Arsenal V The Naughty Chavs & Welcome back Thomas!

We face the Chavs this weekend, the naughty Chavs that is. 3 red cards in their last two games, Pubis would be proud! 


But the biggest talking point in the build up to the game is this JT racism saga and here are my points of view on the matter.


John Terry is sweating over the outcome of the FA investigation into alleged racist remarks made to Anton Ferdinand. Now, the media are going on about a video of the incident flooding the internet which shows Terry mouthing the words; "F***ing black C***" - however part of what he said is obscured when Ashley Cole ran into view of the camera, obscuring Terry's mouth so we're not privy to all that Terry said. 

Could we be seeing this again if JT is proven guilty? Ah memories!

It is suggested that JT may have been asking Anton "do you think I called you a f***ing black c***?". 


Ashley Cole has stated he did not hear anything, even though he was about 1 foot away from Terry during his tirade? Odd that? 


So why do they not try and get a better view of Terry's words from a different angle? There's usually about 287 cameras at a Premier League game these days so one of them must have caught the whole thing?

But how about this; why doesn't Terry just come out and tell everyone 'exactly' what he said, word for word instead of just denying he said anything racist? 


The lip readers hired by the FA could use this to clarify the evidence they pick up from the replays and the issue would be dealt with justifiably.

I don't know if Terry said what he is being accused of. I don't like Terry at all but I'm not gonna jump on the bandwagon (too much), I just hope that justice is served and if Terry is proven guilty, he is banned from football for life.

He's been a bad enough role model as it is, despite being a good defender, but if it turns out he uses racist slurs to wind other players up, he must not be allowed to influence anyone in the public eye again.

However, if it is proved that he did not say what he is alleged to have done so, then Ferdinand should be punished accordingly for inciting a major problem and wrongly accusing someone of racism.

I have been wrongly accused of being racist before, only in a minor way by some ignorant woman on Twitter, but it still riled me so much I felt angry and upset for days, I reported her and had her blocked.

Either being accused of being a racist or being on the receiving end of racist abuse is upsetting and this day and age it is a shame these problems still exist, particularly in football which influences so many people.

I know this isn't really Arsenal related but Terry should be facing us on Saturday and with all this going on I wondered if it would affect his performance and/or be used by Arsenal fans to stoke the fire from the terraces. I can imagine a lot of booing aimed towards him, which will make a change as we've recently had to endure booing from a small section of Arsenal's 'Mindless Idiots' towards AW and the board! 

Welcome back Vermaelen!

We go into this game with an improving record and I worry a loss will set us back a little. 


But thinking positively we have RVP on top form and we know how he likes to score against our West London rivals. 


We also have TV returning which has amassed huge debate over whether he'll play, breaking up the Mertescielny partnership, with Kos given a go at right back which is his original, natural position. Shame for JD though who has done well there so far, be it against lesser opposition than the Chavs. 


Maybe having TV, PM & LK at the back with Santos at left back will be a stronger, tighter formation. We can be thankful we won't be facing Dogbra  (yes I spelt it wrong on purpose - you ever seen a Dog Bra?) 

No Didier DogBra on Saturday!

Torres will be back from suspension and prior to his ban, was finding form ominously. 


It'll be a toughy but I have a good feeling about this one. A win away from home is due against a top four team and it would scream volumes to our rivals that we are back should we do so. 


A loss would be a little damaging but with expectation levels on a different par nowadays, I don't think it will ruin our season, it is still far too early to judge. 

Theo vs The 'Ox' Debate - Are they really rivals for the wing?

Is Theo praying he's not benched for 'The Ox' - Naaah!

Exciting prospect already thrilling Gooners worldwide!

I feel for Theo.

I, like many Gooners was thrilled when Wenger signed him back in '06 for 12 million, much like he has done with'The Ox' and from the same club.
I am a big fan of the lad despite the general frustration at an apparent inability to improve after 4/5 years at the club, I still believe he is improving.

I agree with many of the comparisons between Theo and Alex and understand some of the moans and groans about Theo - he can be frustrating but he is still only 22 years old and some of his progression was halted by injuries.

