We must be doing something right if we are annoying Sir F-Word

 

By Tony Attwood

It was in all the papers so it must be true.  Sir Alex F has said his club “have hit a brick wall in their attempts to sign Robin van Persie from Arsenal.”

“We have made a bid and they [Arsenal] have been trying to negotiate with other clubs.  I don’t have a gut feeling on it at the moment, I must admit. We’re not getting any breakthrough with Arsenal. It’s difficult to say why they’re operating this way. I don’t know what their thoughts are because they’re not giving anything away.”

So perfidious Arsenal – talking to other clubs.

Err, what other clubs would that be?  Juventus whose manager has just been banned from football for 10 months?  Man City whose manager is waging a very public war against his own Director of Football for not bringing in enough new players and moving the old riff-raff like Adebayor on fast enough.  Oh and paying Wayne Bridge’s salary while on loan at Brighton.

The papers have been full of RVP flying to Manchester for a medical.  Then when it didn’t happen the papers were full of the report that “Some papers have suggested RVP is flying to Manchester for a medical”.   Not them of course – other papers.  It is always other papers.

“We are trying our best,” said the old trade unionist, “and hopefully it will come our way but there’s no progress at this moment in time. We just have to persevere.”

Part of Sir F’s annoyance is that Lucas Moura went to Paris Saint-Germain for €45m rather than Manchester!  Paris instead of Manchester?  Who ever would have thought!

“I find it quite amazing that a club can pay €45m for a 19-year-old boy,” said Ferguson getting into the swing of things.   “To tell everyone that PSG are here they’ve signed Thiago Silva and Zlatan Ibrahimovic. They must have spent about £150m in the last month.”

Goodness, who ever would have thought a billionaire funded club that utterly failed to win the French league last season would spend the dosh.

Anyway, the fact is that Arsenal are annoying Sir F and that surely is a good thing.  In fact the one very good thing that has come out of the Billionaire Clubs issue is that Sir F and Man U are slowly coming to realise that while clicking your fingers might have all the media running up behind you, it doesn’t mean every other club will lie down and say, “yes please take our players”.

What Arsenal are doing with RVP is clever.   One more year out of him at his old salary is undoubtedly worth a gamble.  He might get injured, but that doesn’t matter since we’ll get nothing for him in the new year.  And if we re-signed him at his reportedly current demand level of £200k a week plus £10 signing on fee – that will be £20m – which is about as much as we would get if we sold him which is still an option – a good trade if we can get it.

Screwing Man U around is always good for morale in north London, and keeping RVP for his final year of decent football is a good move, since it is at the old salary.

But there is also the question of whether Man U really want him at the price he is demanding.  Sir F can’t say no, because the fans expect him to be dealing, and Sir F has repeatedly said that the Glazers have never once held him back in terms of transfer money.

Maybe by the time this is published RVP will have gone, but if so it is because Arsenal will have got what they wanted out of the deal.

But even if RVP does go to the northlands, there is the point that slowly Arsenal are moving away from the image of a year ago that clubs just had to click their fingers and Arsenal players would go running.   First, it is clear that some clubs are thinking about FFP.  Second it is clear that there is a turn in the mood against clubs that buy everyone and then loan them out.  And third, very, very slowly I think players are recognising just how many ex-Arsenal men have screwed up by leaving.

In fact I think the Arsenal ought to hire a few ex-players like Hleb, Bentley, Flamini and the like to talk about what happened to them when they left Arsenal in order to get a better deal, more playing experience and the like.  Or if our beloved club won’t do it, perhaps we could persuade Billy the Dog and Sir Toby Belch to interview these beloved gentleman of the winter game, and talk to them, man to man (or in Billy’s case, canine to man) about life in the world beyond Arsenal.

I feel an interview with Nasri coming on.

And the news that with Man U hooping to sell shares for between $16 and $20, but cutting the price just prior to kick off to $14 – (effectively reducing the income of the Glazers by  $100m before they started).  Shares have risen by 5¢ after Wall Street describe the venture as “merchandising” rather than anything serious.

In later trading shares fell back.  No one wants last year’s shirt.

