Arsenal Fans Let Their Voices Be Heard

Morning all. What's crackin? Not a whole lot of news to go over today regarding Arsenal, except that Gareth Barry reportedly really wants to come to Arsenal. So nothing we haven't heard before. Would you rather have Gareth Barry or Xabi Alonso? That's a tough question. I'd certainly take either but I do wonder who most of you would take if you could pick one.

So yesterday I asked you all to fill out a survey about the 08/09 season for Arsenal, and the responses were really interesting to me. So today I think I'll just go over the survey results and talk about what they mean for Arsenal.

The first question was simply, how do you feel about the season as a whole, and 40.9% of responders said they were disappointed, probably online betting people. 27% said it was acceptable, while 18% said it was neither acceptable nor disappointing. So very few people were REALLY happy with this season and not many were VERY disheartened either. I'd say that's probably a pretty accurate reflection of all of the Arsenal fan base. While there were some positives, like reaching the semi-final of the Champions League and the FA Cup, winning zero trophies yet again makes it disappointing for me.

The next question was about the player of the season, and this one really surprised me! With 31.8% of the vote, Robin van Persie was selected as Arsenal's player of the season over Andrey Arshavin and Manuel Almunia, who placed second and third. I may get bashed for this one but I think Robin van Persie gets a lot more credit than he deserves. He's a great player no doubt but if you're never fit than how useful are you really? He did a better job of staying healthy this year but if I'm asked for my personal player of the season I'm taking Almunia or Alex Song, who I thought really made a breakthrough.

A whopping 95.5% of responders said that Arsenal need to strengthen the squad before next season, so no debate there really.

50% of fans said we weren't too far off from Champions Manchester United, while 40% said there is a noticeable gap between us and the league winners. I think when you look at the squads as a whole, the gap is possibly wider than it appears. When you look at our bench on most league games, you see players like Eboue, Diaby, etc while on United's you see Tevez, Berbatov, Giggs, Nani, and others that I think are better players. Our first eleven can play with anybody, but I think we lose out in squad depth.

For the question asking which position needed strengthening the most, unsurprisingly the top answers were center back and defensive midfield. I think everyone agrees with that. Even with Song's emmergence, we could still use an experienced player like we got with Arshavin that could really lock down our midfield.

82% of fans say that Cesc Fabregas is our most important player, and he damn well is. He's our Xavi and Iniesta all rolled into one, and when he's gone our team isn't half as good as it is with him.

A really interesting one asked if it was more important to play beautiful football or to win trophies, and amazingly, the vote was split 50-50. I have a follow up question for those of you who said beatiful football is more important. Are you saying that you would rather Arsenal always be able to play good football and not ever win another trophy? Personally, I'd rather have the trophies. Arsenal used to be a 1-0 team forever but winning still felt nice.

100% of fans said that Arsene Wenger is the right man to take Arsenal forward as manager. That's right, 100%. So that should put that debate to bed. In Arsene We Trust, that's right.

So the survey did provide some interesting results, and I think most of them really showed that Arsenal fans have very similar opinions about most subjects regarding the club. We still have faith in our manager, and we know where are main weaknesses are, so let's get them fixed. Come on Arsene, if Barry wants to come, then let's bring him in.

If you have any thoughts, share them. If not, thanks for reading. Cheers.

Arsenal Sign New Manager!

Morning all. I have a very special announcement for you all today. Arsenal have decided that Arsene Wenger has no idea what he's doing, and they're moving on. They've found a new manager, and he's just what everyone has been hoping for. He's got a much better track record than Wenger, who of course only won three league titles and four FA Cups and is Arsenal's most successful manager ever. This manager has guaranteed that he will win the title, the FA Cup, the Carling Cup, and the Champions League every year. Losing a single game is unacceptable, which is good because he has never lost one in his career.

He's also promised a whole host of signings. Clearly Denilson, Diaby, and Ramsey are no good so he will bring in Gareth Barry to partner Cesc in the middle. Barry might not be enough though because our "squad" still won't be big enough, so he'll also invest in Xabi Alonso AND Yaya Toure. At striker he's going to fulfill everyone's desires by buying David Villa, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, and Samuel Eto'o. That should make us stronger up front. Never mind if it affects Vela or Walcott or Bendtner's development, because our new manager doesn't concern himself with the future.

Arsenal's debt they had to pay off was clearly made up, because the new manager has spent over 150 million pounds on players to make sure our squad is "strong" enough right now and wants to make every fan happy. So it turns out Arsene Wenger just used that whole "debt" thing as a way to not spend any money and not try to improve the club. In fact, the whole thing was his attempt to sabotage Arsenal and make them never win anything again. He figured he had won enough to get away with never winning again, so his new goal was to last as long as possible without a trophy.

