Arseblog

Adebayor 'needs time' - Sylvester swap - various news

blogger@arseblog.com (Arseblogger) — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 07:51:41 +0100

Good morning,

let's start with the most interesting and exciting news of the morning: my beard. It has become quite fullsome indeed and leaving aside the dusty bits it's coming on very nicely. It is, however, getting to that stage where it becomes itchier than Madonna's clunge so I have to fight my way through the desire to shave it all off again.

Now that we've got that out of the way we can do the latest on Emmanuel Adebayor. As it stands the deal hasn't gone through yet although he was granted a work permit yesterday. However, the Guardian reports that he's asked Man City for a 'few days' to think about the move, worried about how it will be perceived in Africa.

Hey, they're too busy blessing the rains down there to worry about what some gangly footballer does. And I'm pretty sure Adebayor isn't that worried about it, especially when he sees those extra zeroes on his proposed salary. I suspect this is just a bit of posturing. It's clear that Arsene Wenger wants him gone from Arsenal, why would he stay? He can always talk about what a fantastic 'project' it is at Man City and while there's no European football this year the club has shown its ambition with the signings its made this summer blah blah blah.

I'd be happy enough to write something that sounds not too trite, if that'd help. Interestingly one of the reports yesterday said that Adebayor's advisors had offered him to Man United as well. I know it sounds ludicrous but given the kind of people he's surrounded with I wouldn't be at all surprised if that were true. If I had to guess I'd say United weren't the only club to get a phone call from his agent and not the only club to put the phone down laughing when they heard his wage demands.

Anyway, as I said yesterday the sooner this is done and dusted the better for all concered.

Meanwhile a deal to bring in the man hotly tipped to replace Adebayor, Marouane Chamakh, may be complicated by Bordeaux's desire to have Sylvester included. I say complicated but it's not really. We should wrap him up, stick a bow on him and give him to them for free whether we sign Chamakh or not. It'd be like a little present to help foster a friendship although one Bordeaux fan on Twitter yesterday wasn't that keen on Sylvester. I can't imagine why. He also thought that Chamakh was a good player who would do well in England and at Arsenal so we'll see what happens there.

I can't imagine there'd be that much reluctance on the manager's part to include the former Man United man in any deal. With 6 centre-halves and three left backs (not including Sylvester) at the club at the moment I don't think we'd miss him that much. And if you were to look at the centre-halves he is by far the obvious choice if you were told to bring one out into the woods and then drive off.

There was some talk yesterday about Klaas-Jan Huntelaar being a possible Adebayor replacement but honestly I can't see it. He'd be far more expensive than Chamakh who at £7m is a relatively inexpensive gamble for a position in which we already have plenty of options. I would much prefer to see the bulk of the Adebayor money go to strengthen the centre of our midfield where I think we're not quite as optiony, if you see what I mean.

One man who won't be an option is Felipe Melo who has finally signed for Juventus. He was crap anyway, we didn't want him. Yeah.

Not much else happening. I see Alexander Hleb is trying to talk his way out of Barcelona, criticising Pep Guardiola for not giving players confidence. This would be the same manager who took his team to the Spanish title, the Spanish cup and the Champions League. Imagine if the players had some confidence. He also says Thierry Henry has told him to stay as his first season in Spain didn't go well. That Henry, what a joker!

And a little bit of good news. There were reports that Hull City and their permatanned used-car-salesman looking gleethound of a manager was hoping to sign Lauren from Portsmouth. Poor Lauren, he doesn't deserve that. Well, reports in Spain suggest that Almeria are offering him a contract and I hope he'll go there, enjoy the sunshine (oh God I miss the sunshine. And cheap beer. And mojitos), and play some football for someone other than a twat you wouldn't piss on if he were on fire.

Unless you could piss petrol, in which case I'd bring slasher movies in a whole different direction.

Right so, have yourselves a good Thursday. Keep the fingers crossed about you know what. More tomorrow.

Thoughts on Adebayor and City

blogger@arseblog.com (Arseblogger) — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 07:40:42 +0100

Morning all,

it looks as if Emmanuel Adebayor will be a Man City player sooner rather than later. As they unveiled the Argentine monster yesterday they confirmed talks with Arsenal were ongoing about the purchase. Their manager, Mark Hughes, said:

Yes, there has been contact. There is a deal to be done, possibly. But it's not been concluded as we speak here. Until that actually happens it's not really the time or the place.

However, reports emerged yesterday suggesting that Adebayor had undergone a medical and today will have a work permit hearing in Manchester. I'm not sure I understand that. Surely he has a work permit already if he's playing for Arsenal. I wasn't aware these things were club specific. Anyway, that is the state of play.

The fee, when it's announced, no doubt be 'undisclosed' but it's thought to be around the £25m mark. It's hard to argue with that. Speaking about the possible sale Ray Parlour says:

He was too lazy at times last season and just didn’t do it. His body language wasn’t great. Wenger will not stand in his way because they can get a lot of money for him and then get a very good player to replace him.

His attitude amazed me at times last season when he just didn’t put it in.

And Ray Parlour is a man who knows a thing or two about effort on the football pitch. I've thought since the BBC Football Focus interview that Adebayor's time was up at Arsenal. After that interview he was dropped from the final games of the season, the manager doing his usual diplomatic thing of claiming the player had an injury, but in my opinion that was a deliberate manoeuvre from Adebayor to ensure he got a move this summer. You don't go on TV and do an interview like that without understanding the consequences. It was grossly unprofessional.

What was worrying though was the fact that nobody seemed even remotely interested in him. Barcelona's main targets this summer have been David Villa and even Diego Forlan, Real Madrid bought top class attacking players in Kaka, Ronaldo and Benzema, while AC Milan, the favoured destination, have been sitting with £55m burning a hole in their pocket and they haven't made any contact at all.

