july 12th
09.49 – Morning all. Nothing like a bit of a lie-in after being up early all week.
It’s all doom and gloom in Arsenal land according to the The Sun. It’s being reported that serious cut backs are being made at Highbury. Players will have to pay for their own taxis (god forbid someone earning thousands a week shoul;d pay for their own taxi), £250 a night hotel rooms will be replaced with a shared dorm on the YMCA for european trips, and the luxury private jet will be replaced with a normal private jet.
They also suggest AW has had 3 boardroom bust-ups about transfer funds. Directors Danny Fiszman and Keith Edelman don’t want to give him any pocket money, but Dein and Wenger want cash for players.
Which is a good thing, because unless we sign 3 top class players, Patrick Vieira is going to leave. The source of that particular story? Mark Irwin. So, I’ll pay as much attention to that as I would a pissed-up old tramp begging for money.
Bruce Rioch reckons Arsenal should do whaty it takes to keep Dennis Bergkamp. “At 34 he is still a major player, the sort who can help them go further in the Champions League — and that must be their next aim.”
And the good news on that front is that AW expects Dennis to sign a new deal in the next 3 or 4 days and he has a few icy words for Bergkamp’s agent Rob Jansen “We are still talking to Dennis and there will be a decision made in the next three or four days. We keep all our negotiations secret. I did not like what his agent said. He didn’t tell the truth. The negotiations are in a much better shape than his agent indicated.”
He was speaking after an Arsenal XI played their first pre-season friendly against Peterborough last night. We lost 1-0, but Arsenal fans got their first glimpse of Phillipe Senderos. There was also a scare with Stuart Taylor who was knocked unconscious during a collision with a Peterborough player’s arse. According to arsenal.com he’s fine – so expect that story to change during the day to reveal poor Stu is in intensive care.
We had some Italian goalie on trial last night, Marco Garibaldi, who plays for Serie B side Piacenza. Frankly, if that’s the sort of player we’re looking at, we shouldn’t bother. Just play Taylor, we’ve got Shabby and Graham Stack who did well at Beveren last season. Our needs are more immediate than a goalkeeper IMHO.
Right, enjoy your weekend. I’m off to see some houses/apartments and then I’m going to the beach.
