That’s why we pay to watch. It’s not half price to watch the FA Cup is it?
Arsene Wenger has reassured supporters he can understand their love affair with the FA Cup, but insists the Gunners must not compromise their fight for the Premier League title.
I am a defensive midfielder for an advertising agency in London, an enforcer if you like, we try and win as many accounts as we can, we don’t focus on this one or that one, and we put our best people on every pitch (no pun intended) so why don’t Arsenal, why should we prioritise in order of importance, the fans don’t, one trophy would do.
I can never understand why paid athletes need a break, when we won the double in 1971 we played just 16 players in something like 68 games.
This brings us back to the Carling Cup argument, that one we throw away each year, I hate that, but we do, but to then have a list of importance for the rest, to me is disrespecting the fans.
Let’s go out today with the best team we have and try and win it from the off, play this like you would if it were the European Champions league, for me the FA Cup is second only to the league, many differ, many of you would prefer to win the Champions league and that’s why they are all important, because they all mean different things to different people.
For me FA Cup final day is the best day ever in football, I know, I’ve been to a bunch, I want that feeling again, and this year, so please don’t blow today Arsene, it means an awful lot to a shed load of gooners.
Here’s an interesting take from the Online Gooner and Wrighty7 has some strong views as well.
So who will we play today? here’s my guess if all are fit and available
Fabianski
Gilbert Senderos Sylvestre Cruise
Ramsey Song Diaby
Rosicky Watt Vela
It’s only a guess, but it’s an interesting one, and a team I would happily compromise on, the full backs are inexperienced as is the forward line, but the midfield is solid and experienced and we need a solid midfield to win this one.
Having Arshavin, Nasri and Eduardo on the bench will be our get out of jail card free, I would like to see JET and Wilshere play as well.
I think this will be the compromise that the fans would be happy with and a side I would love to watch in the Carling Cup as well, a bit of steel with a bit of youth.
I expect to win whoever he plays, we are on a roll and that will rub off throughout the squad.
I can’t wait for this afternoon, I would go as it’s quite close, but that would be asking for trouble, a rabid gooner at Upton Park, a bit like filling my car up whilst smoking a Cuban cigar.
Thing is I’ve done both! We won 2-1 the last time I went to West Ham, and I survived the Texaco fill up! I’d settle for that result again!
Yesterdays post really did attract a lot of people, our biggest of the week, if only we got paid in hits! It was 99.9% Arsenal fans but there were a dozen or so AKB’s frothing at the mouth suggesting I was comparing Arsenal to a Skoda. Let me explain, I was saying why buy a cheap car because it’s cheap, when you can afford to buy a better one. And if I was a Chelsea fan I wouldn’t be writing an Arsenal blog 365 days a year would I? Think about it. If you don’t like the way I write, read something else. Le Grove is not compulsory.
Alternatively read it twice and try going between the lines, you might find yourself agreeing this time.
I just read that Shitty are in for Paddy, Oi! hands off, Arsene if PV04 is available, go and get him, he wouldn’t disrupt Song’s progress and he would be perfect for the changing room, pretty please!
Have a great day Grovers, I’ll be on the blog throughout should you wish to exchange frank and forthright views during the game, but leave Genghis out of it.
P.S. Pedro has set up a facebook fanpage (Slightly different to the group page he has going already) and he’d be very appreciative if you’d click here and join up to it!
almost!!
Reggie, get in there son!
top 5
I’d have Rodwell for Phil plus cash, anyone?
Do you think that AW will actually sign anyone Geoff?
totally agree with you geoff
I think he will, I would love Paddy back as cover though, Dizzy thanks, but they’ll be a whole bunch that think I’m a heretic!
top ten. Fell asleep
the fa cup would be nice let’s do the double
Its gonna be another frustrating time waiting for him to sign someone,anyone.
“Le Grove is not compulsory.” love it.
perhaps it should be though…
Morning, there is rumblings out there that Gignac isn’t considered good enough by the boss for the Arsenal. I must say I don’t know enough about the guy. Also what does everyone think about Vela? He gets the odd 10 minutes playing time, do you think he’s going to make it here or not?
we need winners in the team paddy will be great
Its compulsory for me me missus went out and bought a fuck off mastermind leather chair so i can sit in comfort for a few hours!!
