august 12th
07.31 – Well, today’s the today that Patrick Vieira said he hoped to sign his contract. ‘Monday or Tuesday’ he said. It didn’t happen yesterday, so perhaps we’ll get the announcement today.
Speaking to BBC Radio 5, Thierry Henry was confident that Vieira would sign. He said “There is no doubt he’s going to be here. Patrick is still a Gunner and he’s still wearing the armband on his arm.”
Speaking for himself, he reiterated his desire to stay with Arsenal for as long as possible. “…as long as they want me to be here I will be an Arsenal player.”
He’s also given his backing to under-fire scally scouser Francis Jeffers, saying “What happened to him could have happened to anyone. We are all with him and will wait for him to come back. We will all encourage him, that’s the way it is at Arsenal.”
Gotta love the guy. I suspect we’ll hear an announcement regarding both Pires and Vieira at the same time. Not sure about Wiltord. There was a story today about swapping him with Real Mallorca with Samuel Eto’o coming our way. With the Spaniards looking for €24m, it’s a non-runner from the start.
I’m not even going to start thinking about the FA and possible video evidence nonsense. It’s too early in the season to get bogged down with that shite. The referee quite clearly saw, and dealt with, both incidents. They can’t possibly take it any further. Not unless they fancy being shot in the face. That said, Sol and Ashley should know better.
Freddie Ljungberg could miss the opening game against Everton with a shoulder injury. A chance for Jermaine Pennant perhaps. I hope so. Dennis Bergkamp reveals he would have quit football altogether if he hadn’t signed on for another year at Arsenal.
Man Utd have got a work permit for their cradle snatching Brazilian, Kleberson. This is the guy who was unable to move to the UK last year because he wanted to wait to marry his girlfriend. Fair enough you might think. The fact he had to wait until she was old enough to get married makes him the Jerry Lee Lewis of football. You can stick your ‘packet of sweets’ song up your collective arses, United fans.
James Lawton accuses Arsene Wenger of ‘a shocking failure of professional duty’. Talk about pots and kettles, Lawton hasn’t written anything worth wasting paper on for a long time. More Gordon’s soaked crap from John Sadler in today’s Sun, who speculates that Arsenal will win nothing and also slams Wenger for his reaction to Jeffers sending off. Both men seem to have conveniently forgotten the part when Wenger said “The red card was deserved. Francis knows he overreacted and should not have done it.”
Lazy pseudo-journalism at its worst. Anyway, it looks as if we’re being written off from the start. How can we cope with the cash and experience of United, the mega-bucks at Chelsea, with the wily old fox in the North East or the simple management genius that is Gerard Houllier? We’re fucked Arsenal fans. They’re giving us no chance.
Just the way I like it.