I remember a certain winger by the name of Theirry who came to us way back, 1999 I believe. He was about the same age as Theo is now and seemed miffed after a torrid time at his previous club stuck out on the wing where he clearly didn't want to be.

Henry was an unknown and had less expectation on his shoulders

Wenger brought him over and gave him a run out, he seemed happier and more natural when he pushed forward into a more advanced goal scoring position. He still cut in or out to the wing but once he was within shooting range, my word, he could score a cracking goal or three.

That man went on to score a few more for us one he had established himself in his mid twenties as a natural striker.

Theo wants the same. He can do the same, which is why I still believe in him and want him to emulate the great Frenchman now playing for the NY Red Bulls as one of the most famous strikers in football history.

When Theo plays on the right which we all know isn't the position he wants to play in, he seems frustrated.

He CAN knock the ball past the opposition player and run on to it, for some reason he doesn't do it often enough.

I think he has been very patient, has done what he's been told and tried his best and therefore deserves the chance he wants, to play in his preferred position.

Theo has clearly stated he wants to play in the forwards position. With RVP playing behind him, I don't see why we can't see a new Bergkamp/Henry type partnership forming.

As for Alex, well apart from the usual statement that he'd be happy playing anywhere, and I'm sure he could in the final third, 'The Ox' wants to play in a more central role, much like Fabregas did.

Therefore, I can see no reason why they both can't play together with someone else like Gervinho, Park, Myaichi, or even Arshavin taking up the right wing position, hell I would'nt even mind seeing Sagna playing there as his delivery is normally of good quality but in that case we'd have to rely on Jenkinson to take up the right back role permanently but is he ready to do that yet?

Could we possibly try this? I doubt it. 

Why not try it?

We've seen Gibbs play on the left wing, as he briefly did last night in our 2-1 win in Europe, in front of Santos and that looked pretty good to me.

We all know what Wenger is like when it comes to protecting young inexperienced players, so it's too early to write Theo off in my opinion. It merely creates healthy competition in those attacking positions.

We may have a patched up defence at his time what with new players bedding in, Vermaelen's injury and the likes of JD turning to shit just when we least need it.

But in our attacking third, Wenger has options most clubs would only dream of having and we have to use that to our advantage.

In conclusion, I'd say Wenger has a welcome headache in the attacking department but by no means do I believe that 'The Ox's' exciting emergence means Theo has anything to worry about.

As for Sunday's game against our smelly scummy neighbours, I'd be happy to see them both on the pitch in a formation much like the one above. Though I doubt that will happen!

A dream result these days!

We're underdogs now anyway, so why not go for broke and see if we can score a shite load more than we concede on the day!

Arsenal's 15 Years of 'Who'?

Congratulations 'Arsene Who?' 

October 1st 1996 a 'Who' walked into Highbury beaming broadly.

Looking like a professor with his round specs, speaking fluent English with a deep rounded French accent; 'Arsene Who' had signed as the new Arsenal manager on 30th September and seemed the happiest man in the world. 

Professor 'Who' signed for Arsenal in September 1996

The same could not be said of the emotions of many Arsenal fans and players. Who was this man, how was a bloody teacher going to get Arsenal back to winning ways, competing with Liverpool and ManU for Premiership dominance?

Skip forward a few years and Arsene had become the most sought after manager in the world of football. We had won the double convincingly and with style, something Arsenal had not seen since the 70's.

Exciting new foreign players like Vieira had arrived and ageing stalwarts Adams, Keown, Dixon, Winterburn, Bould, Seaman, Parlour had all gotten fitter, faster and more intelligent on the pitch despite their already legendary status, they had improved greatly.

Tony 'Mr Arsenal' Adams had his career extended and improved under Wenger -Thank-You!

You can't teach old dogs new tricks, Arsene's genius proved otherwise.

'Arsene Who' introduced unique training methods and dietary improvements to the club which have since been adopted throughout the football leagues in this country and Europe.

'Arsene Who' was now affectionately referred to as Arsene Wenger - Genius.

Over the next few years, Arsenal, under AW's tutorage, won further league titles, FA Cups including an unprecedented unbeaten league title season with a run of 49 games only cut short of 50+ by a cheating ManU performance. What a surprise that was!

Ah the glory days! 

