The Return; Denilson Love; Lonely Hleb

Fear not! Darzinho has returned from a few weeks of bluffing in exams; all in a desperate attempt to cover up his lack of knowledge.

Unfortunately the season has ended, so I may have to transfer my bluffing skills to this website in order to give you people something half-decent to read!

Anyway, after a year's hiatus from work in which I studied the fields of Journalism and Media Studies, I have to give a serious thumbs down to the Sun newspaper for this headline- supposedly from the words of double-winning Arsenal captain, Frank McLintock:

"I fear Thierry will walk away" the headline screams! And yet, - as pointed out by Arseblogger- not once does this, ahem, 'journal of choice' attribute the quotation to Mr McLintock.

Feel free to tar and feather the writer of said piece - Gavin Glicksman.

"I fear Glicksman will get fired": How's that for a headline?

Annual Members Magazine
I received a copy of the annual members magazine and after a quick flick through it, a couple of things struck me:

Two of Arsenal's midfielders are spending far too much time together. Denilson is quoted in the magazine as saying:

"Sometimes when I'm in bed going to sleep I wonder how this has all happened. I'm here with this bloke, who is from my country, who in 2002 won the World Cup, who now is a huge success at Arsenal."

I suggest that all Arsenal fans write a letter to the club, suggesting that they shell out for a room with two beds; or better still, two rooms for the Brazilian men on away trips in future.

Also, if you turn to page 42, you'll see a picture of the "Players relax[ing] in the Player's Lounge." You'll notice a sad looking Alex Hleb sitting at a table on his own.

Trust me Alex, if I was your team-mate, I wouldn't want to sit with you either after the season you've just had.

Keane, but not very intelligent

Robbie Keane believes that Spurs' season was "just as good" as Arsenal's.

Dear Robbie,

I hope you're keeping well. I'm glad you're happy with yet another productive season. As usual that productivity doesn't extend past a personal level. Maybe one day you'll get a medal for your efforts.

Arsenal's season was very disappointing by our very high standards but I certainly don't feel as if there are any storm clouds gathering on our horizon. Both Thierry Henry and RVP were injured for prolonged periods of the season - and yet they have 23 goals between them . The transfer window was closed by the time the injuries got the better of Henry. Yes, it's a squad game but it's hard to factor in the possibility of both your main goalscorers being out.

How would Man Utd fare with both Ronaldo and Rooney out?

Chelsea without Drogba and certainly to a lesser extent, Shevchenko?

Or Liverpool without Crouch and Kuyt?

Dare I say it, would your beloved Spurs be facing relegation if Berbatov had missed a chunk of games before Xmas and bowed out again in February, with your good self out of actionfrom late January?

You seem happy with Spurs' season. Indeed, you performed well in the UEFA Cup. However, I would suspect that deep down you realise how important Champion's League football is - in terms of team development and financially. You are way off the pace compared to last season. I'm also not sure if you are guaranteed any form of European football next year. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Robbie signing for his 38th club

A pedantic person would point out that Arsenal are closer to the top two than they were last season. However, I won't deny that we went backwards in many regards, especially Champions League Football. Luckily, we'll have the opportunity to play in it next season and hopefully improve. Will Spurs? No.

So whilst Arsenal have taken a dip in some regards this season, we also have improved in other ways. Our league form has improved since last year, we have beaten Man U twice, Liverpool three times (forgetting the hammering) and taken four points from a team who views every match against us as a Cup Final. We are also no longer out-muscled by the likes of Bolton.

Let us not forget that only 13 years ago, Spurs were splashing out on world cup superstars such as Jurgen Klinsmann. Arsenal and Spurs were approximately the same size at that time.I tend to view my club with a medium to long term perspective and have very high hopes for the next couple of years. Your club appears to still value cup runs above long term development.

I do not understand the compulsion to compare yourself to Arsenal using what must be some some bizarre form of handicap method to justify how we have performed this season. To compare your run in the UEFA cup to competing in the Champion's League, is utter lunacy.

