By Billy the Dog McGraw
The game was to find all the silly words and phrases that blogs use instead of English when talking of transfers, and then put them into one sentence. The words and phrases we took were
- splash cash
- linked
- target
- race
- switch
- chase/ chasing
- eyed
- hit man
- shot-stopper
- swoop
- reportedly
- closing in
- the lad (we couldn’t get that in however)
- troubled
The semi-meaningless headline is the best we could do.
Players related to all these phrases include (and this is today’s news only)…
Arsenal are going to make a summer swoop for Juventus’s highly-rated duo Fabio Quagliarella and Alessandro Matri.
The Daily Express said Arsenal are closing in on Montpellier midfielder Younes Belhanda.
Rather interestingly “Arsenal to be surprisingly snubbed in quality defender chase?” wasn’t one of ours but came from TalkSprot. Who also told us that Arsenal “will be snubbed” by FC Basel for Aleksander Dragovic, as he is going to to Everton instead.
This is rather amusing since it shows in full the Talksprot “Winston Smith” approach (named after the hero of “1984” who had the job of re-writing false news in old copies of the Times – a job that continues even today). So the Sprot tells us that Arsenal are going after talented youngster Herbivore Maneater, and then tells us that Arsenal has been “snubbed” and he has instead gone to AFC Bournemouth.
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Another jollity in the rounds of nonsense is the insistence that Barcelona goalkeeper shot stopper number 1 Victor Valdes may be (or is) moving to London.
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Arsenal have opened chit chats with the agent – which usually signals the death knell of any transfer, for it means that the paper using the Sprot method sets up something, and then says that Arsenal’s meanness means that the player won’t come as we fail to offer the right priced house free for his mother in law. The fee is £4.25 million (for the player, not the mother in law.)
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Arsenal losing players to rivals through incompetence and meanness is the stuff the summer papers are made of. And in such a story we found “French moneybags Monaco” which arrived on the scene so late we didn’t have a chance to do much with it. Anyway, Les Bags D’argent are in a “race” and have joined us and others to sign “highly-rated” Isco in the summer transfer chimney, sorry “window” from “troubled” Malaga.
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“He is believed to be” (ie we have never heard of him before either) “among one of Spain’s best emerging talents and won the Golden boy away for 2012 back in December.”
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Oh and of course because this today has the word “day” in it we have a Wengerian story. “Wenger, who has not yet signed a new contract with Arsenal.” Learn it by heart because you will hear it several times a minute in the coming months.
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More: “His current agreement expires in 2014 and the Frenchman is not certain what the future holds.”
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Oh and “Arsenal’s last successful competition was in the FA Cup in 2005 where they managed to win against United.” (Managed?)
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“His transfer policy is another big issue, which has not brought any established names to Arsenal in recent seasons”. Err? Really? No one in the Spain team then.That bastian of made up stories with words of two syllables, The Sunday Times says its Wenger out and Joachim Low in.Oh and watch out for the anti-German sub-plots as London prepares for a German invasion for the Champions League Final. But that’s for next week I guess.Did I just start two paragraphs with “Oh and”?
“His transfer policy is another big issue, which has not brought any established names to Arsenal in recent seasons”. Err? Really? No one in the Spain team then.That bastian of made up stories with words of two syllables, The Sunday Times says its Wenger out and Joachim Low in.Oh and watch out for the anti-German sub-plots as London prepares for a German invasion for the Champions League Final. But that’s for next week I guess.Did I just start two paragraphs with “Oh and”?
Recent posts
- Calciopoli in England: the evidence.
- Deducting points, a coin throwing player, and premeditated crime by a corrupt system
- Match Review: Howard Webb – West Bromwich Albion Vs Arsenal (1 – 2) [06/04/2013]
- Calciopoli – Can corruption happen in the PL? – Part 3
The books…
- Woolwich Arsenal: The club that changed football – Arsenal’s early years
- Making the Arsenal – how the modern Arsenal was born in 1910
- The Crowd at Woolwich Arsenal FC: crowd behaviour at the early matches
- Royal Arsenal: from the Common to the Manor. Coming next.
The sites from the same team…
- Referee Decisions – just what are the refs up to this season?
- The Arsenal History Blog from the AISA Arsenal History Society
Not splashing cash on Valdes would be the one thing I’d easily forgive Wenger for.
Where is the word shot-stopper in the headline??? 😉
Oh and I stopped reading after that by the way. That is a line that always does it nice in the comment section.
Oh and nice to mention AFC Bournemouth by the way. They are my third local from a distance team since a few months. They won promotion to the championship by the way.
Oh and it’s contagious…
lol…..i thought you guys actually had a lead on an exclusive. didnt know it was mockery dipped in sarcastic sauce! oh and brilliant by the way.
Anybody would think it was the press running the club and playing the games for the amount of blame they take for the clubs failings.
You haven’t heard of Isco? tut tut…..
I have to confess that to say that Arsenal “managed” to beat Man Utd in the 2005 FA Cup Final is a fair description. We were totally outplayed for 90 minutes and for 30 minutes extra time. We “managed” to win the penalty playoff.
Perhaps Wenger could go and assist one of the German managers for a couple of years. Then he would learn about balancing attack / defence and technique / power and in possession / out of possession. He could also be taught how to vary TACTICS according to opposition and circumstances ?
Thank you. I had a great laugh. The sad thing is how so many form their opinions based on these write-ups.
Yeah Chris maybe you could remind us how many times those German managers won the CL with their German clubs recently.
To give you the answer so you don’t have to look it up: the last German team to win the CL was Bayern Munich in 2001!
But don’t let that stop you from getting carried away by the flavour of the day…
If you’ve not heard of Isco I suggest opening your football horizons and watching something besides the Premier League.
-His lack of tactical nous must be why Bayern Munich president Uli Hoeness had this to say…
“From Japan he went to Arsenal and over the years, whenever we were looking for a new coach, Wenger was always one we considered. He’s a very serious person, very strong and has a very good idea about the game. There have been a few moments where we have discussed his name over the years.”
“He has always remained loyal to Arsenal which is fantastic behaviour. But it is true we wanted him at Bayern a few times.”
-And his destroying the club must be why Johann Cruyff (the reason for Barca’s rise) had this to say
“I cannot even imagine the board or the fans would ever think for a moment of putting [Wenger’s] position in doubt.I find it incredible that Arsenal have stayed at the highest level of European competition and England under his management without ever ending up in debt. People do not realise the achievement of this manager at Arsenal. Wenger will always bring the club back to the top.”
