Untold Arsenal: Arsenal News. Supporting the Lord Wenger in all he does » 2008 » April

2 English teams in Euro Final: disaster for Europe; but Henry might return

There is a hilarious piece on the Daily Mail’s web site saying that the Euro Final should be held in England. What the writer forgot to do was to read up any of the recent stuff about where Euro Finals are held.

None can be held in the UK, because UEFA and FIFA demand that everyone involved (including Sepp Blatter) gets to be in the UK tax free. Which means those of us living in the UK effectively have to sponsor them. The UK government said no, so there will be no more Finals in the UK.

The fact that the final is in Moscow between two English teams whose supporters hate each other is bad news for everyone – except Arsenal fans.
TV companies throughout Europe are in despair, because two teams from one country always means a huge drop in the audience. At least two TV companies are now trying to change future contracts so that they can opt out if there are any further all English finals.

Security is going to be impossible because suddenly Russia is dropping its visa requirement – meaning that for the first time British nutters supporting Man U will be able to get into Russia by waving a passport and ticket. A match ticket, hotel booking and game ticket will not mean you don’t spend the entire final sitting in an airport awaiting clearance.

Arrests are going to be high, because in Russia they do things differently. The notions about rule of law, and one night in the cells then home do not apply here. One transgression and you get six months in Siberia.

Prices have just gone through the roof – over £1000 for a flight is today’s price. So supporters are trying to fly in via Poland or Serbia. Believe me, if you expect that trip to work on time, you are not of this planet.

So the good news is that two teams are going to have a lot of supporters missing next season. And the defeat of Barca means that it is more likely that Henry will return.

When Vieira left he had a poor first season, and Wenger was regularly asked if Vieira would return. He laughed and said – you are only supposed to ask daft questions like that on April 1.

When the same question came up about Henry, Wenger said, “you can never say never in football”. What’s more Henry has said he wants to come back, and the closeness of the relationship between Henry and Wenger is legendary. When Wenger was in Japan he used to speak to Henry each week. And that still happens with Henry in Spain.

Even better, Wenger will be able to negotiate the role Henry plays, so there will be no misunderstandings or misconceptions. It will all be part of the deal.

Now, what chants can we think of about supporters who are left behind in Siberia?

“I’ve never heard of Arsenal” – Blatter

The name of Sepp Blatter, top man in FIFA, is most generally linked with his fetish about suspenders and women’s shorts, corruption, bribery, and the comments by a judge in the American courts that FIFA lies and lies and lies in its dealings with the outside world. You can get some of the background on the Wiki article about him.

But now Blatter has gone further, claiming in a BBC Radio interview that he has never heard of anyone who does not want international football to continue. Quite clearly the man has never had any consultation with Arsenal supporters.

Of course there are some Arsenal fans who like internationals – but many that I speak to at the games, and whose blogs I read through the week – clearly hate them. In particular they dislike the way players are used and return injured (often having played with an injury thus making it worse), miss out on club games to play for their country (particularly with African matches), and the way in which the flow of the football season is interrupted by the need to stop for internationals.

Quite often these international breaks then lead to players having to fly half way around the world to get back and try and play a third game in a week for their team.

And beyond all that there is the quality – or lack of it. Internationals are generally way below the standard of Arsenal – and who wants to watch second rate games?

Earlier this year Blatter had his chance to redeem himself slightly after he commented on the fierce attack on Eduardo, and he said he would look into the matter. But pressure from the equally corrupt FA made him retreat on that.

Four Arsenal players in Premiership Team of the Year

Here is the official Premiership Team of the Year as voted by the players in the Premiership…

David James (Portsmouth) Bacary Sagna (Arsenal) Rio Ferdinand (Man Utd) Nemanja Vidic (Man Utd) Gael Clichy (Arsenal) Steven Gerrard (Liverpool) Cesc Fabregas (Arsenal) Cristiano Ronaldo (Man Utd) Ashley Young (Aston Villa) Emmanuel Adebayor (Arsenal)

Fernando Torres (Liverpool)

So there it is – four Arsenal players – more than any other club. And no Chelsea players.

What we can also say is that none of the four Arsenal players in the team of the year has actually been signed by Arsenal as a known and established player. Only two of the four were signed for anything approaching major fees – and that is “major” in the Arsenal sense, which is a fraction of “normal” in the Man U sense.