The ref review in history: Man U 2 Arsenal 0 – the Unbeaten Run is over

Untold Arsenal

Ordinary is Pointless

The Great History of Arsenal Competition – complete with prizes

 

 

60 Replies to “We must be doing something right if we are annoying Sir F-Word”

  1. Tony I think the shares were only making 12 dollars each and the Glaziers took half the 150 mill made on the share sale yesterday from reports I read earlier.

    Glaziers are still bleeding the club the dry the type of owners no one wants.

  2. Excellent post. A welcome change from some of the c**p that is usually posted on news now!

  3. The shares are holding between $14.0 and $14.05 per share for one reason – as stated above no serious trader is willing to donate their investors money, there is very in very small demand.

    The reason why it is not going below $14.0 is because the underwriter of the IPO has a vested interest for the share to maintain some value for however long they want.

    Ergo once the underwriter has had enough of artificially plumping the price up – the share will sink to its true value (whatever that may be).

  4. …£200K a week with £10 signing on fee… I just loved you more Tony, a man crush here? Wouldn’t mind that Idea too!

  5. “I find it quite amazing that a club can pay €45m for a 19-year-old boy,” said Ferguson

    Is this the same Ferguson that paid £25m for 18 year old Wayne Rooney in 2004?

  6. SAF complains of PSG paying 45mill Euro for a 19 year old! Yet in 2004 he paid 20mill £ for an 18 year old from Everton. Stop moaning SAF. MU were once a debt free club, then along came Glazers.

    Cheers to us! Robbi

  7. Lol ferguson rambling about ther €45m for lucas! The old fool forgot he coughed up €25m for rooney 18 ! He’s just a sore loser!

  8. Yup. We must be doing something right! Robin has a choice a Business choice (trophies, more money, self test ) and what not. AFC will be fine, as long as we get a proper value for our assets (Man city PSG money). We just can’t let likes of Manure (never sold a quality to them ) and Barca (Nevermind Cecs DNA and winner Henry) boss us around. Sir F you may have your Sons of a Refs and the English media because they see Arsene as an outsider( French) therefore Arsenal foreign club. But you will still have to help us economically, because that is how do survive. And with luck less serious injuries we just stuck it to you and for you to retire old bitter and unsatisfied. Lol. Cheers. Oh how I love the inner workings of old Enemies. Unless Wenger is lost it and gave up. In that case Robin goes to Manures and plays The Bulgarian role. As a trophy for the giant killing (Last Arsenal captain and best player in England).

  9. Couldn’t help wondering whether at least some small part of Sir’s bluster was meant to heat things up before the NY listing. After second place and a quiet summer, suddenly old purple nose is seen to be kicking down the doors of lesser teams to pluck what he wants. I can imagine that plays well with the alpha crowd.

  10. Am I alone in wondering whether the writing is on the wall for Ferguson and United. Not all the words are there but the import is becoming clear.
    Moura goes to PSG.
    United’s shares haven’t set Wall Street alight.
    The Glazers’ have taken their slice though.
    Arsenal have become annoying.
    The next stage will see our Club being declared persona non grata (like the BBC) by Ferguson and he will refuse to talk to us ABOUT ANYTHING.
    The future could hardly look brighter.

  11. First time I have seen the word perfidious in a blog I think! Made me smile 🙂

    Nice article. I don’t understand the moaning coming from some quarters (not just AF) about Arsenal’s position on RVP. It is absolutely the correct strategy.

  12. Yay, screwing Manure around alone could make me smile 🙂 Anything else is a bonus 😀

  13. Nice read Tony.
    The problem with Ferguson is that he doesn’t like playing second fiddle to anyone. He sees us doing great business this summer and wants to undermine it by trying to destabilise and nick our best player Problem is he grossly underestimated out resolve not to be fucked over again like we have done in the last few seasons. Our boss has certainly shown a steelier side to his character and Fergie (and come to think of it Mancini) cannot handle this rejection.
    Arsenal are in a much stronger position this season and they both see that as a threat. We just need to ram home that advantage by ensuring we keep Van Persie out of their clutches.
    Let’s enjoy watching old purple nose and slick Rick continue foaming at the mouth as their rivals strengthen whilst they flounder around begging and bribing anyone they can to join their band of mercenaries.
    The futures bright. The future is Arsenals
    Fergie is now History.

