False hope? I hope not

If something sounds too good to be true, it often is and I think this story from the Mirror may well be a classic example of this precise phenomenon. The story appears to be based on no concrete evidence at all, there isn't even a quote from a friend close to the player or even a liar in the newsroom. Mikel Silvestre to Bordeaux? God I would be so so happy, almost as happy as on the day that the mighty Cygan departed for Spain for several million pounds, in fact I remember that day well, I couldn't quite believe that someone was willing to pay money for Pascal Cygan, God what fond memories, it's funny how selling a turkey can be such a satisfying moment for supporters.

Unfortunately I doubt that Bordeaux are interested in a player who has the pace of overweight middle aged business man after fourteen gin and tonics combined with the defensive ability of a young Gus Caesar. Obviously Mikel isn't quite that bad, I'm being more than a tad harsh, but he clearly is not the player he used to be, if Bordeaux had some scouts with eyes then they would steer well well clear of this floundering Frenchman.

This story also made me laugh, Pascal Cygan is out of contract and apparently waiting for Arsene's call! Pascal was not the world's greatest defender by any means, but he did try hard and he clearly does have a bit of a sense of humour, nice one Pascal. On a serious note there are rumours in France about Song interesting Man City, I would like to say that there is no way that Arsene would consider letting our best and only defensive midfielder leaving just before the start of the season, these stories are just baseless speculation in much the same way that the Mirror's story about Silvestre interesting Bordeaux is.

All quiet on the Gooner front

Well, ho hum, not much appears to be happening at the moment, I have decided to make a conscious effort not to link to rubbish stories as this merely increases their traffic which is precisely what they are after, the likes of Piers 'lowlife' Morgan and the Sun rely on this kind of reality which is pretty damn lame in my opinion. The Sun was particularly guilty of more low quality journalism recently as they spun some very sensible Almunia comments into a rather twisted sensationalist story, in actual fact Almunia has only said we need more experience in the squad, shock horror, what a sensationalist thing to say!

The links to Blaise Matuidi continue. He has played for St Etienne for the past couple of years and Gilles has apparently recommended him to Arsene. Skysports were reporting that he had been shown around the Arsenal training ground last week, so if something is to happen I would expect it to happen before next weekend at the latest. I think signing players at this stage of their career is much more sensible than signing someone who has just hit the big time in terms of media recognition. One inevitably pays massively over the odds for the likes of Melo despite the fact that he really doesn't have much experience of European football, someone like Matudi has three years of first team football under his belt and if you can snap this kind of player up just before their fee hyper-inflates, then this is much better business. Stan Kroenke has upped his share stake to just over 28%.

I would urge anyone who has ever bought a copy of the Sun or the News of the World to read the Guardian today and have a look at Channel 4 news exclusive story last night. Obviously one has to be very careful with what one says but one should never forget the power that we have as consumers. If we see a company behaving in a quite disgraceful and unethical manner then simply don't buy their crap, if everyone did this then quite a few scumbags would be out of business pretty soon. It is fairly typical of these big companies to use a lot of money to hire a lot of lawyers in order to cover up various illegal acts. Rupert Murdoch, that lovely man, is refusing to comment on this issue. I'll leave you all to make up your own minds as to whether the News of the World was knowingly and systematically hiring people to tap into phones in order to gather a bit of celebrity gossip. Just don't ever buy the Sun or News of the World.

Our first game of the pre season is next weekend against the mighty Barnet, the bigger games start just over a week after this one. As a result I am sure Arsene will be looking to bring in any new signings within the next couple of weeks. On a positive note RVP's new contract is great news, I also had time to listen to his interview on Arsenal TV and it really was heartening stuff. RVP seems genuinely really happy at the club and his family are very happy in London, he also seems to exude a confidence in the players and manager that will definitely help breed success at the Club. RVP rates Vermaelen and thinks Arshavin will get even better after a proper pre season. There are a lot of ifs and buts at this stage, but if we can get and keep Rosicky and Eduardo fit, if we can bring in one solid central midfielder, if we can keep hold of our big experienced players, then we have a great chance of making some real progress.