Considering your delight at Spurs cup runs, you must have conveniently forgotten that we beat you in the Carling Cup.

A few cup runs with no end rewards don't cut it with me as a good season. I'll take that Champion's League spot any day!

Kind Regards,
Darzinho

P.S. You have a rather large head.

Pub-Team Substitutions; The Dein Saga III

It was back to the business of football yesterday after a week of boardroom turmoil. Arsenal will be bitterly disappointed to take only a point away from White Hart Lane after allowing Jermaine Jenas to put away a long range strike in injury time.

I only managed to catch the second-half*, and that was in a pub surrounded by Liverpool and Manchester United supporters so if you want to read a decent match report, trek on through to Arseblog.

*Ed. - After getting a sarky comment on this yesterday, I better clarify that I had college that morning!

The only thing I would have to add to the Arseblog match report is my dismay at the pub-team football decision that Wenger made in injury time. I always feel that bringing an extra defender -Senderos- on for a midfielder that late in the game does nothing else but unsettle the defence.

In the good old days, we would have brought on Kanu, or in later years - Bergkamp- to intelligently hold up the ball; or Grimandi to kick lumps out of anybody who looked creative. Yesterday we threw on a centre-half and nobody, including himself, seemed to know where he was playing. A central defensive partnership does not need tinkering with at such a late stage in the game. To me, that was a contributing factor in not getting all three points.

Having said that, there were a lot of positives to be taken from the game, not least Diaby's performance, so if we can keep the boardroom turmoil to an absolute minimum and bring in a few fresh faces, we'll have a good season ahead of us.

Anyhow, back to the turmoil: there's an excellent piece by Amy Lawrence in today's Observer in which she suggests some very interesting replacements for David Dein. I don't want to ruin the surprise, so go and read it!

And finally, there was a interesting article on the Arsenal website about what players, if any, will be departing the club during the close season.

“We have no basic situation where players would be free to transfer,” said Wenger. “That is apart from Jens Lehmann, who of course has his own
destiny in his hands, and Julio Baptista. But apart from that, all the
other players are under contract. The only other one who can move out
is Mathieu Flamini, but that is it. We have only three players where
they have a situation to decide about.”

So where does that leave Jeremie Aliadiere, who wasn't even in yesterday's match day squad? Surely he'll be allowed leave? Or is Arsene only alluding to players who have a say in the matter? Confusing to say the least... unless Aliadiere is getting Dein's job!!!!! CUE: DRAMATIC MUSIC

That's enough for today. I have to shave my back or something...

Dein fallout continues

The Independent reports that Wenger will be consulted on who, if anyone, will fulfill Dein's role at the club. Ken Edelman is the hot favourite to take up the reins.

As I spoke about in yesterday blog, Arsenal's future largely lies in Arsene Wenger's hands; any decisions taken by the board or prospective bidders will be taken with Arsene Wenger's satisfaction in mind at all times. Nobody will want to upset the Frenchman - especially when his contract is so close to its expiry date in 2008.

While speaking about his 'strong links' to Arsenal yesterday, Wenger came very close to hoisting up a flag with Dein's face emblazoned on it:




“It is a sad day for Arsenal Football Club,” Wenger said. “It is a huge disappointment because we worked very closely together. David has contributed highly to the success of the club in the last ten years and even before that as well. Red and white are the colours of his heart.”

I'm perplexed by one thing about this whole situation: If Edelman was against a takeover by Kroenke, why was he so keen for the link up with Colorado Rapids to happen?

"This is a very important step for Arsenal as this becomes our first venture into the US marketplace," said Edelman of the link-up with Colorado Rapids.

Surely he had an inkling of what was going on? You would expect that he would have known something- especially if you were to believe all the reports suggesting that he was the power broker and Dein had become an isolated figure on the Arsenal board.

