Only a few hours ago I saw this with my own eyes. On Goonernews there was a link to an article on Skysport. And it said: Cesc stands by Barca wish. And the article had as a headline:  “Cesc Fabregas is refusing to discuss his future, but claims he stands by comments he has made in the past.” And then they go further and make it look that Cesc is hinting at leaving Arsenal and wanting to go to Barcelona as soon as possible.

Then the article went further on and on about the same old things we have seen the whole summer long.

So if you are an Arsenal fan and read this, and believe this, you will feel once again: “He will go, it’s clear now, it’s definite, he is gone, verschwunden, partie, weg.” You can go on blogs and vent your frustration about how ungrateful Cesc is, how disrespectful he has behaved.

But if you don’t believe anything the press and the media is telling you it might be worth looking at what, for example, the Dutch media are telling about Cesc almost at the same time that Sky has its daily load of crap released at us.

This is an article that appeared yesterday in the Dutch media and I will give it you completely in Dutch and then translate it in English. The reason why I also give the text in Dutch is that you cannot be careful enough. I want to show you the difference between the way the media in two different countries report on this story and in fact I expose one of them as liars. But by giving you the original Dutch words you can try to translate it yourself, there are applications on the internet but don’t be surprised as they show an English you cannot understand as those translation things are not very reliable.

But I like to think I am reliable enough and I will translate it for you in what should be understandable English, I hope.

So in Dutch:

Fabregas blijft kalm en denkt alleen aan Arsenal

Cesc Fabregas geniet momenteel nog van zijn welverdiende vakantie. Een paar dagen na de huldiging van het nationale elftal verblijft hij nog steeds op Spaans grondgebied, waar journalisten hem het hemd van het lijf blijven vragen over een mogelijke transfer naar FC Barcelona.

Ook na afloop van een door Cesc gegeven training aan de jeugd van een amateurclub was het raak. De wereldkampioen bleef uiterst koelbloedig onder de geruchten en gaf aan dat hij puur en alleen met Arsenal bezig is. “‘Hoe minder er over FC Barcelona wordt gesproken, hoe beter”, aldus de nieuwe aanvoerder van The Gunners tegen de Spaanse pers.

Tijdens de huldiging van Spanje kreeg Fàbregas een shirtje van Barça over zijn hoofd getrokken, maar dat was een misverstand volgens de verfijnde middenvelder. “Ik schaamde me heel erg, maar ik ga ervan uit dat Arsenal begrip heeft voor de situatie.”

And in English it goes like this:

Fabregas remains calm and is only thinking about Arsenal

Cesc Fabregas is enjoying a well deserved holiday for the moment. A few days after the celebrating with the national team he still is staying in Spain, and journalists are hunting him down and keep asking about an possible transfer to FC Barcelona.

So once again after a training session given by Cesc to a youth team from an amateur club they were at him again. The world champion stayed very cool when the rumours surfaced and he indicated that he purely and only is thinking about Arsenal. “The less we speak about Barcelona the better” said the captain of the Gunners to the Spanish press.

During the celebrations some players pulled a Barca shirt over his head but that was a misunderstanding according to the fine midfielder. ”I was deeply ashamed by this, but I hope that Arsenal has understanding for the situation I was finding myself in”.

Now you can compare this with what was written on Sky Sport and don’t they(Sky Sport) look reliable at first sight? But what about the Dutch media who follow all that is Barcelona as the Dutch have a bit of a  special link with this club since Cruijff played there long time ago and all the Dutch players and managers who have worked there.

The Dutch media will not sell more newspapers if they write that Cesc will be going to Barcelona, or if they have to say Cesc will stay at Arsenal. For them it is the same. If Cesc would go and come to play in the Dutch league you could imagine that they could have an interest in this news. But now? The only interest they have is to tell the news the way they have heard it.

