Pathetic Barca continue to insult Cesc

It does not surprise me that Barcelona FC are continuing to take the piss with their courting of Cesc Fabregas. Their first offer was reported to be about 25 million pounds, and now after yet more public tapping up and mincing, their second offer has gone up to only 30million pounds which included numerous hypothetical add-ons:

“Barcelona are offering extra payments which are dependent on all sorts of fantastical things, but we are not interested in that. We want them to pay what he is worth.”

Barcelona FC have yet again been told to stick their pathetic and insulting offer. If I were Cesc then I would feel rather humiliated that the very same club had just paid over 30 million Euros for another player with nothing like Cesc's track record. Barca are also unable to even match Cesc's Arsenal wages. Consider Barca's 30million offer in the context with Ashley Young (20million), Dowding (20million) and Henderson (20million: it is an insult. What a bunch of bankrupt tossers.

We face Udinese in the CL qualifying, not an easy prospect by any means, though it certainly does help that they have lost several of their best players this summer. A 19-man squad travels to Benfica for the friendly tonight and there are some rather interesting absentees. Cesc and Nasri appear to be absent for the obvious reasons, as are Eboue and Bendtner, Vela may be on his way too. It is ominous that are injuries are racking up so early; Gibbs, Kos, Diaby, Jack and Theo are already out. It is encouraging to see Jenkinson, Frimpong, Miguel and Lansbury included.

This makes the introduction of reinforcements even more imperative, our squad is looking thin. Arsene apparently understands our frustration and thinks something is going to happen soon:

“We hope to give you some good news soon. Next week, something might happen.”

Time is running out. I'd be highly surprised if new signings are not made soon, but if they are not then it is hard to see our current squad proving to be strong enough for the challenges ahead. Now is not the time for haggling or penny pinching. We have money and must spend, it is as simple as that. It is Arsene's last chance saloon.

Reflecting on the angry small babies

Another day often gives one just a bit more perspective and after personally I think those that booed the team on Sunday are looking even more stupid that they did yesterday, time and perspective will do these fools no favours. Arseblogger hit the nail very firmly on the head this morning, there simply is no decent justification for such behaviour.

Some excellent points were made on the blog yesterday by readers. The impact that such pathetic booing can have on player retention was a very salient one. The negative atmosphere at home games is now part of a kind of vicious cycle, the players can't be looking forward to the lack of 'support' from certain sections of the crowd, it really cannot be helping us get results at the Emirates. Of note our away record was considerably better than our home one last season. The 'Gooner in Exile' makes some great points that I would urge you all to read.

One thing I cannot stand is this consumerist attitude of some so called Arsenal 'supporters', they seem to think that paying for tickets means they can come along, whinge, offer very little support and a 'right' to boo the team at pre season games. Frankly we'd be better off with empty seats than having these morons dragging us down. If you don't want to pay the price you are paying then simply don't, it is a free world, but don't come to games if you are not going to get behind the team. Arsenal needs supporters, not just paying spectators who see themselves as entitled consumers. Thinking you have a divine 'right' to boo is a very selfish, short sighted and depressing attitude to have in life.

There are certainly some situations when booing can be justified, for example if a particular player has shafted the club, or if there are clearly players out there not putting in the effort. For example if anyone deserved a booing at the weekend it was Samir Nasri. However booing a team that has given their all is not productive in my eyes. If people have a problem with the management then they would be better off protesting in other ways, but we saw at the end of last season that this bunch of angry small men was pretty tiny, still their boos can be quite loud despite their small minority status.

In conclusion just to reiterate some of the points I have had to repeat over and over again, there was simply no justification for the booing yesterday, it was stupid, divisive and can only be negative for the club we love. That is not to say that we cannot discuss certain problems that the club currently faces with key players on the verge of leaving and in need of significant reinforcements. The manager has to change his approach, we all know this, but for God's sake let's give him the chance to do this and then judge him. If we start to crucify him and his players before the season has started we could be the catalyst for our own demise.

