Of course journalists want to keep the transfer window – they don’t want anyone challenging culture of mediocrity

Posted on by Tony Attwood

By Sir Hardly Anyone

That headline is based on one that is currently running in the Telegraph: “Of course Arsenal players are keen on Alexis Sanchez going – they don’t want anyone challenging culture of mediocrity”.

It is of course a silly construct – as if the players want the club to be mediocre.   If that were true they would be reducing their own chances of a transfer or indeed of a pay rise.   Total gibberish.  Anyway, who wants mediocrity?

Well, actually football journalists do.

So take out Arsenal players and substitute football journalists like CHARLIE ECCLESHARE (whose name appears in CAPITALS in the paper just so we get it) and it makes perfect sense.  Running the endless transfer rumours is not just a mediocre way of writing about football, it is also a way of getting money for nothing – and keeping the supporters in their place.

We’ve seen that only fractionally over 2% of the rumours of players joining Arsenal turned out to be true.  But it can be argued that this is because Arsenal are so inept they never manage to secure the transfers at the end of the process.   But if that were true then all the transfers OUT should happen because that ineptitude would mean the players would be allowed to drift away.

So let’s see.  True stories are in red – where multiple stories appear for players they are listed in the order they appeared from 1 June to 31 August.

No Player Club Notes
1 Akpom His loan to Brighton was not a success after a long injury spell so it seems the club are looking to try another loan to regain his pre-injury sparkle
2.1 Alexis Man C Guardiola making £50m offer his summer priority.  £50m.  Talk Sprout says it is done.  Mirror says he is finalising.
2.2 Alexis Chelsea Will play out contract and go on a free to Chelsea.
2.3 Alexis Man U Has already agreed deal
2.4 Alexis Nowhere Mr Wenger has said “he is staying”.  Or in some reports – he stays until we get Lemar
2.5 Alexis Real Mad  Mentioned in lots of places.
2.6 Alexis ??? Arsenal had enough; anyone can have him for £80m
2.7 Alexis PSG The club has met with Alexis’ agent for PSG move (Express).  The Independent agrees saying it is £80m for Arsenal and £400k a week for Alexis
2.8 Alexis Bayern Evening Standard says this is the deal.  Elsewhere though Bayern have “given up on Sanchez”
2.9 Alexis Alexis to decide Mertesacker has said that Alexis should be allowed to decide where he plays despite his contract.
2.10 Alexis Resigned to staying “Sources close to the player say he is increasingly resigning himself to the idea of staying at Arsenal for another season.”
2.11 Alexis Man C to wait The story is Man City are perfectly happy to wait til next summer for a free, and certain the CAS will not ban them from any more transfers over Argentine fiasco.
2.12 Alexis PSG give up Having done the big deal in order for Qatar to show the world they are still there despite the blockade, they aren’t giving PSG the money.  Wenger says they want MBappe
2.13 Alexis Man City Offered Sterling in part exchange
2.14 Alexis Man City Man City execs have flown to Chile to complete the deal  with a medical.
Completed Takuma Asano Stuggart  He’s staying put as there is no work permit for UK yet.  The story didn’t make the news.
Completed Ismael Bennacer Empoli Never once mentioned
5 Krystian Bielik Birmingham City keen to extend loan for another year. Norwich keen. Also Nottm Forest.  Could go to Leeds – but he went on the Ozzie tour so if he goes out it presumably will only be on loan.  And we might need him for the first couple of weeks.  He came back.
6 Bellerin Barcelona Barce are getting him on a cut price deal (details of which are unclear).  He’s bought a house in Barcelona.  He has asked for a transfer and Arsenal has refused. Barcelona have given up and are looking elsewhere. No he has already gone.  It went on and on
Completed Marc Bola Bristol Rovers Loan.  Not predicted anywhere
Completed Cohen Bramall Birmingham Loan, never predicted anywhere
