Morning all,

not much going on here as we wait for the fixtures to be released at 9am this morning. We’ll come back to that later in the blog.

We could talk a little bit about Yaya Sanogo, the Arsenal player who isn’t officially an Arsenal player yet but keeps talking about being an Arsenal player and how much the contact with Arsene Wenger made the difference. He revealed that the Grimster had been in touch with him and then:

One day he called me for a meeting in a Paris hotel and Arsene Wenger was there. I was very impressed. Wenger told me I would get opportunities and reassured me about my injury. He told me he had followed me for years. That meeting was very important and today I am an Arsenal player.

I am 20, I had not played for a year and a half, I had scored some goals and Arsenal had contacted me. Could I really say no? I don’t believe so. It will be a magnificent adventure.

He also spoke about how he was on the verge of giving up the game because of his knee problem, and how visiting Arsenal and meeting the likes of Coquelin, Sagna and … er … Diaby helped too. This is a cliché ridden world we live in and signing a young player from France of African origin who has a bad injury record gives rise to plenty of ‘gags’, but it’s a summer of two halves and it’s not over until the fat Grimster sings.

Anyway, let’s hope it’s a return to form for Arsene’s injury gambles. People forget he signed Marc Overmars on the back of a very serious knee problems, and at a time when those injuries had much more impact on players. We can’t overlook Kanu either, it turned out that instead of a heart he had a coconut with wonky valves but that worked out ok. And, of course, Amaury Bischoff who was signed despite the fact HE NEVER EXISTED AT ALL.

Elsewhere, as we bemoan the rise of the ITK and the fakers on Twitter, what about the other nasty creatures that scuttle about the undergrowth and muddy puddles of the web? Clearly there’s enough material for a dissertation of some kind, but I don’t have time for that – still, it’s worth mentioning the parasites. The people who take other people’s content, without any kind of acknowledgement or attribution, and look to profit off it.

You’ll no doubt have seen Gunnerblog’s Squillaci video at this stage. So what to make of a ‘prominent’, if not in any way respected, Twitter account who took the video, posted it on his own Sulia page without any link to the creator, just so he might make a few pennies from clicks? FourFourTwat, is what.

It’s not really just a football phenomenon, we live in an era where we’re pressed constantly to share content. Facebook share, RT it, re-blog, etc and that’s a good thing for people who create stuff. Whether it’s blog posts, videos, songs, art, or whatever, the more people who see it, the better. But without any tip of the hat to the creators it’s little more than sponging; putting it on a service which pays you every time people click through, well that’s sad, desperate and lame.

Right then, the fixtures have been released and Arsenal start with a home game against Aston Villa on August 17th, that’s followed by a trip to Craven Cottage before the first North London derby of the season on August 31st when Sp*rs come to the Emirates.

Other stand out fixtures include Liverpool at home on Nov 2nd with a trip to Old Trafford just a week later, we go to White Hart Lane in March, while games against Chelsea take place in Dec (H) and March (A).

The final game of the season is away to Norwich but by that stage we’ll have the title already won so we’ll play a team of kids ahead of the Champions League final.

More thoughts on this tomorrow and remember fixture dates are subject to change once TV gets their grubby hands on them.

If you took the time to analyse the various stories in the newspapers, there’s often a commonality to them.

It’s not unusual for the chaps on the Arsenal beat to all run the same story in their various newspapers, almost as if they’ve been briefed. Each paper will grant it various levels of exclusivity and interestingly they’re all going with a big bid for Higuain this week.

In reality there’s nothing new in the story itself; if you choose to take it at face value we’ve got a touch more precision in terms of the timing, but Arsenal’s interest in the player is hardly a story at this stage. Neither is stuff about Koscielny giving Arsenal a boost by deciding to stay. He was never leaving in the first place.

Interestingly, and I say that whilst doing air quotation marks to suggest it’s not really that interesting at all, both the Madrid dailies lead today with stories about Gareth Bale and how much Madrid want him, how he’s a Galactico and all the other guff you get from Spanish newspapers as they help their club drive a transfer to its conclusion.

We’ve been there, done that, worn the various t-shirts, so we know how much of a pinch of salt to take it all with. However, if they really do want him they’re going to have to pay enormous money. We also know that Higuain wants to leave. Therefore, if there was a straw there to be clutched, it’d be handy for them to have that money in place, or at least an assurance of it, before they did anything in that regard. Also, the idea of Arsenal part-funding a move for that lot’s best player is quite amusing, in its way.

Anyway, that’s probably just me putting 2 and 2 together and making 5, but there is an interconnectedness. The circle of shite, if you will. There’s some suggestion that Madrid’s lack of a manager will impact on the business we want to do, the reality is that it makes little difference. Those decisions, and that business, is done at a different level. It’s not like the situation at Arsenal where Arsene Wenger is involved to a considerable degree.

You would like to think that our executives and their executives are faxing each other but you just never know in this crazy football world we live in. For all we know they’re sitting around playing some kind of iPhone version of Pictionary, or we’re trying to convince them to do the Higuain deal in a gameshow style.

Gazidis: Inside one of these three boxes is a huge amount of money. Inside the other two, some old moths. Can you pick the box with the money?

Florentino Perez: ¡Cállate! Enrique Calvo.

Meanwhile, Dick Law is [place very far away] where he’ll spend the next [ridiculously long time frame] trying to sign [unknown player] who will spend [significant amount of time out on loan] at [reasonably well known foreign club], before [developing pizza addiction] and [retiring].

Elsewhere, Ju-Young Park has been fined by Celta Vigo for not attending their final game of the season. He was injured and wasn’t going to play anyway, but his absence brought about a punishment from the Spanish club who had already packed his bags for him and were forced to pay €5.95 for a train station locker to keep them in overnight.

Since then, there have been no confirmed sightings of the former South Korean captain. One Arsenal fan told The Sun she recognised him while sitting in a diner in North Carolina but was so busy eating a mound of pancakes that she didn’t say anything until after he’d gone.

“His face haunts me,” she said. “He looked so alone, sitting there with a notepad, scribbling on it as he nibbled on a BLT without the B, the L or the T and only a bit of dried up chicken instead.

“I should have said hello, that small act of kindness might have been enough. Instead, he walked out, and went down the road. Somebody drove by with some really sad music playing out of their car.”

If you do see Park, he is believed to be unarmed and hat-less. I repeat, hat-less. Contact missingpersons@arsenal.com to collect your reward.

Morning all,

welcome to a brand new week. It might be a chore to drag yourself out of bed on a Monday morning, but it also brings with it freshness and hope. Will there be action? Might something happen this week? Who knows? It’s like an Arsenal season encapsulated in the space of one week.

Monday is the first day of the season, filled with optimism. Tuesday – you get the sense something might not be quite right. Wednesday – that’s it, season over. Thursday – a slight recovery as we’re linked with people again. Friday – a storming finish in which actual numbers and stuff are added to the names but we remain trophyless.

There’s nothing new about anyone coming in, unless you want me to start using the Daily Mail as a source. Which, unless they’ve had a miraculous conversion to the truth overnight, just isn’t going to happen. In terms of who you should believe before the Mail, I’ve put together a list of more credible sources.

1 – A piss-stained tramp

2 – Eddie Murphy

3 – Cliff Clavin

4 – A Japanese soldier who has been hiding in the jungles of Burma since 1945 and still believes World War II in on

5 – A tiger

And, I have to tell you, that list has been meticulously put together will actual research and that. According to the Metro, according to the Daily Star, who report that Caught Offside said that according to goal.com who ran an EXCLUSIVE based on a story on Here is the City which told us that according to some bloke who uses Sulia to pass on his completely on the level information and isn’t just trying to get people to click because they pay him three-quarters of one shiny US cent each time somebody does, this is the best list of all time.

The papers this morning can’t even be bothered with making up a bit of fiction. They’re all on the quotes from Koscielny’s agent which, as we explained yesterday are mostly just bluster and the usual agent nonsense, apparently indicate that he’s played his last game for the club. It’s a good job these people aren’t doctors.

Patient – “Doc, I think I have a bit of a cold.”

Doctor – “I’m sorry, but you’ve got three days left to live.”

The fact that Koscielny himself spoke about being happy at Arsenal, and having no desire to leave, just a few short days ago, has no impact whatsoever on the way things are being ‘reported’ today. And I use that word only to show it up for the errant nonsense it is.

