UNTOLD ARSENAL: The stories no one else covers
12/06/2008 by Tony Attwood.
I’m using the word “new” in the journalistic sense – that is it could mean anything you want. So I include people who have been Arsenal for a while, but out on loan, or waiting to be the right age to sign professional.
The list falls into two parts. First the relatively unknowns
- Gilles Sunu, all action centre forward
- Luke Freeman, striker, English
- Aaron Ramsey, midfielder, played in Cup Final, Welsh
- Carlos Vela, currently scoring for Mexico, “just like Eduardo”
- Fran Merida. technical centre or left sided midfield
- Havard Nordtveit – 18 year old centre back
- Jack Wilshere – midfield – joined Arsenal age 9
- Mark Randall- midfield, played in last game of the season.
And now the list of players who will seem new, simply because they were out of action for so long.
- Eduardo
- Robin van Persie
- Tomas Rosicky
Any of them coming back will be wonderful – two would be terrific, and all three would be magical.
And finally, the players who are there who might suddenly come good just as Flamini did last year…
- Denilson – he has all the ability – just seems to need a few more games
- Alex Song – turned into an assured central defender – could he also be the new Flamini?
- Diaby – before Sunderland attempted to dismember him he looked like Vieira mark II.
That gives us a totally new team – and we haven’t started yet. OK some youngsters are still too young – but I have never ever never ever seen a list like this before the transfer window comes along.
Any other suggestions?
11/06/2008 by Tony Attwood.
Aaron Spear. He is 15 and plays for Plymouth. And Newcastle Utd thought they had just about had him all signed up.
Until (rumour has it) along comes Arsenal.
Now of course this could be some journalist getting his Aaron’s confused. Or maybe they turned Aaron into Arson into Arsene (you know how it is for a journalist after a few drinks down the pub at lunchtime when you are trying to file some copy.
And given that the lad is reputed to be the new Wayne Rooooooney there is every reason not to buy him. But you know what its like on a shopping spree. You buy one, then you see another.
Here’s that list of new faces to watch next season (and yes, of course I know that some of them have been with us for a while, it is just that I personally, that is me, the guy writing this, haven’t seen them yet, so I am having a bit of summer amusement thinking of all the jolly things to come next season).
We have Gilles Sunu, Luke Freeman, Aaron Ramsey, Carlos Vela and Fran Merida.
11/06/2008 by Tony Attwood.
We have got through round one of the Euro Tiddly Winks Championshippy Whippy and no one, but no one and that means no one from Arsenal has been injured.
Now I know that is in part due to the fact that the French manager is such a dodo he can’t see that the when the two full backs voted best full-backs in the EPL are both French, they might be worth having in your squad. And that the bloke from Spain doesn’t have a clue who Fabregas is largely because he makes him wear a shirt with a different name. And because Birmingham City nearly wrecked the career of Eduardo.
But van Persie played for a bit, and Fabregas played for a bit, and Senderos and Gallas got games: and all of them are still walking!!!
It might be a bit much to ask that this incredible run continues into the second round of games but at least we can be thankful.
What’s more our signing levels are on the rise. We have Gilles Sunu, Luke Freeman, Aaron Ramsey, Carlos Vela and Fran Merida. Not a bad start given the transfer window isn’t open for another 19 days.
Finally, here’s a thought. I doubt that in the normal course of events, having called the current football tourney the Euro Tiddly Winks Championshippy Whippy anyone would bother to comment on that – you’ve got better things to do. (OK someone might now that I am making this point, but you know what I mean). But if I ever say even half a word against something happening in Africa I get loads of abuse some of which calls me a racist. So, just for the record, I don’t like internationals where ever they are played.
10/06/2008 by Tony Attwood.
It’s a story of downright lies told on the Manchester U web site. Plus the pure arrogance of Sir Alex Ferguson. And as a side show the way that Liverpool were simply not even counted as serious contenders in a transfer costing as little as £5 million. Not to mention the way in which Everton was just removed from the equation.
Read it all in the post below. Just scroll down the page.
10/06/2008 by Tony Attwood.
One week ago Manchester Bankrupt issued a statement on their website which said that the bankrupt club was “delighted to announce it has agreed terms with Cardiff City for the transfer of Aaron Ramsey subject to terms being agreed and the player passing a medical”.
Cardiff City were a little surprised, and diffidently pointed out that actually Manchester Bankrupt were just one of four teams that had put in bids. One of those (from Liverpool) was rejected largely on the basis that Cardiff felt it unlikely that the owners of Liverpool would be able to agree anything in time. That left three.
Ramsey was given permission to speak with Arsenal, the Bankrupts and Everton.
The move by the Manchester club which is now so much in debt that it can’t even keep up payments on the interest it owes, was a typical ploy aimed at distracting the world from its financial ruin, while putting pressure on the 17 year old Welsh player.
They also used the tactic that said Cardiff would sooner have Ramsey join the Bankrupts rather than a more stable club, because Manchester would then loan him back to Cardiff in order to save money. The Ramsey family are not quite so stupid as to become part of a scheme to salvage a broken down club, and trotted off to the wild north where David Moyes told them about Everton’s forthcoming stadium.
This however backfired a bit since Moyes did not know that Cardiff are building a new stadium near the Olympic Swimming Pool as part of the continuing redevelopment of the City, and the EPL standard Cardiff Stadium will be open long before building even starts on Everton’s ground.
Moyes also told the young player that he would have a chance in the first team at once – to which Ramsey said, “having seen Everton 1 Arsenal 4 on TV I am not surprised.”
But weak though the card Moyes had to play (”I had that Rooney playing here once you know – he just paid me ten million pounds in damages for claiming in his biography I was a prat”) it was a better move than the Bankrupts could manage. The “Sir” Alex Ferguson was unwilling to meet the Ramsey family when they came to the Manchester training facilities on Friday, one day after the Everton trip, believing that the deal was already done, and he didn’t have to bother himself with some 17 year old kid.
So what of Arsenal? Well the Mighty Lord Wenger was also away when the Ramsey’s wanted to visit, so at Arsenal’s expense, the Ramsey family (all of them) were flown to Switzerland on a private jet on Saturday morning to meet the Le God for lunch.
This is exactly the ploy used by Wenger with the Fábregas family, the Anelka family, the Walcott family, and many others – and just a slight variation of the Clichy approach (where Wenger personally moved into a hotel in the village where Clicy and co lived, until they signed.)
Wenger also assured Ramsey that just like Cesc and Theo before him he would not go out on loan but would progress through the Cup Teams into the first team. He pointed at Cesc and Theo as living proof of his tactic, and mentioned in passing a certain young man playing internationals at the moment for Mexico.
Have we got him? Well, anyone with any sense would sign for Arsenal, and Arsenal only sign players with a spot of sense. So it all depends on how bright the kid is. Most journalists are writing that the Bankrupts blew it with that opening announcement, and made it worse with Ferguson refusing to see the family. If so, thank goodness for idiots.
09/06/2008 by Tony Attwood.
France 0 Romania 0. To call this atrocious rubbish was be unkind to rubbish. The one good thing was that no Arsenal player was injured. France will continue to be terrible until they start to bring in more Arsenal players – but unfortunately that could mean our players would get injured.
Still we have got through this game, the Swiss game, and Vela’s Mexican game in which he scored, all without losing a single player to injury. It’s looking good.