Compare the squad published by the BBC in their preview of tonights Semi-Final against Tottenham:
As published by the BBC:Arsenal (from): Fabianski, J Hoyte, Gallas, Senderos, Traore, Diaby, Denilson, Gilberto, Eduardo, Walcott, Bendtner, Mannone, Sagna, Rosicky, Randall, Gibbs, Lansbury, G Hoyte.
As published by Arsenal:
DIABY, SAGNA,
FABREGAS, EDUARDO, GALLAS, HLEB, DENILSON, FLAMINI, GILBERTO, FABIANSKI (GK), ADEBAYOR, BENDTNER, TRAORE, HOYTE, WALCOTT, MANNONE (GK)
Has Usmanov given up in his pursuit of Arsenal shares? There have been no trades in Arsenal shares since 17th December, where previously trading had been taking place on most days.
He may have reached the limit on who was prepared to sell, as there are still plenty of hard core supporters who have small shareholdings. The Arsenal Supporters Trust has also recently backed the Board's lockdown agreement, meaning there aren't that many potential sellers left.
Or maybe he has just lost all his wealth in the recent credit crunch ;->
When Arsenal announced their financial results on Monday, the club sent the following letter to all shareholders:
Arsenal Holdings plc (the "Company") announces that a letter, reproduced
below, has been sent to all shareholders.
24th September 2007
Dear Shareholder,
Enclosed you will find the Club's latest annual report and results. The Board
believes that these results speak for themselves. The Club is clearly in a
strong financial position. We are also buoyant on the football front with
manager Arsene Wenger extending his contract with us until 2011 and the team
making an excellent start to the season.
You will be aware over the last twelve months the Club's shareholder base has
changed significantly. Stanley Kroenke now owns 12.2% and Red & White
Holdings, a company controlled by Alisher Usmanov and Farhad Moshiri, now
holds 21%. The Directors of Arsenal continue to hold 45.5% and have no
current intention of selling any of their shares as evidenced by their
statement of 18th April 2007.
Against the backdrop of the strong financial and playing position of the Club,
if you are contemplating the possibility of dealing in shares, we would
suggest that you take appropriate financial advice and consider the stance
taken by the Directors in committing not to sell their own shareholdings.
In closing, we recognise that many shareholders retain shares because they are
fans of the Club and wish to support the Club to the fullest extent possible
rather than holding shares solely as a financial investment.
We welcome shareholders' continued support at this time.
Yours faithfully
P D Hill-Wood
ChairmanClearly the board are hoping small shareholders will hold out so that Usmanov cannot reach the 25% holdings barrier.
Arsenal have submitted the following squad for the group stages of the Champions League:
Goalkeepers
| Jens Lehmann |
| Łukasz Fabiański |
| Manuel Almunia |
| William Gallas |
| Philippe Senderos |
| Justin Hoyte |
| Gaël Clichy |
| Kolo Touré |
| Johan Djourou * |
| Bacary Sagna |
| Emmanuel Eboué |
| Paul Rodgers * |
| Armand Traoré |
| Havard Nordtveit |
| Tomáš Rosický |
| Aleksandr Hleb |
| Gilberto |
| Cesc Fabregas * |
| Mathieu Flamini |
| Abou Diaby |
| Alexandre Song |
| Mark Randall * |
| Denilson |
| Kieran Gibbs * |
| Robin van Persie |
| Eduardo da Silva |
| Emmanuel Adebayor |
| Nicklas Bendtner |
| Theo Walcott |
| Jay Simpson * |
Now David Dein has dumped (or more likely, been dumped by) Stan Kroenke, he is full of his usual self serving quotes. Even before the club has announced that Wenger has signed a new contract, Dein is trying to take the credit for it:
“I wouldn’t have advised him to if I didn’t have Arsenal’s best interests at heart."
"I want to see Arsenal become the best team in the world, and to that end I’ve been instrumental in getting Arsène to sign a new contract.”
I took the opportunity to get tickets for the PSG game in the Emirates Cup. I thought it would be a good time to take my six year old daughter for her first visit to Arsenal.
The first half was fairly dull, the highlight of which was my daughter asking if there were any girls playing. I wasn't expecting much from the second half, as the usual raft of half time substitutions usually ruins the game. This time, it worked the other way and brought the game to life. Hoyte and Eboue combined well on the right, with Traore and Clichy doing the same on the left. On plenty of occasions we got to the box, but with only Bendtner on his own up front, chances were slim. Diaby did well in Midfield, getting in plenty of tackles with his long legs.
