Guest Post – Lars Training Centre Tour
Jun 6th, 2013 by 'holic
At the end of every season it is customary for the club to host a Supporters Clubs 5 a side tournament at the stadium, but this year time restrictions meant the event could not be fitted in before the concerts. Instead the Clubs were invited to send representatives along to Shenley for a tour of the training complex built out of the profit on Nicolas Anelka’s transfer to Real Madrid.
One of those fortunate enough to get a place was our very own Lars, holder of the most generous credit card, and a fully paid up member of the Swedish Supporters Club. I’m delighted he is sharing his thoughts and recollections with us. Thanks Lars
“We are looking at some very big targets. I know who a few of them are and I am VERY optimistic about next season. I for one can’t wait!”
The man uttering those words is not a self-proclaimed ITK on Twitter. Nor is it an over-zealous supporter claiming to have psychically tuned in to Arsene’s brain. No, they are instead the words of an actual ITK, a man who knows Arsene Wenger very well and works with him pretty much on a daily basis.
His name is Sean O’Connor, and he is the manager of the Arsenal training centre. The words are said to me and about 25 others who are at the training centre as part of a guided tour arranged by the club for representatives of various supporters’ clubs from around the world. At first I am slightly sceptical when he mentions chasing big targets, but as the tour goes on and he returns to the topic I am increasingly convinced that he is honest and that we really are chasing some big targets.
The first-team changing room, boot room, pool area and various other rooms are opened up to us. We are given a rather rare insight into what everyday life is like for the players. Everywhere on the walls are pictures of past glories, reminding the current players of the where the clubs aims to get back to.
We are told that the small devices that the players wear for every training session and that have been used for about two years have really started to pay off. They collect loads of data and were instrumental in keeping Robin van Persie fit in his last 18 months with us. And of course the ungratefulΒ so and soΒ took all that knowledge with him toΒ Man UtdΒ so they too could keep him fit. Not that O’Connor says that last sentence in so many words, though.
Injury prevention has improved massively in particularly the last year. O’Connor is refreshingly honest and admits that not only Arsenal but football clubs in general had become too complacent and thought they knew it all about injuries and didn’t keep up with the latest scientific findings and were left behind by both rugby and cricket. This has now been well and truly addressed, and Arsenal are once more getting ahead of the game in this aspect.
Very little seems to be kept secret from us. We are of course not allowed into Arsene’s office where the real secrets are kept, but other than that it all feels very open and honest. “We felt we wanted to show you, the people who run the supporters clubs, what we are doing here because we really do appreciate the work you do”, he says and I for one feel that it is sincerely meant. He takes his time to talk to anyone who has questions and he himself is also an Arsenal man through and through who knows what it is like to be a fan.
He often returns to a particular topic: the unity in the team and how ambitious this group of players is. “I haven’t seen a team since the Invincibles with such spirit and togetherness, they really work hard for each other and care about the team”, are his words. I tell him that this is interesting to hear, since the unity and hard work bit is exactly the impression many of us in the stands have got. It wasn’t just wishful thinking and confirmation bias. “It’s so great to see this, unlike in some previous teams where you had someone like Adebayor who just didn’t care about anything”, he replies.
O’Connor seems really bullish all along. But it wasn’t always thus: “the team was really struggling for confidence for a long time. Around Christmas I felt even a Europa League place could be out of reach, but Arsene worked hard on lifting the players and talked a lot to them individually and it all turned around when we beat Bayern. And whatever people are saying about that game and their attitude, Bayern were NOT expecting to lose 2-0. We really were that good on the night.”
Near the end of the tour the words mentioned at the top of this piece are said. It is not only him, he says, the optimism permeates the whole club. There is a sense that there might be something brewing, this group of players is one that can be built upon to create something really good. It is impossible not to be swept along in his optimism, and I really hope that this summer and the upcoming season turns out to justify this.
I also feel that the club is moving in the right direction in their relation to us fans. For example, Ivan Gazidis has in the last year met with several fans’ groups, we were invited to this tour, and then there is the new scheme with really cheap tickets for kids which is something fans have asked for for a while. O’Connor also said that he would love to do more tours of the facility for supporters, but that for various reasons this is difficult. And while talk is indeed cheap, I really feel he means it.
The tour, or rather the fiery optimism of Sean, gave me a real boost. I really think that there are things afoot and that changes in our fortunes could be coming quite soon. Optimism is not in any way the same as a guarantee of course, but I for one have no doubts that if Arsene Wenger has his way we will be seeing a vastly improved Arsenal side come the start of the season. Moreover, it did convince me once and for all that this is not in any way a club that is happy to finish fourth. On the contrary, they do without a doubt want to compete for the top prizes.
And that in itself is cause for optimism for me.
275 Responses to “Guest Post – Lars Training Centre Tour”
Thirstyisy
Lovely stuff.
Gotta get in early and often when THE Wallet opens.
Cheers all!
Cheers Lars, good work.
o connor ?
o connor was it ?
never trust a paddy
s’all i’m sayin
we’re a shifty bunch
shifty bunch indeed
to be sure
i get up very early in the morning to make sure i’m still asleep
yet to catch me
sneaky bugger
Nice piece Lars, cherry-poppingly nice.
Thanks for that Lars – a cracking read mate! Just the kind of stuff I want to digest when I’m, er, digesting my lunch.
A lot of what you’ve said confirms that the funny creeping feelings of positivity I’ve been having constantly since the run-in are not limited to me. And whatever the trolls say, you just can’t argue with the stats – second best defence, top of the form table after the Bayern game, waaaay more goals than the little club down the grotty end of the Seven Sisters Road.
I looked at the boys (not like that…) quite a few times on the run-in and just admired their grit. Not particularly pretty football, but something that’s been missing for the past few years: the feeling that we wouldn’t concede within 5 minutes of scoring in any game is deeply satisfying.
Which brings me back to the theme of optimism. This close season is only about 3 weeks old and I’m already suffering from lack of football, unlike in the past two or three when the overriding emotion was blessed relief.
We finished on an upward curve and I fully expect that to continue into next term. In fact it already is because Squillaci, Denilson and Arshavin are all off the books!
Toodle-pip all.
ooh cherries
i grow rhubarb
yum
sour
Nice one, Lars.
Sean O’Connor – shoundsh like the Irish Jamesh Bond. π
free state bastards the lot o them , trev
feel free to use that with a toora loora accented so and so
my accent could cut glass
nowt like the ginger haired be-frecktacled donkey ridin twaddles
.
i joke of course
.
they aren’t all donkey owners
.
some rent
;);)
cba,
There must be little holes strewn all over the cyber space due to your leaving all these blank lines, or a full stop followed by 50 spaces in your comments.
There’s only so much room up there, you know.
I think Holic needs to get a clever geeky computer person to install a space recycler next to the spam filter.
Talking of spam filters, it’s either lunch time, or I have just invented a rather odd kind of new cigarette. π
Cheers Lars – great stuff. Sounds like a very interesting day which you have narrated superbly.
Time for genuine optimism. Let’s hope so.
Cba – Still in great form Sir @10 π
I’m afraid I wasn’t expecting a lunchtime post, and I therefore got “Treved” in the last Bar. My comments on your previous excellent prose, and indeed Wolfie’s theme tune, will therefore go unnoticed by the great unwashed. Oh well, probably for the best. π
#11 tba
i would engage but i fear it would be like kickin a tub of lard
i’ll win but i’ll still end up with greasy trousers
oh
and
“theo’s bank account”
apostrophe
apostrophe
it might mean nothing to you but it’s these small things keep me up all afternoon
Tabs, Lars etc, ‘Optimism tempered by pragmatism’ just about sums up where we are at the moment.
We may win precisely nothing next season but I have a feeling we’re going to have a lot of fun in the process.
CBA your grammar pointers are wasted on the embryos of today.
mmmm
.
spam
.
butters bread
Good stuff, Lars, thanks for sharing with us.
