Le Grove – Arsenal blog featuring Arsenal news

So I got a broken wrist in 7 places, 11 broken ribs and a collapsed lung on July 29th, one hour after the Athletico Madrid match, where Arshavin scored two cracking late goals, I drove my buggy back to my villa and fell out in my excitement. One flail chest injury later and my golf career looked in trouble.

I tell you all this as it happened a few weeks after the Nasri break and yesterday I walked onto the first tee at South Essex Golf Club for a 9 hole match, 2 pars and 2 birdies later I was back, yes back in the land I love, back hitting 300+ yard drives and doing what I love almost as much as Arsenal, playing golf.

So when I see Rosicky on the injury list again, I think what the… They told me I would never play golf again and that because of my ribs, I would not be able to make a full shoulder turn for  a year, because it would take that long for them to close up, and although they haven’t healed up, I can still play golf.

I love Tomas and I love all the Arsenal players, including those I don’t rate, but I think a bit of grit might go a long way boys, if I can do it, you can, so get off your arses and start kicking a ball.

And they get the best medical attention, I got a filthy little shithole I wouldn’t wish on Ade (I would really, I lied about that)

Today we play the spuds at our gaff, today we put Harry to the sword, today we put paid to the over achieving, overpaid pretenders, today we get to laugh out loud at our small town, scruffy, dimwitted neighbours, today we play the team from West Virginia to the tune of Deliverance, their team anthem.

Today we get to see just how good this Arsenal team is, and how far we can go, today we play Tottenpompeyham, today we play a hybrid team bought mostly from a bankrupt team on the south coast by an almost bankrupt team in Hertfordshire. …New stadium my arse!

I think the noise will be special today, and I think the crowd will be in their seats early doors, I’m not sure who’s injured but I hope Nasri starts alongside Cesc, all I need to know is Arshavin is there, I expect something special from him today.

I know I have issues with a few of our team, but today I know they’ll be awesome, today I know they’ll stand up and be counted, if Eboue plays, well I know he’ll just stand up, if Diaby plays, I expect him to slam at least two home, and if Song plays, I expect to see the invisible wall!

Good luck men, show us today why so much is expected, for so many, by so few, Arsenal expect that every man will do his duty!

Ok, poetic license but that’s allowed, I’m in advertising.

I’m posting early today, as it’s an early kick off, that way all the people going get to feel 10 feet tall, like I do today!

Have a great day Grovers, today is halloween and by the stroke of midnight, bent Harry turns into a pumpkin!

So first of all, is Randall, the new Song? By that I meant that Randall keeps getting picked by the boss and I can’t see why? Really nice bloke, but I can’t see anything about his game that excites me, Nicky Butt’ish but nowhere near as good.

Onto the game, we won with a very young side and deserved it without a doubt, credit to Liverpool, they came to play and had an equally youthfull side, they even scored a great goal but we scored two.

I thought the whole team did well, yes, including Silvestre, Gilbert I think is the only one that didn’t stand out, well him and Randall, but Merida, Ramsey and Eastmond were stand out, and Eastmond as a defensive midfielder should start for the first team, he was very impresssive.

Nasri had a great game but then he is a first team player, Eduardo did enough and Bendtner could have had a hatrick, Merida showed us what having a shot from anywhere can produce but Ramsey orchestrated the midfield in a very Cesc way, this boy needs to start more games and like Eastmond, is better than what we currently have.

Wenger will certainly have selection problems on Saturday, I feel for him, I mean who will play alongside Diaby, Eboue and Song?

There is little point doing a match report, suffice to say it was a little nervy at the end, but the boys held on well, Senderos actually played like he was 32 and he didn’t make me feel nervous like he used to in the old days.

Fabianski looked assured and to be fair there was very little he could do about the goal, the ground under me did it’s usual empty out early, and last night I went down the Holloway road, an hour after the game had ended on the advice of many Grovers, they all said how easy it was going that way, thanks guys, you’re all liars, I walked all the way to Highbury & Islington Station in a traffic jam, there were more people on the road than Oxford Street on Christmas eve, and it took me 20 minutes to get a cab at Highbury Corner.

So I’ll take that advice again!

Bask in the glory of seeing us hold onto a lead for a while, at least we are in the hat for the next round, Man Shitty at home anyone?

Have a great day all!