One of the things we’re trying to do on Arseblog News this summer is provide as much context as possible when these stories emerge. If one report says we’re missing out on a player, citing quotes from said player, but leaves out a great chunk of further quotes which makes it clear we’re not missing out at all, then that’s worth clarifying. We had much excitement with Gervinho’s link to Marseille, but what was obvious about that story was how much of an afterthought he was.

Perhaps we’re being spoilsports, ruining people’s fun, but if you get your fun from this kind of stuff then I suspect you might need to get out of the house a bit more. So, it’s an inauspicious start to the week, but remember, it’s only the first day of the season.

Back tomorrow with some carefully selected unease and confirmation bias.

Morning all,

still pretty quiet this morning but some excitement on Twitter regarding Gonzalo Higuain, with suggestions the Spanish press are saying we’ve gone large to sign the Argentine striker.

Marca, are the most positive, saying emails have been exchanged between us and Madrid, which say that we’re willing to go as high as €30m, €8m more than Juventus are offering. Not only that, we’re willing to pay it all in one lump, whereas the Italians want to spread it out over 5 payments.

While I think we may have the ability to make that kind of payment, it doesn’t quite sit right. There are usually payment schedules for large transfers and I wouldn’t expect this to be any different. They also say that Madrid are in no hurry to sell the player, waiting for their new manager (Ancelotti) to come on board and give his opinion on things.

Meanwhile, AS seem to be basing their story on a story that appeared in the Guardian on Friday which simply said Arsene Wenger wants Higuain and is willing to break the club transfer record to get him. Hardly much of an insight really. The reality is that if we want to sign players of real quality this summer, our transfer record will have to be smashed.

While I’m loath to go down the road of inside info, I do know that we are definitely interested. Higuain is the certainly one of ones that we want, and the first option from a striking point of view. I’ve mentioned before his efficiency in front of goal; we also know that the player wants to leave Spain and that Madrid are willing to sell. As ever though, these things are complicated, but I don’t think there’ll be a financial issue over this one, unless Madrid start asking for stupid money.

The key will be how we can sell Arsenal, and our future, to the player. The Italian champions are after him, we’re a club that hasn’t won anything in a while. Those things do make a difference to players. We have the finances to make sure his mind isn’t made up by a huge disparity in wages, so it’s down to us to prove to him that London in the place to be and that we can be a truly competitive team.

That’s the other part of signing players from a slightly different level. It’s one thing being able to afford them, it’s another thing to convince them to join. That is the challenge faced by Arsene Wenger, Ivan and the five flavoured Dick.

Elsewhere, Gunnerblog reports very real interest in Clement Grenier, the Lyon midfielder. Liverpool are also interested, but aren’t matching our offer from an financial point of view. He looks a very interesting player, and I trust the information completely.

Meanwhile, there’s Barcelona interest in Laurent Koscielny, something his agent rather cheekily admitted. It’s all bluster really but I only mention it because underneath the story on Sport, the most highly rated comment is:

Another lump from Arsenal? Haven’t they learned anything from Song and company.

While further down again one Barcelona fans complains that:

Madrid are signing quality, and we sign *&$**$

This is the team that bought Neymar. Still, at least we know it’s not something unique to Arsenal fans. You can’t please some of the people any of the time.

Till tomorrow.

A very quick Saturday round-up for you as we’re packing up and heading back to sunny Dublin this morning.

Arsenal have a new chairman after it was announced that Peter Hill-Wood would be stepping down. P the H to wicka-wicka-wild-wild W said:

This has been a difficult decision as Arsenal Football Club has been a huge part of my life. Although I am feeling better I feel this is the right time for me to stand down. I would like to thank our majority owner, Stan Kroenke, for the respectful and dignified way he has handled this and I know Sir Chips is the right person to take the Club forward.

Sir Chips Keswick, whose name lends itself to all kinds of puns I refuse to get involved in, is the new man. He said:

I am greatly honoured to have been appointed chairman of Arsenal Football Club. This is one of the great clubs in the game, recognised and loved by millions. I am looking forward to leading the Club to future success.

There are those who say that the appointment of a 73 year to replace a 77 year old isn’t exactly adding the freshness to the board they so desire, but one of the great things about Arsenal is its tradition. In losing Peter Hill-Wood Arsenal lose a family connection that has gone back to the 1920s. As the role of Chairman is chiefly ceremonial, the power lies elsewhere these days, I don’t see any issue with the appointment of Sir Chips. That’s not to say the board couldn’t use some new blood, but not in this position.

I’ve had the pleasure to meet Mr Hill-Wood a number of times, and he has always been the perfect gentleman. The ‘Never in Doubt’ comment after Anfield 89 is the most wonderful cherry on top of that incredible Arsenal moment, and I wish him a long and healthy retirement.

Elsewhere, Andre Santos is resigned to the fact he’s got to come back to Arsenal, saying:

My loan deal is over. It was six months long and now I am returning. Gremio had an agreement with Arsenal and I have to return. I wanted to stay. Gremio were fair regarding everything. I felt well there and I wanted to win a title before leaving. Unfortunately there is no deal and I had to return to Arsenal.

Perhaps a touch too honest, but nothing more than that. He’s knows his footballing future lies elsewhere. Gibbs and Monreal at left back mean there’s no place for Andre, and to be fair I’d much rather hear Santos talk about how he wanted to stay at a club he was happy at than someone like Chamakh talk about how he’s willing to stay and ‘fight for his place’ at Arsenal.

I think this will be another of those situations which will see us cut our losses to enable a permanent move elsewhere. There has been talk of him going back to Turkey, if a suitable financial package can be found between Arsenal and a potential club, as well as sorting something out with Santos himself, then I suspect he’ll be on his way before he has to come back in July. We shall see.

Finally, if you’ve caught the Gervinho to Marseille stories – perhaps getting a little excited – and want some context as to the extent of their interest, this should clear things up for you.

Other than that it’s quiet. So, time to leave the land where the Guinness is greater than anywhere else on this planet. If you do ever have a chance to get down to this part of the world, I highly recommend it. Bring warm clothes, but it’s spectacularly beautiful. The seafood is splendid, the Atlantic is freezing but refreshing, and did I mention the pints?

Till tomorrow.

You know, I’d like to write about Arsenal stuff but there isn’t any Arsenal stuff to write about. It’s the end of the second week of June and nothing is stirring, not even a mouse. Or a Dick.

People worry. Which is fair enough. Folk are prone to do that and when there’s no evidence to the contrary it’s easy to realise your worst fears. You hear a noise outside your house. It’s dark, the fog is rolling in over Antonio Bay, the husky voiced lady DJ tells you. There’s the noise again.

It’s a monster. Creeping towards the house. A scrape. A clunk. Two monsters. Going to eat you. Slowly. From the feet up. The less you actually know what it is the scarier those monsters become. You resign yourself to being eaten. Devoured. And in the end it turns out it’s a pissed-up badger with his head caught in a carelessly discarded plastic bottle who can’t find his way home.

It’s the same with the transfers. The fact that we haven’t signed a player yet means we’re never going to sign anyone. We’re letting [insert player name] here get away. That’s making the assumption that the players they we’re chasing are the ones we’re actually interested in. And I’m not convinced they are.

Of course things aren’t helped when we’ve had about a week of stories about how much money we have to spend, how much cash we have, how ambitious we are, how money is no object, how we can be a force in the market, how blah blah blah big signings, how now brown cash cow and so on.

What are we waiting for? What’s the hold up? Anyone else who came into a load of liquidity would be out there, pushing their trolley through the footballing supermarket, grabbing players from the shelves with gay abandon. But not us, oh no. Never us.

We’re waiting until the end of the day when they add the things to the special bargain aisle. You know, the coleslaw with the bit of fur on it, the ham with the rainbow shine, the deliciously grey piece of sirloin steak with some blood pooling on the top and the blood is turning into that plasticine looking stuff.

Well, that’s the assumption. Maybe we’re just waiting for the butcher to butch a nicer piece of meat, it takes time. Maybe instead of regular crumbed ham we’re importing some delicious pata negra, Jamón Ibérico of the highest quality. And maybe, just maybe, we’re making our own mayonnaise for our own coleslaw to which we’ll add the crunchiest, freshest cabbage and carrot.

