Le Grove

So the Sun, Britain’s biggest selling fibbing sack of shit tabloid says that Cesc Fabregas could go to Barcelona if they offered Arsenal €50million. They are surely having a tin barf, if Madrid paid €80million for the ‘Wet back pikey from Portugal’ (sung to the tune of long hair lover from Liverpool) then why on earth would we let Spain’s glamour boy go for any less? And he’s younger.

(The fibbing sack of shit comment about the Sun, was my personal opinion and not that of Le Grove)

It does get tedious, constantly listening to ‘Cesc will go stories’ he has said a gazillion times that he is going nowhere and he loves Arsenal, he would have Xavi and Iniesta ahead of him in the pecking order, so why would that interest him, but the stories still go on.

It’s the way they do business in Spain, they keep wearing the player down until the club give in, well Arsenal, it’s time you showed some balls and stood up to these people, report them to FIFA.

That or sell him and be done. I know what I would prefer. Arsene has said that Ade can go if he wants him to and has Marouane Chamakh lined up should he choose to do that.

Well that’s the closest Ade will get to being transfer listed, but the trouble is, no one wants him, why? Because he’s lazy, disruptive and thinks he is better than what he is.

People here on Le Grove have looked on in horror that we may sign Marouane Chamakh as most of you think he is an Aliadiere type of player, or worse.

I hear that people watch French football regularly and don’t rate him, well I have lived in France for 140 years now and I watch him play 8 times a week and I have a different opinion.

I will go against the grain here and say ‘Arsene knows’ really! This is one player that I really like the look of, I feel that he could develop into a great player, however replacing Cesc would be more difficult, but he is slow, unllike most of the other Arsenal players, but there are few out there that have his ability to make that defence splitting pass that he does so well.

Like the manager, there is no one bigger than Arsenal football club, so if he goes, so be it, but we need to have our ducks lined up in two weeks or we will struggle next season, my guess? Cesc will be an Arsenal player for at least the next 2 years possibly 4.

What is clear to me though is Arsenal have got to show these players that a contract is a contract, I mean what on earth is the point in bragging that we have signed all these young players on long term contracts if they can just leave when a better offer comes in? It’s plane stupid.

I still think we should spend the money on a big star should we lose Ade, there is no point in keep bringing in potential, he needs to be replaced with a world class player, whether that is a David Villa or a Winger like Ashley Young or David Silva or that midfield monster that’s out there somewhere.

I know Lorik Cana isn’t highly rated in blog land, but I think he’s the type of player we need, he wouldn’t get so many cards in the EPL and to me he is a mixture of Edu, Vieiera and Flamini, now that can’t be all bad can it?

Finally I understand from sources close to Werder Bremen that we have almost signed centre back Naldo, but what was interesting is his full name is Ronaldo Aparecido Rodrigues, which means we could have finally signed a big name player, nice one Arsene! Really though, I would love to have this guy in the team.

Have a nice weekend Grovers, 2 weeks to go and footballs coming home!

Fear not chums, I was being sarcastic!

So the news yesterday was Michael Owen, the Darren Anderton of the new millenium offered his services to us and the Mancs, well at last Arsenal got lucky for once and it seems that fergie has landed the injury prone has been from Liverpool, thank the good lord for that, can you imagine the reception he’ll get from Liverpool fans!

Well he won’t actually, because he’ll only play his customary 3 games a season so chances are he won’t be fit for that one.

Arsene says that Gallas and Adebayor will not be leaving so that means we won’t be getting a new forward and probably not a centreback, so we still have an opening in the defensive midfield spot if he decides to get the company wallet out.

The boss however did say this about Ade ‘If he does not want to stay, he will leave’ now that appalls me, he has 3 years left on his contract, so why give these huge new contracts out if they mean nothing, except of course more money for the player concerned.

Anyway, I digress, I think we have enough players if he doesn’t buy, but I still hope he has a clear out.

Other great news is we have extended Jack Wilshere’s contract much the same way he did Ramsey’s the day before, so we can at least bank on having them around until they decide to break their contracts in a few years time and bugger off to Barcelona, AC Milan or Real Madrid, still at least we are paying them well so none of you need lose any sleep over that.

