by Walter Broeckx
I never knew there are so many mind readers and clairvoyants. And in fact they all have one thing in common: almost all of them are Arsenal fans. Or pretending to be.
In the last weeks I have seen people telling us what some people really think and what and why they do things or don’t do things.
It’s a very strange thing that people know what Cesc is saying and also what he is thinking. Now it could well be that they all are very close and personal friends of Cesc and that he tells them from person to person what he thinks. But well to be honest I don’t really think they are that close to him in fact. So if they say “Cesc has said……” without any reference, there is no reason to believe them and we can ignore them.
The only things we can be sure what Cesc really said is reading the match day program or arsenal.com or when you see him in a LIVE broadcast on TV. I like to point out that it has to be a live broadcast where no cutting is possible. I think you would be amazed how the TV can completely change an interview with just letting one word out. I once was next to someone being interviewed and when I saw it later on TV I could see the cuts because I knew what he had said word by word. So I must say I am very careful even with interviews on TV. And even more I am very careful when you don’t see the question asked but only the answer.
To give you an example : If Cesc would say as answer : “Yes I would love to go to Barcelona this summer”. But what was the question? Was it : “Do you want to go play football in Barcelona next summer?” or “After the world cup would you like to go on holiday to Barcelona?” So you have to be very carefully with wath you see and even than you can not be sure.
Another thing is that they can give the reason why Cesc is leaving us. I speak in this terms as those are the terms they mostly use. There is no doubt in their mind: Cesc is leaving. And why can they say that? Obviously, because they can read minds. When they see a picture of Cesc they know what he is thinking now. And after reading his mind they come on the internet and declare it as the truth.
So Cesc is leaving because Arsène Wenger refuses to buy. Another one is Cesc is leaving because we didn’t win anything. And how about Cesc is leaving because Wenger sticks to the useless players around him. Well I think you all have read the arguments if you have been on the internet the last weeks.
In fact the only thing I can be sure of is that those are not the thought’s of Cesc. In fact it are the thoughts from the one who is saying it and he just puts the words in the mouth or brain of Cesc. There is no way you can deny such things in fact. As we, well I certainly, cannot read other peoples mind. But also there is no way they can prove those things. We just have to trust them that they can read other peoples mind. So I think you can understand me when I say that I really cannot put any trust in their words. But they write it down as a fact, without any proof.
And once someone has written it down and if it is taken over by others it becomes even more a fact. Because the next person will tell you: I have heard from someone that…and then you fill it in as you like. Even more when somewhere along the line someone is using the words “I have heard from a reliable source….” And so the words gets spread and the rumours grow bigger and bigger. And the only thing they have as a result is that the confusion also gets bigger.
The danger is, like Tony has pointed out last week, that there are people on the internet who only are looking to create those things. Those few people with many email addresses who will do anything to create bad news and a bad atmosphere.
When we look at the statements they make we can also see that they mostly connect Cesc’s departure with the failure of Wenger. Or better said the results they consider to be a failure. It looks like they are projecting their hate against Wenger and using the possible departure of Cesc to settle their account with Wenger.
As we live in a free world it is a right to dislike Wenger. I have no trouble with that. There are also a few persons in this world I really do not like and that is also my right, so I cannot deny this right to other people. But if you don’t like Wenger just say so and talk about him. But don’t pretend that Cesc is leaving because of Wenger.
IF, and I am going to repeat it and in capitals to make it clear that I am talking in conditional mode, IF Cesc really want to leave us he will not do this because he has something against Wenger. The contrary will be the case. IF he will leave he knows that he would have to hurt Wenger by doing this. In the last years Cesc has openly declared on many occasions that he trusts Wenger and that he is very grateful for what Wenger has done for him. If you can believe what he has said the last day he once again expresses his great admiration for Wenger. So those who were reading mind and declared that Cesc was leaving because of Wenger they can eat some humble pie. Also in the past Cesc even mentioned some kind of father-son relation between them.
