So, Arsenal players took over Twitter yesterday, answering questions from fans from across the globe.
“Lots of gel,” was Mikel Arteta’s reply to how he keeps his hair so perfect. I think he’s being modest. He has been blessed by nature with the kind of hair that simply does not move. Not for him the Nicholas Cage in Raising Arizona or Moonstruck. No sir. Sometimes you just have doff the cap to genetics and DNA.
As I was out and about seeing men about dogs (and not horse sized ducks or duck sized horses) I did not have the chance to pose a question to any of them. Although how anyone could have topped Thomas Vermaelen’s ketchup question I do not know. I would, however, dispute Vermaelen’s answer. I don’t think keeping ketchup in the fridge makes it any fresher, it simply makes it colder.
Still, all good fun and I fully expect further social media madness with Flickr Festivities and Facebook Fetes until such time as they run out of social media sites and start resurrecting old ones. Bebo Bops and MySpace Merrymaking will drag these zombie networks back into life, turning Frimpong, literally, into The Walking Dench. Not literally. Mostly.
Moving on to things football and you could barely move yesterday for Newcastle players taking the press to squeal about what a meanie Robin van Persie is. Jonas Gutierrez lead the pack but others, some of whom I’d never even heard of, joined in and praised Tim Krul for staying calm. The same Tim Krul who came out of his area to confront van Persie who was merely walking back to the centre-circle talking to himself.
I know this is in the past now, but all van Persie did was laugh at Krul, and let’s face it, there should be more laughter in the world. It’s a difficult enough place without criticising people who simply want to find the joy in things, like Robin did. The other thing that struck me was, you know, the fact that these same Newcastle players played on the same team as one Joseph Tarquin Marmaduke Constantine Oliver-Cromwell Barton.
It seems a bit rich to me that these players, who would have been witness to his many and varied attempts (some successful of course) to wind up opponents should now find behaviour far less vituperative so objectionable. Maybe I’m doing them a disservice, maybe they always did but were too afraid to say anything lest they find themselves on the end of some Barton revenge (I heard he once posted a teammates baby’s arm to him with a note saying ‘Here is your baby’s arm now give me your lunch money pal’ before finishing with a quote from Kant – at least I think that’s what it was, I could have misheard).
Maybe Alan Pardew, he himself a righteous man, ever the sportsman and certainly not one for gloating when his team has scored a goal, recognised that he had a dressing room full of sensitive, good-willed souls and rid them of the scourge of Joey so they could grow and become better people as well as better footballers. Or maybe they’re all just a pack of idiots who should think before they open their mouths. I think know where I’d put my money.
Anyway, enough about Newcastle and Tomas Rosicky says he turned down massive money from Russia and China to stay with Arsenal. He says:
Arsenal let me get to the point where I had just half a year on my contract and could talk to anyone I wanted.
In both cases it was financially huge numbers, so that somehow you had to entertain it, it’s not easy. Some days I thought about it, but money is not everything, I’m glad I’ll be able to continue at Arsenal.
I guess it all comes down to what you want from football. Of course anyone is going to be tempted by monstrous amounts of cash but if you want to play top level, competitive football then surely one of the top leagues in Europe is the place to be. It’s not as if they’re being asked to play for tree fiddy ($3.50, goddam loch ness monster), at Arsenal, but Russia aside I guess it’s a sign of how money is flowing all over the game that China even becomes an option.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see someone like Nasri go to China when he next decides the club he’s at isn’t paying him enough despite the fact he’s earning loads and contributing far less than he thinks he is. Although much could change, one day’s destination is yesterday’s MySpace if the money turns up elsewhere.
I’d warrant that if, all of a sudden, Ireland discovered a massive oil field which would provide for all of Europe for 50 years, turning the country into a much paler and freckled middle-east, with oil barons and O’Ligarchs owning football clubs, Nasri would be a Shamrock Rovers or Bray Wanderers player before you could say ‘Ou est my chin?’
And speaking of China, another pre-season fixture has been announced, this time in Hong Kong against Kitchee FC on July 29th. Anyone know a good pub close to the train station?
Ryo Miyacihi talks about how he’s learning lots at Bolton.
And that’s really about it. As the next game doesn’t take place until Wednesday we’re low on news news, if you get me. There’s no team stuff, no injury updates, and no press conference guff until next week.
So for today let’s leave it there, back tomorrow with an Arsecast and whatever scraps we can forage from the bins in the alleys in the world of Arsenal. Till then.