The Arsenal Squad 2011 - stronger or shambles?

Goalkeepers: Szczesny, Fabianski, Mannone

Verdict: Top No1 and reasonable backup.

Fullbacks: Santos, Sagna, Gibbs, Jenkinson

Verdict: Santos needs to prove he can defend and if Gibbs can stay fit then looking strong at left back, Jenkinson is raw but can be a decent backup to Sagna.

Centre Backs: Vermaelen, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Djourou, Miguel, Squillaci (unfortunately)

Verdict: Vastly better than last season, the arrival of the experienced German international is a potentially good move but there doubts over his pace, Vermaelen can hopefully stay fit and if this is the case we should be more robust defensively.

Midfielders: Wilshere, Ramsey, Rosicky, Benayoun, Song, Diaby, Frimpong, Coquelin

Verdict: Fantastic in terms of young talent but there is an obvious lack of experienced combative players who can stay fit, that is my huge concern, because we look too small and lightweight at times and should not rely on Jack and Aaron, they are young developing talents.

Wingers: Gervinho, Walcott, Arshavin, Miyaichi, Oxlade

Verdict: Gervinho appears to have the potential to more than replace the erratic Nasri, the youngsters add a bit of depth in wide areas. The form or lack of it from our small Russian has been a concern for some time, in my opinion he has to play more centrally and cannot cut it on the wing. Walcott needs to step up this season. Overall we have more pace and more width in the squad though.

Forwards: RVP, Park, Chamakh, Afobe

Verdict: Excellent to have RVP fit (for the moment) and Park promises to be a useful addition. I am deeply concerned with our ability to score goals beyond RVP though, Chamakh is looking dead on his feet and there is no other quality top notch striker to lead the line after RVP. I am amazed that we have let Bendtner go out on loan when is clearly our second best striker after RVP. Why not convince him to stay?

Overall I am much happier than I was a week ago. The defence is stronger, we have more pace and width in the squad, and we have no one who is not committed to the cause now that Cesc and Nasri have gone. I am most concerned with our striker situation, with Bendtner going we have very little quality backup to RVP, Chamakh looks drained of all confidence, a lot of pressure is going to be on the new South Korean Park and it is asking a lot of him in his first season. I also have concerns about the midfield as we are looking very reliant on our younger squad members, we really could have done with one M'Vila type of addition.

However serious questions need to be asked as to why things were left so late in the day when so much of this business could have been done earlier in the day. Most seriously for me, our wage structure needs to be completely revamped, it overpays lesser squad members and is not competitive in terms of the top salaries. We absolutely must have a competitive wage structure. Players like Mata have slipped through the net because of our wage structure and this cannot be allowed to continue in future years. It is time to rethink, restructure or die. Come on you Gunners!

The booing shambles

It is not often that I have been ashamed to be an Arsenal fan, but sadly today was one of those days. It wasn't to do with the team, the manager, the result, it was the quite pathetic behaviour and attitude of a group of so called 'Arsenal fans' who booed their players in a pre season friendly match.

The behaviour of these fans is already being exploited by various arsenal-hating sections of the media, it is simply completely unproductive, it is deeply harmful to the football club that these morons claim to support.

Pre season matches are generally boring affairs, they have been for as long as I can remember, so people expecting a fully committed high tempo encounter are deluded, players are simply getting some fitness and are going to try to avoid injuries in these meaningless games. Pre season results just don't matter either, and anyway today the first team won their match.

I despair at people getting such ridiculously disproportionate rage and booing their own players for getting a draw in a meaningless friendly, it really is hard to find the words. It doesn't help the players, it doesn't help the club, it only helps our competitors.

I know we have some issues at the moment, after all I have been pointing them out for months. We need a centre back, we need another centre forward with chamakh struggling, the black clouds of nasri and cesc still hang overhead. Still it is bloody obvious that the club is trying to sort all these issues out before the season gets underway.