Combine this achievement with the fact that Arsenal are regularly putting out teams that are about 15 years or more younger than the teams of Man U and Chelsea, and we can see the huge achievement this year, and the promise of next year.

Derby County 12 Arsenal Reserves 20

That was shots – which shows why people think Arsenal are entertaining – you get lots and lots of action.

OK Derby are fairly feeble, and they have a belief rating at somewhere around minus 20 on the Belief Rating scale, but still, not everyone puts six goals past them while playing a reserve team with a smattering of first teamers.

We saw our new reserve keeper, Denilson ran around a bit, and got markedly better as time went on, Theo missed one and got one, and Van Persie went off with the inevitable thigh strain.

Actually it would be nice to think that Robin might not have to play through the summer in the Euro tourney, but undoubtedly he will play every minute of every game and come back wrecked.

Alex Song continued to do quite well, and could maybe replace Senderos as the prime reserve centre back.

By and large it was all good fun – made all the more enjoyable by that amazing gaff from Sir Whatnot at Old Trafford, where he indicated that something sinister was going on because Chelsea mowed the lawn after a game, not before. In fact, that is what happens at Old Trafford, and there were apparently urgent phone calls to rudolph in order to ensure that he didn’t repeat the drivel and dig an even deeper hole.

The FA will of course do nothing.

What’s wrong with football 1: The fans

Trying to take a view on fans over a lifetime of watching Arsenal is difficult – but for me, personally, football is going wrong when the fans become more important than the club and the team.

Of course I like it when the Emirates is noisy, and I like the funny songs, and the jokes with people you don’t know… but what we now have is a situation in which the fans raise themselves up to a level that is, quite frankly, laughable.

The most obvious case is Liverpool. A Liverpool match covered on radio or TV starts not with the game, the team news or even the state of the pitch – but with endless comments from local supporters – all of whom talk about themselves and the fact that they are a 12th man, 13th man and every other number of man. They can (it seems) suck the ball into the net – they are worth an extra goal, and so on. And on. And on.

Fans are important – but not that important. Fans are biased. Fans know some stuff, and don’t know other things. Fans often have short memories. We don’t go to the game for the fans – but for the teams and the football.

What is needed is a balance. At Liverpool the fans consider themselves to be the owners of the club (what rubbish is that) and so can decide who should have the honour of ploughing endless millions in for their manager to spend. At Man U the fans are treated with contempt by both the manager and the occasional captain, derided for their lack of noise and desire to eat expensive food.

We need balance – and I think we are very fortunate to have that at Arsenal. M Wenger always thanks the fans for their incredible support. He never criticises. And the fans respond with their loyalty. That’s how it should be.

Yes, I pay a small fortune to watch the Arsenal each week, and that in turn pays for the special soap powder they use to clean the shirts, and that’s fine. Let’s not get carried away and think that it is about us. It is not. It is about Wenger and the guys on the pitch.

Why the newspapers never understand Arsenal’s sales.

Wenger sells players. He sells players we want him to sell, such as Stepanovs, Wray, and Boa Morte. And then he sells players we are shocked to see go. Vieira, Henry, Petit…

It is always a shock, but six months later, it is always clear why he did it.

Of course the newspapers always react with shock – they see it as player unrest, other clubs having more ambition, the club falling apart. And when the player fails to come anywhere near his previous standard they blame the player, and express surprise.

The fact is, Wenger is the perfect master of judging what will happen next season. All the stories are that Wenger knew nothing about the private deal done between David Dein’s son and Henry, to pay Henry £££millions to stay at Arsenal after the Barca cup final disaster. But he was happy to see Henry stay for one more year as he attempted to bed in his new players.

But then one year on, with Henry distressed by his divorce, by not seeing his daughter, and by his own dramatic drop in consistency, Henry opted to go away. And of course the situation got worse.

Vieira has not performed so badly as Henry having left Arsenal, but his form has never returned to the heights that we saw at Highbury.

In fact no one ever does better away from Arsenal than at Arsenal – and it would be nice if Hleb and Flamini realised that. The last players ever who flourished away from us were Liam Brady and Frank Stapleton. No one since.

This is not a story the papers will ever run – the tales of player discontent are what makes the papers and keeps them going. But whoever Wenger sells, whenever he sells, it is always because the player is on the way down, and Wenger wants as much money for him as possible.

