I meant to write about this yesterday – I am hoping everyone saw, and approved of, the magnificent Red Action flag celebrating the multinational approach of Arsenal, and its constant stand against the “where were you born?” approach to football.
I knew it was going to be big – but not that big. It is brilliant, and I look forward to seeing it at every game. I also hope the TV cameras catch it because it symbolises everything the club is about with its emphasis on the history (with the club badge that us oldies remember) and on the world-wide reach of the club.
Thanks to everyone in RedAction for this.
Meanwhile in the world of humour, the long expected first crash of an EPL club is happening even as I write. West Iceland United is being handed over to the banks. But here’s the twist – en route the club is going to be owned by the government of Iceland. (What’s the capital of Iceland? About 65p)
Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson owns the club that used to be called West Ham (or WHAM as they now appear on TV screens) but BG is bust so his bank Straumur has taken the club, but Straumur are now “effectively insolvent” after the Financial Services Authority used the Anti Terror laws to take on the Icelandic banks. (Dont tell me you didn’t know that Iceland was the home of Terror).
So the government of Iceland has taken over Straumur and thus now own WHU. (How to lose £85m in a couple of days, eh?)
Although BG got a stay of execution on his debts the debt of WHU has its own covenants which allow it to be sold on anyway, and a group of Bankers (sorry my slip, I typed B when I meant W) are taking over.
Gross incompetence will of course be the order of the day (what else with a bank?) and the players will be sold off, to repay the banks. No one will be signed by the club.
Bellamy, Etherington and Mullins have gone, and more will follow. Question is, will Zola stay? Indeed why should he? He’s clearly got talent as well as being a nice guy, so why work for a bankrupt company?
In March the Guardian reported that the accountants, Deloitte, had refused to accept West Ham’s annual report. Technically this was because of the unknown compensation WHU have to pay Sheff Untidy over Carlos Tevez. That already amounts to £25m over five years with more court cases on the way from the players and Fulham (who lost place money as a result). That is a football debt and must be paid if WHU are to stay in football. Seems unlikely.
Ex Arsenal Matthew Upson will go in the summer and there’s talk of him doing a Keown and returning home. We need some more bodies in the defence as the current situation shows, but a 29 year old? Not sure.
So there it is. WHU on the way down. Who next? Pick any one of Manchester Bankrupt, Liverpool Insolvency, KGB Chelsea, Everton No To Democracy. Fulham and Villa also have huge debts but their owners are not showing signs of giving up.
(c) Your Man in the Board Room 2009
The Prof probably has about 10-15 years more in store to lead Arsenal. Good enough for me to get old and say i’ve got enough of football, it can only go down from here. But I wonder who would replace him. I mean aren’t we singing “One Arsene Wenger” the whole time?
I have good feelings about tomorrow’s game. I can only feel, not think, because really I have no clue what possibility awaiting. We never let in more than 2 against Chelsea even when Dog is at his sharpest killing mood for as long as I remember (ok, I’m not that old). So if we could keep on with that tomorrow we’ll have a good shot at it because our attack are going to score at least 2.
I’d say we’ll play with 2 strikers again but wonder who would play with Cesc in CM. My guess is Diaby as Song will be pushed back in CD with Silvestre on left wing. Both Diaby and Denilson will play if we do a 4-5-1. But it won’t work as well as 4-4-2.
what a wonderful blog this is.. intelligent erudite and always ahead of the main-stream media. most everything you’ve predicted tony in the last year has come to pass. this along with goonerholic are the #1 blogs on the net (arsenal related or otherwise!).
keep it up tony
peace..
Tony you might be kind enough to obtain and post a picture of this magnificent Red Action Flag so we non-UK gunners can have a peek?
How predictable was that? The sooner we don’t have to face Drogba again the better. Some strange selections going on today but we still nearly had enough to do it – I think that once again the belief went when Chelsea scored the equalizer plus we gave the ball away too easily far too often.
Theo did great and made Cashley look deservedly meager. We play 4-5-1 and paid for the lack of men up front: Cesc pressed back and Ade barely getting a taste of the ball means not enough chances created.
The possession game did not last long enough to cover up defensive weakness. Fabianski should have gone for the red card when facing Dog out of the D in the 94th min and still had 1 more unused sub. He should have done what Lehman should not have done in the same situation. The bitterness was still in my mouth. Fabianski’s off the pace all game, which I suspect was not a matter of form but class. Fabianski did almost everything perfect when faced with less sophisticated sides.
Kolo was the rock and Gibbs sufficiently convinced Chelsea to go exploit Eboue the other flank. They are our hopes the next few games. And may Theo the Messiah keep scoring.