Gourcuff – Joe Cole – Taylor / England: Two sides of the coin

May 31, 2010

Now, call me a conspiracy theorist, a crank or a nutter, but something’s up in the world of media these days.

  1. Arsenal player wants to leave
  2. Blogs / commenters put in their suggestions for who they want as replacements
  3. Main stream media magically find source who confirms Arsenal interested in those said players
  4. Arsenal fans click away at favourable link
  5. Main stream media make some money from adverts

I’ve been suspicious this process has been going on for a while, but all you have to do is take a read of today’s Sun newspaper to know that it’s true!

An Arsenal source said: “While every effort is being made to keep Cesc at the club the boss is working towards an alternative.

“He believes Gourcuff’s finesse and grace will fit perfectly to Arsenal’s way of playing and will make it an almost seamless transition if Cesc does go.”

All sounds a bit too convenient to me! Not that I wouldn’t like to see a transfer like that happen, clearly I would… but that source seems to be a little too attuned to what the fans want to hear!

@1nil2thearsenal sent me this video from twitter the other day on twitter, just to whet your appetite!

If Cesc does decide to get on his little Catalan bicycle and leave the Gooners, the Frenchman has to be one of the few players in world football who’s ready-made to replace him. He’s 23 years old, an untapped well of potential and he’s available.

Still, I’d rather we didn’t have to buy him…

STAY CESC, WE LOVE YOU!

How degrading was that…

Continuing along on the transfer front, we’ve been linked with Steven Taylor again. He’ s the powerful centre back that we’re linked with every summer. For me, if a move like that didn’t happen when Newcastle were relegated, I can’t see it happening during a promotion season! Still, it wouldn’t be bad idea to tap the Championship for up and coming defending talent. I don’t see why we couldn’t find a decent understudy in our lower leagues, plenty of them end up doing a great job in Premiership when they get promoted… Dawson was a Nottingham Forest player, now he’s one of the top performers in the league.

A rumour that didn’t hit the web yesterday was that Joe Cole could be making a surprise move over to North London to join Arsenal tomorrow. I don’t see why that couldn’t be true. He’s surely a good option for a midfield that sometimes lacks a bit of grit and determination. He’s perfect from a technical point of view, he’s an experienced winner and he’s  a Gooner. I really wouldn’t want to see him strengthen Spurs further and give them even more of an English spine.

We’ve also been linked with Makoun of Lyon. Is it me or are there about 25 African holding midfielders plying their trade at French clubs? We can’t seem to go a day without being linked with one of them!

Before I go it’s worth mentioning the England games. The senior game where we beat Japan after two terrific goals from Man United’s second top scorer, ‘own goal’, was an example of why I can’t ever get excited by a World Cup. England were gutless, pedestrian and clueless for large chunks of an embarrassingly boring game.

I didn’t even realise Theo was playing for the bulk of the first half until he knocked a ball 40 in front of himself in a demonstration of skill. I fear for the boy… the weight of  a nation is resting on his shoulders, which is unfair, because that nation still has Croatia on their minds. Theo shouldn’t be telling the press he deserves his place in the England side, because on form, he doesn’t. I hope for his sake he finds it though… because he’ll bet castigated in the media if he doesn’t.

The flip side of that coin was watching the Under 17′s beat Spain 2-1 after going a goal down. Benik Afobe played well despite not getting on the score sheet. The overall performance was disciplined and very impressive. This is the tournament Cesc won as a youth, so it certainly bodes well for the future!

Right, I’m off to deal with this world class hangover… have a good day!

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Posted by Pedro

Robin’s crocked already, time to seriously consider a replacement, now, before it’s too late.

May 30, 2010

Now you may all laugh at that headline, Robin went over on his ankle so he’s a crock, the point is that Robin is always going over on something, Robin makes Darren Anderton look like a health fitness fanatic gay robot.

I love Robin and have always believed he could become the world’s best player, I know, I say the same about Theo, and I still believe it, but they are both crocks and should we keep faith with them both, we should however view them as our luxury players, injured more than they are fit, and that’s a fact.

So what do we do then? We just bought Chamakh, we’ve yet to see if he is good enough but I think he will be, then we have to look at the others, Arshavin is not really a striker, more a hole player, Eduardo I think has had it, Vela isn’t good enough and Bendtner has got right up my nose with his ‘my dream is’ comments, and I don’t think he’ll ever be world class, well about as world class as Santa Cruz or John Carew, and I wouldn’t want either of them.