With all that money they haven't approached us once about Adebayor. His stock, which was so high last summer on the back of his fantastic season, has fallen dramatically. So much so that the only club interested in him in Man City, a rich man's toy going about the place playing Championship Manager.

In a way it's kind of sad. Had he had good advice from his 'people' last summer he might not have thought he was one of the best strikers in the world, merely an improving one with plenty of potential who had created a wonderful platform for himself at Arsenal. The previous summer Arsene Wenger gave him a new contract and a healthy salary rise based more on the manager's faith in him rather than his performances. When the performances AW hoped for arrived the agents and vultures came calling and Adebayor believed every word they told him. But what they told him was not for the good of his career, it was for them to take their cut, make their percentage from a big transfer or a bumper new contract at Arsenal.

Fans made it clear what they thought of his antics at the Emirates Tournament last summer, reacting to the player's ludicrous claim that he'd had his phone off all summer and had no idea what was going on. They didn't like that he flirted with clubs all summer and then kissed the Arsenal badge having just scored a penalty in a meaningless friendly.

The only way for Adebayor to engage in proper damage limitation was on the pitch. Not in interviews, not by kissing the badge, and to be fair to him in the early part of the season he seemed well up for it. Yet as time went by the running his socks off stopped, the chasing and harrying defenders dwindled, and it culminated in those two unforgivable performances in the Champions League semi-finals, referenced in that BBC interview where he basically said 'I'm up against Vidic and Ferdinand, what do you expect me to do?'

Yes, 16 goals in an injury hit season was a decent return but there's more to this deal than what he has or hasn't done on the pitch. You can't overlook what goes on behind the scenes, what happens off the pitch, attitude in training, relationships with teammates etc - and the man who knows best in that regard is the manager. He will have taken all those factors into consideration before making any decision. He'll know he's making a potential rival stronger, Adebayor is a far better player than Darius Vassell, but he's not going to do it without believing it's in the best interests of Arsenal.

The decision to sell him will have been Arsene Wenger's and only Arsene Wenger's. He knows he's got a player who doesn't want to be at the club anymore and he knows he's being made the kind of offer which will allow him to strengthen his squad. The kind of offer that no other club in the world would make for Adebayor. As I said yesterday if that £25m is reinvested in the squad we make ourselves stronger, not weaker, and for me that is the main point of this deal.

How soon will we get confirmation? Who knows? It wouldn't be a surprise to see it go through today at some stage. City have a tour of South Africa which I imagine they'd really like a famous African player to be part of. After that it's down to us to use the money well, consign Adebayor to history like the countless other players who have left our club down the years, and move on.

In other news the club have hinted at players who may be involved in Saturday's game against Barnet. They don't guarantee anyone's involvement but say some of the players who returned for pre-season on July 7th could be involved. I suspect we'll see a very young team against Barnet with a sprinkling of senior players. The papers are speculating that Tomas Rosicky and Philippe Senderos will play but they're merely part of the July 7th group, it could be any of them.

Beyond that not much else happening. Let's just hope this business can be wrapped up quickly, the sooner it's done the better for all concerned.

If the City offer is real then Arsenal will sell and Adebayor will go

blogger@arseblog.com (Arseblogger) — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 07:34:32 +0100

Morning,

obviously the main topic of conversation today is Emmanuel Adebayor and Man City. Reports began to emerge yesterday that the club bought by Mustapha Million had made a bid for the player and were 'in talks' with Arsenal. Apparently contact was made over the weekend and former Arsenal player Brian Marwood, now part of City's administration team, is involved in the negotiations.

The consensus appears to be a fee of around £25m with Adebayor set to earn a salary of up to £170,000, although the £130,000 reported elsewhere makes more sense. I mean that relative to the £170,000. Stepping back and looking at it it's hard to get your head around it. As the man from East Lower says:

To ‘reward’ Adebayor for scoring 30 goals, Arsenal doubled his salary last summer. And now, to ‘reward’ him for being 50% as prolific, City intend to double it again. Half as good – twice as well rewarded.
Now really, what kind of industry does that?

That is a very good question but it's an industry that has been utterly skewed by a small minority who fling cash around like it's Monopoly money. Madrid have spent £150m+ on three players, City are offering monstrous wages and can probably tempt clubs into selling by offering all the cash in one go instead of a spread of payments like most transfers, while Chelsea have been huge spenders since Abramovich took over.

City yesterday completed the signing of Carlos Tevez. He turned down the chance to stay with United, a team that consistently challenges for the most important trophies each season, to go play for their local rivals who aren't even in Europe. Money talks. Great huge sums of money talk. And while we can sit here and tut and shake our heads, the fact is that money talks in every industry, not just football. Get an offer to double your salary in your day to day life and chances are you'd consider it.

If we were footballers we'd like to think we'd be above that. If we were earning £80,000 a week at Arsenal the lure of £50,000 more or £90,000 would count for nothing. We'd have some loyalty. The reality is though that we're Arsenal fans, players are just players who, for the most part, will go where the conditions ar best, where the money is best, where their ego is pampered most.

You can't expect loyalty, even from a bloke whose salary you more than doubled the summer before. If this offer is real, if City are really offering us £25m for Adebayor then we will take the money, especially if we can do a deal to get it in one lump. If City are really offering Adebayor £130,000 a week then he will sign for them and it won't cost him a thought.

Would it make sense on a footballing level? Adebayor has scored 46 goals in two seasons, a very healthy return by any standards. However, we know all about the problems, I'm not going to rehash them today, and it's widely known that the manager is prepared to sell him and was prepared to sell him last summer if the right offer had come in.

