sil·ly sea·son : (s?l’? s?’z?n) , dn
1. A time when football is over and players, agents, clubs and newspapers facilitate the release of many stories about potential transfers, most of which are complete and utter shite and only exist to sell papers or raise the profile of players so that other clubs may become interested in them.
And I think, by and large, that everybody accepts silly season for what it is. If, on August 31st, you were to go back to the start of the transfer window you’d find us linked with dozens and dozens of players. All the stories try and project some kind of truth – e.g ‘Arsenal have sent scouts to watch Carlitos Flapmuncher’ or ‘The 14 year old striker is expected to go straight into Arsenal’s first team’.
However, sometimes you get a story so silly it doesn’t fit into the normal scheme of things. The Times, via Martin Samuel and Matt Hughes, are reporting, at the bottom of a spurious link to Roque Santa Cruz, that Arsene Wenger is moving to bring David Dein back to the club. They say that the departure of Keith Edelman was the main impediment to Dein’s return and now that Edelman has gone Dein can come back – going as far as suggesting that Dein would resign his position with Fat & Orange to make it happen.
Last week there was a piece in the Mail saying that all of Arsenal’s troubles could be solved ‘if the club were to accept the help of Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov, but chairman Peter Hill-Wood and director Danny Fiszman say no’, which was obviously planted by Dein and Usmanov.
Today we get a story saying Dein is ready to quit Usmanov if he could be brought back on board. It rather smacks of desperation and as PR goes it’s hardly getting a consistent message out, although there is a liberal dose of scaremongering in there which is the trademark of stories Dein plants in the media through journalist chums.
Many at the club have come round to Dein’s view that further investment is required if they are to compete with Manchester United and Chelsea.
Wenger is frustrated at a lack of funds and has been told that any improved contracts for players this summer must come out of his £50 million transfer kitty.
Pffff, fuck off, would you? Frankly the idea of Wenger trying to bring back David Dein, however good friends they might be, is absolutely ludicrous. Let’s not forget that Dein was escorted out of the club, his desk cleared, his mobile phone taken off him, within hours of the club discovering he was trying to manufacture a hostile takeover of the club through Stan Kroenke, who was unaware of Dein’s plan, hence the club’s initial distrust of him.
Go back to last September when the Chairman was asked if he’d be speaking to Dein and said:
I see no major point in that, I’ve had 25 years of listening to him.
And just because Edelman is gone, and Dein and Edelman did hate each other with a passion, doesn’t mean the board’s stance towards Dein and his behaviour will have softened. Dein sold his stake in the club he loved so much to a man of dubious character, the type of man that no Arsenal fan would want anywhere near the club. An aggressive, speculative investor, and a Man United fan to boot. While Dein got £75m we got a big, fat, ugly cunt. It’s easy to see who made out best from that deal.
So, no matter who we’re linked with in terms of transfers, no matter how ludicrous and bizarre the story, this is without question the silliest story of this silly season. I wouldn’t expect much better from Matt Hughes but if I were Martin Samuel I’d ask for my byline to be taken off that story. Claptrap of the highest order.
Silly rating: 99/100
Beyond that there’s not a lot happening. There’s the provisional French squad announced for Euro 2008. There’s no room for Bacary Sagna, whose injury prevents him from taking part, but also no room for Gael Clichy who is bizarrely left out while that shitkicker Abidal is included. Bad news for Gael but good news for us. Arsenal representation comes via William Gallas while Mathieu Flamini’s inclusion can help him get over the disappointment of having to play UEFA Cup football next season (heh, I can’t help but chuckle).
Portsmouth’s Nico Kranjcar says he’d be tempted by a big club but he’s happy at the FA Cup winners. Elsewhere Gunnerblog reports on rumours in the French press about Samir Nasri.
The Cesc Fabregas TV show airs tonight on Sky Sports 1 at 6.30 and 9.30. Here’s a little taste.
And that’s about the size of it. Till tomorrow, Arsebandits.