At last we get to see what many believe to be the stars of tomorrow and I believe should be in the team today. Aaron Ramsey and Carlos Vela I hope start and if he puts Bendtner and Eduardo in the starting line up I will feel my confidence returning for this one.

This would be my team for tonight.

Fabianski

Eastmond Bartley/Silvestre Senderos Gibbs

Merida Ramsey Nasri

Eduardo Bendtner Vela

This would be my starting line up with Sunu, Barazite and Watts in reserve up front and Ayling and Bartley at the back with Randall and Coquelin in midfield.

That would be mixing the youth with the fringe and would stop them going into an early lead and making it tough for us to get back in.

I know Liiverpool may see this as their only chance of silverware but they have a weekend game and Lyon next week in a must win game, so I don’t see him risking all tonight, he will also be aware that the Mancs, chavs, shitty and the spuds are all still in it, so it will only get tougher as it goes on.

Gone are all the minnows of yesteryear, this time all the big boys want to win, because this year all the big boys are dropping points.

We have to go out there and win from the off, no chess games and no waiting until they tire, this we have to win, and there should be enough players on show that can do just that, don’t leave a young side in there early Arsene, remember the spud semi final? You threw the big guns on at the end, but we still got hammered.

We talked a lot yesterday about the three he loves to play in the first team, so god willing, we won’t see them tonight and some of the fringees will have their big chance to show what they have, Merida, Ramsey, Coquelin, Gibbs and Vela are players I think can all step up, so let’s hope they do us proud and stuff the scousers.

Out of interest Wenger said this about Nasri,

‘I would say more in the defensive role, but because he can dribble he can play on the flanks’

Now that fills me with hope, because I have been saying all season he could fill the DM role, the one position I think we are weak in, because I think he can defend, has intelligence, pace and can score, and he can tackle without fouling, more of an Alonso than a lump, and that is what I think has been missing. We’ll see.

Come on Arsenal, let’s show the world that project youth can work, I’m desperate for a cup and this may be our only chance to get one this season.

I’m definitely not going to predict a score tonight, because I did that against WHU and it didn’t work, a win of any kind will be good enough to get us in the draw for the quarters, Arsene, it’s your call, please don’t blow it.

Go on the reds!

I will be there screaming my nuts off , so let’s all give it a good shout tonight, the world is watching and of course, Le Grove expects.

Have a great night Grovers, tonight we show the world that Arsenal are back on the silverware trail!

Great to see young gunner Henri Lansbury ripping into Sheffield United, is he good enough to bring back? Could he play that midfield role, is he another Ramsey or another Flamini, what’s your take on it?

Wenger says he considered bringing Matty Upson back, good timing boss, just in time for the West Ham game!

I watched the Fulham game and wondered how Hangeland would have fitted in, I wouldn’t have swapped him for Vermaelen, but against a team that’s big on set pieces I would have him as an option, maybe if we are still in the mix in January, Wenger will have another look, I would, we all know Gallas won’t last the season.

I think we are playing West Ham at a good time, they keep losing and we got a toe up the arse against AK, I think we’ll win and win well, but the team needs to come out the blocks quickly because I think West Ham will.

We have a frenetic 2 weeks coming up, West Ham followed by Liverpool, followed by Spurs followed by AZ, so in theory, we could be top of the league, into the next round of the Carling Cup and qualifying in our ECL group. Wouldn’t we all be happy eh?

It seems to me we are being linked to more players now that we have ever been, I don’t get excited any more, because it so rarely happens, the last time we signed more than one big player was in that January transfer window when we got Theo, Ade and Diaby (I think) Arshavin says we need two players, I agree, just two, but I’ve said that since last season.

I have changed my mind over the keeper though, we have three young ones, that in my mind are all better than Almunia, will he play Mannone, Fabianski or will he bring back the waiter?

We’ll know tomorrow, but if he doesn’t play Almunia, the writing’s on the wall, that’s for sure.

A final word from the boss on any potential takeover, he said ‘don’t interfere’ now I admire that, but it really does show who has the safest job in football, doesn’t it!

Have a great day Grovers, tomorrow we go East. Like the Pet shop boys did.

P.S. Just incase you weren’t aware, Le Grove is now smart phone friendly… comments load super quickly so there is no reason not to blog on the road!

