Chelsea last night released an amazing statement on their official website giving their side of the William Gallas departure. They said that William Gallas threatened to score own goals, make deliberate mistakes or get sent off on purpose if he was picked to play against Manchester City.

Reading it is just comical. The Chelsea ‘family’, heh. Give me a break. The Blues are painted as whiter than white and Gallas as a complete monster. Now, maybe Gallas didn’t behave as well as he might have done but for the club to accuse him of something like this is just crazy and smacks of bitterness and shows a total lack of class. Compare that to Arsene Wenger’s kind words about Ashley Cole who, to my mind, behaved far worse that Gallas.

To stain the reputation of a player who has always did his best for Chelsea in the seasons he was there is an own goal that may rebound on his former club. Even if what they allege was true it does them no credit to reveal it and unless they have proof to back it up they are leaving themselves wide open for a lawsuit.

But surely a well oiled machine like Chelsea wouldn’t make a PR gaff like this. A club with the resources to hire the very best in the business must have the best PR person in the country, right? Well, here’s an extract from Crystal Palace Chairman Simon Jordan’s column in the Guardian from a few months ago:

The closest I’ve come to losing it with a journalist was in 2002, after London’s Evening Standard, who’d always had great access and cooperation from us, started producing a string of barbed, personal piss takes.

I decided that if they wanted to write this stuff, fine, but they weren’t going to do it on our premises, so I withdrew their accreditation. The sports editor’s reaction was this: instead of calling me, he phoned our shirt sponsor to suggest they reduced payments to us because they’d be getting less exposure in the Standard. Then he warned me that banning Standard journalists would have a negative effect on Palace’s results. I asked him what the hell he was talking about, and he implied that if I obstructed his journalists and restricted his press access, the type of coverage they’d be giving us would have a negative effect on morale.

So where is this guy now? Four years on, he’s the top PR man at Cuntski, a club with a reputation for obstructing journalists and restricting press access. PR Week says ‘Simon Greenberg is about to embark on a major charm offensive’ in football, to boost Cuntski’s image. Stand back, and watch him go.

Brilliant, look at him go! It’s no wonder that for all their success on the pitch Chelsea are, without doubt, the most despised club in world football. Even at the height of our rivalry with United there was a grudging respect that they had earned their titles, spent their own money on the players that helped them win them and they had a history of being a big club. Their success was built on having a large fan base and being a club top players wanted to play for because of the prestige, not the money. Chelsea is nothing but a Russian oligarch’s plaything and they earn about as much respect as Paris Hilton.

It is without doubt the most unprofessional, classless thing I think I have ever witnessed from a supposed ‘big’ club and acts like this show why, no matter how much they win, Chelsea will never be a big club. I’m really looking forward to see how bad the backlash of this is.

Gallas responded last night, saying:

I am surprised and shocked by these claims. I never said that I would score own goals if I had to play for Chelsea again. I was firm about my wanting to leave, that is true, and I will explain in due time why I wanted to, but I never went that far. But if people want to hide behind false accusations in order to give a reason for why I left so they can calm down the club’s supporters then they can.

You get the feeling this could run and run. More comment from Goodplaya and a nice take on it from Arsenal Shorts.

Not much else happening today but I reckon that’s enough. Tomorrow we’ll wait for Chelsea’s statement saying Eidur Gudjonson used to eat all the skin off the KFC, Tiago never made his bed and Asier del Horno’s Christmas presents were always cheap.

So the internationals continue and the Arsenal news is thin on the ground. Brazil played Argentina at Ashburton Grove yesterday and ran out 3-0 winners.

Gilberto played and he’s looking forward to the arrival of both Julio Baptista and youngster Denilson who will wear the number 15 shirt, a sign that he’s going to hit the first team sooner rather than later. Our vice captain will do his best to help the young player settle in, saying:

I will do what I can to help him, the same as Edu did with me when I came over. He did the same job with me as I will try to do with him to help him settle quickly. I am here to help him.

The Beast also spoke about how happy he was to join Arsenal and says he’d be happy to sign a 4 year deal after the one year loan is over. He said:

I am very humbled Arsene Wenger was so interested in me. I’ll be very happy to stay as long as the club wants me.

He also rejected a move to Sp*rs which shows he is a man of impeccable taste.

Arsene Wenger has spoken about international football and how he feels the quality of the international game has decreased. It’s something I’ve said for quite a while. It used to be that playing for your country was the highest level of the game you could play at but not any more. I agree with the boss when he says:

It no longer has any value at the playing level. What ranks a player now is how he performs for his club.

You can’t really argue with that and the worst World Cup I’ve ever seen just backs it up.

And that’s it. I suppose it’s the calm after the storm of last week’s transfer frenzy (which has taken my chum Gunnerblog offline, he’ll be back soon though, don’t worry too much).

More tomorrow.

Morning all, it’s a very quiet Sunday as we’re in the middle of the internationals. I watched Ireland lose to Germany last night and then had a great laugh at Steve Staunton who said the Irish players were magnificent. How anyone could watch John O’Shea miskick the ball at least 4 times in one game and call him magnificent beggards belief.

Some other Arsenal players played for their countries last night but I can’t be arsed chasing down who, for what time, if they scored or anything like that.

Some other Arsenal players will be on display at Ashburton Grove today as Brazil play West Ham.

In a quick round-up of the stories I can find this morning William Gallas calls Jose Mourinho fickle. I didn’t know fickle was another word for cunt.