And as long as other clubs are stupid enough to ignore the history of Arsenal sales, we’ll continue to make a profit out of selling worn out players elsewhere.

Schizophrenic FA shows contempt for Eduardo

Eduardo, as you may recall, was violently assaulted while playing for Arsenal against Birmingham City. As a result the player who committed the assault was given a three match ban.

Now Hleb, the Arsenal player, has been given exactly the same punishment for a dainty tap on the face of a Reading player.

So there we have it – you can lunge at a player so badly that he almost loses a leg and won’t play for nine months, and get a 3 match ban. You can give a little tap to the side of of the face which hardly makes contact, and get a three match ban.

Worse, when FIFA tried to intervene to give a much higher penalty to the Birmingham “player” the FA and their comrades at Birmingham City told FIFA that they would fight such a proposal – in the courts if necessary. FIFA backed off.

Whatever else football is, it is certainly not ruled by people who have any sense of fairness, decency or virtually anything else.

Arsenal’s reasons to be cheerful 8: Wenger & the £££££

To understand what is going on at Arsenal you have to understand a decision that Wenger made upon arrival. He was offered a pot of money at the start, and he spent some of it on players like Vieira, Grimandi etc. That got a lot of attention in the press.

What got less attention was the fact that after that initial splurge (which continued through the next summer) Wenger started to spend his money on something different. Not on transfer fees, not on salaries, but on a network of talent scouts greater than the world had ever seen.

World-wide scouting, as it became known, was based on a simple concept. A player might cost the club £10 million transfer fee and £4 million a year in wages. But if you could bring in that player at an early age (ideally 16) you could get him for maybe £250,000 compensation fee, and have him playing for you on much lower wages for several year. Indeed if everything worked out you could then sell him on for a profit.

It was an audacious plan. Of course other clubs had done it before, but mostly by chance. Wegner’s World Wide Scouting was the first attempt to build it as a policy.

And thus each year money was diverted from the transfer and wages fund into the scouting fund. Wenger’s argument on the finances was simple indeed: compared to the cost of the players, scouts were cheap – about £100,00 a year for the very best including bonuses. Generally they didn’t get injured and mostly they were reliable.

An ex-player such as Grimani (now chief scout in France) would only need to find one player every five years to pay his way several times over – and he has done better than that.

Thus it has been year by year that the scouting network has grown, until now we can bring in a player from Mexico as easily as a player from France. And meanwhile do the impossible – make money on the transfer market. With both Henry and Vieira sold for a very handy profit when they were both clearly past their very best, the system is obviously working.

And the great thing – the ultimate reason to feel happy – is that it is self-sustaining. The network is there, and will continue to produce great players for years to come. Wenger will eventually leave us – but his legacy will last deep into the 21st century.

If you read these stories through Gooner News you may have missed some of these, as not every story we run gets picked up by that service. Here’s a few recent pieces.

Arsenal 12 Reading 2

That was a bit more like it – 12 shots on target to the opposition’s 2, and another 8 shots off target (again to the opposition’s 2.) That is the same sort of stats that we used to see through the good part of the season – until the violent attack on Eduardo and a set of dodgy decisions turned everything around.

So what’s the difference? Of course there is the confidence – but there is more than that – and “the more” is of course Theo.

We’ve watched and waited, supported and hoped, and it all came to life. There was that spell against Birmingham following the attack on Eduardo, amazing burst in the Liverpool game, and of course the journos mentioned that – but there was something beneath that.

In one sense it was as simple as holding his head up – but it led to the ability to beat the opposition with a simple turn, to move past not one but three players, to shoot accurately, and beyond everything else, to run at those great speeds.

Now, let us pause for a second – do we know anyone else who can do that? Who can beat 3 players by a simple turn, who can cross, who can shoot, who can run at the most amazing speed?

The answer of course is Thierry. And before you change pages because this has all got far too silly, remember the first season Thierry came along, when we watched him and wondered what the hell he was doing on the left wing, how come he couldn’t even hit the target… How Vieira said Thierry couldn’t even hit the clock let alone the goal.

It took Thierry a good year before we could recognise him as a striker, let alone a really good striker. The great news is that Theo is going through the stages in less time.

Henry also needed Pires to flourish. We already have several players who can fill that role.

I can’t guarantee that we now have our new sensational striker, but we have now got another player who can play each game, who can score goals, who is brilliant at all the forward things that matter. Be ready for next season – the emergence of Theo.