And perhaps best of all, this manager is an Englishman. Clearly these foreigners don't know how to manage football clubs, because every time they try in England (Mourinho, Ferguson, Wenger, Benitez) they fail horribly. He'll probably use the rest of his alleged 300 million pound transfer budget to buy a lot of English born players who are clearly top quality, like David Bentley, Jermaine Pennant, and maybe even John Terry, who we all love. So we have that to look forward to because Arsenal should definitely not employ all these foreign types.

So now the presentation of this new manager who we will all love for years and years to come, who will fulfill all of our ambitions and buy every player we've ever wanted to see in an Arsenal kit...

Here he is!!!

Oh wait, he doesn't exist. There isn't a manager like that. Man, I was really excited there for a minute. Guess we're stuck with Wenger for now....

Go USA!

Kolo Toure Has Malaria

Just what we needed. The man I've been wanting to captain this team for the new season contracted malaria over the summer in the Ivory Coast. He was feeling a little weakness during the training camp in Austria and was taken to the hospital for a check up, and they discovered...wait for it...that he has contracted the deadly disease. He stayed in the hotel during the match yesterday, which finished 1-1.

He's said to be "in good spirits" and "not too concerned" about the illness, which by the way can kill you. A couple of other African players have gotten Malaria in the past few years, and Yakubu and Lomana LuaLua are still living so that is a good sign.

It does look though that he'll miss the beginning of the Premier League season, which means we are even more in dire straights than we were before all of this. Arsene really is going to have to look into bringing in a defender now. Depending on how long Toure is out, we'll only have three central defenders going into the season, Gallas, Senderos, and Djourou. So now is the time to spend some money and go find a defender.

The other main news of the day is that Arsene wants to buy a midfielder. It's not really surprising since Flamini is gone but he hadn't confirmed that this was his intent until now.

“We will need one more body in there,” said Wenger when asked about his midfield. “At the moment we do not have Alex Song who is going to the Olympic games, Abou Diaby was not here tonight and nor was Fabregas.

“If we find a reasonable target then we will do it. But there is no special name on the list.

“We have some time. We have until August 31. We left 11 players back in Austria for this game. They will play in Stuttgart [on July 30].”

I think the comment about it being "no special name" may be a hint that it isn't going to be Xabi Alonso or Gareth Barry. It could be though, who knows with Arsene?

Sorry it's so short. Had work early today but I'll get something together tomorrow. Cheers!

Sergio Aguero Could Come To Arsenal

Morning all. You know when you sleep for like a pretty long time and you really shouldn't be tired but you're tired all the same? That's how I am right now. I'm also in the mood to eat some Subway, but that's another story entirely.

So on to the news. What news you might say? Well it seems Sergio "El Kun" Aguero has been linked with Arsenal after some quotes from his agent.

"I can't say more until I've spoken to the club about the offer. All I can tell you is that it's one of the best teams in Europe and it's not Chelsea"

Interesting quote that is. These days agents usually tell you every club that is interested by name to try to work up more speculation and to try and draw other parties into the mix. I don't know exactly why everyone thinks it's Arsenal after such a broad statement but we have been linked with him in the past. He's a player with absolutely astounding skill on the ball that could certainly help out Arsenal, as long as he could handle the physical nature of the English game. We just saw how Alexander Hleb got sick of the physicality after only three years and Aguero is even smaller than Hleb. He is a brilliant player though and any team would love to have him. So keep your fingers crossed and maybe, just maybe, we'll sign him.

Arsenal Legend Nigel Winterburn has joined Blackburn's coaching staff as a defensive coach. I guess Arsene Wenger didn't think he could help out our defense or surely we would have given him a job. Winterburn is class. I hope Blackburn is still shite though.

Gilberto Silva looks to be on his way for 1.2 million pounds to Panthinaikos in Greece. Arsenal Analysis reports that the papers have been signed and sent to Athens for everything to be finalized and Gilberto is having his medical on Wednesday. I'm sad to see him go. You were a good player for us Gilberto, good luck to you mate.

Here's a picture of Cesc in our new away kit. I'm not sure what to think of it. I don't think I'm a fan though. It is definitely a lot more Arsenal than the white one last year for sure.


The Arsenal interest in Gareth Barry was very real indeed. According to Martin O'Neil, Pat Rice called Villa to ask how the transfer to Liverpool was going because Arsenal "might be interested." When Villa told Rice how it was going, Pat (according to O'Neil) said "That's fine, we'll let you know." So it seems that Arsenal were interested but it doesn't look like are going to follow up on it with a bid. Villa want about 17 million for him and Wenger will never pay that for him. Interesting to see that we did make the call about him though.

That's about all I have. Discussion is good, so get on the forums and chat it up. What do you think about Aguero and the Barry situation? On a scale of 1-10 how sick are you of the Adebayor and Hleb stories? I'm at a 10. Cheers all!