“How many clubs in Europe can say they have qualified for the Champions League for 16 consecutive seasons under the same management? Arsene Wenger has put his life and soul into Arsenal.In 15 years, I have not seen him make any irresponsible purchases in the transfer market.That is why the work of Arsene Wenger at Arsenal is the prime example for every club in Europe.”
Clearly Hoeness and Cruyff don’t know what they are talking about 🙂
yeah Shard, what do they know about football…. 😉
Shard
You off on one again?
Yes and we all listen to what Uli Hoeness has to say by all account he has just been caught with his hands in the till.
Wenger has done ok at Arsenal 7 trophies in 17 years is ok but not more than that.
We have finished in the top4 for ever but he has alwayd had a wage bill in the top4 so has only really broke even in terms of sucess.
He is good but not the irreplaceable genius you seem to think he is. He had done good things and bad things and fans are entitled to ask question of the mistakes they feel he continually makes.
Ask questions and raging away without looking at a broader picture are different things. Off one one? What is that supposed to mean? I’m not allowed to voice my opinion? Why? In fact, that isn’t even my opinion, that is simply a copy paste of opinions of persons who have run some very successful football clubs.
Trophies are ONE measure of success. Not the ONLY measure. Wenger has done exceptionally well.While wage bill is an important indicator showing strong correlation with league finish (and that is the reason Wenger prioritises wages over transfer spend), it is also important to have a transfer spend, especially over a number of years, since that suggests that you are building on a side rather than always restoring it. In any case, if you want to focus on only wage spend, then you have no cause to complain then do you? We are where we should be. So why the angst?
As for Hoeness. What does Hoeness’ alleged tax evasion have to do with his opinion on football matters? He’s saying Bayern Munich tried to sign Wenger several times. Is that not a legitimate point to bring up when someone says Wenger ought to be understudy at one of the German clubs?
Stop assuming and pre-supposing ‘mistakes’ and errors, and look at the reasoning that MIGHT exist behind a decision. Nobody is perfect. Not all decisions which are good at the time, work out as good in practice. Because decisions have to be taken within a certain timeframe, and with only a certain amount of knowledge to guide them.. Things might make a lot more sense to you if you actually think why something happened rather than just worry about why they aren’t better. That might actually lead to some actual proper constructive suggestions as well..
Take for example my advice to sperez to do a calculation of the wage structure at Arsenal and see how he’d like it restructured. That would be constructive, and would not pre-judge an outcome. If there is a better way to align wages that Arsenal can undertake, I’m sure they would be as interested as anyone to know. But that takes thought and effort. Something most ‘supporters’ aren’t arsed to put in these days. Raging and criticising is far easier.
The thing is that in the rest of the world people look to Arsenal and look to what Wenger has done even in the years with no trophies. And they still think that in the long run the way Wenger and Arsenal are doing it is the only real way to run a club in the long run.
I’ve heard a lot of European club directors using phrases like: “we want to do an Arsenal” or “We want to work the Arsenal way”. And those things are said in the last 2-3 years.
In Germany they think very highly of Wenger and the way he and Arsenal are working. I think that if they would want one English club to succeed it would be Arsenal. In Germany they know all too well what we have to stand up too and how we build our own stadium (they mostly had them refurbished for the world cup at the states expenses).
Maybe it is time some understand that the way Dortmund is working is in fact a copy of what Arsenal has been doing the last decade. The difference is that they don’t have sugar daddy clubs to compete with. We have 2 and one mega rich club (their Bayern Munich).
@Walter
True the similarities with ourselves and Dortmund are there.
What Dortmund have and are achieving did not happen overnight.
Like German football in the main, they have planned for the future and that takes time. Step backwards in the short term in order to progress forwards in the future. Short term pain for long term gain.
Who is Hoeness and Cruyf compared to your worldly arsenal fan spouting football ignorance all over the place??
please appreciate this write up for what it is.. JUST PLAIN OLD FUNNY! dont get all serious and examine every word. please people.
Yes and when was the last time Hoeness and Cruyff but there hand in there pocket to come down and watch Arsenal.
Off one one? Dont know what that means or where you got it from.
You normally like facts Shard? unless there facts you dont agree with it would seem.
We are all looking for ways to make things better or things that can help but we never get a straight answer from anybody.
Why didn’t Wenger start Arshavin in the cup Semi against Chelsea a few years ago? Do you know the answer to this?
Why did he give Denilson,Bendtner & Almunia such big and long contracts that we couldn’t get rid of them?
Why did he sell Song and say he wouldn’t replace him because he had Diaby who has played 80 games in 7 years.
very true Tasos. I have seen posts on forums from some critical of Wenger saying we need to be more like Dortmund!! Yes we do not yet have their level of success post stadium, but we are maybe up against more. But, we are sustainable, developing a youth structure, have a developmental manager that does not have to rely on the checkbook all the time. They lose good players all the time, but seem to manage and replace them. But I do think some of our fans could learn a thing or two from some of Dortmunds fans. Many now want Klopp replacing Wenger, I am sure come the day, he may well be worthy of consideration, but it strikes me as nothing more than the modern day attitude of see something shiny and new, must have it at all costs, and if this shiny new thing cannot be had for whatever reason, be the one to shout the loudest your woe, and unhappiness with what you already have on whatever form of social media.
@Mandy
Some people even believe simply signing £30m players solves all problems.
Perhaps they don’t follow German football?
B Dortmund’s current biggest signing is a massive £5m.
Gotta admire the Dortmund philosophy.
Should read “£15m”
Tasos,
So where’s your scouting system when there’s such quality talent to scoop up at 15M, or however low you want to set the bar? I agree they’re there to be had – but where was the trigger finger in the last two winter transfer windows. And speaking of fingers, are yours going to be attached to hands that would applaud the conquering heros in the guard of dishonour?
@Tasos – you are right. Borussia Dortmund and their brilliant manager spent 15 million pounds for their most expensive player.
Gervinho, Park and Santos combined fee = 21 million pounds.
Ilkay Guendogan, Marco Reus and Robert Lewandowski combined fee = 23 million pounds.
“Stop assuming and pre-supposing ‘mistakes’ and errors, and look at the reasoning that MIGHT exist behind a decision.”