So I think we need to sell Vela, Bendtner and Eduardo and use the money to buy Dzeko and Hazard.

We are today being linked with Taylor of Newcastle, I’d have him, the sort of dirty bastard we need, but what about Nedum Onouha of Man City? He’s big, skilful and English, despite his name!

Man City would sell him, he’s young and would fulfil the Wenger criteria, he also has EPL experience, so maybe a punt on him would be a good move.

Back to Robin, if this world cup doesn’t get him, something else will, I bet I could get 5000-1 at Paddy Power on him completing a season uninjured, we know it will happen, so it’s time we planned ahead, three strikers in our squad are not good enough to take over, we can get good money for them now and use it wisely.

Don’t make the same mistakes as you did last season Arsene!

Since Song cemented his place he now seems to be picking up injuries, there’s a surprise, still it proves we need a spare, I quite like Toulalon, anybody?

Cesc is beginning to pick up injuries on a regular basis so maybe Gourcuff would be a smart move as well.

I’m getting my wish list in early as Tuesday is just around the corner, so maybe by then we will compile the definitive list, that you, the readers would prefer.

Have a great day Grovers, no football today, but there is the cricket, we can make Bangladesh follow on and Lewis or Jensen could win the Grand Prix. So unless you are German, Australian or indeed Bangladeshi, you’ll be routing for them.

Bless you all and peace on earth, wherever you come from!

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Posted by Geoff

Brede Hangeland, at 29 is he too old? Gourcuff isn’t though!

May 29, 2010

Brede Hangeland is a big lump, and I do think we need a big lump, but at 29 years of age does he represent good value? I’m not so sure, if you think that apart from our famous trio of Bould, Keown and Adams, most centre backs have had it at 32, so he will give us what, 3 years? Then we’ll be complaining that he’s past it or too slow.

We are sweating on Campbell, Gallas is off and surely Silvestre must go and our kids are too young, you wouldn’t have thought it was that tough to find a centre back would you!

I think that Johan and Vermaelen will form a top partnership, but it won’t go through a season and we do need four, we gave Campbell his big break and now he’s dithering over a move to another Notts County, Celtic.

If Sol stays, then we only need 1 centre back, if he goes, we need two. I would like a big guy, I quite like Cahill, but is he big enough?

What I don’t want though is another French centreback, we have enough French players and I want Gourcuff, so Gourcuff can replace Silvestre and Gallas which will restore the balance of nationalities in the side. Yes I know that Gourcuff is a midfielder, I’m just talking balance.

I read with interest that Merida, who has now been pictured in an Athletico Madrid shirt (because he plays for them) said ‘Wenger looked after me and my family since I arrived in London’

So that’s what I mean by how much is the true cost of us buying these young kids, we have a few out in Spain as we can’t bring them in to Britain, so we have to pay for all that, and over 3 years I’m sure that adds up, the other team only pays their salaries, we bring players like Merida in and pay for them and their families, I bet we did that with Denilson as well as his family, so is it a false economy?

We have Vela in Spain for three years, we bring him to England and Wenger announces him as a new signing, and he doesn’t play, and when he does he’s disappointing.

Ian Wright is imploring Fabio Capello to play Theo up front, in his best position, but as David Beckham is giving him crossing lessons, I’m not sure Fabio will listen, either way we may benefit from Theo playing for England this summer, I have always rated Theo, so good luck son, I wish you well!

I just hope Beckham has time to spend with Theo after the world cup bid, visiting the troops in Afghanistan, his trip to advise the Pope and his one man quest to end all worldwide famine.

I think we’ll start to see the signings bit happen on Tuesday, June 1st, because I truly believe that Arsene has promised Cesc some big names, we don’t want Cesc to give us one more year, we want him to stay, if it was one more year, I would prefer to take the cash and the players that go with the cash and move on.

Did I say I wanted Gourcuff?

Have a great day Grovers, Tuesday is not far away!

P.S. I have a pair of season tickets that someone is desperate to loan out for the season, e-mail pedro(at)le-grove.co.uk for info!

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Posted by Geoff

Chump of the year on hold and will we invest in youth again? This time it may make sense!

May 28, 2010

Ok Chump of the year has been put on hold as with the Cesc will he or won’t he, and the Wenger will he or won’t he issues still to be sorted, we may well have two new contenders pending. So we are going to see what develops.

