought the tickets for me and my brother
Thanks Evonne and likewise 🙂
I didn’t get to go over last season as often as I wanted – only once in fact which was Swansea at home so hoping to start this season off on the right foot and have more frequent visits 🙂
Hope you are well 🙂
i’m as mad as ever, thanks for asking!
Same here, I spent my footy budget in the first half of the year and didn’t go to any games in the second half. This year I am planning to go once a month and definitely to the last game to watch the lads celebrating winning the league.
You are always welcome to stay at mine while in London
i meant to ask for a while now – where is Rasp??!!
That’s very generous of you – thanks Evonne 🙂
no probs
I am not sure if you were reading the blog, but I was very silly and was voting for the best looking player in any category, only to see that they usually won! Today I voted for God, but the best looker received most votes, obviously 🙂
What is your take on all the transfer shenanigans, will we get Suarez or shall we pay Wayne’s wage?
Ha ha so Rosicky wins your outright vote as best Arsenal player ever? 😀
I’m not sure to be honest, I still think Higuain. We’ve cleared out enough to pay his wages, there has been no denial from either club, I just think Real are waiting to announce a big signing and then we’ll have him.
you might be right, but I would really prefer PL proven player. Kelsey promised us Torrez; he is sure of it, but Fernando is my least favourite despite the looks
not sure what you see in Rosicky, even DidIt is much better looking
It’s the facial structure 🙂
Evonne Rasp is probably brewing as we speak, if we fail to sign a big name I expect the kettle to boil over and a raging post to arrive, until then he is probably keeping his powder dry……like the Arsenal board 🙂
RA I always read your comments but sometimes it’s hard to find a suitable reply 🙂
Wow,
After less than one day’s voting TH14 is already our runaway #1 “AA” all time greatest player.
HI Irish – hope you’re well, certainly nice to see you popping on, maybe we can catch up at the Emirates cup.
Micky reminded me to remind all that we will be needing posts this week. Rocky will do one for Monday but other than that the cupboard is bare.
Just noticed we have a conversation starter for tomorrow from Norfolk Gooner ………. so from Tuesday onwards is empty atm.
GiE – ‘powder dry’ is the expression I was going to use to describe Rasp’s mood …….. it’s gonna ignite soon though 😉
GN5 – are you keeping a tally of how many votes each player has received in the relevant poll?
Peaches,
Yes I have tabulated all of the votes to date. I will take a final run through at midnight (UK time) on the 24th and use the data to create posts for the 30th and 31st.
oh yeah I forgot that Rasp is a time bomb 🙂
TH14 a runaway No 1…..music to my ears – are you listening Rocky and DidIt?
I’m listening Evonne 🙂
Just because most people vote for something doesn’t make it right! Democracy can be dangerous in the wrong hands 🙂
DB10 is our best ever and I will brook no argument.
Irish
Hello and welcome back 🙂
Having had the pleasure to watch Chippy many, many times I can tell you he was a wonderful player. If he was playing today he would be considered one of the best creative midfielders in the world.
Of course, given how soon he decamped for Italy, he would be as disliked by Arsenal fans as Brave Sir Robin if his career had played itself out in recent years. The ’70s were a more forgiving era.
Irish
You probably missed my article but I asked Glen Hoddle last month who was the best Arsenal player he faces. He said its either Brady or Rix but settled on Brady.
I voted DB10, TH14 and Radford.
“Just because most people vote for something doesn’t make it right! Democracy can be dangerous in the wrong hands ”
So Arsenal fans are Egyptians 🙂 or anyone who ever voted Republican in a US election especially when the candidate had the surname Bush.
I know I’m safe with that last comment because so many Arsenal fans expect those in power to spend a fortune to make them happy while they contribute little. 😉
Rocky – I voted for Dennis too 🙂
GiE – no system is clever enough for Americans
Poor Polish fans, they travelled from the furthest parts of the country to watch Barca, more than 40k of them. Of course the tragedy of Vilanova is overwhelming, but cannot help feeling sorry looking at the heart broken Polaks 😦
By the way if anyone thinks Cesc will go to ManUre to join his mate BSR should check out who Cesc follows on Twitter……he actually unfollowed BSR after he joined ManUre tweeted about feeling sick when he saw him in a ManUre shirt.
Still follows a number of other current and ex players like Na$ri, Djourou, TV5, Senderos, Sagna, amongst others and also follows Arseblog. Makes me think he won’t do it to us even if Barca accept the offer my guess is he will pick up the phone to Arsene and ask to be saved. Maybe this is what we are biding our time for? If United get £40m bid accepted we have to match.
we HAVE TO MATCH?
what do you mean GiE? That we cannot allow Cesc to go Manchester? I’d rather we spent 40mil on striker rather than my beloved Cesc. Our team dynamics have changed and would Fabregeez would no longer be the pivotal point. How would he fit in with Santi, Wilshere, Rambo and Arteta?