Shard,
As we know, we can’t know the exact reasoning behind any decision taken or not taken. I’ve returned to our discussion of this point (which I was not wanting to open yesterday, but since the appetite for discussion hereabouts for the dishonour guard seems to have been overstuffed, I’m glad that we re-engage on this point back there:
http://blog.emiratesstadium.info/archives/28611/comment-page-4#comment-617591
Shard can reply for himself but I’ll give you my own answers on this Matt.
a) ‘Off on one’ is something you said in your last post.
b) Hoeness mentioned 15 years so I’m fairly certain it is a recent enough quote and they’d have tried again had Pep not accepted. As for not ‘visiting’ the Emirates… I’m not sure you need to do that in the modern world of phones, faxes, video conferences, Skype etc. Plus the fact that Guardiola himself admitted talking to Ferguson and AW before taking the Bayern job. So..I’d say AW is very highly regarded..still.
c) Not starting Arshavin could be anything from a clause in his contract to not starting against Chelsea that year, his overall fitness, an undisclosed injury or simply tactical. Could you on the same note..say for sure that we’d have won had AA played? 100%?
d) Long contracts to youth? Coz he hoped they’d stay and repay his faith and turn out to be good enough at the same time. Denilson did quite well IMO for a while but the AAA got him in the end and he wasn’t as strong mentally I guess. Diaby has had injury after injury thanks to Dan Smith. Almunia was a decent enough 2nd choice; you really don’t have that many awesome keepers around to keep 2 great keepers. In a nutshell.. these are just player decisions which any manager AW included will get wrong. Saying that since he got them wrong .. ‘he should go’… is not on IMO.
e) Song selling is weird..I admit. Again though I don’t know the reason. Could be his attitude, could be flushing the club of Darren Dein, could be he wanted to give Diaby and/or Ramsey a go, could mean anything. It’s similar to d) .. and Alex Song while a key player … was not totally irreplaceable either. Again… it’s a decision.. which we do not have all the facts for.
There you go. Shard can add to that if he wants or disagree with anything I said.
There is a perl module called Acme::Wabby, which can be fed a lot of source text, and it then compiles statistics on the text. Once that is done, you can have it “spew” text on its own, or you can suggest phrases to it, which may or may not allow it to “spew” something. I only had the patience to input half a dozen articles. But, some of the text I got was:
> Closing in the Emirates as I ve said before I still plenty of having turned their attention to question marks over his place in the Emirates at least 2-3 new stopper!
> Eyed the club that Wenger scouts have been agreed between Fiorentina another season to come to play?
> Race for around million and Alessandro Matri are both on the player having a club of Arsenal have plans to the rounds in the season in the cheaper option of…
> Linked with five games to Lukasz Fabianski picking up in another season to be an easier buy with his 25 league goals in the young Pole is still has cooled?
36 lines of perl follows, in case you want to try it out.
#!/usr/bin/perl -w
use strict;
use diagnostics;
use Acme::Wabby qw(:errors);
my $wabby = Acme::Wabby->new;
my $phrases = [
‘splash cash’,
‘linked’,
‘target’,
‘race’,
‘switch’,
‘chase’,
‘chasing’,
‘eyed’,
‘hit man’,
‘shot-stopper’,
‘swoop’,
‘reportedly’,
‘closing in’,
‘the lad’, # (we couldn’t get that in however)
‘troubled’,
];
# Put your corpus of text to study before the closing EOS
my $add_text = <add( $add_text );
foreach my $phrase (@$phrases) {
my $str = $wabby->spew( $phrase );
print “$str\n” if $str;
}
“Again… it’s a decision.. which we do not have all the facts for.”
Arvind,
Since, in the EPL, this is the given, the very precondition of all discussion, we are left with what we can decipher from the tea leaves, and also, what we bring to it via our life experience. Based on that, some of us try to marshall our best arguments; and whilst being more or less prone to give or withold the benefit of the doubt to the prevailing authorities. We can cite our specific instances of past and current decisions taken, and share/argue our various points. But until that distant day comes when there is more respect for the fanbase(s) and transparency rules (as opposed to the need to keep competitive trade secrets), we will be condemned to the joys and sorrows of one-eyed folk who argue with other one-eyed folk. And this does not mean that the truth lies in the middle. Imo, the only certainty is that there is no certainty. So, let the games continue… 🙂
p.s. I’ve got my one eye trained (a) on the dishonour guard (b) whether we finish in the CL (c) and most of all on the summer proceedings. That, above all, will go most of the way to decide whether anything EPL will have a place on my mindscape.
Yes, Bayern won the UCL in 2001, the last German team to won it, though they came close in 2010 and last season.
Anyway, how long has Wenger been ‘competing’ in the UCL ? How many trophies has he won ? Qualified for the UCL 15 years straight and came close to winning just once…Flavour of the day or not, I’d rather have Bayern stats in this competition.
Bayern is probably the best run-club in the world and they don’t have to sell their star players.
Dortmund sells their best players but they also replace them with quality players. They sold Kagawa – their best player of the last season – and replace him with a superior player, Reus.
That’s what I’m taking about… If Arsenal really have to sell their top players, they should replace them with players of similar quality and not average ones just for the sake of a few million.
Arsenal is 95% business and 5% a football club. That’s not a way to run a club. And a socialist wage structure makes things worse…
“If Arsenal really have to sell their top players, they should replace them with players of similar quality and not average ones just for the sake of a few million.”
Like it or not, this perception is widespread. Does anyone disagree with it? And if so, why? And, to me, the real question is whether we will be high-quality, at whatever the cost, because we need to and (it seems) can afford to.
p.s. that is, “whether we will be high-quality via this summer’s purchases….”
sperez,
when I say we came close to 2 league titles, to 3 or 4 FA cups and to 2 league cups and 1 CL trophy in the last seasons you will brush it away and say that coming close is no good. Or others like you will brush it away.
Yet Bayern coming close is good enough for you?
By the way I think we even got to a CL semi final also if my memory is still right.
Dortmund sold Kagawa and now are some 20 points behind Bayern. So something must have been wrong in your assumption they replaced him with higher quality as with him they won the league and the cup last season.
So what where you talking about?
This is very close to genuine headlines on newsnow, Billy the Dog!
@ AL
Song’s sale isn’t so hard to understand – Arteta was more or less doing Song’s job last season and Song was doing Arteta’s. Song’s head was turned by Barca’s interest and he had been agitating for a pay rise on and off all season (with three years remaining on his contract). He tried to give the club an ultimatum of pay rise talks by Sep 1st or transfer to Barca. (I got this info from an exculpatory article fed to a journalist by Song’s people after he had left, btw.) So I imagine that AW decided that he wasn’t worth the hassle. We had lots of midfielders, none of them was doing a purely defensive job anyway, and £15m was a lot of money for somebody who was not totally committed to the club.
