Did I say on the wall? Sorry… I meant on the pad!
Yes, I went out yesterday to buy myself a snazzy notebook holder and I came across this little beaut by ‘Wenger‘…
Wenger Notepad holder... luxury defined.
Unlike the human, no expense was spared with it’s leather upholstered exterior and roomy yet practical interior. Since buying a Wenger, I’ve already doubled my ouput… which in fairness isn’t much more than switching my laptop on… but an improvement all the same!
Onto things of a more contractual nature…
It appears Arsenal are up to their usual tricks PR wise… Don’t sign any players, then the day after deadline day… ease all the fans worries by securing two marmite players down to long term, more expensive contracts. I really think Arsenal should wait before they do that if they are going to starve the fans of new players… because now, instead of everyone being rather accepting of Denilson and Nik here for another 5 years… they’re all spitting feathers that we’ve spent the £29million on new contracts.
This is a situation I kind of sympathise with Wenger over… he is damned if he does, damned if he doesn’t… and it all comes down to players making a flump (Flamini like jump)…
Nik B has worked his Danish nuts off over the last year to integrate himself with the team, ingratiate himself with the fans… and improve his game. He’s had an amazing turnaround in all aspects of his game, bar composure in front of goal… which even he admitted was a bit Sunday league. For me… the big man deserves another contract because he is the youth most in danger of exploding this year and making the flump we’re all hoping for. Nik was in the last year of his contract… if he had 17 goals by Christmas and he started talking to rival clubs, Wenger would have been a marked man… so I can roll with that extension (especially if as many major clubs were interested in his as his Dad reckons *snigger).
Denilson however… is a bit of a mystery. I appreciate that we’ve come so far with him now, he’s seems like he’s part of the furniture. I don’t really know what he offers bar a solidish player who can play across the midfield. He isn’t particularly bad at anything, but at the same time… you couldn’t say he really excelled at anything. He’s not particularly mobile, he’s not very creative and he’s not overly hard in the tackle. What he does do is provide neat passing in the main, he reads the game quite well and he’ll do an average job wherever you put him in the middle.
What gets my goat is Arsenal refused to offer Edu what he wanted a few years ago when he was looking to renew his contract, and we lost him on a free. He wasn’t everyone’s favourite, but he worked hard at his game and he was a very silky midfielder by the time the last year of his contract was up… and a Brazil international. A few year later, Flamini had just performed wonders as the 8th choice right back in the Champions league… started showing signs of becoming a top player… and the only thanks he got was the opportunity to sign for Birmingham. The next year, we quibbled over 10k… and now he is plying his trade in Milan.
If you are going to go to the nth degree to sign the average players down to long term deals, I hope going forward you do the same for the great players. If we have to renew Arshavins contract next summer after he storms the league this year… I don’t want to hear we let him go because a rival team was prepared to offer him £20k more a week than we were… and with our ridiculous wage bill, I don’t want to hear that we can’t compete on the wage side of things… if that’s the case, we should start cutting down the contracts of our kids in favour of giving that money to the people who bring in the pound notes… the experienced players.
I generally thought that in the business world, if you worked for a smaller company when you were young… you might get more responsibility early on… but the pay wouldn’t match the multi-nationals… that’s the price you paid to improve your CV. Why is that reversed for Arsenal? We sacrifice success at the cost of premium youth contracts… surely that has to be addressed over the next few years…
Right, contract rant over. I’m pleased for Denilson and Thomas B… I’d just like to see the same respect apportioned to everyone.
Finally, you may have heard that Stan Collymore was allegedly a touch racist about French people and Arsenal… if you agree, complain here… not that I’d want to see an esteemed dogger and lady beater get into trouble of course…
There’s also been a lot of coverage over the sick chanting at Old Trafford again… this was a very interesting piece by the Online Gooner here… and it’s good to see that the issue, after much blog coverage is finally getting some mainstream attention (Guardian). If you can prosecute Spurs fans for abuse, why not Manc fans… they might be above the law with refs, but they shouldn’t be with the Police.
Plenty to talk about today, happy Thursday Grovers!