I watched the Spud game at the Grove on Arsenal TV last night and with 4 minutes to go I watched with horror as Gael Clichy slipped, not to worry I thought it’s only Jenas on the ball, he’s slow and we have Alex Song right behind him, he’ll get it…oops 4-3.

Thing is I was at that game and swore I would never watch the game again…     …sucker!

Anyway that reminded me why we really do need a defensive midfielder, Alex will take a couple more years to work on his speed and then we’ll be okay.

On a positive note I was thinking of a fully fit Arsenal and you know what I was getting quite excited, so I thought I would have a little look at what sort of team we could field if we had all of our players, these are my team options, what do you think?

Before I do though, I am assuming Vermaelen is the dogs, if Robin is happy with the signing, then that’s good enough for me.

Almunia

Sagna Gallas Vermaelen Clichy

Arshavin Cesc Nasri Rosicky

Robin Eduardo

Or

Almunia

Eboue Kolo Vermaelen Gibbs

Walcott Cesc Diaby Vela

Arshavin Bendtner

Or

Almunia

Kolo Djourou Senderos Traore

Nasri Cesc Arshavin Rosicky

Walcott Robin

You know what, they’re not bad line ups, we then have a number of super players that could come on and do a job like Ramsey, Wilshere, Denilson and Song then there wouldn’t be the pressure on their young shoulders there has been and we may see a different side fighting for silverware.

Oh and notice no 4-5-1 that was what we had when we threw away a two goal lead against the spuds, it was 4-4-2.

So without the negative thoughts we actually do have quite a strong squad that will be a year older, a lot stronger and very hungry.

What I saw in the spuds game was that Eboue, Diaby, Song and Denilson in the same team when we were winning 4-2 and cruising really doesn’t work and that must never be allowed to happen again, when those four are all playing at the same time the confidence drops and mistakes happen, they can all do a job of that there is no doubt, but not all at the same time, let them develop boss, give them cameos and it may just work.

It’s getting near that time when we need to start beleiving again, it’s getting close to when we have to accept what we have and get behind the team and if he played Coco the clown in the team I for one would be cheering him on.

And don’t say we already do or I will get hammered.

Have a great day today grovers, at least we didn’t sign Michael miserable Owen!

That was an old motown song by Blue Mink I think, but if we added 2 or 3 of the above it may just work for us this season, our choice is a Brazilian, an Albanian, a French Algerian and a black Englishmen for our ‘great big a melting pot’ sorry about the play on words but today is the last day of June so we still have nearly a month to go until pre-season begins.

However, we are getting closer to that point where we need to say, this it it, this is our squad, so who is yet to climb aboard the project youth bandwagon?

Well the rumours gather pace about Melo, Gilberto entered the debate by saying ‘He is exactly what they need – a powerful player with quality. If they got him it would be great because he is a player they need at the moment’

He then said ‘We heard rumours and he asked me, I said it’s a fantastic club and if he’s interested he should go without thinking’

Well I am glad Gilberto still has a fondness toward us because I believe we treated him appallingly, so bad I was embarrassed, he should have stepped straight into the captaincy instead he was dumped, I still think he’s better than what we have and that’s two years on, no matter, back to Melo.

We have heard nothing other than speculation, so at this point it is still a rumour, however I wouldn’t say no, nor would I say no to Cana, in fact I think Cana may still be the better option and with Marseille saying he’s available, why not put in a bid?

I watched the Porto game last night and Denilson played Ok as did Ade, in fact the whole team looked good so I still think even with no signings we will be stronger next term, add Vermaelen and Arshavin to the mix, then a little bit of Eduardo and Rosicky and we may well have enough, but if Song, Denilson and Diaby don’t crack it early doors, we will be in for another season like the last one.

But get this, I do see Wengers point, really I do!!! With Ramsey and Wilshere on the bench, JET and Simpson knocking, we do have a lot of players at the club, so my solution would be if we buy a Cana or a Melo then we need to sell a few as well. Don’t keep too many players or dissent will creep in.

As far as Ade is concerned, he has an attitude problem, he has lost the fans so he really needs to move on, he’ll never get it back, he blew it not us, and Arsene, never underestimate the mob.