The truth is, I don’t know. Very few people do. Of course it’s understandable that there’s skepticism, we’ve heard the words, we’ve yet to see the deeds. Once … er … twice … thrice … er … what’s the one for four, frice? … bitten twice shy and all that, but it’s still too early in the summer for us to start losing our shit just yet.

There’s plenty of time for us to do what needs to be done. That means there’s also loads of time for us to do nothing, but until we do some more obvious nothing I’m not going to worry just yet. It’s just a badger.

Thanks to those of you who enjoyed the script over the last couple of days, I might do a bit more on quieter days but we’re not likely to have many more of them are we- … oh. I’ve already been thinking about the casting.

I’m thinking Jessie from Breaking Bad as the blogger turned Football/Real life manager, Peter Dinklage as OVERKAMP, Mark Strong as Chairman Ira Hill-Cartwright-Spennyforth III, the fella from Homeland as club captain Dave Adams, and Tilda Swinton as the obligatory David Bowie lookalike, three fingers on one foot love interest that the industry demands stories like these must have. I’ll keep you abreast of developments.

Finally for today, Gunnerblog does it again. SuperSquid.

Till tomorrow.

Historically, Arsenal have been a conservative club, but one that makes audacious moves at the right time. Executively speaking, we’ve had a good mix of bean counters and audacious entrepreneurs. When the club was threatened with near bankruptcy after the second world war, Bracewell-Smith’s austere chairmanship kept us solvent and competitive. As we transitioned from Highbury to the Emirates, Keith Edelman was Arsenal’s Managing Director. He was somewhat unloved because he wasn’t much of a football man, but his belt tightening business acumen represented what we needed at the time. The need eventually expired and he was moved on.

When the club looked as though it would follow countless others onto the scrapheap of extinct Victorian clubs, Henry Norris pulled us up by our bootstraps and planted us a few miles across town. A hugely enterprising move which catapulted Arsenal from water-treaders to one of English football’s best known institutions. Indeed, the symbiosis between Arsenal’s administrators and their entrepreneurs was probably best illuminated a generation ago by the formidable boardroom partnership of David Dein and Danny Fiszman.

Arsenal’s relative conservatism has translated into a steady on pitch history. We’re a team that pops up every few years, wins a league or two and a couple of cups, before bobbing down a touch for a few more years. We’re never relegated, yet (one time apart) we don’t win back to back league titles and we don’t win European cups. The early 1980s is talked about as something of a dark era for Arsenal. From 1980-1985 our league finishes were as follows: 4th, 3rd, 5th, 10th, 6th, 7th. That’s hardly terrible. In my time as a season ticket holder, I have seen us finish 10th and 12th.

The administration of the club has been judicious and stable. Yet when revolution was required, it was staged in a largely bloodless coup. When mediocrity threatened in the mid 90s, we signed Dennis Bergkamp and David Platt (who was England’s captain at the time). In 2001, after a few years of cup final defeats and watching United wrap up the league title by April, we signed Sol Campbell. When our early 80s relative malaise kicked in, we beat Manchester United and Liverpool to the signature of Charlie Nicholas. In the late 60s, when the sheen of the 30s had well and truly warn off following a series of conservative managerial appointments, Arsenal appointed their physiotherapist as manager and won the Double.

How will Ivan Gazidis be viewed as an Arsenal administrator in the years to come? Though criticism has increased over the last 2-3 years, there is still a fierce loyalty to Arsene Wenger within the Arsenal fan base. Orchestrated cries for his head have yet to be aired inside the ground. The frustration is instead camouflaged beneath broader pleas. “We want our Arsenal back!” or “Ivan Gazidis, what the fuck do you do?!” Is there another team in England that responds to a defeat at Old Trafford by sledging the CEO? Even the forthright supporters group Black Scarf steer clear of discussing the manager.

This summer, Arsenal are talking themselves up as approaching Super Club status with the financial muscle now available to them. There still some who, out of fierce loyalty and, I think, confirmation bias, have chosen to interpret Gazidis’ bullish proclamations as proof that the board have been hamstringing Wenger all along and are only making money available to him now. Personally, I don’t think that’s true. I think there’s a distinction to be made between “we have a bit more money now” and “we didn’t have any before.”

The manager has made some mistakes with that money and had some successes with it too. I see little evidence that the board have been holding back on what’s available to him. Leaving aside the deals we have done in the last few years, we have bid big for players we’ve not subsequently acquired such as Mata, Goetze, Reina and even Felipe Melo some five years ago. I think the truth is that, if Wenger doesn’t get exactly who he wants then he puts his wallet away.

Nobody understood the restrictions stadium debt would put on us better than Wenger, who pushed so hard for the Emirates. But I don’t think the board have been holding back on him. I don’t think he would have stood for it if they had. We’ve been constrained by the competitive landscape in the last 3-4 years, but that handicap is a little less pronounced this summer. This talk of our increased spending power reminds me a little of the Sorites paradox, more commonly known as ‘The Paradox of the Heap.’

We may have a little more, but we’re still competing for a small pool of players with better resourced clubs. Especially since PSG and Monaco have come into the marketplace. Gazidis’ messaging on FFP has become more lukewarm. Whether that’s sensitivity to criticism for hanging his hat on it, or whether his faith has wavered is open for conjecture. However, given our rhetoric in the last month, nobody will settle for more perceived torpor in the transfer market this summer. One can hardly blame Gazidis, having been lampooned so consistently. As Gunnerblog points out, he’s entitled to stick up for himself.

As Arsenal look to make the final jump to European superpower, Gazidis’ ‘era’ will need to be characterised by audacity rather than auditing. He’s delivering a very sensitive message politically. He’s caught between respecting the manager’s autonomy in transfer market and pointing out that he has made greater tools available to him. One wonders what Arsene Wenger feels about the dynamic message emanating from the club. As this piece points out with increased resource comes increased pressure on him.

Gazidis has tempered his talking up of the capital Arsenal’s executives have made available by fully endorsing Arsene Wenger. At Monday night’s Q & A, the question about the manager’s contract came from compere Dan Roebuck, right at the beginning of the evening. Gazidis wanted that message of trust to radiate from the outset. This, before he gave the extended disco version of “I’ve held up my end of the bargain” peppered with regular “I trust Arsene Wenger with his” backing vocals. But are they singing from the same hymn-sheet in harmony?

You have to assume that Wenger is “on message” with this uncharacteristic display of our new found plume. He is not a stupid man. If this public peacocking were all a subtle ploy to pressure him to spend and detract some heat from the board, Wenger would see through it like a CAT scan. It would be a compromising game of brinkmanship if the club really want him to sign new terms too, because make no mistake, this puts extra pressure on him this summer. In any case, I know I would be incredibly worried if Wenger, having pushed so hard for a new stadium, needed to be lobbied to spend the booty it brought.

Arsenal has always been a  club of relative conservatism that makes the big moves when they are necessary. Ivan Gazidis thinks Arsenal are on the brink of Superclub status, name checking Bayern Munich as a reference point, and that we are ready to behave like one. Gazidis is still backing Arsene Wenger as the man to carry the final destination of this journey through. The extent to which Wenger is on the same page will colour the perception of Gazidis’ administration for years to come. It could colour the perception of Wenger’s too. LD.

Follow me on Twitter @LittleDutchVA

Whatever you might say about the good Dublin pubs, but there’s no doubt the best Guinness in the world can be found in Dingle.

Having taken a pint in quite a few establishments this week, it’s a stone-cold fact that it’s better down here than at home. I don’t know why this is. It’s creamier, tastier, nicier, the whole lot. It’s enough to make a man consider his place in the world, let me tell you.

It’s quiet again today, nothing to report, so here’s another snippet from screenplay. It doesn’t have a title yet. I was thinking something like ‘Add New Post’, but we shall see.

Why is it that most mornings you (I’m assuming I’m not the only one in the world this happens to) wake up with a song going around in your head?

Today, my brain is treating me to the classic 80s hit about that Irish marine, Cam O’Flage. I don’t think I’ve heard it in years, yet it’s bouncing around my dome in all it’s jangly guitar glory. Often these songs stick in your head for hours after waking. Perhaps the refreshing waves of the freezing cold Atlantic will rid me of it.