But the British media do have an interest. It is a player from the EPL and a player from Arsenal. A player that if he leaves Arsenal would certainly make Arsenal weaker. And maybe they would like it that Arsenal gets weaker? Maybe they would rather like it that another team wins things instead of that foreign looking team called Arsenal and that French manager Wenger.

I don’t trust much of British media when it comes to Arsenal. I have seen on many occasions that they will do anything to put Arsenal, Wenger and the players in a bad light. If I have the choice on who to believe between the English media with their anti-Arsenal agenda at times, and media from countries who have no involvement and interest in where he will play, I know who I will believe.

This was just an example of what I found today and in fact I just went from the one article to the other. And I found it so bizarre that I wrote a comment on the Sky Sports site under the article. But it didn’t appear yet on their site. Maybe because I asked them why there was such a difference between what the Dutch media is telling and what they are telling. Maybe they didn’t like it that I told them it looked that they were telling lies?

Forwards: Arshavin, van Persie, Bendtner,  Chamakh, Eduardo, Walcott, Vela.

By Tony Attwood

By way of explanation I should add that Vela and Walcott have been listed by Arsenal as forwards and Arshavin as a midfielder.  I’ve just made an arbitary decision and called them all forwards.

And what do we find…

Overall we have never had a forward line like this – when I typed up the list to start the article off I couldn’t believe what we had.  And yet it is only one player more than the group we had last season, and then we ended up running out of players because of injury.

Seven forwards, and we are not even talking about adding one of the kids from the reserves last season.  In watching Arsenal since the 1950s I have never seen anything remotely like this.

What follows is not meant to be a serious in depth analysis – anything that tries to fit itself into a simple formula can’t be.  The goal ratio for example is based on goals and starts, not on sub appearances, so it is quirky that way.  But then it is quirky any way.

I saw a couple of sites announce that Eduardo was off, but I believe they were just repeating some News of the World rumour that was made up to fill four or five lines, so unless there is a formal announcement this is what we have…

Bendtner

Last Season: 21 starts, 10 as sub, 12 goals  (Goal ratio 57%)

Injury potential: last season it was high, and clearly the injury was still there in the world cup, but I think that was a one off.  I would say injury potential is low as long as he is fully recovered from the problems that plagued him last season and seemed to flair up again in the world cup.  If he is out again at the start of the season however then it could be bad news all season long.

Brilliance potential: As I have mentioned from time to time, the moron who sits behind me in the Ems hates Bendtner, but I reckon he is brilliant.  No self-doubt – he just keeps going, and going.  He can have a game where he missed from 3 inches and then next time scores the winner in the 93rd minute.  And for those who complain about missing from 3 inches, there has never been a player who plays in front of goal who doesn’t do that.  Remember Henry (a much older and more experienced player) in his first year with us.

Breakthrough potential: Wenger already believes he is there and will make him a front line choice.

Personality: Had his night club fling, undoubtedly got an in house telling off, and now might be just that bit more of a family man.

Scoring potential: If he knocks in 20 even the guy behind me might be mollified, and 20 is possible.

Arshavin

Last Season: 32 starts, 7 as sub, 12 goals  (Goal ratio 37.5%)

Injury potential: he got one injury and played on with it.  Low chance of injury for next year in my guess – I don’t think in Russia he had a history as an injured player.

Brilliance potential: Stratospheric.  First choice.

Breakthrough potential: He broke through years ago.

Personality: I love this guy.  The blog is funny, he is original, he is bright and he runs rings round the press.  Certainly the way the press are fooled into endlessly re-running “I can’t stand the manager” and “I didn’t know about tax” and “no one told me they drive on the left” stories is wonderful.  More people like him, I say.  The only problem is that we have some fans who actually believe his fun and games as real – but then they tend to believe the Daily Express anyway.

Scoring potential: Without the injury, and playing in his right position, very high.  Remember four against Liverpool?

Chamakh

Last Season: Not with us.

Injury potential: Hard to say.  Anyone know?