Lets pray to God Wenger buys players because we are losing players at an alarming rate to injuries. Games are piling up and every game from here on will decide the destination of trophies. No clowning around. I think we need to spend some money on a class striker because we have nobody up front who can cause havoc on a constant basis. I was hopeful of Bendtner but the guy has been out for ages and he is still 21 at the end of the day. We probably need to buy a midfielder as well (although an older figure won’t hurt… Vieira for 6 months). If Senderos leaves then we need to find a replacement as well.
we should get a striker and loan out vela
What a top missus Reggie!
if paddy were to come back,would he want csec’s number or armband. I think we should let it alone
Yeah the best Geoff!!
I don’t know if Wenger would question Paddy’s presence in the dressing room would disrupt his harmony he goes on about. I wonder what Cesc would think having a presence like him come back. Would he just hand him the Captain’s armband and say give it back to me when you’re done.
What no predictions for the game today?
first time writing here but always a reader of this wonderful blog. keep it up guys.
Reggie No! Geoff doesn’t do predictions anymore.
I think Paddy knows he’s yesterdays captain, he would come back as coach in waiting, he wouldn’t think he’d get the arm band or the number 4 back.
He needs games for the world cup, Arsenal need a player like him, full stop.
Today I see us winning 3-1 if he puts out a good team.
Geoff, you are right. I have a feeling that we will mess all the cups by putting everything in the PL and will end up with an arse.
When did Arsene decide to prioritize what we want. Its the fans who pay their hard earned money and its their right to see the best team play. I think there will be massive repercussion if we don’t win anything this year
Too late Stonroy, he dug me out.
Geoff please no more predictions. It makes me nervous.
Spot on May, my fear is that we have a list of importance, in the old days they were all important, why have them if they aren’t???
No offense mate but it just isn’t your forte.
Ha Ha thats why im a good fisherman !!
May Wenger is a gambler for glory, he doesn’t like a sure thing. He won’t spend the money to get Dzeko, but he’ll gamble on some unknown. All for the glory.
29 replies already? You people need to rest
Then again im awake so can’t say much haha
32 then
alright 33?
I think we should buy a top striker that will fit right in, Dzeko I like because the German league is similar and he’ll bed right in, it may be cheaper to go elsewhere, but what we gain on the cost, we’ll lose on performance.
Stonroy, Going for glory is fine when you have recently won things. But we haven’t won for nearly 4 damn years. Deep down inside i have the same feeling i had last year. I want my team to be pushing for trophies… it doesn’t matter which one it is.
If we had played our full strength side in Carling Cup, we would have a very good chance of winning. Even Mathematically it was 25% chance which is quite strong.
Where would you put your money on if we had reached Semis of Carling ..on Carling or PL ??
I agree with you May. Look I think we are going to win easily today, West Ham has a lot of injuries, we should do it in a canter.
Morning guys!
I don’t think there is anything wrong with resting key players for this game… West Ham certainly will be and I don’t think anyone would begrudge leaving our centre backs out… a rest would be beneficial and it’s on West Ham’s second string we’re playing!
I’d like to see Jack, Rambo and Merida get a run out today, I think we’ll tank them!
Well, I hope we do… my life will be pretty filled with smug hammers if it we lose!
How is Dzeko a sure thing? He’s played well for one season or so, and never in the PL.
And really, the “we pay tickets so we must see the best team” argument is rubbish. Would you want to risk our league chances just to see us beating a depleted West Ham?
And your line-up is almost certainly wrong, Wenger said that it’ll be a mix between a Carling Cup and a PL team. No Watt, definitely. Probably Sagna will come in, but Gilbert might get a chance. Eduardo will also probably play.
IMO, we might also see Almunia, who desperately needs to keep his decentish form in the last few games going.
Pedro, glad to see you’ve woken up.
Resting players for any game is fine, that’s why we have a squad, but you have to get the mix right, the Carling Cup mix is a joke.
Yah, That’s the fear stonroy , if we win this against a weak team ..Mr arsene will get a reason to defend that policy and we will end up will fuck all. Because at some point of time we will get a premiership team and then we will blow away ..same as we did with carling cup.
Having faith is a good thing ..but blind faith is suicidal. I,at least from my point of view, does not support this experiment…particularly at this time when we have no trophies to show for.
Fabgooner, welcome, I didn’t say we must see the best team, I said the mix needs to be better.
Remember the post says read it twice?
You are now free to blog.