No I know that not all father-son relations stand the test of time. Most sons at a certain point leave home to build their own live. It is the natural way in nature. And most footballers are human so Cesc also.
IF, conditional mode, IF Cesc would leave us this summer I think it will be for other reasons. I don’t know what the reasons will be but it will be up to Cesc to explain them and not to some bloke on the internet who wants to get rid of the manager and hopes to use Cesc to cause upset among the fans. I think Cesc will cherish the relation he had with Wenger as it was Wenger who made Cesc to what he is know. It was Wenger who stuck out his neck and played the young Cesc when Vieira left. It was Wenger that gave him the chance to become a world class player and in other teams it is doubtful that he would have been given the chance at the age he got it at Arsenal. Maybe if he had stayed in Barcelona when he was 16 he would still have been in the youth team or in maybe in the reserves and maybe on the bench and maybe filling in when Xavi or Iniesta was injured and no one was left.
I’m not saying he is not good enough but there are not many managers out there who want to take a risk with a young player and stick with him and give him the chance to continue his learning process. And now when Cesc at the age of 22 has become the final product of Wenger’s work it would be hard to lose him.
And then we come up with the people who are reading the mind of Wenger. They just state it as a fact that even when Cesc would leave Wenger would not buy anyone to replace him. Is there any evidence for this? No. It is just them, again, reading the mind of Wenger and telling us what they read inside his head. And then we see the whole merry-go-round again of people who confirm this, state it as a fact and consider it as a fact.
I can only suggest to those people who pretend they can read minds and look in the head of other people to undergo a test in laboratory conditions to prove they can really read other peoples mind. And if they pass this test, fine with me I could give them credit but for the moment I can only ask by myself : what is the reason they do this? Why are they pretending they can read other peoples mind? Is it to cause upset? Is it to make them self look interesting? To me they are only people who are showing off but with nothing to show in fact.
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Commentary notes: If you want to comment please have a quick read of this, to make sure you comment is published.
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Uefa’s financial rules, what’s it all about
Nothing could be wrong in football
Our glorious and sometimes not so glorious past
Well said, Walter.
Reminds me of the old joke where the telegram should have said “Not getting any better, come home.” Instead it said “Not getting any, better come home.”
Everybody likes to be a pundit. That’s no problem if we speak only to friends who know we know no real facts. But when it’s public, there are plenty who will believe.
I HAVE NEVER KNOWN A SO-CALLED ARSENAL SITE THAT HATES THE ARSENAL FANS (AND BANS THEM FROM THEIR SITE WHEN THEY DO NOT SUPPORT THEIR VIEWS). ARSENE WENGER’S INVOLVEMENT IN THE TRANSFER MARKET IS RATHER WEAK, AND THAT IS A FACT. “LORD” WENGER MY FOOT.
Hi Walter
I am not sure if this whole saga is completely about cesc since around 2005 we have systematically lost every world class player we had: viera, Henry, now cesc and IMO we have lost better players than being replaced including petit, overmars,gilberto, flamini, edu and pires.
I think it is more frustration because cesc is the jewel in our underachieving got a complex against big teams team. Also we all believed Henry was staying and Henry was Mr Arsenal and you can tell by his reactions he loves arsenal. I honestly think it is a case of fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me.
May be I am wrong walter but the fans at arsenal have been lied to so much regarding transfers it is hard to believe anything and there is a lot of people who follow the faith of there is no smoke without fire. One thing is clear about Cesc interviews 6months to a year ago Cesc was saying I pledge my future to arsenal and I am in no hurry, now he is very coy
Gooner 80, I think your list is quite a revelation
Wieira has never been the man he was since leaving us – I mean on his first return to Arsenal Pires stole the ball from him for us to go on and score!
Henry wasn’t the man he was when he left – that final season was a painful reminder of what he once was and he has never hit the high spots in Barca.
Petit is my one doubt but he was prone to a recurrent injury, and there were doubts about him.
Overmars also only lasted a short while – and we got £22m for him which was utterly insane. He was good but not that good.
