Le Grove – Arsenal blog featuring Arsenal news

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!

On the day it was announced that American pop idol Michael Jackson had died, King Cesc announces he is staying, Michael Jackson made some fantastic records of that there is no doubt, he was a very odd man and we could debate him all day, suffice to say we shouldn’t as so many people are divided on him, much like our defensive midfield options, so I say let’s leave it there and spend today talking about our beloved Arsenal.

Cesc has said – ‘So, for anyone who is unclear or may have misunderstood what my position is, let me make myself absolutely crystal, ‘I am wholeheartedly committed to Arsenal and my future lies with this great club’

As we suspected yesterday his words were twisted so let’s now hope he stops giving those interviews to the third world press, stick to the real papers Cesc, only talk to the Sun, the Star or Sky Sports, the media that the people can believe, … oh and by the way Cesc, I really was being wholeheartedly sarfuckingcastic!

I said yesterday he has no doubt been miss-quoted, however… I think he was sending out a message to his boss, he was saying yes of course we have immense talent coming through but we need some ready mades, now, like the Spanish team, they mix the young’uns with the experienced players and that is what we need to do, I hope you took it on board Arsene.

I watched the Newcastle game last night on Arsenal TV, and had forgotten just how talented Vela is, why we don’t use him more is beyond me, you know what? Le grove didn’t sign him, Arsene did, so why does he prefer to put the likes of Eboue, Nasri and Diaby there, it’s a mistery, I was also impressed with Nasri, who linked up in the middle with Cesc so well and the football was breathtaking, we have the players if we play them, with Rosicky and Eduardo coming back we do look like we could be awesome next year but if we signed, say Zapata and Cana or Melo to add strength, we would be unstoppable.

Clichy and Gibbs for me are already better at left back than Cole, the option of Vela, Traore and Gibbs on the left wing are in place, start using Diaby, Nasri and Rosicky in the middle with Cesc and we are strong in the middle, add the two I mentioned and we have no weak point in the team when we get injuries.

Then start blooding Wilshere, JET and Ramsey when we need to and get rid of the rest.

I was even impressed with Ade, he does give us the big gangly centre forward option as does Nikki B, but when he’s not playing well we may as well play with 10 men.

I would have a clear out, I would seriously consider selling Eboue, Senderos, Silvestre and Ade, with that done we could bring in some strength where we need it, if Wenger rated Senderos he wouldn’t have tried to sell him to Milan, so why persevere? Eboue is dissaffected so sell him, if we can’t get Zapata then swap him plus cash for Sackho. Don’t buy Bassong, he’s not good enough.

I really believe that the solutions would cost this club nothing, and it would send a message out to the team, the fans and the world of football, that this season Arsenal are coming to play.

So well done Cesc, unlucky Michael and good luck Eboue, enjoy Paris.

I hope you all agree that today smells a little better than it did this time yesterday when Sky sports and the Sun were having a we hate Arsenal fest, screw you, you Manc lovers, Arsene will learn from this and next season, we will clean up.

Have a great day Grovers, I feel something in my water today

No it wasn’t me that said that, it was Cesc, well allegedly anyway, it’s going down as a direct quote on Sky TV, he also apparently said that although his family are Catalans they love him and would support him if he decided to go to Real Madrid.

Then he said Ronaldo was leaving the Mancs because he had nothing else to win, me he said, I’m the opposite.

Well before anyone gets bent out of shape and says what he did or what he didn’t say, indulge me, lets say that he did say it, I will write this post based on that, if he didn’t, forget I wrote this, if you can’t handle my post, please leave now and go immediately to arsenal.com as they will have nothing on the story on there. Can you handle the truth? Well can you?

Yes I know that was from a film but it sounded good, I hope you agree.

I have always defended Cesc and have often said, what more does he need to do to prove that he loves Arsenal and he’s going nowhere? I decided to comment this time, as this time it sounds to me that maybe, just maybe there is some truth in it.