Surely the counter-argument is that the reason we rest players now is that the game is incomparable to the 70′s? The EPL injury table shows that the days of having a squad of 16 players are loooong gone – we would have had no team to field this season of this were the case.
Given the state of our club’s squad, and that there is belief in the ability of most of the supporting players we have at our disposal, there is every bit of logic in resting some players (so long as it is done sensibly). After all most of us would be pretty annoyed if a key player picked up an injury and jeopardised our EPL run by playing in today’s game.
The cost of the match my not be cheaper and perhaps you will consider this heresy but, for most Arsenal fans, going to the game is no more compulsory than reading Le Grove.
In fact, one of the nice things about FA cup and CC matches is that it is often a good opportunity for fans who don’t have a season ticket to come to the Emirates and support their team.
I’ve got a bad feeling the cockney boy’s will do us today 1 0. They’ll be well up for it whereas wenger will tell our boys to ease off and save themselves for Bolton and everton at home. Needless to say ill be pissed off if we do go out this early. Do you remember how exciting our run’s in the cup were 7 years ago? Old trafford semi against Sheffield, Chelsea in the final and who can forget united 05 ha! It just doesn’t excite me anymore because wenger plays it down at every opportunity. . . . But what ya gonna do about it hey?
Fatboy I don’t disagree, but consider this, some years ago we were in position A, then he fielded a weakened side at Old Trafford in the FA Cup, I think we lost 4-1, the confidence went and after that we went out of contention in the league.
Weakened sides don’t always work out in the long run.
Go back in the archives, we warned him that very day!
I agree with those that say winning is a good habit…but even if he rests a couple, surely you don’t think he’s picking a team that e thinks will lose?
The other argument Fatboy, is if we all watched the games on TV, no one would go and we’d have no money, thus defeating the object of moving to a big new shiny stadium to compete!
Yeah, totally agree with the weakened team argument. Winning is a habit and losing, no matter who is on the pitch, is never a good thing.
We need a good January, kicking off the new decade with a win is of utmost importance!
Baxter I don’t, he only does that in the Carling Cup!
Morning all
nice read, Geoff, thanks – I agree, we should be after all the trophies, period…
let’s hope the lineup will be a tad more ‘serious’ than you predicted. I would go for:
————–Fabianski——————
Bac——–Phil———-Sly——-Traore
—————–Song——————–
——-Ramsey————–Rosicky——-
—–LJW———Eduardo——–Vela—–
maybe swap LJW with Rosicky…
with Gilbert and Cruise we will get raped and have fuck all width IMO…
Pedro you can take over, I have to do the garden!
CARLOS, no! Surely you don’t think we’ll lose today… to a Hammers second string?
No chance… we’ll do the cunts for nicking two points off us earlier in the year!
So i don’t get the thrust of the argument mate? You think he’ll pick a side that is good enough to beat a west ham second string and at the same time rest a few players?
Do you fear our second string is not better than their second string?
Or are you saying that our best players should always play regardless of the competition?
Baxter,
we had a few games where we knew we were going to lose this season alone: Shitty in CC and Olympiakos in CL (fair enough, we might as well not go there at all, take 3:0 and still finish top)…
Baxter, I think the worry is that he’ll go to far the way of the second string.
I hope you’re all joining up to the Le Grove Facebook fan page?!
For me, Bolton on Wednesday is far more important than today.
Strange that the team that you’d happily compromise on, Geoff, is probably slightly weaker than the one Wenger will put out.
BTW there speaks the blogger that doesn’t think winning is what football is all about.
Hmmmm did I miss something?
yes Pedro….i recieved da message on facebook;-)
Why is that strange Chozzer?
In spite of some empty seats at times there I am unaware of any argument that suggests we are short of fans to take up the seats.
Many season ticket holders do not live in the capital and many more have jobs that mean they cannot attend games. Given the weather over the holidays, and other commitments, many paid for seats go unused – it is not ideal, but knowing lots of season ticket holders, it is a reality.
Many season ticket holders have chosen, for various reasons (naturally cost being the most usual) not to renew but, as far as I am aware, there are still tens of thousands of people looking to jump into their shoes.
I myself get to go about 10 times a season and I often take the place of a season ticket holder (he is a rich lawyer and very busy so is often unable to attend matches). I also go to many CC matches and FA cup matches because I love watching the second string get their chance and it is broadly satisfying when we play well and win in spite of this.