Gilberto is interesting because prior to his year long injury he was getting the Denilson treatment, but although he could still do when he left he was certainly slowing down and leaving gaps.
Flamini had two average years with us and then one good. Since leaving us he has spent his time as an occasional sub, and a replacement for the injured. It looks like he was a player of one great season.
Edu yes I would go with – but he left at the end of his contract for family reasons.
Pires – the following season after leaving us he was out for 95% of the season with an injury.
In fact one could make a better case by saying that we are actually rather good at spotting players who are entering their decline and it is better to move the player on for an inflated fee where possible, or avoid paying massively higher salaries (in Flamini’s case) than keeping these declining or injury prone players on the books.
A player who was great, and is in decline mostly expects still to be playing in the first team, and I think, is not a superb influence on the bench.
I can understand what you say gooner80.
And IF Cesc will leave he will have his reasons. But I would like to leave it up to Cesc to tell the true reasons why he has changed his mind.
And now I’m going to give a thing myself as what could have made him change his mind. But I don’t pretend this is the truth and nothing but the truth.
Let’s say the fact that he has seen another player from his team kicked to pieces and with again nothing done about it.
The fact that only a few weeks later, right under the nose of a world cup referee, his leg was attacked and it could have been broken at that moment and the ref did nothing about it. Not even gave a foul.
After the Ramsey incident he said enough is enough (or something in that style) and then he became the next victim. The ultimate crack came against Barcelona but the initial tackle that caused the damage was against Birmingham… again…
So maybe he doesn’t want to wait until he himself will be carried of with his leg hanging off after another tackle by some good and honest hard tackling bloke that calls himself a footballer… ?
I’m telling this all in conditional mode as I don’t know Cesc and the last thing I want to have is that people say this is it. It could be other reasons. But just to blame Wenger for Cesc eventually leaving us is a bit to easy and why I wrote this article. And blaming Wenger without knowing the facts or delivering any evidence.
WELL SAID, TONY.
i am glad that on untold arsenal we are still flying the flag for sanity, i visited a site run by a neighbour of wenger’s where a rather irate member was given the forum for the day and he went on to list all the things he ‘knew’ were wrong with wenger with the obvious conclusion that wenger shouldnt last another second at arsenal. i will let you enjoy this for yourself http://www.onlinegooner.com/exclusive/index.php?id=1724
Ps i like that the site pretends to distance itself from the views expressed in the name of democracy, i suppose.
however the sweetest irony of all is a pic of the devil himself leaving the world class hell hole.
Why is it that there are so many posts saying how stupid the Arsenal fans are for wanting Wenger out?
In reality i’m sure the vast vast majority of Arsenal fans want Wenger to stay for as long as possible so why do the views of this small minority get so much attention?
Unfortunately posts like this one IMO help to perpetuate the impression that Arsenal fans want Wenger out.
I realise that the intention of this post is probably the opposite but to me it just seems like you are validating the stupidity of that small minority by rising to it.
This site already has a policy to prevent blatant anti-wenger posting so i’d suggest you draw a line under this issue now.
Walter
My response to this article is this: you clearly can name a few names of these ‘mind readers’. It would be more honest for you to name them.
I think it would also be more honest if you described Wenger as a ‘peerless growth stock picker’. In financial terms, you can choose stocks which show share price growth but little if any coupon; and stocks whose share price grows much more slowly, but yields reliable coupons.
In football, Anelka was the ultimate ‘growth stock’ – a £20m+ premium in 2 years, but little in terms of contribution to profits through global image deals, as he was young and not yet ‘marketable’.
In football, Zidane or Beckham to Real was the ultimate ‘yield’ stock, as a huge price was paid for him upfront, which then yielded Real regular returns through media deals, image rights, shirt sales etc. Future transfer on sale was not a consideration when drawing up the business case.
The truth is: Wenger is not a ‘yield’ manager, he is a ‘growth’ manager. That’s a fine accolade. But it may not be what all fans want.
