march 15th
The draw for the semi-finals of the FA Cup was made yesterday and some hot balls ensured that the final the FA really want is on the cards as we avoided our Manchester rivals. We’ll play Blackburn while the two Uniteds will battle it out amongst themselves. Both semi-finals will take place at the Millenium Stadium in Cardiff, which is a bit shit really. I’ve always though the final venue should be kept for the final itself and there are other good grounds in the country which could have held the games just as well. Some reports say that Manchester United supporters groups are urging fans to boycott Cardiff for the semi-finals because they can’t afford to go. Maybe if they hadn’t spent all their money on shares and heroin though…
Jose Mourinho and Ashley Cole (up a tree – Tee Ay Pee Pee Eye En Gee) gave evidence at the Colegate investigation yesterday. We’re told that Mourinho has said it was Cole’s agent who initiated the meeting meaning the case will have to be referred to an independent commission to decide what punishment is necessary. However Ashley Cole claims that he was conned into meeting Mourinho believing he was going to meet a club from Italy or Spain after contract talks with Arsenal broke down. He said it was to his ‘complete surprise’ that Mourinho walked in and offered him £110,000 a week and told him that they had already secured Steven Gerrard for next season. Ever gallant, young Ashley told Mourinho and Kenyon “Thanks but no thanks. I want to go abroad. If I’m not playing for Arsenal, I don’t want to play for another English club.”
It is farcical now. With the greatest of respect Cole’s story doesn’t stand up to much scrutiny and it looks like his evidence is designed to cause as much trouble to Chelsea as possible while making him look as loyal to Arsenal as he can under the circumstances. Not that I have a huge problem with that, you understand, but are we really to believe that Cole and Barnett had no idea they were meeting Chelsea? It seems unlikely. The Gerrard revelations are hardly a surprise but it does open up another can of worms for Chelsea – Mourinho has said they’ve secured him meaning they’ve had contact with him and his agent without Liverpool’s knowledge. Whatever the truth of it now we can almost certainly rule out Cole moving to Chelsea in the summer after that evidence and whether or not he’ll at Arsenal is very much in question. I guess we just have to wait and see what this commission decides and what the summer brings for our left back who has, via his agent and his poor advice, lost a huge amount of the goodwill and support he so earned and richly deserved from Arsenal fans. It’s quite sad really.
Arsenal did get one over on Chelsea though with a 3-2 reserve win last night. Jeremie Aliadiere scored a hat-trick, playing himself right back into first team contention, while Gilberto played 65 minutes and we glad to be back on the pitch again. Afterwards he said “I am back now and this game felt good. I hope now that I can help the team in the rest of the season.”
Now, I’m going to tap myself up (stop it) to see if I’ll give myself a pay rise. If not I’m moving to Spain. Oh….