Some people need to go back to basics and learn what being a proper 'supporter' is all about. Some people have become so self destructive that they are being eaten up by the negativity from within, they appear dour joyless sorts who do little to actually get behind the team that they claim to support. Being a supporter is not like buying a ticket for the cinema, sitting back and watching exactly what you want, making no positive contribution and then whining if everything is not just as you had wished. It is about supporting your team through thick and thin, helping them recover from setbacks and not digging holes deeper.

Maybe this will all pass, but at the moment my enthusiasm for going to games is severely dwindling, I want to sit alongside people who will support the team, through the good times and the bad. The booers are a disgrace to Arsenal football club and if you were on of them, would you kindly rethink your attitude or keep well away from the Emirates in the future.

Cesc cannot be our captain

It pains me to title such an article but it is now clear to me that Cesc cannot go on any longer as our club captain. It was a strange choice anyway, almost a gift to encourage someone to stay a bit longer when you knew they may not wish to. This was a managerial error in itself in my eyes.

Cesc is a good man, a highly talented player but not a leader on the field, as much has been alluded to by several off his team mates in the past. Most importantly he has not been 100% committed to Arsenal FC for some time now.

Although he has generally performed pretty well for us in recent months, there have been some signs that this lack of devotion has been slowly creeping into his performances, especially in some lesser games. Having said that he has still put in some fantastic showings, intermittently showing the creativity that makes him so special by cutting up defences with his slide rule passing time and time again.

I like Cesc as a player and a man, and I do not resent his desire to return home, but pragmatically it is simply bad for Arsenal football club to be captained by a player who will no longer die fighting for the cause. It is time we had a new captain, a certain Belgian centre back and a certain young English midfielder strike me as the best candidates for the job.

Football: the new Dr Faustus?

For anyone who hasn't encountered Christopher Marlowe's play, Dr Faustus, here is a brief synopsis; Dr Faustus sells his soul to the devil in order to gain power and knowledge, he then becomes consumed by his soul's damnation and all does not end well for him. Well, how on earth is this play relevant to football today? That is something I am going to try to demonstrate to you.

Football resemble a corrupt tin-pot dictatorship on virtually every level. Football has been transformed from an amateur game into a multi-billion pound industry over the last century, the problem is that many of the game's structures have not been proportionately reformed and are in massive need of being hammered into the 21st century. Although professionalisation has brought many advances, a lot of the soul of sport has been lost as the amateur game has been replaced by the professional one.

If one looks at the Premier League objectively then it has had many successes of which one can be proud. However when one remarks upon the fact that it has become a money laundering vehicle for many multi-billionaire criminals then one has to ask serious questions about the regulation and governance of the game we love.

Last week's Dispatches program on Channel 4 gave us a brief behind the scenes glimpse into this overtly murky and corrupt world. Companies like 'London Nominees' are effectively offering money laundering routes for some rather dubious individuals. The saddest thing is that local peoples' football clubs are merely seen as cash cows for these dodgy dealers, the way Bryan Robson coldly talks of selling training grounds to build supermarkets is like to kick in the balls of your average football supporter. The offshore ownership of big clubs such as Spurs was another startling fact that many are unaware of, it means that that the true owner of a club can be completely hidden from the fans.

The problem in football is that there is no fit and proper regulation of anything at all. FIFA is a failed organisation that is in the process of falling apart, UEFA is simply a European version of FIFA. Our own English Football Association is not fit for purpose, anyone trying to lead reform gets booted out or so frustrated that they end up quitting. As a consequence football's financial dealings are hidden from the public and fans, club ownership is virtually unregulated and open to rank corruption, clubs can be driven into the ground in a reckless manner while fans can do nothing about it, debt levels are at an all time irresponsible high, and on and on.