The question that perhaps should be discussed honestly is this: ‘is it possible in the UK to run a financially successful football club using a ‘yield’ model?’ And if not, is it possible in Spain, Germany, France or Italy??
We then will reach a mature position as to what the organic growth model means at Arsenal in terms of future success on the pitch, placed into the context of the strategy of other UK teams and those in Europe.
As far as the media goes, Walter, ask yourself this:
1. Are newspapers or websites sources of dispassionate information or are they organs designed to alter emotional/mental states?
2. Would you agree that skilfully crafted media pieces are both influential in terms of point one and also impossible to correlate with future actions thereby rendering such articles immune from prosecution in the absence of smoking guns?
3. Would you also agree that football clubs, financial institutions and plc Boards, not to mention green lobbying organisations, scientists and NGOs use the media to further their own agendas?
4. At the end of that, would you agree that the greatest challenge for Joe Public is to find accurate sources of information in arenas where they lack specialist skills?
5. Would you also agree that one way to start to gain such information is to gain a deep understanding of the strategies of others in smoke ‘n’ mirrors games of ‘chicken’?
6. As a result, would you not consider it entirely normal that the state of awareness of different folks is hugely differing across almost all arenas of importance where uncertain decision-making is the order of the day?
7. Short of imposing communist rule, how do you think that is likely to change??
I must say that Arsenal run a great story of ‘we’re broke’ during transfer windows. They then seem to run stories of ‘we’re doing rather well financially’ at plc reporting times.
I can’t work out whether this is a good thing or a bad thing.
But it’s a fact.
And if you think that is to the benefit of Arsenal football club, you may need to accept that you can’t be choosy about informational asymmetries in the media.
Which means that inaccuracy may also contribute to decisions against Arsenal’s interest as well as to those which are useful to them.
Good stuff again, sometimes it is funny to read the meaning of the fans about Wenger and fab. You are telling the more reasonable explanation.
But every body looks to the facts in their own way. I believe that the fans do that due to their strong desire to see a more challenging Arsenal. I can understand that.
I confess that I feel sometimes in the same way. But I know that things are more difficult in the real football world than many people think and I trust Wenger.
I felt a little bit straneg when i red the comments of Nik about the two spanish giants, but I have my doubts it is true.
dear arsefactor, the aim of the post was indeed to poke fun at the pretense of not endorsing the unsubstanciated attack on wenger, contrasting tony’s reply to an earlier comment on this site and the very rational rules for any anti wenger postings laid here. we are on the same side and i sincerely hope that my previous postings go to prove that.
P.s the reason i posted the article , was a response to walter and tony’s previous articles about posts designed to bring down our current board by whatever means and to show how some one like kevin whitcher who has previously written decent articles praising wengers success at the club allows such unbelievable diatribe for the sake of democracy with such a disclaimer for protection. i hope that explains my position somewhat.
TONY TONY!!!
Tony you say viera hasn’t been the man he was since leaving us but we haven’t been the same team either we have won nothing since he has left we have never replaced Viera surely you can grant me that, No one comes close to the V man
Henry wasn’t the man he was when he left, Henry had marital problems and at Barca he was played on the left, even man u tried to sign him after one season at barca because if you make Henry the main man he will score or he will give you an assist, now that he is older he would have to change his game but Drogba is roughly the same age and he still bang them in, I think Henry at barca was a case of the grass being greener, Henry played for the fans he was never loved there so he never gave everything, when he played at the emirates he refused to score, I grant you he has got older but I would certainly welcome a TT coming off the bench for 20 mins with all that experience
As you say Petit was hard to say but you don’t sell your best players I am speculating but if I was playing in that arsenal team I would want out before I got sold, Some players need love and reassurance that you are not going to sell them
.Overmars again was a good deal.
