What a strange dream I had last night. I was in New York with my best friend Cesc Fabregas and we were trying to find some late night speakeasy because I had forgotten to go to the shops to get beer but then there was some kind of attack which involved WWII planes and we had to go on this giant slide which went from the top of the Rockerfeller building to some underground shelter and there was nothing to do there except play Mouse Trap.
There was loads of other stuff too but I can’t remember it. I did get the sense that Cesc wasn’t that impressed with me. Firstly because I forgot to get the beer but he had some kind of aversion to travelling on the slide thing. Maybe it was a build up of static electricity that made his hair go funny. I dunno.
Anyway, enough dreamy stuff and on with the football stuff. There’s not a whole lot happening yet this Thursday. All the pre-Fulham stuff has yet to emerge so we’ll have team news and all that jazz tomorrow. In the meantime Arsene Wenger is worried about the new rules concerning ‘home grown’ players and the proposed under 18 transfer ban. He reckons that’s going to make life more difficult for English clubs. He says:
If you cannot add any players under 18, and you have the home-grown rule, and on top of that English clubs are limited to bringing in young players who live less than 90 minutes from the training ground, how can we produce home-grown players?
You can produce them, it’s just that you’re at a huge disadvantage to every other league in Europe. The 90 minute rule is one that really needs to be looked at. Or modified. Make it 90 minutes in a Lear jet. Frankly the idea that Arsenal can bring in players from Scotland or Ireland or any country in the EU, but can’t scout and bring in a young player from a part of England that’s too far away is just ludicrous. Wenger continues:
We cannot take a player from Asia, North or South America or Africa. What can we do? We can only pray that somebody next to London Colney is as gifted as Maradona and says, ‘Please can I play for you’.
Haha, don’t we already have Jack Wilshere? He’s right though. Work permit rules mean English clubs have a much smaller pool of players to choose from than those across Europe. The best young South American talents end up in Spain or Italy because there’s no issue with allowing them to work.
The 90 minute thing is something for the FA to sort out and you just have to hope that the U18 transfer ban is another reactionary but ill-thought idea by those in FIFA or UEFA or whichever bunch of tarts is proposing it. Sure, a few dodgy deals have been done but surely the best thing is to ensure that these deals are done properly, within well set out guidelines, rather than banning them altogether? And Black Forest dwelling muppets like Karl Heinz Rummenigge need a good slap in the mouth for their hyperbolic claims of ‘child trafficking’.
Bordeaux chief Jean-Louis-Tamanoir-Cheminée-Gobelet-Triaud has, apparently, ‘slammed’ Arsene Wenger over his approach for Marouane Chamakh. He says:
I slam Mr Wenger. Oh yes. Zut Alors and such.
Chairman doesn’t like bid for his player that has so far refused to sign a new deal and can leave on a free in the summer shocker!
Sanchez Watt reveals the advice Thierry Henry gave him when he was a youngster at the club and it’s good to see there’s still a culture of the more experienced players helping out the kids. Watt says he’s been given advice by Arshavin and van Persie on positioning and timing and by Adebayor on how to steal 24 pairs of boots without anyone seeing.
And that’ll be that for today. Tomorrow, as usual, there’s an Arsecast with a look ahead to the weekend’s action.
For now though, as it’s the 250th birthday of Arthur Guinness, Ireland’s oldest and most excellent man, I’ll nip off for a breakfast pint.
To Kanu!