8.1 Campbell Fenerbahce Currently in talks to sign.  No its Greece.  But no, sadly he was injured playing for his country and will be out until the end of the year.
Completed Campbell Real Betis Loan – never once mentioned
9 Chambers Newcastle Or it could be Everton.  There seems some uncertainty.  Palace made a bid of £20m (Mirror) no £16m (Telegraph).  TalkSp said last week it happens this week to Palace
Completed Crowley Willem II News reports say this transfer is going through and that he is about to be presented to reporters.
11 Francis Coquelin  Valencia This story has been going on and on and on… The update is a series of stories in blogs saying he’s no good anyway.
12.1 Debuchy Newcastle Being made available on a free.  No he’s off to Nice.
12.2 Debuchy Brighton Last minute switch of venues.  But of course he didn’t go.
13 Elneny Leicester Arsenal have accepted a £10m bid but the player is refusing to leave.
Completed Gabriel Valencia The Sun says he is going for £11m; they got it right
15.1 Gibbs Newcastle Watford, WBA Didn’t go on the summer tour and was injured for the Borehamwood game.  Watford don’t like the price so the suggestion is, AFC have cut it in half.  Mail is reporting Newcastle interest.  TalkSport said WBA this week. That was 2 weeks ago.
15.2 Gibbs He’s not going anywhere; no one wants him.  Watford won’t agree terms.
Completed Gibbs WBA Talk Sport got it right.
16.1 Olivier Giroud  Marseille He wants to play more games.  Marseille to make an offer right at the close of the window to force Arsenal to deal.
16.2 Giroud West Ham They really want him as they need more pace!
16.3 Giroud  No move Wenger wants to keep him hence the new contract signed earlier
16.4 Giroud Everton Despite already signing over 150 players this summer, Everton want Giroud as well.  “We’ll see who we’ve got when the window closes and pick a team from that” said A Spokesman.
16.5 Giroud Borussia Dortmund  Apparently this is the one that really is true.  Honest.
Completed Kaylen Hinds Wolfsburg £2m transfer – never predicted anywhere.
Completed Jenkinson Newcastle Newc just promoted, need players, but no real noise concerning his move except from Daily Mail. In the end he went to Birmingham which no one predicted
Completed Glen Kamara Released  Signed for Dundee.  Not mentioned anywhere.
20 Koscielny Marseille He’s just had enough and needs to leave.
21 Matt Macey Untold’s own speculation was he didn’t go to Oz, and is too old to be the 4th keeper in the club next season but then Martinez went on loan, so he’s staying.  Our one transfer out speculation, and it went wrong, Santi Caz was dropped from the 25 to make room for him
Completed Donyell Malen PSV Eindhoven This sale transfer (not a loan) was never mentioned
Completed Emiliano Martínez Getafe One year loan.  It was not predicted anywhere.
Completed Stephy Mavididi Preston Loan; not predicted.
Completed Savvas Mourgos  Norwich No details, went to Norwich.  Not predicted
25 Mustafi Inter Although the Indy then said Inter can’t afford him.   Oh no its Juventus.  He, of course, went nowhere.
Completed Kelechi Nwakali VVV-Venlo Loan deal, never mentioned anywhere.
Completed Stefan O’Connor Newcastle Not predicted anywhere
28 Ospina Fenerbahce Some are just saying “to Turkey”, but since Martinez loan, keeper talk has all gone quiet
Completed Oxlade Chamb Liverpool! or Chelsea Chelsea is said to be making a final push but Sky says no chance of the deal going through.  He finally went to Liverpool just as several papers said the deal for Chelsea was done.  ““Chelsea agree fee with Arsenal to sign Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain” was the headline at the end.
30 Özil Real Mad They realise they should have kept him.  Mr Wenger says, he is staying but he is going.
31.1 Lucas Pérez PSG, Deportivo La Coruna,  Fenerbahce, Newcastle He’s an “outcast” according to “reports”.  He didn’t go to Oz, but it is said that the proposed deal in Spain has broken down.  Mail says Spain is back on for £12m.  Newc now the real deal.  The final chatter was that he was staying.
Completed Lucas Pérez  