So Geoff thought it might be a nice idea to allow me to attend the AGM as his proxy. I didn’t really know what to expect and I wasn’t sure what to wear. I thought I’d best head up there in a suit, it’s better to look over dressed than under dressed. I re-checked the ticket, realised the thing started at 1130, not 1400 so got to work ironing my shirt. In the process, I jabbed it into my leg and gave myself a 3rd degree burn.

That’s pretty much the only reason I relayed that last bit to you. It hurt like hell. I’m going to have a scar there for the rest of my life now. At least I’ll be able to tell the kids; or countless ladies who ask, that I picked up that burn attending the last ever Arsenal FC AGM.

As I landed in Holloway Road, it struck me how much of a dump that place is outside of a football match. All the grubby little convenience shops that are about as convenient as a wet newspaper, the hoards of students walking past giving off the intense stench of febreeze and the kebab shops open early doors. I wandered over to the Emirates and headed into the Woolwich suite. I don’t know why, but I was surprised that the average age of the attendee’s was well over 60! I was also surprised by the amount of Lady shareholders present.

I took my seat next to a very distinguished looking man. He was respectable in my eyes until a young lady shuffled alongside to take the seat next to me and he quipped,

‘You can sit on my lap any day darling’

That comment made my day. 65+ and still chasing tail!

Arsenal were playing their greatest moments of the last ten years, combined with some flashy images of the new flats at highbury on loop. I was being indoctrinated… I could feel it.

Without much fanfare, the directors rolled onto the stage closely tailed by Arsene Wenger.

Peter Hill-Wood welcomed us and introduced the shareholders to Ivan Gazidis who received a round of applause.

Mr Hill-Wood may sound like a pompous idiot in the Daily Star, but as a master or ceremonies, he is actually rather likeable and a bit of a comedienne! He shared with us the news that Ken Friar was missing his first AGM in 900 years because he had undergone a hip operation and was recovering.

We got straight into the action and questions were levelled at Peter. I didn’t take a dictaphone and I’m pretty bad at taking notes, so I’ll give you a rough idea of what went down.

Q. Arsenal received £80million from Granada, £100million from commercial deals and considered a share issue. Are you considering any other ways of financing the club?

A. Nike were the only organisation to pay up front. The Emirates deal is structured over a lengthy contract. The Granada deal was very helpful for the move. We did seriously consider the share issue, but didn’t think this was the best way to sustain our future. We have had no more thoughts of raising finance.

Q. There has been a distinct lack of investment in players over the last couple of years (groan…), have the board a plan in place if we don’t make the champions league. After all, Man City, Spurs and Villa are all chasing a top 4 position down?

A. Firstly, I don’t really consider Spurs and Villa challengers (Applause). Secondly I’d disagree with the statement on investment. Arshavin and Vermaelen cost Arsenal about £40million.

Q. What are Arsenal going to do about their long-term sponsorship deals that no longer look that attractive?

A. Ivan and his team are scrutinising those deals at the moment. However, it is doubtful we’ll be able to renegotiate them. You can’t just walk away from long term deals. Rest assured though, we will get better agreements in the future.

Q. Arsenal have a net transfer spend of Nil over the last 5 years, when will real investment in players begin?

A. Your facts are wrong. We’ve spend £150million on players over the last 5 years and sold £90million.

Question time was over, all the directors were voted back in, Ivan took to the stand. I was expecting an American accent, but it was an offish posh accent instead. He spoke about his vision for the club. He stressed how much trouble he had signing Arshavin. He spoke of the 8 players he’s tied down to new deals and promised there will be more to come. He also spoke of the murals that were going up around the stadium and the new Highbury Shrine that is being unveiled on November the 4th.

He mentioned the £133million housing debt was down to £47million and that since that announcement further sales have happened. He told a group of us after the AGM that the £47milllion debt will be alleviated very shortly, then all the additional profit can be channelled back into the football club. So much for the preachers of doom on the housing front eh?

Ivan also shared his joy at having a world class executive team behind him. He constantly spoke about the clubs forward thinking and that we had to be outward looking. His vision is that the Premier league becomes the first international league and Arsenal need to be at it’s epicentre.

He finished by telling us that Arsenal were not about financial results, not about real estate, we’re about people and what we can achieve together.

He is proud that Arsenal are a club that have been built, not bought.

He then took some questions.