There was even a Champions League final appearance which would have been more of a competition had we kept 11 men on the pick for most of the game. Since that fateful day, the referee in attendance has since stated he wishes he had not sent off Jens Lehman. Too f@ckin late mate!

We skip through to 2011 and Arsene Wenger is celebrating 15 years in charge at our beloved club.

Then and Now - fortunately Wenger discovered contact lenses!

A lot has happened over the years but unfortunately those of us with short term memories or those who possess the unfortunate inability to see the positives in anything and therefore may as well reduce the over population of the earth by throwing themselves off the London Eye,  will possibly struggle to wish the great man a happy 15th Anniversary.

I suppose not winning a trophy since the 2005 FA cup Final against bitter rivals ManU will be a major contributing factor to that opinion.

It's not like we haven't come close. We have fallen short on many occasions for many reasons. Player fatigue, injury, poor refereeing decisions, bad luck, there are so many reasons/excuses for our lack of trophies, the most poignant reason being the influx of Oil money that has overtaken, and spoilt, in my opinion, the Premier League in the last 6 years.

I won;t bother going into that though, I've had y ay on that subject on previous blogs and it real serves no purpose.

We WILL see Jack and Vermaelen emulating this scene again soon, I know it!

I am however, going to point to the positives as usual.

We have been consistent under Wenger's tenure, qualifying for the Champions League in every season since AW joined the club. No other team can claim that, not even money bags, cheating, ref buying ManU.

We have witnessed the most sublime, pure, sexy football anyone has ever seen in this country with some of the most skilful legendary players such as Henry, Bergkamp and that philosophy has seen us produce players with rare talent like Jack Wilshere who I am proud to say is Arsenal through and through and will lead us into a bright future thanks to Wenger.

Legends, simply Legends

We have (despite the name which I don't like) the most advanced, beautiful stadium and training facilities in the country thanks to Wenger who pretty much managed the project aside from laying the pitch! 'The Grove' as I like to call it, is a stadium to be proud of.

'The Grove' home to Arsenal FC

We are also the most financially stable, self sufficient club in the country thanks to Wenger's shrewd economic mind, decision making and almost psychic financial astuteness.

We seem to always be looking to the future, with our young players, and a multitude of missed chances at winning titles it's often been "oh there's always next year"

We're all fed up of saying that, but despite our recent trophy woes I still think we ALL owe our beloved clubs' manager a warm message of congratulations for all he has done whilst wishing him our luck and support for what he intends to do to get us back to the days of glory we had prior to 2006.

Le Professeur 

Le Bouffon

It is the honourable, classy thing to do.

Arsene Wenger and the squad will prosper more if they can ride the waves of our vociferous support both at The Grove, from our living rooms and everywhere around the world where Gooners of all shapes, creeds and race await impatiently for a new reason to celebrate.

That day will come and I trust Wenger to deliver it to us.

So, Congratulations Arsene and thank you for 15 years, may there be many more filled with glory and shiny metal.

Arsene to Herbert; "My bust's bigger than yours"!

Pondering's on a Media hyped week at Arsenal FC

It's been a mixed bag this week. 


The aftermath of the Blackburn debacle, media speculation and sensationalism surrounding Wenger position as manager, a win over Division 2 minnows with a bunch of kids fighting back from 1-0 down and the following day, instead of focussing on the positives, the media make some issue about our attendance even though it was, on reflection, the best attendance in the country for League Cup week, especially if you look at the level of opposition we were facing. Yes, we are the media darlings again, their favourite punchbag after a 10 day rest bite. 


Inevitably, this feeds the doomers and they crawl out from their hovels and rat holes to infest the Gooner world with their bile. 


So I've spent the week perusing many various blogs and am pleased to see that the majority of Gooner's are still very much like me, positive. 


There are a few however, such as the protesting doomers who still linger. To me, they are simply filthy little specks of puree'd mosquito splattered across the windscreen of our pimped out Gooner Van but you can feel assured that I left a few choice points of view upon the blogs and articles that they just about had the intelligence to write. 

Rob's 'Gooner Van' ..it's my 'Shagg'un Waggun'!