So sorry – my earlier comment should have been addressed to Arvind!
FunGunner,
Since sourcing matters to some, who fed your article to whom? Wouldn’t you care enough to educate information-hungry people with real sourced-information, or do you like to drive by with insider trading secrets dropped from on high that only you can vouch for? More important, as you have and continue to endorse the move, was the defensive need actually filled by/since Song’s departure? Was the hassle-free zone a defensively-adequate zone? And, perhaps your sources will opine on whether zeroing out the transfer balance played any to any significant part in greasing the skids in the Song Affair (which you’ve now solved in a stroke, even as others debated it for months).
@ bob
When we had this discussion before, I linked to the article, which you clearly did not read. And calm down.
@ bob
I think Arteta’s performances, especially when alongside Ramsey, speak for themselves. His stats on tackling and interceptions also bear out subjective impressions. We have also conceded fewer goals and achieved (admittedly only at the beginning and end of this season) a defensive solidity which eluded us last season.
FunGunner,
Yes, yes, but your statistical parity just manages to miss (or erase?) that untidy middle passage where we rapidly fell out of contention for top honors, and that would be before the stroke of January.
And yes, I missed your link in my preoccupations in the real world. I’d appreciate if you’d fine time to provide it again for anyone, like me, who lack the index to jump to it to look into such case closed proclamations as you’ve offered.
FunGunner,
Apology accepted:)
Nice to see a side that hasn’t broken the bank(Dortmund, who have done things our way re new stadium & young squad) do so well against a side that represents everything that’s evil about money in football. It shows we DONT need £30m players to compete, but stability.
Oh and Walter, after watching the solid displays from both German teams over the last couple of games don’t you think we need more BFGs?:-)
@ bob
My point is that we have not lost out defensively by losing Song, have we? We were no worse than last year in the middle section of this season, and we have been better at the beginning and at the end. We have actually improved on goals conceded up to this point.
I’ll look out that Song article for you again – if you promise to actually read it this time.
@ AL
April 25, 2013 at 7:13 pm
“It shows we DONT need £30m players to compete, but stability.”
Absolutely. And we might finally have it this summer – building a squad will be a welcome change from re-building.
@ bob
FunGunner,
Yes, yes, but your statistical parity just manages to miss (or erase?) that untidy middle passage where we rapidly fell out of contention for top honors, and that would be before the stroke of January.
You mean I miss or erase something by mentioning it? That isn’t the usual meaning of “miss” or “erase”.
In any case we lost at the same stage in the Carling/Capital One Cup, FA Cup and Champions League last season and this season, with and without Song.
@ bob
Here’s the link regarding Song:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/arsenal/9487891/Arsenal-did-not-sell-Alex-Song-to-Barcelona-because-of-his-unprofessional-attitude.html
And here is the section backing up the remarks I made above:
“Alex Song was massively committed to Arsenal, he loved the club and was dying to sign a new contract,” a source close to Song told Telegraph Sport.
“We tried six times to renegotiate his contract. They kept saying it has three years to run. (The only reason to re-negotiate a contract is to get more money. I don’t blame him for wanting a rise, but nobody gets an extension with three years to go. If they didn’t want to make a special case for him, that also supports the idea that he was not thought to be indispensable.)
“They’d say things like ‘we’ll sit down in September, October,’ when at first they’d said it would happen in the summer.
Then Barcelona came in and yet Alex still said he wanted a new contract. When they said we’d all sit down on 1 September that was the final straw. (Because that meant he couldn’t be transferred in that window.)
“That shows disrespect to the player. Barcelona is a once-in-a-lifetime thing; you have to jump on that train when it comes.” (Not totally committed to Arsenal, not wanting to miss out on what he saw as a big opportunity.)
bob
Since we can’t know the exact reasoning, is the reason why I put the word ‘might’ in block letters.
“You normally like facts Shard? unless there facts you dont agree with it would seem.”
Yup, I like facts. I love facts. But what I will agree with is a level of reason and likelihood in analysis. Not looking at selective facts to simply reach a pre-determined outcome.
“We are all looking for ways to make things better or things that can help but we never get a straight answer from anybody.”
Simply put, you’re not entitled to one. You have some facts, and some what would appear reasonable assumptions. THINK!
“Why didn’t Wenger start Arshavin in the cup Semi against Chelsea a few years ago? Do you know the answer to this?”
No. I don’t. That’s kind of irrelevant don’t you think? Even if you don;t think, there are simply too many possibilities here. It’s impossible to know. (Read again the part where you’re not entitled to an answer)
“Why did he give Denilson,Bendtner & Almunia such big and long contracts that we couldn’t get rid of them?”
Again. how am I supposed to know? I know he obviously didn’t do it to burden the club with unwanted players. I do know that he was operating under condition where he possibly wouldn’t have the money to buy replacements, and thus didn’t want to lose the young players before they had a chance to move. By the way, all clubs have wastage in their squad. It’s in no way unique to Arsenal.
“Why did he sell Song and say he wouldn’t replace him because he had Diaby who has played 80 games in 7 years.”
Ummm.. Firstly, why do you take his media utterances as gospel. Please. Is it so hard to understand? What someone says in public is not necessarily their true thought. Secondly, maybe because he felt he could. Maybe he felt we’d be no better with Song in the squad, and could do more with 15m from the sale of a player (who might or might not have been committed to the cause) Once again, too many possibilities, and irrelevant to the larger point. It is not the fans’ job to micromanage.
Lastly,
“Off one one? Dont know what that means or where you got it from.”
I do know the meaning. I also know the meaning of ‘Do one!’.
Matt
Ok. I reread that, and it appears I made a mistake with that last sentence. I apologise.
Bu yes. Arvind got it right. I got it from your post at 11.50am
Arvind
I agree with all you say. Yes that Hoeness quote is from just before we faced them in the CL. Matt is just being a trial lawyer. If you can’t argue against/disprove what someone is saying, then attack first their reputation (caught with hand in the till), and then their credentials (when did they last come to the stadium). It’s equivalent to the internet meme… I am wearing a cat as a hat..You’re opinion is irrelevant.
Bayern beat barca by playing the way Germany has always played, high tempo, pressing all over the field, getting the ball forward quickly with lethal finishing. And dortmund won by playing as they always have under Jurgen Klopp, high tempo, pressing all over the pitch, getting the ball forward with lethal finishing. See the similarities, two German teams won by playing a very German style of football, not because their coaches decided to change the way they play to win their matches.