Good to see the return of MNB (not). Now, be a good chap and fuck off, eh? Thanks.
afternoon trev
afternoon tabs
geniuses both
always a pleasure
i ‘holic it to read both of your drinks
calm down
i’m not proposing marriage
mind you
hello sailor
A glass half full of optimism, just what Lars ordered. On his tab please.
Trev, even you can handle a half glass of that ! π
Cheers Lars, great stuff.
Like the stuff about spirit and togetherness, showing it’s not gratuitous stuff from ArsΓ¨ne when he says that.
Of course, when AW said a few weeks ago that this was possibly his best team IN THAT RESPECT, headlines were made about ‘Wenger: this is the best team I’ve ever had’.
Meedja cunts.
Looks like you had a blast. Injury records have been noticeably better this season indeed.
I should spend a year there to work on my overall fitness π
cba @14 – excellent, π
Cheers NorCal – i’ll go the full pint on that. π
howdy ollie
“looks like you had a blast” you said to whoever
.
i just had a blast
can you tell ?
is my slip showing ?
i also applied sun tan lotion for the first time in my life , yesterday
congratulations mr lidl
i am still a pasty faced so and so
does exactly what it said on the four year old expired tube of squelch
.
π
According to totally unreliable Twitter sources, SSN have just reported that Arsenal will announce a “record breaking signing” in the next 48 hours.
Could be a load of bollocks, but still….. Jovetic time?
Lars,
Just had time for a re-read, and it does sound good.
I too had a tour with Sean – assuming it’s the same Sean who used to be the facilities manager at Highbury – when I was lucky enough to be invited to join two brothers I knew who were friends of his, on a private tour, relatively soon after the centre opened.
The team at the time comprised the likes of TH14, RP7, PV4, FL8, and we also met Tony Adams and David Seaman who had just finished a gym session.
There wasn’t much need to repair team confidence in those days and, indeed, the medical facility was really all about treatment of injuries, rather than prevention.
Up to the minute facilities, at the time, with a hydrotherapy pool, computer programmable jet baths and the like, but definitely geared to treatment as opposed to prevention.
Please let me know if you are invited back for a tour of the new medical centre and I’ll smuggle myself in with your group. I assume you do Swedish lessons.
A thirty foot dart board has just been delivered to the Training Centre.
The first of the big targets has arrived,
Now read the post – cheers Lars, enjoyed that!
Good to know that there’s a real swell of optimism within the club, and hopefully some of those big names will materialise over the next few weeks.
Cba @19,
Well hello Sailor,
Thank you for the kind offer of your hand, but I am already betrothed to another. Here’s the pic of my sweetheart’s reaction when I finally popped the question …
http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcT3LZPGGE_5CAA7RWOWpvOoaRiJeyAKqoI-A916xlT_aLXUXc0Ncg
Heh @27!
N7 @25 – Sky have probably just read Lars’ post!
Trev @27 Heh π
… And 29.
There are quotes attributed to Robin van Persie in today’s Daily Express, to the effect that it “was difficult” last summer because the “directors were playing games” and “using the interest of Manchester City and Juventus as a bargaining tool”.
As a result he had to “wait six weeks” to “find out where he was going to play”.
I’m not even going to start but I can only see one tool there, Robin.
He’s wasted no time in adopting Ferguson’s wholly misplaced persecution complex, has he ?
@31 Tabs, is that how you guys in the Press work?
Tabs @29 – π
Trev, he also said “There was interest from City and Juve but I always wanted this move from day one. Me and Sir Alex knew it would be a bumpy road” anybody still think he was open to staying?
Cent, ask Tabs. He knows.
N7: this maybe?
http://www.francefootball.fr/news/Wenger-prolonge/376594
Guaranteed to make Twitter explode π
Trev – haha! Love a good pun, and that one hit the bullseye.
Top report Lars!!
Uplifting read, Lars. Hope the optimism turns out to be justified. We’ve has so many false dawns.
Did O’Connor really name Adebayor for not being arsed? If so he is a true fan.
Ollie – now THAT would be funny. Introducing our new record signing… Arsene Wenger. We’ve given him a hefty pay rise.
Re: the Van Persie quotes – anyone still doubting that he effectively chose Utd? Tremendous sympathy that we made the poor little lamb wait weeks for his dream move.
Cent,
I saw those RvPrick comments and thought the same. He was gone no matter what. He left mid season. He and Slur Alex can both suck it. He was being tapped up by that Slur all year.
Lars (or anyone else for that matter),
Can you shed light on how exactly those GPS bra thingies have helped them reduce/prevent injuries?
N7, given, as is becoming increasingly clear, that RvP planned to move to the Mancs all along, the pieces of silver we got for him look an increasingly good bit of business.
NBN
I still wouldn’t have sold the fcuker there, just on point of principle.
I’ve no idea what Juve were offering, but I’d have busted a gut to force him off to Italy, even if it meant losing out on a few million extra.
All of that said, given his age and contract position I think we got a good price for him, and I suspect that Arsene took advantage of Ferguson’s desperation for a title win in his final season.
CG, those GPs bra thingies are called Sports Vests. They work like a GPS running watch with a heart rate monitor chest band to capture distance, speed, acceleration, workload, and a host of other fitness related data.
There is some guff about them in this piece about American football. http://hscweb3.hsc.usf.edu/health/now/?p=14305
Reading it, I did wonder if the “small devices that the players wear for every training session” that Lars mentioned were the small thermometers that American athletes swallow to measure internal body temperature.
If he did, more power to him, N7.
The Australian company that makes the GPS device mentioned in the article above has a bunch of stuff on its web site about these gizmos. These are some of the football posts on its blog: http://catapultsports.com/us/category/soccer/
Norcal @43, they’re both c*nts! They tapped each other up.
Tabs, please, see 34 and 37. π
Cent – He bought a house in Manchester last March.
A bit of idle gossip prompted some inquiry. A Land Registry search did the rest.
Despite the welter of critical words that flayed all who sailed in the Good Ship Arsenal upon his departure, Arsenal had absolutely no chance of keeping him. They would have known that at least 4 months before his departure.
The only thing left to do was to maximise any fee that they received, which they duly did.
That is why his self-serving and utterly hypocritical “you guys” message put him, in my eyes at least, on a whole different level to anything Fabregas may or may not have done in his last few months at the Club.
Fuck him.
What Tabs said with a cherry on top. π
tabs knows.
Tabs knows!
Cheers all for the kind words!
Trev@26: that would probably be the same Sean, he’s worked for the club for ages. As I understood it, he’s been at the training centre since the day it opened and had already been at the club for some time by that stage.
Ned@41: yes, he really did mention Adebayor by name. I was as surprised as you, normally you never hear a bad word about ex players from anyone associated with the club but he didn’t hesitate to name him so I guess “you want me to play like Henry you pay me like Henry” didn’t go down all that well with the club any more than it did with us supporters.
Camberwell@44/Ned@47: the data Arsenal gather from the little gadgets are GPS data to track the distance run, but also stuff like stride length, time spent with both feet in the air while running, heart rate and some other stuff as well that I can’t remember. All this data together with data taken from blood samples taken every now and then has taught the club to be able to tell when a player is getting too tired to get anything out of the training and is instead doing harm to his body. This has also been used to individualise training sessions much more than used to be the case, and has many times also helped them see when a player’s muscles are starting to tighten too much (often before the player even realises) and so by resting one or two days or for one game they can prevent an injury that would have kept him out for six weeks. It can also be noted (and this is my own observation) that small muscle tears used to be four to six weeks out, but this season we have had only a few such injuries and they have all been short-term except for Gibbs who I think was out for five weeks around February.
tabs@51: as pretty much always, I am 100% with you on that one. At least Fabregas was honest about what he wanted. RvP tried to make it look like he was forced out, so fuck him.
Tabs, bang on.
Lars, NBN, Cheers for the info/links, this is really fascinating stuff.