It is going to be rather good.

Arsenal curse begins to hurt Birmingham City FC

The Arsenal Curse is rarely used – for its power can be significant and there is always a danger that the innocent might get hurt. But the attack on Eduardo and the subsequent actions by the Birmingham City management in fighting off any enquiry was so awful that we couldn’t let it all just slip by.

The Arsenal Curse brings together a small number of people who feel they have the ability to affect what happens to others. For those who think it is all quite crazy then these people are just harmless idiots and no harm is done. But for anyone with half a mind to think about the issues these are the points to consider.

First, FIFA amazingly took interest in the the case and started to investigate the option of banning the Birmingham player for as long as it took Eduardo to recover.

Now as we all know, FIFA then backed off under pressure from the FA and Birmingham City’s manager. But at that point the Curse was only just starting and did not have all its power.

Next the Met Police announced they were investigating Birmingham City for financial irregularities. Nothing was proven of course and there was no evidence given, but those of us in the know realised what was up.

Soon after that the co-owner and the managing director of Birmingham City FC were arrested and held for some time by the police. Meanwhile other police officers raided their houses, armed with search warrants, and turned the places over.

Now you might think maybe something was up. But at the same time, the Curse was working on Birmingham City’s form, avenging that last second penalty against Arsenal, as the insult they offered on the day of the Eduardo assault.

Finally, this past weekend, Birmingham City sank into the relegation zone. The Arsenal Curse is now really working its magic.

Read the Reasons to be Cheerful from the very start. click here Arsenal’s reasons to be cheerful (part 1)

Arsenal v Reading; Bikey, Gilberto and the stretcher bearer

There is something utterly wonderful about Andre Bikey. He is the only man ever in the entire history of football to be sent off for assaulting a stretcher bearer – and that is something unique to have on your CV.

It happened during the Africa Cup of Nations Semi-Final in which the wonderful Bikey was playing for Cameroon. He got a two match ban (which when you consider the stretcher bearers are on the pitch to assist the medics working with players who are injured, that isn’t much, but such things happen in world football).

(Actually Cameroon coach Otto Pfister then tried to appeal against the sending off – presumably on the basis that Bikey is the sort of guy who goes around knocking stretcher bearers over on a daily basis) but the appeal was lost, although Bikey did get lots of water bottles thrown at him as he left the pitch.

Anyway, this all happened last summer and most interestingly, the person who had been injured was Bikey’s team-mate Rigobert Song – who is, I think, the cousin of Alex Song – who was playing for Arsenal yesterday.

Thus we had Bikey, who plays for Reading and Alex Song, on the same pitch.

What would happen?

The football world was agog. And we were not disappointed – for with wonderful timing and positional ability Bikey got in the way of a shot from Gilberto, and sent it into the net to give Arsenal a glorious 2-0 victory over the “Spectacles.”

I love Bikey. If he didn’t exist I wouldn’t be able to invent someone like him.

Arsenal’s reasons to be cheerful 7: The ground

The Emirates is a great stadium – but that’s not the half of it. The benefits we have got from the planning and organisation that went into the new stadium are easy to forget – so here are some:

The research was done properly. No one really knew if Arsenal would fill a 60,000 stadium game after game. After all, when Highbury was a 65,000 stadium, it was rarely full, and when it was reduced to a 38,000 seater stadium it wasn’t seriously seen as a problem. So Arsenal did an experiment – for two years the Euro games were played at Wembley – and each time over 70,000 turned up – proof (if it were needed) that there was a serious desire for tickets for Arsenal matches.

The funding was wonderful. The money to build to stadium was borrowed at particularly attractive rates of interest, which mean that even with the repaymens Arsenal makes more profit per game than it ever did at Highbury, where it owned the ground. What’s more, the sale of Highbury and the surrounding properties will boost the club’s income further – and that money hasn’t even been accounted for yet.

The views are great. Because I can’t get to every single game I’m a silver member – which means I get to sit all over the ground, and I have to say where ever I go, the views are terrific. And at many large grounds that is certainly not the case. Go to Ajax and sit up high, and you can’t even work out who the players are. And that’s a smaller (although similar) ground.

The crowd noise is so much better. Of course opposition supporters make fun of it, but it is much noisier at the Emirates than it was at Highbury. One factor to remember is that the sound is different in different parts of the ground – some parts of the lower tier are much quieter than in the upper.