Yesterday, I was up so high I was able to punch a cloud. Despite the rotten weather this is a rather wonderful place, I’d recommend it to anyone to who wants to get away from the big city. And, of course, it’s given me time to work on some other things, including my screenplay about a blogger that becomes the manager of his favourite team.

A sample:

I think I’m onto a winner here.

Morning all, there’s some blue sky on the horizon, which makes a nice change after the 24 hours of solid Atlantic rain.

All eyes this morning are on Ivan Gazidis and the Q&A he did last night for supporter’s groups. While I think you have to give him credit for meeting fans in this way, it was, by all accounts, the usual polished performance from the chief executive. He is a very good public speaker, someone who catches the mood of the crowd he’s talking to and isn’t going to be caught on the hop by any of the questions – mostly because they’re submitted beforehand, but also because he’s too good at this kind of stuff for that to happen.

That said, I don’t think there’s any other way to do it. Having free for all would surely descend into madness all too quickly, and on a very basic level it’s a good thing that there is this line of communication between the fans and the board. Quite what it accomplishes, well that’s another thing entirely.

It is not as if any of the questions or opinions aired last night will have been a surprise to anyone. Arsenal, perhaps more than any other club, are very media savvy. I know we’ve got probably got the largest range of blogs and websites of any Premier League club, maybe any club in the world, and the opinions ventured on them, and social media, will be familiar to many inside the club.

So airing of fan frustration at lack of silverware/signings/performances and so on is hardly going to be revelation. Be prepared, as any good boy scout would be, and Ivan certainly was. His answers show empathy towards fans, yet are grounded in the club’s position. He’ll admit his own unhappiness at cup exits and the like, but still maintain the position that Arsene is the best man for the job (what else can he say publicly, even if he did think differently?).

It’s an exercise in PR and it’s a good one. He comes across well, the fans get to express their concerns and believe that somebody is listening, everyone has a chat and a pint and all’s well that ends well. Which isn’t to say that there aren’t nuggets of interesting info, of course there are, but there’s little that came out of last night that we didn’t already know – especially as most of this was covered late last week.

I suppose the most relevant stuff was about transfers and how we’re going to spend money this summer. Like the aforementioned jolly with the boys from the press last Wednesday, Ivan made it clear that there’s money to spend, that it’s down to the manager to spend it, and that if he doesn’t it’s not because he’s been hamstrung:

You’re asking me to guarantee that money will all be spent. But it also depends on what talent is available. If we only find one player that we like, we won’t spend twice as much on him just so we can say we spent all of the money. That doesn’t make any sense to me. The key will be to buy the players Arsene Wenger believes in.

And on suggestions that we don’t do business early, and that we might wait until we’ve qualified for the Champions League proper:

Obviously our aim is to do business as early as possible. The Champions League qualifier in August won’t affect our plans. It’s never been an issue when we’ve discussed with players before and it doesn’t affect our planning.

And as with the stories that emerged last week, people may well be encouraged by the words, but until they see things happening, will most likely take everything with a pinch of salt. Some might take a pinch of something stronger, and consider chucking some eggs at the windows while they do so, but that’s entirely their prerogative.

Beyond that talk of freshening up the board is fairly obvious stuff. I doubt they needed an independent report to know that people were getting older. Questions about ticket prices, safe standing, van Persie, the wage structure and even one to Gazidis about what his job entailed just seemed, to me at least, to be ground well trodden at this point and the answers are as middle of the road as you’d imagine.

If you want to read a much more in-depth transcript of the evening, Tim Stillman was there for Arseblog News and his piece can be found right here.

Now, after talking the talk to the press and to fans, it’s down to Ivan, Arsene, Stan and Dick Law and Order to make things happen. The next time I want to hear from any of them is when somebody is standing there in a red and white shirt. No more explanations, no more clarifications, no more justifications or rationalisations.

Time for the spendifications. You know what I mean. Till tomorrow.

Yesterday, the sun was shining here, I was swimming in the Atlantic. Today, as the picture shows, we have more typical Irish summer weather. This is the same view as yesterday’s picture. No sign of the islands.

Ah well, you can’t get too invested in the weather. Like professional footballers, it’ll always let you down.

There’s still little going on other than the bluff and waffle from the ever-increasing legion of ITKs who seem to know everything about a footballer. Not just the situation at his current club, his desire to join a new one, and the possibilities that might bring from a football point of view. Now, everyone seems to know everything about their privates lives.

Where they live. Who they live with. How they feel about living there. How much their electricity bill is. Where they shop. How a row with their next door neighbour means they’re willing to sell up, move to a new country and, of course, their destination when they get there.

It’s as if one person says something and it becomes accepted wisdom. It doesn’t matter one bit if it’s true, or not, because nobody bothers to fact check any more. There is a willingness to believe simply because it sounds like something they want to believe. As for reading into clues from people’s Twitter, I despair.

I came across one account yesterday which has over 50,000 followers and it’s a bloke with dubious English language skills spouting the most obviously made up tripe of all time. This information, apparently, comes from his many contacts in the game. At all clubs. Everywhere. This led me to account which quite thoroughly debunks pretty much everything he says, shows him saying stuff which was entirely wrong, and uses, you know, evidence to disprove his ITK bollocks.

Yet still 50,000+ people believe what he posts on Twitter. Why else would you follow him? There is, like it not, currency in lies. Certain websites which give you a small amount of money each time somebody clicks on your posts, for example, do little but provide a platform for people to spoof and tell yarns which have no basis in reality.

Then there are the half-truths, as perfectly illustrated here, where only a certain amount of the freely available information is used to create a story which will garner hits because of who it’s aimed at. There are even cases where actual, real, substantive, on the record quotes from players themselves are being completely ignored because it doesn’t suit anyone to report them. Not the writers, not the publishers and, sadly, not the readers.

I’ve always tried to take silly season with a pinch of salt, but each year you need more salt and it gets more silly. And silly sounds kind of funny, a bit slapstick, and it’s not really. It’s taken on a darker edge, I think. Maybe that’s just me, but a whole industry based on misinformation, pretence and propaganda … well, that’s politics. And I hate politics.

While I think we all know the transfer industry has been reliant on the media, and that the media too gains from these kind of stories, there’s now a massive gap between a journalist who works in and around a club and does have some genuine information, and the bottom-feeder scribbling total crap for a free-sheet. Same with the guy who is trying to get as many followers on Twitter as possible by inventing stories, weighing the odds of already publicly available information, then  trumpeting loudly when he gets something right.

These people have no credibility whatsoever. They are the people who, in another world, would be the toe-curlingly bad audition for X-Factor. They would allow a reality TV show to be made about their dysfunctional, grotty life just because they want the attention. They are the Pied Pipers of bullshit.

Be dubious of those who like to RT their own praise, it’s part of their gig, a way to show their reliability. While the temptation to challenge them is high, and completely understandable, it’s counter-productive. I’ve seen journalists having a go at the account I mentioned above, but the reality is morons like that thrive on the confrontation. Do not feed the trolls. Easier said than done, I know, but it is truly the wisest saying of the Internet age.

If they are not given the oxygen of publicity (in as much as that’s possible because sometimes calling them out is the only real option), they tiny flame of relevance will burn out. These people who make silly season sinister, aggressive and, frankly, depressing. I’d rather sit through another excruciating Arsenal match in which we’re hanging on to a one goal lead, down to 9 men, with Mike Dean as ref and the opposition pummeling the post and the bar at 30 second intervals than spend any time dealing with them.

But they are the new reality, they are the monsters we have created, and allowed to be created, because of our insatiable desire for something, anything, ANYTHING, to happen. And unless we put them back in their shitty, desperate, lonely boxes, then they’re only going to get worse.

Till tomorrow.

ps – Higuain has bought a house opposite The Tollington to live in with his girlfriend, his dog Winston and his young brother who is hoping to come to London to become a food critic hipster poet. Seriously, do you want me to invent the quotes to prove it?

The picture above is my view for the next week. Not too shabby, especially when temperatures here hit 25C yesterday. In Ireland! I know, right?

There’s little to report from an Arsenal point of view that isn’t made up tosh. And usually the things you really want to happen are the most made up of all. Still, there’s always Nicklas Bendtner to cheer us up and he says he’s on his way out of the club. Soon, he promises.