We are being linked with three young kids, the new Cesc, the new Pires and the new Henry, Gai Assulin is a Barca Israeli that could go on a free, the chavs are also sniffing, Eden Hazard could go for big money but the Mancs are in there as well, finally the new Henry is supposed to be French under 21 Anthony Modeste and he will be cheap, so do these kids makes sense?

I think that Hazard and Assulin do, but not so sure about Modeste, I don’t know him. What about Wilshere though, our very own superkid? I expect if we didn’t have him, we would be after him, I would be tempted to draft him in, he didn’t do too well when he had his chances last season, but he was bench warming, when he went to Bolton, he came good, and for that reason I would put him ahead of the pack we are interested in.

The Mancs have signed Carlos Vela’s mate, how I’m not sure, as everyone seems to be signing players and the window hasn’t opened yet, maybe Wenger will surprise us all and start and finish early in June, I hope so, at least that way we’ll get to see some of them in the world cup, like he did all those years ago with Rosicky.

I really, truly believe that the reason the Cesc thing is in Wenger’s hands is because Cesc has been told that we will be signing the top players we need for Cesc to win the Premier league, so if that’s true then Cesc will be a contender for Champ of the year, if we don’t then I also believe that Cesc will go, we will take £40mil and 2 or 3 players in exchange, with Assulin being one of them.

I would love to see Gourcuff joining us, with or without Cesc, he’s tall, strong and has a wicked shot, I would like to see a big centre back in there as opposed to another athlete, a winger that can cross the ball for Chamakh, competition for Song and a keeper, I would take anyone as we have no one, Green, Hart, Frey or Buffon, would do it but not Schwarzer, he’s a bit too old, but he is still better than what we have, so needs must.

I know we keep speculating a lot, but that’s what we do in the summer, if we get them, we can start dribbling and frothing at the mouth and enjoy the next 2 months.

We need to get rid of the dead wood though and I would put Denilson, Eboue, Silvestre, Gallas, Almunia, Fabianski and now as Campbell has been talking to Celtic, Campbell in that box.

There are a bunch of younger ones that I would also clear out and lower the wage bill as well. Yes Eboue has had an Ok season, but we need better, yes Denilson may have his Flamini season next term but he has had way too many chances, it’s time to get tough Arsene, you owe us.

It’s not the fact we have won nothing, it’s the fact that we don’t compete when it counts, it’s also the chasing pack, look what happened to Liverpool, that could be us next term, we know that the spuds and the northern chavs will spend big, we know that the Mancs and the chavs will and we know the big clubs in Europe will, people may point to Madrid for their spending and lack of success this season, but you know that La Liga is always between those two, sometimes you have to spend to keep up, it’s no different in business.

Finally boss, please don’t keep telling us that this team is still young and has great mental strength, there is not a trophy for that, and if you think we have great mental strength then remember the Blackburn, Wigan, United, Chelsea and Barca games, because I do.

Injuries happen every year, it’s the job of the coach to see we have adequate cover, we don’t, so let’s make that a priority.

So that’s my list, Le Chump is up to Arsenal, come on Arsene, make us make you and Cesc joint Le Champs and we can have a summer of positive posts!

Have a great Friday grovers, next week it should all start to take shape!

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Posted by Geoff

Fantasy Grove winner! / £10million keeper on the way / Culture crisis

May 27, 2010
1 Kiweed FC Antz Spellacey 81 2484
2 BadNews Mr Ike 87 2442
3 Bananna Skins Keith Newton 89 2415
4 Arshe Shavins Thorax . 72 2387
5 Arsenal … BANKAI Alan Cho 85 2386
6 Long Ball From Dixon Adam Velasco 85 2346
Up7 Legends Eleven Ben Rix 100 2313
Up8 The Rosick List Josh Wagner 73 2308
Up8 Larsenal Lars Jakobsen 78 2308
Down10 The Reserves Dan Jukes 46 2306

I completely forgot about the fantasy football because I’m rubbish at it.

However, on inspection, it appears the Grovers managed to finish a staggering 66th out of 193,262 leagues! That my friends is amazing… and goes to show the Grovers know best!

Well played people! The winner should send me a private message in the game and I’ll send them something over!