Bayern also improved their squad after lost the league to Dortmund twice in a row, but Dortmund bought a superior player, Reus. Now, Dortmund has a good chance of winning the UCL. Although they are 20 points behind Bayern in the league you cannot blame them for trying. Yes, they’re trying. Many thought they would finish in 4th this season some months ago, but they managed to climb the league table.
Well, Bayern came close to winning the UCL in several occasions but they also WON THE UCL TROPHY (2001) while Arsenal under Wenger has qualified for 15 years straight and hasn’t won that damn trophy yet.
My point is Arsenal will never win the UCL trophy under Wenger. 15 years straight. Isn’t it embarrassing that a so called ‘top manager’ with so many opportunities hasn’t been able to win this competition once ?
Dortmund is not as rich as Bayern but at least they try to compete. Can you imagine Klopp settling for 4th best or telling his players they won’t be able to beat Bayern, City or Madrid because these clubs have more money? Unlike Wenger, Klopp doesn’t hide behind excuses.
By the way, once again Mourinho was embarrassed by Klopp.Can you imagine Wenger doing the same? No, it’s the other way around…
While you praise Arsenal for being a ‘well run club’ I say the objective at the club is to earn money and not trophies. It’s a business disguised as a football club. Wenger is more an accountant than a manager. And the fans are being fleeced…
Arsenal, a so called big club with a small club mentality. This really stinks to high heaven but the worst thing is the denial among some fans.
Weird how Wenger has beaten both of the mangers you mention within the last 2 seasons with all the shit players you keep bashing.
Basically, you haven’t got a clue what your on about, your just in a Wenger bashing spiral and can’t stop yourself.
Your boring. You know what your going to get from this site but you keep on coming. Weird little fucker aint ya.
Arsenal’s financial policy (not AW’s) has made a profit on transfers for the last 8 years. During this time our main competitors have made between half a billion and a billion transfer loss. Now Sperez, considering that, to keep the club in Europe during that time is Houdini standard management. You may not like it any more than I am bored of listening to you- but that has been the policy of the club until now. Moan at the board all you like but leave AW out of it. His performance will go down as the greatest in PL and Euro club history. Winning stuff by spending a billion is easy. Plaiting sawdust is just a bit harder. Try praying for better times ahead. And if AW makes half a billion transfer loss in the next 5 years- and still wins nothing- join me. and thousands of others, moaning about it!
I think Sperez is missing the point – the club’s transfer profits stay in the transfer pot. The board does aim to make a profit for Arsenal Holdings but that profit is given to Arsene to spend. What is there to object to in that?
As to what he spends it on, salaries have shot up across the board and so the wage bill has increased very significantly as a proportion of turnover in the last five or six years. And the overall profit on transfer dealings averages out at about £4m-£5 million a year, which isn’t a massive amount when you consider how much players are paid and how much it can cost to buy them.
FunGunner,
First, on your RVP certainties about his absolute rights vs. our absolute non-rights, please do bear witness what Adam produced in discussion with Shard and I here: http://blog.emiratesstadium.info/archives/28611/comment-page-4#comment-617827
Do you have evidence that counters Adam’s reading of the situation? Does your inside lawyer connection know differently?
FunGunner,
Many Thanks for the link back to the article. I’ll have time next sometime late Friday, as obligations now strangle me. I’ll resurface with my usual tact and have another round or two with you.
Sperez :
“My point is Arsenal will never win the UCL trophy under Wenger.”
Care to tell us how you know this?
Unfortunately Doanythingformoney spending millions is how you win the big prizes. Arsenal could still win the FA Cup but for now the CL and League are way beyond us. And Walter I don’t recall us coming close to winning an FA Cup in recent seasons. You have to be in a final to come close.
If Dortmund do win the CL then they have bucked the spending trend but then you have to ask yourself that if they can do it why can’t we? They have spent far more wisely than us it would appear. Lewandowski seems to be a far more effective striker than any player we’ve got. Maybe he’s just having a great season and our strikers are having so so ones. So if Dortmund can find good players for under 15 million why aren’t we? City and Chelsea missed these players, why did we? I’m sure there could be numerous reasons.
Wenger will not be seen as a great manager until he wins the CL, especially as he’s had numerous attempts. But to be fair to him he’s only had a team capable of winning it for the first eight or nine years of his tenure.
@Arvind, the AAA destroyed Denilson. What proof is there of that? Total nonsense.
And btw most comments on here are opinions, not facts. Nothing wrong with that, it’s what keeps us all arguing for hours.
@Stuart, nobody knows if we’ll win the CL under Wenger but I’m fairly sure we won’t. He hasn’t got the players to do it yet and I doubt he’ll buy the ones he needs to to win it.
In fact I doubt we’ll win another trophy under AW. I’ve been saying this since we lost the CL final. It’s nothing you can prove, just an unpleasant gut feeling.
Care to bet me £100 we’ll not win the league until at least 2019?
What is it with people these days? Nothing can occur in the world of football without it becoming an excuse to berate Arsenal and Wenger.
Dortmund winning the CL would be a good things for all football fans. They play enjoyable football, they’ve gone about building their CLUB (not just their team) the right way (including spending years in the wilderness), and are possibly having their last push before this team gets broken up and they have to rebuild. We should enjoy it while we can.
Somebody doing well, especially in vastly different circumstances, is no reason to go all chesty-beaty about how woeful your situation is. (especially when it isn’t even true) That’s petty, and it’s pathetic that anyone would use that as a way to pour scorn on something they claim to love. Bet they tell their wives how ugly they are because they aren’t like **enter current favourite female celebrity here**
Dortmund win the CL, Arsenal suck
Bayern buy Gotze, Arsenal have no ambition
Juventus win their league, Arsenal suck etc etc…
This is what I meant yesterday by pre-supposing mistakes.. The only way such anger can be explained is if people think we have a divine right to be in that position and the only reason we’re not is because the people in charge make mistakes, or don’t want to be. That is idiocy beyond belief, and I’m getting sick of this so called ‘winning attitude’ or ‘ambition’ or whatever self serving description you want to apply to it.
@Shard, yes they do play enjoyable football. Faster and much more lethal than our style I’d argue.
I hope they win the CL.
I’m not pouring scorn on anything, just wondering why if they can do it then why can’t we?
Maybe because their team hasn’t been ripped apart year on year by oil clubs within their league? We competed perfectly well with ManU, even though ManU always had vastly superior resuorces (as Dortmund are doing with Bayern)As far as I can remember, the only important player they lost was Nuri Sahin to Real Madrid, and he’s back on loan with them now.