I am talking with five or six clubs at the moment over a permanent transfer. Things are agreed with Arsenal and I will decide which club I sign for in the next two weeks.

Which is good news, but I was reminded the other day, when looking back in the Arseblog News archives, that the second story we ever published was about Bendtner leaving, so this is something that’s been coming for a while.

I hope this year it does actually happen, that he finds a club where he can play regularly, but to do so he’s going to have to adjust his sights a little bit. Although his season at Juventus was a failure, a massive part of that was due to a bad injury. However, he did his reputation no good at all with his drink driving antics and then there’s the whole being the greatest striker that ever lived thing, which doesn’t help.

Quite what we might recoup in terms of a fee is anybody’s guess. A couple of million would be nice, he hasn’t completely Chamakhd himself into total worthlessness, but if I had to guess I’d say the fee will be ‘undisclosed.’

Beyond little else to discuss that might be found within the bounds of reality, so have yourselves a good Sunday.

Back tomorrow.

Morning all.

A very quick Saturday round-up for you. Plenty of debate still going on after Ivan’s words the other day. The conclusion, regardless of which side of the fence you’re on, is that it all sounds great but now back it up with actually doing stuff. Use the money, buy the players, make the team better, and let’s see what happens then.

There are always going to be optimists and pessimists, the overly cynical and those who might be classed as too trusting, but hopefully the club can satisfy all concerned this summer. It’s obvious that we need improve the team, it’s obvious that we have to be more competitive, and it’s blindingly obvious now that we have the means and the resources to do it. Now, just do it.

In terms of players being linked with us there’s still loads of chatter about Wayne Rooney (none of which I believe) and Gonzalo Higuain from Real Madrid. The Argentine has confirmed he’ll be leaving, but Juventus seem favourites at the moment. There’s a quote racketing around in which Higauin says Arsenal would suit him. Both @AAllenSport and I have been trying to find the original of that beyond it appearing in the Metro.

The Mail then used it, saying ‘Higuain told Metro’, but Higuain didn’t tell Metro anything. Then the Spanish papers picked up it up and ran with the ‘according to the Mail/Metro’ thing, and we all know how reliable that was. The closest we got to finding out the source was an Italian article which suggested (we think) that somebody was lip-reading Higuain at the end of season bit on the Madrid pitch and he either said Arsenal suited him or he’d like to go to Juventus. Or maybe he wanted a sandwich. I dunno.

So, I’m dubious about the stories from that point of view but I think he’d be a very good addition if we really were interested. He is the very definition of clinical, as our friend Orbinho pointed out on Twitter.

Higuain chance conversion rate (no penalties) season 2011-12 43%, 2012-13 32% – Average Premier League striker 16%.

— Orbinho (@Orbinho) May 22, 2013

For a team which has suffered from missed chances far too often, he’d make a very big tick in that box. Still, as I said, there’s little more than tittle-tattle to go on at this moment in time, and it is still just the first week of June. While I’d expect us to do our business in a more timely fashion this summer, with no distractions like World Cups or anything, it’s very early days yet and I suspect there’ll be one or two more names added to the list over the coming weeks.

There’s nothing new on Fellaini, but the story did provide some hilarity when it broke the other night on The Times website. Within a few minutes Goal.com were trumpeting a massive Arsenal story and a few minutes after that posted a modified version of the Times piece. They threw in some stuff about Arsenal activating the Belgian’s release clause, something since denied by Everton, Arsenal and the ‘Fellaini camp’.

There may well be interest from us, I hope so because he’s a very good and extremely fuzzy player, but never underestimate the powers of the hit-whores to add bells and whistles to things just to suit themselves.

Right, time for me to breakfast, then head down to the very far west tip of Ireland for a week. I hope this weather keeps up.

Speak to you tomorrow from somewhere overlooking the Atalantic.

Lots of interesting stuff yesterday from Ivan Gazidis who met with some members of the press, most of whom are on the Arsenal beat throughout the season.

It’s worth putting this into some context. On Monday Gazidis will meet with fans groups, like the AST and AISA, for a now annual Q&A session. While you have to take your hat off to him for doing it, questions are vetted beforehand and it is little more than an exercise in PR and spin.

The timing of yesterday’s stuff isn’t coincidental at all. It sets the agenda nicely for Monday, with a focus on our financial strength, what we can do in the transfer market this summer, and the future of the manager who, it seems, is likely to be offered a new deal.

Personally, I have to admit some reservations over that, simply because I feel we need to see more from the manager before that happens. He did amazingly well to get us to 4th place this season, but the happiness at getting there shouldn’t obscure the fact it was a monumental struggle wrapped in two horrendous, embarrassing cup exits. An end of season flourish was perfectly timed, and very, very welcome, but nobody will remember 2012-13 for anything other than seeing off Sp*rs at the end. And as amusing as that is we ought to be about more than that.

Last month he spoke about the possibility of staying beyond 2014 and said:

I want to stay if I do well and if I consider or the club consider that I do well, that is all.

Not unreasonable, to my mind, but I don’t think we’ve got enough distance between last season to say he’s doing well. Which might sound a little churlish or something but nothing’s proved yet. You have to think that if a new deal is imminent it’s because the club want to present a facade of solidity and consistency, something Gazidis touched on when he spoke about what we’re going to do this summer:

I think players that are concerned about uncertainty probably think about Arsenal as the most certain place they could be in the world of football. This is a club that has had remarkable consistency in terms of its manager, its football philosophy, its direction … so if its consistency players are looking for, I think Arsenal would be a very attractive place to come.

I’m not convinced that players are as hung up on ‘consistency’ as he says. Arsenal have been, in the last few years, a team that is consistently unable to challenge for the title, which is hardly an attractive feature, so I think there’s a touch of spin here. However, if players we’re interested in would feel more inclined to come to work for a manager for more than one season then it does make some sense.

And in terms of what we can do in the market, Gazidis was very quick to point out our new financial strength and what’s available to the manager. Asked if we could spend £25m on a player and pay him £200,000 a week, he said:

Of course we could do that. We could do more than that. We have a certain amount which we’ve held in reserve. We also have new revenue streams coming on board and all of these things mean we can do some things which would excite you.

And on the need to do better, having just scraped into 4th:

The critical thing about that is to work out how we don’t have to go through all of that again and we can go through next season and put ourselves in a position where we are really competing for major trophies towards the end of the season. And that is going to require forward progression. I think everybody realises that. There has been a long-term plan in place at this club. You are probably all sick of hearing me talk about it.

We should be able to compete at a level like a club such as Bayern Munich. I’m not saying we are there by any means, we have a way to go before we can put ourselves on that level. But this whole journey over the past ten years really has been with that goal in mind which is why I say that this is an extraordinarily ambitious club. We get beaten up along the way but I think we are an extraordinarily ambitious club. This has been about putting us up with the best in the world and now the question is turning that platform now into on-field success.

Some big words in there, but as with anything there are two ways of looking at it. There are many who feel like this is the Chief Executive who cried wolf. We’ve heard this kind of talk before; about how ambitious we are, about how we want trophies, about how we’ve got money to spend, about how they trust Arsene to spend it and improve the squad. Those words have been left hollow and skepticism is completely understandable.

We have heard it before, we have subsequently failed to challenge for trophies, money has been left unspent, the team has struggled, the quality of the football has declined, and there’s the whole ‘Fool me once’ thing going on. I get that completely, although the outpouring of personal vitriol is, to my mind, unnecessary. Actions speak louder than words and when you look back at similar statements in the past couple of summers it’s very hard to marry the two from an Arsenal point of view.

So, I completely understand why there might be a negative reaction from some quarters over this. They want to see things happen, not a very polished and accomplished speaker talk about how we have the capability to make things happen. Yet for me, and perhaps it’s because I’m hopeful and optimistic, there’s something a bit different about it this time. We know Arsenal have been traditionally guarded in terms of transfers on every level, including what we have to spend, so for the Chief Executive to publicly state we could smash our transfer record, pay double the highest current wage at the club, and do more than that if we wanted to, is, to my mind at least, very much a case of putting the ball in the manager’s court.

If there’s been confusion down the last couple of years about whether it’s money we haven’t spent or we haven’t spent because we don’t have the money, that’s well and truly clarified now. He’s spoken about his ambition, about Kroenke’s ambition, and put it up to the manager to use the funds available. If we don’t, it gives perfect clarity to the reason why.