Exclusive news - Bulgarian quadroped signs

I can exclusively reveal that 99.999% of the football related stories on the Internet are complete and utter fiction, it never ceases to amaze me just how much crud is churned out these days, the incessant river of football related fiction doesn't appear to be running dry as yet though. Since our ancient ancestors changed their lifestyles from that of hunter gatherers to permanent settlers using agriculture we have seen how the division of labour has resulted in people being able to spend their time doing more and more luxurious and useless things. For example these days we even have people spending their lives kicking footballs for a living, and in some cases this is done in a rather uncoordinated fashion while sporting cockerels on their jerseys. God, there is even enough time for people to spend their time earning a living by writing about those who kick the footballs around.

Anyway I digress, this week we have read stories linking us with numerous players that we have never heard of, we have seen that numerous people are then recycling these fantastical rumours to make more stories and amazingly some people seem to believe what they read, sometimes even losing sleep as to whether the rumours linking us to a one eyed Bulgarian goat are true or not. Strangely it appears that there is quite a demand for this utter rot, meaning that those who invent this rubbish are attracting a lot of traffic to their sites. One of the first utterly awful websites to do this was Tribal Football, one can guarantee that over 99% of their stories are completely fabricated, I just wish people would stop visiting these writers of baseless fantasy.

What's my point I hear you say? Well I don't really have one, I just felt like venting a bit of steam and expressing an opinion, that's the point of sites like ours I think. Maybe we have more power than we think as if we made a conscious effort not to visit sites that routinely make up their 'news' and not to link to these websites, then they may be somewhat less popular than they currently are. I particularly enjoyed Ted's ramblings from yesterday, they sum up the story so far for me.

Onwards to some solid news, the club have announced that RVP has signed a new long term deal at the club, what a boost that is going into pre season training. RVP certainly had a good season last year and also managed to stay injury free, the comments that came with this contract fill me with a lot of hope for the coming season. The club have also announced some more pre season fixtures, the bigger fixtures are coming around in early August with Atletico and Valencia featuring. There are some good photos of pre season training here, as Ted has commented Mr Vermaelen appears to have the icy cold stare of a hardened killer, so hopefully he can begin the slaughtering of opposition strikers next season. Arseblogger has also scooped up an interesting interview with the club CEO Mr Ivan Gazidis. So there you have it, not that much has happened if you only read the more reliable news sources, there certainly is no need to start fretting just yet, jgnore the rubbish and come on you Gunners.

July Musings

Well, the first pre-season friendly kicks off on 18 July against Barnet, and the new premierleague campaign will begin against Everton away on 15 August - a tricky place to start and no mistake. However, I am delighted that we get to go up to play Manure early in the season on 29 August - its a real chance to take a big scalp, and I hope Arsenal have a real go at Manure early in the season.

And thats because as things stand on 8 July, Manure look like they will be weaker next year. The loss of Ronaldo will be huge and Valencia is simply no replacement. Similarly, exchanging Carlos Tevez for Michael Owen is not a step down in class - its an enormous plummet. Manure have lost two of their crowd favourites and whatever their fans say, they will be sorry to have lost them.

I also genuinely think that Ronaldo is irreplaceable. If Manure could get their hands on Lionel Messi, then they might be able to say they have obtained a player of similar abilities, but I cannot see Barca letting Messi go unless Manure are willing to break the Ronaldo fee. Ribery is a good player, but not in the same league as Messi or Ronaldo, and I cannot really think of anyone else who might be able to step into the fake-tanned uber-chav's shoes.

So, I am pleased to announce from this July vantage point of blind optimism that Manure will be total cack next year, which leaves Chelsea and Liverpool as our only challengers for the title.

