So ‘Unreliant’ Robin has spent his third night in custody in Rotterdam following an allegation of rape. I’m not sure what to make of that, so I won’t try to make anything. As far as I’m concerned he’s innocent until proven otherwise; it would be unfair to assume anything other than that at this time. Unfortunately, even if the allegation is 100% unfounded, he’ll be tainted by it for some time to come – but I suppose he’ll just have to get used to that. If he is guilty, well that’s another kettle of fish entirely.
There is some other news: Pires might have to be sold if he doesn’t agree a new deal (the brinkmanship continues), while Chelski have decided not to appeal their £300,000 fine and 3-point suspended sentence following their illegal approach of Cole. Trying to wriggle out of it didn’t work, did it. Something along the lines of “it’s a fair cop, guv” would have been nice, but I guess that’s too much to ask.
And in the High Court, Deino has been giving evidence in a case over Gilberto’s transfer – and has become embroiled in a ‘tap-up’ scandal of his very own. Of course, the press would dance round the maypole if they found we had tapped up Bert, but judging the story as I’ve seen it already, there’s nothing doing there.
In the long distant past, summers used to be for transfer rumours.
Currently we’re fighting for scraps: Namely Hleb and, perhaps surprisingly, Reina.
Good morning folks -Bongo et al.
I will not take too much time on Van Persie case -suffice to say our maverick kid is innocent until proved guity.
To me it is no surprise that these allegations are sourced from Rotterdam. A place where RVP is not supposedly too popular.
i have been scanning Dutch newspapers on the net trying to garner more info.
My info is the boy will be released some time after 400pm today.
What is a bigger concern is the impending rumors that The Arsenal are close to sighning Pleb.
Do we really want a faceless Belarussian joining us ?
And are we ignoring a major talent on our doorstep? David Bentley?
Bongo et al
I think Bentley will get a few chances this year, I have to say – even if they are from the bench. If he’s not ready to try his luck now, then he never will be, surely.
I heard Bentley just signed a new 5 year deal. He wouldn’t get that unless Wenger believes he’ll play a part in the future.
Hleb is probably more likely to be used in the support striker role. He had the most assists in the German league last season. It certainly means SWP won’t be joining us this season, although it could mean a move to Italy in the medium term for Freddie.
I think RVP plays for the best football team in the world (no arguments there) but I don’t know him personally, so I have no opinion on if he’s capable of raping someone or if it’s all a set-up because someone doesn’t like him or because he’s rich. However, if he did do it, I hope he goes to prison for a long time because rape is a horrible crime and some things are bigger than football. If he didn’t do it, I hope he’s back scoring those wonderful goals for us again next season and his accuser is thoroughly punished.
I agree with all of the above, give Bentley a chance, dont’t know a lot, no, don’t know anything about Hleb so can’t really comment but we do know Bentley has great potential and he is English which I think is also important, we are after all an English club!
Wenger insists English talent is too expensive in comparison to other nationalities, well we’ve got one so let’s see what he can do for us. I was at Highbury when he scored that great goal against ‘boro, straight out of the Bergkamp/Henry box of tricks, not a lucky ‘blast it and see and see goal’ just pure class
Time will tell for RVP…..
I may have to go against the grain here, I am not convinced that Bentley can make th every top, but a bench place would be a good first move. I think poor old Freddie has gone a bit off the boil, but Mr P would be a huge loss if he went, which other midfielder scores that many goals.
I am amazed that Wenger persists in saying English playern are to expensive, there are som exceptions. What about Parker, he is as good as Hleb and is a decent age.
Also, why are we not trying to steal Robinson from Spurs, Wenger admitted it was a mistake not going for him, bite the bullet and try now.
We need another goalkeeper, adefender, either a centre back (letting Toure go to the Right) or a right back. We need one midfielder (I would say a wide man) and a new striker…….. How about Robinson, Hyyppia, I would have gone for Parker, Owen. That may give some experience whilst the young ones come through and would have cost in the region of £30-35M.. surely not out of our reach.
Just a thought…
Here’s to 2005-06
MK Gooner
English talent to expensive? i agree on people like SWP, but how much did we sell pennant for? not as much as we paid for him and he has more potential than batty boy bently – we wont get much for him thats for sure!
And a great goal against boro??? thats ALL he can do, and i mean ALL!!! ive seen him try that so often its boring!
Reports say Stuggart have rejected a £5m bid for Hleb (obviously alerting general market to his availability). £5-7m is alot cheaper than £15m for SWP.
Bentley has quite a high opinion of himself I hope he will be patient. Quincy should come on over the next 12 months too although isn’t he on an assault charge?
My concern is the lack of a front line striker to back up Henry as demonstrated in the cup final and other times last season. Especially if RvP could be unavailable.
I thought Quincy’s case was not being taken any further.