Lucas Pérez did go to Deportivo La Coruña, but on loan which no one mentioned.
32 Reine-Adelaide Nice The Short Fuse: Arsene Wenger, for reasons unknown, “doesn’t want” Reine-Adelaide at the club any longer
33 Sanogo Released  Never mentioned
34 Santi Caz Not so much that he is going but that Arsenal must send him packing – until suddenly he posted pics of himself in the gym and said he was doing double training.  Surely those early stories about “never play again” can’t just have been made up can they?  But he was left out of the 25.
Completed Wojciech Szczesny Napoli or Juventus Every newspaper seems to have this one.  He doesn’t want to be here.  Yes he does, the club doesn’t want him. £10m deal about to be done with Juve.
Completed Nathan Tella Southampton Deal done and completed – he was released.  Not predicted
Completed Jan Toral Hull £3m transfer.  Never predicted.
38.1 Theo Walcott West Ham Ray Wilkins says he must leave to protect his career.  Daily Star says he is going to West Ham.
38.2 Theo Newcastle The 4th official says this is the transfer that will happen
38.3 Theo Everton £30m on the table, so we are told.  Suddenly this old story is headlined “Sensational” in “The 4th official” blog
38.4 Theo Southampton A player swap is about to happen
39 Danny Welbeck Everton Trouble is they have already bought two forwards
Completed Chris Willock Benfica Arsenal wanted to keep him but he decided to join one of his brothers
41.1 Jack Wilshere Sampdoria, Palace The Metro has this one and they are sure he’s off.  Express says £6.2m offer rejected.  No its Palace on loan (Mirror).  Wenger says he needs to sit down with Jack.
41.2 Wilshere ??? Simply, he’s off, according to the Guardian.  Real Betis says the Sun.  He stayed.

 

So there were 41 players with rumours or who moved and whose move was not predicted in the summer.  The most you can say is that seven were right – although this includes the fact that Alexis didn’t move (which is what Mr Wenger said), so really there were six: Crowley, Gabriel, Gibbs, Lucas Pérez, Szczesny.

Even here though some of these (like Gibbs) came after suggesting a whole stream of other clubs, and the story that no one wanted him so he was being offered on a free.   And the Szczesny move was fairly obvious.

There were some 90 separate stories that got listed in our index – 67 if the multiple running rumours of players like Alexis were only counted once.  six out of 90 – an accuracy rate of 6.67%.

Looked at another way 23 player deals were completed and only six of those even appeared in the media before they happened.  Instead the media was packed with stories that didn’t happen.  They missed the reality and invented fantasy all the way through.

But let us consider some of those rumours: here are a few highlights

  1. Alexis went everywhere it seems – except perhaps Watford and Crystal Palace.  Except he didn’t.
  2. Bellerin most certainly went to Barcelona – but he didn’t.
  3. Elneny and Coquelin were both deemed utterly surplus to requirements and went, nowhere.
  4. Gibbs was going everywhere and no one wanted him – but WBA paid £7m.
  5. Giroud most certainly was leaving – this story ran and ran through June and July
  6. Koscielny was leaving because he had had enough!   Who made that up?
  7. Martinez did go on loan, and no one predicted that at all.
  8. Ospina was 100% certain to leave, and most certainly didn’t.
  9. Theo was tipped to be off most certainly – probably to West Ham.
  10. Jack Wilshere was another certainly going – and he didn’t.

Credibility for the newspapers?  No, not one single shred.  I leave you with the headline: “Of course journalists want to keep the transfer window – they don’t want anyone challenging culture of mediocrity.”

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40 Replies to “Of course journalists want to keep the transfer window – they don’t want anyone challenging culture of mediocrity”

  2. The journo’s like the ex players with agendas and the half wit complaining section of fans who follow this great club need to shut up,stop inventing stories and knee-jerking to everything they hear or dream up.

  3. Journos are like movie screen script writers . They churn out stories to feed a ever hungry populace.
    Original, well thought out and evidence based and factual would be always refreshing , but sadly there is too little of that .
    So rehash some old story , giving it a twist or two , so that you cannot be sued for plagiarism.
    Do a prequeal or sequeal to some popular old story , that would make it look oh.. so refreshing .
    Or just make it all up as a ‘ what if?’ style . And some famous names and garnish it spicy hot gossip , and another masterpiece us churned out.
    Why don’ t you try it ?

    Your could make it as a mystery of the strange/ evil doings at the Arsenal.
    The cast –
    An honest reporter .Alcoholic or down on his luck . The type that whore would entertain for free .
    A disgruntled , but well place employee who stumbles on a dastardly plot to defraud by an inner clique .
    A silent but loaded American .
    A neauve rich outsider with a shady past.
    Ex- players , once famous , now bitter and sidelined , and embroiled in ( fill in vice) and feel left out of the honeypot. Being wooed by mysterious man , woman or persons of indeterminate gender.
    A loyal manager , who is in the way to money pot. A stubborn but unshakable stumbling block.
    The crime lords who want access to the honey pot.
    The fools who believe in fairy tales but not that Humpty Dumpty was pushed .
    And then we have the weird and hard core righteous group who know that malfeaseance is afoot .
    Is this a plausible story or a hit movie in the making ?