Gilberto is and was quality and he went for peanuts maybe he wouldn’t be starter but he was much better cover with experience
Flamini I agree played that sensational year for a big pay day, but he left for a free so if they were trying to make money out of every player surely we should have signed him on a big contract and then let him go for nothing and you forget Flamini was part of that record breaking defence in the champions league at left back so the boy could play
Edu it took Arsene years to sign Edu he just finally started to get somewhere and then poof he was gone, squad stability I think is key not high player turnover
Pires may have been out with an injury for the rest of the following season but Arsene Wenger couldn’t have known that and the majority of people IMO think he had at least another year in him the last time pires was seen was leaving the champions final because lehman got sent off
My main point to this article was that the fans get lied to about the comings and going of players, Arsenal have more speculation surrounding their players then the other top 4 because like you say we are willing to sell.
Tony I am not saying I am right but why was Bergkamp allowed to stay surely we could have made some money from him, Why are so many players like fran merida allowed, flamini, allowed to leave on a free
By all accounts I was under the impression Arsenal has a large wage billexcept for the madness of the two teams in blue. Also you mention Injury prone players we have plenty in the team at present more injuries than a lot of teams.
I dislike Chelsea, Man u with a passion but a mix of experience ala the invincibles would be a good start, the youth team(first team) sometimes looks like a dear caught in the headlights
Ps although some of our experience players like viera, Henry, overmars,pires were sold for a profit, if we are going into the financial aspect surely from a merchandising point of view these players bring huge revenue, I cant see B52 or denilson selling many shirts so we are losing revenue, The mere £16 million Henry was sold for during this time we could have made that back easily in image rights same with most of the players I mentioned, and my last point is Cesc is by far the most decent player we have, apart from Theo and RVP who else sells shirts and is marketable, I don’t know the figure on the wage bill but I grew up wanting Wrights name on my shirteven as an adult I would gladly put viera, pires,henry, ljunberg on my back,a player on the decline brings in revenue and could still play a good 25 games a season granted they need more rest but Henry could still tear into a few teams in the premiership
Walter
i agree with you we dont know cesc change of heart, i dont blame wenger, you cant keep players that dont want to stay and the leg break imo had a lot to do with it i think cesc fears his career may get ended in england esp after suffering a break himself. Your article about the invinclbles reminded how we used to be. If a manager is successful with a certain model the saying goes if it aint broke dont fix it,wenger recruited players that could battle they still played entertaining football but now he changed his style because he recruited more technical players which lets face it are suited to spanish football as with Tonys comments my reading of what he is suggesting is that we have become mere feeder clubs for Barca and Real Madrid, kind of like shady car dealers turning the numbers back on the clock and selling them on for big profits
i just wish Wenger would go back to the formula that made him successful,i would gladly see us get another 100 yellow cards in 6 years if it meant we got back to that fast paced arsenal that hit teams quickly and didnt even know they had lost yet, Fabio capello once said when he managed juve that playing against arsenal was like being hit by a Ferrari, the slow build up play playing in front of teams with square passes mean we never get in behind them
You are right though Walter maybe I have a biased view but it seems that the press is very anti Wenger and anti Arsenal and they always edit interviews like with arshavinto look negative.
as other people have mentioned i just wish they would tell us the truth about wengers budget and transfers, the fans can handle it, on ownership it would be gr8 if the supporters owned a slice of arsenal and had a representative in board meetings,balance is needed between business and entertainment
I support your views Gooner 80. Peter Hill-Wood tells us there is money to spend, then says Wenger is a great man, he will not spend half of it, only to make Wengetr look stupid in public, when the team was found wanting as they depended on youngsters who were clearly not good enough.
Last year’s shareholder’s meeting, Hill Wood left Wenger to fry, who in turn decided to flirt with Real’ £200m transfer project. Hill-Wood now blamed the fans for driving Wenger out when it was his stupid lies that caused the problem, and Wenger’s stupid insistence on his youths that allows himself to be used by Hill-Wood. What a crazy soap opera by a couple of luminaries who treat the fans like jack asses, only to make a complete fool of themselves.
I believe that Cesc had a meeting with Wenger and said IF Barcelona make a bid (of value) then he would like to go.