It is the envy of everyone. Consider our rivals.

Man U has a big ground, but much of it is horribly uncomfortable, and is in effect little more than chais put on the old terraces. The view from parts of the upper stands is awful.
Chelsea still has the old small ground – Mathew Harding did his best for the club, but it desperately needs rebuilding to bring it up to 21st century standards

Tottenham’s ground is what people like to call “compact” – hemmed in, small, and a bugger to get to and from. They would love to be able to move, but with no success, £25 million a year spent on transfers and a lack of major funding, no one is that sure about the finance.

Liverpool too are desperate to move, but couldn’t get the money together even before the current credit crunch and now they are totally unsure how to handle the situation. Indeed it looks like Everton are going to move before Liverpool

Man City were thought to have had the best deal – a nice new stadium that was given to them for nothing (in fact you and I, the taxpayers, paid for it). Man City only pay any rent at all when the crowd is over 35,000. So financially they have done well, but in essence the place is a gross abuse of public funding. A huge improvement on Main Road, but then Plymouth Argyle is an improvement on Main Road.

Coming up in part 8 – why it’s so good that Wenger won’t spend billions.

Read the Reasons to be Cheerful from the very start. click here Arsenal’s reasons to be cheerful (part 1)

FIFA ask for rule change to stop Arsenal

According to a report from Reuters, Sepp Blatter is going to try and force through his plan to limit the number of non-national players in football clubs. From Arsenal’s point of view this means a maximum of five non-English players in any one game.

This development would be against the law within the EU which allows for the free flow of players between member countries. FIFA wants to bypass this by having a gentleman’s agreement. Hopefully Arsenal would not fall for this, and would take FIFA to court.

UEFA does not back the plan – if they did they would probably be sued until they were bankrupt. They want a deal on “locally trained players” which would suit Arsenal well since so many of our players join the club at a young age.

At the moment the EU puts up with UEFA and allows them to act in ways that in most areas of commercial life would be considered to be anti-competitive – but it would certainly not continue this friendly relationship if FIFA pushed through its rule. UEFA has told FIFA that its change in the rules would lead to a long series of court cases that FIFA would lose.

UEFA remembers the way the European Court of Justice ruled against them in the Bosman ruling in 1995. They would undoubtedly lose again.

If FIFA does push its rule through, the most likely outcome would be that the major clubs in Europe would simply walk out of FIFA and set up their own European League and Cup competitions. FIFA would then ban these players from playing for their countries – leaving the national competitions and the World Cup as much devalued competitions.

Arsenal’s reasons to be cheerful 6: Injuries

At the end of 2006/7 – our first season in the Emirates – there was a long spell where we couldn’t find a forward. Everyone was injured and we played games with a loan midfielder up front.

We really thought – surely 2007/8 won’t be this bad – Van Persie won’t be so injured, Henry will either be back fully fit or will go to Barca and be replaced…

And what happened? Van Persie got injured while playing for Holland instead of us, Eduardo was crippled by a criminal tackle at Birmingham, we’ve had trouble at centre half and full back, and the rather nifty mid-fielder we signed as a backup in the middle, got fed up and left.

As for poor Rosicky – there just seems to be no end in sight for him and his injuries.

Thus two seasons have been destroyed by the curse. Think back to the really great seasons and you will find it wasn’t like that. If we did get an injury we had a player available to slot in, rather than having the move things around and hope for the best.

Partly the current problem is due to the youth of the squad – being between 15 and 30 years younger than the first team squads of the other members of the Big Three means that our reserves are even younger still.

But each year gets a bit better on that front and there is a strong chance that next season not only will the level of injuries decline, the players below the injured first teamers will be more ready to step up.

Vela and Merida will be back at Arsenal, at least three new players will come up to join the likes of Denilson and Diaby (who himself was out for almost a year following another awful awful tackle – that one at Sunderland).

If both propositions hold true – that we have fewer injuries and more players ready to take their place in the first time – this could be one hell of a season to come.

Coming up in part 7 – the ground, part 8 – why it’s so good that Wenger won’t spend billions.

Read the Reasons to be Cheerful from the very start. click here Arsenal’s reasons to be cheerful (part 1)

Arsenal’s reasons to be cheerful 5: The media

There is little doubt that the collection of ex-players and failed managers who make up the pundit trail, have got virtually no idea what makes Arsenal tick.