Brilliance potential: Wenger was after him for over a year, so I’d say high.  Certainly taking over if Van Persie is injured playing for the Netherlands, otherwise a sub – unless of course he gets games in the cup matches and also ensures that Van Persie doesn’t get overdone by playing too often.

Breakthrough potential: He is starting from the unknown, but fans will expect brilliance.  The great thing is that he probably won’t be playing in every game – he is adding to the numbers, so the pressure to adapt from day one will be off.

Scoring potential: I imagine its high, but I am not sure.  He got 16 in 46 games last season (but I am not sure if this includes substitute appearances).  If not that is 34%

Personality: don’t know

Van Persie

Last Season: 18 starts, 2 as sub, 10 goals  (Goal ratio 55% – the highest)

Injury potential: Very high – he has a poor record, but maybe just maybe it is over.  However it could well be that Chamakh is there to play from time to time to give VP a break, or to cover for his injuries.

Brilliance potential: Beyond belief.  When he was not scoring at the start everyone else was because of his Bergkamp like performances.  Without him we score fewer goals.

Breakthrough potential: He is there, there is nowhere to break into.

Personality: The original wild man, then simply a man with artistic temperament (his parents being artists) and now a calm family man.

Scoring potential: If he could go a whole season a) without getting injured for us and b) without playing for the Netherlands, we wouldn’t even have to think – we would win the league.

Walcott

Last Season: 15 starts, 15 as sub, 4 goals  (Goal ratio 27%)

Injury potential: When disobeying Wenger and playing for the under 21s and the full England team, very high.  Otherwise most of him has now been rebuilt so he might be ok.  He has no more shoulders to be repaired.

Brilliance potential: very high although I have seen calls for him to be put out on loan.  One bad season dogged by injury and an argument with the manager does not destroy a career.  He still can be the player we all expected.  After all he has hardly started.  It’s the speed guys – they don’t like it up em.

Breakthrough potential: High – everyone expects nothing after last year.

Personality: The nice guy, although last year we saw him shout at a couple of members of the team for not passing to him.  Extraordinary.

Scoring potential: Much higher than last year.

Eduardo

Last Season: 17 starts, 15 as sub, 5 goals.  Goal ratio 29%.

Injury potential: Everyone knows.  Maybe this year he has finally got over the horrors.

Brilliance potential: Staggering.  It is easy to forget what an amazing player he was and why the Henry money was used in part to buy him.  Let us just hope.

Breakthrough potential: If he were to return to the form before the violent assault then it would be a breakthrough.  Thankfully his adopted country did not qualify for the world cup.

Personality: Always comes across as a nice calm guy.

Scoring potential: 25 goals a season.

Vela

Last Season: 1 start, 10 as sub, 2 goals.  Goal ratio 200%!!!

Injury potential: Moderate – it is more a case of jet lag plus injury.

Brilliance potential: Potentially staggering.

Breakthrough potential: If suddenly he made it the whole world would look up in surprise while Fleet Street would be saying, “as we predicted…”  But I hoped for the breakthrough last season and the world cup was not encouraging.

Personality: Smiles a lot.

Scoring potential: Enormous – the through ball from Van Persie ending with the chip over the keeper….  Can’t you just see it?

Backup

Pick anyone from Afobe, Murphy, Simpson, Sunu, Watt, and throw in Wellington Silva in mid-winter.  We are not short of these guys.

The members of the North Korean branch of the Arsenal supporters club tend to consider Arsène Wenger a renegade running dog who can’t admit his mistakes, who clings to power when all the world that victory is inevitably theirs.

Their world view is a simple world view.

First, they set up a simplistic vision that says that winning now is everything and nothing else matters.  Winning at any cost is the motto.

Second, they analyse the situation at Arsenal through this narrow vision and say, hey, look, we ain’t won nothing, so by our own analysis this is failure.  Therefore it is failure because we have said so.