  14. Didn’t Red Nose refuse to sell a player to Liverpool (I can’t remember the name) some years ago & stated the player would not be sold to a rival – but would only be sold outside the EPL. Now he is complaining because Arsenal will not sell to him, partly for the same reason & partly because he wants RVP at a cut down price.
    Could it be that Red Nose is being hypocritical?

  15. At last someone has exposed the financial aspect of keeping RVP. I don’t recall Arsenal ever putting our captain up for sale anyway. Wenger consistently said he stays
    Let’s get another year out of him and see where it takes us
    And can someone tell the Barcelona coach to tell his players not to be disrespectful to other clubs! His words.

  16. Alex Ferguson if am right was ready to pay around 37 million Euros for the same boy. I believe he got a bid for 29.9 million rejected. Its really funny that on one hand he is ready to pay 37 Million for a 19 year old boy but he is aghast when someone else outbids him.

  17. Just mind games mates; mind games.
    Been a long time since Sir AF and AW played.
    To Sir AF’s rant, we get AW’s silent treatment.
    Have you heard the one about:
    Silence being the best answer to a fool?
    Not calling bad names – just asking a question.

    Lately though, I,ve been sympathizing with RvP:
    Adebayor on £175k, Rooney on £220k, etc., he on £90k
    Even Suarez now on £120k
    Pretty unfair world in their world
    Never mijnd that it is not ours.

    Nonetheless, let RvP do whatever he likes in January.
    No grudge.
    We just need him here for realize that ambition
    he accuses us of lacking.

  18. I really do wish that all the talk about van Persie leaving for the money would be backed-up by evidence.

    1. He’s categorically NOT leaving to join United.

    2. He’s never even said he’s leaving this season.

    His July 4th statement just says he’s not happy at the direction he feels AFC is taking. And, consequently, does not wish to sign a new contract.

    That may well have changed with the new arrivals. Who knows. But if he’s still captain for the friendly against Koln, then it might be an indication of a change of mind.

    Wenger doesn’t want to sell – and he doesn’t have to. Selling to a PL rival isn’t on the cards. It would be dumb. But selling to anyone else might bring in … say … £15 – £20M if we’re really, really, lucky, which we then have to spend on a replacement that’s nowhere nearly as good (or immediately effective.)

    However, keep him for the season and then see how marketable a 30-year-old greying injury-prone striker is and there’ll be pretty much no takers at all. Then he can sign a 1 or 2 year rolling contract like Bergkamp did.

    RvP’s statement isn’t about money. And AFC keeping him for the season could be priceless.

  19. HR, when you release a statement throwing everything back in the face of your manager and even implying that you’re simply that much better than everyone else in the squad that you deserve to move on and play in a team that can match your ‘ambition’, right before said club goes out and buys two world class players and a league top scorer (ligue 1, but still…) it’s pretty fricking obvious that you’re looking for a move and lying through your teeth to get a lucrative deal whilst still trying to be ‘the good guy’.

    If nobody pays up you’ll see a statement around the end of the transfer window of how Arsenal have met the ambitions of the great Lord Persie so he will deign to stay for another season and tease a new contract before signing a deal in January somewhere else. Some will swallow it, some won’t but the bridge is burnt and however far he gets by throwing a rope across his days as a fan favourite are over.

  20. “We’re not getting any breakthrough with Arsenal. It’s difficult to say why they’re operating this way.” Because fuck you Fergie, that’s why.

  21. Arsenal must not sell Van Persie at any cost. Not especially to a Premier League club. Manchester United are on the floor. The last thing you want to do is give them a hand and lift them up on their feet.If AFC have learned from their past mistakes then this is when you put your foot firmly on their neck and ensure they don’t get up.

  22. Tony!
    the ” flamini counselling services” was the best idea ever! :))
    Thank you!

  23. @ Shakabula Gooner 9:42 am,

    I can’t say I feel sorry for anyone that is paid £90k to kick a ball around, has the daily tutilage of Arsene Wenger and has the adulation of millions. I am pretty sure that if we looked at pro rata how much RVP has earned over the past 8 years compared to the number of games he’s actually played for us it would probably come out to about £190k+ per week. Not to mention the bumper pay rise to roughly £175k per week we offered him, even with his injury history. Ungrateful RVP heard £220k whispered in his ear and was determined to force his way out to get it.

