february 4th
Calm after the storm before the next storm yesterday. A pretty slow day with the main story being UEFA’s new ruling that teams have to have a certain number of ‘homegrown’ players in their squads for European competitions. From 2006 the plan is that each squad must contain 4 of these players, 6 in 2007 and finally 8 in 2008. Uefa defines a club-trained player as one who has been registered for a minimum of three seasons with the club between the age of 15 and 21.
I can sort of see where they’re coming from with this – there are lots of Arsenal fans who would like to see young English players getting a chance in the squad but I think this move is being made to try and improve the standard of the fast-declining international game and not out of any great desire to see young players make it at their local clubs. Clubs should have the right to choose the best players no matter where they’re from and to my mind it’s short-changing the fans who pay a lot of money to watch their teams if players are only included in the squad because of their nationality. In April the 52 UEFA associations will vote on whether or not this ruling should apply to domestic competitions too – and if they do then you can be assured that there will be all manner of legal repercussions especially given the EU’s rulings on the free movement of workers withing the community. While clubs may have no legal grounds for appeal when it comes to European competitions trying to apply it to domestic leagues is going to be very difficult. According to Arsenal vice-chairman David Dein “It’s misguided and it will almost certainly now be challenged.”
Arsene Wenger yesterday confirmed Sol Campbell would be out for two weeks having picked up an ankle injury on Tuesday. That means a likely pairing of Hoyte and Cygan against Aston Villa as Kolo is still suspended and Philippe Senderos is injured.
More on the Ashley Cole – Chelsea story – there’s further evidence that it happened. Not that any of us were in much doubt about it to be begin with while Jose Mourinho has fuelled speculation about a move by saying that Chelsea will be buying a ‘left sided defender‘. On the other hand Chelsea could face a points deduction if it’s proved they did tap up Cole and quite why Ashley should get away without some form of reprimand from Arsenal is beyond me. How focussed is a player on one of the biggest games of the season if he’s thinking about the filthy lucre on offer from West London? As Tuesday night showed the answer is ‘not very’.
Edu meanwhile wants to take part in the rest of the season saying “I don’t want people to think I am just going to run down my contract, steer clear of injury and get a nice signing-on fee. Some players are like that, I know that – but I am not one of them. During a game I don’t care about the future. I am just thinking about the match.”
I wish I had more to tell you but less than incredibly my ADSL connection has gone down again and I’m just using dial-up to upload today’s page. Those of you on the mailing list will have to wait until I get it sorted again. I am now going to spend my morning hunting down the cunts responsible for this and then I’m going to set them on fire, drench them in piss, set them on fire again then have them spend their last painful hours listening Phil Collins LPs played at 45rpm so the baldy cunt sounds like Alvin and the Chipmunks.
Have a good weekend, arse chums.