Q. Why have you only Arsenalised the lower concourse. I pay the highest prices in Europe to watch my team, yet I’m confronted by drab walls?

A. This is very good point. We’re not finished with the stadium by a long shot and we’re in consultation about how to address the rest of the ground, you haven’t been forgotten.

Q. A lady called Barbara stepped up and spoke about how great Arsenal had been with Charity and mentioned some cases where Arsenal had made the lives of some kids brilliant.

It’s nice hearing that our club has a role in the community. Peter Hill-Wood was quick to point out that the board shouldn’t take credit for this, the Arsenal communities office should as they put in a lot of hard work.

Q. What are you doing for overseas fans from a digital perspective? We want more Arsenal!

A. We’re working on a digital strategy, but sadly our hands are tied due to current agreements. We’re working on supplying non-televised away games to international fans.

Ivan sat down, and we handed over to birthday boy Wenger.

A little video of his best bits was shown. Arsene told us his favourite goal was the Thierry masterpiece against Liverpool at Highbury on our way to becoming invincible. His favourite game? Real Madrid in the quarters a few years ago.

Arsene took the mic and told everyone that it had been a tough year, but he was thankful for the support he had received and the loyalty. He told us that he loved Arsenal because there was something special about the club. In his early days he told how managers of lowly teams would talk about doing things the Arsenal way and he felt he could continue that. He loves team games and that’s why he’s not keen on spending out lashings of money.

When you listen to Arsene speak, you are drawn into his ideology, he captivates you and has a canny knack of whipping up excitement.

He spoke about two trends that he can see in football:

1) Big clubs are investing heavily through foreign ownership. Bottomless wallets are spending for success and many are failing. He pointed out that Arsenal, ManU and Madrid are the only teams that have sustained Champions League Qualification over the last 13 years and this was a sign of good management (Madrid, good management… or good spenders! Who cares… Arsene was on a roll!).

2) The EU are looking to regulate the amount of money pumped into clubs. Arsenal are aware of this so have put in place a business model that will allow a handsome flow of money to support the club organically.

There was a lot of talk about belief, values and strength. There was a lot of talk about luring 17 years olds to the club to teach them the value of team sport and to teach them to love the club.

His face lit up when he spoke about his vision of a football fan,

‘ I want people to wake up on a Saturday and be excited about what they are about to witness. I want people to walk away from the ground and be amazed at what they have seen’

This, of course, is not at the expense of winning.

‘I know the importance of winning, believe me’

He went on,

‘I am not saying this to please you, but this year we will do it. I believe in this team and they will deliver’

So there you have it, Wenger believes in this team, but he really believes in them… like totally.

There were some further questions and at this point it all got a little silly. One man told Wenger he looked very young and he was basically amazing, another man asked sheepishly about the goalkeeping situation. How could we compete with 4 keepers who were less than impressive? Wenger retorted by saying that football has never made a goal keepers game easier, there is always something additonal to criticise about a keeper. However, he is comfortable with what he has… but he did do that sheepish look, when he is hiding something.

Another man asked about why we conceded so many goals. Arsene said he’d like it if they didn’t and he was working on it. Then PHW asked the crowd if anyone had any other questions, my hand shot up… he handed the last question to a woman with red hair, she stepped up to the mic and made a statement how she thought it was great how Song and Eboue had dealt with fan criticism, then sat down.

Lady, if you’re reading… that wasn’t a question, that was a statement.

What a time-wasting applause seeker.

I wasn’t deterred though, I was going to have my moment in the sun… so I strolled over to the desk and approached Ivan… I was close to Kroenke, but he was answering most of his questions with a polite ‘Speak to Amanda’. So after waiting for ten minutes, listening to Ivan answer many pointless questions about taxi ranks outside the ground, whether he liked Eastenders… I asked mine,

Pedro: You did a good creating an atmosphere for the Man United game earlier in the season, are there any plans for the club to address the lack of atmosphere in the ground going forward?

Ivan: Pedro, right? Of Le Grove? Great site, I love what you guys do. Well, I can’t take much credit for that game, but we do have consultations going on. We’re reseaching what time fans get into the ground and we’re working out alsorts of bell curves to find out the best way to makes ure the atmosphere is electric upon entrance. I mean first things first, what’s up with the yellow quadrant? I mean who can identify with that? We’re going to look into Arsenalising that so people can connect with the ground.