    So no I don’t feel sorry for him at all.

  24. @ Nicky, you are not alone in thinking that Man U have serious problems looming. I am happy that Fergie decided to stay and did’nt go at the right time(in 2010), so there are no simple excuses to be made for Man U. Sir red nose has never played fair and what comes around, goes around. He has been the architect of the club and his own demise.

  25. Would prefer to see RVP remain in north London but if he wants to go let him bugger off but on no account let him go to manure land.Its of vital importance to all gooners that sir alex “twat” gets nothing he wants especially from Arsenal.The ballbag who invented football inflation and the four shirt per season strategy should be made to suffer every ignominy and embarrassment possible.This is the spiv who blazed the trail for Chelseas russian gangster and money laundering expert to hoover up whatever bit of dignity was left in the EPL. Now that his”click the finger” strategy no longer works he has accused PSG of being “mad”for paying a huge sum for a player he thought he had pinched a week earlier for half the price.The great thing about this is that across manureland the camel shaggers party is in full swing where everyone is ridin the hole off the mucker mansheeny Adabayor, dzeko, Toura ,rocky,never had a ride like it !Sir shit for brains can’t get a look in and he is the biggest prick in town.Yes my gooner friends the man who has been feted the world over for his managerial genius, his canny man management and his eye for talent spotting can’t even get an invite to a screw up on the other side of town.This my friends is the company our best old x friend RVP wishes to be with, muck money and madness. Well Van Persie you can fuck off as can you Ferguson along with that italian pocket billiards champion Mancini its long past time that ye bastards got screwed and its about time that the gunners did the screwing so lets hope that man u don’t get their man , that our man don’t get his club and Mancini don’t get the money he wants fuck them all. gooners for ever !

  26. Gonna Girl @ 11.32
    I “sympathize” with RvP as his £90k/week at Arsenal must be creating major bragging problems for him among his peers but, like you, I am not “sorry” about it for precisely the same reasons and more that you gave. We are on the same page on that.

  27. “Maybe by the time this is published RVP will have gone, but if so it is because Arsenal will have got what they wanted out of the deal.”
    Tony,
    Perhaps you know something about whether Gazidis and Gill are having a final sitdown this weekend; or know something about the outcome. Perhaps not. But, sorry, but I don’t think what you suggest is an adequate compensation to RVP’s loss; and I think your analysis accepts a change in image (as you define it) as a victory, when there are both immediate and far higher stakes that matter a good deal more than what you advocate we settle for.

    To me, you are cushioning the blow if/when it comes. However, you do not mention the most immediate and obvious downside: that the two biggest EPL scorers of last season will be on the same side. I believe that will give Don Fungus the Rednose XX which is bad for Arsenal and bad for football. Yet another gifting away the championship that they think is rightly and always theirs (hence SIR Alex’s tantrum). (Interestingly, he’s the former trade unionist in your write up; not the current SIR Fungus, desiring ascension to Lord Football of Mancunia in the House of Lords). But that aside, it is one thing to enjoy – and I do – our new signings; quite another to accept – and you have by this article – the illusion that these signings will win over the massive boost in firepower that a side with Rooney and RVP, as well as their other potent offensive weapons would mean. It will give them the leg up on Citeh (and Mancini is furious, having wanted yes, RVP for over a year and steaming that his man, Marwood, cannot deliver the goods); and, with two battle tested champions – tested as well as detestable – will be a juggernaut. This alone is sufficient reason to advocate AGAINST this. And what does it do to our image NOT to say no? Versus what would it do – positively – to our image to say fuck off to RVP and Darren Damian Dein – as well as to put Alex Song/Dein on notice. That is a sign of courage and stopping the madness. And because he would have to play well – not inevitably sulk as many assume – as he would next be approaching 31, RVP’s value would be earned by contributing to our getting far into this CL and ensure our getting into the next CL. His departure – if he’d then depart – would be paid off this way. This does not enter your calculus.