As for Pires, I really hope he stays; the possible signings mooted so far don’t inspire me much and I wouldn’t want us to lose Bob unless a replacement comes in – not necessarily to fill the left side, which we could cover, but to offer the same goals & assists tally from somewhere in midfield.
If he wants a longish contract to see out the remaining years of his career he will probably need to look away from the top clubs; a mid table club would be glad to offer a player of his class a longer contract, because even as he gets older he will still be more than good enough for them. I’m convinced he can perform at the level we need though, but at his age he is going to need to prove this each year, as DB has done, and I would expect Bob to be offered further 1 year extensions.
But he has to make a choice – fight for a place at a top club, or get the security of a longer contract to see him into retirement. Considering the number of medals he has won I wouldn’t blame him for seeing his days out in sunnier climbs.
Nick,
Mr. Wenger belives and ha stated that English talent is too expensive, why do you think we are a team full of non english players?
The goal against ‘boro is one of few chances he has had and that was as a sub. If that is ALL he can do and did it every game I would be happy. The fact is he is ABLE to do things like that and given a decent run, with the likes of our players around him, not a doomed side like Norwich, he will do more and will improve, how could he not improve. I know it’s all a matter of opinion (it would be a boring site if we all thought the same!)but surely you can’t denie that there is a lot of potential there and something to work with.
As for Pennant, we got what the market thinks, and more importantly, what Arsenal and Brum thought he was worth. Don’t get me wrong, I wish he could have stayed but Arsene saw differently and I for one trust his judgement. He has made mistakes with buys in the past as every manager has but generally he has done well for us so far. I don’t remember any player he has sold actually going on and doing better, if anybody does, let us know.
With what I heard vivb, Quincy was not charged at all on that case after the awards. He was released with a warning but that is only what I read in a paper so I dunno whether to believe it or not altho it was only a tiny article on page 12 or sumet so its possibly true.
As for Robin, I completely agree with HalfNice, I don’t believe he done it but I know nothing about the case. All we can go on at mo is speculation so until the truth comes out we’ll have to see.
As for Bentley, I see alot of potential in that boy and he ain’t as cocky as u think when you meet him, he’s shy and quite modest. Some comments have been taken completely out of context. But lets see eh.
I just hope everything gets back to normal b4 the start of the season.
Rachel
l dont know what you guys think but l am getting disillusioned at wenger and the board every season that goes by.frankly l partly blame the board for the ashley cole mess.do you know how long he waited before negotiations for a new contract started.he was already worth more than what he was getting after the last world cup,even addidas must have been paying him more.l am not convinced arsenal can match the other big clubs of the pitch,not just money wise but how we handle the growth of this club.we let free experienced signings go by e.g. sammy kuffor and shabani nonda last week just because they may not exactly be to wengers liking.fankly l think AW needs help.our 1st signing must be a good assistant boss.everybody in eng and outside knows we desperately need 4 things to at least come within the 95 points achieved by chelsea last season,wont talk about the champions league.1)a right back-lauren isnt the worst but the FA cup final told u everything.ash was beaten several times even by Van of all people but he showed his comittment and staying power in the 2nd half.thats what seperates the good ones from the bad ones.ralph got beaten by the same trick for 120 min of footie.we cant have ash and ralph in the same team.2)goal keeper-l love jens.makes you think hes been playing for arsenal all his life but lets face it,his reflexes arent sharp enough.l like his style of keeping and would like him to be the next goalkeeping coach but the truth is goalkeeping talent is soo rare these days l think the record paid for buffon isnt enough.Cech made all the diff to chelsea last season.the media had to lap frank and terry but he made the diff esp in europe.3)striker-l know most people want someone with pace and vavavoom like henry but l dont even mind a proven goal getter like trezeguet or owen,no more raw 18 year olds.miracle performing time is over wenger we need to advance now.4)playmaker-competition for freddie and pires.l would prefer a rigt sided player because we have reyes in the wings but he has to be experienced too.Wenger should remember that it only took the depature of beckham and veron for manutd to go into serious decline.even then becky was not even at his best but he still played a part so did veron in the champions league.lt could go all pear shaped.l see liverpool as a genuine threat next season
Well with what I have jus heard, the court are keepin Robin in for 14 more days and he will be transferred to a proper prison today.
The info is on Reuters but the report isn’t confirmed as yet by Robin’s lawyer or the prosecuters.
He still has not been charged mind.
Rachel
JUst heard that the KGB (a.k.a. Chelsea LImited) are trying to muscle in on the Belarussian.
This is I can see happening with regular occurence in all transfer dealings.
It is the interest of The KGB to inflate fees and wages so it limits rivals ( ie AFC) in to how much they spend ELSEWHERE!
We must be strong an disciplined against such dangerous oppostion.And
We must not break our wages ceiling.