The system isn’t ideal but we have the most entertaining club in the premier league, score more goals and are winning more games than all the other clubs this season – overall I’d say there isn’t TOO much to complain about!
I’d like a few players but I do feel this team is starting to pull together as players get more experience and more come back from injury.
For me you should always try and win, whatever the team. If the team isn’t good enough though, then you have no chance, I can’t second guess West Ham’s team but I remember when the FA Cup was the cup we all waited for come January.
Yet now there seems to be a bunch of supporters that don’t care any more.
Not me. Shit and with all this sacrifice, what the fuck have we won in the last 5 years?
Oh yes, the FA Cup.
Geoff, it’s about economiczzzzz….
I was replying to some other posts earlier Geoff.
Suga, if we had gone there with a full strength team, and had someone got injured in a pointless game, I wonder if your post would have been different.
Anyway, how do you know for sure that we would have lost? Heard of Real losing 4-0 to some third/second division side and Barca losing to Rubin Kazan?
Fatboy two seasons ago there was never an empty seat, never.
What has football become when some fans are more interested in the economics… dear oh dear…
16 players are not enough nowadays, heck, even burnley have a bigger squad!
vinagooner, I know that, that was my point, what happened to toughness?
Welcome anyway, you are now free to blog.
Fab, Suga wasn’t implying we use a full strength squad for Olympiacos, he was using it as an example of when understrength fails.
I’m also not too bought into this ‘what if they pick up an injury’ malarkey.
There is just as much chance of an injury in training as there is in a match. We should look at managing our training sessions as well as our match resting games…
Where’s sabeel ???
Geoff, great blog as always, dont be too hard on the AKBs, I always have a great laugh at their silly comments on here.
Pedro – Isnt facebook just for teenage girls? I have managed to get to 40 without ever looking at facebook or twitter, think I will keep it that way and get my Gunners fix from Le-Grove
i think the team will line up
fab
gilbert senderos silv traore
rambo song diaby
jw eduardo vela
which i think is more then capable of beating whu.
only change id like to see is sagna to start the game
Stevie, when you’re a blogger, you don’t have a social life.
Facebook is my only outlet…
I’m off Pedro keep your eye on moderation, I keep getting new people in there!
Pedro LOL, its too bloody cold to get out anyway
Exactly Stevie! You fancy our chances today?
Happy New Year Pedro and Geoff, sorry its a bit late , been away enjoy the shitty wet weather on holidays.
But Geoff said he thought that Wenger would pick a side to win? So as long as he does do that, we should be ok.
Fabgooner,
no, I don’t want our key players getting injured, but why do we even bother to participate in these competitions if OGL all of the sudden says ‘OK, fuck that, we will focus on PL & CL, FA Cup is as pointless as Carling Cup’?
we only have 2 decent CBs on our books, Phil is another good one, but Wenger doesn’t play him, does he? if he was kept fresh and match fit, he would do the job just fine against teams like Hull, right?
hello All
Top post Geoff,
would love to see merida get in there,it is not bad to have dudu also,the more games he plays the more confidence he gets i hope
I have a wedding to attend for 2 days,hence been little busy,but will catch the game deferred later
so gooners get in there,cheer our team,and get us into 4th round
—-
Happy New Year Ange!
Done sometimeback..
hope to see the strength of Le-grove there on facebook..
for those who dont have an account on FB,make it “Just to join Le-grove”,and display our strength
agree wid Geoff….lets swap phil wid rodwell and add some cash
and oh, what about Shitty with just a few more games to go? Mickey Mouse Cup or not, we need to get into the winning habit, if CC is the one to start it, so be it…
dyerzak,
just tuned in here for a brief time
Pedro – I would if we put a full team out. Honestly cant see us losing this one but we will later on in the competition if Wenger places the FA cup 3rd in his list. Beating WHU with a weakened team is one thing, not so easy against a team from Manchester
pedro i had to stop Facebook because it got me into the best kind of trouble with a girl half my age
Strange, Geoff, in that you’re asking Wenger not to throw today’s game and then picking a team that might possibly be weaker than the one he puts out.
Current Member_Count of Le-Grove @ FB = 105
Get IN
I am a fully signed up member of the ‘win a cup, any bloody cup will do’ club
I also think its strange that you’d write a blog slating Wenger as though he’d said he was going to throw the competition and then two posts later admit that you think he’ll pick a side to win!
Anyone would think that the marketing guy was trying to get us chatting or something!