    There are other reasons that I’ve been arguing hereabouts for the last few days for any who might care to weigh. By taking little to none of this into account in your write-up, I find you have set forth secondary considerations that excuse his departure as if it really has a substantial upside. I would not be so fast to accept what you have set out as an adequate counterweight to the serious damage that his departure will deal. Keeping him out of Don Fergus’s hands really matters. And not combatting the two-front war – DDD’s serial asset-stripping of our club – will give a green light to other players who you assume will not jump ship when Dein, or another such bloodsucker, will turn their heads. Say no to RVP’s departure and that is a positive image with sharp teeth appropriately and meaningfully bared. Plus it blocks Sir F-word.

  28. Interesting thing, as someone mentioned, RvP didn’t said he want to leave, nor he put “transfer request” on table, in “update for fans” he only mentioned he don’t want sign new contract. So, Le Boss is not playing any games, he just keep player who didn’t ask to go. 1+1=2, if SAF cant do math, thats his problem, not ours.

  29. Metalhead,
    You say it better and in far fewer words than I did. It’s exasperating to watch as people are so quick to abandon this obvious principle of what it is to be an Arsenal that would yes, defeat its competitors. Sheer insanity to give up this man. Even if he scored nothing, keeping him out of Don Fergus’ lineup would have been worth it. Rooney and RVP are too much firepower to roll over and give up. How obvious can it be?

  30. @ Shakabula Gooner,

    Haha! Whist it might be questionable whether I am a ‘Gal’ or not – I am most sincerely always a ‘Goona’ never a ‘Gonna’.

    The fact that he can’t brag about his huge wages is just another reason to hold him to his contract. When all is said and done, he will regret disrespecting Arsenal FC.

  31. I think many are missing the other ‘report’ … ‘Agent wants £5m’
    Who is most keen that RVP leaves now??

  32. DR,
    Right, but you can have him donate his goals (for his purposes) to our cause, and NOT applaud a single one. It is far more firepower for us and far less firepower for Manure and Man$inny, all of which matter in a competition, to keep this distasteful talent on our side. Take a cool-eyed look. Having him on board has the potential for giving us an unstoppable offense. Giving him up to Manure gives them an unstoppable offense. Let’s compete at the very highest level and dare to win.

  33. @ Armin – I think if he hands in a transfer request or officially states he wants to leave before the end of his contract, he forefeits bonuses. Making a personal statement like he did achieves the same goal of making it plain that he wants out. It would be vulgar and crude(but honest)to come out and say I want to leave for more money. He and his advisors know that there has been disquiet in the fanbase over the lack of trophies and tried to capitalise on it.

  34. Stevie E,
    Yes, it drives Don Fungus beyond crazy not to have his way. So let’s advocate NO to RVP’s sale and deny his “rightful” championship. He’s done nothing since losing in the last minute but plot his return to the top in a historic Rednose XX, and go out a national hero and a god. This sense of Entitlement – whether it’s his or the petro-OIKs’ – has been turning this league into a bent and foregone conclusion – a boring non-competitive and unsustainable farce that is blatantly unfair to fans of every team outside the top 2. So FU to MU.

  35. Great qoute from Vermaelen this am ” Steve is very focussed on details”

    Translation you wankers won”t be letting in 49 goals this season. Great News

  36. HR,
    I pray that your first point is correct. But how do any of us know? Do you think that reports (with no citation) that Ivan Gazidis and David Gill are having a sitdown this weekend to decide RVP are without any foundation? Why have a sitdown with them at all? I fear a business deal that they cut over everyone’s head – including AW’s – and that it will sell out a real chance to win a championship this season for an immediate profit-taking opportunity that, perhaps, is being demanded by some elements of ownership and the board. No way to know of course; as the decisions that decide what’s their banquet and what are bread crumbs for the great unwashed are being made in the dark.

  37. I agree with Bob. It is total madness to spend what we have to strengthen our team compared to our rivals and then negate that good work by selling our prize asset to the most hated of all. A long jump forward but a hop, skip and jump back. Thus we weaken ourselves and strengthen our most despised rival in one depressing act, and why? We are not desperate for money are we? I cannot imagine such a stupid and suicidal thing happening in any other field, surely our club will not be so stupid. Wenger must not let it happen. If he goes to Manure I am thinking is it worth following football anymore, it is just not worth the heartache.