Something doesn't quite add up. Either Edelman hadn't a clue what was going or more worryingly, not everybody on the Board is being entirely truthful about their motives...

Who to support?
Make no mistake, we -the fans- do not know everything that is going on behind the scenes.

It's hard to know who to trust:

On one side there's the power-crazed, profit-hungry, Machivellian-like David Dein. He's also the man who was an obsessive fan to begin with; attended several games a week; took an interest in all the players - including the youths; and had a vision of Arsenal becoming a massive football club with style.

Arsenal were a dead club when he bought into it. He took a massive gamble on Wenger in '96. However, he did not support the move to the Emirates.

On the other side are the Arsenal traditionalists. People who represent Arsenal's history stretching back to the 20's... the good ol' Arsenal.

Or are they aristocrats whose only interest in the club is that their shareholding has passed from generation to generation into their hands? Did they care about the club as much in the early 80's? Peter Hill-Wood's motives are honourable. However, he only holds a small shareholding with 0.8% But what of Richard Carr, grandson of former chairmanSir Bracewell Smith? And what of Lady Nina Bracewell-Smith who married into the Bracewell-Smith family? What are their motives?

And then there's Danny Fiszman - a former diamond trader who ironically bought shares from David Dein in 1992. He controls the largest share-bloc at 24%. He sold 1%, apparently in ignorance to Kroenke last month. He sides with the traditionalists, for now...

Capitalism v Tradition;

Footballing Vision v Aristocracy;

or is it;

Profit Method A v Profit Method B

I'll support Wenger in what ever he decides to do. He has has his flaws -who doesn't?- but he's essentially a good man who loves football.

If he leaves over this, it'll never be the same again...

Takeover Bid Dein-ied

I was going to write a match report on our 3-1 victory over Manchester City... but I doubt you would be interested in reading it. In the last 24 hours the club has been thrown in to turmoil with the shock resignation/sacking of Arsenal Vice-Chairman David Dein.

For a while I've had an inkling that something was afoot behind the scenes at Arsenal football club. In recent months, Arsene Wenger has made some decisions which are the mark of a man who was not keeping his eye on the proverbial ball - dodgy selections; bizarre substitutions; and explosions of temper on the side of the pitch. It was all very out of character for the Frenchman; it was like something was distracting him.

In February, an intriguing game of power-broking chess at Arsenal began to filter in to the public domain: starting with the club's link-up with KSE's Colorado Rapids. Rest assured that the first pawn was moved long before that.

"This is a very important step for Arsenal as this becomes our first venture into the US marketplace," said managing director Keith Edelman.

"Unless I'm completely naive it's not a takeover," said Wenger.

"I've never heard about a possible takeover and I don't think that is at all behind our partnership."

Intriguing. Not least because somebody other than Dein was involved in opening the door to a potential hostile take-over.

Dial 9.99%

Next came the sale by Danny Fiszman of 1% of his shares. I was concerned to read that David Dein apparently didn't know about Fiszman's sale of 1% of his shares until two days after the
transaction. That 1% might sound small but the sale took Fiszman under the 25% threshold needed to maintain a veto on any changes to the club's statutes.

Something was definitely up. Somebody was telling lies.

Then the rumours of the sale of ITV's shareholding to Stan Kroenke's 'Kroenke Sports Enterprise' (KSE) started to filter out. The rumours were met with vehement denials from KSE:

"There is no interest from KSE in buying any shares of Arsenal or any Premier League club."

That didn't put my mind at ease:

My first instinct was that they were trying to cool the share price. They might not have wanted to announce their intentions until they had purchased their first block in order to calm the speculation which would cause the share price to rise.

I did think it was unlikely, however, that they would make such a definite statement and thought it more likely that an individual in the family or one of the companies that KSE were involved in might make a bid.