Cesc has come out and has said the move is down to Arsenal and he can’t guarantee that he’ll be here for the start of the season. Well, I can’t say I’m surprised.Here’s why…

1) If you steal a 15 year old away from his home club using the lure of money and guaranteed first team football, don’t be surprised if he doesn’t commit his career to you.  When fat Dave in the office gets a divorce, slims down to a 32 waste and says his lifestyle has changed forever… you know that’s a lie… pretty soon he’ll be the first to the birthday cream cakes… then bang… back to being fat Dave again.

It’s the same for Cesc. He left the club he dearly loved for the riches of London. We were a more successful club than Barca back then so it worked for him. Now the boot is on the other foot, that dormant mercenary has awoken from within and his love for the club he screwed royally is back.

2) Expecting any young person to dedicate their one career to a foreign club is naive. Averagely between the ages of 21 and 30, people moves jobs around 8 times in the UK. Why would you expect the trend to be different in football? Young people like to move about, hardly a revelation eh?

3) Expecting the best creative midfielder of a generation to watch his manager go summer after summer without reinforcing in the obvious areas without getting annoyed is wishful thinking. Great players want to play with great players. Sadly, we don’t have enough.

It’ll be sad to see him go, but we’ll get over it and if Arsene Wenger manages to pull his head out of his ‘transfers are 2% of my job’ rectum… maybe we’ll be stronger for it.

If you are interested in the Barca finances the Swiss Ramble Blog have covered it in magnificent detail.

I was ploughing round some of the sites a bit earlier today and I’m always staggered to read how many bloggers moan about the media. If the news reporters didn’t write their stories every day, we’d have nothing to talk about. If people didn’t click the transfer links on newsnow, guess what? Tribalfootball wouldn’t post stories about transfers! If you don’t like transfer stories and you can’t decipher the good from the bad… take a long 3 month holiday and cut off your internet connection!

I couldn’t think of a better way to educate myself on the best up and coming talents in world football.

The fact is Sky spend an absolute fortune providing us with the best sports coverage in the world, they fund our clubs lavishly and they are the main reason the Premiership is the best league in the world. Don’t listen to all those muppets like Alan Brazil telling you La Liga is better because it’s quite simply not. Technically, maybe… but technically, Shakespeare at the Globe is probably superior in acting terms than Gladiator the movie… how many people have watched Shakespeare in the last few months? Exactly… La Liga is for nerds.

Talking of unsubstantiated stories, I have one of my very own straight out of Upton Park. Get you shovel out and scoop up a big load of salt but apparently Rob Green will be a done deal to Arsenal after the world cup for a fee of around £10million. The source works for West Ham, I don’t know him, but according to my mole, he’s usually right with the Hammers stories.

Arsenal need a keeper with Premiership experience, the West Ham Chairmen would sell their relatives if they received a suitable bid and Rob Green is highly rated in keeping circles.

Could be an excellent signing. If he’s good enough for Capello, who am I to argue?

On the topic of internationals, I was so utterly pleased that Robin could turn out for Holland and scored twice (goals)… it thrills me, it really does. He’d better not come back injured. Him playing now reminds me of the kid who’s stuffing his face with sweets before dinner… Robin, you can stuff your face this summer, but if you can’t stomach a full premiership season next year there will be hell to pay!

I read a quote by Napoleon on the tube the other day.

‘A throne is just a chair with some velvet thrown over it’

That’s how I feel about football management. It’s just one man trying to get 11 players to beat another 11 players. It’s as simple as that.

That’s why fans blog about football because if you watch it enough, you get a feel for what’s right and wrong. You don’t see too many people blogging about nuclear power station management, do you?

Most Gooners have known the deficiencies of our squad for the last five years and we know them now. Let’s stop holding Wenger up like some sort of pharmaceutical scientist who’s on the verge of curing the world of all its ills. He’s a football manager… he gets paid a shed load and he’s not performing.

I can’t help but think the culture Wenger has created around Arsenal is the biggest chain around the clubs neck. I read an interview with old red nose earlier in the year and he spoke about the winning mentality he instils in his players. He looks for technical ability when scouting his players but first and foremost, it’s all about the element of personality you can’t train… attitude.

Matty Flamini may not have had the same dazzling array of passing skills as Denilson (I kid, I kid), but he fought from the first to the last and would put his body on the line no questions asked. Could you say the same about Nasri? Does he look like he has that edge?