The worst thing in all this is that the fairness in the game appears to be at an all time low. Certain big clubs have far too much power, while the rules on and off the pitch are not enforced and regulated in a fit and proper manner. The influx of money into the game means that football's processes are not capable of steering wide of corrupt practices, this was proven by the level of corruption in the Italian refereeing scandal of a few years back. The way in which referees are selected for Premier League games is done behind closed doors and is wide open to being exploited by clubs, just as it was in Italy; strangely the media are silent on this.

Alex Ferguson runs a cabal of sorts in the Premier League. He narrowly escaped having his dodgy dealings aired in public by the Irishmen Magnier and McManus about ten years ago, no doubt he would have lost his job, if not gone to prison if those secret files had seen the light of day. After that close shave, Ferguson continues to influence officials and control a huge network of managers, coaches, ex-players who all know that upsetting this bullying dictator would not be in their interests.

The recent tapping up of Samir Nasri is just a symptom of this wider disease that is the rank corruption present in modern football. It is demonstrative of a failing regulatory system that sees the rules left unenforced as the biggest and most powerful continue to dominate at the expense of a fairness and competition. One hope left is the involvement of politics in the form of the Commons Select Committee's inquiry into football governance, as fans we must pressure out politicians to sort this mess out.

There is no utopia but there are certainly examples of where better regulation has led to a healthier domestic league. Certainly reforms that bring about more openness and transparency are an absolute necessity, otherwise football is going to become increasingly boring with a big few oligarchs dominating proceedings. We need rules that are actually enforced, we need technology brought in to make the game fairer, we need more transparent processes for appointing referees for matches, we need to have transparent club ownership and more fan involvement, we need some form of salary cap introduced as has been done successfully in many other sports. In short we need to attack this corruption head on or the game we love will continue to sell its soul to the devil in a manner similar to Dr Faustus.

Cesc and Nasri must go

Some fairly encouraging signs were noted in our away victory against Cologne yesterday, Gervinho's excellent goals and performance in particular. The biggest down was the injury to Conor Henderson, fingers crossed it is not a really serious one and good luck to the lad. The absence of Armand Traore was interesting, it may signal something big or he may have picked up a minor injury, I'm sure we'll find out in due course.

The big stories that we need to sort out are those concerning our 'club captain' Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri. For me both need to go and soon. Why I hear you ask? Well the reason we dropped a lot of silly points last season was down to a lack of commitment in games when we should have know better. Cesc appears less than 100% committed, as does Nasri, the latter's behaviour leaves a lot to be desired and he has shown his lack of commitment to the cause by failing to sign a new contract. It is foolish to keep players who no longer want to play for the club, it would also be madness to loose over 20 million by letting Nasri walk away for free next summer.

The club could easily cope with losing these two, we have lost far bigger and better players in the past. It would be a big loss, Cesc far more so than Nasri in my opinion, but if we then used the millions gained to replace them both with some top drawer talent then I am sure we would have forgotten about them in no time at all. There are some top players around who would surely be keen to come to the mighty Arsenal FC, Juan Mata for example. My hope is that the club's pretence of wanting to keep Nasri is simply a way of getting the biggest possible fee for the wantaway Frenchman.

Overall I think the priorities must be shipping out these two and replacing them, shipping out more dead wood (Eboue/Bendtner/Almunia et al), bringing in a young pacey powerful striker and a strong physically powerful centre half. If we can bring in that little bit of needed experience then it will complement some of our top drawer young talent very nicely indeed. I am particularly hopeful over Gibbs, Frimpong, Lansbury and Miyaichi.

I am not naive, the club has to be very cunning in the way that it spins reality in order to get the best deals in can in the market, both in terms of selling and buying players. This means that the club will very rarely be honest and open in revealing its motives to us, it would be foolish so to do. The club are running out of time and they need to act fast to resolve these rather significant outstanding issues. I just hope we can get it all done and dusted in time for the season's opener in August. Come on you Gunners.