You should always trust your first instincts. This followed:

ITV plc have announced they have unconditionally sold
their 9.99% shareholding in Arsenal Holdings plc to American Stan
Kroenke's KSE UK Inc: link

KSE had blatantly lied about their intentions, although I'm sure they would say something along the lines of: "We never said that there wouldn't be any interest from our UK branch."

The Gordon Gekko phrase "Greed is good" just won't stop echoing in my mind.

Dein's final days

Over a week ago we learnt -from this Arsenal statement- that Kroenke owned approximately 1.3% more shares than we thought. We can only speculate on the nefarious reasoning of purchasing the shares in his name as opposed to KSE's.

Ed. Mysteriously, this statement has been removed from the Arsenal website...
Ed. again.... it's back now.

Last night, things came to a head when Dein, who brought Wenger to Arsenal in 1996, quit because of "irreconcilable differences" with fellow board members.




The Times, noting that 63-year-old Dein holds 14.5 percent of the club's shares, said there was an "intriguing possibility" that he could sell to American businessman Stan Kroenke, who recently bought an 11 percent share. That could force a hostile takeover bid, said the paper.

The Sun's business editor said Dein's departure almost certainly means that in financial jargon Arsenal are "in play".

What next?

One can only speculate on the goings-on in the Arsenal board room. According to Paul Kelso, of the Guardian, Dein has become more and more isolated in recent years. Apparently he was vehemently opposed to the move to The Emirates - possibly preferring the option of moving to Wembley.

One thing that seems to have slipped the media's attention is that Dein certainly wasn't the only man who was behind the original link-up with Kroenke's Colarado Rapids back in February... Edelman and Wenger were certainly involved. Whether they knew more of what was going on is anybody's guess.

And what exactly was Fizsman doing selling those shares over a month ago?

I think the whole thing may have reached a stalemate for the immediate future. The board's pact not to dispose of their shares for at least one year, effectively blocking a takeover will depress the share price so I can't see Dein just selling his shares to Kroenke just yet.

One possibility that everybody seems to have ignored in all the media
clamour is that Kroenke may still just see himself as an investor in
the club, who wants to see the 9.99% he owns make a profit without
actually wanting control. He may have offered a 'no-strings-attached' cash injection which Dein might have supported- only for the rest of the Board to clam up at the thought of accepting the American's money.

If it was a simple cash injection that Kroenke offered without wanting control, we may as well say goodbye to Arsene now.

The general consensus, however, is that Dein was backing a Kroenke bid. Whether he actually comes back with Kroenke to mount a takeover remains to be seen. I don't think he knows himself yet. I would certainly imagine that Dein is kicking himself over relinquishing control of 28% of the shares in the early 90's!

My gut feeling is that nothing will happen for the next six or seven months... and then all will be dependent on Arsene Wenger's take on the situation. The Frenchman will soon have to decide on his future- his contact is up for renewal in summer 2008.

Wenger certainly is good friends with Dein. He also respects Dein professionally and said this recently: “In ten years, David Dein revolutionised not only Arsenal but the whole of English football.”

On the other hand, Wenger has been rather outspoken on the club's ownership remaining in England and since '98 he has been a major supporter of a move to a bigger stadium... so even if they were seen clinking beers in a restaurant in Islington on Tuesday, it appears they had different points of view on the club's future.

Expect many twists and turns and reams of copy on this story in the coming months. Who will get to utter the words 'checkmate' is anybody's guess.

Man City tonight; Meet the Oracle

Arsenal's bid to guarantee the fourth Champion's League spot continues tonight with Manchester City visiting the Emirates Stadium.

There will have to be one change to the starting line-up as Freddie Ljunberg is out with a hamstring injury. Rumours that his injury were caused by overexerting himself at his latest Calvin Klein underpants modelling-shoot have been vehemently denied by the club. Well no, not really... I just made that last sentence up.

Arsene will select what will hopefully be a match-winning team from this group of gentlemen:

Arsenal (from): Lehmann, Eboue, Toure, Gallas, Clichy, Hleb, Fabregas, Gilberto, Rosicky, Ljungberg, Adebayor, Almunia, Diaby, Baptista, Senderos, Aliadiere, Denilson, Djourou.