NBN, I liked the little ‘stop sniggering at the back’ moment in that article you linked to, when it said “one of the leading EPL clubs, West Bromwich Albion”!!!
as usual
my husband tabs knows
π
π
Very nice piece, Lars and encouragingly positive.
*major boilk here – lost the day*
So it’s only the ladies, but when the alternative is baseball, they’ll do
Lars. et al: I wonder if these sports vests will ever be allowed in games. It would make for some fascinating tactical decisions if a manager had the data to know exactly when tired legs really were getting tired and it was necessary to bring on fresh ones. And then if teams could hire hackers to intercept the opposition’s data…
I am wondering, Ned.
Because I saw that : http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/blogs/oval-talk/bump-back-lions-jerseys-162326098.html
Not sure what the Lions game qualify as (I mean, they are not test matches, not this one anyway, so I don’t know how ‘official’ they are), but that just got used in a rugby game
And they put your exact point through:
All this information can be relayed to the coaches in real time and they can then make replacements based on the information they see on their laptop screens
Tabs, last March or March 2012?
The Sun had him house hunting in August 2012.
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/4495236/Shoppin-van-Persie.html
Ned: O’Connor said that the only reason they are not allowed in games is because not all Premier League teams have them, so it is considered an unfair advantage to use them during games. But I’m quite sure all PL and most Championship teams will have this technology within not too long so it will probably happen sooner rather than later that they start using it during games as well.
March 2012 Ned, whilst he was still at Arsenal.
I assumed as much, so the Sun story was completely bogus.
Seems like you might have yourself a nice little earner there as a Fleet St tip-off service based off Land Registry trawls.
Lars, Ollie: it seems also that they are not allowed to be used in games in any U.S. pro sports (bet that would have changed already if the technology was American not Australian) but Aussie rules football does seems to use it in games. They also have a ball with a sensor so that data can be correlated with athlete data.
I think for the Prem you are right that it is only a matter of time.
Catapult charges $100,000 a team according to the Wall Street Journal. Not many Prem teams that couldn’t afford that.
How long, too, before we are criticised for not spending money on a big name data analyst, but buying no-name number crunchers out of the French second division?
Cba,
Saw this and thought about your sunblock usage.
http://twitter.com/DeanDino64/status/342732252188397569/photo/1
Lars,
I’m very interested in the training centre. Thanks for this piece. I remember when the team changed at Sopwell House and were bussed out to a field to train because of a fire. Big progress has been made a legacy of Wenger’s money making ability and vision.
I don’t expect any big deals yet. We are being linked with too many payers rather than one or two. I think the Voyeur Mourinho may well nick Jovetic.
Top stuff Lars. A very interesting read.
Top stuff Lars. A very interesting read.
In addition to your story Lars, this is from tomorrow’s Guardian
https://twitter.com/suttonnick/status/342740888864296960/photo/1
If only …
http://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/2892/transfer-zone/2013/06/06/4031002/arsenal-launch-stunning-22m-fellaini-bid
that wasn’t on goal.com.
Something is cooking, that’s for sure, and I get the impression that this time it’s not just for the ticket renewals sake.
Lurky,
here u go. Looks like its all over the internet ..
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/sport/football/premierleague/article3784741.ece?CMP=OTH-gnws-standard-2013_06_06
The Times, like all media these days, feeds itself off internet crap like goal.com.
They’re as reliable as John Cross or your average twitter rumour.
π
Nice report lars,hope to see a few new bodies in shortly felliani would be a good start.
CBA
Jesus mate,
Not only posting all through the night,now posting all fucking day as well.!!
Where will it end.!!
Cheers
The Sweeper.
By the By
If and it is a big IF,Fellani is our BIG signing,then you can bet your life ,the fact that his good mate Mikel Arteta is ensconsed here,has been a major factor in his decision.
Cheers
The Sweeper
It seems that the story is from the tomorrow’s Times, and that Goal.com just copy-pasted it.
Anyway, carrying all my experience of this past couple of years, related to Arsenal buying players or more – the lack of it, I can help myself once again and hide my excitement this year.
Something is strange out there, and I can sense it.
Needless to say that, late August I will probably end up in tears, as I always do.
Fellaini would be an ace signing, but no idea if there’s any truth in those rumours.
I do, however, get the distinct feeling that something is cooking. Ivan would have to be out of his mind to give those quotes if there was a chance of us ending the summer with a handful of French second tier players as our new signings.
A very strange feeling this. It’s a bit like being a kid on Xmas eve. Only in a house where your parents haven’t believed in Xmas for the last ten years but have suddenly started telling everyone how much wrapping paper they’re going to need this time round.
I am so excited!! echo the other sentiments. This is one window where im super confident that we will make some big moves. A lot of instability with managerial changes and that a big factor for a lot of players. An no matter what our own fans think about him, theres no doubting that Arsene has a lot of pull for a lot of players.
Fellaini would be a brilliant signing. Add a clinical mobile striker and we start looking really good . π
Fellaini had an extraordinary game at our place last season. He would be a seriously good signing. I suspect Moyes must be in pole position here though.
So will it be Fellaini AND Capoue ?
That would give our midfield a somewhat different look in a 4-2-3-1.
Might be powerful enough to play in a 4-4-2.
Just sayin’ ……. π
Fellaini – 1.94 metres
Capoue – 1.89 metres
Now, if we can find someone who can launch throw-ins into the six yard box …….. oh. π
Evening all!
Have not been around for a bit I bet you have missed me NOT π
Have a read at what these DM twats have to say!
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2336897/Arsene-Wenger-offered-new-Arsenal-contract.html
Let’s see how Moyes will pan out no trophies in his cabinet as far as I can see!
Ok.
So Ivan is now confirming that we’ve been competing “with one hand tied behind our back” and that Wenger has no problem with spending money.
He wants to be careful, or he’ll end up being labelled an “AKB”.
GPN –
as we’re all getting carried away now, any suggestions for your striker ?
After his end of season showing, I’m leaning towards Benteke. Young enough, experience of the Premier League, strong and certainly knows how to stick one away.
Consistency remains the question, I guess.
Trev,
Benteke/lukaku (although special c*unt will not sell to us even if he never plays the kid) is a good choice.. but i fear if he does take time to settle in, people will be slating the club that we didn’t target someone with a higher profile. Although benteke/giroud along with David villa would sit pretty fine with me. Villa might not be as quick as he was but he is still quite clever in his movement and his finishing is good.
Havent seen much of Jovetic, so cant comment. Higauin is a good shout too. But i guess one guy who would split the fan-base but would def be a clever one would be rooney. I hate the guy, but i must confess he is a very good player. He has been played all over the park at old toilet, but he still does a decent job. With a new focus and a dedicated position to play in, he might surprise a few. Also the club will make a statement and get a lot of shirt sales in the global market. I have seen people who dont even watch football, talk abt rooney. That gives the club a big visibility.
Lewondowski/cavani would be out of our reach.
Stekelenburg was a tasty signing at a very reasonable price for Fulham. Might have done us.
No Rooney, PLEASE!
Stekelenburg is not better than Fabianski, IMO.
hmm.. final thoughts.. positions in that order
1) Striker : Rooney/Jovetic or Lukaku/benteke/+ villa
2) DM : a no-nonsense defensive guy. Lars bender/gonalons . Fellaini, definite yes if true !
3) CM : CESC pls !! .. i think we need another attacking mid. Wilshere at the base of the mid with a Def MF leave only Santi as an option. Rosicky, i love him, but cant be relied for the whole season if we plan to compete on all fronts.
That grenier kid seems very good on the ball and gives a height advantage. he is is six feet plus!
4) RB : Sagna + jenko would be great. If sagna leaves a solid signing in the mold of nacho.
4) GK : a old head to give Schez a kick when needed. some one in the mold of borrusia’s GK.
That’s it ! I’m done !
GPN,
I was with you until we got to, you’ve guessed it, Rooney.