  5. Journos are like movie screen script writers . They churn out stories to feed a ever hungry populace.
    Original, well thought out and evidence based and factual would be always refreshing , but sadly there is too little of that .
    So rehash some old story , giving it a twist or two , so that you cannot be sued for plagiarism.
    Do a prequeal or sequeal to some popular old story , that would make it look oh.. so refreshing .
    Or just make it all up as a ‘ what if?’ style . And some famous names and garnish it spicy hot gossip , and another masterpiece us churned out.
    Why don’ t you try it ?

    Your could make it as a mystery of the strange/ evil doings at the Arsenal.
    The cast –
    An honest reporter .Alcoholic or down on his luck . The type that whore would entertain for free .
    A disgruntled , but well place employee who stumbles on a dastardly plot to defraud by an inner clique .
    A silent but loaded American .
    A neauve rich outsider with a shady past.
    Ex- players , once famous , now bitter and sidelined , and embroiled in ( fill in vice) and feel left out of the honeypot. Being wooed by mysterious man , woman or persons of indeterminate gender.
    A loyal manager , who is in the way to money pot. A stubborn but unshakable stumbling block.
    The crime lords who want access to the honey pot.
    The fools who believe in fairy tales but not that Humpty Dumpty was pushed .
    And then we have the weird and hard core righteous group who know that malfeaseance is afoot .
    Is this a plausible story or a hit movie in the making ?

  6. Fake News ?
    Akexis ‘ dogs talked him out of requesting a transfer to City , in emotional bow wow. Sorry, pow wow!
    Claim Manchester rain not for them . And Pep that did not show due respect to them during their stay in Spain.

  7. Mediocrity? But if for the last 13 seasons that Arsenal as a rich big London club has not won the Premier League title is not described as a mediocre performance for Arsenal by the Gunners that leads to mediocrity overtime, what could it be best described the? Extraordinary performance for Arsenal? The fact that Sanchez had a row with some of his colleagues in the changing room and on the Arsenal training ground at London Colney according to reports, over the lack of ambition fight shown on the field of play for Arsenal by some of those his colleagues in the Arsenal first team squad who regularly plays for Arsenal as starters and substitutes and coupled with their lack of winning PL title mentality showing as in evedience since the hard fighting game winning Sanchez joined club. I think the recently revealed Arsenal’s 25 man official first team squad for the first half of this season’s PL campaign should take it up the Sanchez’s altercations in the dressing room and on the training ground last season as a wake up call to them this season. And wake up from the individuals slumber in mediocre performance for Arsenal in Arsenal PL games this season by eschewing mediocrity in their performances for Arsenal this season in all Arsenal PL games. But inculcate consistent PL games winning mentality habits into themselves which I believe if they do, Arsenal FC will beat all it’s PL title win rival clubs to the capture of the PL title win this season and put the subject at rest for the time being.

  8. Mediocrity? But if for the last 13 seasons that Arsenal as a rich big London club has not won the Premier League title is not described as a mediocre performance for Arsenal by the Gunners that leads to mediocrity overtime, what could it be best described then? Extraordinary performance for Arsenal? The fact that Sanchez had a row with some of his colleagues in the changing room and on the Arsenal training ground at London Colney according to reports, over the lack of ambition fight shown on the field of play for Arsenal by some of those his colleagues in the Arsenal first team squad who regularly played for Arsenal as starters and substitutes and coupled with their lack of winning PL title mentality showing as in evedience since the hard fighting game winning Sanchez joined the club. I think the recently revealed Arsenal’s 25 man official first team squad for the first half of this season’s PL campaign should take up the Sanchez’s altercations in the dressing room and on the training ground last season as a wake up call to them this season. And wake up from their individuals slumber in mediocre performance for Arsenal in Arsenal PL games this season by eschewing mediocrity in their performances for Arsenal this season in all Arsenal PL games. But inculcate consistent PL games winning mentality habits into themselves which I believe if they do, Arsenal FC will beat all it’s PL title win rival clubs to the capture of the PL title win this season and put the subject at rest for the time being.