When I read about Mourinho and his training methods, it’s all about creating a winning machine. Everyone fights for the ball, there are no sacred cows in the dressing room and he demands total loyalty. I read that he let Didier Drogba go to Milan to fulfil a dental appointment, it turned out he was actually speaking to Milan about a transfer. Instead of caving to one if the stroppiest strikers in the world, Mourinho rang him up and said,

‘OK, seeing as we are not kids we are going to talk. I trusted you ? I’ve done everything for you and there you are telling me you’re going to the dentist in Paris when in fact you’re in Milan talking over your transfer. You lied to me. You didn’t keep your word. Have you been badly brought up or what?’?

And he dropped him… Did he leave in the summer like Hleb did after Ice Cream gate? No. He stayed on and just helped them to a double two years later.

Wenger is a soft touch with players so their contracts mean nothing and they just seem to up and leave whenever they fancy it. When does this stop? When was the last time Wenger managed to hold onto his whole squad during a summer?

It’s a joke. He can talk about doing things the right way but for me, what’s right about poaching children from the clubs that ACTUALLY train them up? That’s pretty disgusting behaviour on the face of it regardless of whether it is within the rules.

What’s ethical about paying kids huge sums of money before they’ve made it? That’s called buying love and we all know what happens when you try and buy love. You end up with average players on huge sums who are fiercely loyal for some reason, or you end up with the great players upping sticks and leaving after the first sniff of success.

As for Bendtner and his comments, Arsene should sell him right now. I don’t want to have to suffer another year of watching a player missing open goals if I know the medium term aim for him is to play for Barcelona. I only want players who love for the shirt… and that is what it comes down to for me…

If you buy a player at 15, by the time they’ve played for you for 8 years, they’re 23, they’ve given you 5 years of frustrating rubbish, and 3 years of good play if you’re lucky. Then they’ll leave if they’re any good. Chances are you’ll have no trophies to show for that time period because the club will always be in transition as you never buy quality.

If you buy a 23 year old and they give you 8 years of their career, they’ve given you their best years, chances are they’ve cut their teeth at their previous clubs and after 30, who cares where they go? Do you think Liverpool fans will be bothered if Stevie G leaves this summer? No chance. They’ve had the best of him now he’s a declining super power. Very similar to the careers of Freddie, Bobby and Thierry. We had the best of them and they will be legends forever because they knew how to win and joining Arsenal was an out and out privilege, not a stepping stone on the path to Madrid.

Arsenal need to address their culture from top to bottom. Being outspent by 19 other Premiership clubs over the last 5 years is ridiculous regardless of how many 4th place spots we’ve achieved.

We’re supposed to be a super club, time to start acting like one.

See you in the comments Grovers!

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Posted by Pedro

Ade-the-whore and Ireland for Gerrard and Torres plus cash, ha, ha!

May 26, 2010

So how does that make you  feel you Ade??? You left Arsenal to get some silverware, you left because Man City were buying the worlds best players, and now they want to exchange you for one, oh and you didn’t even get Champions league football, so you will now feel the wrath of yet another set of fans next season, you dimwit.

Shame about Ireland, I’d have him.

Other news is that Cesc’s dad has apparently said this…

‘Arsenal have to respect the decision and the will of the player. Cesc is now focused on the Spanish team but he wants to close the signing soon. I get the feeling that the English club do not want to sell but in the end will finally give in and let Cesc go. We just want this to end soon.’

Actually Mr Fabregas you don’t have to respect the decision or will of the player, he has to accept the will of the club, that’s what in England we call a contract and that’s why he gets paid so much, he knew that when he signed it.

That’s all I have to say on that subject, I don’t think Cesc will be going anywhere, I believe he asked Wenger if he could leave and I suspect he told him he doesn’t believe this team will deliver next season, I also believe that Wenger now finally realises his experiment has failed, and I further believe he has told Cesc he will at long last buy the players that we need to achieve glory.

If he hasn’t then he is a fool and we are doomed to yet another trophyless season, but as I said before, this affair will at long last jolt him into action, when Arsene was buying top players like Henry, Reyes and Pires, we were winning trophies for fun, we now have the money, we just need the players.

Signing long term contracts is worthless as when they get good, they always want out and generally they get there own way, Arsenal you asked for £80 million, please don’t lose your nerve, hang out for it. Don’t let the bullies win, they’re skint anyway.