AngeAusArsenal 10.16
Hope you are over 36yrs old then LOL
were not going to lose today! simple
You have got to be in it to win it?
the next round of the Cup is played just 4 days before we play Villa away – if we drop out, we will have 10 days of rest instead, as for WHU, they play a six pointer (Pompey away) just 3 days later, should they progress…
to paraphrase famous TV pundit line: who wants it less?
Alas Stevie I am the ripe old age of 42!
AngAusArsenal -Then I take my hat off to you Sir. I am only a couple of years behind you……..
what do you guys think of the saha rumour? is the site that is running the story reliable?
http://www.onlinegooner.com/exclusive/index.php?id=1452
One of the best articles i have read…
Kingsley – lets just hope it is not reliable, our injury room is already full
Load of bollocks if you ask me?
may – yep, a very well worded article
Saha? fuck that – since when are we the care home for Manure rejects? one to make up the numbers for 750K was a bitter pill, but let’s say he earned it…
another one for £5M plus a decent CB is just too much – we have money for fuck’s sake, time to stop spending the money that MUST be spent on improving contracts of players who have done fuck all to earn it and spend on quality…
agree entirely.i would want to win the eurovision song contest if we were in it.tickets on general sale for wednesdays game v bolton as well.come and show some of our northern friends how to support a football team
Just think if he signed a couple of quality players there would be a stampede for tickets for the lesser games.ie bolton,blackburn,and the spuds!!
reggie,
they can’t even be arsed to sell the Bolton tickets themselves – clicking on ‘BUY IT NOW’ redirects you to Ticketmaster site, there may be heaps of empty seats over there!
No way 5m for Saha – he’s out of contract in the summer.
http://www.onlinegooner.com/exclusive/index.php?id=1452
The above link really was a good article.
http://tinyurl.com/ycoeam7
And there’s another!
taking into the account that it is our game in hand, low demand is a surprise…
ticketmaster is offering upper tier seats for around £50
saha is gossip nothing more
sender might go there so he is just stirring the pot.
shit anyway
The same old concerns after my hopes raised come again
Hunteelar , chamach and gignac ruled out
no one close to signing and I thought he said we need to do it early as we need a striker now .
here we go again !!
Good read on the Independent site Pedro – what worries me the most is that the ring fenced fund has to be spent ‘at some point’, so we may be just sitting on pile of wonga ’til kingdom come
The online gooner makes some reasonable points but a lot of it is complete rubbish.
He really labours the point about transfer expenditure but ignores that unlike other clubs we’ve only spent what we’ve generated in player sales. Which is pretty fundamental.
AND the stuff about wages in nonsense. Our wage bill is playing plus coaching plus admin plus scouting staff. Other clubs report that seperately so it isn’t comparing apples with apples.
All in all, i’d say a very poor article based on innacurate reporting of the facts.
regarding this Saha bollocks (taken from the Independent article):
‘…Everton: Nothing for fees available. “The reality is that new faces will be loans,” says David Moyes…’
in this case, Saha for £5M cash + Senderos would be a steal for them, however, I still don’t want a Manure pensioner and leaving another one of them as first choice CB replacement option smacks of negligence…
morning everyone
morning GM, how’s things?
Baxter, hand on heart, can you say you honestly know that for a fact… Everton and Aston Villa do that with their accounts?
Or are you just going on an off the cuff comment Wenger made?
How much has Lerner personally put in, the same question about Everton?
It seems to me the fans are voting with their feet mate whats the point of turning over the smaller teams and then getting tonked by the mancs,chavs , think small, always be small. imho
this is all a bit speculative.
let’s wait for the team news and then the result before we all starting whinging ourselves to death.
Yes Pedro. It’s a fact. Wenger commented on it, but also some anaylsis the BBC did on football finances.
Our playing staff wage bill is nothing like the number you see publsihed.
I’m not the slightest bit worried about todays match. I think we’ll win fairly easily, West Ham are pretty much decimated with injuries & don’t have a striker to speak of, they’ve even had to resort to bringing back Sears from his loan spell to cover. This is a youngster who’s only managed one goal on his debut for them.
Parker, Noble & Ilunga all have hamstring injuries & it would be a massive risk to play any of them considering their league position & the games they have coming up.
The other side is that I although I always want Arsenal to win, I really won’t be that upset if we go out considering when the next couple of rounds take place. If Wenger makes a couple of signings this month then getting through will be great, but if as I suspect he doesn’t bother signing anyone then our current squad just won’t cope with the amount of games we have.