@Shard, well we only lost one key player to Chelsea and one key player, I’d argue to City, and the effects are always hard to measure. Probably we can assume that they haven’t been beneficial!
But I was merely wondering that despite City and Chelsea’s wealth they didn’t pick up on these players at Dortmund and let’s face it football is global so you’d think they’d have them on their radar. So maybe we could have swooped for one or two of their players. Yes I know it’s not as simple as that and one has to take into account many factors. Just musing on it, that’s all.
Shard
What you think oil money doesn’t reach to Germany? Oil money will buy good players wherever they are.
I think it’s fair to say if somebody is a fraudster that i would not trust what they do or say in other area’s of there life, would you?
We are happy to sell our players that’s the difference than with other clubs we let them run down there contracts in order to be able to sell with an excuse.
@Shard
April 26, 2013 at 9:15 am
“What is it with people these days? Nothing can occur in the world of football without it becoming an excuse to berate Arsenal and Wenger.”
I really admire your restraint, trying to have a reasoned conversation with people, like Rupert and dear Matt at 9:51 am.
I think the problem is the media (English media, really) has an agenda against Arsenal and Arsene Wenger. Day in, day out, I hear of these battles on twitter (I’m not a member) and see them on blogs. Logical and objective supporters vs illogical, media-fed ‘fans’. My conclusion is that some people are getting paid to post on blogs or run blogs and post on twitter, etc, to portray Arsenal football club and those associated with it in a negative light – and some people are just easily led along by the media.
Well worth musing over. Just not with the attitude that Matt carries (pre-judging and pre-supposing outcomes AND intentions)
Hmmm..Why wouldn’t the oiler clubs pick up on the talent at Dortmund?Let’s see.
Maybe they didn’t think the German league had major talent (yes, even with scouting networks their size, it is possible to overlook the obvious). Maybe they tried, but since German clubs are largely profitable and have no need to sell, were rebuffed. (German clubs not competing with oiler clubs in their own league also helps them keep their wages down, and gives them more hope of competing by holding on to a player) Maybe German players aren’t that inclined to move to another country, especially when they are young.
Can you think of anything else rupert? Could be a lot of factors. Who knows?
What I do know is that we’ve not had a stable team for years now. The only years we did have some squad stability, our performances were much improved. I know that this lack of stability is largely not by choice, but by necessity. And I believe the lack of stability has been a major factor in us not being right at the top, and I find it creditable that despite such issues we are where we are, and for that, I praise the manager.
Matt
You still haven’t explained what you meant by me being ‘off on one’.
Sav
I’m quite sure that your conclusions are correct. I’ve seen how propaganda works. It’s just surprising in this case because I’d never seen it applied to any sports team ever. But there definitely is a lot of propaganda involved in the narrative of Arsenal. It can’t be by accident.
We’re all affected by the media. Even people (like us) who don’t necessarily accept what the media says. Even to argue against it, you need to accept their world view, since they have an inherent logic. And that world view is itself wrong.
Consider the basis of this whole ‘argument’ and noise around Arsenal. The real basis is the media set agenda about trophies being the be all and end all of a club. That itself is wrong and in fact should be the sole point we stick to, since everything else in this discussion flows from that erroneous ‘axiom’. But we don’t. We talk about the stadium move, the lack of squad stability, the referees, all of which are true, but inherently accepting of the argument that trophies are more important than simply watching the game with the sense of belonging and tribal togetherness with a certain group of players and supporters.
Shard
I meant are you on your soapbox again trying to convert us non-believers into believers.
If by soapbox you mean having a digital platform to voice one’s opinion, then I think we’re all on one. You don’t go off on a soapbox though, do you?
@ bob
I don’t think I referred to Webster in that context. Webster is relevant in the sense that it is another weight tipping the balance of power in general towards players and away from clubs.
It is Article 17 of the FIFA transfer regulations which gives a player the right to terminate his contract unilaterally once the protected period is over, if he gives notice and compensation is paid to the club. I don’t know whether Robin invoked it (my *guess* is he did not, as I suspect it might reduce the money a player can claim from the new club), but knowing that Article 17 exists and can be invoked is enough to give the player the power to impose his will. When Arsene says, as he did in the cases of Nasri, Cesc and RvP, that “we do not master” the situation, he is referring to the fact that their contracts are outside the protected period.
In any case, if a player is so determined to leave, what is the point of keeping him? We don’t need passengers (like Cesc in his last season) or players playing for themselves (Nasri in his last half season), or players who announce to the world that they have no faith in the manager and their team-mates (RvP).
@ Shard
What is it with people these days? Nothing can occur in the world of football without it becoming an excuse to berate Arsenal and Wenger.
You got that right! 🙂
@ bob
And by the way the family friend is an agent, not a lawyer.
Shard
“What is it with people these days? Nothing can occur in the world of football without it becoming an excuse to berate Arsenal and Wenger.”
I couldn’t have put it any better. Anything has to end on AW’s doorstep in these people’s minds, what kind of thinking is that?????? Depressing.
Matt, and what exactly are you trying to do? Other than trying to convert us?
And Shard your words:
What is it with people these days? Nothing can occur in the world of football without it becoming an excuse to berate Arsenal and Wenger.
One of the best summing up of the whole situation!
Walter
Hahaha..Frustration brings out the writer within me 🙂
You guys take thing far to seriously and i wasn’t attacking you Shard just being a little toungue in cheek. Be careful on that digital platform you could catch something nasty standing on that for to long.
I dont give a monkeys what you think Walter and dont want to convert you as you are beyond repair. i am just on here debating the good and bad of Arsnal football club.
“Be careful on that digital platform you could catch something nasty standing on that for to long”
Is that a threat?
You think i make idle threats sitting behind a computer screen? I can assure you that is not me.
Do you understand the concept of humour and messing around?
Oh so you were joking… All along right? You don’t actually believe that Arsenal ‘lack ambition’ or any of that other crap? Phew..
No..I’m afraid your brand of ‘humour’ is lost on me. Maybe what you think is your tongue in your cheek is actually your foot in your mouth? That type of humour can be painful. For all concerned.
No i still think Arsenal lacks ambition is being managed by somebody way past his best.
Doesn’t mean because we dont agree that we cant have a laugh with each other.We also dont need to be offensive of aggresive to each other although i would seem you struggle with the that.I guess your all or nothing in that respect.
I would advise that you calm down a little bit and try to find some fun in your life.
I have fun with fun people..
You should learn that you can’t force laughs. If that was an attempt at being friendly, it was a poor one. Although I have doubts about that, it is something I shall consider was genuine if you say so.