These thoughts included the following; (censored for the kids of course)


'On fans damaging the club by staying away, not buying tickets etc':


‘The idea that fans can damage the club with protests will only ring true if the ‘Majority’ of fans are behind such actions. Thankfully they are not. 


Staying away from the club to damage it by not buying tickets at this moment in time will only affect the person(s) staying away as there are so many fans who wait and wait for tickets to become available, or simply cannot afford them. We often see empty seats at the Grove, this is not because the tickets were not sold, hence the consistent full house announcements despite huge chunks of red seatage on display. It is merely because season ticket holders have decided not to take up their seats at the time. 


If the ticket exchange process was easier and unused tickets were reasonably priced then I’m certain we would never see an empty seat at the ground as the seats would be filled with people normally unable to get season tickets. I’d be happy as a season ticket holder to sell my ticket at a reduced price to someone else should I not be able to attend or choose not to attend the game on the day. 


This would more than likely see less seats being left unfilled by ST holders themselves. 


While these ‘Protestors’ remain a minority I just look at them as a group of pathetic glory hunters who really have no clue about how Football Clubs/businesses are run nowadays. I still feel the board have the club’s best interests at heart and so what if they make profit, If any of these idiots were shareholders they’d want a profit too. It’s not a f@cking charity after all. 


These people live in a dream world and either need to get educated and concentrate on getting behind the team instead of creating negative, detrimental vibes that WILL affect the team on the pitch. Or they need to p1$$ off to another club like Citeh where apparently everything is rosy and will be forever and ever.’

I, like most fans have questions and worry about the way things are at the moment but there are better ways of venting frustrations and proactively getting my points of view across, be it writing to the board, attending AGM’s if possible, or any other professional means of communication. We’re not a bunch of miners and this is the 21st century, there is no need for neanderthalic behaviour such as marching up to the ground waving placards and/or booing the team itself during match days.

The other thing of note regarding the moans and groans due to price hikes is simply, if you don't like the prices, don’t f@cking pay them. 

Let someone else who can afford it but is stuck on a waiting list, have your seat, so they can enjoy what you should be enjoying. Who heard of a protest outside Tesco’s cos the price of beer went up 6%? No one forces you to buy it, it’s a personal choice.

Now protests against the TV license I’d be 100% behind, as we’re forced to pay that even though I for one hardly use/watch the BBC’s products. In fact the only decent programme the BBC has to offer us is MOTD and even that is only just about bearable. F@ck you BBC!

The 'Ox' - kiss the badge and make them cry! 

In regards to the game on Tuesday, it seems we fully deserved the win and the kids were tremendous in not letting the fact we fell behind, get to them. 

'The Ox' by all accounts was one of many youngsters who shone brightly and maybe their fearlessness is what helped. 

Maybe the first teamer's can shake off the fear they have that they will make another mistake or that we'll fall behind and get caught out whilst attacking to get back in the game. I hope these mental frailties are being worked upon since last week and we see an improvement at home vs Bolton. Roll on Saturday!

Forward 

P.S. A special F@CK YOU to Sky Sports News, The Sun and all the doom mongers this week for your usual Arsenal battering and an even bigger F@CK YOU to the so called Arsenal fans who boo'd at the Grove on Tuesday when we went 1-0 down. See how the majority of the fans get behind the team, cheer them and it helps them. Save your protests and boo's for the AGM's if you insist the vitriol is aimed at the board, don't vent it out on the team or AW who are trying to get us back on track you plebeianic apes. 

Arsenal 4 Arsenal 3. Oh & Blackburn scored a couple too.

I thought guns were banned in this country. Scotland Yard need to get round to the Grove sharpish to confiscate the one Arsenal are using to shoot themselves in the foot.

The mistakes and bad luck at our beloved club are getting beyond a joke now. We no longer defend as a team and with JW and TV out, our only leader on the pitch at the moment is Robin, who obviously can't organise defences to save his life.

Stop It...Just, Stop it. 

Mertesacker has not settled yet and looks so scared to make a mistake that mistakes are being made - and he missed a sitter at the end! Poor old Song and Kos were both in the wrong place at the wrong time.....again!

In attack, aside from the usual sitters we tend to miss, we seem to be coming together. Then we've always been good in that department overall.