* if not a bit before
Hello All
Hello Sabeel, looks like another quiet morning.
Arsenal’s All Premier League Goal Scorers:
(1992/1993-2009/2010)
Thierry Henry-174
Ian Wright-104
Dennis Bergkamp-87
Robert Pirès-62
Fredrik Ljungberg-46
Emmanuel Adebayor-46
Robin van Persie-39
Sylvain Wiltord-31
Nwankwo Kanu-30
Patrick Vieira-29
Paul Merson-28
Marc Overmars-25
Nicolas Anelka-23
Kevin Campbell-22
Ray Parlour-21
Cesc Fàbregas-19
Gilberto Silva-17
José Antonio Reyes-16
John Hartson-14
Nicklas Bendtner-14
David Platt-13
Tony Adams-12
William Gallas-11
Lee Dixon-9
Emmanuel Petit-9
Kolo Touré-9
Tomás Rosický-9
Alan Smith-8
Davor Suker-8
Ashley Cole-8
Sol Campbell-8
Abou Diaby-8
Lauren-7
Edu-7
Mathieu Flamini-7
Alexander Hleb-7
Andrey Arshavin-7
Theo Walcott-6
Samir Nasri-6
Andy Linighan-5
Eduardo da Silva-5
Nigel Winterburn-4
Martin Keown-4
Stephen Hughes-4
Gilles Grimandi-4
Francis Jeffers-4
Philippe Senderos-4
Denìlson-4
Paul Dickov-3
Chris Kiwomya-3
Christopher Wreh-3
Sylvinho-3
Pascal Cygan-3
Jermaine Pennant-3
Júlio Baptista-3
Emmanuel Eboué-3
Steve Bould-2
Jimmy Carter-2
Anders Limpar-2
Stefan Schwarz-2
Paul Shaw-2
Giovanni van Bronckhorst-2
Mikaël Silvestre-2
David Hillier-1
Paul Davis-1
John Faxe Jensen-1
Steve Morrow-1
Glenn Helder-1
Scott Marshall-1
Stefan Malz-1
Paolo Vernazza-1
Jérémie Aliadière-1
Justin Hoyte-1
Bacary Sagna-1
Gaël Clichy-1
Alexandre Song-1
Carlos Vela-1
Aaron Ramsey-1
Thomas Vermaelen-1
Arsenal’s F.A. Cup Goal Scorers:
(1890/1891-2008/2009)
Cliff Bastin-26
Joe Hulme-17
Alan Sunderland-16
John Radford-15
Frank Stapleton-15
Jimmy Brain-14
Dennis Bergkamp-14
Reg Lewis-13
Ted Drake-12
Ian Wright-12
Jack Lambert-11
Charlie George-11
Fredrik Ljungberg-11
David Jack-10
Doug Lishman-10
David Herd-10
George Armstrong-10
Malcolm Macdonald-10
Charlie Nicholas-10
Sylvain Wiltord-10
Robert Pirès-10
Jimmy Logie-8
Tony Adams-8
Charlie Buchan-7
Don Roper-7
Freddie Cox-7
Alan Ball-7
Graham Rix-7
Brian Talbot-7
Tony Woodcock-7
Marc Overmars-7
Thierry Henry-7
Robin van Persie-7
Billy Garbutt-6
Billy Blyth-6
Alf Kirchen-6
Derek Tapscott-6
Vic Groves-6
Ray Kennedy-6
Alan Smith-6
Harry White-5
Albert Beasley-5
Ray Bowden-5
Cliff Holton-5
Geoff Strong-5
Charlie Lewis-4
Joe Baker-4
Johnny MacLeod-4
Peter Storey-4
Eddie Kelly-4
Ian Allinson-4
David Rocastle-4
Paul Merson-4
Ray Parlour-4
Emmanuel Adebayor-4
Eduardo da Silva-4
Charlie Satterthwaite-3
Bert Freeman-3
John Coleman-3
Tom Fitchie-3
Alex Graham-3
Harry King-3
Alf Baker-3
James Dunne-3
Arthur Milton-3
Stan Charlton-3
Len Julians-3
Jon Sammels-3
Bobby Gould-3
Brian Kidd-3
Willie Young-3
Paul Davis-3
Viv Anderson-3
Martin Hayes-3
Nicolas Anelka-3
Patrick Vieira-3
Nwankwo Kanu-3
Edu-3
Francis Jeffers-3
Kolo Touré-3
José Antonio Reyes-3
Nicklas Bendtner-3
Andy Ducat-2
Percy Sands-2
Peter Kyle-2
John Rutherford-2
Billy Milne-2
Bob Turnbull-2
Sid Hoar-2
Bobby Davidson-2
Ian McPherson-2
Peter Goring-2
Jimmy Bloomfield-2
Danny Clapton-2
Dennis Evans-2
Mel Charles-2