Liverpool are in a bad place right now. They have run out of cash and the kebab-man Rafa needs more stray dogs to turn into fatty and expensive treats for the Anfield faithful. Unless Liverpool sort their finances out in the next 30 days, then they are bust. There are no rumours in the papers of a stinking rich Sheikh flying in to save them, instead, the rumours are that Mascherano is off to Barcelona and Real want Alonso. If Arsenal could pick up Macherano then I would almost wet my pants with excitement. No. I would wet my pants with excitement. And I am not saying anything about Alonso. Other than to say I would rather see Giles Grimandi come out of retirement. But I think that a lot anyway.

I have also thoroughly enjoyed Fernando Torres' "recommendations" after the Confeds Cup that Rafa should sign Villa and Silva. Well fuck me sideways Fernando - I bet Rafa the Spaniard had never even heard of these players before your crafty network of international scouts picked them up. What's that? Villa and Silva both play for Spain already and have done for years? What? They both excelled in the successful Euro 2008 campaign and everyone in the western, northern, eastern and southern worlds over the age of 1 month knows that they are good players already? Thanks Fernando. No really. Where would Rafa be without your incredible recommendations.

So, with any luck, we will be signing Mascherano, Alonso will retire to a brussel sprout farm in Astoria, and Liverpool will have no midfield whatsoever next year. Which means that yet again they will rely on Gerrard to dig them out of every damn hole they get themselves into. What an over-talented single-man-team Gerrard is. Unfortunately, unless Real do the decent thing and buy Gerrard, then Liverpool will figure again next season.

So, lastly, Chelsea. On paper, not much difference to last season. Drogba is still there, so is Cashley, so is Terry, Lampard.... sorry, I am going to have to stop there, as the bile is rising and I might spew. What a bunch of utter, utter, twats Chelsea have collected. And thankfully, next season they will be lead by the moron that is Carlo Ancelotti. Remember that this is the man who managed to finish 5th in Serie A with a team that included Kaka. He can barely speak English and his record at Milan was actually quite poor given the vast wealth at his disposal - ok, he won one Champs League, but only one Serie A title in 8 years is not the stuff of legends.

And so, as the massed hordes of Arsenal's defenders begin pre-season training at London Colney, including Gallas, Toure, Sagna, Clichy, Song, Vermaelen, Djourou, Senderos, Eboue, Gibbs, Sylvestre and Traore, I find it impossible to believe that we cannot find 4 players out of that 12 who could form a decent defence upon which our midget army in midfield can build its unco-ordinated attack.

So if we play out of our skins next year, then we may play some pretty football, flatter to deceive for a bit, lose to a couple of shite teams, draw with some other shite teams, and maybe, just maybe, have 3rd place and a decent run in the cups in our sights.

Get up for it Arsefans.

Fantastic signing

As Manchester United are rumoured to be signing the, cough, over the hill, splutter, Michael Owen, Arsenal have announced some fantastic news that will disappoint a host of clubs who were keeping a crafty eye on things, Jack Wilshere has signed a new long term deal at the club.

This boy is a special talent and this is great news. It is certainly worth remembering that players of Jack's age have been nabbed by prowling rival clubs before, for example a certain young Sturridge is in the process of being whipped away from City by Chelsea. When this happens and the fee is set by tribunal, the money on offer is invariably an insult added to the injury. Here's to Jack continuing his rise next season.

More shock horror

I can't believe it, it turns out that the rumours linking us to Karim Benzema are complete and utter bollocks, well stone the crows that really is a turn up for the books, I am genuinely surprised again. Mr Benzema shall be joining Real Madrid who seem to be printing bank notes this summer. Incidentally I look forward to enjoying every single game which their overpaid players fail to win next season, anything less than the League and Champions League will be a failure for them and I sincerely hope that they win nothing. Their splashing of the cash during the current financial crisis is nothing but disgraceful, and as for Manchester City, don't get me started on them.

Interestingly William Gallas is making sounds that he is keen to stay and fight for us next season, cynically thinking I wonder just how much this has to do with the fact that he only has a year of his contract to see out. Having said that we should keep our minds open, and saliently Gallas was probably our most consistent defender in the latter part of last season until he was sidelined with his unfortunate knee injury. If one assumes that Gallas stays, then that leaves our new man Vermaelen who will surely be a number one pick, as well as Toure, Silvestre, Djourou and Senderos. There is certain to be some more movement in this department before things kick off in August.