  38. Gerry Lennon,
    Yes! And exactly who is pushing – at this very moment – for his other client, Alex Song, to hook up with the three wise men (Busquets, Iniesta and Pique)at Barfa of Qatar? A two front economic war: RVP and Alex Song. And, of course, Silent Cesc of Barfa is his other and most illustrious client (now that Thierry Henry, his equally mega-client, feasts on the green pasture known as NY Red Bulls).

  39. Mick,
    Yes, we need to be tougher mentally than our Entitled rivals; and keeping RVP – out of sheer calculation – both shows that mentality and denies all-comers the prize asset that they crave (both on the pitch and in their pockets). Getting deep into the CL will pay off any short-term loss (a small loss, if any) that bean-counter minds are so loudly fearing. Let’s be fans with big hearts who dare to be warriors; not accountants who play it safe out of habit, when we stand at the threshold of something far bigger. Ta, Mick.

  40. @Goona Gal
    So “officially” he is not on market nor asked for it and in that light SAF has nothing to complain about.

    But, I really believe even RvP don’t have clue what he wanted that day. Seams to me, statement is sketched maybe even at end of season (with his approval) and realized once EC was over. I can hardly imagine RvP siting in front of his computer while on vacation in Spain (or where ever he was at that time) and writing it. It was obviously statement prepared in totally different circumstances from those at moment of realizing it. And once when millions read it in few hours it was late to pull it back or change “direction” of it, so he choose silence and let AW and IG handle it as they want, otherwise he would do some pressure via media or via agents, but nada, total silence.

    I don’t want see RvP in any other shirt in England, maybe he is injury prone, but he is also goal scoring prone, and there are equal chance for both sides to prevail this season. And I would not gamble with it.
    20-30 goals if he manage to score will worth us 20 millions, and if he dont, heck his salary is a lot lower than Torres one.

  41. @DR First let me say that I am unable to know with any metaphysical certitude what the ‘frick’ is going on in van Persie’s mind. Nor am I able to divine what you seem able to do from his statement.

    What I do know is what I’ve seen and heard for myself from RvP over the years.

    And that is, up to now, that he appears to be a proud Arsenal player. He also appears to have been something of an inspiration for us last season.

    In addition I’ve seen how confrontational he’s behaved when playing MUFC over the years.

    Up to now.

    Go back if you want. Listen to the interviews. Watch his reactions. Listen to the tenor of his voice. All the way back to 2004.

    So things may have changed.

    The statement isn’t all we have. We have him at training camp. Tomorrow, we might even have him once more in an Arsenal uniform. And if we do, he could even be wearing the captain’s armband.

    We’ve also not had him leaving camp and flying to OT to put pen to paper as so very many have inferred during the last week.

    Nor have we had him displayed as Mancini’s new signing as Mancini, himself would have wanted.

    So here’s what I see as “pretty fricking obvious”.

    Under pressure from the media and just after a personally disappointing Euros he issues a statement:

    “I had a meeting with the Boss and Mr. Gazidis … a meeting about the club’s future strategy and their policy … in this meeting it has again become clear to me that we in many aspects disagree on the way Arsenal FC should move forward … I’ve thought long and hard about it, but I have decided not to extend my contract.”

    “Financial terms or a contract have not been discussed, since that is not my priority at all.”

    He adds,

    “I love the club and the fans, no matter what happens. I have grown up and became a man during my time with Arsenal FC. Everybody at the club and the fans have always supported me over the years and I have always given my all (and more) on and off the pitch. I am very proud of being part of this fantastic club for the last 8 years.”

    That, in essence, is his statement.

    What followed was a minor media frenzy. First, he was labelled as Manchester City’s next big buy. It was ‘fricking obvious” wasn’t it. After all look what happened to Abebayor and Nasri. How could anyone resist the lure of Eastlands (sic).

    But now we know the ManC thing was pretty much somewhere between ‘being unable to read between the lines’ and ‘pure invention’.

    Then there was the Juventus thing. Well, they had to be after him … or if not Juve, then Berlusconi’s Milan.

    Again nothing. Even with Milan … after losing Zlatan … nothing.

    Sure, there were rumours that offers had come in from City, United, and Juve. But the same people who furnished those rumours then claimed they were all repelled as derisory.

    Then last week we had RvP joining MUFC. Ladbrokes even shortened their odds to 1-7. And bookies are never wrong, are they?