Initial gut instinct is that I want nothing to do with the bloke after his diving helped to end The Invincibles run. True, that was a long time ago, but I’ve found his behaviour pretty objectionable throughout his career.
The other question is where would he play ?
He would have to be the attacking midfielder in a 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3, as he is not a lone, back to goal striker.
Or he would be the second striker in a 4-4-2.
Either way, that seems to put Jack or Santi’s position in jeopardy, which I wouldn’t want to do.
But, as we know from the press, Arsene wants to sign him. π
I’m sure i’m going overboard with all this. Ill be happy if we get some decent signings and maybe one marque player. π
Cent,
I do dislike rooney, but looking at it logically.
According to latest rumours could be Fellaini, which to me would be a great signing, would free Arteta up to play his passing game more, especially as Fellaini says he prefers a defensive midfield role!
Trev, as we are getting carried away, I would take Rooney in a heartbeat. I had other ideas before Brasil vs England game last week, but after that game I am 100% sure he is exactly what we need.
His link up play and understanding he had with Walcott and Chambo was spectacular, it almost felt like they came from the same street. He can play as a lone striker, but he can play behind the striker in DB10 role. He is a proven in PL and is proven as a winner.
He is English, so a homegrown. As a big name. he brings success on and of the pitch. He will cost a lot, but he sells kits all over the world so will refund himself. He would help consolidate The Arsenal as a brand worldwide.
Most importantly, Arsene likes him, as he sad that many times over the years.
If by any chance we manage to get him and Fellaini this summer, only sky is a limit.
Your thoughts?
Trev,
Absolutely agree that as a player earlier, he has been despicable at times. But the fact is he has absolutely murdered us at times and remember the season after cronaldo left he carried them all on his own. He is a proven striker with a great passing range. if he stays with a clear mind and throws no tantrums, i believe we will be getting a pretty good player.
Also, the commercial value cannot be underestimated. He will cover half his transfer fees in a few years.
Lurky, my thoughts are @98.
In summary, no thanks.
His form and fitness have tailed off a lot over the last two years. He may be burning out early as he has played at top level since 16 years of age, and does not naturally stay in good shape.
Rooney is a very, very good football player but unfortunately for him, and fortunately for all of us, The Arsenal is more than just a football club.
Cent, that is one fantastic comment.
Cent
After thoughtful consideration, i have decided i will not be buying rooney. π
Trev, I saw 98 after I posted mine, sorry. I thought the same as you, that he is not in good shape and fitness. But based on what I saw in that useless friendly game I stand firmly behind my opinion that he is exactly what we need. I feel that if he is for sale, Arsene will do everything to get him, and not because of his little revenge re RvP, but because he rates him highly as a player.
Haaaa! Cent nails it.
Cheers, Trev and N7.
GPN, you play FIFA manager too?
Brilliant write up,what a fantastic fella Adebayor must have been when he was at our club if the bloke doing the tours is volleying him! The good news is, he’s had Hughes,Maureen & Twitchy tutoring him since then, he must be a world champion bellend by now, I agree with Tabs & Lars over the Dutch skunk by the way.
This interview is quite informative, if you can see/hear behind the ‘Arsene speak’ http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/arsenal-chief-ivan-gazidis-qa-1936217
Thank you Lars for a great read, as well as the official confirmation that Adebayor does not care about anything. π
I’d like to believe, Lars, I really would, but ‘some very big targets’ on whose scale? Ours or the oligarab clubs? Monaco has already spent Β£100m apparently and City laid out (an initial) Β£30m today on Ferdinandingo or whatever his name is. Very big in comparison to these? Are we targeting Bale? Or Cavani? Or Aguero? I hear a rumour about Fellaini … is he a target? I understand you can’t know specifics, but it would be wonderful to know we might be competing at the top end for a change.
Even record signings for US would be welcome, but I’ll believe it when I see it. Or rather when I see THEM, cos more than one is needed.
Oskar
Okay, I see Fellaini has been mentioned multiple times (so much for posting before back-reading)!
As for Rooney, obviously all has not been peachy for him at Manure in recent years and he may well respond to a new challenge. He certainly gave better service to Theo in the Brazil game than Theo has been getting from his Arsenal midfield lately. He could also be the foil OG needs.
Oskar
And I have always supported him, shenley, where have I said otherwise?
Oskar
Great post Lars. I enjoyed it immensely.
It’s always fun talking to people that have a long history with our club. Charlie George on my compulsory Stadium tour said a few less than flattering things about Adebayor as well. I believe that the club overall doesn’t have a problem with people speaking their minds. It’s just there is a time and place for everything, and overall we seem to be leaking things like that in all the right places.
I might well have to join Arsenal Sweden again. Feel a bit bad for not being a member in my local group even if I of course am a member in the club.
Oh and various ‘heh’s at amongst others:
N7 “He wants to be careful, or heβll end up being labelled an βAKBβ.”
N7 “A very strange feeling this. Itβs a bit like being a kid on Xmas eve. Only in a house where your parents havenβt believed in Xmas for the last ten years but have suddenly started telling everyone how much wrapping paper theyβre going to need this time round.”
Trev “Now, if we can find someone who can launch throw-ins into the six yard box β¦β¦..”
NBN “How long, too, before we are criticised for not spending money on a big name data analyst, but buying no-name number crunchers out of the French second division?”
Seems like you’ve all enjoyed yourselves in my absence!
Tried to backdrink, but there’s too much bizarre optimism in here.
WHO STOLE THEY KEYS TO THE CMC?
Fuck me, is it Mel again?
It’s not going to happen, so don’t get excited.
The key part of that whole interview with Gazidis is where he says that if Arsene Wenger thinks we should sign big stars, then we have the money. So you can forget it right now.
He then comes out with the ludicrous line that we would sign Messi for Β£25m. Yeah and I’d buy a mansion for a pound, Ivan.
There you go Ollie – a cure for the optimisim overload π
Great writeup Lars! Youβre so lucky to be able to go on that tour man, Iβm very jealous.
Regarding VanJudas, I wonder if the 8-2 had any influence in his decision? I still think we should have refused and let him sit out his last year if he didnβt want to go anywhere else. That transfer devastated the club and the morale of the fans. The negative effect of that transfer far outweighed the benefits of the money we received in return I think. Would he staying and causing dressing room confusion had a worse effect? Whatever, f#&k him, old news nowβ¦
On the topic of big transfers, I wouldn’t mind seeing Fellaini and Higuain come to us, a backup for Cazorla, and a better goalkeeping coaching setup instead of a new goalkeeper. Perhaps an extra striker/second striker like Jovetic if Gervinho is moving to Lille.
Rooney to Arsenal would throw me for a loop though, as Iβll be seeing one of my most hated players playing for us. I will never* be able to cheer him. In any case, would he be motivated to help us fight for trophies? I have this feeling that he could be looking for an easy ride (plus big money) at his next club.
*Unless he scores the winning goal for Arsenal in the 2014 CL final against Manure, heh π
HBS
I can understand being cautious when it comes to interpreting Gazidiz. I, personally, think that things will change, just not as quickly as I might be hoping for. I don’t think this will be the huge summer of change, but rather the first of two or three quite good ones. All the deals are not in place yet, and some of them we will get money from first after this season. However, if we as a club feel safe enough that the deals will actually come through we might well start spending that money in the bank now, knowing it will fill up again when the new kit deal for example kicks in, even if it in itself won’t give us any money as of yet.
If you have a different opinion than that, be my guest.
Having that said, I can’t understand why you would call the Messi-line ludicrous. Keep it in context and it is fully understandable. All he did was using an example to state that Arsene isn’t afraid of spending sums larger than a certain number, but rather that he don’t like to pay over the top (especially since that means strengthening other clubs and also wasting extra money on a player that could be used towards another buy or a higher salary to keep said player at the club).
So:
Question: “Is Wenger averse to spending Β£25m on a single player?”