As well as that, there’s no escaping the financial landscape has changed. £30m+ a season more from Emirates, a new kit deal in the offing which will bring in something similar, money in the bank already. If, perhaps, there was a reluctance to use the cash in case we finished outside the top four, for example, that’s no longer an issue. We can spend with more security, knowing the club is on a solid financial platform for the foreseeable future.

The key question is whether Arsene’s modus operandi will change with it. While I don’t think you’ll ever stop him trying to unearth the gems and hidden talents, there’s the very real capability of going out and buying established talent at a level beyond what we’re used to. Those who say he never spent big forget £10m for Henry, £13m for Wiltord over 10 years ago (and that remains close to our record fee), £15m on Reyes etc.

Despite my reservations above regarding a new deal, I’d like to see Arsene have a real go this summer having guided the club through very challenging times. While criticism of how we failed to use what we had is certainly valid, you can’t overlook the impact of the new stadium and the restrictions it placed on us. He tried to build a team of youngsters to cope, ultimately it didn’t work from the point of view of winning trophies, but I don’t know that there’s any other manager who could have kept his team in the top four under those circumstances.

With talk of a record bid for Fellaini, for example, (again the timing of that info is notable), there’s no escaping the fact we can step it up a level this summer. Ivan says we can do it, we have the funds, the resources, the infrastructure, and everything else, to push the club forward significantly.

But we come back to the bit where people have reservations. It’s one thing saying it, it’s another thing entirely to do it. We’ve had enough talk, and whether it enrages you or excites you, now is the time for action.

Make it so.

—

The full transcript of the Gazidis interview can be read here.

With Arshavin and Squillaci tearfully examining their final Arsenal payslips this month, operation deadwood claimed another victim this week with the news of Denilson’s release. To quote The Lemonheads 1992 LP of the same name, it’s a shame about Denilson. (Ray. Denilson. Whatever). In 2008-09 I thought we had had a potentially excellent player on our hands, but for one reason or another, he just didn’t develop from there. In many ways, he epitomises some of the unpleasant truths about the youth project of the stadium’s embryonic years.

He showed early promise and ability but just didn’t quite have the mentality to see it through. While I’m sure that his severance package was mutually agreeable and made business sense, the lack of coquettishness in his release hopefully sets the tone for others in the “Reduced” basket at London Colney. The names of the offending driftwood are well rehearsed by now. Arsenal have a busy summer and can’t allow the car boot sale to detract from more pressing acts of retail therapy.

The well known members of the driftwood faculty aren’t the only futures that require resolution. Thomas Vermaelen, Wojciech Szczesny and Gervinho all have two years to run on their contracts. I can’t imagine that the club are interested in renewing Gervinho’s terms and there’s suspiciously few whispers of a new deal being waved under Vermaelen’s nose either. Assuming Dicky Law and Ivan Gazidis aren’t holding regular rendezvous with the agents of Vermaelen or Gervinho, you’d have to suspect that the club would be willing to listen to offers for either.

It doesn’t seem five minutes ago that Vermaelen signed new terms but contract legislation is so aggressive nowadays that this sort of short termism is a de facto norm in the top flight. Vermaelen is nearly 28 and there’s a good chance that he could be relieved of the captaincy this summer. If I were 28, not being offered a new deal at such a pivotal stage of my current contract and found myself stripped of the captaincy in one summer, I might take it as a broad hint and consider my options.

Gervinho has already laid his towel on the lounger and pledged not to leave. For much the same reason that the current league of unwanted players haven’t left. He knows he would struggle to secure a deal on par with his current one elsewhere, so he’ll probably cling on until Arsene Wenger drives him out to the woods in the middle of the night. I’d imagine there is much more willing on the club’s part to renew Szczesny’s deal.

However, if rumours of interest in Julio Cesar are true, that could impact on the Pole’s desire to sign up in a hurry. I’d hope that Cesar’s age- assuming that the rumours are true- would encourage Szczesny to believe that the club see him as the future. Shortly before he signed his current deal in late 2010, Szczesny was rather pithy about not being picked. One would hope that time and temperance has brought maturity and his reaction to being dropped for Fabianski suggests it might have. But it’s not a cut and dried situation by any means.

Then of course there are the additions that need to be made. The lovely, shiny additions, all replete with that new cellophane smell. Somebody suggested to me on twitter this week that we could make a reasonable case for adding in every position bar right wing and left back. I think that gentleman had a point. For me, Arsenal’s biggest priority is to bolster their creative options and I think that’s what Wenger will look to do urgently. How he does it, will be fascinating.

In a creative sense, Cazorla has been a lone star when he ought to be part of a constellation. Even Cesc Fabregas had the likes of Nasri and Hleb as deputies, whom he loved to bounce off of. This article points out quite nicely that we don’t really have a creative presence on the flanks with Walcott and Podolski in the team. Both are finishers and we have a need for two clinical players from wide because Giroud errrm, isn’t so clinical.

However, a front three of Podolski, Walcott and Giroud is rather lacking in artistic stimulus. Walcott and Podolski like and need balls in behind (ooo errr) and only Santi really provides that. A younger and fitter Tomas Rosicky would be a good panacea to this ill, but we’re taking a rather nonchalant piss into a light gust of wind if we expect him to play a whole season. I still think Wilshere is more “Xavi” than “Iniesta” as a midfielder. I accept that he can and probably will hone his attacking game, but he produced 3 assists and 0 goals in 25 Premier League appearances last year. It would have to be a mighty jump.

In big games, it was simply too easy for skilled opponents to isolate Cazorla as our lone creative threat. That took a toll on the little Spaniard too who generated one assist and no goals in last season’s Champions League. In the six games against the teams that finished above us, he managed one goal and one assist. That’s not so much a reflection on his quality individually. Every good team is able to diversify the threat they pose and in that sense, Arsenal struggled to do that against quality opposition. Indeed there were many games last season in which creating chances seemed to be a very laboured pursuit.

There are a number of options for Wenger to tackle this equation. He could persist with Cazorla on the left and buy a creative central midfield player. Or else he could revert Santi to the centre and purchase the sort of dynamic wide player Arshavin briefly promised to be. Either way, that would entail leaving one of Podolski or Walcott out, which would in turn require a more clinical striker than Giroud. Unless the hunky Frenchman got busy and put in some extra net ruffling shifts on the training pitch.

Of course, we could go a slightly different way and buy the sort of forward to head the current formation who specialises in dropping off of the front line and feeding balls in behind to Podolski and / or Walcott. If Rooney / Jovetic are genuine Arsenal targets, then it’s conceivable that Wenger could opt for this route. That shape would be akin to the class of 98. A computer graphic would show Bergkamp as a withdrawn striker in a 4-4-2 for the 98 Double winning side. In reality, Bergkamp dropped much deeper than that and fed the rampaging Overmars and Anelka.

This goal from September 1997 exemplifies the true attacking shape of what was effectively a front three. With more of a withdrawn striker in the centre, Cazorla could go back into midfield with license to drift, whilst our new-fangled “nine and a half” drops back to provide the bullets. It would require tweaking and understanding so that Santi and *enter product of our overly fertile imaginations here* wouldn’t occupy the same spaces. But it would vary our creative impetus.

Where we fit this new creator in is open to endless conjecture and ramification. I think there’s a sort of stereotype in the public conscious that Arsenal are a team of diminutive, fancy Dan technicians. Nobody ever thinks we need creative players even when the evidence suggests it so compellingly. Big ugly central defenders and 20 stone “DMs” always top the wish lists. There is probably value in securing players of that ilk too of course.

Yet when the going got tough and Arsenal needed a definitive, results based approach from March onwards; they achieved it by relying on the defence. That’s because our defensive unit is much more balanced and effective as a crutch than our attack and our creativity at the moment. I have a hunch that Arsene will see this as a priority too. How he remoulds the balance of the attack will be very intriguing. It should be a challenge that excites him. LD.

Follow me on Twitter @LittleDutchVA

Morning all.

Yesterday the club announced that three players would be packing their jewel encrusted suitcases, laden with bullion and rubies and precious scents from the finest perfumiers, and heading off into the distance. I did imagine them as the kind of little chaps that run away from home, their scant belongings in a spotted handkerchief tied to pole thrown over their shoulders with a trusted old dog scuffing along with them, but it doesn’t really work.