    All I can say is (a) what I’ve seen over the years and (b) the face value of RvP’s statement. And while it’s nice to speculate, it’s not nice to ‘slag off’ a current Arsenal player when there’s nothing concrete to go on.

    Van Persie is NOT Nasri. Nasri was/is a mouthy little so-and-so who wanted a pay day and a small part in winning a trophy. He got both, and now is despised for it.

    One other thing I can submit into evidence is that Juventus is not pursuing RvP, and neither, it seems, is ManCity.

    By all appearances Mancini appeared to be under the impression that his club was going to do its magic with Arsenal. But now we’re all going to have to ask Brian Marwood why that didn’t happen. Is anyone asking? Anyone?

    The same is true of MUFC. Headline: “David Gill to get serious now with RVP” … Headline: “Roo all coo for Robin to fly his nest” (I have no idea what any of that means.)

    Ferguson’s frustrated. MUFC fans are frustrated. They’ve been led to believe all kinds of things that haven’t materialized. And are mad as hell and aren’t going to take it anymore.

    And on our side we get the over-impressionable getting: “van P€R$I€” tattoos just because they can.

    The thing is everyone has their own narrative … and they shouldn’t. If RvP says it’s about “direction” … then it’s about direction until he says it isn’t.

    I’m beginning to wonder whether people’s opinion about Robin van Persie says more about them that the person they’re attacking.

    Sure he might leave. (Though I still don’t think he’s going to.) And he might go somewhere that offers him “£220,000 a week” (Though I doubt anyone’s going to.) And the club may well be one that (on punditry paper) appears better able to win a trophy this season (one look at our squad … they wish.). But until something happens that isn’t “pretty fricking obvious” then I’ll stick with my own council, thank you very much.

    Heck, I may even go over to the Grove … at least I expect this sort of thing there.

  42. @RobL

    Thanks for that name.

    @bob

    The story that Gill was going to take over the RVP negotiations and bring them to a conclusion was possibly a “leak” from the Manures or just a made up story. I don’t think Arsenal will enter into negotiations unless MU up their offer.

    Behind all this manoeuvring Dein the Lesser must be going frantic. Lets hope we can give him a middle finger gesture come 01 Sept.

  43. @ Armin,

    Ahh, but Rednose know’s that Arsenal have spoken to Citeh & Juve and can’t understand why Arsenal are not interested in dealing with him. Unless we are being offered silly money, AFC should not sell.

    I have to disagree on the statement put out, I would say RVP and his advisors had a full year to concoct the message and consider the consequences. If anything, the message was put out two weeks too late because by then we had bought Podolski & Giroud. RVP could of had more of a face saving way out if we had not bought Giroud as well, because it would of been more believeable if he then did a U-turn and said that the squad was competitive and he wanted to stay.

    Not to mention, he could of put out another ‘clarifying’ message that basically softened and retracted what his first said. RVP thought he had airtight deals which would be too good for Arsenal to refuse and was on his way out of the club.

  44. Mahdain, Tony
    Why not double post that review of THAT GAME here as well? It is both historic and alas, deeply current. Even more reason to deny Don Fergus the harvest that he would reap today, after so mendacious a performance by a compliant referee. A long memory deserves a clear head – please re-post it on UA for maximal exposure.

  45. I have come to the conclusion that RVP will still be at Arsenal this year and remain Captain also.

    This is based on my own take on the situation.
    1 Arsenal managed to obtain Champions League last year only because of the goals scored by RVP.

    2 On this basis he deserves a decent pay rise from the £20mil Arsenal will make from this comepetion.

    3 By stating he was not going to sign for whatever reason quoted, I can assume that this was a ploy to A) Back up his wage rise demand, B) to entice Man City to offer him more money than sense.

    4 However Juventus have legal problems and so were not even a contender to buy him, Man City have shot themselves in the foot by paying over the top wages to average players such as Adebyor and thus cannot sell them due to the inflated wages.
    Man U, have thus been his only alternative.

    The problem with this is that Arsenal will not countanace selling him to them, and he in his heart would not wish to join them as they are a team in decline actually, needing a full rebuilding programe themselves, with a host of player preferring other clubs.

    Allied to the fact Arsenal will place a fee on his head that United will not contemplate, leaves RVP only one chocie but to stay at Arsenal.

