Kroenke Leapfrogs Usmanov, Melo Goes to Juve

Morning everyone. A couple of things have been happening in the world of Arsenal in the past few days so I figured I'd keep everyone up to date.

First of all, it's only 8 days until the first preseason match! We'll get to see that annual match vs Barnet, which while not an overly competitive match usually, it is the return of football each year and that is something to be celebrated. I'll get more into a preview for that match in a couple of days.

The big news I guess this morning revolves once again around one Alisher "The fat Uzbeki money grubbing cunt" Usamanov and one Stanley Kroenke. A few days ago, Usmanov offered to inject 60 million pounds into Arsenal's coffers for transfer activity. Mind you, all this money is questionable and sketchy at best. Needless to say, Arsenal rejected the offer. Ivan Gazidis had this to say:

With regard to players, the Board decided not to issue permanent capital in the hopes of signing one or two players in an inflated transfer market. Instead, the focus continues to be on securing the services of talented young players we have on long-term contracts and making very selective acquisitions, only where a new signing will add real value to our already strong squad.

Some of you will say, "Shite, why would you turn down 60 million quid to spend on the team?" Well because it's not how Arsenal does business. It never has been that way, and I hope it never will be that way. The club is built on a sound business model that, while sometimes is frustrating, is crucial to the club's long term success.


Along these same lines, Stan Kroenke has today increased his shares by 1,600 shares to now own 28.5% of the club, making him the club's largest shareholder, passing Usmanov. Some people are still skeptical of Kroenke, but I personally place my faith in the Arsenal board, who have been around Arsenal for decades. There's a reason they invited Kroenke to join the board and continue to reject Usmanov. Kroenke, they feel, is someone who has the club's interest at heart, while Usmanov is a horrible person who eats kittens for lunch and baby seals for dinner.

This increase does put Kroenke awfully close to the limit of 30% before you are obligated to make a full takeover bid. It seems almost inevitable that there will be an eventual bidding war between Kroenke and Usmanov, and I'm fairly sure the board is doing their damndest to make sure Kroenke wins that war. And I'm backing him too. While I'd rather have the ownership split up like it is right now, if it's going to be one of these two it's not even a question.

In other news, Arsenal target Felipe Melo has signed for Juventus, effectively ending that transfer saga. I did think he would be a perfect fit for us, but I guess we didn't want to spend as much as Juve did. The question is who do we look at for that holding role now? There's Inler of course, and Veloso, but my guess is that Arsene will go for someone totally off the wall that we've never heard of. Your thoughts?

That's about all I've got today. Thoughts on Kroenke, Usmanov, Melo, and Barnet are all acceptable, as well as anything else you want to say. Have at it. Cheers.

Nicklas Bendtner is an Arrogant Cunt, Usmanov Raises Stake

Morning all. It's been a while. First order of business is to tell you all that I'm growing my hair out like Sergio Ramos has his. Won't that just be pimpin? We play Cardiff today in the FA Cup 4th round replay, which is odd because they have not only drawn for the 5th round but also the quarter finals already. It's a game we should win today even with the injuries. Arshavin still won't be able to play because he wasn't registered for the first match but hopefully we'll be able to win even without him. I'd expect nothing less at home.

What I really want to talk about today is Alisher Usmanov and Nicklas Bendtner, who are both cunts. Yes, I just called an Arsenal player a cunt. Watch I'll do it again. Emmanuel Eboue is a cunt. There, twice. We'll start with Nicklas Bendtner, who never knows when to keep his mouth shut and let his play do the talking. He's about to (most likely) get a good run in the team with the injury to Emmanuel Adebayor, and instead of just trying to play well, he's gone off and run his mouth, saying he should be playing every minute of every game. There's only one problem with that Nick, and it's that all of our other strikers are much better than you.

'I'm very sorry to see Adebayor injured as we need him fit and to be playing in the league. But it does not really matter to me who is fit and available. I should start every game, I should be playing every minute of every match and always be in the team.''

Who filled his head with this nonsense? He's only scored three goals in 18 appearances this season, why on Earth would he play every minute of every match? I don't have a problem with confidence and swagger among players, in fact I support it as a needed part of the game to succeed, but this crosses the line. A lot of things in life are things where a big step is learning your place, and Bendtner has never done that. His cockiness and outright arrogance wear me almost as thin as his terrible performances on the pitch, of which there have been many. Adebayor has been in not so good of form this season, yet I'd pick him over Bendtner every time. Robin van Persie deserves a spot every game regardless of who it's against because he's been out best player for most of the season. Eduardo isn't even completely healthy yet and I'd still pick him ahead of Bendtner even before this quote came out.

Nicklas then went on to basically say he has no idea why we bought Andrey Arshavin, and indeed says he has no idea how he plays.

''I've never seen Arshavin. I did not watch Euro 2008,'' he said. ''I've no idea what sort of player he is.''