AST FANBOY: Oh, I don’t know if you know, but Arsenal Action make a lot of noise.

Pedro: Well, not really… Ivan, what about singing sections?

Random tan man: WHAT ABOUT A BAND!

Awkward silence…

Ivan: This is something we’ve been looking at, but many problems come with it. How do you get acceptance among the fans? How do you displace someone who quite likes where they sit?

Pedro: Thanks Ivan, remember to tune into Le Grove tomorrow morning for your daily dose of everything Arsenal.

So, that was my day out and probably the last ever AGM. Next year we’ll be under new ownership and things will be looking very different. It was a thoroughly good day out and I thought it was fantastic that Arsenal allowed off the cuff question to be asked after the last open mic session.

So West Ham away next… one of the most important games in my Essex Calender!

Sorry for the long post, I hope I’ve done it justice! See you in the comments!

Queue misery...

So 60 years old today, many happy returns Arsene, you have brought a brand of football to the Arsenal that is exciting and fun to watch, and after watching the two biggest names in football last night, I really think we can win the European Champions League this season, I really do.

Leonardo isn’t Leonardo, he’s Nigel Havers, and Milan we all know are Beyonce, so when they lined up against money bags Madrid you expected fireworks, well, we got massive goalkeeping errors from both sides, errors that made Almunia look like Gordon Banks, but Pato aside, I didn’t see much they spent massively on that made me feel particularly envious.

I did however wonder what would have been when I watched Diarra, who only cost us £2 million, he really would have been our Makelele, I also got a little twitchy watching Alonso and Nesta, it was only then I thought what could have been.

Still onto the reason behind today’s picture. That picture was taken by me, on my Sony Ericsson W350i, yes a W350i! I took it after the Brummie game, the funny thing was, I took it an hour after the game finished, 2 pints after in fact, then I had to stand in this queue for another half an hour, so Arsenal, this is why people leave the ground early.

Now if I ever saw Gazidas or Hill-Wood in the queue, I could understand why they keep telling us what rascals we all are leaving, but they are in the ground quaffing Champagne before stepping into their chauffeur driven Limo’s, so whilst I am not condoning them leaving early, and I did abuse my cousins in the North Bank for bunking off, I do understand why fans leave early.

Maybe Arsenal should pay towards getting escalators put into Holloway road to relieve congestion, as they said they would when they got planning permission in the first place. Or maybe Arsenal should have some respect for the fan that pays their wages, and think of a way around our queueing hell, instead of telling us how we pull the team down.

Today sees the AGM, Pedro is going in my place so will no doubt report on that tomorrow, however Hill-Wood has said this in the Daily Star. ‘Arsene is going to say a few words and woe betide any shareholder who stands up and tries to criticise him’

Tough words coming from a bloated public schoolboy, but isn’t that what AGM’s are for? To question, What sort of world would we live in if no one dared to ask or question decisions. I think history has showed us that if you don’t, nasty things happen, Arsenal have shareholders that have a right to question, I’m still waiting for an answer to the bloke that asked why we kept Ade, and why we signed Silvestre.

So what Hill-Wood wants is a shareholders love in, hmmmm. He also said If you were a sensible, realistic shareholder, you would be very pleased at what is happening here.

Well Pete my old cocker, if you were a sensible realistic shareholder, you would expect a dividend, but we’re not, most of us are Arsenal fans and have bought the shares out of love, and if we feel the need to question, then we have earned that right the same as any sensible shareholder, so maybe you should keep your mouth shut and let Arsene look after himself, he is 60 you know, not 9.

The team say they will learn from the draw on Tuesday, I hope we show West Ham how good we are, after seeing the mega spenders play like shit, our result wasn’t too bad, we’ll qualify, we didn’t lose and no one died.

And you know what? The sun will still come up in the morning!

I’m looking forward to the next 2 weeks, we could go through in the Carling Cup, qualify in our ECL group and be top of the league on the back of the Spuds, now it doesn’t get better than that, does it!

Have a great day Grovers, and drink a beer to Wenger’s health.

P.S. Pedro has updated the funnies and the gallery. If he hasn’t responded to an e-mail, please send it again. His spam filter has been playing up! He said he’ll try and twitter from the meeting today, so keep an eye out for that… details in the side bar —>!