    His get out clause regarding his facebook commments at Arsenal not building for the future which has come back and bit him on the arse with their signings to date, is the face he can say I wanted to leave but they did not want me to go , so I have to stay and play.

    Leaving everyone at Arsenal including RVP happy.

    and poor old Fergy missing out once again, which is sucha crying say (not)

  46. as much as I hate to see RVP in Arsenal colors next season…..keeping him for his final season makes great sense. It’ll send a strong message to players wanting out, agents and rival clubs. It will send a message to fans who think we are a selling club…..

  47. RvP and his management team shot themselves in the foot. It was bad management to send out a statement of such derision after Arsenal bought 2 Very Good players; when to even think about it after one would have been ill advised. For RvP to still stand by it is an overkill of a fall inducing pride; a gross overestimation of self-worth; bothering on a very serious delusion of grandeur. So, no. He doesn’t need to be pitied.

    I get seriously offended when some people postulate that footballers have very short career cyle; as a result of which they deserve very high pay. Hello! Millitary men and women have not just very short career cycle, but extremely short LIFE cycle in the defense of their country and its people. They didn’t choose to start wars in which many of them have lost life and limbs. I don’t see anyone advocating for them to be paid wages commensurate with the risks of their trade. So why argue for such wages for spoilt premadonas who think that the world only revolve around them with no loyalty to back it up.

    If our millitary men choose to go fight for another country against us; we call it treason and seek to execute them or put them in jail for the rest of their lives. Yet this premadonas who take all the clubs money and then hop to the next highest bidder are not even labelled as mercenaries. Why is that?

    Some have even said that it is just same as in every employment; you get better pay conditions and you just go. Well, how many employees (average football fan or not, who largely fund the lifestyle of these football mercenaries) do you know who get paid even in a year what some of these premadonas get paid in a week?

    So if we seem to demand more from them, it is because ‘to whom much is given, much more is demanded’.

    As for Alex FU, he can stew in his own juice for all I care.

    Ok, back to normal. Got that out of my system.

  48. Actually Rooney wasn’t 25mil euros
    It was Pounds sterling and it had an extra 5m as add ons!
    £30m with the exchange rate at the time equalled to 45m euros!!

    The hypocracy of that guy knows no bounds

  49. HR,
    Your 9:46 analysis is spot on!
    I jumped off with your first point, fearing a Gazidis/Gill “settlement” over people’s heads; but I’m totally with the rest of your analysis which is really sound. Cheers 🙂

  50. I expect Diaby to grow into the midfield general role that made Viera famous, Song can go if the lure is 2 much for him to resist. It will be fun to see Helb 2 situation with Song.

  51. David Biggs,

    I wish to pick a hole in something you mentioned.

    RVP only scored the amount of goals he did because of the team he was playing in. No one else is going to offer him that opportunity so he will be , just another player, someone else will fill the void left by him.

    I stand by what I have said previously, it is the style of football we play that is the main ingredient, the players are recruited for their natural flair and ability with the ball at their feet but it is the system that is doing well, not the player. The system is in place so that anyone from the academy can step straight in to the team if need be.

  52. I don’t really understand all the business about ‘losing RvP on a Bosman’.

    If a team signs a payer for 10 million pounds and he signs for 10 years, surely after 10 years they have got what they paid for. Expecting to get a huge payday for the player after 9 years should be considered a bonus. The bonus arises because to some extent we can dictate where he goes and because we are his minder, a middleman as it were. We should not consider keeping a player until their contract is up as money lost but rather an option we can choose to exercise.

  53. A Nice readI personally do not fancy our Russian shareholder. However, if he is willing to come out with 30 Million Pound (peanuts to him) and and give it free to Arsenal so that we can keep RvP for another season (25 Million Pound TF plus 5 Million Pound Salary), then I would think that he has Arsenal Interest at Heart. Otherwise, he is another Glazers without bleeding the Club. Btw, if RvP were to get his demand of salary, don’t forget that his agent will benefit too! So unless we know the real truth about what happened behind the scene, I would still prefer to give RvP the benefit of doubt!

  54. @Kurt,
    We don’t need anyone OR any special deal in order to retain RVP for another season. His present contract requires his presence at the Emirates until the summer of 2013.

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