  9. Am sorry for posting my comment twice. I had to after doing some corrections in my first posting.

  10. I’m just wondering how the stories are launched and why. Just look at the Sanchez story. From what we know he did not put in a transfer request. Yet all summer this seemed like a fact. City apparently did not make an offer before the last day, which again seemed like they did. Then the narative goes to City sended a f…g plane with doctors etc to Chile and Alexis dancing around the locker room all happy to go to City….for Vidal to say no, did not happen.

    Add to that the Sterling swap that seems did never exist

    And now we’ve got City wanting to haul Arsenal in front of the courts and then City and Pep reassuring Sterling that there never was any swap deal anyway.

    All what I wrote sure is neither certain nor proven…just reading.

    The consequences however are real, true and proven….

    In the end you’ve got teams destabilised, angry players in each team, angry fans, a nagative narrative on both teams, and ample food for a s…tload of other negative spin stories.

    As the cop always asks : who stands to profit from this situation ?

  11. The transfer window bid over, yet we can’t seem to let go of this so called media propaganda against us.
    In every sector they are those who are reliable and those who are not.
    Personally, I don’t take news from any outlet that is not Skysports or BBC seriously.
    You have to also consider the fact that this jornos are not involved in the negotiations and get info via leaks mostly.
    Things can change in an instant even after deals have been agreed on as we saw with the Barkley deal to Chelsea.
    That doesn’t mean the guys who broke that a deal had been done were lying.
    Point I’m trying to make is don’t Generalize when you make statements about the press.
    Reliable sources are Sky and BBC, I’m sure if you checked their percentages, should be close to 90%.

  13. @To those who think every club receives their share of criticism and Arsenal is not targeted
    What do they have to say about Liverpool asking 200M euros for Coutinho
    Of course if Arsenal ask for 20M we are termed as greedy and unreasonable, but now that Liverpool were asking for Neymar like fee let’s not talk about it

  14. Here is my verdict on the transfer window for Top 7 aka First Tier within Premier League.

    Chelsea 4/10 – they got Rudiger, Morata and Bakayoko but Conte handled Costa poorly which is not a good message to other players in the team. They lost Matic to rivals and lost every transfer dog-fight they had been drawn into (Ox, Lukaku, Llorente, Barkley). They will have serious issues once CL football starts as they don’t have enough squad depth to deal with it.

    Tottenham 7/10 – they replaced Walker with a better yet more problematic player Aurier. In Llorente they should get a more competent back-up for Kane and Sanchez should be good enough to replace their worst CB Wimmer who left them for Stoke. Still, Wembley has already shown that Spuds won’t have an easy ride as they have already dropped more points at home than they had dropped during the whole last season. CL football will take its toil, especially given how strong their group is.

    Man City 7/10 – they got full-backs they needed, they refreshed their team with a younger Silva and added a new goalkeeper. They haven’t addressed their central defence and midfield in this TW though and that means they rely on injury-prone Kompany and Gundogan. They have enormous talent in the attack and should be able to deal with CL football given the strength of their team. Their failed pursuit of Alexis has brought a smile to my face but I still see them as top favourites to win the league.

    Liverpool 6/10 – they failed to sign Van Dijk and were forced to apologize to Southampton for tapping up. They did sign Salah – who is a top reinforcement for them – and hold onto Coutinho. They got Ox from us which is hardly a coup signing given that he had missed 154 games in 6 seasons for us and scored just 9 league goals. They would get a higher grade if they had signed Keita immediately. Also, irrational decision to sell Sakho might haunt them again. They have started brightly but CL football requires more depth than they have and Klopp has never managed to make his teams work in both top competition.

    Arsenal 5/10 – we got two positions well-addressed but we do have a shortage of central defenders and central midfielders. Hence 4 goalkeepers in “25” and poor team balance right now (too many forwards and very few defensive minded players). Also, the Mustafi case was poorly managed and the rush to sell/loan as many players as possible on the last few days of TW was unacceptable and the financial limits we unexpectedly had suggest that we hadn’t operated responsibly in the last five years. Losing youngsters like Willock and Malen with departures of long-time hopes (Toral, Ox, Szczesny) is a warning for the future.
    On the positive note, we got absolute steal of the window (Seo) and Lacazette would have cost 100 millions next summer. Holding onto Alexis was a top job even if there was a willingness to sell him to the rivals under certain conditions.

