Highlights: Arsenal – nothing to worry about. Football – everything to worry about.

 

• Everyone’s injured and Arsenal using the dark arts. 
• Arsenal v Bolton: football (but not as we know it), referees and Nic Anelka

By Tony Attwood

Of course, moving through a round of the League Cup with ease is nothing to be remembered – at least not normally.  No more than the fact that the next round is Preston v Arsenal.

But the ease with which Arsenal moved through and the style that they used while having their youngest ever player in goal (age 16 years and 72 days in case you didn’t catch the headlines) while having 17 year old  Ethan Nwaneri also making his debut – and then to add to the fun, scoring twice – made it s a night to remember.

The Bolton News gave most of their players ratings between 4.5 and 5.5 out of ten  except for Mcatee who got 6.5 and was judged unlucky not to score and Aaron Collins who got 7.0 for scoring “a goal he will never forget.”

So Arsenal have played seven so far this season, won four, drawn three and lost none, which is not too bad really.  For example, we might compare this with the mighty Tottenham Hots who have already lost two.   They are playing FK Qarabag Agdam in the Europa tonight so will have another chance of being defeated there. (Or indeed Liverpool who have lost one – to Nottingham Forest).

And we might note that although this was hardly prime opposition Raheem Sterling did score on his debut which is always a good sign.   Plus “Kai Havertz scores again.”

Meanwhile, Raya may not be fit enough to play in the Leicester game, but Neto was only missing for being cup‑tied so will be able to stand in.   

But elsewhere the talk is of not just who has won the legal cases being fought off-stage, but how much it is costing in legal fees.

As we predicted when all the shenanigans started, one of ManC’s weapons must be drawing out any case against them and any case they launch against the league .in order to bring enough other clubs to the edge of bankruptcy so that the League gives in not because it can win the cases but because it can’t afford to fight them.

And the big problem here is that the rule changes have not finished, and more changes are being imposed by Uefa.  ManC’s view seems to be that each one can be challenged in court and they can wear down Uefa financially as much as they have worn down the League so that in the end they run everything.

The new changes being opposed by Manchester City are known in the trade as “top to bottom anchoring” and ManC have managed to get Manchester United and Aston Villa to throw their hats in the ring on ManC’s side in this fight – probably (although of course I have no evidence on this) through ManC offering to pay the other clubs’ legal fees – something which is seemingly not illegal under Premier League rules.

“Top to Bottom Anchoring” is a system which links the amount of money that a top club can spend on players with the end-of-season prize money of the bottom side.   Meanwhile, a rebellion against the legal actions is growing, presumably exactly as ManC wanted, because of how much it is costing in legal fees.

So the question is will the owners of the big clubs like Arsenal give in and kowtow to the demands of ManC in order to stop bleeding money to lawyers?   There is a real short-term gain in doing this, as it stops the current cases and gets ManC to agree to no more legal action.  But it allows ManC to go on spending as much as they want, and thus in effect almost certainly having a monopoly over most of the trophies on offer (both in England and Europe).

What is most certainly clear is that ManC seem very unlikely indeed to give in on any case that they are fighting, and therefore will use their secondary weapon of bankrupting any club that repeatedly stands against them.

Which in turn takes us back to the only way out that the rest of the league, leaving aside those who have already caved in and are voting alongside ManC (Manchester United and Aston Villa, and possibly one or two others who might jump ship), is to resign from the League and form a new League.

This would of course mean dropping out of the European competitions, and it is also possible that ManC could “persuade” Uefa to ban players from playing from a breakaway league.   

For the moment given that there are no ways out that will satisfy everyone, this is looking like a gateway back into Super League – but without any City Group clubs.   It is a shame all the supporters groups and media opposed Super League so strongly, for if they don’t change their mind they may have dug the grave of football as a competitive sport, leaving City Group clubs as the winners – always.