This focuses on “an extremely morose, middle-aged Conte” telling reporters that they offered exactly what was asked for Luis Díaz but the player didn’t want to come to Oh So Very New White Hart Lane.
And why was that? Maybe it was because of Daniel Levy who is not everyone’s idea of a nice man to work for (although of course, I have no personal experience). Just as maybe players don’t want to come to Arsenal because of what the media and the Anti-Arsenal Arsenal say of the team and the club.
The story is based around the fact that “Manchester City were prepared to offer Riyad Mahrez, Gabriel Jesus, Raheem Sterling and Bernardo Silva in exchange for Harry Kane. In the six months since publication, three of the four City players rumoured to be part of the job lot the club was prepared to sacrifice have scored more top-flight goals than the striker Tottenham fought so hard to keep in the summer.”
And yes we can all have a jolly laugh at that, but then we also know that fortune telling is not a science.
But then again, tucked away in the article comes the admission I don’t remember seeing in any Guardian piece about Arsenal.
“Of course it behoves us to note there is no guarantee that the reported details of this potential summer mega-swap deal were even remotely true…”
And later, “The torrents of bullshit which permeate and pollute each transfer window are now at such levels they rival the amount of effluent British water companies were recently discovered to dump into our coastal seas.”
Which is particularly amusing since the man writing this piece is also responsible for the paper’s Rumour Mill feature.
For this is Barry Glendenning, the deputy sports editor of the paper’s website – a man known for not being able to remember the various publications he has written for in the past. (It’s a tough one isn’t it Barry – I know how you feel).
Today he speaks of “mushroom clouds of rumours, counter-rumours, fan dissatisfaction and frenzied media speculation which plume over our biannual transfer windows increasingly seem to be generated by armies of journalists, broadcasters and In The Know fans often writing or talking about what they not only don’t know, but can’t possibly know. And all for the benefit of audiences who treat each new dollop of tittle-tattle and tell-all with healthy scepticism despite really wanting to believe it is true.”
And I’m with him all the way up to that bit about treating it all with “healthy scepticism”. Because I constantly come across people who seriously do believe that Arsenal FC is run by incompetent idiots while the rest of the Premier League is run by people who know what they are doing.
Besides Mr Glendenning calls the transfer chatter, “harmless nonsense”, which I suppose he has to do since he seemingly produces some of it. And that’s where I disagree. You only have to read some of the comments on this site, or watch AFTV or listen to TalkSprout, or see some of the ravings from Arsenal Supporters Trust about the directors having their hands in the till, to know that a lot of people believe this.
The fact is that some people really do believe that their club could do much better if only the director of football and others could see what they, the fans, so readily can see, and would act accordingly, then we’d be ok.
But that then makes me think, if these people really do know how to run a club, why don’t they do it?
I mean, there are loads of non-league clubs out there who could do with a chairman who really knows how to run a club and which players to sign. At least the people who set up Dial Square FC did what they believed in and are now second in the Guildford & Woking Alliance League Premier Division. I criticised them when they got all their history wrong when setting up the club (and it was all there in books and on line – they only had to look it up) but at least they went off and did it, and good for them.
But others just complain and complain, and become journalists. Or pontificators. And there is something a bit odd about that.
I guess it is time to put the transfer window to bed (even though some of the media want to keep it running, as with stories such as Four free agent bargains Arsenal can still sign after transfer deadline day disappointment which has just emerged from the Express. Not to mention Club chief thinks Arsenal & Man Utd target already has transfer agreement in place for next season which 
“But that then makes me think, if these people really do know how to run a club, why don’t they do it?”
Tony if you really believed what you wrote there, you would have been FIFA president, fa chairman, Liverpool, Man City, Man utd etc owner, media mogul, pgmol chief, CAS chief justice and so many other things too numerous to mention
Ukp
How did you know what I was thinking