Their prediction for 2007/8 was universally one of failure – failure to secure a European place next season, failure to get within a million miles of Man U, failure to develop any more amazing youngsters. (Interestingly they also made a big thing about Tottenham taking over 4th spot in the league, and we can see what happened to them as well).

It has been incredibly funny to watch the journalists who made these predictions try to cope with the season – with phrases that, “Some questioned whether Arsenal would be able to compete this year without Henry” which translates as, “I, and everyone else, questioned whether Arsenal would be able to compete without Henry, because it seemed like a simple and easy way to knock Arsenal.”

Not one journalist has popped up and admitted that he or she got it totally wrong – and the latest story (the fans are calling for Wenger to go) is just so laughable that it is not really worth playing with.

But the fact is that Wenger made idiots out of the press this year, and he will do so again. They’ll continue the “Arsenal are finished” stories as we show once again that Wenger can do it all in his own wonderful way, and take on and beat everyone.

Coming up in part 6 – the injuries, part 7 – the ground, part 8 – why Wenger won’t spend billions.

Arsenal’s reasons to be cheerful 4: The board

Remember all that hype about Arsenal being sold to the Russians. About Dein upsetting everything. About Usmanov getting 25% of the club and then doing… well, what exactly?

One of the great things about British football journalists is that they make stuff up. Like saying that when Usmanov has 25% of Arsenal, he owns Arsenal. It’s nonsense. At 25% he gets a couple of rights about calling meetings, but nothing of any importance. He can’t buy out other people – in fact he can’t do that at any stage unless they want to sell.

So he sits there and does his thing, and by and large Arsenal get on with it. There’s complete agreement that Wenger should stay, that Wenger should have control, and that Wenger can do what he likes. There’s a continuance of development of the link with Colorado Arsenal. There’s agreement on the selling of the unwanted assets, such as Highbury and the property around the Emirates.

Now let’s look around elsewhere. Manchester Utd has no disagreement in the boardroom because the board is family. But not everyone likes the board, and everyone knows that one day there just won’t be enough money to pay for those massive loans which currently soak up the total profit.

Chelsea: the board is the puppet of the owner On the day the owner decides he’s had it, off he goes. If he wants a new manager he decides. If he wants a new colour kit, so be it. It is a one man show, and that can be good, as long as the man has the interest of the club at heart. It’s no good when he decides that he can’t live with The Special One (who even if you hated him was and is a good manager, and good entertainment) so he brings in The Boring One.

Liverpool. Oh well, what to say? Is there anyone there who actually likes anyone else? Is there anyone who doesn’t rush out of a board meeting and leak it to the press? Is there anyone who hasn’t at some stage interviewed six candidates for the manager’s job? With that club you couldn’t make it up. Total chaos, and a debt that is running out of control.

Tottenham. For the moment, a spot of peace and quiet. But never forget the way they handled the departure of Martin Jol. A club that can behave in that way once, is certainly ready to do it again. Watch the money though. Every transfer window they spend another £30 million. Does it go on for ever?

Coming up in part 5 – the media, part 6 – the injuries, part 7 – the ground, part 8 – why Wenger won’t spend billions.

Arsenal’s reasons to be cheerful 3: the players

We have a squad, and it has some rather good players in it. What’s more it is the youngest squad in the league – between 13 and a staggering 38 years younger than the first team squad of other top teams. It means there is a lot to come from them.

Coming up we’ve got…

Theo Walcott – who suddenly has got it right. We’ve seen the odd goals, the flashes, the moments, and now suddenly he knows what it is all about. Anyone who witnessed the goal against Liverpool knows this – it is like signing a new player.

One new big time player that Wenger has said he will buy. I have no idea who, but if it is M Wenger’s one and only it is going to be something else.

Fran Merida and Carlos Vela – both currently playing in Spain’s top division, getting good reviews, and ready to enter the first team here.

Alex Song and Denilson – the two members of the backup squad who are ready to emerge.

Nacer Brazite, (midfield, Dutch, scored in his first game against Tottingham)

Henri Lansbury, (who joined aged 9 and was training with the first team last year)

Gilles Sunu (just signed – Brady called him an “all action centre forward)

Robin Van Persie – who hardly played this season, and much of the time was clearly unfit.

Eduardo – who will return after Christmas

Rosicky, who we have hardly seen

Plus a couple more who suddenly emerge out of nowhere and blow our minds out.