So if Ade’s pride will let him go to AC Milan as second choice, then we should sell him, I have a feeling he’ll give us all that ‘I love Arsenal’ shit and stay, but if we can sell him for £25 million then add to that and bring in Benzema, no screwing about, just do it.

We would then have a squad that would send shivers down the spine of the EPL and ECL and I for one would be licking my lips. I still think we need another centre back and I still think Richards could do a job, even with the pony show I watched last night, he stood head and shoulders above the rest, and yes, that includes Theo, who was woeful last night and I am his number one fan.

So dare I say it, we are almost there, we don’t need much, but we do need something, bringing in Benzema and getting shot of Ade would go a long way to making the fans happy and giving us belief, bringing in the DM would give us the bite we need and a centre back of epic proportions would seal the deal, then sell a few to get back the balance.

Other funnier news was reading that David O’Leary basically said that Tony Adams was thick, and when he was Pompey manager, a leading journo was interviewing him, but big Tone was more interested in talking to his dog. Well David, that’s a bit like Susan Boyle telling Elephant man his suit makes him look scruffy, don’t you think?

Have a great day today Grovers, it’s going to be a scorcher today!

Good morning all, before you read this, please understand it’s not a pop at the manager or the club, it’s more of a question to the board regarding our much talked about debt, so read on and ask yourselves the same question, I have only worked my figures out on what I have read over the years from Arsenal, I didn’t make this up.

ARE WE REALLY IN DEBT AND IF SO, HOW?

So in the Sunday Times Ivan Gazidas is being interviewed by Matthew Goodman and he talks about of our legendary debt, he says that £240 million is long term, taken out to finance the new stadium and the benefits of early repayment are open to debate. The remainder which is £120 million, was taken out to redevelop the old stadium and is due to be repaid next April but Arsenal are in talks with the banks about delaying it until the property market recovers.

THIS IS NOT AN OLD STORY GROVERS, IT’S BRAND NEW AND IT WAS IN YESTERDAYS NEWSPAPER.

Now this is what I meant by porkies told by Arsenal and the rate in which they keep changing their story, moving the goal posts is one thing, saying you have no goal posts is something else.

A few weeks ago our Ivan wrote a letter to shareholders explaining the myth of the debt and said that the Highbury Square deal was ringfenced and had nothing to do with the Football club. My, two weeks on and the story has changed.

When we first bought the stadium we did an upfront deal with Emirates of £100 million for 15 years of naming rights and a further £50 million for 8 years of shirt sponsorship, at the time as a marketing man I said it was a lousy deal, but as it was upfront and I understood they wanted to bring down the debt quickly. Which was £350 million, or so we were told at the time.

So that deal left a £200 million debt, which was more than covered by the Highbury Square development, Highbury Square they tell us will net us £240 million when it’s completed at the end of this year.

So onto the next porky, if you look at Arsenal’s advertising for the property project, it says 95% sold, if it is, why do we need to refinance it when the property market picks up, we already have the money? If that is, they told the truth when they advertised that 95% were sold.

Even without Highbury Square according to deals done we only owe £200 million and over the last 5 years we have spent nothing on players, won and received huge amounts in prize money, TV money and EPL money so really we should have no debt at all.

So where is it? Our stadium is named the Emirates and we have that on our shirts, so presumably they paid us, where has that money gone? As they still talk of re-financing the debt it suggests to me that nothing has been paid off as we still owe the same amount that we did when we first moved in.

OR AM I MISSING SOMETHING HERE?

Why do they continue to mislead us? Why is Gazidas treating us all like children that can’t add up, and why are we still in debt when we spend nothing on new players.

Please Arsenal explain, we asked for clarity and honesty a while back and the porkies continue, and on top of this you have trebled your income with gate money, not even mentioning the internationals, the pop concerts and the conferences.

There is something very un Arsenal about the way this board conduct themselves these days, notice how we never buy a player for anything other than an undisclosed fee, why? We rarely know what we sell a player for either, I mean what did Reyes cost and what did we sell him for?

One minute we have a lockdown and a united board the next Nina’s lobbed out, another minute PHW tells Kroenke we don’t need his kind, the next he’s the single largest shareholder, we call ourselves the Emirates stadium because we needed the money up front, then Gazidas tells the Sunday times we have  a debt of £360 million, still!