Third, they build into this analysis the notion that they can see what Arsène Wenger can’t see (what with them being intelligent and him being stupid and intransigent) and hey presto and QED (except they don’t speak Latin in North Korea, so they don’t say that last bit.)


Fourth, they tend to believe what they read in the papers and hear via radio and TV.  Even now there are people who believe that we once signed a keeper just by watching him on video, only to find when he arrived he was only 5’6″ tall.

As a result of the collapse of our great club, they say, the ground will soon be empty, and the club will, well, collapse.

I am of course parodying, but I do so to make a broader point.  Within the anti Arsène Wenger camp, as in North Korea, there is such a simple philosophy (“we know best”) and no theoretical base or perspective) that proper debate cannot happen.

What is rarely discussed however is how much are we willing to pay for a trophy?  Would the North Korean Arsenal Supporters Club accept a Ridsdale  model in which money that it is assumed we will earn in the future is spent on one big push to gain future success in the league – with the risk that if it doesn’t come, everything is wrecked for the future?    Or would they accept the Chelsea approach in which one rich owner comes in and does it his way?  Would it matter if we won the double next year, but in so doing bankrupted the club?

Because the monoliths have such a simplistic theory, there is no debate, only ranting and abuse.  Indeed I think this is why some web sites alter the comments of readers, or ban them all together if they expound a point that the Great Site Leader doesn’t like.  (And if ever there were to be a justification for calling the monoliths the North Korean Arsenal Supporters Club, it is that policy).  (And yes Untold does ban some people but at least we have a page up that says that we will ban a writer who is a plagiarist, who uses multiple identities, who uses a fake email address etc).

Thinking thus I thought I would try and define the Arsène Wenger philosophy of football in as simple way as possible (in case any members of the North Korean politbureau are reading.  Just for the hell of it.  It is not complete, but it is a start.

1.The world changed when Chelsea were taken over by Abramovich and regenerated as the KGB in Fulham with unlimited funds removed from the poor of Russia.  The likes of Arsenal, and any other club that did not want to be beholden to such a form of economics would never be able to compete with the KGB’s approach, of “if it moves buy it” and so had to do something else. Arsène Wenger realised that if it happened once it would happen again, (as it did) and if Arsenal were to compete we would need a new system of getting the top players.  Simply trying to outbid the KGB and the Arabs would just bankrupt the club, not least because (as Man C have since shown) such clubs could issue edicts which told other clubs who they could sell on to.  I have heard Rangers and Celtic do this in a simple way in Scotland (“We’ll sell you X but with a clause that says you won’t sell him to Y”).  Man City seem to have gone way beyond that now in their transfer dealings, and such a development has to be taken into account when planning the future.

2  That to run a football club you have to set up something that will be sustainable year after year. At the time the KGB took control at Chelsea there was no mention of the Financial Doping Regulations of UEFA and therefore it was certainly true that Abramovich could buy a team, and win the league, and then buy another team and win the league again.  The only way around this would be to set up something quite different, rather than try and compete in the transfer market.  The first move was to bring in obscure players from elsewhere in Europe, but this was a temporary solution as other clubs quickly caught on.    And with Financial Doping being on the horizon it was clear another system was needed.

3.  This new approach, which Arsène Wenger invented, involved bringing in a range of young players (aged 16 to 19) from further afield.  It was recognised in advance that many of them would not work out, but over a period of years a number of them would start to mature into players that the KGB and Man Arab would be after.  Although one or two of the less intelligent players would be willing to move to the KGB most would be bright enough to realise that they would have a greater chance to develop their football to the highest level if they stayed.  Such an approach would have a high fall-out level, since it is hard to judge at 16 or 17 just how a player will develop but even with a 70% drop out rate, it would still be a lot cheaper way of buying in new players than the KGB approach.  When silly young players with no brains did decide to leave it ought to be possible to get some money for them – either through the first transfer, or through the re-sale fee.  The notion that the Tiny Totts had to pay Arsenal for Bentley was noted by many and still causes amusement.