A word of advice right back at you..While making jokes, especially the non obvious jokes, in written form, on a soapbox such as this, try and add some 🙂 or 😀 or any other emoticon to convey your feelings
And yes.. I am, in some ways, a person of strong likes and dislikes. At the moment, I don’t think you come in either category.
@Shard, I’ve no idea why Dortmund kept their players but your points all crossed my mind. And I think Wenger said that it’s the German and Spanish leagues that are producing the best players hence his buying Monreal and Cazorla. I think he should aim for a high profile German to inject some of that never say die attitude many German players seem to possess.
On another note I’ve no idea why some people revel in being hostile to others just because they disagree with someone’s opinion. I don’t think it’s sacrilege to state that Wenger’s taken Arsenal as far as he can. But for all that I’d still like to see him pick up a trophy or two even if costs me money. Speaking of which there’s still no takers on my £100 bet that Arsenal won’t win the league before 2019 except Adam. I thought everyone had faith in Wenger.
A lot of you people talk a good fight but you won’t put your money where your mouth is.
Shard you’ve given me your reason for not taking up the bet and I respect that.
@Rupert
You talk a good fight yourself.
Rupert Cook
March 6, 2013 at 10:38 am
I’d be amazed if we finished above Spuds. Fourth place, no don’t see it. We are far too inconsistent. A few years ago I’d say we had an easy run in but with our current team I can’t see many easy fixtures. Swansea and Fulham away, tough. Even QPR will be hard. Anyone can beat us as Bradford and Blackburn have proved.
Rupert Cook
March 6, 2013 at 11:07 am
I think right now AVB is a little more astute than Wenger and I suspect even if Spuds do implode it won’t be significant because we are far from convincing enough to win all the necessary matches to ensure fourth.
With predictions like that, I’d take more care with My hard earned cash.
@Tasos, take the bet up then.
And btw we haven’t finished fourth yet so I’d be careful with your smugness.
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/robin-van-persie-sounds-death-knell-for-once-rich-rivalry-between-arsenal-and-manchester-united-8585331.html
There’s something to get you all foaming at the mouth. Oh well I guess we’ll win the league one day after Fergie’s retired and the world’s run out of oil.
Not smug. In fact, I don’t know why I’m doing it but I’m trying to help you.
Predicting the future might not be your thing. As the past results have shown.
BTW Bravado doesn’t suit you either.
FunGunner,
Please clarify for me if Webster a clause in Article 17?
In any case, in Adam’s reading of it, you are wrong. In Adam’s reading of Webster (does it apply or not?) the player cannot willy nilly declare separation and tear up the contract. He needs to show cause, and, in RVP’s case, there was no cause. As to the point of keeping a wantaway player, you don’t have a clue about playing hard ball. Mancini did it with Tevez and Balotelli and they won a championship. If you want a purity-based championship, you’re in the wrong arena. If you want a seeming purity-based fourth place finisher, we’ve got that. For some that’s not enough. That’s the point.
meant to say: If Webster is a clause in Article 17 or not.
@Tasos, take up the bet. Then you can actually prove your faith. Or maybe you haven’t any.
Oh btw I haven’t done too bad on predicting things. Back in 2007 I bet a friend we’d never win another trophy under Wenger and I seem to be doing ok.
I just wish I’d lose the damn bet!
Anyway I’d rather have a £100 bet that if Arsenal did win the league before you said, I predict you would disappear faster than a fart in a fan factory.
@Tasos, don’t slur my name. If I make a bet I stick to it. You wriggle out of it if you like. I thought you’d like to show how much faith you’ve got but as usual it’s all words.
Besides why should I place a bet on something alien to My beliefs.
Man Utd have the EPL sewn-up for years to come.
We might as well start the season by giving them a guard of honour and then we can all play out the 38 games to find out who is the best team. I’d rather that than the charade we currently have.
Excuses, always excuses. Manu haven’t got anything sown up, it’s just that they have the balls to spend the money on a great player every now and then while we sell ours.
Yeah right!
@Rupert
FYI
Man Utd winning the League has won Me a tidy sum this season.
Why? Because I think they’re the best team? No, they’re not even the second best team in My book.
But they get help. They’re guided towards the top.
But you can believe whatever you like Rupert.
Well if the league is so corrupt why bother? I don’t see the point of people like you moaning about corruption and still following the league. Go and follow a sport that isn’t fixed.
Seeing as Manu have not won every league title in the last few years they’re obviously not doing a good job in the old corruption lark.
Yes there maybe some bias refs and there are definitely some bad refs but please don’t be so dumb that you think Manu have bought and paid for their success off the field. They’ve done it by buying decent players and keeping their best ones. Most teams in the league this year have been way off Manu when it comes to being consistent.
It’s petty jealousy that inspires a lot of this conspiracy nonsense. They’re the better team, just get over it.
Oh and who is the best team?
Man City are the best team this season. Chelsea second.
@Rupert
I was waiting for it and you failed to let Me down
“The conspiracy theory”
Wow! I could’ve won loads on predicting that outcome.
Really, what if we finish above Chelsea?
In my book it’s been a poor year. Manu are streets ahead of most clubs but next year I expect Chelsea to be Manu’s main challengers.
You’re just a sore loser. I blame Wenger for this. When we were winning things he was always gracious and gentlemanly but since we’ve been also rans he’s become a little bitter and prone to childish antics. It seems to be contagious as many supporters are displaying similar symptoms.
If we finish above Chelsea, as we did last season, we’d have overachieved under Wenger yet again but I very much doubt he’ll receive any credit from some people.
Sore loser?
Where did I say we deserved to win anything.
I don’t like Man Utd winning this league because it has little to do with sport, or what sport should be.
Its not spontaneous, its pre-ordained, predictable as I have proved by placing a bet on the outcome.
Maybe Ferguson was inspired by Brian Glover in the film KES.
Maybe this is was the blueprint for all our officials in Premier League.
http://youtu.be/dP66T8ktiTA
And so ManU’s ‘soft power’ grows
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2315150/Anthony-Fry-appointed-new-chairman-Premier-League.html
@Tasos, are you going to place a bet on them winning the league next year?
You winning a bet doesn’t prove anything.
@Rupert
I’m not attempting to convince you or anyone.
I fully understand that’s a complete waste of My time.
Place a bet on Utd Next year? who knows?
@Shard
So the new Chairman of the Premier league just happens to be a Man Utd fan.
What were the odds on that happening?
PL chairman, FA chairman, FA Vice chairman, and we all know about Mike Riley and the PGMOL anyway..