Sebastien Squillaci, Andrei Arshavin and Denilson are no more. At least from an Arsenal point of view. To be fair, Squillaci and Arshavin have done a fantastic job of turning invisible, cropping up now and again in the training photos, never to set to foot upon the pitch wearing Arsenal garments. Denilson, at least, has gone off and played football when he’s not suspended for getting sent off all the time or calling fans names on Twitter.

One of the main criticisms of Arsene Wenger over the last few years was his reluctance to buy experience and/or quality. When Squillaci arrived from Sevilla in the summer of 2010, he looked to be a decent signing. He ticked the boxes of experience and reasonable quality. He was 29, a French international, he’d played for Monaco, Lyon (winning the French title there), and Sevilla (Copa del Rey and reaching the UEFA Cup final), and with new signing Laurent Koscielny needing an experience head around it looked to be a decent move.

I don’t know if there was an exact moment when the confidence drained from him. I suspect it was a drip-drip affair, but the Squiscielny partnership didn’t work. In fairness, some of that was down to the newer of the pair making a huge step-up and being a bit error prone but he was full-hearted, quick and easier to forgive. The truth is Squillaci never managed to forge a good partnership with any of the centre-halves.

Squimaelen wasn’t up to much, Djourlacci was poor and Squirtersacker, well, the less said the better. This was a guy who went from playing regularly, and consistently, for clubs at a decent level, to being so beyond repair that he played just 9 minutes of Premier League football in the past 2 seasons. A waste of money? Sure. In hindsight it’s impossible to argue with that, but it’s impossible not to think there was a touch of ill-fortune and bad timing in there, on both parts.

People may complain about his wages, and there’s no way you can say we got value for money based on what he did on the pitch, but I don’t think he was paid above and beyond the level you’d expect for a player at a club like Arsenal. The difficulty was that his stock fell so low that the only clubs interested in him couldn’t possibly match what we were paying. He went from being a solid, mid-level pro, to a guy that newly only promoted Ligue 1 teams would have taken a punt on. And their budgets precluded any deal being done.

Similarly with Arshavin, he arrived a big name, a star on the world stage, and somebody with real and obvious talent. He shone, all too briefly. He leaves a caricature, a giddy pudding whose lack of conditioning and effort meant that talent was wasted. He lost the trust of the manager, his final appearance in an Arsenal shirt was an abject, pitiful display at Stamford Bridge, where he bumbled around the pitch like an ex-pro at a charity match.

There were good times, let’s not forget those. The 4-4 at Anfield, that winner against Barcelona, some of the goals he scored were stunning, but over time his desire waned, the work-rate (which was never great to begin with) became a liability, and all he’s got left now are offers from China and the middle-east. This was a guy who said he’d love to play for Barcelona. They’d have Hlebbed him out of town in no time, because talent is just a small part of the game. If you’re not willing to work hard then you’ll never fulfill it.

I know some put the blame on Arsene Wenger for not playing him in his correct position, but frankly that’s ludicrous. We’ve had this discussion before and Arshavin has nobody to blame but himself. He arrived, everyone loved him, he had such goodwill from the Arsenal fans, but ultimately it was he who made a bags of his football career. If there’s a place beyond the doldrums that’s where he is right now.

As for Denilson, we touched on him the other day, so there’s no need to go over it again, but what these departures mean is an estimated £150,000 per week saving from our wage bill. That’s around £8m per year. That allows us to use those resources better. Which isn’t to say that potential new signings won’t be a drain at some point, that’s the risk you take with any new player; however, we’ve long spoken about the need to use what we have in a more efficient way and this is a good start.

This trio represents the easiest part of the streamlining we need to do this summer. Arshavin and Squillaci were out of contract, while Denilson’s desire to sort out his future once and for all enabled us to come to an agreement with him about the rest of his deal. There are other, more difficult situations to sort out.

Chamakh will know he’s got another year of big Bosman wages at Arsenal and won’t be inclined to go anywhere unless he gets most of that in a pay-off. Nicklas Bendtner’s ego means he’ll probably refuse to go to clubs he feels are beneath him, and although there are links suggesting we’ll let Andre Santos go back to Turkey for as little as £1m (representing a £5m loss in the transfer market), I suspect it might not be an easy one to push through.

Still, we’ve made a decent start at making space in the squad, let’s hope it continues and that replacements are found to make us better again.

Till tomorrow.

There’s nothing quite like nothing to make something out of nothing. That’s not a wise old saying, merely a fact of life as a football fan in the summer.

The hysteria that greeted some comments by Laurent Koscielny was absolutely typical of very little being blown out of all proportion, of people choosing to read only the bits which will allow them become outraged, enraged, inraged or any other kind of raged you can think of.

Koscielny spoke to Eurosport, and said:

I feel good at Arsenal. I’ve just come to the end of a complicated season, especially the first six months, but it’s over now. I do not want to go anywhere.

So, that’s fairly all right, right? Nothing to get too bent out of shape about. But then, he spoke about leaving if the club didn’t win things, saying:

I want to win titles and I hope the club has the means. It deserves it. If the club has the means to compete with the best, I have no reason to leave. But if it fights every year for Champions League [qualification] it’s hard psychologically to be under such constant pressure.

Again, he wants to win things with Arsenal but if we don’t he might think about going somewhere else. Hardly a unique point of view. And isn’t it a good thing that he wants the club to be competitive rather than just drifting along? Haven’t we had enough of players content to amble through their careers?

I want to lift trophies and to have a winning record. I hope the club will give me the means. If this weren’t the case, I’d look elsewhere. Paris [Saint Germain]? I don’t know. I’ve not heard anything.

Same thing. He’s saying if we don’t win something he’d think about leaving. But we’re unlikely to win anything this summer, are we? At the very earliest it’d be some time next year (usually around February, haha) before it became apparent we weren’t going to lift a trophy, but my hope, and one I’m sure is shared by many of you, is that we’re a more competitive team and will be in hunt for silverware much closer to the end of the season.

I’ve seen people criticising him for mentioning PSG, as if it’s some hint. I’ve seen people criticise him for talking at all, but players talk to the media all the time and I think this was part of being away with the French squad. The media love nuggets like this, especially when it’s quiet. Some of the headlines have been ludicrously overblown, and when you realise Koscielny didn’t just call a press conference and proffer those quotes to all and sundry, then it’s even less of an issue.

He was asked fairly leading questions (thanks, Ollie):

- ‘Regarding your future, where will you play next season?’
- ‘Isn’t it gruelling to go through season after season without winning trophies? What could incite you to leave?’
- ‘PSG are on your case, have they been in touch?’

So it’s not as if he just went off on a diatribe about our lack of trophies, he was asked directly about that situation, asked if he’d been contacted by PSG, and asked about his future. He answered those questions fairly honestly, and in the end I come back to ‘I feel good at Arsenal. I do not want to go anywhere.’

Yet, ‘I feel good at Arsenal. I do not want to go anywhere’, doesn’t make for good copy. It goes back to what I said yesterday about websites and clicks and hits. Even if Koscielny was a touch injudicious and silence would have been better than anything for that lot to get their rotten teeth into, he’s not making absurd demands or suggesting he wants to be sold RIGHT NOW. He simply wants a team which can win things in the future. And if I’m not mistaken, that’s exactly what all of us want too.

Yet we shouldn’t be surprised by the reaction from some quarters. Let us not forget that there were people losing their shit over the fact that Jack Wilshere posted a picture of his 2 year old child wearing a Barcelona kit. There’s a very real need for people like to reassess their lives. Perhaps they could reassess it straight off a cliff. It’d be best for all concerned.

Still, at least it gave folk something to talk about for a few hours, and that’s the important thing. First there was nothing, then there was something, now there’s nothing again. And so the summer keeps on turning.

Finally, five reasons why Aaron Ramsey is better than a scorpion. Till tomorrow.

Happy Tuesday y’all.

You might have noticed a lot of Wayne Rooney talk, suggestions that Arsene Wenger has ‘hinted at a move’ for the freckly mammoth, but all he did was answer a question in an interview in a bog standard manner. I don’t think it makes a move any more a possibility than it already is, but such is the nature of the web now that the need for content meant many papers went large (no pun intended) with it yesterday.