How? We started with a £400 million debt, got roughly £150 million up front from Emirates, make £3 million a game, get £30 million a year from the EPL, got £40+ million from the ECL plus the Carling cup, the FA cup, the Youth cup and television money, not to mention all the small sponsors and of course Nike.

AND WE GET A SIMILAR AMOUNT EVERY SEASON, WE’VE BEEN HERE WHAT, 3 SEASONS? DO THE MATH!!!

Where is it all? How have we still got a debt? How long will these excuses go on for? It’s Ok being told we have to be frugal as we have no money – ten minutes after being told we have to move to compete with the Mancs and the Chavs, but will someone at Arsenal please tell us when this will all end and we can start acting like a football club again, you know, buying quality players, like we used to, before project youth.

Stop keeping us in the dark and feeding us shit, we’re your fans not mushrooms.

… did the bay city rollers know something back in the 70’s we didn’t?

Today’s post comes to you from Ethan in Thailand, enjoy…

PROFILE – Emmanuel Adebayor
Birth Date February 26, 1984
Birth Place Lome, Togo
Height: 1.91m
Weight: 73.0 kg
Age: 25
Position :Forward (backward?)
Squad # 25

Adebayor made the surprise move to join Arsenal from AS Monaco in January 2006 for a reported £7 million.

The Togo international had been excluded from the Monaco team for repeatedly missing training and he had a difficult relationship with Monaco coach Francesco Guidolin.

Adebayor had burst onto the scene in France in 2001/02 with FC Metz, but he impressed the following term when scoring 13 goals. It was that form, when still aged 17, which attracted the interest of Monaco.

But 21 goals and two-and-a-half seasons later Adebayor was on his way out of Ligue 1 bound for the Premiership.

Adebayor was also part of the Monaco side which reached the final of the Champions League in 2003/04, the same season he was named Togolese Footballer of the Year.

The striker fired Togo to the World Cup finals for the first ever time in 2006, bagging 11 goals in qualifying making him the leading scorer in Africa.

However, his troubles at Monaco spilled into the international arena shortly after he signed for Arsenal. He linked up with Togo for the African Cup of Nations but was left out of the starting line-up for the opener against the Democratic Republic of Congo after a fall-out with coach Stephen Keshi.

Rows over bonus payments have blighted his international career, but Adebayor remains the best ever player to come out of Togo.

Though he appeared very raw at times in his early appearances there was enough to suggest he would become an asset for the north London club and his first season was relatively successful.

Which leads us up to today !

Ade was successful at 17, it always seems he tries ‘initially’ and is shrouded in controversy at every club he has ever joined, he has drive and ambition in his body somewhere, but once he is on the ‘gravy train’ its obvious to me he takes his foot off the pedal.

So what was Wengers reasoning in getting the TT to start with?

The Grimster strikes again????

One can only think because he was playing in Ligue 1 France … HO HUM! Wengers infamous hunting ground.. (Which is getting one dimensional if you ask me?).

I suppose that was enough for Wenger to see if he could step up into the rigors of English football, and the EPL . Which for 4 months i think he did!

The season 07-08 from August to December saw him score 19 goals in 4 months and for a short period of time he even got one over on Ronaldo. That definitely was Ade’s only high point in his time at Arsenal for me, I think for the rest of the time he was just riding the wave of a 4 month success period.

It was enough to ensure a better pay deal for the next season, and hold the club at ransom whilst flirting with AC Milan and anyone else his agent could muster up to ensure the new wage pitch at the end of the 07/08 season ended up on Ade’s plate prior to kick off 08/09 season.

His poor performances at the start of the season, the fans booing about his loyalty issues spelled the start of the end for his career at Arsenal. All those Ade fans going quiet was one of the most joyous times of my life… It seems you can play as shit as you want for ALL of 2008, with a 10-11 game goal scoring drought, but the second you start flirting with other clubs the fans start riding you.

Cesc Beware!