The only surprise is that the media actually covered it in those terms.
@Shard
Are you inferring a “conspiracy theory” here? LOL
Whatever the real reasons behind all these appointments, the bottom line is public perception. It doesn’t look healthy on English football.
I agree completely Tasos.. But as long as the money keeps flowing in, public perception won’t matter to them. It’s not like these facts are likely to sway those that don’t believe in ‘conspiracies’, since they won’t be repeated continuously in the media in relation to ManU’s triumphs. (unlike the number of years being repeated in relation to our lack of triumphs)
ManU have definite influence in the corridors of power. That much is a reasonable assumption I think. It’s just a matter of how far will the use of this influence go. Anecdotal as well as statistical evidence suggests that already this goes a fairly long way.
@ bob
April 26, 2013 at 1:48 pm
FunGunner,
Please clarify for me if Webster a clause in Article 17?
The Webster court case involved a player who used Article 17. I realise that my previous answer could be confusing, but I wanted to distinguish between the regulation and the court case. See below.
In any case, in Adam’s reading of it, you are wrong. In Adam’s reading of Webster (does it apply or not?) the player cannot willy nilly declare separation and tear up the contract. He needs to show cause, and, in RVP’s case, there was no cause.
The Webster case was about the level of compensation due to his former club. Andy Webster was fined because of the technicality that he had not given notice. Article 17 absolves the player of the need to show just cause if the player is outside the protected period of his contract – he can terminate unilaterally if he compensates his club and gives notice. The amount of compensation due is an uncertain calculation and that could be why more players don’t openly invoke it – could be very expensive and their new club might baulk at covering it, thus reducing the amount they give the player. A more recent case awarded a much higher level of compensation than Webster had to pay, (while also confirming the right of the player to terminate under Article 17).
As to the point of keeping a wantaway player, you don’t have a clue about playing hard ball. Mancini did it with Tevez and Balotelli and they won a championship.
You have to factor in the personality and wishes of the individual player and how long he has remaining on his contract. Is it just more money he wants, more attention, more playing time, a different position? Would a loan spell satisfy him? Or does he genuinely want to leave? We didn’t agree to Fabianski leaving last summer, for example. We played hardball with Barca in the summer of 2010 with Cesc – his contract was still within the protected period.
AW put a lot of pressure on RvP, made it clear that we expected him to honour his contract, said there was no reason for him to leave, offered him a massive contract, etc. We didn’t make it easy for him to leave. But that was what he wanted and the law gave him the upper hand.
And we offered him to Juventus at a cut price, but he wasn’t having it. We did all we could.
@Rupert:
The AAA has although (without proof, true) certainly had an effect on numerous more sensitive players. The amount of booing that has gone on and scarily caught on by most clubs…is quite bad. There’s no telling what effect it will have on which player. I remember Eboue coming on as a sub once and then getting booed off as he lost confidence through the game. The crowds though ( a part anyway ) dis not seem to care and just wanted to vent. How is it possible to know how that affected the guy?
Similarly you have the Internet, and Facebook and Twitter and a million blogs many of which have comments like… ‘Aaron Ramsey is so fucking useless.. I hope he breaks a leg and never comes back’ .. and numerous numerous comments about any ‘non glossy’ player. The players are all young at 20 and 22 and who knows how much mental strength..who has… to be able to deal with the vitriol spouted by some beer swilling fool? It could affect them..right?
So no… I do not have proof but human psychology never was about that. The same problem can affect 2 different people in 2 totally different ways.
So yes.. Denilson for one may or may not have ever made it but the AAA certainly.. did not help. That much for sure. I hope that explains my stance.
@Arvind, I’m sure every club has fans who say the same things about players they perceive as rubbish. The internet is full of social forums with people saying unpleasant things. It’s amazing that anyone takes it seriously.
Sure every club has them. Doesn’t make it right, does it? Nor does it explain why for example: Eboue reacts more sensitively and is more affected than Lucas from Liverpool or Mikel at Chelsea.
They’re all still kids Rupert, do remember that. Some might have a fabulously thick skin and fair play to them. Some might not.
Either way, I see no benefit in making those comments which could potentially cause damage. Might as well shut up .. right? If you want your team to win, and you know a player “could” be affected by this, and he’d hence play poorly… and you need him to pull his weight if you’re to win… why say such crap?
@Arvind, don’t know why. I don’t wish any harm on any player not even RVP. In fact if people want to boo him on sunday I have no issue with it but I suggest they boo the people who sold him.
We rapidly seem to be turning into Spuds who booed Campbell because he left to win trophies. How many of our players have done that in the last few seasons?
It would be nice to enjoy a summer where we strengthen our team without selling our best players. I look forward to that as we’re now told we have lots of cash to spend.
That’s not the point I’m trying to make. Trophies, Spurs, best players selling, boo the board… I talked about none of that and maybe we can talk of that sometime later if both of us are interested.
I was responding to your point about “how” the AAA can screw with player’s minds which you said was nonsense..earlier in a post. That’s all.
bob
I think you’ll be interested in this
http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/arsenal-vs-manchester-united-van-1855695?
Beat me to it Shard : ). Was just coming on to post this
http://espnfc.com/news/story/_/id/1427083/michael-carrick-not-robin-van-persie-pfa-award
” I can explain to you what is around that story one day. I am sure that you will be much more comprehensive about it.”
Shard, Arvind,
Hopefully we shall hear the whole story “one day” as AW promises. I’d like to read/know this account, on a day when AW is far away from the politics of an immediate run-up to the next (dishonour guard/first return to the Ems) match. He didn’t have to be telling us then and there that, along with his words, was more to consider “around” this story. Btw, I didn’t hear these words on the Player pre-match interview, so I’d like to know, for full disclosure sake, just when/where this interview reported by the Mirror took place.
” I can explain to you what is around that story one day. I am sure that you will be much more comprehensive about it.”
Shard, Arvind,
Ok, just read the ESPN report of those comments and found it interesting that AW picked Carrick’s passing over RVP’s scoring for Player of the Year honors; and also interesting that ESPN does not include AW’s comments about a “more comprehensive” tale to tell us “one day.” That day will bring us together for a follow-up meeting, I hope, to further assess the matter. Until then… 🙂
bob
There is a seperately held (non televised) press conference generally held for the members of the print media. I’m not entirely sure that this exists but I’ve heard about it a few times when quotes surface a bit later, and I have absolutely no idea why this should be so, except maybe that it is a requirement under league rules.
@ Shard and Arvind
Thanks for those links, I will keep them handy.