Julio Baptista is looking forward to playing alongside Thierry Henry. He says:

It will be an honour to play alongside Henry – he is one of the great strikers of all time.

I wonder will Henry give him ‘Le scowl’ if a pass goes astray. I doubt it somehow.

In today’s Marca José Antonio Reyes confirms his move to Real Madrid is a loan with an option to buy. We can only assume the Baptista deal is the same. He has also denied the existence of a pre-contract agreement Atletico say he signed and for which they’re due €2m compensation. Not even José could have been that thick to sign something like that, could he?

Not much else happening so I’ll nip off and get the papers on my first Sunday back in Ireland. Later it’s a roast dinner with Yorkshire puddings. Hurrah. Till tomorrow.

Hurrah, it’s all over. Till January at least. No more waiting around, guessing, clambering around the dodgiest of football websites looking for info about transfers.

José Antonio Reyes and Cuntley Cunt have gone. William Gallas, Julio Baptista and Denilson have come in. Everyone is asking are we better off. I have no doubt that we are.

We’ve shipped out two players who didn’t want to be at the club and brought in players who are looking for a new challenge and have something to prove. If Reyes and Cuntley Cunt had stayed it really would have affected us badly, not because they’re bad players but their heads would have been melted and that would have an effect on morale. Individually let’s look at the signings then.

Gallas: A quick, strong defender who is good in the air and chips in with a few goals each season too. He’s versatile and can play in either full back position. Obviously he’s best in the centre and he would compliment both Senderos and Toure. I think the boss will move him around a bit and on away trips to teams that play a direct, physical game I can see him at left back with Kolo and Phil in the middle to give us that extra presence.

Despite my earlier reservations I’m happy to have him and he appears to be happy to be at Arsenal, saying:

At 29, I want to continue to progress, and who better to help me achieve this goal than Arsène Wenger? I am in a hurry already to work under his orders, to learn from him. I want to bring my experience to the young Champions League Finalists, to know new thrills on a bright new stage, supported by the best fans in England.

Way to burn your bridges with the Chelsea fans! It’s all PR anyway but I’m sure the idea of playing with Henry and being managed by Wenger was very tempting for the Frenchman. So we have Gallas, Chelsea have Cunt and that’s that.

Baptista: He didn’t have a happy time at Real Madrid last season but then nobody did. At the end though he was a regular starter and certainly one of their best players.

He has been described him as ‘immensely powerful’ and although Arsene is going to play him as a more forward player than a central midfielder he certainly brings a physical presence that we’ve been without for a little while. He’s good in the air, will shoot from long distance and he’s not afraid to get stuck in either.

There does appear to be some confusion as to whether or not he’s signed permanently (can anyone clear that up 100%?) but it does say he joined for an undisclosed fee.

The player himself says:

Arsenal is one of the best clubs in Europe. I am very happy to be given the opportunity to come here. It is my hope that I can win a title with Arsenal this season.

I’m very happy with his acquisition. He’s going to be a very exciting player for us and with Gilberto in the team and him not being a half-wit living with his mum I’m sure he’ll settle in better than our last ex-Sevilliano.

Denilson: Like most of you I don’t know much about him other than he’s the Captain of the Brazilian U19s and he’s a midfielder. The fee is believed to be around the £3.5m mark and that’s as much as I know. What the boss’s plans are for him remain to be seen but hopefully he’ll settle in well with Gilberto and Baptista around.

So two out, three in and we’re definitely in a better position than we were a couple of days ago. The new signings will have energised and excited the fans and the players as well.

Sometimes you need to freshen up your squad and we’ve done exactly that. We are such big teases though leaving it to the last minute to get everything done.

I’m really looking forward to the next game now! Funny how your outlook can change so quickly. That’s not to say reservations expressed previously were incorrect but at the same time you have to acknowledge when they’ve been addressed.

I suppose we have to take a moment to talk about Cuntley Cunt. Arsene Wenger was very magninimous when talking about him yesterday, saying:

Cuntley has grown up with Arsenal and given time, will hopefully appreciate what the Club has given him.

Maybe he will but maybe not. He’ll cream in the Russian money, release his sure to be a load of bollocks book and fanny around trying to be the new Posh and Becks.

I said before that it was a real shame what happened with him. He and his agent, in my opinion, behaved despicably and between them they embody everything that I hate about the game today. Money over loyalty, money over morality, money over everything. Cuntley Cunt could have been a proper Arsenal legend. He broke into the team as a young guy and he could play for another 10 years. He might have been captain. He might have made the record number of appearances for the club. He would have been remembered as an Arsenal fan who lived the dream.

Now he’ll be despised by Gooners everywhere and remembered as a little money-grabber who went to meet Chelsea days before an important game, behaved like a cunt and ended up playing for the most hated team in English football.

I’m glad we got rid of him, I’m glad he’s gone, I’m really looking forward to hearing the barracking he’ll get when Chelsea come to the Grove and I truly hope he, one day, realises how badly he fucked it all up.

In the meantime, get fucked, Cuntley.

It’s also gone relatively unreported that we sold Pascal Cygan to Villarral for £2m which is exactly what we paid for him 4 years ago. A fantastic piece of business, you have to say, and Pascal’s main talent must the ability not to depreciate in value in any way. He’ll be sold for £2m in 5 years time. If only he was a car or a helicopter.

And that’s about that (further analysis from Gunnerblog and Goodplaya). Most of the squad are still away on international duty and when they get back we can start working with the new players and start winning some games, something everyone can look forward to.

Raining here today. I think I’ll go to the beach!