May 18th
The Ashley Cole hearing got underway yesterday and although the player spent hours at the meetings he wasn’t called to give evidence, meaning he has to return today and miss another day of training. Present yesterday were David Dein, who was called to give evidence, as well as Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho and chief executive Peter Kenyon. As feared Cole’s defence is based on challenging the Premier League’s rules as a restraint of trade. Arsene Wenger spoke previously about it claiming the man on the street is entitled to more protection than someone earning £30,000 a week whose just been offered a double-your-money contract but Cole’s solicitor, Graeme Shear, was having none of it, saying “Mr Wenger is entitled to express his opinion, however misguided it may be; I am afraid in this case I believe it to be misguided.”
I’ve said before I think it’s a coward’s defence with neither Cole or his agent, Jonathan Barnett, willing to take any responsibility for breaking the rules that they knew fine well were in place. Ashley Cole may not be one of the great minds of our generation but even he knew that going to meet Chelsea just days before our match against United was wrong. It’s such a shame Gael Clichy is injured because if I was Arsene Wenger I’d have told Cole to go to the hearing then piss off for his holidays and give Clichy his spot for the cup final. It’s not often I agree with Leopold Myles but when he says Cole has to choose between Arsenal and Barnett I think he’s right. Chelsea’s defence is that Barnett approached them about the meeting and more we hear about this bloke the more inclined I am to believe them. That doesn’t mean what they did was right, they flaunted the rules as well, but when you’re looking to apportion blame for this you’d have to think most of it lies with an agent greedy for money and willing to exploit his top client. The hearing continues today.
Ahead of the cup final and concentrating on the things we should be concentrating on, José Antonio Reyes says Arsenal are desperate to get revenge on Manchester United for the three defeats they’ve handed out to us this season and to bring home the cup. He says “Arsenal’s players want to win this match more than any other. I thought we would challenge more for the other trophies this season and now we only have the FA Cup left. Now, I hope to lift it because it is very important the club has a title.”
He goes on to hint that his future may still lie at Highbury and says that he’s enjoyed his first full Premiership season. I’m sure it’s been a learning experience at the very least. Kenny Sansom reckons the midfield battle between Patrick Vieira and Roy Keane will be explosive after Vieira’s comments yesterday. When you look at what Vieira said there really isn’t much in it but it’s been hyped up because it’s cup final week. Let’s just hope Paddy can do his talking on the pitch this time as well as off it.
Don’t forget the t-shirt contest from our friends at goalhanger.com. You can win one of one of these quality Senderos t-shirts. To win just answer the following question: From which Swiss club did we sign big Phil? Was it a) Servette b) Smurfette c) Dynamo Zurich. Answers by email to [email protected] and the winner will be announced on Friday.
Finally for today we’ve tracked Leopold down for some pre-cup final thoughts. According to his agent “Turns out he’s wanted by Interpol, and has gone into hiding in Whitechapel under the pseudonym of J Ripper. Thinks he’ll escape attention that way.” Anyway you can read Why Arsenal will dance like Fred Astaire on the real ANR. Till tomorrow.
