Good news to start with this morning and it’s that Arsene Wenger has confirmed he’ll be staying with Arsenal. Apparently he told the Daily Mail last night:
There’s nothing to worry about, it’s not an issue for me. I’m staying here. If that changes I will let you know, but don’t worry about that. It’s not an issue.
I don’t think there was ever any doubt, to be honest. They also go on to say that his transfer fund is only £13m and that Usmanov attends games while Stan Kroenke doesn’t. To be perfectly honest talk of how much he has to spend is irrelevant really. It might be a ploy by the club to make everyone think we’re poorer than we actually are but I have serious doubts that an accurate figure would be leaked to the media by the normally watertight Arsenal board.
If you look at the Guardian they report the same meeting between Gazidis and Wenger yet they say:
Wenger will not want for financial backing during the summer window, when the area he will seek to strengthen as a matter of priority will be his defence. His funds are likely to be swelled by the sale of the striker Emmanuel Adebayor.
Slight difference from ‘just £13m’. So really the only people who know how much we have to spend this summer are those at the club. I think anybody else is really just guessing.
So with all that settled we can get on with the business of preparing for the summer madness and, of course, the final game of the season on Sunday. More on that in the days to come.
Comment: Henry Winter – Lee Dixon
Manuel Almunia talks about transfer speculation surrounding our players:
We are not affected honestly. Sometimes it is a good thing for us because we make jokes about it when it comes out in the press. We say: did you see that you have signed with Barcelona, once again? And we have a laugh because it is almost always untrue.
He goes on to talk about life at Arsenal and in a season which hasn’t been great he’s been one of the success stories. Yes, he’s made the odd error, as does every goalkeeper, but he’s improved a great deal and hopefully we see the same from him next time around.
Speaking of goalkeepers the Irish Times has a piece on the ladies stalwart Emma Byrne, if that’s your bag.
Now it’s all not all cheery and happy this morning. There is some bad news. I know, I know, it’d be best if we could avoid it but it’s so earth-shattering that I have to mention it. It’s not easy. I don’t quite know how to put this so I’m just going to come right out with it …
… Amaury Bischoff PI could leave. He says:
If they [Arsenal] want to keep me, why not. But under certain conditions. What I want is to play every Saturday for my club. We’ll see what happens the next few weeks. But if i have to leave, it will not be a problem.
Yes, there it is. Stop that uncontrollable weeping. You’ll get over it. Great players have come and gone before. Brady, Merson, Vieira, Henry, Nelson Vivas. And time was the great healer then as it will be now. His departure will leave a void in all our lives. A great chasm of emptiness but we must soldier on as best we can. There there. I say, there there.
Now, many of you will have heard Goonerholic on the Arsecast from time to time and as well as being a fantastically sensible man when all things are dooming around him, he has a brilliant ability to bring you back in time and give you a sense of Arsenal past. Of course he has the great advantage of having supported the club since before it was even formed, but still. Today’s piece on former great George Eastham is well worth a few minutes of your time.
And that’s really about that. I’ll be appearing on World Soccer Daily later on (around 7.15pm GMT, that’s 11.15am in California) to talk about Arsenal, I assume. Either that or the upcoming European elections. So tune in.
Right so, till tomorrow.