Arsene Wenger was hardly unequivocal when asked about Adebayor's future, saying he could stay if he wanted, and the fact that he has quite obviously lined up Bordeaux's Marouane Chamakh to replace Adebayor says a lot.

There are those who will say that by selling Adebayor and bringing in Chamakh we make ourselves weaker. I suppose on paper it might look that way but if Chamakh comes in he's added to forward line-up which also includes Robin van Persie, Eduardo, Andrei Arshavin, Nicklas Bendtner, Carlos Vela and possibly Theo Walcott. There are more than enough goals there to compensate for Adebayor's departure.

If the remainder of the money is used to fund the central midfielder we're all looking for then I don't think we're weaker at all. We're stronger. Are we making City better? Maybe so but City can buy anyone they want, and there are better players than Adebayor out there, in my opinion.

So, we'll have to wait and see what happens but to my mind if this deal is genuine then it's in our interests to take it - provided the money we earn from the sale is reinvested into the squad. A £20m+ profit on a player who cost far less than the £6m mooted at the time of his arrival is fantastic business but that profit must be used to strengthen the team.

In other news it looks as if our executive team is being added to. In the Ivan Gazidis interview last week the CEO spoke about improving Arsenal's income from a marketing point of a view and reports suggest 'veteran sports marketer' Tom Fox will be joining the club. You can read more about him here.

The Mirror reports we're about to nick one of Chelsea's youngest stars. Midfielder Frank Nouble is rated one of their most exciting talents but has refused to sign a new deal and speculation is he's coming our way. At 17 though he's just another one to add to the list of exciting young players at the club, if he comes.

The BBC's business editor takes a look at Arsenal's finances. Interesting but surely the document commissioned by Usmanov will naturally take a negative view on things to try and convince people that his rights issue offer appears more attractive? It seems rather a lot to suggest a £20m fall in earnings. Anyway, it's worth a read.

So, there you go. Not a lot else happening but you have to imagine that if the Adebayor deal goes through it'll spark all kinds of stories about how, when and on who we're going to spend the money. The quiet time may be over.

Till tomorrow.

Fake Englishmen + thoughts on Matuidi

blogger@arseblog.com (Arseblogger) — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 08:18:13 +0100

You know, it's so very quiet at the moment I'm growing a beard to help pass the time. I am slightly concerned that certain sections of said beard appear to be covered in dust or flour, for they are rather whiter than I would have liked.

I don't quite know how the dust or flour is getting on just those bits and none of the others but without little mysteries like that life would rather dull, don't you think?

The way things are going I'm going to be like ZZ Top before anything interesting happens again. When the main story of the morning is Manuel Almunia raising his pert cat-in-heat arse to England's Tom cat Fabio Capello then you know there's little or nothing happening. We've been down this road before, I don't think Almunia should play for England. I know some people might think it's a bit much for an Irishman to say such a thing as had an international team full of players whose only link to being Irish was eating Kerrygold butter and a fondness for pints of Guinness.

But while vague family connections are one thing playing for a country simply because you've been there for a few years is another. To be honest I don't really know why he wants to play for England. Maybe he gets lonely when all the other players are off on international duty.

Speaking of other players we should see the return of almost all the squad today. Bendnter, van Persie, Adebayor, Eboue, Sagna, Clichy and more will be back to compare tales of summer high-jinks and whatnot. I may be completely wrong but I suspect Cesc, Theo Walcott and Kieran Gibbs will get some extra holidays having been away on extended international duty.

Gunnerblog asks 'Who is Blaise Matuidi?'. Turns out he's part Lassana Diarra, part Ocelot, part something else that's even cooler than an ocelot. Or a left footed central midfielder who plays for St Etienne.

I do like to anagram people's names. Blaise Matuidi is 'Abused Militia' or for the food conscious amongst you 'Bulimia as diet'. Add 'Arsenal' to his name and you get 'A Dalmatian Buries Lies' or, if Rosie O'Donnell were to take charge of a lot of Spanish ships, we have 'Lesbian Armada Utilise'.

Hilarious anagrams aside I do wonder about him. Yes, we could certainly use another Flamini or Diarra type player, but at 22 does he bring the kind of experience that most of us would like to see in central midfield? The whispers about Melo made more sense because of his age and his experience - he ticked all the boxes in that regard.

Matuidi has no international experience, he's been playing in Ligue 1 for a team that only avoided relegation on the final day, and you'd have to wonder would he bring more to the team than Denilson, Song or even Diaby (taking into account the step up in quality, the time to adjust to the English league). At this point one more signing would do me but I'd like that signing to be of Arshavin standard. Someone to come in and add quality straight away. I think that's the kind of partner we need to bring in for Cesc.

Matuidi could well be a good player, I really don't know that much about him, but on paper he's not going to have me throwing a party if he arrives. You could turn it around and ask me who else is out there? Who would I like to see come in? And the honest answer is I don't know. However, I'm not the one paid big money to sign players for Arsenal so it's over to you Arsene!

Some bad news for former Arsenal striker John Hartson who has been diagnosed with testicular cancer which has spread to his brain. I don't think there's anybody reading this whose life hasn't been affected by cancer in some way or another so I'm sure, like me, you'll wish him all the best.

And that's about it. Hopefully tomorrow we'll get a bit of training ground news or gossip and the first pre-season game, against Barnet, takes place at the weekend so that's something to look forward to. ~~Actually, does anyone have a calendar for the fixtures which works with Mac (iCal or iPhone). There was one last year but I can't seem to track it down this time. Any help gratefully received.~~

Sorted. Right, have yourselves a good Monday. Back tomorrow.