(Coming up in part 4 the board; part 5 – the media, part 6 – the injuries)

Arsenal’s reasons to be cheerful part 2: The money

A couple of years ago there was one financial story about Arsenal – the club was bust. It had over-stretched itself with the grand plans for the new ground, the bubble was bursting, Henry was finished, it was all over.

Now we can see exactly what the story is. Arsenal have more money than everyone in the EPL apart from Chelsea, who continue to be financed by the unlimited supply of Russian oil money – and even there, there are signs that all is not right. Arsenal are the Rich Club.

What happened was that the people who wrote Arsenal’s money made several errors in their accounting. First they ignored the fact that there was a clause in the loan deals which allowed Arsenal to refinance the deal once the stadium was built and filling up for every home match. That refinancing reduced the cost dramatically and meant that Arsenal were making much more profit per game than they did at Highbury, even when the mortgage was taken into account.

Second they forgot the sale of Highbury. Arsenal cleverly put the redevelopment costs in one set of figures, but the income from sales a couple of years later. Now they are getting the windfall from Highbury, and it is all going into paying off the mortgage.

Third they forgot Wenger. Last summer Arsenal were unique among EPL clubs in that they made a profit on transfers. Having made a profit out of the sale of Vieira a few years before, they did so again with Henry. Incomers remain cheap for the most part (Clichy £2m, Flamini free) while the players are sold for huge profits.

So while the commentators expected Arsenal to have a £25 million outflow of transfer money last summer, Arsenal actually made £10 million – making the club a further £35 million better off.

Compare this with the other clubs in the EPL. Man U made a profit last year – but it then all went to pay the Gillett loan cost. This is not the same as Arsenal paying off their mortgage year by year – the Gillett’s just pay interest – the debt remains. They are holding on year by year – and one poor year and they are done. Ferguson went out and spent £40 million at the start of last summer – they might not want him to do that again.

Liverpool are in financial meltdown – unable to afford the proposed new stadium (not least in part because of the state of the business markets) and unable to keep up the demands of the Benitez character who demands another £40 million this summer.

Chelsea, despite the owner’s wealth, are trying to balance the books, and it has become clear that the owner just wants to sell the club at a profit. In fact he can now do that, the club being worth more than the money his has poured in thus far. But the problem is, without continuing player investment the club will sink – they do not have Arsenal’s world-wide scouting system, nor a decent youth policy of their own.

Beyond that, eternal wanna-be’s Tottenham, have been spending £30 million in each transfer window for years, and still no one can work out where the money is coming from. Man City seem to have the dosh – as long as their chairman remains free to roam the Earth, rather than banged up in a Thai prison. Everton don’t show much sign of having a fortune, and the owners would certainly prefer a new stadium.

Beyond that little group there are mostly clubs who cut their cloth. There is now only one team that really has the money: Arsenal.

(Coming up in part 3 – the players coming in next season; in part 4 the board)

Arsenal’s reasons to be cheerful (part 1)

A year ago we had a team that was falling apart. Henry had been injured and looked lost – as well as having personal troubles. We were even doubtful about making 4th in the league, and there was talk of Tottenham over-taking us.

We’d previous lost Vieira, and clearly Henry was going to go – could we even hold onto our stars?

Meanwhile there seemed to be an excessive emphasis put on youth. Cesc was good, but was he that good? Where were the big players to hold the team together?

We were also using free transfers like Flamini, who was rumoured to be going – no one particularly minded. And we were destined to end the league about 2000 points behind the leaders.

So what happened? The gap this season has closed dramatically. We are not going to win anything, but the team without Henry looks much better balanced. For most of the season we have looked terrific, and there was a serious chance of winning the league until that moment when Birmingham City attacked Eduardo.

It all fell apart in that game – and of course if we had been serious contenders we would have pulled it back together. But we were close – Cesc and Flamini turned out to be sensational, and with a couple more players (who are certainly coming into the first team next year) we are going to be there.

A year ago Wenger was said to be past it. That will be said again this summer – but just as last summer regulars at the ground could see the start of something extraordinary, so next season we will see its flourishing.

(Coming up in part 2 – the finances; in part 3 – the players coming in next season)

Birmingham post-Eduardo assault; a club in freefall

Just before the dreadful tackle that could have caused Arsenal’s Eduardo to have a leg amputated, Birmingham City FC was just another struggling EPL club.