Despite missing a penalty near the end, we held on for the win. There was a surprisingly good atmosphere, probably helped by a group of PSG/Arsenal fans on the lower tier giving it a load of verbal - resulting in more than a few ejections.
Now Reyes has gone, there will be more money in the pot for another signing, and with Wenger saying he is still looking for 1 or 2 more players, more transfer action seems likely. However, as the Eduardo work permit situation is still up in the air, Wenger may wait until he knows if he needs to get a replacement for Eduardo before moving for anyone else.
On another note while there are plenty of good Arsenal blogs around, you have to wonder at some blogs posting articles like this:
Had a very short chat with my son before he went to work.
I went upstairs and he was standing on the landing doing up the buttons of his sky blue shirt.
Michael : "What's happening ?"
Myles : "We've sold Reyes to Atletico Madrid for £8 million."
Michael : "Good, that means we'll buy somebody tomorrow for £8 million. Any idea who it is ?
Myles : "No. We can't get Quaresma for £8 million."
How many times do we have to put up players or their agents coming out with bullshit?
I’ve never played in Spain and never will. This is my last contract. Thierry Henry-May 2006
No such meeting took place. That is absolute rubbish. There’s never been any question of him not being at Arsenal next season. Jerome Anderson - 11th Jun 07 on reports of Barcelona agreeing a 4 year deal with Henry.Now, of course, we know differently. Henry blaming the departure of David Dein for his decision is nonsense. Prior to his departure there was all kinds of rubbish being printed in the papers - tales of Wenger spending £40 million on players to keep Henry happy. I'm sorry, but there is no way Wenger would ever spend that kind of money just to keep another player happy.
Finally, the season we'd all rather forget has finished. Arsene Wenger has been so successful in his 10 years at Arsenal that a cup final appearance and qualification for the Champions League are seen as a failure.
All the way through the season we showed great inconsistency, and never quite got a good long run going. Of course, there are positives to take from the season. Diaby and Clichy both returned from serious long term injuries, and both, but Clichy in particular, showed great form. Diaby suffered a bit at times from being played out of position, but plenty of times he showed his class. Both Denilson and Justin Hoyte emerged as good players - Hoyte returning from a season long loan at Sunderland showed that it is possible to come back from a loan spell and get into the team.
Unfortunately, the negatives outweighed the positives. Our defence showed great fragility at times, and it seemed to become almost inevitable that we would go a goal down in every game. What a transformation froma year ago when the went through most of the Champions League without conceding a goal. Our inconsistency cost us points against teams that we should easily turn over. We only lost once in the league to one of the other top teams, which shows we can compete at the top level, we just need to carry that form through in every game. Our finishing was woeful at times, and highlighted how badly we missed Henry and Van Persie for the second half of the season. Also, it showed how we haven't been able to replace the goals we could rely on from midfield players in the form of Ljungberg and Pires.
As for summer transfers, the inevitable speculation has started. Likely departures include Flamini, Baptista, Almunia and Aliadiere. Youngsters Lupoli and Muamba have already gone. Players coming in seems to be dependent to a certain extent on how much money Wenger can generate from player sales, although there must be some money in the pot. When Arsenal refinanced the stadium loan, one condition was net transfer spending per year of £14 million, so don't expect real big money signings. Hopefully we can get a goal scoring midfielder. Bendtner will come back from his loan at Birmingham, so that is almost like a new signing, albeit an unproven one.
Hopefully the summer will be without too much speculation on possible takeovers. The last couple of weeks has seen a marked slow down in share trading since the board announced they would not sell up, with only the occasional trade of a couple of shares being reported. I was a bit curious as to why the board (who without David Dein own about 45%) were not raising their stakes to over 50% to ensure they remained as the majority share holders, but they have since spoken of 'friends' who own enough shares to take them over the 50% mark.
Hopefully as there are no dull International competitions in the summer, most of our players can get a good rest and come back fighting fit for the new season. It would be nice to have a season not plagued by injuries and see everyone back to their best.
Arsenal received notification yesterday that Stanley Kroenke now owns 12.19% of the club's shares.
There have been a number of small trades in the last week or so, with another small chunk of 50 or so shares changing hands today, driving the share price up, hitting £7,000 a share.