Sunday round-up

blogger@arseblog.com (Arseblogger) — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 08:58:35 +0100

It'd be great to tell you there was lots going on this morning but that would be a lie. It's as quiet as a mouse. Who is dead. And was mute. His muteness amplified by his death. A million times nothing equals nothing.

Apparently, according to the Sunday Mirror, Robin van Persie turned down 'mega deals' from Chelsea, Man City, Inter Milan and Juventus before signing a new contract. I'm not sure how they know that. I suspect they've just decided that to be true then filled out the article with quotes from his interview on the official site.

The News of the World is reporting that Alisher Usmanov is going to call an EGM because he 'fears financial meltdown' and is 'convinced fans are fed up'. Firstly, he's a fat prick. Secondly, he shouldn't presume to know what Arsenal fans are thinking, what with him being a Man United supporter. Thirdly, he needs to stop pretending that his intentions are what's best for the club, they're what's best for him.

In the meantime we can only hope that the obvious tensions that exist at boardroom level have no impact on what happens on the pitch. I mean, I don't think it will. I've never understood that line of thinking, players play, boardroomers boardroom. Once the guys on the pitch are getting paid then that should be about the end of it. Maybe if you have a director who's a bit of a star fucker and loves the players to be his friends then it might just affect things but that's not the case at Arsenal. Anymore.

Sunderland are favourites to sign Philippe Senderos, according to the Sunday Express while the Armand Traore to Birmingham on loan story resurfaces in a number of places this morning.

And that, sadly, it all there is. Have yourselves a good Sunday.

Saturday round-up

blogger@arseblog.com (Arseblogger) — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 10:39:48 +0100

A quick Saturday round-up for you.

And that's about it. More tomorrow.

But seriously, it's quiet. There's Stan Kroenke's share purchase which brings his stake in the club from 28.3% to 28.58%

Perhaps this is a reaction to Jabba's recent statement about how he's keeping his beady eye on things afer the club rejected his oh-so-generous rights issue offer. Who knows? It just means the American is now the largest shareholder by another little bit. I expect a bit more share movement over the next few months as the lines that are drawn become much clearer.

Two of the younger players at the club are convinced the lads will learn from last season and make things better in the one ahead. Theo Walcott says:

It was a good learning curve for us all, but next year it is all about the trophies. Hopefully we have had the years of experience now and can bring something back for the fans.

While Aaron Ramsey says we need more focus against the so-called smaller teams in the league:

I think we have proved that we can beat the top teams and the title contenders. Now we need to pick up more points against the bottom half of the table. That's the main lesson we have learned from last season. It is frustrating to lose against teams further down the table when you have beaten the big sides.

I think there's a balance to be found but I'm not sure one win against United and one win against Chelsea proves that much beyond we can pull a performance out of the hat when we click.

It'll be interesting to see what happens with Ramsey this season. If we do buy that mythical central-midfielder we're all hoping he's going to be the player who's first on the team sheet beside Cesc. Then you've got Denilson, Diaby and Song and then Ramsey.

I hope he rises to the challenge and kicks on but it wouldn't be that much of a surprise if we loaned him out so he can get a solid year of playing under his belt.

Real Madrid have said they don't want to sign Cesc. So that's that then, no doubt. No more Cesc to Madrid stories this summer. Interesingly, in a very slow Saturday so there's not much else to talk about kind of a way, a poll on the El Mundo site shows that when asked if they'd prefer to sign Cesc or Franck Ribery, 78% of Barcelona fans chose the bloke who wouldn't look out of place cast in cement and attached the side of a cathederal.

The Daily Mail outdid itself yesterday with possibly the most ludicrous piece of fiction of the summer so far. They claimed that Barcelona were willing to offer us Alexander Hleb + some cash for Cesc. I mean, seriously. They might as well offer us a great big bowl of vomit with a spoon made from hardened goat's jism. I can't honestly think of a more stupid transfer story this summer.

The Mirror links Sylvester with a move to Bordeaux. It'd make sense on every level. We have six centre-halves in the squad at the moment, that's too many. Sylvester has, in the most diplomatic way possible, failed to convince anybody that the £700,000 we paid Manchester United last summer was worth it and I don't know that there'd be too many tears shed over his departure.

And on that cheery note I shall bid you good day and talk to you again tomorrow.

The truth about Joan Laporta + RVP, Manuel and more

blogger@arseblog.com (Arseblogger) — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 08:16:07 +0100

Good morning all,

shocking news this morning to start with. Barcelona President Joan Laporta has admitted "I'm a cunt and I just can't help it".

Speaking exclusively to El Blogdo Mongativo smarmy Laporta admitted what the world has suspected for years. "I know this will be hard for people to accept but it's true. I'm a complete and utter cunt. I've been a cunt for years".

However, he refused to accept responsibility for it, blaming an innocent Arsenal fan for his misfortune.

"It all started when I was just 17", he said whilst strangling and then setting fire to a puppy. "I was a happy-go-lucky chap strolling up Las Ramblas, buying some fresh herbs in La Boqueria here, hanging out with trannies up by the Camp Nou there.

On that fateful day I was having some tapas in my favourite tapas restaurant, Los Cojones Gigantes, when in came a chap wearing the shirt of that team they call Arsenal. I was about to order the very last portion of the squid wrapped in pigeon stuffed with snails and smothered in a delicious garlic, olive oil and guano paste, when this brute, this savage Arsenal ogre, reached over the counter and took it for himself.

He wolfed it down, like a wolf, washed it down with a litre of Estrella, then let out the most enormous belch I have ever heard. Oh dear sweet holy Jesus on the cross with the blessed Mary weeping at his feet, the smell. It was like the rotting anus of a three-week dead gibbon, and trust me, I know my dead gibbons having spent many years in technical college studying their ringpieces.