As usual it is our defence as a team which let us down. Yes, the back line was as wobbly as Sepp Blubbers belly; they clearly weren't communicating with each other especially when trying to catch opponents offside, apart from one occasion when it worked but the linesman decided to switch off - typical.

As a team we didn't close down, we didn't get the blocks in. I've said it time and time again, when we've played that way, blocking, closing down space, chasing a player down and surrounding him until he gives it away, we've always come up trumps. Why for fecksake do we not do that in every game?

Samba was 'Shocked' to see us scoring goals for Blackburn

However, despite an awful day at the office, I still believe in giving it time.

Call me a typical Taurus, stubborn, resolute and dismissive, but I refuse to bow down to minority doomers calling for Wenger's head.
I continue to dismiss the media frenzy; hyping the situation as a crisis.
I stubbornly refute the idea that our season is already over in terms of progression and silverware.

As I've said before, I will judge with more scrutiny after at least ten games. A team that has been injected with eight or nine new players (most of which are not fringe players) must have time.

Wenger is literally rebuilding a whole new team following the collapse of the previous project spear-headed by Cesc, Na$ri and JW. We still have JW and we miss him as we do TV.

It's up to the others to step up to the plate but they need time for that.

Understandably, Wenger only has a wafer thin margin of error and time span available following 6 years in the doldrums but it has to be allowed. Changing the manager will not solve this situation, only worsen it.
When the time comes for a change of that enormity, it will be when the club are in a healthier condition both on and off the pitch.

Do the doomers think AW is purposely setting out to sabotage the club or something?

The man fixed us before, he WILL fix us again.
There is no such thing as a quick fix in the football world...even sugar daddy's have to wait for a while for things to fall into place despite buying their success.
So if anyone thinks that is the answer, then wake up and smell the Oil.

Wenger has acknowledged that we were abysmal defensively and I do think this will be worked upon further in the next few training sessions and beyond.
As long as evidence of improvement is noted then they'll know they're doing the right thing but until that happens, they MUST prioritise that segment of the training regime.

There are some people calling for a change in the defensive coaching, fair enough to a degree. But they need to remember, these are the same coaches that trained the team to beat Barcelona last season, that helped us get to a position where we were the only club challenging for 4 trophies. The defensive coaching isn't necessarily the problem;

It is the right state of mentality that has to be taught to this team.

They have togetherness, they have willing, they have ability, it's a case of gelling that together; which will take time. We must remember, we are in a state of transition and rebuilding.

We must lower our expectation levels a little, take the pressure off the players and Wenger.

Show them that they have our backing all the way and that we believe it will come good as, yet again, the away fans vociferously demonstrated on Saturday, despite the shocking events they were witnessing.

Well done to them.

As Wenger said in one of his post match interviews; we are 90% there but the 10% is punishing us.

We're nearly there and once we accumulate that final 10% we can start to feel more confident and slowly raise our expectation levels again.

If we don't improve and after 15 games we find ourselves in unfamiliar territory still, then I don't think we'll need to resort to sp*rs scum like doom mongering and go marching on North London.

Arsenal Football Club will still be there and the people who make the decisions, Arsene Wenger and Co. will make the right ones for the club and the fans.....

.....but I'm 90% certain it won't come to that.



Onwards and to the League Cup against Shrewsbury who are flying high in league two. No doubt we'll see the likes of 'The Ox', Park, Ryo and a few other young'uns mixed with a splattering of experience and maybe even an appearance for Mannone or Fabianski (I'll refrain from calling him Flappyhandski until he's had a few games, then we'll see if he gets his old nickname back).

No doubt a resounding win would cheer us all up a little, but we'll have to wait and see what happens at Bolton next week before seeing way we've learnt from our latest debacle.

Forward. 

BVB result shows a little improvement

So, 1-1 not a bad result but obviously hurts given we were winning until the last few minutes.

We did sit back a bit too much, the space between the back line and midfield line was literally a few metres at times and the Chamakh substitution reflected the game plan; to defend deep and not get caught out.

We did.

However, If we'd pushed up to go for a second at that time and then got caught on the counter attack, we'd have been slaughtered by the dormers. Tell me that's not true.