If the Arsenal board are as resolutely against a takeover as they say, then they need to start buying up some of these small chunks so that they have a majority share holding. Since David Dein's departure, they now own about 45% between them.
After that former Arsenal left back released his crappy book, it was obvious from looking at the bestseller charts on Amazon and other places that it was selling badly. I never saw it get higher than about 150 in the Amazon best seller list.
In a recent edition of Private Eye, they published the actual sales figures - 8983. Frankly I'm surprised it even sold as many as that. While it's great news that it sold sod all, unfortunately it makes little difference to Cole and his bank balance. He was reportedly given an advance of £250,000, so regardless of sales he is quids in.
Hopefully, it will discourage other publishers from giving vast sums of money for crappy self serving books.
According to a statement released by the Plus Markets group this morning, Kroenke holds 11.26% of Arsenal shares. 9.9% were obtained from ITV. According to the Statement, his company KSE holds 9.99%, with the remainder held by JP Morgan, of whom Kroenke is the indirect holder.
The full statement can be read here.
With news of Ken Friar transferring 152 shares to Peter Hill-Wood on 27th March, and Danny Fiszman selling 659 shares on 14th March, it is reassuring to know that not all the board members are selling. Sir Chips Keswick bought 20 shares at £5300 per share on 1st March. He now owns 40 shares.
Whether he did this in the hope of making some quick cash from a possible takeover or for a long term investment is unknown.
So the breakdown of known Arsenal share holdings of the board members is:
Danny Fiszman - 15000 shares (24.11%)
Lady Nina Bracewell-Smith - 9893 shares (15.9%)
David Dein - 9072 shares (14.6%)
Richard Carr - 2722 shares (4.4%)
Peter Hill-Wood - 500 shares (0.8%)
Lord Harris of Peckham - 63 shares (0.085%)
Ken Friar - 47 shares (0.07%)
Sir Chips Keswick - 40 shares (0.064%)
Keith Edelmen - 25 shares (0.04%)*
*Held as nominee for Danny Fiszman
Other major shareholders are:
Granada - 9.9%
Lansdowne Partners - 2.7%
After Arsenal got dumped out of the Champions League by PSV, there has been the usual mixture of reasoned debate and over reaction.
Some have called for big money signings to improve the team. Firstly, there is no guarantee signing anybody would make any difference at all. Wenger's history of big money signings is not great, and Julio Baptista has proved that no matter how long you chase a potential player, they can still be a huge disappointment when they get into the team. I was one who thought he would bring a different dimension to our game, someone who could compete physically when it mattered. Not only has he not done that, his finishing has been woeful. At this stage, only Wenger knows if he will sign him permanently, but in my opinion he wouldn't be a great loss if he left.
Regarding the forward line, Wenger needs to decide what will happen with Bendtner when his loan at Birmingham finishes. If he brings him back to Arsenal, Baptista or Aliadiere will have to go to make room for him. Regardless of who goes or stays, we desperately need to improve our finishing. Time and again we have anything up to 20 shots on goal, but come out of the game having scored 1 or less. Our midfielders aren't scoring, which is a major loss after years of Pires and Ljungberg providing 10 or more goals each. This then puts the onus on our strikers to take their chances, which they regularly fail to do. I like Adebayor, who has scored plenty of important goals, but sometimes his finishing is abysmal. I have lost count the number of times he has been through one on one and missed.
I was amazed before the 2nd leg against PSV when we heard Arsenal had started to practice corners. We all know how little we take advantage of them, but to virtually admit that they are not part of our game exposes a major weakness - opposing teams know they are unlikely to come under pressure from us at corners. To me it seems a huge waste of the effort put in by our forwards. After the Carling Cup semi Final against Tottenham, I commented on the number of corners Aliadiere won for us, as he never gave up on a lost cause. He might as well have not bothered and saved his energy. We need to improve at corners straight away, as not taking advantage of them must take 10-15% out of your game. It is no disgrace to get a headed goal from a corner - it won't betray our footballing principles!
The other surprise for the PSV game was playing Gilberto at centre half. Why this was the case when we had Djourou on the bench is a mystery. As a result we had 2 19 year olds playing in central midfield. As good as Denilson looks, I would have preferred the experience of Gilberto for this game. Of course, it's impossible to tell if this would have made any difference, but it seemed a huge risk to take in such an enormous game.