From that day forth I swore that I would have revenge, not only on Arsenal and its fans but on the world at large. I came home, stood proud and announced to my parents 'From now on your son, Joan Laporta, is going to be a cunt!!'.

'From now on?', said my confused father, but I paid him no heed. Now I have the power to make the life of Arsenal miserable. I shall redouble, no retriple, my efforts to sign Cesc Fabregas", he said, listening to Glen Hoddle and Chris Waddle sing the songs of Phil Collins.

"That Arsenal fan will rue the day he stole that portion of tapas from me. They will all rue it. Rue, I say. Not a day shall pass when I fail to make some kind of comment about the Arsenal captain who has committed himself to the club more often than El Harry del Rojoknapp's face twitches in a minute. They will pay for what they did. Oh yes".

At this point Laporta excused himself as he had to teach a class of teenagers how to talk really, really loudly non-stop when they went to Ireland or England for the summer to learn English.

These scandalous revelations will be of little comfort to Arsenal fans around the world as they have to contend with daily headlines about Spanish clubs signing Fabregas, but they can take some solace in the fact that the public record will show that Joan Laporta, is indeed, and always will be, a huge, enormous, disrespectful, tedious, megahyperglobalsuper elephantine cunt.

In other news this morning Robin van Persie says he's 100% behind Arsene Wenger. The Dutchman says:

There is ambition. I have spoken to both the boss and Ivan Gazidis about it. The boss got some stick from some of the fans last season, but if you look at the reaction at the end of the last game, that was tremendous and is the way all of the fans should react.

I trust him and my message to everyone is: be patient, trust the team and the people above.

Splendid. The best bit about the new season is the clean slate. Everything starts fresh and optimism is high. A 14-0 win over some minnows in pre-season will get the ball rolling soon enough. And van Persie had some words about Jack Wilshere too, saying:

It almost makes me scared when I see him play, so he has massive potential.

I love that the level to which Robin is scared can be used to measure potential in young players. Wilshere - almost scared. Gibbs - nearly frightened. Anton Blackwood who has left us to join Sp*rs - not even remotely startled. Still, Wilshere is someone I'm really looking forward to seeing more of in the season ahead.

Manuel Almunia has urged the club to bring in experience saying youth can only take us so far. The keeper says:

It's great to have a young team but youth doesn't give you titles. We need the manager to work harder to get what we need, the club to make an extra effort to make us more competitive. We need more than youth.

Interesting to hear that from one of the senior players in the squad. He also goes on to talk about his relationship with Jens Lehmann and funnily it's easy to see how the negativity between them helped Almunia, as if he were going to prove Jens wrong. Things are better between them now and they recently enjoyed a day out at Alton Towers and both of them treasure the picture of them getting soaked as the rollercoaster goes through the puddle thing.

Sport.co.uk links us with Ever Banega whose only quality as far as I can see is that an anagram of his name is 'Avenge Bear' which is kinda cool.

Weird and interesting stuff is emerging from the News of the World phone tapping affair. PFA chief Gordon Taylor's phone was tapped by a private investigator working for the Sunday rag and messages about Arsene Wenger, presumably from either Shearer or Alex Ferguson, as mentioned in this Guardian piece, were intercepted.

There was also one left about Jamie Redknapp which was someone just going 'Cunt. Cunt. Cunt. Cunt. Cunt' for 10 minutes solid. Police did not need to investigate that one.

And that'll be about that. The first week of pre-season training over. Monday will see the return of players like van Persie, Toure, Adebayor, Sagna, Eboue etc, and then we start getting closer and closer to some actual football. Sweet.

Till tomorrow.

RVP signs - Board reject Usmanov offer

blogger@arseblog.com (Arseblogger) — Thu, 9 Jul 2009 08:03:06 +0100

Good morning, be gentle with me, I am *boilking* somewhat. They say never mix wine and beer, right? Who knew they meant over the course of a night and not just in the same glass?

Anyway, plenty going on this morning. The main news from yesterday was the fact that Robin van Persie has signed a new long-term contract with the club. He said:

My heart is with Arsenal and I just can’t picture myself in a different shirt. I just can’t see it now because I love this Club so much. If you look at the last five years, look at the steps I have made every season, if you look at the support the Boss and the whole Club gave me, the fans gave me, my team mates gave me – this is the right decision.

While Arsene Wenger said:

We have already seen many times what Robin is capable of on a football pitch, but at only 25, there is still much more to come from him. Robin has the potential to become a true Arsenal great.

I have to say I'm happy. He's had his injury problems, and then some, but he's a very talented footballer with his best years ahead of him. I think he'd be the first to accept that he can improve and make more of an impact with the ability he has - so hopefully we'll get to see him do that over the next few seasons.

He joins the list of players who, in the last few months, have committed themselves to the club. It's reassuring that moves are being made to extend players contracts while there's still time and we don't end up like Flamini and Edu scenarios where we lose good players for free.

The other news was the fact that the club have rejected the proposed rights issue from Alisher Usmanov. In an interview with the official site Ivan Gazidis said:

With regard to players, the Board decided not to issue permanent capital in the hopes of signing one or two players in an inflated transfer market. Instead, the focus continues to be on securing the services of talented young players we have on long-term contracts and making very selective acquisitions, only where a new signing will add real value to our already strong squad.

I think this is absolutely the right decision. The rights offer from Usmanov was a transparent attempt to curry favour with fans as well as giving him a chance to dilute the shareholdings in the club and, perhaps, increase his own.