Regardless though,  the game plan was torn up with a sublime goal that 9 times out of 10 would not have gone in. A great goal.

I am seeing improvement. Kos was immense and Arteta worked hard.

We're still lacking in the final 3rd and I know Theo and G'vinho didn't combine as well as we hoped with RVP often isolated, I just think we had a defensive game plan overall which but didn't capitalise on the counter attacking options we had.

Theo did provide the assist for RVP's great goal so credit where it's due.

Overall, not a lot to complain about in my eyes. I've said before it will take time for the team to gel and gain confidence and a draw away at such an imposing place against the German champions is not a bad result.

Shinji Kagawa looked awesome tonight..one to look out for in the Premiership!

BVB were brilliant and it's hard to imagine they're struggling. You can see why they were last season's Bundesliga champions. Gotze and Kagawa were fantastic and they defended typically German like!

My main gripe having watched that game is how jealous I am of the atmosphere they create there. Our stadium is bigger and holds more fans. The Grove could become a daunting cauldron of a place to visit for opposing teams if we could recreate the same hostile atmosphere. If only.

Full match report here. (courtesy of Arsenal.com)



So onto a Saturday lunchtime kick off on Sky as we play away again.

This time Chickenburn Rovers are the opponents and on current form should be easily beatable.
However, with Steve Kean allegedly fighting for his job, coupled with our tentative, nervous form, I should think it will be a tense battle.

A counteracting, strong defensive display is required and with Theo and G'vinho on the wings against their susceptible wing backs, we may be able to beat them by scoring more. We're a due a few goals. Fed up of all this 1-0, 1-1 malarky!

Keep the faith, we're getting there.

Billionaire clubs Pi$$ off. Also; Easy does it Arsenal:

An unconvincing but pleasing result on Saturday gets our NEW start to the season up and running.

Next up is the first game of our Champions League season proper against Dortmund who are very much like Arsenal; going through a bad patch. The outcome will determined who's patch is wetter I suppose.

The newbies; Per & Mikel, had a solid start to the game on Saturday by all accounts but faded as the second half kicked in.

It was to be expected really, they've not had much time to gel but Arteta in particular doesn't need too much time with all his Premier League experience, he looked like he'd been with the Arsenal since birth.

A tougher test awaits the squad on Tuesday but with the likes of Song and G'vinho returning following stoopid, unnecessary 3 game bans, the team will be boosted with options.

As pleasing as it is to have more depth in the squad with our new arrivals, we'll still miss TV and JW terribly and though I, for one, will approach each game with optimism as usual, there will inevitably be nerves galore during each game, until I start to see a pattern of consistency and evidence of the growth of confidence (and goals) in the team.

It was clear, and natural, that the mauling ooop norf seriously damaged the confidence of many players but time is a healer so I will give them time.

There are some fans baying for blood already. It's as if instant success is the only way to appease the doomers which of course is impossible... we could have hammered Swansea 12-0 and then go on an amazing unbeaten run of 12 games scoring 29 goals in the next two months but that still won't necessarily lead to success.

Historically we start well and then hit a bad patch. I live in hope that our poor start will be our only major bad patch this season and the rest of the season we'll just get better and better...who knows, it could lead to silverware.

It's the most realistic outcome I can hope for but patience will be key.

Much of the media have written Arsenal off as a top 4 team any longer, even suggesting that Stoke Rugby FC are a huge threat to our status in the league. Sensationalism at it's best as per.
I disagree of course, as I still think we'll be up there challenging and if this team gel's well and we have a hell of a lot more luck in regards to further injuries and poor refereeing decisions, we could be dark horses in that top 4 challenge. (I am extremely optimistic I know!)

Having said that, I've been pondering about the future and can see a day when it will be time to say goodbye to the top league in Europe.
No. I don't mean I think Arsenal will be relegated from the Premiership.....

.....I just think that the Sugar-daddy/Oil-baron/bottomless-pit/play-thing clubs should break off and form their own boring Super League, thus relegating the Premier League into second place as no longer the richest league in Europe.

By no means do I suggest that this new Super League will be better, it will actually make the Premier League better by far.
 It will 'even out' the playing field once again and will mean only one trip to Manchester each season in the league thankfully!