Sorry Evonne, if we want him we have to match their bid due to our apparent buy back clause.
As you say Arsene might not want him, but as a club I really don’t think from a PR point of view we can allow him to go to ManUre if we are capable of stopping him going to ManUre we have to…….and anyway he played as a false 9* for Spain and Barca so why not for us….always had an eye for goal.
*thats me and Micky falling out again 🙂
Fabregas and Van Persie up front for Utd??
Oh Lord in heaven, say it isnt so.
I promise to stop sending Daniel Levy vile letters, and will no longer prank call Glen Hoddle employing heavy breathing (though ime convinced he enjoys it)
Despite her been a witch, I will even be cival to my ex wife, and promise to return all that money i stole from that kids charity.
But, please please oh Lord. Not Fabregas to Utd.
By the way, i voted Henry, Bergkamp, and Wrighty. hahaha
15 votes for that bloody dutchman …….. I don’t believe it!!!!!!!!!!
Maybe someone would be up for writing their observations of the Grampus game for a post on Tuesday?
i voted for Smith, Dennis and Henry.
Smith to Graham is like Drogba to Chelsea and Henry to Wenger. How the hell some dutchman can get more votes than him i dont know.
Rob no Wrighty…that’s a tough call!!
GiE
There seems to be a bit of weight behind these stories of The Swerve heading for the exit door, which would free up even more dosh…
No idea what our transfer budget is but I really hope we don’t spend it on a “False 9”, AM, No10.
DM, left wing or striker fine. In other words, not Cesc.
We’re not spending it on anyone. Wenger’s too tight.
Haha Chas. Had to double check you were you 🙂
Just impersonating Sniffer 🙂
Rocky for a club with apparently plenty of cash we are not acting like one, it appears transfer situation is the same, players must leave before players come in.
Micky I tend to agree, very rarely does it work when someone comes back, however Cesc is surely a different matter?
I’m not sure I want Cesc back, but if he goes to the mancs, there’ll be trouble.
Great news Evonne
Arsenal eye (eh?) Brazilian Wonderkid Bernard, AND:
Arsenal target £15m Bayern utility man Luis Gustavo.
I, for one, am delighted we are giving these boys the eye 🙂
Shame there’s no more News of The World, that was always the best Sunday read at this time of year. Can’t remember what they did wrong. Tapping phone calls. Ummm, ok and legal for Obama and his mates 🙂
Rasp’s pants will spontaneously combust even though his powder’s dry.
Let’s all chip in and get Rasp some asbestos underpants
Went to set lobster pots yesterday morning. Took wetsuits, snorkels, flippers etc. Crystal clear water, absolutely stunning. Saw three giant lobsters but couldn’t dive to retrieve so set three pots 6″ in front of their noses. Unless they’re female “eggers” it’s lobster tonight 🙂
Normally it’s a 20 minute operation, but went with Wiff Waff Sam and Oscar and spent three hours swimming about. Saw lobsters, crabs, huge spider crabs, jellyfish, prawns, bass, dogfish….amazing.
troll pretends to be chas
you live a life of riley Mr Didit, my idea of heaven
Sounds brilliant. Jealous.
Female eggers get put back I suppose.
Sort of agree Evonne, but I don’t know anyone who works more hours over the course of a year than either myself or Wiff Waff.
Just when the weather is like this (not very often) priorities shift 🙂
Chas
Yes. We also put back very large (10yrs old plus) and even one’s technically legal size.
In your vid, visibility was just like the beginning, which is as good as it gets, and spider crabs the same size
This morning Wiff Waff is taking a camera. He says it’s a £100 underwater job that he and his 12yr old daughter use (I really want one now). Says the results are brilliant. So if it works, I’ll talk to you about youtubing it.
come on Micky, you call that WORK?? pleeeaze
Evonne
Have a strong coffee, then read my comment again 🙂
good tip that coffee 🙂
Mind you due to the spell of good weather my bees are going beserk. I am going to be busy extracting honey when I get back tomorrow
Ah, your bees. Now that is time well spent.
I’ve still got three hives sitting around at work somewhere 😦
Milking bees for honey sounds dangerous.
Micky there are uber underwater cameras, actually they are do anything ones called the GoPro. My mate wore one when we went coasteering, great quality considering the size. He had it strapped to his chest. My cousins in Canada have them mounted on their kayaks.
Hi GiE
Don’t know if the same, but some people have them mounted on front of surfboards. Funnily enough, I saw them in the duty free shop on last business trip while in Paris airport. Must do some googling research.
DidIt – if you want to start beekeeping again, I will help you. If you want to sell the hives I can ask around.
GiE – it is foocking dangerous. The buggers have no idea that I am the person that looks after them. I got stung so many times that I wear 3 layers of protection and you could not force my dogs to sit on the grass
Evonne
Would love to in principal, but I simply have too many other things to do. Also, I don’t own the hives, they belong to a friend who has little time back home in Devon as he’s always away driving helicopters in an unusual parts of the world for unusually secretive clients!