Mertesacker has apparently not been able to sleep since being linked with Arsenal, buy him Arsene, his value will go up after the World cup, Vela has been putting himself in the shop window, I don’t blame him, Wenger doesn’t use him, I like Carlos though so I hope he will keep the faith.

I still fancy Joe Cole if he could stay fit and he knows where the goal is, but nothing will happen until next week, but it should happen soon because once the world cup starts the values shoot up, though as every club outside of the sugar daddy ones is potless, it’s hard to see who will be doing the buying.

Have a great day Grovers, not long to wait now.

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Posted by Geoff

Dan the goat: The low down / A win for negativity! / He’s off to Barca!

May 25, 2010

Just before I kick off proceedings, I had an e-mail from Newsnow yesterday regarding a complaint about misleading headline over the weekend. Apparently someone read Sundays headline and thought we really were going to buy two of the most valuable players in the world.

My Grandma who recently wrote a letter of complaint the to the council about the closing of the local haberdashery she doesn’t use has a message for that person…

‘Get a life’

I can guess the type who’d do that but I wouldn’t want to make any accusations about how obvious it is that one of our blog stalkers has been playing dirty. Even if it was shameless hit seeking, our advertising partner is a CHARITY!

Onto something more exciting! Yep… the review of the man they like to call Aliko Dangote (If he does buy our shares, we can cocknify his name to Dan the Goat… conglomeroat sic (he owns one). Has a real Lock Stock feel to it, don’t you think?).

The previously unknown 261st richest man in the world exploded into the mindset of Gooners world-wide over the weekend when it emerged the Nigerian businessman had been identified by Blackstone as a candidate to gobble up Lady Nina’s shares.

So, what do we know about the Nigerian football fanatic?

Well, we know he’s not interested in buying Lady Nina’s shares for £15k a pop. When I heard this was what she was asking for the shares, I said to myself out loud whilst feeding the fish,

‘If he’s an astute business man, surely he’d tell lady Nina where to go with an asking price like that?’

… and sure enough he did.

Still, it’s interesting to know that he is actually an Arsenal fan as well as an enterprising business man. He started off his business after securing a loan from his Uncle in 1977, from there he began trading building materials, he then incorporated 2 companies in 1981 which he eventually rolled into one conglomerate known as the Dangote Group.

This group is like Unilever on speed, they deal in food, packaging, logistics, textiles, iron plus his latest interest… oil and gas.

He is the Golden boy of Nigerian business and he sounds like quite a good guy. He has an active interest in supporting the people. He trains young Nigerians within his business and supports groups that keep the youngsters out of crime… very noble in a country that has many social problems. He is currently employing 12,000 people, expected to rise to 24,000 inside a year.

He is all about keeping his fortune within the Country and developing his nation… This quote was interesting,

“If you give me today $5 billion, I will not invest any abroad, I will invest everything here in Nigeria. Let us put heads together and work.”

If Wenger was a business mogul, he’d say something like this,

“If you give me today $5 billion, I will not invest any abroad, I will also not invest any at home. Lets put our heads together and create some mental strength and some spirit.”

Seems farcical to think that after saying something like that he’d want to invest in the vainest of billionaire play things especially if he’s built a reputation on being a man of the people.

Owning a London football club whilst a chunk of your country sits in poverty might work for Russian Oligarchs, but judging by the noises coming out of Nigeria… probably not there.

In Africa, like many other countries, where there is money, corruption is usually not far away. Like I’ve said before, sticking a cowboy hat on and saying yee haa doesn’t mean you’ve earned your crust without treading on a few peoples toes.

Dangote has faced his fair share of allegations that I believe he has been cleared of. Still, it’s worth reporting on them because no one gave Usmanov the benefit of the doubt despite being retrospectively cleared of a rape charges.

The trouble I’ve found with digging out information on Dangote is that most of the text isn’t in a decent format so it’s hard to tell what is propaganda and what is genuine reporting. Still, if you’re interested in reading about the darker side of Dan the Goat, click here , here and here.

So, little chance of him hoovering up the shares… and probably a good thing really. The last thing we need is another billionaire vying for our beloved club, especially as he, like Kroenke, doesn’t appear to have the cash to run our club any better than we can already. I think he’s worth £1.8billion. That’s Randy Lerner cash… in billionaire terms, he’s making the tea (probably in the literal sense judging by his portfolio).