Fat and Orange aren't happy though and disagree with the board's decision, saying:

Based on financial information that only they have, the board have informed us that they are confident they have adequate financial resources to support the manager to strengthen the squad, to weather the property downturn, to renegotiate the Highbury Square loan on good terms and to deal with the continuing difficult economic conditions.

We do not share their view but are prepared to give them the benefit of the doubt for the moment.

I can't be the only one who isn't impressed by the vaguely threatening nature of their statement. You have to think that sooner or later things are going to have to come to a head between the major shareholders at the club.

Usmanov obviously does not think the same way as they do, he wants to be a sugar daddy, the board are, sensibly, maintaining the business model they think will more greatly benefit the club. Maybe things are tight this season and next and so on but Arsenal Football Club has a future beyond the short-term and that's something that has to considered.

Of course the headlines this morning are about the £60m financial hit we've taken but I think we have to look at the bigger picture. It's hardly as if Arsene was planning on spending it and now it's been cruelly taken away from him.

While the club have announced further pre-season fixtures there's still confusion over the transfer of Felipe Melo to Juventus. No deal has been done yet because of a breakdown between Fiorentina and Marcho Marchionni, the player included in the swap deal. Whether this means any chance we have of signing him can be resurrected remains to be seen.

The Mirror links us again with Blaise Matuidi suggesting we may also look at Gokhan Inler again but Inler's agent doesn't seem to think we're interested anymore.

Newcastle defender Sebastian Bassong vaguely says there was an approach for his services from Arsenal but at the moment I can't see any more defenders coming to the club. As it stands we have six centre-halves on our books - Gallas, Toure, Senderos, Djourou, Sylvester and new boy Vermaelen. That's too many as it is so even if one or two leave, depending on which players of course, we may not even need a signing there.

As the squad stands I really think we only need one more signing - and that's the central midfielder we're all crying out for. If, for example, Adebayor is sold it looks as if the Chamakattak chappy is going to come in (whether he's even necessary is debatable), but to feel really solid going into the new season that central midfielder needs to arrive, in my opinion.

Still, there's plenty of time to make it happen. I see the Cesc stuff I mentioned yesterday is in the papers today, with some added goodness from Lionel Messi who says Cesc would be 'welcome' at Barcelona. Pfff, how very dreary.

Right, I think I need more coffee and an injection of adrenaline. Or morphine. Or both. Mmmmm, morphdrenaline.

Till tomorrow.

No go Melo - Arshavin's agent is a tick + news round-up

blogger@arseblog.com (Arseblogger) — Wed, 8 Jul 2009 07:57:30 +0100

Morning, and we'll start with CEO Ivan Gazidis who says Arsenal must ... oh, wait. No need.

Let's move instead to Felipe Melo who, it seems, has signed for Juventus. This comes after yet more waffle from Fiorentina who spoke again of our interest and the deal seemingly on offer. Pantalones Calzone, the Fiorentina Sporting and Folded Over Pizza director, said:

Wenger wants to talk to me. I have no objection also because Eboue seems a valid swap.

Which all seemed very promising, particularly as he said no meetings with Juventus were planned at all. But obviously the stripy bastards got on the phone, did a deal and now it looks as if Melo will be announced officially there today.

Oh well. I mean, if he wants to ignore Gilberto Silva and sign for a tiny club with no history who play in front of a half dozen people each weekend then there's not much we can do about that, is there? I suppose we'll wait for the official announcement from them but it looks like the game is up.

There were a lot of rumours yesterday about St Etienne's Blaise Matuidi being in town and discussing a move to us but rumours is all they are at this stage.

And in this crazy, topsy-turvy summer there was more confusion regarding Andrei Arshavin's relationship with agent Dennis Lachter. Arshavin apparently fired Lachter the other week but the agent has other ideas, saying:

We have a contract; this contract will be finished in one and a half years. Until then, I am the manager of Andrey Arshavin.

He sent me a letter, absolutely. Listen, it’s like entering a contract with Arsenal or anybody else; there are obligations. If you think that you can just cancel this formal relationship between two parties only because of a newborn baby it’s…what can you say…well you can’t do it. That’s it. I’m his agent.

He went on to say:

Arshavin for sale! Arshavin for sale! Get your Arshavin! Only £20m! Barcelona? That you? Fancy an Arshavin? Go on, you know you want to.

Strikes me agents are like ticks. I remember years ago, as young chap, playing gleefully in bails on hay one summer. You know the big huge ones rolled into massive wheels. Climb up. Jump off. Climb up. Jump off. Climb up. Jump off. Life was much more simple back then.

Of course the farmer was none too happy when his perfectly crafted wheel looked more like ... erm ... a load of hay scattered all over his field, but the point is when I got home, happy as anything after a good day's playing, I discovered ticks. Eating me. Bleurgh. And when you have ticks you have to get the whole lot of it out, if you just burst the bit full of blood and leave the head in it will keep chomping away at you. Especially the one positioned rather too close to one's vagi .. I mean Johnson.

Lachter is the tick still scoffing away at Arshavin. A letter merely removes the bloody sac but the head is still there. He needs a burning match to scorch the arse out of it. Metaphorically speaking of course. Erm, that all went a bit weird, but I'm sure you know what I mean.

Anyway, Andrei was back in training yesterday, running about the place, stretching out with giant rubbers and playing with large balls. Seriously. You can check out the pictures of pre-season training on Arsenal.com

Notable appearances include Philippe Senderos, back from his loan spell at Milan, as well as Tomas Rosicky and Eduardo who we all hope can stay fit and make a real impact in the season ahead. It also looks as if some of the players, Adebayor, van Persie, Clichy, Sagna, Toure, Eboue and others have been given extended holidays, probably because of their involvement in end of season internationals.