Cesc said in a Press conference last week that it is down to Wenger now. So from what i can see it all depends on whether the bids that come in from Barcelona match Wenger’s valuation of Cesc. If they dont match his valuationg then Cesc stays, and i think he will be happy to stay, for the time being. He still will go at some point, but only when it suits Arsenal.
I agree with Icedre218. I don’t think that Barca’s plan to prize the club captain away has not gone to plan. I don’t think that Barca have ever come up against resistance from Arsenal in this manner and I think this is linked to Mr Dein’s departure.
Through his association with Arsenal, just like Henry before him, Cesc is a global star. Rhys Jagger – Arsenal understand the ‘yield’ very well concept hence the reluctance to allow Cesc to go for £30m. Before any product comes to market there is often alot of money and time spent on R&D. That is off set by future yield. Henry if you like was a ‘cash cow’ for arsenal, but every ‘product’ has a lifespan.
Arsenal are not like Man U, Chelsea or Liverpool. We cannot afford to have big status players on large wages who are also on the decline. Scholes, Ballack and Carragher spring to mind as players spending more time on the bench and in treatment room. I would rather have them at their peak, have them bow out at the top and pick up a big pay day. I agree with Tony’s earlier post about ex-players and I think we should add Toure to this list too. Anelka and Adebayor are exceptions to Wenger’s normal selling process, they went before their time because of their attitudes.
I really hope the rumours about Real’s interest in Cesc are true, as it dents Barca’s self assurance of the deal being done quickly and on the cheap. If Real let it be known that they highy value Cesc but Barca don’t, it will put pressure on Barca to stump up the money or let the situation cool down so that they can repair some of the damage done in club relations and come back for Cesc in a couple of years.
I also think the Eto’o and Ibra situation is also connected to this situation too. Barca know that they messed that situation up and the fans are not happy. Bringing back the golden boy was to appease them and deflect the heat from questions about who was responsible for it.
If Cesc is so unsettled at the club by the events taking place, we should sell him to the highest bidder. If he won’t sign for Real madrid sell him to someone else, after all business is business. Loyalty works both ways, Cesc knows that Ramsey was being brought in as his replacement. Leaving us now is a blow to the project Wenger is building at the club. I don’t think that he signed his contract without reading the length of it first nor Wenger communicating how he fit in to the project. Ultimately if he says I have to at the end of the day look after himself, then we do too.
If handled correctly, Barca will get Cesc and we will get over his leaving. I think Cesc is an excellent player and should stay one at least one more year and I know that the type of player he is will mean that he will play his heart out for us, regardless of this mess. Imaginary or otherwise as is it is still not clear if Barca have put a real bid on the table.
As long as we have our priceless Arsene Wenger, all will be fine. It will be a disgrace if Arsene is hounded out by a few people with multiple cyberspace IP personality disorders. If the majority of fans stay silient then just like in elections, those that vote, however few they may be, have the power to make changes. This is why Untold and others like it are so important.
Also if I can digress a little from the Cesc saga to Theo….
The other day I listened to Andy Townsend commentate on Theo, sorry on England which was so negative towards the Arsenal player I had to laugh out loud. He wouldn’t of done this so brazenly if he did not believe it was popular and okay to bash Arsenal players. James Milner has been hyped up and I am a fan after watching him at a few matches, however he had quite an poor game and has not yet been able to replacate his club form in a England shirt.
Contrast this to ‘game changer’ Theo, who due to injuries, has not quite developed into the finished product….injuries that were I think picked up on international duty playing at senior and junior level in the same year. Now journalists, commentators and pundits question if Theo should be going to the World Cup at all. However I am sure that if Micheal Owen could run for more than 10 minutes without breaking down, he would be ‘on the plane’. Fortunately for England Mr Capello is not a weak man that the anti Arsenal media can easily influence.
I think this article wasnt well thought through.
No 1 Cesc fabregas if he goes will no more tell the truth behind his reasons out of respect for AW than Arsenal will ever reveal how much he has to spend or who he is going to buy as he has a respect for the current squad.