It looks like Barcelona could be ready to make a move for our second choice right back and first class Joker, Emmanuel Eboue. Yep, he’s looking to secure a move to become Barcelona’s second choice right back. I can see the logic, if you’re going to sit on a bench, best make it a warm one eh?! If he moves, I won’t shed a tear… unless of course it’s a tear of laughter because he gives his exit press conference in that tiger suite. Go on Eboue…  do it, think of your legacy!

Seriously, I’ve appreciated his effort over the last year, but when you’re 26 and still not first choice, it’s time to weigh up your options and think about yourself.

Other snippets include a £14million bid for Gary Cahill which would work nicely for us. A battled hardened defender more interested in clean sheets than sulking on the half way line when things don’t go his way. PHW has also come out to deny there have been any offers for our Spanish Maestro. You’ve got to love Barca haven’t you?

‘Err, how about £30mill becuase we’re a bit strapped?’

How about no?

As the bores are out in force this summer trying to dig out Le Grove and its un-Christian negativity, I thought I’d leave the realists with something to smile about with this quote from James B Duke who is a Professor of Behavioural Economics at Duke University.

‘Depressed people tend to show a smaller optimism bias and a more accurate perception of reality’

So George Graham, Lee Dixon, Martin Keown, Robin Van Persie, Cesc Fabregas, Charlie George, the club level phone operator, Andrey Arshavin, Dennis Bergkamp and Piers Morgan may all be a bit miserable when it comes to the Arsenal… but the harsh reality is, they’re probably going to be right.

We’re in good company Grovers!

I’m off to to listen to my Smiths CD with a very depressed, yet smug look on my face.

A bit like this…

Seriously, it's the best I could do...

Have a great day Grovers!

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Posted by Pedro

We are about to 16% owned by a billionaire from Nigeria, that’ll learn ‘em.

May 24, 2010

Mr Dangote logging on for his daily dose of Le Grove

When I first started supporting Arsenal, we were owned by Dennis Hill-Wood, a proper English gent, a war hero and a good and honest man. Boy how things have changed.

The Bracewell-Smiths have been replaced and the sensible Hill-Woods are long gone, we now have his gaff strewn son, who owns a handful of shares, we have an American that doesn’t really support Arsenal and an Usbek, shrouded in mystery and intrigue, now it seems we are about to get a Nigerian billionaire, well it finally looks like Arsenal football club will be rewarded for their prudence, imagine the board meetings!

I know nothing of this chap and am making no comment about his character because I don’t know anything about him, but what a mixture we will be, how on earth will that lot agree on anything???

All the money that Usmanov and Kroenke have, why didn’t they buy Nina’s shares? You really have to question them letting 16% go to another billionaire, what a buggers muddle. Financial prudence is now about to be replaced with expensive and explosive bun fights and what will happen next is anyones guess, if someone can find a positive in that lot I’d like to hear it.

A woman’s scorn eh Nina!

The Cesc Fabregas show

It seems now that the Cesc deal won’t happen as Barcelona have no money, there’s a surprise, we are now being linked with about a 1,000 players as you would expect, but here’s my take on who we should and who we shouldn’t buy.

Keepers – Hart, Buffon, Schwarzer or no-one, I would prefer Hart as I think he will be England’s next number one, my guess, no one.

Defenders - Chiellini, Cahill, Sackho, Mertesacker, Hangeland and Taylor, I would take any of them as I think they are all better than no one and with Gallas and Silvestre sure to go we need someone. My guess, we’ll sign one.

Midfielders – Gourcuff, Melo, Silva and Arteta, well he seems to rate Melo and we do need another DM and I rate Gourcoff and Silva, me I’d have all 3 and get shot of Denilson, Arteta is 28 and a crock, leave well alone. My guess, we’ll sign one.

So as long as we sign 4 of the above I think we’ll keep Cesc and be a real threat next year, clear out the deadwood and keep the young players we know will make it. It’s time to get it right on the pitch Arsene, with the arrival of Mr Dangote to the Arsenal, I don’t think we will be the same ‘Bank of England’ club anymore, but I think the era of winning nothing will not be rewarded with new contracts either, maybe this is a good thing for us the supporters, either way, if this chap buys Nina’s shares, things won’t ever be the same again.

Have a great day Grovers, the next couple of months promise to be a roller coaster ride.

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Posted by Geoff

Arsenal make a shock bid for Messi and Iniesta.

May 23, 2010

What a headline! And maybe it will happen, if the management of Arsenal read this post, I am confident it will.