Answer: “There is no philosophical line in the sand and I suspect that he would pay Β£25m for Lionel Messi.”
Straight, to the point and illustrative.
Yeah, illustrative of how the club thinks when it comes to buying players. They would really psh the boat out to get the best player in the world for less than the cost of Tevez.
I agree our net spend on players have not been enough. But I do not agree it’s a problem with which player we are buying, but rather with the players we have been selling. Sure, not every player have worked out (quite a lot haven’t) but we’ve bought enough good players during the last few years, developed them into players and a collective good enough to win the league (if not Messi-class). Our problem this far hasn’t been Wenger not finding good enough players without paying over the top, rather other clubs saying “oh, that players was actually quite good, I’ll have some of that” and then the club having to sell them. For me, the best thing with this new money is not the players we can buy, but rather the players we can keep. Even if at this very moment, yes, I do agree we’re a bit low on top quality to keep, so sure, it will take some initial spending at this point.
Point being – however much money we had I’d never want the club to pay over the top money for players. We owe it to the sport not to do that, and we owe it to the people paying for it in the end – and you might think those are rich companies and diamond club members, but it is also the ordinary match goer and the people that make the big companies such as puma rich. In the end, all that money going into prying a big ego away from Whatever FC is in some ways connected to how Puma makes their money, with manual labor in bad conditions half way around the globe from our stadium. I don’t care one bit if no other club tries to follow, but I can’t see how us winning things with money from child labour is in any way a better thing than us not winning things and trying to keep our consciences clean and you know, let football be something, an escape from a, frankly, horrible world, rather than a constant reminder of unfairness.
I’ve said this loads of times and I bet most regulars are bored with it, and also not agreeing to 100% but I’ll never stop preaching.
I’m very happy for the Puma-money, to contradict myself, I’m very happy we’re a global brand, because that is needed, and yes, I want to win things as much as the next supporter. I understand my dream of how things should work will not happen. But I just can’t see why we can’t try at least a bit to put things into perspective. And apparently, neither can Wenger and the club, for which I am grateful. What we can do is not buy a name but buy skills, and then at least letting this money go towards keeping said player of skill. Once again, this doesn’t mean buying 14-year olds. It just means that football is a global sport with millions of players, and there must be more economically viable and sensible alternatives than buying the latest in-vogue-player for an overprice when there is almost certainly another player just as good for half the price.
And once more – NO it was not ludicrous. It’s was a straight answer to a question. “Would you buy a player for more than 25m?” “Yes, I suspect we would pay 25m for a player worth that sum or more”
HBS
Suppose Messi became available for Β£25m. Would you prefer the club to pay Β£80m instead?
Prediction:
I’m very optimistic for this summer. We’ve been walking a tightrope and we’ve might well have erred on the wrong side of spend to invest. I believe that yes, there has been money there, but the big sum always touted as our “transfer kitty” really included our backup as well, if something went wrong during our property business and our need for having a threadbare squad and still hope for Champions League etc. Now, we managed to get over, a tad shaky, but at least on the other side of the worst of it. We have until this moment not been sure we would be able to stay in the CL, it was just a year or so ago we could be certain we wouldn’t lose more money on the land deals. And more importantly, we never knew how good our new sponsorship deals would be until they were finally up for renegotiation. So we kept money in reserve. Sensible, even if we might have overdone it.
That is why I believe all that money will start getting used now. We have been sensible and now we know there will be more if we spend it. Having money there isn’t the same as being able to spend it without risking a sudden fall in cash flow due to unwanted/unforeseen circumstances. We’ve now mitigated enough risk to be able to take the step to spend. I don’t think we’ll spend it all in one summer, but the coming two-thre seasons will have us spend more NET money. Not saying more money. Overall we buy good players and we’ve spent quite a bit. As I said in my previous post, the problem has been us selling as well.
This is what I believe. Three seasons of somewhat increased spending on players wanting a tad higher wages than what we could previously afford. Nothing super-fancy, but a definite improvement. Also three seasons of us not selling the players that work out, be it new buys, old ones or youngsters coming through. These two factors together will make us much, much stronger.
So, I do not see us becoming Real Madrid, Manchester City or Chelsea. I see us much more likely to become a Bayern MΓΌnich. A team that doesn’t have to sell, and sometimes buys quite big, rather than a team that buys the biggest and changes players every season to buy even bigger.
That, for me, is perfect.
Of course not, but that’s not what I was saying anyway. As you know.
Interesting that over at LeTurncoat the CEO once referred to daily as ‘Gazidas’ (sic) is now ‘Ivan’.
Makes you think…
Afternoon all, a quick trawl few the drinks;
Lars 55.
At least Fabregas was honest about what he wanted.
?????????????
No he wasn’t. He signed an 8 year contract and then started acting like a cunt, he said nothing while the whole tippy tappy uppy circus engulfed the club and then after threatening strike, he sneaked out the back door.
Fuck ’em both.
===
GPN 86
I am so excited!!
Ah mate, getting excited about transfer rumours in the papers is tantamount to…err… well, getting excited about transfer rumours on twitter.
You’ll drive yourself potty, son. π
===
Cent’Berry 96
Stekelenburg is not better than Fabianski, IMO.
The same Stekelenberg that helped The Netherlands to a WC final is not as good as a Fabianski who sometimes looks like he did his apprenticeship by the Keystone Cops…. Come on!!??
Stekelenberg is following in the footsteps of van der Sar, it wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest if he ended up at Man U or at least a bigger club in the PL in a few years.
===
I’ve got up to 100, I’ll read the rest later, time permitting) but if we’re doing the silly season thing, themn;
I’d welcome Fellini, yes please, a player I’ve rated highly for the last few years.
If I could have my choice of striker from all those mentioned above then I’d take Lukaku, I think that lads got a bright future.
*…… It won’t happen though.
HBS, I didn’t actually understand precisely what you meant when you said:
“They would really psh the boat out to get the best player in the world for less than the cost of Tevez”
H2H, I must say that this “he threatened to go on strike” stuff is something I find a bit curious. Where has this come from? I have honestly not seen one credible source for it.
And yes, in my eyes he was about as honest about what he wanted as a footballer can be. He never kept it secret that one day he wanted to play for Barca again and that Pep was his boyhood hero. The eight-year contract is a red herring, contracts these days are little more than a means of ensuring the players don’t leave for free. And if memory serves me he was four years into that contract when he left, it wasn’t as if he signed it and then five minutes later upped and left.
And unlike van Persie, since leaving he has not said one single bad word about neither club nor manager. And he did on numerous occasions speak out against the talk about him and Barca, apart from that last summer before he left. That “Barca DNA” stuff was something that others said, not him. He also resisted years of courting from Barca, whereas RvP fucked off the first chance he got and pissed the club, fans and manager alike in our faces in one fell swoop.
Lars, I have heard credible sources.
(but I agree he doesn’t read anywhere near Van Cunt in the cuntitude stakes )
Afternoon all.
I am with H2H. Cesc the bigger cunt. By a cuntry mile.
Neither bigger than Stewart Robson. He is a knob cunt. End of really.
Lars knows.
Consider Fabregas a Cnut if you like, but I don’t think it’s technically possible to be a bigger Cnut than Van Persie.
Speaking of which, I know it will never happen, but I’m honestly not sure I could bring myself to cheer for Wayne Rooney in an Arsenal shirt. Horrible thought.
Lars, the fact that Cesc wasn’t available to play for us in the CL qualifiers should really tell us all we need to know.
Once again gents, I am not comparing Cesc to RvP, the latter deserves all the ire you wish to direct at him. I just don’t understand why Cesc, still, gets defended by so many when he basically shit all over us.
Yes we knew he all wanted to return, eventually, but I think you got your mathes wrong, the ink on that contract was hardly dry, maybe it was just to keep suitors away, but he was richly rewarded and less then a quarter of a way through it he pushed for a move. As far as I’m concerned he betrayed Wenger (and us). Cesc was the lad a team was built around, compared to him, van Persie was just passing through.