4.  At the same time a new long term youth project should be initiated in which a group of 11 year olds should be brought together, who would then move through the club, and begin to emerge into first team contention when they got to 17 to 19.  The combination of this “youth project” and the bringing in of the 16-19 year olds would form the basis of the new team.  What’s more, once set up the youth project should be maintained year after year – you have a bunch of 18 year olds coming through one year, and then the next year, and the next.  The fact that Arsenal are the only team to get three youth trophies in two years shows how this is working.  Players joining at 11 are easier to mould into a playing style than those who join at 17, so the drop out rate is lower.

5.  This approach would have the benefit of keeping salaries down since the club would have a sizeable chunk of young players earning less than the average wage in the top clubs. This would free up money for the top players who were brought in to fill any gaps left by the youth project.

6.  Such an approach would also have the benefit of enabling the club to play a very high speed game – a game which most of the older defenders could not stand up to.

7.  To make this work the club would also need to have the very best training facilities, and so before the group recruited aged 11 got much older a special training facility had to be installed which could accommodate both the older established players, and the youngsters.

8.  To maximise this approach the club needed its own ground with the latest facilities for both the players and the fans. Although the two years of playing Euro games at Wembley was an important experiment in order to to prove that the club could attract crowds of 75,000 the key was to have the games played in a new stadium which had all of the most modern facilities.  So while other clubs risked everything on players who might, or might not, be any good, Arsenal invested in a project much more likely to be a financial success.  The size of support was tested, the waiting list for seasons was there for all to see, and there was the income from Highbury.  Even if part of the project went wrong there was enough variation in the project for success to look very likely.

9.  Again, to make this whole project work it was necessary to find the very best players in the world who could be brought in to play at the highest level.  This would mean having scouts in every country in the world – and hence World Wide Scouting was taken to a new level.  The key was not just to bring in 27 year olds at the height of their ability, although that could be done.  Rather it was also to provide a constant stream of talent from whom the best could be picked, even in countries like Brazil which were swarming with scouts.

10.  Attitude was defined as a key element in a player’s approach, and if the attitude of the player was not one that will allow the player to listen and understand what the manager is saying, the player should go.  And some did go.  The club became the master, not the players.

And that was it.  I have expressed all this rather inelegantly, but in essence this is the Philosophy of Arsène Wenger as I see it.  To reach its fulfilment  will take years, but once done it will place Arsenal at a point that is beyond the reach of all other teams.

And that is the overall point: that it takes a long time to put into place a project as complex and long lasting as this. During that time one needs faith that the fans will not desert the club.  While members of the North Korean Supporters Club have turned against the management and the philosophy, the ground is still full, with the view that there is already success (year after year in the Champs league for example) and there is more to come.  Meanwhile there is a real expectation that those who are about to fall from grace never to recover.

To members of the North Korean branch of the Arsenal supporters club I bid you greetings.  And if you do all want to give up your season tickets because it is all so awful at Arsenal just now, I know a hell of a large number of people who would like them instead.

In one sense I need to be more careful.  In another it proves that I am doing the research as I go along.

I wrote that our goalkeeper Hugh Lachlan McDonald was the only player to be signed by Arsenal three times.  And that’s what I thought when I wrote it a week or two back.

But turning what there is of my mind to Arsenal’s players who were signed up for the 1910/1911 season (which if my calculations serve me correctly, was 100 years ago, I find myself considering the inside forward Thomas Tindal Fitchie (11 December 1881 – 17 October 1947).

Consider for a moment his club list
West Norwood
Woolwich Arsenal
Tottenham Hotspur
Woolwich Arsenal
London Caledonians
Woolwich Arsenal
Queen’s Park
Fulhm
London Caledonans
Woolwich Arsenal
Queen’s Park
Norwich City
Queen’s Park
Brighton and Hove Albion
Woolwich Arsenal
Glossop
Fulham

He had the nickname “Prince of Dribblers”, which makes him a very early Stanley Matthews, and he was a businessman who played football in between the business activities.