This article isn’t about kicking Ade whilst he’s down, he has done that by himself. However, if he leaves, then so be it … I’ll personally wave him off at the airport (or tube station) And hopefully by the time this post has aired, Ade will already be on his way to the Chavs so someone else can pay him 80-110 k a week for being Off-side …

I hope Chelsea enjoy the 4 months of good football Ade will give them, it’ll all be down hill after that!

Le Ethangooner

That does have a nice sound to it does it not? and it was true, only it was Ingerland and not Arsenal, but Keiran Gibbs did indeed take the penalty that put us through against the dogged Swedes. You have to say we saw flashes of brilliance in Theo but mostly he was quiet, Gibbs though is growing with every game, Gibbs reminds me of Clichy when Cole was often injured, he is knocking on the door.

Fear not though Clichy is still the man and we need 2 world class players in every position to get us through next season, and Gibbs can always play on the wing if needed.

When people talk all that shit about most improved player this season, Gibbs wins that by a country mile.

All these home grown quotas are bollocks really because reading between the lines you only have to go through the academy to qualify, so players like Coquelin, Merida and Fabregas already do and given the dearth of Brits we have already we won’t have to worry about that little rule, Simpson, Murphy, Lansbury, Wilshere, JET, Ramsey the list goes on.

It’s one of the reasons Wenger likes to stock up his youth larder, but as we have said before we still need some older players and thats why I don’t think he’s going to sell Adebayor. I still think there will be another centre back, I hope Zapata and then he will let one go and I hope that is Silvestre, and I still cling onto the hope he will bring in a defensive midfielder, though the more I read about Melo, the more I go off him, but as I say, I still haven’t really seen enough of him to comment.

I would even be happy if we traded Eboue plus cash for Sackho, Eboue wants out, we need a centre back, why not? Get on it Ivan, you know it makes sense. Don’t buy Bassong though, he’s not that good, really he’s not.

Finally on the defence, and I know this may sound silly but with Sol Campbell available on a free, wouldn’t he be more useful at the back than Silvestre?

I read Tottenham are after Cana, now that would seriously piss me off if we let that one get away, almost as much as it pissed me off watching ex-Arsenal defensive midfielder Fabrice Muamba running the show last night against Sweden.

You all know I have long championed Muamba, he is English, 6′4″ a powerhouse, with a ripper of a shot, Wenger sold him because he said he wanted first team football so he had to let him go, piffle, he sold him because he wanted you-know-who to play instead, big mistake boss, I hope you were watching last night.

If you let players go because they wanted to, then why is Adebayor still here irritating us?

I have often argued with Pedro about Muamba, well Pedro, I hope you watched the Ingerland game from your piss ridden tent at Glastonbury last night and vomited your cheap cider over the bloke you are sharing with when you marveled over the talent we let go last night.

If we had kept Muamba, we wouldn’t be scouring the bargain basement world of defensive midfielders now, as we would have what we need already.

I expect if we have to wait for a youngster to emerge now it would be Coquelin, I rate that kid though and maybe he’ll be worth the wait, I wonder if Jay Thomas could work that role, I’m not sure if he’s not too similar to Diaby though.

The only good thing about this side is they will be a little older and a little stronger next season and 2 or 3 players may just do a Flamini and turn into swans, if they do I really, really, will be delighted, but if they don’t it has to be time for Wenger to give up the ghost and get rid.

I wonder if J Simpson will feature this season, he has Senderos, Bishcoff and Silvestre on the first team sheet but no Simpson, why have we still got Bischoff, he only made one appearance last term and Senderos, who he tried to sell? It makes no sense to me, it does explain why we have no money though, I guess we still pay their salaries.

Interestingly though he has Song down as a defender and Eboue down as a midfielder, mmmmmm!

A message to Theo, Theo I now guess you’ll get your wish of playing down the middle, I would think Stuart Pearce may well play Rodwell and Muamba together to make up for the lack of front men and play you as the lone striker, you need to let your instincts take over, feel the force, forget what Arsenal have taught you (no shots allowed outside the box) and think of what Thierry did, shoot on sight, let rip when you have a chance and you will score, if you score then we will win and you will then begin to fulfill your destiny, and my prediction, that one day you will be the worlds finest player.

Theo let the force be with you!

Have a great day today Grovers, tomorrow it’s Ethan!