Here's an idea Nick, turn to your left or your right in training and he'll be standing near you! So not only is he completely oblivious to where he fits into the team but he's also a complete idiot. What a great combination. I used to like Bendtner and thought he had a lot of potential, but God is he not ridiculous?

Alright enough about Bendtner and on to Alisher Usmanov, the fat cunt. When last we heard from him, he owned 24.9% of Arsenal but seemed as if he was content with that as he didn't buy more shares for the greater part of a year. Well now he's back in action and today he's increased his stake to over 25% in the club. The official statement from his company Red and White Holdings read that the purchase was:

"In line with Red and White's previously stated intention to secure a significant shareholding in Arsenal and ensure that its position is protected. "We are pleased to have now secured over a quarter of the shares of Arsenal. "We are committed long-term investors and supporters of the club and are comfortable that we are now in a protected position."We also welcome the strengthening of the squad and look forward to a successful conclusion to the season."

The translation for this:

"Alisher Usmanov is a fat Usbek cunt who wants to take over Arsenal. We're going to act like we're just in this as an investment, but soon enough we'll be making a takeover bid. If your board had not signed a lockdown agreement, it probably would have already happened. If you guys liked the Abramovich thing at Chelsea, you'll looooove this. We really have no interest in the history of Arsenal or anything that the club has accomplished since 1886, we really just want to make it like Chelsea because hey, if you make all your money by sketchy means, you have to get rid of it somewhere right?"

So yeah, not good news. Thank God for that lock down agreement and let's hope it stands for a long time. That's about all I've got. Going to get some things done for a little bit and then watch the Cardiff match. Cheers.

Early Bolton Preview, and Kroenke Joins The Board

Morning all. The match preview is a day early this time because I'm headed to Tallahassee tomorrow to watch Florida State beat Wake Forest. I'll be back Sunday and will hopefully get a match preview up then.

So we've got Bolton at the Reebok Stadium tomorrow. This used to be really a tricky fixture for us, although since Fat Sam left for Newcastle they haven't been the same. Last year was that incredible game where we were getting murdered in the first half, then had Abou Diaby sent off, so we were 2-0 down, away from home, and playing with 10 men. In the 2nd half however we made the greatest comeback I remember seeing from Arsenal, with Gallas, RvP, and an own goal somehow giving us the win 3-2.

Injury news ahead of the match isn't too bad as we haven't lost anyone that was healthy for the Kiev match. We still have Nasri, Diaby, and Silvestre out though. Nasri is one that I'm worried about. I think the injury he picked up was supposed to just be a little one but it's putting him out for a lot longer than expected. I really hope it isn't like a Rosicky or RvP injury that never really goes away and we end up having to give him a bionic leg.

The lineup will probably look like this:

Almunia
Sagna-Toure-Gallas-Clichy
Eboue-Denilson-Cesc-Walcott
RvP-Adebayor

I actually really liked the setup we used against Kiev with Song in the middle and Denilson playing out wide and Eboue not on the pitch. It was great but I think we'll probably see Eboue back in the side since it's a league game.

Like I said, Bolton haven't been the same since Fat Sam left, and it's a match we could really use three points from. Bolton are pretty much shite, and we are of course, not shite. Cesc was in and out of the game a little bit against Kiev so let's hope he gets back on track this match and hopefully the ref won't give any terrible penalty calls like the one he called against Sagna. That said, I think my score prediction will be 1-3 to the Arsenal. I think we just have too much quality for Bolton to match up with man for man. They will put everybody in front of the goal and try to make a wall but I think we'll be able to break them down. I really hope I'm right.

So that's enough for the match preview. There is a SLIM possibility that I'll be able to get a podcast done before I leave for Tally tomorrow but I have to pack and have practice today, then I have to coach my team in the morning and leave right after that. But there is a slim chance still because I haven't gotten one done in a while.

The other big news of the day is that Stan Kroenke, that's right, an American, has joined the Arsenal board. I think it's great because not only am I American of course but Mr. Kroenke has had a very successful career running sports franchises here in the states for those of you who don't know much about him. Kroenke has agreed not to increase his stake beyond 29.9% of Arsenal's share capital in the next year unless a takeover bid is launched by the fat Russian cunt, in which case he could buy more of the club with the consent of the rest of the board. So basically this is all to prevent Usmanov from trying to get into a bidding war for the club because guess what, the shareholders will sell to Kroenke before they would to Usmanov, and the board clearly feel that they can trust Kroenke.

A statement from the club read:

"Mr Kroenke fully supports the approach the board has taken in setting the direction of the club," the statement read.

"The board believes Mr Kroenke's experience in sports team commercial management, sports marketing, media and new media rights as well as real estate development will be of great value."

So we'll see how it works out but I think it is a great move for the club.

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So that's about it. Hoping for 3 points tomorrow, and a big win for FSU. Go Noles. Cheers all.