Fitchie came to Woolwich Arsenal in November 1901, played three games and scored three goals.  He went a wandering, and came back in 1903 for an away game at Lincoln, and then was away again until he played away against Notts County in December 1904 when with Arsenal in the first division, he scored a hat trick – quite a return.  In his run he scored six in nine games, before he was off again.

He then managed to curtail his business operations long enough to play for Scotland again Wales in March 1905 – the first of four caps (he scored once).

In 1905/6 he scored nine goals in 22 games in the league and two goals in five FA Cup games (he played in the semi final against Newcastle) and was top scorer.

But still they couldn’t hold him at the club, and his wandering continued.  He didn’t play in the next two seasons, but played 21 times in 1908/9 and scored 9 times.

In all, he played 63 times for Arsenal and scored 30 goals.

But this was a remarkable man – not content with all he had done so far he joined The Pilgrims, a British side that toured the USA in 1909 as a freelance club demonstrating the game.

By 1909, football in the United States was flourishing, with four leagues in the New York/New Jersey area were active, plus two state cup competitions.  A similar story of developing interest was to be found across the US from New England to the south west.  Slowly semi-professionalism was being introduced.

The Eastern Soccer League was founded in 1910 and it seemed that football would soon play a major part in American sporting life.

As for the Prince of Dribblers he concluded his career in 1912.

So what was he up to?  What was his business?  What on earth was he playing at?

The first thing we have to recognise is that Thomas Tindal Fitchie was an amateur player – although he was undoubtedly paid for his trip to the US (where he probably set up some new business venture).

Other than that, we don’t know.  But out there somewhere are his descendants and it would be great to find out more.

Hindsight is so wonderful.  We can sit here in the middle of summer, and look at the preparations of Woolwich Arsenal FC for the new season, 100 years ago, and know what happened.

The longest serving player lining up to play in the new season of 1910/11 was Roderick John McEachrane known as Roddy.  He probably holds the records for the greatest number of games as an outfield player without ever scoring once – 313 league games – and played 346 games in all.



At a time when players came and went through clubs several times a season, Roddy McEachrane was remarkable – he played for three clubs in all, the last of which was Woolwich Arsenal for whom he played from 1902 to the 1913/14 season, although he stayed on the books until April 1915 (when football stopped for the duration of hostilities).  13 seasons.

He was particularly noteable for being just 5′ 6″ tall – Arshavin we might like to note is not 5’4″ as per the song, but is actually 5’8″.

Roddy was born in 1878 (the exact date does not appear on any records) in Inverness and played for Inverness Thistle before moving to London where he worked at Thames Iron Works and naturally played for that club (who became West Ham during his time there) in the Southern League second division.

WHU records show hims has playing virtually every match over that period and despite his subsequent lack of goals for Woolwich Arsenal he got six for Thames Iron Works / WHU in 113 games before moving to Woolwich.

McEachrane played match after match for Arsenal, clocking up between 28 and 38 games almost every year for eight years – including playing in two cup semi-finals until he played his last game in 1913 having put in two appearances for the injured McKinnon.

When he arrived he was brought in as the new number 6 and started with an away game against Preston on September 6th 1902 – a 2-2 draw in front of 9,000 people.  He ended his career on 22 Novmeber 1913 with a 1-0 home win (at Highbury) against Birmingham in front of 25,000.  Both his first and last games were Division II games, but in between he played in the promotion season that took us to Division I for the first time, and those two cup semi-finals again The Wednesday and Newcastle.

He thus played under Bradshaw, Kelso and Morrell, the three key managers in the whole of the Woolwich Arsenal period, and his two final games place him on the wall of honour at the Emirates as one of the Arsenal elite.