George Graham-2
Liam Brady-2
Paul Mariner-2
Niall Quinn-2
Anders Limpar-2
Kevin Campbell-2
Emmanuel Petit-2
Sol Campbell-2
Lauren-2
Tomás Rosický-2
Harry Offer-1
George Davie-1
Arthur Elliott-1
James Brock-1
James Tennant-1
Thomas Low-1
Walter Anderson-1
Tommy Shanks-1
Jimmy Sharp-1
Tom Hynds-1
David Neave-1
Sam Raybould-1
Matthew McKellar-1
Roddy McEachrane-1
John Chalmers-1
Gordon Hoare-1
David Duncan-1
Fred Groves-1
Fed Pagnam-1
Harry Woods-1
Sammy Haden-1
Dr. Paterson-1
Alex Mackie-1
Jack Butler-1
Harold Peel-1
Alex James-1
Herbie Roberts-1
Bob John-1
Ralph Birkett-1
Peter Dougall-1
Jack Crayston-1
Reg Cumner-1
Ronnie Rooke-1
Wally Barnes-1
Denis Compton-1
Les Compton-1
Tommy Lawton-1
Joe Haverty-1
Bill Dodgin-1
Gordon Neilson-1
David Jenkins-1
Jimmy Robertson-1
Peter Simpson-1
Pat Rice-1
Frank McLintock-1
Brian Hornsby-1
John Matthews-1
Trevor Ross-1
David O’Leary-1
Steve Gatting-1
David Price-1
Sammy Nelson-1
Vladimir Petrovic-1
Stewart Robson-1
Kevin Richardson-1
Perry Groves-1
Lee Dixon-1
Michael Thomas-1
Andy Linighan-1
John Hartson-1
Stephen Hughes-1
Christopher Wreh-1
Luis Boa Morte-1
Gilles Grimandi-1
David Bentley-1
Carlos Vela-1
Emmanuel Eboué-1
William Gallas-1
Theo Walcott-1
Morning guys. Whats with the lists?
luke
ill go with the kicking them in the balls option !
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/news-and-comment/the-funniest-football-chants-1774361.html
I second that Ethan, a kick is the balls is the best makes the point very well.
NEW POST!
Uefa have really lost the plot this year. The Platini-Blatter axis of meglomaniacs have really gone over the top with this harsh punishment business. There is absolutely no precedence in imposing such heavy penalties concerning both Eduardo’s and the Chavs case. If the argument is made to say someone needs to be made an example of, that sounds a bit fascist to me really. In our world a law and penalties are clearly defined before anyone is prosecuted for them. These cunts are making the laws at a whim and the penalties while sucking on there fat cigars after a few too many whiskys. Pathetic and shameless it all seems to me.
(True a part of me sees it as redemption for the Chavs having a rich benefactor splashing the cash for years and the cashley cole affair but if we are to live under such unannounced penalties what’s to say what they will come up with next.)
Morning all, top post Geoff!
I thought the same about Rocky… I’d love to know the stats for his return —> straight into the national team ratio.
Does he ever come back and not play for the national team straight away?
How desperate are the Czechs that they have to play him? It’s infuriating…
So the Chavs have fucked themselves with the ACN… 5 players going… not ability to find replacements… tut tut!
Fucking car tax has gone up again… the further into a recession we get, the more we’re taxed… and I got a parking ticket in Bromley… what a fucking ball ache.
It’s Friday though… happy days.