Chas is his name. Strange breed them Chas’s 🙂
Peaches
I’ll do a post for Tuesday.
can’t blame you Micky, it is not for a faint hearted
Moyes has upped his bid for Cesc to 35mil (no pound sign on polish keyboard), could this be true? I refuse to believe it.
Evonne
It will be interesting to see if Moyes can attract players in the same way Fergie could. Will they still believe there’s such a good chance of success?
no chance
I agree, and if Arsene were to land a player of the Suarez or Higuain calibre, then other players may believe Arsenal would be a better bet than Utd.
A kind of Catalyst Signing.
for you guys who couldn’t wait for new player..
Early Birds or Dawdlers, how Arsenal compare to rivals in the transfer window.
Today I wanted to have a look at the dates of recent transfers in the past three years, I wanted to go back further but time is against me and quite honestly I got bored of date checking. As well as our last three years I have included Tottenham, Manchester United and Chelsea. Given the hair pulling that we have not secured all our targets I wanted to use today’s date as a reference point, today being July 20th.
Season 2010/11
We had signed two players before 20th July and Sébastien Squillaci to save the day on August 26th. Chelsea brought in 4 new first team players two before and two after July 20th. Manchester United who seem to wrap up business nice and early for the most part signed three players in early July but patiently saved the best until last and snapped up the mercurial Bébé. Interestingly he is still at the club I thought we were the only club who cannot sell unwanted players? Well at least that is the narrative. Tottenham left it late bringing in two of three players in late August.
Season 2011/12
This was Arsenal’s most troubling summer due to the Cesc and Nasri dance. Five first team players came in during August which is crazy. I doubt we will ever see a summer like that one again. Interestingly Chelsea also signed all four of their players in August. We ended up finishing above our rich West London rivals even though our start was, well.. not great. Manchester United signed all of their players before July 20th and none afterwards. Our funny and embarrassing neighbours from down the road only brought in two players which is unlike them. One early and Sir Scotty of Parker on deadline day.
Season 2012/13
It is no coincidence that the one player Manchester United brought in very late in August was Robin van Persie. A deal that would have taken plenty of negotiations from both parties, we know we played hard ball and I am sure that Manchester United would have loved to have had him in June, I am sure the player would have wanted that also but it is not always down to the buying club and the player (Higuain)
Chelsea continued as ever to bring in most of their players late, I am actually interested to go further back in time and see if this is a consistent trend. 3 of 5 after today’s date. Tottenham also went wild late in the window buying four in August. While we did most of our work early. Like Manchester United and Bebe, we saved the best till last securing Santi Cazorla. What a buy!
Final Result
In the last three seasons (not including this) here are the results.
Early Birds
Man U 7
Arsenal 6
Chelsea 4
Tottenham 4
As you may have guessed, Manchester United have been king of wrapping up deals early. Leading the way 7 deals before July 20th. Guess who is second by one transfer? Yup Arsenal FC. Tottenham and Chelsea are both stuck on 4 in the last three seasons
Dithering dawdlers
Chelsea 9
Tottenham 7
Arsenal 6
Man U 3
Nope it is not Arsenal but mega rich Chelsea lead the way with the most amount of late deals even when you include our late shopping dash post Fabregas and Nasri. Tottenham have gotten away Parker free until now, they have been caught out with the second latest buying club of the four. Arsenal are next with twice as many as Manchester United.
Three summers isn’t exactly a huge amount of data to provide cast iron evidence but it is something.
The point of these two pieces has been a little lost on some Gooners, I am not saying that there is no advantage to buying early, clearly there is but the point is that the market is the market, the players, agents and selling clubs all have a say and that each completed deal is separate from the next one. This is the way it works, we have to look further than Arsenal before we throw insults at Dick Law when most don’t even know what he looks like let alone how he performs in his job.
If past history is anything to go by then Chelsea and Tottenham will go crazy in the next few weeks and Manchester United have completed all their business.
Hold your fire Gooners, quick the quaking, signings will happen soon.
-http://www.arsenalvision.co.uk/my-vision/4322-early-birds-or-dawdlers-how-arsenal-compare-to-rivals-in-the-transfer-window.html?
Rob thanks for that a very interesting and revealing summary, altho perhaps one glaring omission Man City.
Micky I think Uniteds wage bill may increase under Moyes. I also think SAF left before the market became more difficult for him personally. Most of his winning team from last season was built on players acquired some time ago. Rio, Vidic, Evra, Scholes, Giggs and even Carrick and Rooney are approaching end of their useful life. Whilst they have always been in a commanding commercial position many millions are swallowed up by the Glaziers interest commitments, to attract quality replacements for the above will cost more in wages with or without SAF, do I think BSR would’ve joined last summer for less money than City were offering had Moyes been in charge? Doubtful!
Morning all
New Post ……………..