  16. Josif,

    Your comment is fact based, yet it ignores a very important point. There is no mention of the ‘kids’ making it into the first team – even if it is for the ‘other’ competitions.

    Making room for guys like Nelson is vital and young players will switch clubs if they feel their chance to get real first team games is random.

    From your list, I’d say that Tottenham and Arsenal seem the only clubs with real talent coming up from the young ones.

    And I do consider Wilshere – who had the opportunity to switch at ok conditions – as a new player. He is visibly motivated and no one can say he is not talented and he can bring a lot to the team.

    Thus, I’m not as worried as many are.

    And now is the time to stand behind the team, and fire them up to greater games now that the dust has settled and ‘normal’ life is back.

  17. Swapneel

    I did 2 pieces relating to that Liverpool story, and the Ozil being a ‘lazy git’ narrative on the Santi thread.

    I asked exactly the same question vis a vi Liverpools supposed £200 Million price tag on Coutinho.

    I wonder if Stephen can point us in the direction of a few negative Liverpool stories this morning?

    Or a couple of alternative ‘he’s a lazy sod’ articles for someone other than the hard working Ozil.

    Possibly he can, and if so maybe I’ll take his “so called media propaganda against us” comment a tad more seriously.

    But I doubt it, because when I read this from him:

    “Reliable sources are Sky and BBC, I’m sure if you checked their percentages, should be close to 90%”

    I nearly pissed myself laughing. But of course that could just be my age.

  18. Chris

    Wilshere is an extremely talented player.

    I said before that I felt he was the closest thing England have produced to Hoddle, Waddle, La tis or Gazza, the most talented players I feel we’ve produced.

    If he was at any other club he would of been treasured and protected as the likes of Alli at Spurs is.

    Some of the challenges on him that caused him injury were a joke, and many didn’t even get called a foul. Every injury was his own fault.

    Alas, my worry is nothing will change. In fact it could be allowed to get worse just to prove the point.

  20. “Reliable sources are Sky and BBC, I’m sure if you checked their percentages, should be close to 90%” That is genuinely one of the most stupid and ignorant things that I have read all year. Congratulations, Stephan!

  21. Polo

    Thanks for that link. Agree with you, and the article 100%.

    From everything that was written I think this one sentence sums it all up very well:

    “Put another way, when it comes to Arsenal, anything other than all conquering success is treated as an abject failure”

    Jammy J

    I hope you avoided wetting yourself laughing like I did.

  22. So if (as some here are suggesting) BBC & Sky are unreliable sources of info, who actually are the ones to be trusted. Somewhere someone must be telling it accurately & honestly or we’d never find anything out.
    I know who I trust.

  24. Jax

    “Somewhere someone must be telling it accurately & honestly or we’d never find anything out.”

    That’s nearly as funny as Stephens:

    “Reliable sources are Sky and BBC, I’m sure if you checked their percentages, should be close to 90%”

    I have now pissed myself twice this afternoon. Thanks.

  25. Nitram
    Instead of (typical) sneering sarcasm perhaps you could provide an answer. Where does reliable info come from?
    You don’t know do you?

  26. Nitram
    ….and please, please don’t say Arsenal.com. They’re usually a week late with what we already know. from other sources.

  27. Jax

    “Where does reliable info come from?”

    Why are you asking me, I don’t know.

    It certainly isn’t the BBC or SKY

    And why you think any one in the media MUST be speaking the truth I do not know.

  28. Man United 7.5/10 – they got Matic and Lukaku but still have unresolved left full-back position. Lindelof is still unconvincing while Mkhitaryan looks like a new player as well as Pogba. They have an easy ride until 8th league match and their CL group is suspiciously easy one as well. Still, I reckon they will have issues over the course of the season.

    Everton 7/10 – a lot of new players, all lines of the team addressed but they will have the longest season of all English clubs. I have a feeling that they don’t have a top class forward anymore but their team is now closer to Top 6. Not good enough to break into Top 6 but closer than last season.

  29. Nitram
    The reason I’m asking you is because you’re so opinionated as to who is not giving good reliable news, you must have some alternative info.
    I don’t see how a person can call another a liar or similar (I’m referring to your comment to Stephan here)) and not themselves have the truth.

  30. Jax

    How in gods name am I calling anyone a liar?