Сегодня лондонский "Арсенал" отправляется на 10-дневный тренировочный сбор в Австрию, и главный тренер команды Арсен Венгер признаёт, теперь для его игроков начинается по-настоящему тяжёлая работа. Однако некоторых из них в команде к началу нового сезона может и не оказаться - Новые правила Премьер-Лиги, предъявляемые с нового сезона к составам команд, вынуждают французского специалиста пойти на продажу кого-то из своих футболистов. 

В минувшем сезоне вечно молодые "Канониры" так и не сумели проявить достаточной зрелости в тот самый момент, когда это было нужно больше всего, и в очередной раз оставили клуб без единого завоёванного трофея.

Однако в новом сезоне всё должно быть по-другому, уверен Арсен Венгер.

"В прошлом году мы финишировали на третьем месте и, конечно же, будем пытаться улучшить свою игру, - сказал Венгер. - Однако будет это непросто - к претендентам на большие цели присоединился и "Манчестер Сити".

Однако, прежде чем вступить в прямую борьбу с конкурентами, Арсену Венгеру также будет необходимо определиться с составом команды: по новым правилам, клуб не может заявить на чемпионат больше 25 игроков, и восемь из них должны быть воспитанниками местных футбольных академий.

"Мы должны уважать правила, и если к нам приходят игроки, это также означает, что кто-то нас покинет, - добавил наставник "Канониров". - Однако я никогда не любил правила, для меня более важным всегда было качество игры".

"Премьер-Лига - самый популярный чемпионат во всём мире, однако популярности можно добиться только за счёт качества, а не искусственных правил. И я не верю, что неудача сборной Англии на Чемпионате Мира как-то связана с этим (большим числом иностранных игроков в клубах).

According to Arsene Wenger, there is still room for improvement for his Arsenal squad as they are getting ready to travel to Austria for their usual pre-season preparation.

Speaking ahead of next season, the Frenchman admitted how third place in the table last season means that his players should try to improve especially now that the likes of Manchester City have joined the elite of Premiership football and hence placing in the Top Four will be a much tougher task next season.

Wenger confirmed how six players will end their holidays and join his squad today, day on which the going will get tougher for the Gunners. Arsenal will in fact face Franco Foda’s SK Sturm Graz next Wednesday in what will probably be a tougher test than the one against Barnet.

The Frenchman also highlighted the importance of the Emirates Cup, tournament which will see the Gunners compete against AC Milan and Celtic and which will help the manager to understand where his squad stands in terms of competitiveness ahead of the new campaign.

He said:

Quote:

We finished third last season, so we of course try to improve. Manchester City have now joined in on the big targets, so it will be hard. We have six players coming back to join us on Monday when we go to Austria, and then the hard work starts. We have some tougher challenges coming up, especially in the Emirates Cup, so those games will give the new signings an opportunity to adapt, but we have to give them some time.

July 18

Will he sign for Arsenal or will he sign for another club? The Joe Cole transfer “saga” is still not over as it seems we had a £14 million for an English defender turned down.

Both rumours come from ESPNStar.com with the first one saying how Joe Cole is ready to turn down offers from Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur to join Roy Hodgson’s Liverpool. It was prematurely reported a couple of weeks ago how the Englishman will join the Gunners after the World Cup but as of today, there is nothing official on the 28-year old.

The same website also reveals how a £14 million bid for Everton’s Phil Jagielka was rejected by the Toffees. It’s not the first time the 27-year old has been linked with a possible move to North London and it seems Everton would be happy to negotiate if a new, £16 million is made by the Gunners.