Since that moment the world for the club has turned upside down. Numerous people tried to have an investigation into the awful attack on Eduardo, and for a while it looked as if FIFA would hold an enquiry – although after pressure from the FA and Birmingham City officials they backed off.

Then came the news that the co-owner and the MD had been arrested by police (see our last story).

And now we find that on 10 April 2008 all share trading in Birmingham City FC has been suspended.

Of course no one feels any sympathy with Birmingham City. There are rogue elements in all clubs – but to allow the player who committed such a tackle on Eduardo to then return to playing after just a pathetic 3 match ban leaves the worst possible taste in the mouth. Worse, for the club’s officials to attack FIFAs attempt at an investigation is too awful for words.

What has happened since the botched FIFA investigation has nothing to do with the Eduardo tackle, and of course we can’t judge what the outcome will be.

But for Arsenal supporters, and all supporters of decency on the football pitch, it all makes interesting reading.

Arrests at club that crippled Eduardo

Birmingham City FC, the club whose player took Eduardo out of football for at least nine months has been raided by the police.

After the attack on Eduardo there was a strong attempt to have a FIFA investigation into the tackle and the club, with the hope of long-term action being taken. In the end FIFA backed down. But since then in another set of activity the police have been snooping around Birmingham,

Now comes the news that the co-owner David Sullivan and the managing director, Karren Brady, have been arrested by the police and held for questioning following allegations of conspiracy to defraud and false accounting.

Eventually the couple were released on bail, but the investigation continues.

Kronenke buys more of Arsenal

ITV has sold its 50% share in Arsenal Broadband to Stan Kronenke who already owns a chunk of the club. It was ITV which sold its 9.9% stake in Arsenal last April to KSE..

Although this does not give Kronenke a higher number of shares in the club it does show his complete committment to Arsenal and its economic future.

Kicks, pushing, fouls, long balls – the Hoofs played at the Emirates

It was fairly awful. Endless pushing and shoving. Ankle taps, elbowing, and the long balls up the pitch. And a ref who really couldn’t grasp that this was not how football was supposed to be.

Yup – the Hoofs (also known as as Liverpool FC) were back in town for another boring, horrible exposition of something that got them a point, but had nothing much to do with football.

What was particularly amazing was the fact the fact that Hoof FC not only do play the long ball game popularised by Wimbledon FC in the 20th century, they now also play the time-wasting game that was brought to the game by Bolton Wanderers FC and Blackburn Rovers FC. Here we see the goalkeeper pick up the ball at one side of the goal, look carefully around as if seeing the box for the first time, consider the issues, and then slowly walk across the penalty area to the far side, carefully placing the ball, before walking back, looking around, waiting for the ref to insist that he should speed up, and then eventually kick the ball back into play.

That’s how it goes – before he hoofs it up the pitch.

Arsenal v The Hoof last saturday was terrible – but the fact remains one team wanted to play, and the other had no intention of letting any football emerge.

Two huge signings for next season at Arsenal

Arsenal are now certain to have two new major players for next season. They will of course be ignored by the media, who will bang on about Arsenal not signing players, but their names will be known to Arsenal fans.

The first is Mexican Vela who signed in 2007, but who played this season on loan in Spain. He first played for Salamanca, scoring eight times as they finished in mid-table in division two. Then moved on to Osasuna, and continued to score. A Mexican Youth International, Carlos won the FIFA U-17 World Championships, scoring five goals in the tournament to win the Golden Boot.

Fran Merida is the other major signing who has just agreed a long-term contract with Arsenal. He is 18, and joined from Barcelona in 2006 and this season played on loan for Real Sociedad. Arsène Wenger described his talent as ”absolutely amazing. Fran is very technical. He still needs to grow physically but football-wise there is no problem. He is an absolutely amazing player.”

Arsenal will put out a reserve team against Liverpool

Arsenal FC have decided to play a reserve team against Liverpool in the EPL on saturday. There will be no Sagna, no van Persie, no Rosicky, no Adebayour, no Eduardo.

With five major figures missing the chances are that Arsenal will use Walcott and Hleb as an alternating midfield/ forward duo alonside Bendtner.

Wile Arsenal has been known quite rightly for the astonishing quality of its reserves, this is probably a step too far. Next season a new forward will appear – Carlos Vera – and it would seem likely that at least one more midfielder will come into the team, either from the reserves or from beyond the club.