First of all I have to say if he did say it, I agree with everything that he has said, he must be as frustrated as I am, watching us play knowing we’ll win nothing because the manager or the board or god or whoever refuses to spend any proper money, it must really piss him off, playing in a side with certain players that clearly aren’t good enough, boy it must be really irritating, he can’t name names obviously but if the powers that be take no notice of this outburst then more fool them.

Cesc, believe me my friend, I get more pissed off watching them, than you do playing with them, but sometimes I feel it’s only me that complains, so if you really said this, thank you, perhaps this time he’ll listen.

He is one of the worlds best players, if you don’t give him, Robin and Arshavin what they want, they will leave. And then what, do we think players like to play in a team that wins nothing, do you think they will sacrifice their careers to be part of project youth?

How can he leave you may ask, he has a 3000 year contract? Well Wenger lets anyone leave that asks, he says things like ‘When a player wants to leave, you have to respect that decision’ I give you Henry, Campbell, Hleb, Muamba, Bentley and Anelka as prime examples, and please don’t tell me that Bentley was a muppet and Muamba was shit, because that’s not my point.

He also says there is not the cameraderie in the Arsenal changing room as there is in the Spanish one, I’m not sure I believe that as Arshavin said this week it was great.

However the end game of the statement is spot on, we need to spend some serious money on a world class centre back and a defensive midfielder, Vermaelen looks good, but he’s not the Sol Campbell type we need, so Arsene, you have time, make Cesc happy, make us happy, all he’s saying is what we’ve been telling you all sason, we need a couple of world class players because the midfield enforcers we have are just not good enough and nor are the centre backs, listen to what we’re all saying, it’s not too late.

If we don’t have the money then sell Adebayor and use that, sell the fringe players, if Rosicky and Eduardo will be like new signings, then sell some others that we know will never make it, if Cesc still isn’t happy then sell him too, but replace him with quality not another kid with potential, we have all had enough, and so it seems has Cesc.

That’s it, if Cesc didn’t say it just take the appropriate bits out and leave the rest in. I meant it.

This is ARSENAL FC, not Arsene-al FC and not Cesc-en-al FC, this club will be around longer than all of us and for as long as I’m around I’ll be a fan, so please whoever makes those decisions, please spend some money and start acting like a club that is one of the worlds biggest, not one of the smallest.

Have a great day Grovers, let’s see who cracks first!

First of all a big thank you to Gunner8 for taking us down memory lane with his guest post yesterday, Gunner8 I expected you to be on more, it was your post!

Onto today, so now we have Vermaelen on board there goes the supposed budget, I don’t believe it for one minute, but for the sake of this post, let’s say it’s true, so is that the end of it then? How about this for a great way around the problems.

Eboue wants out and PSG are interested, so why not swap him plus a little cash for Sakho?

Toure wants out and Man City want him so what about a straight swap with Richards, he hasn’t spoken to Hughes for 3 months, they hate each other, we need a centre back and he’s an Arsenal fan, happy days.

Adebayor has Chelsea after him, why not swap him for John Obi Mikel and Alex?

Senderos wants to play in Italy and we want Melo, so why not swap him plus cash? That would work.

Gallas is wanted by Marseille and we want Cana, same deal.

We could then sell the fringe players like Randall, Simpson and a few others and pick up the shortfall, we still have £3 million left from the Vermaelen purchase. Now in that little lot we have at least two of our problem positions taken care of and no real money would change hands so why wouldn’t we consider it? That’s just the sort of thing that Gazidas could do and the mentioned players we could out would all get their wishes, there’s no point in keeping players that want to go and we would have the squad we have been dreaming about.

I’m not saying buy them all, but two from that lot would be easy peasy. Or am I doing the wishful thinking bit?

We would also be saving a bunch off the wage bill as three of those players are well paid, no one loses faith and we keep players like Robin and Cesc happy, hey who knows, we may even win the league with that line up!

Finally Jose Antonio Reyes is being dumped by Benfica, Athletico don’t want him back and he’s going for €6.5mil, perhaps we should have him back, he was a classy winger and he did get on well with Cesc, any takers???

Have a great day Grovers, we need to move fast now as there are only a couple of weeks left until we re assemble our squad for pre-season and we know how important it is to integrate them early.