august 9th
08.43 – I should really be asleep right now. I was really looking forward to a good lie-in, but for various reasons it didn’t happen. Am the grumpiest man alive.
Good news all over the place in the last 24 hours for Arsenal.
1 – A £130m kit deal with Nike. This basically ensures that the Ashburton Grove project will go ahead. Our zany chum posted an atricle yesterday detailing how the financing for the new stadium has been sorted out as well. It’s expected the club will announce all this at the AGM in September.
2 – Patrick Vieira reckons he’ll sign his new contract on ‘Monday or Tuesday’. Everything has been sorted out financially, but there are a few rumours as to why there’s been this delay. One is that Vieira’s former agent, Marc Roger, is causing more bother by demanding money. Another is that Vieira wants a release clause written into the contract whereas Arsenal are only willing to make a verbal agreement on that. Whatever it is, I hope it goes and fucks itself. Signing Paddy is the key.
3 – According to AW, Robert Pires and Sylvain Wiltord should both commit to new long-term deals next week. He says “I’m convinced that when that happens we have a team still good enough to compete for everything.”
So, all things going well, we won’t be poor any more, we’ll have a new stadium and we’re going to retain the services of our top players. It’s a long way from the misery and arse-ache the press has given us all summer.
Robert Pires has warned Manchester United that Arsenal will be going all out for a win in tomorrow’s charity community shield. “To kick-off the season well against United would keep everybody quiet who thinks they will win the title in two months.”
Sol Campbell talks about the great team spirit at Arsenal and reveals that he’s spent the last 9 months making a documentary about his life. “It’s time for the public to see what type of guy I am. It is an inside look into my life and I’ll be speaking about stuff I have never talked about before.”
Now, I like Sol very much as a footballer, but…still, it could be interesting.
AW quote about the coming season – “Ideally, I want us to score 90 goals and concede just 20.” How long do you think it will be before it’s turned around “We’ll score a hundred and concede less than 20”. Or something.
I think I’m going to lie down again. Have a good one.