Aaron Ramsey has penned a new long term deal at the club, seems a bit weird to me given that he only signed for us a year ago, I guess that's the nature of football these days. It's worth remembering that Aaron is only 18 and has made over twenty appearances for the first team including a start in the Champions League, while he has become a Welsh regular thanks to some excellent international performances. In case you hadn't noticed the club have revealed the rather interesting (I'm being polite) 3rd kit for next season, isn't it delightful?

Finally a brief word for the England U-21s who despite a brave effort got convincingly beaten by the Germans in the final, 4-0 was a very flattering scoreline for the opposition but the game did show just what type of player England is failing to produce. We had a lot of huff and puff but there was simply not the cunning and craft offensively that one needs to open up defenses at the highest level. The midfield trio of Noble, Muamba and Cattermole summed this up perfectly, while the likes of Rodwell and Mancienne didn't start despite having much more ability on the ball than several of the starting eleven. The crafty and skillful technical ball player is something that the English game does not tend to produce very often, the fact that referees allow GBH before awarding yellow cards might have something to do with that I feel. Anyway the final was still a great achievement and Kieran Gibbs had a solid game in the final. Poor old Theo looked a bit lost up front on his own, in my opinion he does look much more at home in wide areas than up top as a central striker.

Gilberto the great

In my humble opinion if ever there was a player who should have been our club captain for longer then it should have been Gilberto Silva, most certainly we should have kept him on as a player for last season given our lack of depth in the centre of midfield. The man oozes athleticism, professionalism and dedication, I really cannot speak highly enough of him, the likes of Ronaldo and Adebayor would do well to watch and learn from the way in which Gilberto behaves both on and off the pitch. I reckon if Arsene could turn back the clock then he would have made Gilberto captain and not Gallas, if only Arsene could turn back time eh.

I wasn't glued to the mighty Confederations cup by any means, however I was pleasantly surprised to see Mr Silva running around like a youngster in Brazil's midfield as they strode on to victory. A certain Felipe Melo was playing alongside him in the midfield and gave a very decent account of himself, although one must see this in the context of a very low quality football tournament in comparison to the Premiership. However if Gilberto thinks he's got what it takes then that means a lot to me, it must be remembered that our interest in Melo may be nothing more than rumours at this stage. With the Confederations cup having just finished any action would most likely be happening in the next few days. There is some Tasci rumour as well, to be honest I've no idea what's going to happen, we may well sign three or four while letting a few go, or there may be no more transfer activity at all.

There is one thing that one can always rely on, and that is the fact that the British media will always continue to create sensationalist headlines out of complete non stories. At Wimbledon they tried to create a story out of nothing by twisting old quotes by Andy Murray's second round opponent to make it look as if he saw Murray as a 'cheat'. On the radio the other day I heard Sven Goran Eriksson interviewed and asked about Stuart Pearce's credentials, the interviewer wanted Sven to either say that Pearce was rubbish or that he was going to be the next England boss, obviously Sven wasn't going to slag him off, so the headlines the next day were 'Sven backs Pearce for England job' when all he was doing was being polite. The complete non story of Cesc's quotes from a few days back sums this up, what sloppy, lazy and frankly crap journalism we are victim to at times.

There is talk of a rights issue at the club and apparently this may well be discussed at a board meeting next week, someone with a bit more financial knowledge can educate me on this in the comments section. Finally to concentrate on actually footballing matters, Theo and Kieran will both be in action tonight as the England U-21s take on the Germans in the final of the Euros. They both slotted away excellent spot kicks in the penatly shoot against Sweden in the semis, let's hope that the young gunners can continue to impress. Kieran Gibbs has really caught my eye of late, his balance, pace and strong tackling could well see him get very close to a regular starting slot with us next season.