****************************
As for Bentley being cocky -it is up to the Club to educate these players and not allow them to be so. Some voluntry work in the Borough (schools et al ) after training would help.
BOnGO Et AL
I wonder if Bentley would have got a few games if he had not been injured or on loan last season.
AW sees these players in training wherease we see little of them, so we should trust his judgement. But I am sure he is biased against English players. Very few young players that Arsenal reject really go on to great things, but that is not ncessarily a reflection of how they would have fared in a team like ours, with coaching staff like ours.
When AW bought Campbell, Jeffers & Wright he spoke of the importance of an English spine to the team. Jeffers & Wright were let downs, in different ways, and this seems to have altered his views.
The message for Bentley must be that if you don’t get a look in next season you might as well look elsewhere. Whether AW is right or wrong on this one, if he isn’t going to play someone they might as well go. The same applies to Stuart Taylor, although I still don’t see how Manuel Fawlty was chosen in preference to him last season – I’d have liked to see Taylor have a run in the team when Lehman was dropped last year – this would have proved his worth one way or the other. If Wenger doesn’t think he is good enough why does he employ him atall?
The reason he kept him is that we need three keepers, I suppose, and with Stack out of the picture there’s no one else with any experience at all. Surely Taylor is very likely to move on this summer?
Ian Walkers’ double (I mean Stewpot Taylor) is a clown. Like the other clown we got (Almunia).
I predict the pair of them will soon be working in tandem in Covent Garden with red noses, stilts and tricycles.
I notice the highly rated Leicester City Boss Craig Levein soon got shot of Taylor whilst he was on loan in the Midlands last season.
And to think people criticise Jens!
He answered his critics in The FA Cup final.
We have to stop this nonsense this year -and accept Jens is fine and able replacement to the legendary Seaman
bongo et al
i spoken to a dutch colleague that under dutch law keeping someone in custody for 14 days is done quite often it does not mean charges will follow i hope not.I cannot understand why the Arse are going after Hleb i would like to see Bentley given a chance as i would Taylor in goal afterall Bob Wilson told Wenger that Taylor was the best keeper out of all of them i know some of our kids have not cracked it at the Arse but i think some of them should get a game.Hoyte at right back should get a go i know he got a hard time but i saw some good things to, even Cole took time to settle, Lauren afterall is not a right back and he is not the quickest Hoyte looks quick,it does not do the kids confidence any good if they see make weight foreign imports taking up the places,as much as i follow the club it does bother me no Britsh kids are coming through.
We all know AW has not got much respect for the British player, there has been enough stories’s coming out of youth team over the years since his time in charge.
However with that said (& I can’t agree with him on this one) we have to put our trust in him.
You only have to look @ his track record & monetary dealing it backs him up every time, mind you I personally can’t wait for the next 10 years to see what the new stadium brings us.
As long as it’s not a Glazer!!!
I have to agree with bongo, I do not rate Taylor at all and Lehman is a very good keeper. I actually think that Stack would have been a better second choice than either Taylor or Almunia but that won’t happen now will it!
Roll on the big transfers…..whoever they may be!
After all the ‘controversy’ he’s been creating with his leftfield statements I never thought I’d say these words, but I agree completely with Bongo. Jens Lehmann is fine and able replacement to the legendary Seaman.
does anyone have any idea what as happened to Stack?,and are you thinking Jens is OK because the last game we saw him in was the cup final and he played a blinder what about the CL blunders against Chelsea and Bayern he was villified then .so who should the Arse go after and Bongo dont say SWP there must be others and how many new players ?
hi vince, thanks for u comments, ur right this site wud b boring if we all have the same veiws on things!
i know all about our super managers policies on youth, especially english youth. No one has a better gudgment of a player than our AW, i mean hes the best! bar none! noone! Every year i love how he picks out some of the best talent on the contenent, while the chavs and mancs spend, spend, spend! i love it! If they didnt have the money they they would be done for! while we would b flying!
right, step forward Mr Bently! yes it was his only chance (and he took it very well) i was dead pleased for him after that. But then ive seen him do it a few more times for Norwich (and didnt pull it off)
i just dont think he is the next dennis! dont think he can cut it with The Arsenal, i just dont know! thats for Arsene.
As for pennant, yes i would have loved for him to stay, hes great to watch flying down the wing, his pace and control is awsome! i just thought he was worth more than that! And as soon as i heard the news that he had been a twat again! i knew that was that!
just realy, realy hope we dont loose RVP!!!
And yes theres not many we have sold that have go on to do alot better – maybe Van Bronkhorst? hes a regular for Barca, and they hold a high very regard of him! But no, errrrrrrr…………..i cant think of anyone else!