More teams will be challenging for honours, can you imagine the next ten years with Chelsea and Man City winning the league and Champions League every year?!

It's been bad enough ManU dominating, but at least they have done it mainly through their own commercial investment and good management (as well as a lot of help from referees of course).

As a Gooner, it's obviously hard for me to praise them as they have had ridiculous amounts of money pumped in and they've hardly been a self sustaining model what with all their debts, but that has been reduced through commercial and 'on the pitch' successes at least.
Arsenal can't compete in that sense at the moment but it won't be too many years until we will be again.

But the likes of Man City and Chelsea have had a bottomless pit of money available and can't be looked upon as professional football clubs in a business sense or in a traditional grass roots sense. Not in my eyes anyway.

Forcing other clubs out of the competition by paying ridiculous, unrealistic money for the best players available, whilst also offering them out of this world wage packets, is surely wrong. Hence why UEFA intend to bring in FFP rules. But how many of us really believe these new rules will make a blind bit of difference?

The day that Chelsea or Man City or even ManU get barred from Uefa competitions for not balancing their books properly is the day that Sepp Blatter loses 80lb and gets married to Scarlett Johansson. Never.

She should know! .... Not really! ... or......?!

It may sound like bitterness and sour grapes but I, like many, think these billionaire owners have ruined the Premier League.

They're literally playing their own real life fantasy football league; not with a measly £50million but with limitless funds...any tom, dick or Harry Redknapp who was able to play 'The Sun's' fantasy football league with limitless funds would win the £100k prize easily!

I propose that any club with limitless resources should be ejected from football leagues all over Europe so they can f@ck off and form their own league.

How the heck are the likes of Swansea, Bolton, Everton etc ever going to progress? Yes they can put all their efforts into the League/FA Cups and hope for survival, but why should they? Why shouldn't they challenge for European places too?

These billionaire clubs are even pulling away from Arsenal FC (hence the grapes) but I think it's cheating.

Surely the only honourable way to win a competition, league, any type of sporting challenge, is to attract commercial sponsorship through pure, attractive football.
To nurture young talent and invest in your academies. To use money earned through the turnstiles and with shirt sales to buy players and offer them fair wages.

To do all this through a self sustaining business model with sound investment that keeps you in the black through the skill of good management, professional business decisions and sound accountancy.

Surely to have all the money in the world to buy the best talent in the world by offering preposterous, sickening wages just to keep other clubs at bay, is the dis-honourable cheats way of doing things. It's how evil dictators rule their countries and it's how these dictator clubs are winning trophies and will continue to do so in the future unless we chuck them out. Let's see how well they do in a league full of billionaires where the Oil, I mean, playing fields are even.

I fear for the future of football in general because of this issue, it's not sentimentality or romanticism, it is a genuine fear that unless all clubs are bought out by Oil baron's with bottomless pits, that we'll pretty much have two leagues in one anyway and we'll end up like the SPL or La Liga, two clubs winning everything, everyone else just existing. What a scary & boring thought.

Many won't agree. Many Arsenal fans wish we were more like Man City, I just like things done the proper way, the traditional way, it makes me proud to know we won trophies at Highbury through good man management and proper professional running of the club.

Players played for the club, not just their pay packets and we competed with ManU and Liverpool, two footballing giants because of their history, not because of the wages they could offer their players and how many yachts their owners had. The likes of Newcastle and Blackburn challenged and the latter even won the league once! It was exciting, now it's just too predictable.

If we go down the billionaire road how can we feel proud to have won a league title knowing we've had the best players in the world competing against other clubs who can only attract youngsters and inexperience or ageing rejects.

It would tarnish the trophy, it would tarnish the pride I felt.

I'd feel like we'd cheated, like we bought it.
Deep down, my ego would be cowering behind the sofa hoping no-one twigged that there was no honour in what we'd achieved and that really, I was ashamed.

Imagine, that's how the Chavs and Citeh fans feel...horrible thought eh.

Anyway, rant over, don't give a monkey's ballacks if you agree or not, these are my thoughts but I'm interested in yours so by all means feed back to me in the comments section or on Twitter or the Facebook group.

Onto Europe! Up the Gunners und Drei Null bitte!

Danke!