Talking of transfers, how can you get signings done early if you’re not even on anybody’s case??
Lerner has to have put in a MASSIVE amount, going on the amount that Villa have spent over the last few years, the money has to come from somewhere, they aren’t generating that sort of revenue.
SUGA3 what story is on the independent website?
Baxter, just found this from a Villa blog:
http://www.oleole.com/blogs/avfcblog/posts/the-missing-millions-of-aston-villa-football-club
Villa have the smallest squad and have invested less than 13 other Premiership clubs.
I think the OLG article stands up.
Here we go again !!
Im out of here mate!!
Morning gooners, I am off to Upton Park for the second time this season, let’s hope it’s a better 2nd half!
A, not according to that article from a Villa blog… and like the other article pointed out, their wage bill is half ours.
‘…think small, always be small…’
couldn’t have put it better myself reggie – people don’t pay premium rates (and you don’t get prices any higher than what Arsenal fans have to pay to watch a grade A game) to watch substandard product, simple as – the so called snobism effect works only to a certain extent and much less in the times of recession
I wonder if the ticket boxes at the stadium will be open for once?
Pedro
i wonder what that OLG article writer would say,if we were to win league or CL this year.
he very conveniently concluded by using words like “psychology of players not good enough” etc so that so much of the article doesnt sound hollow at the end..
what do u think Pedro?
Gunner8
Get us into the next round mate from u guys support at westhams
I’m sure he’d be chuffed to bits. I’m not sure he’d turn around and say the last 4 years have been a massive success.
Villa spent £35mil in 2009, £48mil in 2008
Downing £12mil
Delph £6mil (lol)
Warnock £7mil
Dunne £5mil
Collins £5mil
Davies £8mil
Sidwell £5mil
Freidel £2.5mil
Shorey £4mil
Young £5mil
Cuellar £7.8mil
Milner £12mil
Heskey £3.5mil
Guzan £600k
Those are just the signings in the last 2 years
A,
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/transfers/wenger-can-thaw-economic-chill-with-his-16335m-kitty-1855299.html
GMR,
…’If Wenger makes a couple of signings this month then getting through will be great, but if as I suspect he doesn’t bother signing anyone then our current squad just won’t cope with the amount of games we have…’
fuck me, thought it was the gaffer’s job to buy if he happens to be one of a few with cash to spend and with plenty of clubs having to sell?
Oh – That Villa article is from March 2 years ago, that’s why!
What have they sold?
+ What have they earned?
All the clubs got £40mill from TV revenue…
We generally don’t put out a weak team for the FA cup so I’d guess we’re going to put out the same team we would have if we were playing them in the league with the player carrying knocks being rested.
Pedro @ 11.23
thats right..
Right, I’m shooting off… Tesco is a calling!
Net spend of £60mil
£83.5mil out, £18.25mil in, Shorey, Knight, and Maloney
That article was from March 08, after 2 seasons of spending fuck all, since then they’ve spent big
last time we played west ham diamanti single handedly changed the game !! heard colton cole is out which is goodnews coz im certain he would give sivelstre all sorts of problems
Baxter, I don’t think £100M in player’s wages is unrealistic – all the top players must be paid something in the region of £4-£5M annually, with all the bonuses and everything…
fuck me, even Theo is on 60K, that adds up to over £3M p.a. and first team consists of 29 players – this may not necessarily add up to £100M, but probably comes very close…
durban,
it’s not Diamanti, our players were no longer up for it after going 2:0 up and hearing fucking ‘Ole’ from the stands…
dzeko dzeko dzeko dzeko dzeko dzeko .
no one else going then?
last time we played west ham the referee changed the game. Diamanti will have to start this time, not come on so it’s a whole different scenario.
As for this supposed transfer kitty, I don’t believe it. That Independent article talks about the money being left over from the sales of Toure & Adebayor, yet I would guess that Arsenal would say they had already spent 16 million of that on Arshavin in January, since then they have bought Vermaelen & paid out another 2 million for Wellington & possible further money for Zezinho (even if they haven’t yet they are likely to in the near future).
Since that article from 2 years ago, Villa have been the third biggest net spenders in the league.
Before Lerner arrived their average net spend per season was £4mil, since he arrived it’s £21mil
G8, I could not get to London to show my membership card at the Box Office, grrrrr…