In some ways it’s quite sad to see organisations who, in print, might at least apply some standards to what they publish now joining the very worst of the click-snatching, hit-whores, but I guess that’s the nature of the beast. It is no longer about what’s real or even vaguely truthful, but simply about page views, ‘eyeballs’ and traffic.

The newspapers, for the most part, are conscious they have to have more presence online. I think everybody understands why, but the they’re like hamsters on a wheel and nobody can get off. While the likes of the Mail have forged a massive niche, you now see the same stuff appear on the Telegraph, the Independent, and even the Guardian. It’s almost as if everybody repeating the same nonsense lends it credibility simply because everybody’s saying it.

How long before they go the Caught Offside model and simply invent outrageous rumours that have no basis in fact whatsoever? How much analysis is given to where the traffic comes from, and why, as long as the numbers increase? I think we all know the transfer story industry is one that has always driven people to buy papers, and subsequently, click on websites. We all know that most of it lacks real veracity as the competing agendas of clubs, players, agents and media play the game each time the window’s open, but even more caution than usual is required this summer.

For those interested, you can see the interview with Arsene Wenger here.

Meanwhile, some very interesting news regarding Denilson and the fact the club and player have come to an arrangement to cancel the final year of his contract. According to his agent:

I can confirm Denilson and Arsenal have agreed to terminate his contract at the end of this month. Denilson is free to move to another club and a number of clubs are interested in him. I do not want to name teams, but there is interest from Brazil as well as Russia, Italy, Germany and Turkey and I am talking to them.

While I don’t think there’ll be any real tears about Denilson himself leaving after two seasons away on loan, the interesting part is that we’ve found a way to release the player, thus getting him off our books and making it easier for him to find a new club because no transfer fee will be required.

I suspect that we’ve found a pay-off figure which is acceptable to him and in some ways you have to give the player a bit of credit too because many would sit tight, see out their contract and take full whack. Then again, maybe we have paid him off in full. Either way, it’s a positive move because he had no future at Arsenal, and had we been looking for a transfer fee, on top of what he’s paid, then it would have made it very difficult to move him on.

I think, in some ways, he became a bit of a lightning rod for a team which, collectively, underachieved. He arrived in 2006 and at that point he looked a very promising player. People were lauding the manager for unearthing another gem, but I think he, more than any other first team player, showcased the dangers of rewarding potential like we did. I think he became complacent. There wasn’t enough competition on the pitch to drive him, and the level at which he was being paid was far in advance of his talent and progression as a player. He got comfortable, he wasn’t the only one in fairness (you might look at somebody like Carlos Vela too), but he was the most obvious.

He had a statistically good campaign in 2009/10, scoring 6 goals in 28 appearances, but in January 2010 came the moment that, for me, at least, defines his Arsenal career. We were playing Manchester United at home, we were 2-0 down at half-time and looking for an early second half goal to get back into it. Denilson lost the ball in the United half, they broke up-field, and as they did so we saw the astonishing sight of the Brazilian being overtaken by the referee as he ambled back. United scored to make it 3-0 and that was game over.

It came just a week after a similarly lethargic performance against Stoke in the FA Cup when his lack of effort cost us a goal, and for me that was what ruined what could have been a much more positive career at this club. I don’t really care about sideways passing, lots of players do that and he was decent enough on the ball really. But it was the lack of effort and application – I believe brought about by a salary which made him believe he didn’t have to work hard to earn well – which sent him into a spiral from which there was no way back from an Arsenal point of view.

However, back to looking at this from a positive point of view, one would hope that similar arrangements are being sought with Santos, Chamakh, Bendtner and Park to ensure that they’re no longer players we have to worry about next season. It might cost us a bit in the short-term, but either way we’d have to pay them off. It’s hard to imagine a queue of suitors for those players if any investment beyond their wages was required. We have to make it as easy as possible for them to find a new club, and if that means paying them off and releasing them, then that’s what we should do.

Till tomorrow.

Morning all,

welcome to a brand new week. There was some Arsenal action last night when Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain scored against Brazil, a rather tasty finish too, as England drew 2-2 with the World Cup hosts. He’s a player who struggled through his second full season, he’s not the first and he won’t be the last, so it’ll be interesting to see how Arsene Wenger uses him for the new campaign.

The boss has always said he’s likely to end up as a central-midfielder and, on the final day of the season, when Mikel Arteta’s injury forced him off after half an hour, I guess we got a good indication that Arsene is ready to put his money where his mouth is in that regard. The Ox came on and slotted into central midfield so well that Arteta’s absence wasn’t as keenly felt as it might have been.

He’s definitely a player whose attacking instincts mean he’s going to be deployed further forward in the midfield, which means he’s going to have to compete with Wilshere (when fit), Cazorla and even Rosicky. There’s also some clamour for us to sign a midfielder who can provide some creativity, but I suspect any new arrival in this area will be one who can add some presence and physicality to proceedings.

I know people insist we missed Alex Song this season, but I don’t think that’s true at all. Arteta’s discipline, patrolling that area in front of the back four and not getting caught too far forward, meant that we weren’t cut open down the middle time and time again. That was a feature of our midfield when Song was being asked to do the defensive work, and for all our issues at times last season it was nice not to see that happening time and time again.

But, it’d be fair to say we lack a little something in there with regards size and strength, so if there’s a midfielder coming this summer I think that might be an area that the manager looks at. The agent of Victor Wanyama has been talking, and as we know much of what agents say at this time of the year can be taken with a great big pinch of salt. He says Arsenal are very interested in the Kenyan, suggesting that Arsene Wenger spoke to Celtic last month about him, but there are great big warning claxons going off.

I realise these quotes are in the Mail, but even if they’ve misquoted him badly, or the bloke hasn’t quite said what he wanted to say properly, this would be a worry:

The English Premier League is the really big one. It’s just a question of what level Victor goes to. Van Persie went to Arsenal then moved on later to Manchester United. Victor can do the same if he goes to Arsenal. And I believe that is what he wants. He wants to go to Arsenal.

Well, if he wants to go to Arsenal that’s one thing, but if he wants to go to Arsenal so he can then go to United, that’s another thing entirely. I suspect it’s probably a ham-fisted attempt by the agent to show that he’s an ambitious player, and we can’t necessarily taint the player because of something his agent said, but all the same, it’s the kind of chatter you don’t need. In this day and age, quotes live on and on. They don’t fade into the background, they become baggage.

As for the player in general, I’d be a touch underwhelmed, I think. I haven’t seen a great deal of him, and while he stood out in that game against Barcelona, I’d still be a touch unsure how quickly he could make the step up from the Irn Bru 3rd division (I kid, I kid) to real football. Some more well versed than I in Scottish football believe he’s a good player but perhaps not quite ready yet due to indiscipline.

Elsewhere, Spain’s final squad for the Pointless Money Spinning FIFA Shield has been announced and both Nacho Monreal and Santi Cazorla have been include. That means they could be in Pointless Money Spinning action until the end of June. When you consider Santi played in every single Premier League game for us last season, it’ll mean he’s probably going to be knackered on his return. Thanks, FIFA, for your Pointless Money Spinning ways.

Till tomorrow.

There is little to report this Sunday.

Last night I drank 4 pints, chatted GPS with a taxi driver, had a gimlet and then a large Knob Creek before losing my 15th consecutive game of FIFA online. I have to admit, the only reason I want us to make high quality signings this summer is so that our star rating on the game goes up sufficiently so that I’m not playing Borussia Dortmund every single time.

As it stands there’s little news on that front. Lyon’s Clement Grenier has been talking about his future, saying:

I have more or less made a decision about which club I want to join. I have made the choice for sporting reasons above all. Arsenal? It could well be them. There would be competition for places, but you get that at all big clubs and it does not stop me making my decision.

I know next to nothing about the player other than his name is an anagram of ‘Gentlemen crier’. I also thought he looked uncannily like Scott T Parker, the most overrated footballer with a plethora of freckles in the entire world, until I looked at the picture again and realised it was the bloke on his arse we might be signing.

[tumbleweed]

Life’s too short to worry about filling word-count when there are no words worth counting. Knowing when to shut up is one of the greatest skills anyone can lea