I think it will look something like this:

GK Lehmann
RB Eboue
LB Clichy
CD Toure
CD Gallas
LM Rosicky
RM Hleb
CM Fabregas
CM Diaby
CM Gilberto
CF Adebayor

Subs: Poom (ed. that should have read Almunia); Senderos; Djourou; Denilson and Baptista

This is what I think Wenger will plump for. I don't think Baptista has done anything to warrant a place ahead of Aliadiere but after the latter sat out the whole game against Bolton, I think that he is slipping further down the pecking order.

This Blogger still has high hopes for the Frenchman, so I hope I'm wrong.

Another man who seems to have drifted out of the first team squad is Justin Hoyte. I must admit that I feel a little sorry for Hoyte -who played for the reserves the other night.

While he may not have the skill of Eboue, his certainly has a far better attitude and I don't think he's let the side down once when he has played at his natural position of right back.

In other news, Cesc Fabregas has been nominated for both the PFA Player of the Year and the Young Player of the Year which is no mean feat as he hasn't performed as well as he can this season - which can be partly explained by some of the swamp donkey performances of the players around him.

Meanwhile, Arsene spoke about how he might have signed Drogba for Arsenal when the striker was playing in the French lower divisions. Pointless talk really, I'm sure the winning lotto numbers have passed through my mind at some stage of my life. It doesn't mean that I ever filled out a winning lotto slip.

Well that's it really...

Oh, hang on... my brother has asked for his opinions to be entered on to this blog. So welcome to a new regular feature of The Gooner Times.


On Theo Walcott's appearance against Everton:
"That Walcock [sic] fella is fuckin' shite. What the fuck is he doin' on the pitch with a broken shoulder..."

On Sol Campbell:
"Sol's got a lovely set of teeth..."
I have no idea what the hell that meant.

On Freddie Ljungberg and Sylvain Wiltord:
"I don't care what any of you fuckin' say. Freddie's shite. Wiltord's a far better player."

"Look at the state of Freddie wearin' that hat. He's always fuckin' lookin' for attention.

On Roy Keane
"Keane's always lookin' for attention. He's like bleedin' Geri Halliwell."

On Cesc Fabregas
"What the fuck did I tell you? Once Fabregas starts scorin', we'll be all right. Put that in your fuckin' blog. I want to be known as The Oracle."

More from 'The Oracle' next week. Or sooner, if he decides to impart any more pearls of wisdom.

Newcastle v Arsenal... a quickie!

Okeydoke, let's take a quick look at my prediction for today's line-up.

I think Arsene will return to 4-4-2 today as 4-5-1 did not work on Saturday. I actually would like to see Cesc Fabregas given a run behind a main striker (like RVP) in a 4-5-1, but I doubt that will happen today.

Mr Wenger will select a line-up from this group of extraordinay gentlemen:

Arsenal (from): Lehmann, Eboue, Gallas, Toure, Clichy, Hleb, Fabregas, Gilberto, Rosicky, Ljungberg, Adebayor, Almunia, Denilson, Diaby, Aliadiere, Baptista, Senderos, Randall.

I think he'll go for something like this:

GK Lehmann
RB Hoyte (I think AW may be a little tired of Eboue's attitude)
LB Clichy
CD Gallas
CD Senderos (like Arseblog, I'm not sure the Touré/ Gallas partnership works. I also think Touré needs a rest.

RM Rosicky
CM Gilberto
CM Fabregas
LM Ljungberg

(Goodbye Hleb)

CF Adebayor
CF Aliadiere (His last chance. I think there's a slight chance that IF they play 4-5-1, he might be on the wing, with Rosicky occupying a more central position)

Subs: Almunia, Touré, Diaby, Baptista, Eboue.

No doubt my prediction will be completely wrong...