Top 20 mutarile verii:

1. David Villa de la Valencia la Barcelona pentru 40 de milioane de euro
2. Thierry Henry de la Barca la New York Red Bulls
3. Angel di Maria de la Benfica la Real pentru 25 de milioane de euro
4. David Silva de la Valencia la Manchester City pentru 28 de milioane
5. Luca Toni de la Bayern la Geona (dupa ce a trecut si pe la Roma sub forma de imprumut)
6. Yaya Toure de la Barca la City pentru 30 de mil de euro
7. Roberto Hilbert de la Stuttgart la Besiktas
8. Javier Hernandez la Manchester United de la Chivas Guadalajara
9. Jerome Boateng de la Hamburg la City pentru 12.5 mil de euro
10. Milan Jovanovic de la Standard la Liverpool
11. Eduardo de la Braga la Genoa pentru 4.5 milioane
12. Leonardo Bonucci a venit la Juventus de la Bari, care a primit 15.5 milioane de euro
13. Dennis Rommedahl de la Ajax la Olympiacos
14. Sidney Govou de la Lyon la Panathinaikos
15. Martin Petrov a lasat City pentru Bolton Wanderers
16. Yossi Benayoun de la Liverpool la marea rivala Chelsea
17. Nikola Zigic de la Valencia la Birmingham
18. Laurent Koscielny de la Lorient la Arsenal pentru 12 milioane de euro
19. Ricardo Quaresma de la Inter la Besiktas pentru 7.3 milioane
20. Marc Janko de la Red Bull Salzburg la Twente (corectat), care a platit pentru el 6.5 mil de euro

The recent world cup final was contested between a technically gifted Spanish side and a very hard working and talented Holland. The Spanish victory was hailed by Alan Hansen and co, as a good result for football. They marvelled over the passing game and technical brilliance of Spain.

Yet I was not impressed, probably because I have been accustomed to this calibre of total football week in week out at the Emirates. Pundits were throwing out superlatives as if it was confetti. Conversely they could not wait till they condemned the Dutch as aggressive hooligans who simply ruined the spectacle. As it happens I completely agree with what they had to say. What is mighty irksome is the fact that they are not consistent.

Re-wind to Saturday, 27 February 2010. An away premier league match at the Britannia. Arsenal, much like the Spanish, pass and pass to unlock even the most stubborn of teams. It is this attractive football that makes me feel proud to be a gooner.

The match was marred by the horrific injury to one of our most coveted youngsters, Aaron Ramsey. I can’t help but compare the aggressive style of football Stoke utilized to what the Dutch did to counter the Spanish passing game.  And yet the very same pundits were straight to the defence of Tony Pulis’ side. Their game plan was always to roughen us up saying that our foreign contingent can’t handle it.  What I cannot understand is why that is acceptable when it comes to players like Ramsey, Eduardo, Diaby, Nasri etc and not when it is the Spanish national side. The standards change as soon as it’s anyone but Arsenal.

All of this makes me think of another similar situation when double standards were once again used. I remember when Eduardo was accused of diving against Celtic and was awarded a penalty. Yes in hindsight I can accept that the challenge was fairly innocuous. But that did not justify the witch hunt which proceeded. The situation is made worse when players like Rooney and Gerrard do the exact same thing, yet when they do it it’s called being a clever footballer but when it comes to Eduardo he is labelled a cheat. Could this all be out of envy?

Arsene Wenger has transformed the world of football. He has improved diets, shown that a football club can be run without a billionaire owner, finish consistently in the top four of the most competitive league in the world and won trophies along the way. And all this was not at the expense of our identity, tradition and history unlike our blue London rivals.

When I go to the Emirates I always have a smile on my face when I see parents who bring their children. I feel at home at the Emirates. And yet when I go to any other stadium I never have the same feeling. This speaks wonders for our fans and speaks wonders for our manager. Someone who has assured our future in a very competitive market has to be applauded. Maybe it is all this that makes the tabloids and pundits inclined to take every opportunity to take a swipe at the gunners?

All I know is that our squad is improving and with possibly a new goalkeeper and one more defender the project that Wenger started may finally come to fruition. For this we must be very proud.