It’s hard to get away from the takeoever stuff at the moment even though I’m sure we’d all rather be talking about football. Former captain Tony Adams has been speaking about the situation and although he, rather oddly, reckons Arsene Wenger could eventually end up in politics he doesn’t feel Dein’s departure will see the end of his time at Arsenal. He said:
Arsene is his own man and always has been. Unlike the European way, where, as they get older, they start delegating, Arsene still does the lot: the coaching, overseeing the contracts, he’ll get involved in everything. He has staff around him, but he’s still very protective. I honestly don’t think it will influence him when it comes to deciding whether he wants another contract
I also liked this quote which does rather put things in perspective:
More importantly, I think they miss Dennis Bergkamp on the pitch more than they’ll miss David Dein off it.
He’s not wrong there, is he? Apparently Stan Kroenke was dismayed at Peter Hill-Wood’s alleged comments about not needing ‘his sort’. To be honest I think that whole thing has been blown a bit out of proportion. He quite obviously didn’t mean ‘his sort’ being American but as an outside investor and one who acted in a rather underhand way. As for him knowing ‘sweet FA’ about our game, how can you argue with that? Poor old Stan though. Sticks and stones, old man. I’m sure he’s really been weeping into his moustache which he keeps nicely shaped with a Walmart brand trimmer (because he gets a discount there).
Safety has his unique take on things with the ‘David Dein Dialectic‘ over in the columns section. It’s a long read but well worth it.
Away from all that Gael Clichy says that Arsenal need to be concentrated against Fulham on Sunday. I agree. We need to boiled down and thickened and perhaps diluted at half-time.
The Mirror reports that Fabrice Muamba will leave the club this summer. He’s on loan at Birmingham who have made no secret of their desire to keep him while he’s always attracting interest from Blackburn and Reading who will be looking to replace the departing Steve Sidwell.
Former Arsenal player Alan Ball died last night of a heart attack. He played 177 games for the club in 70s, scoring 45 goals. RIP. Some of his old Arsenal teammates pay tribute to him here.
And that’s that. Hopefully the closer we get to Sunday the more football there is to talk about. More tomorrow.