Spot on again H2H. Cesc was the catalyst for RVP leaving in my opinion. Don’t fall for all this homesick, Barca DNA bollocks. He had his head turned and went for pastures new. The fact that two years down the line when it has not gone that smoothly quite frankly makes me feel sick. He sulked for a lot of the last season he was here. He let the club, the fans and most of all a manager who had shown the utmost faith and trust in him badly down. RVP did very little wrong compared to Cesc in my humble opinion.
IIRC Cesc was 2 years into an 8 year deal.
Anyway, he wasn’t a saint and he could certainly have behaved better that final summer. The champs league qualifier – was that udinese? Surely he was already gone by then?
I don’t think anyone is saying Cesc is a saint. I, for one, can totally appreciate why some might not want him back. However, I CANNOT understand how anyone can think that Van Persie is anything less than a total Cnut. You don’t move from Arsenal to Utd, you don’t buy a house in Manchester several months ahead of the move, you don’t describe it as your “dream” and you certainly don’t give it “I’ll always be a Gooner” on your way out the door. Cardinal sins.
Hypothetically;
If RvP did know long before that he was out the door, at least he gave us his all in his final season.
Can anyone say the same of Cesc?
And now I’ve compared them….. π³
RVP is the reason we were in the champs lge last year. There is no way we would have finished 3rd without him. N7. We decided to sell him to the Mancs. It was our decision. End of. If we had wanted to we could have made him stay.
Cesc bailed after a year of sulking and with 5 years left on his contract. How anyone would welcome him back after that I find mind boggling.
We’re not all talking about fucking Fabregas again are we ?
Enough already.
π
It wasn’t our fault.
They started it Dad.
π
Some people think Fabregas is the bigger cunt.
Some people think Van Persie is the bigger cunt.
Can we now all just move on???
Heh H2H π
If I remember rightly you started it! π
Maybe we should just have a whip round for a tape measure?
Tabs, Rumbled. π
===
N7, don’t bother, I have the largest wasteline. π
I’m with Tabs on this. As long as we’re agreed on the fact that both are bigger cunts than people thinking one is a bigger cunt than the other we are all pretty much liking each other, yet spending our precious few summer months thinking about cunts.
Which in itself isn’t a bad thing (or thinking about cocks for that matter, if you are so inclined) but that’s a whole other type of cunt or cock. Now that is something we should all think about for the moment. Preferably in a park surrounded by one or two of previously stated organs. Depending on taste. And beer. Or wine. Depending on taste.
Come on my fellow goners. I adore you all, but I’m so tired of going through this again. If you really want to do it, by all means, there is space for pretty much everything here, as we know, I just want to give you an alternative.
I agree. I blame Lars and Tabs.
π
Toby.
Silly season is, as silly season does.
H2H – hehs π
N7 – Haha, and very nice analogy @85.
Toby – That get’s my vote.
SteveT π
Heh. And I don’t mind. In fact, I revel in it. Especially since it isn’t THAT long. But still. We can’t forget that silly season also means nice-weather-and-being-drunk-having-a-good-time-thinking-about-the-nice-kind-of-cocks-and-cunts-season. All I am saying is mix it up.
Perhaps we could find a new person to hate? Make it fresh? I’m going to propose Moyes. Not that I can’t stand him, I actually kind of like a few things about him, but I’m sure that is going to change very soon (part of being a football supporter I guess…) and I might as well get a head start?
Nah, SteveT was right, Stewart Robson is by far the biggest bellend/cunt.
I had the misfortune of hearing his interview on TalkShite this morning, and it was so agenda driven, so drenched in bitterness, that I couldn’t help laughing. It was so off the scale that I felt none of the rage that I’m sure that it was intended to provoke, just a mild sympathy for whatever it is that ails him.
I’ll say this for him though, it did provoke one of the funniest comedy sessions on Twitter this morning. For all its faults, Twitter is comedy gold at moments like that.
tabs, I will move on the second H2H and Steve admit that they are wrong π (oh, alright then, I’ll try to stay away from it from now on…)
For the record, though: no, Cesc didn’t handle the situation perfectly in any way. But as for the 8-year contract, I was wrong – he was even more than four years into it:
http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/fabregas-my-delight-at-signing-long-term-contract
Published in October 2006, i.e he was five years into that contract when he left. Now, he may of course have renegotiated it during the run of it but the original eight-year contract was from October 2006.
Ah Lars … there’s always one π
Are we now talking cocks rather than cunts?
Excellent news.
Is this the pic that provoked the Rooney media frenzy?
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BMJVCTdCIAAu53o.jpg
Absolutely Wolfgang. We gooners come in all shapes and sizes and with all manner of tastes, Smallballs, as you yourself are a living proof of. But I am glad to be of service and am thrilled that you enjoy me widening the perspectives normally found on sport blogs. Enjoy!
tabs, it seems Rooney has lost a bit of weight in that picture.
Hehs π
Indeed Lars. π
Intensive fitness programme innit.
Toby π
Heh, need a warning with 160. Nearly spit coffee all over!
Six degrees of cuntitude.
One day I’ll publish the book.
TaMbs knows @156 π
So many hehs above.
If Arsenal sign the C**T Rooney, I will boycott everything arsenal until my death or his departure, whichever is earlier.
My hatred for that bald cu*t is beyond words.
I missed the Robson ‘fun’ on Twitter.
Oh Lars, I’m trying to tell you how much I enjoyed your visit, but the holics keep posting funny things π to side track me ! Loved the science stuff! Were you permitted to take pictures ? If so, please could you share some on Twitter π By the time we hit 30, our lung capacity starts to diminish. By 50, it is roughly half of what we had in our youth π So when people say a player’s legs are giving out (Beckham) it’s really their lungs. I could just eat this stuff up, truly is interesting. And your optimism is valued, coming from such a knowledgeable and sensible chap as yourself π
Cheers abb! I took about a million pictures, they’re still in my camera though. I will try to get a few of them online in a few days, if not then feel free to remind me π
Yuk, Rooney in an Arsenal shirt. I can’t stand that cunt.
Now just to put this to bed once and for all: Cesc is a cock for what he did, and Robin’s an arsehole too.
This guy tells it better than me:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPDmD3sz7go
Camberwell π π
Tabs @143,
“We’re not all talking about fucking Fabregas again are we ?”
Two things:
– for most of us it would be the first time, and,
– no, I thought it was only about signing him. π
And your @160 – π
Abb @171 – talking about eating up lungs ???
That hospital canteen of yours must be an interesting place to go. π
We could spend an evening assessing the relative cuntitude of various individuals.
We could have a Death Match elimination contest. Imagine this last 8.
Ashley Cole v Stewart Robson
Adebayor v RVP
Rooney v Mourinho
Gallas v Nasri
I’d pay to throw burning coals at that lot. Who do you have as the winner?
Personally I think its difficult to compare someone who has never played for Arsenal like Rooney ( or Wazza as I am learning to call him for when he signs) because his job is to do us down rather than someone who represented us and buggered off for more money like so many recently.I could stomach Cesc and Rooney playing for us if they gave everything for the club and show loyalty to what we all feel is more than a football club as Cent said. Arsenal is more than a football club,Chelsea is less than a football club.Spurs is a football club but a crap one.
My big concern about Rooney is whether we can / should still sing ‘ he’s a fat GrannyShagger ‘when he signs ? Quite a moral dilemma. I think we should still sing it but in an affectionate way. He’d appreciate that.
Sadly he’s not coming and neither is Cesc but the Fellaini story may have some legs. He could take over from Sagna as he silly haircut player if Bacary leaves.
My final point is that Stekelenburg is way better than Fabianski and is a steal at Β£1.8 million. I think some doubt was expressed Re his quality last night. Just off to stick pins in the effigy of Stewart Robson. He’s a slap head.
Should say I was not part of the Fab / RvP discussion anyway.
Done to death.