Also, new boy Thomas Vermaelen looks tough, doesn't he? He definitely has the cold dead eyes of an assassin. I like it.

Expect some more Cesc related crap to hit the wires later as El Mundo are running a big story this morning about how Barcelona's are going to sign either him or Ribery. They talk about how certain sources close to Arsenal say we'd be willing to let him go for €46m but Barcelona only want to pay €40m. Well, in that case they can go take a jump. Anyway, forewarned is forearmed and all that.

Beyond that not much happening so we'll leave it there for today. Till tomorrow.

Exclusive: Ivan Gazidis Arseblog interview

blogger@arseblog.com (Arseblogger) — Tue, 7 Jul 2009 13:15:34 +0100

Ivan Gazidis spent 14 years working with the MLS. He began as one of the founding management team and became Deputy Commissioner in 2001.

In January 2009 he became the CEO of Arsenal. This is his first interview outside the official website or the mainstream press and I'd like to thank him for his time and the Arsenal Press Office for their co-operation and for their help in making it happen.

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After being at the MLS for so long how did the move to Arsenal come about? The situation had been vacant for some time after the departure of Keith Edelman, the club were obviously looking for the right person. How did they get in touch with you and was it a lengthy kind of process?

It wasn't lengthy. Someone at the club had approached me fairly shortly after Keith Edelman left and had said I think this fit would really be a good one. I didn't really want to get engaged in a lengthy process but if the club was interested then they should approach me. I didn't think about it again, it was clear their recruitment process was was going ahead, but they came back to me in October and said that they'd done a lot of background research and investigation and they felt that I was going to be a prime candidate for the role. Things moved very quickly after that.

Was it something you had to think about a lot? Obviously you were well settled in the US, you were Deputy Commissioner of the MLS. Did the fact it was a club as big as Arsenal sway you?

You know, I'd had some approaches from within the English game before but it was interesting, the moment that Arsenal told me they were seious about my appointment, I didn't think about it twice. I'd always been an admirer of Arsenal. From the states I'd looked at the way the club was run and of course what Arsene Wenger had done on the pitch so there was an immediate emotional decision that I knew was exactly the right one for me.

You arrived in January and it was a strange time. Results hadn't been good, the team was struggling, there was pressure because of the lack of trophies, and then you had the complicated boardroom situation. Was it a real baptism of fire to have to come in and deal with all those things straight away?

I think one of the advantages I had was that I was coming in from the outside so I wasn't in the fray. So while it was certainly important that I understood what the fans were feeling I think it helped me to have a sense of perspective. Although the team had gone through some difficult patches on the pitch it clearly was a good young squad that was still developing and getting better month by month - and still had the potential to have a really good season ahead of it.

I think that perspective was useful in approaching the January transfer window with discipline as opposed to abandon.

Obviously the boardroom situation is one that interests a lot of fans because for years Arsenal had the same owners, the same directors, it was very traditional. Over the last few years though things have changed quite considerably. The relationships between some of the shareholders are delicate, to say the least, and you're the guy in the middle now, having to be the glue that holds it all together. How is dealing with that on a day to day basis and longer term do you think we're going to see a more settled ownership situation at the club?

Well I think the club has had a very clear and consistent philosophy since before even Stan Kroenke or Alisher Usmanov came into the picture - which is that the club is bigger than any single owner. The club has always been proud of its independence, not for its own sake but in order to preserve stability. Arsenal is not dependent on any particular owner so there can be changes at the ownership level without that having a dramatic effect on the fundamentals of the club.

And I think you've seen in recent years a number of clubs who didn't adhere to those principles have unfortunately found themselves in significant trouble. So while there'll always be a lot of focus on what happens at the ownership level I do believe this model that the club has adopted, of self-sustainability, gives it an inherent stability that would be impacted if it were to be dependent on any one shareholder.

Are you confident that Arsenal's self-sustainable model can marry the necessity to manage our debts and pay off the stadium with creating a team that's challenging for important trophies every season?

I believe it can. We've certainly embarked on a course that sees us building our own team rather than buying it but I think Arsene has done that very effectively. We've got a young squad that the world's best teams are very interested in. A player's value is determined not only by what you spend on him in the transfer market, but also by how good he is, how many other clubs are interested him and what he's able to achieve on the pitch.

I think the club is in a very promising position. We made the last four of the Champions League and there are many teams, including some doing the buying, who would have loved to have been in that position. So while we were disappointed at the end of the year this is a young team that's going to improve year by year and with a few additions can be very competitive.

Given the club is self-sustainable and it's reliant on the income it generates from season tickets, commercial deals, match day income, merchandising etc - is the club mindful of the fact that things are tight for a lot of people financially at the moment? There are many people who are trying to lease out their season ticket for a year because they simply can't afford to maintain it themselves. Is that the something the club has to be aware of despite having to try and maximise its income?

Of course we have to be very aware of that. And it's not just a question of what the club can do, it's a question of what the club should do. There's no question in my mind, coming to this as a business man, that the club could have raised ticket prices this year. Absolutely no question. And we would have generated more revenue had we done that.

But we've got a 120 year relationship with our fans and it was very important to us that we acknowledged the fact that although the club continues to be strong a lot of our fans are affected by the economic realities of the country. We took a decision, for four out of the last five seasons, to freeze ticket prices. We took other decisions, including the opt-out service for cup matches and the ticket exchange program.

It's a long term relationship between club and fan. I've said it before and I'll say it again - the club actually is the fans, so it would be extremely foolish of us to ignore the realities and not to listen to and be aware of the issues that are affecting our fanbase.

In terms of the commercial deals that we have in place - the deals with Nike and Emirates were vital for the new stadium project but some years down the line maybe don't represent the best possible value. Is this something the club can revisit or do we have to accept that the deals served their particular purpose at that time?

