Untold Arsenal: the stories no one else runs » 2008 » May » 18

18/05/2008 by Tony Attwood.

The reason is that

a) he’s amazing

b) he’s said he’s ready to leave Marseilles

c) lots of people have linked him to Arsenal – although that’s probably because Gilles Grimandi has been watching him.

The price is around 14 million pounds which is within the realms of Arsenal’s affordability for the right player

And this is what the Guardian said about him

“The silken touch, the balletic elegance, the majestic strength. The vision. The trailblazing dribbles that begin with the drop of a shoulder and a graceful dash and conclude with a piercing pass or a scorching shot.”

In short he is Zidane reborn – and he’s a Frenchman of Algerian descent. (At least most people call him Zidane II, except one web site which amusingly compared him to C Ronaldo at Man U.

Anyway, it is the strongest rumour by far of the summer, so it might, just, perhaps, be about to happen.

The rest of the weekend’s stories

18/05/2008 by Tony Attwood.

 Flamini, the French player who turned away from Arsenal in favour of Milan has just discovered what not being at Arsenal means.

For a start it means not playing in the Champions League.  While Fabregas and co will be attempting to win the world’s top competition Flamini will have to make do with the Diddly Widdly Little Cup played for this past year by such giants of the international arena as Tottenham Hotspur and Glasgow Rangers.

The failure of Milan to get into the top four in Italy may well cost Flamini dear, since it will affect the earning power, and hence the bonuses of the players.   Flamini will find himself playing for a team where the neighbours (or in their case the people who share the stadium) have just won the league three times running.

Rest of the weekend’s news

18/05/2008 by Tony Attwood.

Arsenal’s American partners, Colorado Rapids, are top of the Western Conference after beating Real Salt Lake 2-0 in a televised game.   They are now two points clear of their nearest rivals, changing their formation to 3-5-2 after a more conventional 4-4-2 in earlier games.  

Colorado signed a long-term deal with Arsenal on February 9, 2007, which included the establishment of the Arsenal Center of Excellence at Colorado’s ground and the launch of the Arsenal Cup youth tournament open to American club teams.    Colorado  conduct part of their preseason training at the Emirates each year.

The club is owned by Stan Kronke who is seen by many shareholders at Arsenal as a bulwark against the activities of Russian investors.

18/05/2008 by Tony Attwood.

3 awards in the Management of Clubs category.

Most aggressive management:  Beyond any doubt “Sir” Alex Ferguson during the  Arsenal 2 Manchester Utd 2 game at the Emirates.  Man U scored their second goal and “Sir” Alex ran out with all his accumulated flunkies and hangers on, to the edge of the pitch jumping around and shouting, arms waving and all that stuff.    A long way out of the technical area – but of course no action taken.  It was however an attempt at pure intimidation.

“Sir” Alex Ferguson (as he likes to be called) was then reduced to bitter rage when the attempts by the Manchester team to pretend that the final Arsenal goal had not gone in was failed, and he followed the game up with a set of complaints against the chanting of the Arsenal crowd, demanding that Arsenal take action.

Arsenal patiently and quietly pointed out that M Wenger suffers far far worse than that at every game at Old Trafford, and never makes a word of complain.  “Sir” Alex Ferguson then shut up (for once).

Most cynical management:

Birmingham City.  At Arsenal the entire bench could be seen waving to players to go down and require treatment during the last 15 minutes, to disrupt the Arsenal play.   Time wasting was taken to a new level in probably the most cynical approach to the game ever seen.

At Birmingham’s ground Eduardo’s leg was nearly ripped off in a terrible tackle, which heralded a second round of cynicism, in which the player responsible was brought back after just 3 games ban, and large-scale attempts (sadly ultimately successful) were made to get FIFA to drop their investigation into the affair.

Fortunately a group of Arsenal fans were able to take their revenge – but that is the subject for a different award.

Finally best chairman: Mohamed al Fayed

Anyone who claims that the Duke of Edinburgh is running a prostitution ring from inside Buckingham Palace wins our votes hands down.  Thanks for all the fun Mohamed.

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