Jesus wept, knee-jerkers and unlicked cubs everywhere are getting their knickers in all kinds of twists over Gazidis’ comments about being able to compete financially with the best of them.
I mean just look at this:
——————————
When questioned about Rooney and the potential for deals at the very top end, Gazidis suggested that anything was now possible.
“We could do that, we could do more than that,” he said. “We have a certain amount which we’ve held in reserve and we also have new revenue streams coming on board.”
——————————-
As usual, the press start the process by splashing it all over their back pages, then jerk go 2 million knees across the nation and then twats like football365 stoke it up by selectively publishing the most outraged emails saying “Finally I REFUSE to renew my season ticket!!! Enough is enough!!!”
BTW, can someone please tell me 2 things:
1. How to post with italics. I’ve tried italicising what I type in the box thingy, nothing. I even typed in Word, italicised then pasted it, nothing again. I feel retarded not being able to work this out.
2. I just got FIFA 13 and it seems ridiculously complex. Which modes do you use most on it? That ultimate team stuff looks like the digital version of football card-swapping, like what the kids used to do back in the day in the playground. Haven’t tried it out but not convinced how fun it would be…
Are we a real blog, or just a rumour that started on Twitter ?
Send your answers to . . . . . . . . . .
If we type in the instructions Cam, you won’t see them. You’ll just see a load of italics π
Trev,
You of all people should know,
Virtual bar, real friends.
Except for those bellends that pop up at night with nothing but shit.
Evening all.
Raining, so in the pub instead of the garden.
Cheers.
Trev, we had 300 plus drinks on Cesc last week based on little more than a spurious rumour of his return and an even more spurious rumour that he was off to Yanited. Given that we had about 6 million drinks when he left, I just think the subject’s been “done” from every angle.
Fair enough if he actually came back but until then …
A tip of the hat though if you have the appetite for more. π
Ttg – Hehs π
As intimated earlier, Robson would be my winner of your mini tournament.
Get out of here Wolfie ffs.
Evening ‘H. Enjoy.
Camberwell,
http://www.angelfire.com/nm/thehtmlsource/jazzup/text/italicize.html
Speaking of FIFA 13, if anyone plays that one on PC I am willing to play from time to time, just got gracelessly relegated from 2nd division to 3rd ..and whats worse, lost against Spurs which ultimately sent me down.
To answer your question Cam, I just play “Seasons” mode, playing against random people over the net.
Is Robson MNB? Hmmmm…..,.
Heh π
TTG.176
No John Terry in there?
Surely he’d want to defend his title? π
Eandy @188 ,
I’m ‘thetuesdayclub’ on there. Play the seasons now and then.
Camberwell,
To start of with play against the AI, in the Manager mode maybe, You can ease into the new system. Its well worth it!
Well im back to my normal self after yesterdays twitter rumour shit. What can i do, cant help looking at whats goin on. Most of it is bollocks, but it cant help looking it up. Like they say its the hope that kills .
hehe okay GPN, will add you eventually and oh..totally forgot we play Italy today in qualifiers, chance to see TR7 in action:P
What time does that kick off Eandy? Might try to see if it’s on TV here.
Here you go;
http://www.ironspider.ca/format_text/fontstyles.htm#italics
In an hour from now Ollie
For those who doubt that the Whinger Stewart Robson is the same bloke who played for Arsenal in the eighties I share your scepticism. I saw Robson play a few times as he was injured most of the time. He made Diaby look like Iron Man.Slim young man with a full head of hair.
This Stewart Robson is a bit of a porker with no hair. Nothing like the original who is probably tied up in a laundry basket somewhere off Caledonian Road. So when he says nasty things lets remember its not our old player and all the unpleasant things he said to the Gooner about George Graham and all the vitriol at dear old Arsene are not coming from the real Stewart Robson. He is from a planet where all the men are tubby and bald and mouth off about Arsenal managers.Based on the way this one behaves it would be a place I wouldn’t want to spend any time.
Fellaini’s agent, Everton and Arsenal all say we’re not interested, we’re also not interested in Rooney, don’t want Cesar and Jovetic is “not a priority”.
But we’re going to sign some dudes nobody knows about, nor cares about.
I’m astounded at the news, frankly.
I did not hear Robson earlier. Did listen to a bit of Talkshite though. The nice thing was that Alvin Martin was full of praise for us. It was 8.30 and he could not use the words he really wanted to I guess but the general gist of his comments were that Arsenal are well run, AW has been great for the game and that Robson was indeed a cunt of the highest order.
TTG . Bit of a porker with no hair????? Don’t hold that against him.
π
H2H @ 191. Terry gets to play the winner in the Community Shield. Hands up who has got the clip when Diaby kicked him in the moosh? Sadly I think Diaby came off the worse .
A handful of alums on the released by Premiership clubs list:
Yossi Benayoun, Jermaine Pennant, Matthew Upson, David Bentley, William Gallas
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/22817793
Steve T @202.
I agree that doesn’t make you a bad person. Some might even describe me that way. I am just suspicious that he disappeared for ten years and then this bloke claims to be him
TTG earlier, Stekelenburg would have been a great buy five years ago as our No 1 keeper. It would have given Woj time to develop as the No 2 and just about now both would be fighting to be No 1.
Random fact: At this point in the transfer window, Norwich City is the seventh biggest spender among all clubs in Europe.
It appears I’ve notched. I am not having the self assist either. I am sure the guvnor will confirm the deletions???
For anyone interested in that spiteful old man Stewart Robson , here’s a wonderful piece written by Tim Stillman:
http://www.arsenal.vitalfootball.co.uk/article.asp?a=535407
Also, my understanding is that Stekelenburg cost Fulham Β£4.7 million, not Β£1.8 million.
Ttg, Stekelenburg is good value for Β£1.2M but frankly, injuries aside, at the moment I’d take ahead of him + what Ned said @204.
Cheers Eandy
And another piece on Robson.
And I just saw 208 now.
If you wonder why Arsene isn’t giving certain youngsters enough playing time, this might explain a few things http://www.tribalfootball.com/articles/us-boss-klinsmann-recalls-when-arsene-wenger-benched-djorkaeff-3794591#.UbHqBvmThP0
sorry, better with the link!
http://news.arseblog.com/2013/06/robson-im-boring-myself/
H2H, thanks for your 195.
Tabs,
my @175 to you was intended only as a “pun” on “f*cking” used as a verb, rather than an adjective, and aimed really at Wolfie rather than directly at you.
I’ll put my lack of clarity down to extreme tiredness, and mark it off as one that didn’t really work. On any level. π
On the subject of Fabregas, I couldn’t agree with you more.
Sick and tired of hearing, seeing, thinking or writing about it.
Plasil also in starting line up for czechs..I just want TR to not injure himself heh
Buffon with great save, Jiracek should have scored there.
And ‘bellend of the season’, tabs would approve!
Eandy 216 : Dream Arsenal-Bordeaux combo π
Sadly the game doesn’t seem to be on telly over here.
hahaha well streams are here if anyone is interested π http://www.wiziwig.tv/broadcast.php?matchid=206771&part=sports
My Colombian “supplier” says Higuain is close. I personally would love Gonzalo and Fellaini.
I have extra if anyone needs a top-up. π
I always thought drinking in the garden was more intoxicating than drinking in the pub anyway but It could depend on the quality of the pub I suppose.
Camberwell. Ivan talks about “revenue streams” but it would be so much more fun to hear him saying gobs of money π
Trev – Sorry mate, completely missed the double entendre. Apologies, bit slow on the uptake! π
Ollie @218 – I do! π
Ttg @197 – Haha π
Slovakia drew with the mighty Lichtenstein, I see.
TR just made awesome defense splitting pass for Kozak but Buffon yet again saving Italy..
Hopefully they can find a way through and score a goal, Eandy!
*kiss of death jinx*
Balloteli sent off π after two really really stupid yellow cards..oh boy he has not changed.