Now rachel!
was reading about ur troubles of being a lonley school girl in love with the ARSE! you know ur stuff girl get on! i love coming up to highbury and seeing all the lovely girls in red! some of u r pretty hot! any chance of a pic in just ur arsenal top, you can send it to: surfintombo@aol.com ;0)
Has everyone made up with Bongo on that Henry saga?
Bongo, must say mate Jan’s went a long way to redeeming himself for me in the FA cup this year (& the games leading up to it) lets face, it if was not for him we would have had the same trophy cabinet Tottenham this year.
But I still can’t get away from the fact he a walking car crash, he’s too easy to upset & any professional player worth his wages can wind him up like a tin soldier
.
bollox to bongo
HAHA thx Nick, No comment on the request for dat pic tho lol.
I was just reading a dutch paper, its one the biggest papers in Holland. Apparently, RvP has totally denied raping a striptease dancer called Sandra in a hotel room. Now there is a supposed DNA test going on at the minute from whatever was found in the hotel room. So waiting seems the only alternative at the min, RvP off to a large prison now.
When Patrick Kluivert (along with a few pals) was arrested in June 98 (alledged gang rape) it took till Feb of 99 for the case to be thrown out for lack of evidence. So if RvP is kept in that long, I can see his options being limited for the new season.
As for other transfer rumours etc, selling Bobby looks likely if he doesn’t show some compromising. In this case i agree with the board, we only offered Dennis 1 yr at a time so why should n e thing change for someone else. Jus hope Bob see’s sense.
Well thats about it lol, an online site I just read says RvP been charged but thats bull so I have asked them to fix it lol. How much u wanna bet they take feck all notice of me? haha
Rachel
Good call Nick, Gio has done very well at Barca. I suppose because he was never a regular with us he was forgotten and at Barca he is not one of the superstars…..a Barca Galacticos or whatever they may be called there.
I still think Bongo was ‘aving a wind up regarding TH14…but if not, let’s not start again…..please!!
Gio has won things at Barca, but has proven as was the case at Arsenal and Holland he isn’t a left back (like Lauren AW converted him from a midfielder), hence Barca have bought another old boy Sylvinho.
Agree on Hleb and Chelski, their revenge for the tap up is likely to compete for our targets therefore costing us extra cash and disrupting our summer. If they were willing to pay a squad palyer Parker £55,000 a week they could make it very difficult for us even if the player knows he’s not going to get a game. Their network of club relationships also is a bit dodgy in my book. Wenger has aparantly been tracking him for 2 years.
Pennant’s fee could be £3m as he was out of contract it simply compensated for our training him like our fee for Flamini.
2 unc et al:
It amazes me you have the temerity to criticise my views when you are pillioring JL for 2 mistakes in two years!!!
.
Since the feisty German has been at The Arsenal he has made the fewest mistakes amongst his peers in the Premiership.
Fact 1.> He played in 47 unbeaten games .
Fact 2> He was instrumental in OUT-PHYSCING The Horse in that
tumultuous game at OT last year. Thus enabling us to gain
massive momentum for the historic unbeaten season.
Fact 3> Watch a re-run of The 2005 FA Cup Final!! He was fuckin heroic!
Fact 4> He is an out and out winner!
If we had more people of the pedigree like this fellow- we would not have too much to complain about.
He will reclaim the German No.1’s position next year – And I for one predict he will single handedly win them the World Cup -like he did for us with The FA Cup recently on a that rainy day in Cardiff.
Bongo ET al
2 mistakes yes but look what cock ups they were best ever chance to win CL and he drops it to Lampards feet magic i have nothing against Jens but i dont feel comfortable with him in goal i guess we have been spoiled over the years the problem is who the hell would we get
JL is an OK keeper, but headstrong and he certainly suffered a drop in form mid season but AW should always be striving to improve the squad. Also JL is suspended for the first 2 European games (for throwing water at the ref) we will have to play a replacement at the start of the CL. and as Alumina showed against Man Utd he certainly isn’t up to the job.
I got my membership pack yesterday!!
Any good? Mine is at the PO I think.
As for WHO we should sign – Discounting the usual suspects.
I would plump for Everton’s Marcus Bent. I see Man City are sniffing around and trying to tie up a deal for £1 million.
An absolute snip!
Bent has improved immeasurably the last few seasons – getting better every season. He can play up front on his own.
He has a great attitude and was instrumental in Evertons’ super season.
He would be a great SQUAD player for us. And His wages would be low.
And before the doom-mongers scream and hollow – My word- how could we have done with a player like him in the 2005 FA Cup Final to relieve some pressure.
Bongo ET al
Agree with ou vivb and bongo regarding Jens – he’s also what 36 upcoming season – we need a long-term replacement so we can avoid the GK merrygoround every summer.
I can see the Chavs bidding up players they don’t actually want, then pulling out at the last minute.
Why don’t we bid on players WE don’t want and let chavski waste their time! Chav c++ts!!