Hello again Gooners translates to "a low again doing
this", according to the latest in voice recognition software from Dragon. Just
now I tried to make it make a mistake by saying the name "Arsene
Wenger". Guess what? It's learnt! It now writes his name correctly.
Breaking news today comes from Tottenham, who have announced
the retirement of Ledley King. Good news for us as it further weakens our
London rivals. I feel a bit sorry for King as, he was clearly playing on with
painkillers year after year, all for the love of Spurs. That's what captains
do, albeit foolishly as it can shorten their careers.
Talking of captains, Robin van Persie is set for a move to
Manchester United, according to many sources. Allegedly, his proposed deal
which would have seen him join Juventus is off. This is due to his excessive
wage demands of £130,000 per week. Manchester United are prepared to pay Robin
the salary he wants and are ready to pay us £20 million for our skipper, possibly
to replace the outgoing Dmitar Berbatov. Sir Alex Ferguson is allegedly
claiming it is a "done deal". I think there may be some mileage in
this story, despite former tennis player Boris Becker tweeting that Robin has
signed a two-year deal at Arsenal, and it looks like the talismanic Dutchman will
become a modern-day Frank Stapleton.
Back in 1981, we struggled to score goals after Stapleton's
departure. A year later we signed Lee Chapman and Tony Woodcock in a desperate
attempt to plug the goal-gap. Woodcock, of course, was a success and Chapman a
relative failure. The question is why did we wait a year to replace someone of
Stapleton stature? The answer is probably finances and proves once again that the
club have perennially put profits before points. The reassuring fact is
eventually we normally do get it right. The frustrating part is that we take a
long time to do it. Perhaps we should just be grateful that we are in seemingly
good financial shape, given the plight of the likes of Glasgow Rangers.
That's why there won't be five signings this summer, despite
what you may read on certain websites hoping to enlarge their audience by the
use of "artificial Internet traffic stimulants" or AITS! I made up
that phrase myself, so steal it at your peril!
One signing that might happen is that of teenager Linus Wahlquist,
who is apparently on trial at the club. Sunderland took a look at the
15-year-old Swedish centre back in January and didn't sign him, so why should
we? We will watch with interest.
Will also be watching the situation regarding Stephen
N'Zonzi, who is available for £10 million. Blackburn's asking price may well put
us off signing the French defensive midfielder. Chelsea are also apparently
interested.
Manuel Almunia looks set for a move to Watford on a free
transfer. Of course, we can't profit from the sale of the Spaniard as he is now
out of contract. Seeing as Watford boss Gianfranco Zola thinks our former
number one is a very good goalkeeper, why don't we try to sell him our current
number two: Lukasz Fabianski?
Meanwhile, a pundit a lot of Arsenal fans love to hate, Gary
Neville has actually complimented our club. When asked about Arsenal's chances of
winning the title next year by Sky Sports, he replied: "It could be their
season". He wrote off Tottenham's chances and seems to think it's between
ourselves, Chelsea, Manchester United and Manchester City. For once we hope he
is right.
Finally, Kwame Ampadu is back at the club and will be taking
care of the Under 14 team. His last job was at Exeter City, and as a player he
managed 2 games for us back in the day. It's always good to have old boys back
at the club they love. If anyone knows where he was born please let me know as
I've read conflicting reports. Some say he was born in Ghana and others claim
he was born in Bradford, which is a little bit too far north to be considered
as part of Africa! Interestingly enough, he ended up playing international
football for the Republic of Ireland.
And lastly, although I've already said finally, our reserves
and head development coach Terry Burton says our trip to Borehamwood will be
"special". I hope you're right Terry because I expect to be at Meadow
Park and I want to be entertained. And by that I don't mean listening to that
dreadful song from Robbie Williams blaring out over a PA system that has seen
better days.
Until the next time, up the Gooners!
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