So Blackpool get promoted, and that has to be down to the influence of Jay Emmanuel Thomas, I hope you got a thank you note Jay, well done Blackpool, I am pleased for you.

Jose Moan-rinio becomes a double special one and wins the treble with Inter, I wish this club wanted to win all the trophies on offer, it must feel great being an Inter fan, cheap tickets and winning trophies, it’s kind of why we have a football team to support isn’t it?

I found this link yesterday, I clicked it and saw two of our articles on it, nice touch that, at least it goes to show that other blogs find us of interest. I thank them for that (Click here).

Still no comment from Cesc or his boss, that says it all really, because Barca are talking about it and so is Brideshead Revisted star PHW, so it’s obviously been said.

We have the biggest management team in football I believe, Barca make a derisory bid for Cesc Fabregas, and now we have a stand off, do we say he’s going nowhere to Barca and end the speculation? No, we stay silent, which is not fair on the fans and spineless as far as Barca is concerned.

Here’s an idea Ivan, make a counter offer, say we won’t sell our best players, especially when they have 5 years left on their contracts, we would however like to buy Lionel Messi and Iniesta for £40 million, we would offer more, but as you know, we are Arsenal and have no money. A bit like you.

What do you think they would say?

I’m pretty sure it would be ‘Are you aving a tin barf, sell our best players for £40 million, do you think we are retarded? Only Arsenal sell their best players for nothing, remember TH14? We had him off you, you know the drill, bend over and grit your teeth’

We allow ourselves to be pushed around like the fat kid in the school playground, it’s time we stood up to bullying and stop pretending it’s the media, it isn’t, this is happening, so go back and show them you have balls Arsenal, it will send Barca a message, and it will send the team a message, we lose top players every year and it’s way past a joke.

Oh, and go and buy some world class players and win some trophies, if you had done that last season, your captain wouldn’t want to go and play for Barca, I don’t blame him, if I could go and support them instead I would, unfortunately I can’t change my loyalties like flicking off a light switch, I’m a Gooner for life. I wish Cesc was, he’s not though and this proves that the plan isn’t working, how many more people need to tell you Arsene, this project was built around Cesc, now he wants out because he doesn’t believe this team is good enough, time to listen to someone.

The writing is on the wall, don’t kill your legacy, stubborness doesn’t win anything, unless the ‘nothing trophy’ and qualifying for a competition we’ll never win is all that counts.

Please go and buy some quality that will keep our captain, begging him to stay one more year will do nothing for us, it didn’t with Thierry and it didn’t with Ade, this team you have will still get trashed by the mancs and the chavs next season, change tack before you lose everything.

Have a great day Grovers, it’s not far to the window and maybe he does have a plan B.

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Posted by Geoff

29 reasons to feel happy about being a gooner!

May 22, 2010

The first is that we have finally signed a player, the player has taken 29 as his number, he is French but chooses to play for Morrocco, his name is Chamakh, the player formally known as Numbchucks and he is a gooner and has been all his life!

WE ARE FINALLY SIGNING A PLAYER THAT SUPPORTS US!

If Cesc was going, I don’t think Chamakh would have joined us, he will be the final piece of the forward line jigsaw we have needed and when Wenger starts adding to the team he will build the strongest side in the EPL, we always said we needed a goalscorer, a DM, a centerback and a keeper, Cesc has told the boss to sign up or he’s off, Barca are skint so he won’t be going, so now is the time to start the rebuild, now is when you will see the signings we have craved and next season you will see the side we have dreamed about on the pitch.

I may be in cloud cuckoo land but I really believe that the boss has seen the error of his ways and will bring in the talent we need to win some trophies.

Not much has happened with the Cesc thingy, but maybe that’s because he has been given the assurances he needs to stay, I don’t want a player that will stay and do us a favour for one more season, i want a player that will care about us as much as I do.

Today starts the big re-build, and maybe that was the shock that Arsene needed, maybe now we can start to see the team we all dreamed of.

Maybe now we can start believing, maybe this is it??? Or am I mad? Chamakh? Who knows, but at least we finally signed someone.

Have a great day Grovers, this could be the start of a great era in the history of our great club!

Who knows eh! Maybe Arsene??? Either that or we’ve signed someone on a free from the crap French league and we’ll soon find out why all the big boys didn’t try and get him, we’ll see!

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Posted by Geoff

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