Happy Friday to you all,
we should probably start with the news that Stan Kroenke is on threshold of the 30% which would require him to make an offer for all the shares in Arsenal. We’ve watched him draw ever closer in the last few months, his intentions remain very much a mystery. What you can say though is that with the 100 shares he bought from Peter Hill-Wood what is happening is being done with the full knowledge of the board.
The main fear Arsenal fans would have is that if Kroenke is planning a takeover then he’ll do it like the other Americans at United and Liverpool – i.e taking out big loans to buy the shares then saddling the club with that debt. I suppose we have to have some faith in the board that having brought the club to this point with their sensible and self-sustainable business model they don’t allow all that good work to be undone if they sell up. They have always maintained their roles as custodians of the club so you have to think they’d be loath to allow someone to come in and purchase Arsenal in that manner.
Arsene Wenger seems unperturbed when asked about it. As he said in his press conference his focus is on the pitch and what happens in terms of ownership is a ‘level above’. I don’t see a takeover happening just yet though, I think this is Kroenke consolidating his shareholding even further, but as long as there’s no public declaration from Silent Stan there’ll be plenty of speculation.
On to matters football and the pre-Wolves press conference took place yesterday for some reason. There doesn’t appear to be anything new to tell you in terms of injuries. It doesn’t look as if anyone is back, Denilson and Theo should return post Interlull, nor does it appear as if we’ve picked up any new injuries from Wednesday night. We’ll probably get more team news today.
I think the manager might rotate things a little bit up front this weekend. With Nasri back, Rosicky back and Eduardo looking for a game there are plenty of options for him – although there’s still no Carlos Vela whose continued absences are not at all unexpected now. I think it’s a measure of how often he’s out that Arsene completely forgot about him after the AZ game when discussing his attacking options, throwing his name into the hat at the end when he remembered.
At the back though the manager is not to seen to rotate, preferring the partnership between Gallas and Vermaelen to continue. He says:
At the moment, no I am not tempted to rotate. I do not like to rotate too much in central defence because we are in a position where they have a good understanding and every point is vital so it’s not worth to take a gamble if I’m not forced to do it.
Carling Cup aside they’ve played every other game this season but when you’re in good form and you’re winning you don’t feel tired. It’s an important game tomorrow. With Chelsea and United playing on Sunday there’s the chance to pick up points on whoever drops them and the chance to put a bit of pressure on them with a Saturday win. More on that tomorrow.
Arsene also confirmed the club have agreed a new deal with Fran Merida but he hasn’t signed it yet. He criticised some clubs who were trying to destabilise the player behind our backs, obviously Atletico Madrid, but it’s obviously a big decision for the young man. Does he stay with Arsenal and fight for a first team place or does he go back home to Spain with, more than likely, more probability of first team football? With only one Carling Cup game under his belt this season you can understand why he’s taking his time.
The boss says he wouldn’t swap Robin van Persie for anyone, saying he’s the perfect striker for the system we play. I wonder if he’d swap him for a robot who had state of the art projector with every single film and TV show ever made in his memory banks so if you felt like watching something you just told him and he’d play it. That would be tempting. He mentions Drogba. I’d swap van Persie for Drogba but only if I was in a hot-air balloon and I could throw him over the side after slide-tackling him at very close range wearing steel capped Doc Marten’s. The monstery cunt.
And that’ll be about that so it’s time for this week’s Arsecast. Joining me to discuss the hilarity of Sp*rs, the fun of AZ and the wonder of Cesc is the man from East Lower. Also on the show, vintage news, Talkshite radio and Silent Stan reveals why he keeps himself so quiet.
You can subscribe to the Arsecast on iTunes by clicking here. Or if you want to subscribe directly to the feed URL you can do so too. To download this week’s arsecast directly – click here (20mb MP3) or you can listen directly below without leaving this very page.
There you go, have at it. More tomorrow.