    I’m calling you and Stephen gullible. Not Liars.

    I don’t believe anything the media tells me.

    It’s a well known saying that you cant believe the date on the SUN.

    Look, if you want to believe what the BBC and SKY tells us about anything, let alone football, that is entirely up to you.

    And if you believe that someone, somewhere, must be telling the truth, that’s alright with me.

    But who that someone, or somewhere is, is a mystery to me.

    Perhaps you’ve got it sussed. Well done.

    But you’ll pardon me if I’m not quite so sure.

  31. Jax

    Forgot to ask.

    As you seem to be in Stephens corner perhaps you can help him come up with all the abuse Liverpool and Spurs are getting in the media this weekend. He seems to be struggling.

    You know, similar to the abuse that Arsenal and Wengers getting.

    You know, a couple of ex players such as Wright and Merson who are really giving it some.

    You know, a couple of lazy gits that are ‘steeling a living’ somewhere other than at the Emirates.

    Because apparently all this abuse we are getting is all in my imagination, and even if it isn’t I can console myself with the fact that everyone’s getting it in the ear.

  32. Nitram
    Sorry, bit over the top calling you a liar, but you seem to be in agreement with JammyJ on this. I still think if you’re going to take issue with someone you could at least offer a constructive alternative opinion. My news sources (and I didn’t actually say which ones, but you’re half right) usually prove to be accurate and are often quoted here as correct by Tony in his articles.
    Have no opinion on Stephan really other than that he seems a little lost most of the time, but inoffensive considering the abuse he takes.
    Anyway, enjoy the rest of the evening.
    Cheers.

  33. Jax

    I seldom agree with you, or you with me it seems, but I can live with that, as can you it seems, so no problem.

    Have a goodnight yourself.

  34. Nitram

    Exactly my concerns
    1. Ozil had one handball in first match, it was repeated on TV for so many countless times but no mention of handball by Leicester player in the penalty box. The same story continued in Post match show. Consider this to how the Stoke’s match was covered

    2. In Stoke match, if I am not wrong two pretty much clear penalties for Arsenal went in Stoke’s favor. This were show may be once during the match and discussed in Post match show once and were brushed aside after that.

    Compare both of the above cases with Spurs/Chelsea/Man Utd, there players make several Red card offenses over the course of the season and the same are so conveniently ignored by the Match Commentary, Post match show and later by the media.

    If don’t know if this isn’t targeting Arsenal then what is? May be some of the posters here can shed some light on this.

    And as far as transfer window goes, Arsenal did the right thing
    There was no way we could have let our star player leave without a proper replacement, believe me if we had let Sanchez go this same fans would have bashed Arsenal for letting him go.
    We did try to bring in his replacement but given that we were unable to get Lemar it was pretty clear we could not let Sanchez go. Atleast we didn’t lie to City but were trying to find cover for ourself first. Still be got bashed for that.

    Compare that to blatant lie by Liverpool in Suarez case
    Suarez release clause said 40M+ pounds, Arsenal did all the required yet were wrongfully denied by Liverpool. Yet in that point of time everyone was laughing at Arsenal.

  35. Another one on Alexis-“He told closest friends he is joining Man City” No mention who those friends are or how did they get this “information”. Now Arturo Vidal, Alexis; friend and team mate says Alexis never thought of going to City and Arsene Wenger says they were never even close to any deal.

  36. Samuel Akinsola, now imagine a journalist referring to you as mediocre because you posted twice when others have succeeded in posting only once….. ?

  38. “Once you can accept the universe as matter expanding into nothing that is something, wearing stripes with plaid comes easy.”

    ― Albert Einstein .

    Or that football is fixed and run by crooks , and being ruined by the media.

  39. Those who are defending the British Press for its anti-Arsenal FC agenda probably know more than those of us who suspect them of it, do. I wish it was not so but alas even the link from Polo confirmed our suspicion further. Why is it so?

    Some old guy accuses an AFC player of ‘nicking a living’ without any shred of evidence and the British Press goes to town with that slanderous comment!! Rather than call the commentator to order what we got to hear we’re more embellished forms of the same comment. Why?

    AFC and its manager must be doing some things right hence the level of opposition and attempts at detraction and sullying the Club’s good name. AFC should stay course and refuse to be cowed into submission by the bad Press it gets.

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