And the Scots have won in Croatia.
A dram for zico and baff!
Damn..hitting the post -_-
0:0 in the end, should have won it, had more chances than Italians…oh well.
Thanks Ollie – I’ll save that one for a few days time, mon ami. Still clinging to the wreckage.
Bah Eandy π
What does that mean in the table.
+ ?
Well that our chances of progressing now are slim to theoretical, losing to Denmark match before put us in very disadvantageous position.
http://www.francefootball.fr/news/L-angleterre-a-apprecie/376956
Jovetic injured.
Meaning England are the best team in the world or something.
Gutted, Eandy π
Steve T
Well in mate, no one’s taking that one away from ya. π
Ollie 213.
Loved this bit;
Please note: this article is a spoof. Arseblog News did not speak to Stewart Robson. We donβt know where he lives or anything. π
Cent 214
You’re welcome mate.
Right, international football really is not particularly exciting for me. Had nothing better to do so I headed off to the pub to watch the Austria v Sweden game, but 20 minutes in I thought “ah, fuck it, I’m off home”. Caught the second half at home and my oh my that was some crap football.
Just saw something on Twitter about Real having agreed a deal for Gareth Bale for 90 million euros. I hope that is not true, I want him to leave as late as possible in this window… but purely hypothetically, if they are willing to pay 90 million euros for Bale then someone has gone completely off their rocker. He’s a good player alright and there is still room for improvement but ninety million? Nah, I find it hard to believe that rumour, but then again Real aren’t exactly known for doing sensible deals.
Nice one Lars
I am full of fizzy beer and my skin has turned brown.
Nobody told me drinking lager had this bizarre side effect……
Still, it’s only pre-season training….. 8)
Special appearance by zico……
Can mean only one thing;
There is now an extreamly happy shoe salesman in Portugal. π
So we haven’t made a bid which triggers Fellaini’s sale! Can you believe John Cross are is all transfer tittle- tattle just that? Fellaini and Higuain. I was just moving towards orgasm
Heh H2H
Has Hleb signed for Barca yet?
Hello gentlemen and gentle ladies. What’s new in the goonerverse?
Not long till we take on the cheating, underarm bowling, aluminium bat wielding, convict, and everything else ‘holic has called them which I cant remember right now, cunts, and beat them comprehensively.
You’re fucking toast you cunts.
Higa-in?
The neighbours selling Bale for 90 million euros would be good news, and bad. Good that Spuds lose the only decent player they have, but 90 million euros can sure buy several half decent players to replace him.
Still, on balance I’d go with good news cos there’s no guarantees with the replacements … they could all be Adabadwhores.
Higuain? I am always less enthusiastic about players who can’t get a start with the club selling them. I’m much more comfortable with players other clubs really don’t want to part with. Players like Fellaini, Rooney, Jovetic, Capoue etc etc. Or proven youngsters like Lukaku.
Oskar
So what happened yesterday in friendlies?
Jovetic injured and Higuain sent off?
Myles Palmer says Fabregas to Arsenal is a done deal. Problem is he is NEVER right. Can’t remember an accurate prediction from him in years.
Morning all,
Watching Mitchell Johnson bowl. The sense of expectation is intense.
“Cesc Fabregas, a winner with the La Liga champions, is coming back to Arsenal.
I got this scoop last night but didn’t post it then because we were invited a barbecue.”
This is funny on so many levels.
Toby
That’s Myles Palmer for you.
He’s effectively saying I have the secrets of the world’s great footballers but couldn’t be arsed to share them! He was just as certain that Falcao was signing for United recently.
Martin Peters was ten years ahead of his time. Palmer is ten years behind.
I love Palmer. Addicted to Love was a classic π
He wasn’t a bad golfer either.
Twin Peaks, ace.
It’s Andy Goram’s favourite. π
heh Trev.
Toby it must have been a hot barbecue. π
So Czech Republic vs Italy is on TV next, but I don’t think I’ll bother seeing as there’s no goals in there!
I see my name is being mention here.
That is a good thing.
See, the only reason I have my blog is so that I can write about me and give Arsenal some reflected glory off of my name even though I am a Tottenham fan.
That, and namedropping famous people I want the general populace to believe I know.
But it is a fact, in my head, that Arsene Wenger continually seek my counsel.
He rang me last night but I was too busy looking at myself in the mirror to answer so I ignored the phone. The evidence that it was him are clear: It said “Unknown caller” on the display, and Arsene would not want his mobile phone number to be known so therefor it must have been him.
One day I will answer and let Arsene know what to do.
And then all will be right at Arsenal again.
heh
250 / 261…. Palmer has somehow got hold of the keys to the CTC and sneaked in whilst Dr F is away recharging his batteries and Rox is simultaneously replenishing her shoe collection. Tis a reminder that the dispensing of drugs to rambling and deluded elderly men should be avoided wherever possible π
Heh @ 261. Well played Myles.
If there’s one thing that’s becoming clear this summer it’s that no fucker actually has a scooby what’s going on with us/Utd/Chelsea/city. Or, at least, them that know don’t talk, and them that talk don’t know
Will be interested to hear what Ivan has to say at the meeting next week.
N7, I am not expecting too much from that meeting that we haven’t already heard.
Speaking of nothing, here is the final list of what teams we can face in the CL qualifier:
http://kassiesa.home.xs4all.nl/bert/uefa/seedcl2013.html
(scroll down a bit)
The highest-ranking team we can possibly face is, in other words, PSV Eindhoven.
well that means Lars, that we will surely play them …same as we get toughest possible outfits in CL playoffs in recent years no matter the place in group we end at π
Lars @266
Thanks for this!
And trollers
Interesting that a side as crap as Arsenal has the sixth highest co- efficient in the Champions League
Apparently the Twittersphere is awash with Fabregas to Arsenal rumours.
Oskar,
Bit tough on Higuain. Getting starts got Real Madrid is a bit different than getting starts for West Brom. I get your point but I think Higuain is quality. One could also argue that Rooney was not a guaranteed starter this year, yet he was on your ” good business” list.
As I said on twitter, I would prefer Higuain , Rooney left a bad taste in my Granny’s mouth.
Maureen won’t sell us Lukaku , shame. He looks a handful.
Cheers.
you’ve apparently got a cheeky granny, norcal!
NorCal: Chelsea won’t sell Lukaku to anyone simply for the fact that he counts as homegrown.
ttg: I think you should rather thank the chap who keeps track of all that stuff π The high coefficient for us comes from our consistency in always getting past the group stage. The five most recent seasons all count towards the ranking points and getting past the group stage gives you quite a lot of points.
ttg, and I now see that I slightly misread your post. But hopefully my explanation of the ranking points was helpful anyway π
It’s a very odd thing.
There is a group of people who communicate with each other as a result of their enthusiasm / support / even love of their football club.
Whilst being aware of the imperfections of their club – from top to bottom – this group prefer to give the club the benefit of the doubt, where possible, and take a positive and non-abusive attitude to their support.
There are also some people, purporting to be fans of the same club, who have nothing better to do with their lives than attempt to gatecrash that communication with their own incessantly negative agenda.
They are unable to ever enjoy an atom of positivity. They are determined to extract misery from every eventuality. They seem to think that others will have their attitudes altered by their interruptions, or will somehow find them amusing.
They are, of course, wrong.
They will also be the first ones complaining should a negative atmosphere ever happen to permeate the Emirates Stadium.
They are as unwelcome there as they are here.
If only they had the wit to get it.
Well said Trev.
However, I am about to cut you off in your prime again π
I wouldn’t mind at all if you cut and pasted that into the next drinks, although sadly like you I fear the target will fail to comprehend the clarity of your message. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
8-figure signings. Who knows whether that will accomplish what we would all like. The only thing for certain is it is better than doing nothing. Or for that matter, doing the opposite of signing a figure-8 suchas the Michelin man. Unless he can pony up an 88 figure sum. π
Cheers Holic and holics.