Cesc if he leaves will stand up and say i wanted to return home to my family and be polite he wont say id sooner play with iniesta than eboue and denilson.
Yes he knows he owes AW a huge debt of grattitude and will not twist a knife into him when leaving.
Lets face facts AW is a brilliant manager and to keep us year in year out in the champions league is an amazing achievement.
But his words not mine hes building a team for the future one that will compete for years to come with the best.
Well if every year we loose players of the calibre of the ones we have been loosing that team will never get built someother mamanger will come in at the end of all his hard work and reap the rewards after doing nothing for the club.
AW needs to find away to win something and soon he needs to find away to keep his best players.
Tony. Henry finished his debut season as Barca’s top scorer with 19 goals and 11 assists. The season after, he surpassed this with 26 goals and 11 assists. At his age, after his injuries, during his domestic, playing in a wide position, WHILE REGAINING FITNESS, he did quite well I’d say. Winning the treble is pretty a high spot. I know that a lot of Gooners take pride in the fact that many of our ex-players weren’t “the same” after leaving but its a whole different set of circumstances and there are arguments for what these players could have done for us had they remained. In particular, I’m referring to players whom its widely accept wanted to remain. Rhys, the first part of your post shows some very good analysis.
At some point, the debt will be paid off and we will be making some very tidy sums. Are we really looking to organically produce these world class players like Barcelona while supplementing them with marquee buys or the other way round? Dividends anyone?!!!!
I recently watched an interview with Thierry Henry on youtube( I can’t find the link) in which he acknowledged he had struggled at times to perform at Barca and he was not the same player as at Arsenal, most Barca fans agree with this.
Henry has spent alot of time on the subs bench at Barca through injury and performance. Benching Shearer under similar circumstances got managers sacked at Newcastle. I wonder if Wenger would of faced similar problems at Arsenal.
Gooner gal
Henrys first two seasons at Barca are as follows
47 appearances 19 goals 11 assists playing wide left amazing by any standards much better than Arshavin who cost more
next season 42 appearances 26 goals and 12 assists now that is class
his final season was crap I dont doubt that. The only thing I say is Im glad TT got to win the champions league because he deserved it, the only player I know who never got world player of the year when he clearly was.
well said cannon man
Cesc will be an Arsenal player next season. It’s all a big game which Cesc, AW and Barca all understand. Cesc makes a non commital statement which allows the press to print pages and pages of guff through out the closed season. The contenders for the Barca presidency get to say they are the one bringing the prodicgal son home and Arseanl get to negotiate transfers for players they need with the attention of the press diverted.
Then I woke up, cried and realised it was all a bloody dream and we will be scrambliong for 4th place again come the end of next season.
I agree Henry should of been World player of the year and I had hoped that Real Madrid or Barca would of put a bid in for Arshavin – £20m would be excellent. I don’t know if too much was expected of him, but I just haven’t been impressed with contribution to games.
WALTER
“i want to leave my husband this summer but i will let him decide for me if i will leave” hhhmmm…. now does that really sound like i really want to leave him? if my little brain serves me right then i think thats the story with cesc. If you ask me there are other forces behind his purported “departure”, i would bet my house rent on his dad. my memory fails me sometimes, but if it hasnt this time, cesc had a press conference after his dad got involved and got into that stupid radio show. may be am just that bad at reading in between the lines but i think cesc talking about respect for club .. blah blah he was actually telling barca AND dad to EFF OFF “nicely” he is on a CONTRACT.
Tony,
Its called the exodus at ACLF. anyway thank God for the world cup to distruct us and possibly them (whoever they are that want all our players gone – including the manager) and if you ask me just like i have commented on yesterdays post, nobody has been listening to Cesc or Wenger. and Tony whatever happened to smart people getting into journalism? seems like its been left to the people with below par IQ, who cannot deduce the true meaning of a simple statement.
Sorry i had to get it out.