Now we must make sure we get as much out of every league game as possible. It's probably too much to ask to return to the days of killing teams off in the first 20 minutes at the moment, but we must make sure we qualify for the Champions League next season.
Who knows where Wenger expected us to be at this stage in the teams development, in public he would never admit to having a 'transitional' season. We can't afford to have another season without a trophy (literally - if crowds start to wane at the new stadium, we will be in the shit).
Lets see how ruthless Wenger is in the summer...
Like the guy who books a wedding or something a year in advance, only to find it ends up clashing with an England World Cup semi final (as unlikely as that is), I have managed to arrange to move house the week of the Arsenal v Chelsea Carling Cup final. The chances of seeing the game were reduced anyway as it's on BSkyB (shitehawks); the fact I'm moving means I can't even slope off down to the pub for the afternoon to see the game. It will be one of those frustrating occasions of having to tune into the radio to listen to it.
It would be a fantastic achievement to win the cup, having used a second string side throughout the competition, but I'm confident we can do it. I'm sure Aliadiere can run rings around Essien, & Carvalho is bound to give away a few free kicks around the box if put under pressure, like he usually does.
I don't think we will have any problems being motivated for this game; we have been guilty in the last couple of games of looking like we only need to turn up to win, and putting in poor performances as a result.
Come on boys, bring that trophy home!
After the exciting, and, OK, nerve wracking FA Cup replay at Bolton, we were subjected to one of the worst games I have ever witnessed at home against Blackburn. Some reward that was for winning the nail-biter. It wasn't quite as bad as an England friendly, but then again, I gave up watching those ages ago, so I may be wrong.
Why Blackburn played the way they did in a cup game is a mystery, and frankly it's no surprise the number of fans in the away end was as low as it was if that is what they have to put up with on a regular basis. Don't they realise fans pay good money to go and watch these games?
Arsenal needed to show more guile, and it was only the introduction of Clichy, Rosicky and Adebayor late in the second half that made us look like we would put Blackburn under pressure. We only made two clear cut chances during the game - early in the first half when Justin Hoyte played a nice chip into Henry, and then late in the second half when Friedel saved from Henry & Hoyte in quick succession. We should have had a penalty when Aliadiere was blatantly tripped, and you wish the ref had given it, if only to save everyone the misery of having to watch Blackburn again. Then again, we would probably have missed it.
Now we have got Man City at home in the next round, if we win the replay.
In other news Arsene Wenger has been speaking about the quality of young English players coming through. he says:
"When I started, I wanted to produce a team with 60 per cent English players. We've ended up with 80 per cent or more foreign players because I haven't found enough quality among the English. But something amazing is happening. There is real quality among the English, in the under-16 and under-14 groups. We have to be patient. But the attitude of English players is changing and you no longer have the problem with alcohol - not like 20 years ago.''
The full article can be read here.
The first game I ever saw at Highbury was against Spurs, back in 1980 or 81 when I was 10 or 11 - I ought to look up the stats and see exactly when it was. We won 2-0 (I think). It was a strange experience for me at the time, as I wasn't prepared for the atmosphere Arsenal v Spurs games generate. Not to mention the fact I somehow got separated from my Step Dad who had taken me! Now of course, I'm old enough to go without my Step Dad.
Last nights game was the first Arsenal v Spurs game I had been to since that first game at Highbury, and if everything else has changed, at least the atmosphere was as intense as before. In fact, for most of the game I forgot it was a semi-final, all that seemed important was beating Spurs.
There is no point in doing a full match report, there are plenty of those around. I thought Denilson stood out as being excellent, Diaby was good (once he was subbed we started to struggle in Midfield until the end of normal time). Aliadiere was full of running, and won us numerous corners - it's just a shame we never take advantage of them. His goal was just reward for the hard work he put in all night, and looked absolutely knackered at the end. In fact, all the team played well. Walcott did well in trying to get past people, but too often his final ball was poor. But he still got a great reception from the crowd when he was subbed, so that was good to see (or should that be hear?).
Our seats were 6 rows from the front in the Lower Tier. Although it was good to be so close to the goal (at the North End), once the ball gets past the half way line it is difficult to tell how far from the other goal the action is. I think I'll try for the Upper Tier again next time.
And if anyone thinks Wenger doesn't take this competition seriously, they obviously didn't see him talking to the team before extra time started - this was a man determined to win.
All in all a great night and great result that sent the travelling Spurs fans scurrying off early with the tail between their legs - long may it continue.