I think there's no question that the partnerships with Nike and Emirates were fundamental for the construction of the stadium and those are strong, long-term relationships. It's always easy to second guess deals but they give us, as a club, stability, and effectively a guaranteed return.

But what I do believe is that if we're looking to develop our value we have to embark on a medium to long-term project of better articulating the values that the club represents. I don't think we have developed our brand as much as we could do, either domestically or internationally, and ultimately if you do that effectively the revenues come off the back of that.

I do believe that Arsenal represents some things that are quite special, particulary in the modern world of football. We need to preserve those whilst articulating them to a wider public.

Is that something that you're working on at the moment?

It is something that I'm spending a lot of time thinking about. I'm also looking to supplement our management team capabilities so that we can better develop that message and the Arsenal brand.

Moving to football, it's summertime and fans are looking under every internet based rock they can find for news of transfers. Does the big spending at Madrid have an impact on the way we do our business? They spend £80m on Ronaldo and that becomes the benchmark for player prices. So a guy has a pre and post Ronaldo price. Is that just something we have to cope with?

Clearly transfer fees going up and salaries going up affects the marketplace. I would say this - no clubs have unlimited resources. I know it seems like it at times, and they may act like it for a period of time, but at some point every club has limited resources. We are acting in a way that acknowledges that behind a very, very solid business model.

So yes, big spending has an effect on the market but it's difficult to fully assess that effect until some period of time has passed. Big spending doesn't guaranteee on-field success. It's certainly a relevant factor but it's one of many relevant factors. Understandably the media doesn't really focus on the others because they're less exciting, less immediate, less newsworthy, but there are a huge number of factors that make a team successful on the field.

There's a lot more to this business than simply the amount of money you pay to other clubs to get the early release of their talented players.

There's a perception amongst fans that we don't go about our transfer business as efficiently as we might. Is that something you can address?

I can't really comment on how it's been in the past, I can only speak about my approach. I have fourteen years of experience dealing in player transfer markets in the MLS and negotiating player contracts. I have a very good working relationship with Arsene and this off-season we've made sure, although it's not such a big news story, that we are tying down our talented young players who are in demand from other clubs for the long-term, as well as supplemeting the squad if the manager believes there's someone special who can add something.

We did that in January with Arshavin, we've done it again with Thomas Vermaelen, but fundamentally we believe in the squad that Arsene has been developing. I certainly acknowledge this is a big year for us. And it's a big year for those players. We talk about potential but at some point potential needs to deliver.

Having said that we've been very active since the end of the season, secured some key contracts and have positioned ourselves well for next season.

We all know Arsenal is very closed when it comes to discussing transfer business. All the same I know my readers would not forgive me if I didn't ask. Now, you can tell me, or not tell me, and I think I know which one you'll go with, can you hint at whether we going to see more players arrive and if so are those arrivals dependent on other players leaving to raise funds?!

I'm sorry, but I'm going to continue in a rich tradition of obfuscation! It's not that I wouldn't want to be open with our fans but it really does affect our ability to successfully deal with player contracts and transfers during the close season.

It creates a dynamic that can be difficult to manage and makes things more challenging to complete, so if everyone will just bear with us it gives us the best chance of success, when we get to the end of the transfer window, if we say as little as possible.

Finally, if we could look to the season ahead. We've gone four years without a trophy. I've known longer periods than that in my time as an Arsenal fan but the nature of fandom has changed a lot. With internet, blogs, forums etc, every single person has an opinion they can broadcast to the world and that brings about more pressure than it would have done some years ago.

Arsene obviously has the full support of the board but is the pressure really on now for the season ahead to translate the potential in this team into silverware?

At the end of the day it's not enough for Arsenal to be just competing and reaching the top four. I do believe that it's a very creditable performance by a group of young players but at the same time I also think that every player in our squad, our manager, and me, has higher ambitions. We need to keep hungry in that way. If we ever felt that coming in the top four was good enough then we shouldn't be doing what we're doing.

Arsene Wenger takes a lot of pressure on himself and he also puts a lot of pressure on himself. I think one of the real assets that club has is that he doesn't only think short-term. He also thinks about what's in the medium and long-term interests of the club. And it's rare in modern football to find someone who is willing to take that position of real responsibility to the club and not necessarily putting themselves first.

Do you mean that, for example, he's aware of the financial constraints he's been operating under and hasn't thrown his toys out of the pram looking for transfer funds?

Not necessarily, what I mean is that he and the club have commited to a course of building our team, understanding that was going to be a process. When he comes under pressure he doesn't turn around and point fingers at players, he takes all of that on his own shoulders. We're embarked on a journey that we believe will result in us having a truly world class team, winning trophies over the next five years of Arsenal's history.

And sometimes along the way we've paid the price for having some inexperience on the pitch. But if you look at the way we're positioned now we've got young players who have grown dramatically, even look at the beginning of last season compared to the end. Yes, there were times we didn't have the fluency we were looking for, but in terms of consistency the second half of the season ... you know, I think the first opposition goal I saw, outside the Plymouth and Hull goals in the FA Cup, in my time at Arsenal was when Kieran Gibbs slipped over against Man United.

I don't think any team in the Premier League lost fewer games than us in 2009. And it was a team that progressed the semi-finals of the Champions League and you don't do that by luck. That was playing against top class opposition. So there's tremendous hope and expectation for the future but I do think this year's going to be a very important one for us. And one where we need to step up and show that after this journey that we've been on, that has required some patience, and at times has been frustrating, we're in a position to deliver for our fans.

We're all absolutely committed to that cause.

End.

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