As a Red member, it is often difficult to get tickets - most league games sell out before they become available to Red members. You usually have better luck with Champions League games, and of course in the past, Carling Cup games have never usually sold out, despite the reduced prices.
Anyway, I was able to get tickets for tonights 2nd leg of the Carling Cup semi final against Spurs, which has now sold out, perhaps surprisingly. We all know Arsenal won't field their first choice eleven, which is why they wanted to reduce the ticket prices (which was vetoed by the Football League at Tottenham's behest). However the draw of a semi final against our big local rivals has ensured a demand for the tickets.
So we can sell out a 60,000 seater stadium even though everyone knows we won't see our best players. But how long for?
At the weekend Chelsea were advertising tickets on general sale for their home Premiership game tonight Why do they (regularly) struggle to sell out a 42,000 seater stadium when they are Champions? As unattractive as their football is, you would have thought enough good time charlies would turn up while they are in a successful spell to help fill the place up.
Most other teams in the Premiership are also suffering from reduced attendances - whether this is due to over saturation of Football in general or high prices I'm not sure. But paying £30 to watch Wigan v Aston Villa seems high to me. Hopefully this trend won't reach Arsenal, as reduced attendances could have a major impact on the club's finances, and we can barely compete in the transfer market as it is. And we don't want to have to pay more for our Fish & Chips at the Emirates!
Anyway, hopefully my attendance tonight will ensure another victory, as I have never seen Arsenal lose under Arsene Wenger.
A relative of mine was kind enough to send me this book shortly before Christmas. It was a nice surprise of course, but I was actually unaware of this book, as I hadn't seen it mentioned anywhere before.
It is a simple premise; each day of the year is listed with half a dozen Arsenal facts each. The facts go all the way back to 1903, so there is plenty of history provided. I suppose the older you are, the more the book will trigger memories of old. For me, I struggle to remember anything before the cup final of 1979.
There are a couple of negatives to this type of book. Firstly, when it comes to the months in the close season, the facts are limited to signings/departures or International appearances by Arsenal players. Secondly, it is not the type of book you pick up and read from cover to cover. It is more of a 'lying' around book, that you pick up from time to time, to see if anything interesting happened on whatever day it is when you pick it up.
Overall, this is probably only a book for the real die hard fans. But it is useful for triggering long forgotten memories, and if you really want to know when Willie Young made his last appearance or when we beat Chester City 5-0 in the Rumbelows cup, then this is the book for you. And it is fairly cheap at £6.99.
Well, that's two great comebacks in 4 days. Two late, late goals against Ferguson's old timers, and two second half goals against the Tiny Tots in the Carling Cup semi.
It seems to me we have got that never say die attitude back that served us so well in our 49 game unbeaten run. It has taken us a while to get there this season, but I now feel we have turned the corner. Of course, these two results came at a price with the injuries to van Persie & Hleb (or 'Helb' as Graham Taylor insisted on calling him last night on Five Live), but I think we have the strength in depth to cope with it.
Now I'm looking forward to the second leg of the Semi Final at the Emirates, even more so now I have booked my tickets this morning :-)
No sooner has Lauren got fit after his year out with Injury, then Wenger announces that Lauren will not be offered a new contract and is free to find another club. While this came as an initial shock, it shouldn't come as a surprise.
Back when Lauren signed his last contract, he was only offered a 1 year deal. This was a big surprise back then, as Arsenal normally only do this for players who are over 30. Lauren was understandably annoyed at this, and Arsenal eventually relented and offered a two year deal. At the same time, Arsenal offered Justin Hoyte a three year deal, so it was apparent at the time who Wenger saw as the long term option. Since then of course, Eboue has also established himself (although he seems to have gone downhill a bit recently, what with his rolling around antics getting more coverage than his game).
So while I'll be sorry to see Lauren go, it is not a real surprise. I do hope he goes abroad, as I don't want any of our forwards to come up against his no nonsense style of defending!
The other problem I have with him leaving now is that we will get next to nothing for him, as his contract expires in the summer. Why we keep doing this is beyond me - players like Wiltord, Kanu, Pires have all left for free, and now it is going to happen again - but then again, perhaps it is all compensated by the cost of the food/drink at the Emirates!
UPDATE: Lauren signed for Portsmouth last night, so our boys will come up against him. Lets hope he continues to save his best tackles for Ronaldo.