Adebayor, Arshavin, and Other Transfer Stories

Howdy. That's how we do it here in Florida, with a howdy. We've got a good bit of stuff today actually, so that's good because there hasn't been much to write about for oh...about six weeks. So let's get right down to it!

First off, Robert Pires has been selected as the 6th greatest Arsenal player of all time! Well deserved for Le Bob as he is quite the legend. Unfortunately he's not still in the team because he's still doing brilliantly for Villareal. How we could have used him last season. That leaves only five left and it's going to include Henry, Adams, Vieira, Wright, and Bergkamp almost certainly. There's definitely a more modern bias about the rankings but that makes sense as younger people will have voted for more recent players and not old legends like say...Ted Drake.

On to the Adebayor news and according to Ade's wanker of an agent we've apparently offered him to Milan for "just over half" of the 32 million quid we originally asked for. Milan said they weren't going to pay 32 million and they're probably smart not to. Now with Hleb seemingly headed to Barcelona Milan don't really have any competition for Ade's signature. There is word that the sticking point in the deal could be the inclusion of Yoann Gourcuff. He's never really made much of an impact at Milan even though he had lots of promise, but he does seem like a Wenger type player. Young, with lots of talent that others haven't been able to fully use. I'm not sure if this is all talk or not but I'm thinking that something is up if our price for Adebayor has dropped that much.

Andrei Arshavin, who wanted to go to Barcelona last week, wants to come to Arsenal this week.

"Andrei is desperate to join Arsenal. His style of play would suit them perfectly."

That's from his agent today. Zenit St Petersburg apparently already turned down a 19 million pound bid from an "unnamed English club" and if they're turning down 19 million then there is no way he'll come to Arsenal. Good player, but not THAT good of a player. I'd much like to see him and Nasri in the same team honestly but unless they really want Emmanuel Eboue in a swap deal or something I can't see Arsenal paying that much for him.

Have you checked out Samir Nasri's girlfriend? She's a fox.

Charles N'Zogbia of Newcastle says he has dreamt of playing for Arsenal for his whole life. He says he'd love to join the Gunners, but if not, then he'd like to join Sp*rs. What? I've wanted to play for Arsenal my whole life too, but I would never, ever join Sp*rs. What a twat.

Meanwhile, several sources are claiming that Arsenal may come in with a Justin Hoyte + cash deal for Gareth Barry, since Liverpool still haven't locked up that deal. Call me crazy, but I don't really want Barry. I've said it before and I'll say it again, he isn't the Arsenal style, the fee is too high, and he's English. I have nothing against the English, don't get me wrong, but they couldn't even get in to Euro 2008. Regardless of whether I want him or not though, it could be interesting if we do make the offer. Barry really seems to want to go to Liverpool but it'd be nice to do one on the scousers.

So that's about it, good bit of discussion to be had today, so let's have at it! Forums, comments, all that good stuff. Up the Arsenal!

Exclusive! Richard Dunne Not Signing With Arsenal!

Morning all. Going to be a quick one today as I have to work in like 30 minutes, but I'm trying to rattle something off here.

First off take a look at Third-Gen, who is finally back today, and rewards us with a brilliant article yet again telling everyone that thinks they can run the club better than Arsene (there seem to be many of them) to shut the hell up.

Today I think I'm going to just do a list of truths that seem obvious to me. If they turn out not to be true at all then feel free to bash me but this is what seems ridiculous and/or obvious to me.

1. We are not going to sign Richard Dunne, and we shouldn't. He plays for Manchester City, which is never a top side. He's 28, which is to old for Arsene to sign. He's too slow and can't pass well enough for Arsenal's style of play. So please stop asking for Richard Dunne. Not happening.

2. Gareth Barry is not an upgrade to our squad. Honestly where would he even play? Next to Cesc? Is he a better option than the cheaper Yaya Toure and better than the potential ability of Diaby, Denilson, and Djourou? Arsene Wenger will NEVER pay 15 million for Gareth Barry.

3. Wenger has told us who he wants to sign so why is everyone writing about a million strikers we are going to sign? He said he wants to sign a creative player and a powerful defender. So even if we did sign a striker, they'd be a 16 year old from Zambia or something that would be one for the future, and that's ok. Remember we have Bendtner, Eduardo, Ade, Rvp, and Theo all wanting a place in the team at striker.

4. It is June 4th, nobody should be saying that we NEED to have signed someone by now and nobody should say Wenger doesn't deserve a little holiday. If we haven't signed somebody mid-August, then we should all be worried and I'll be the first one jumping on him then, you can count on me. Until then though, it's all about patience.

5. Arsene always conducts transfer season in the same way. He keeps all his cards close to his chest and doesn't share who he is really after. Why should we expect him this year to come out with a list of players who he specifically wants to buy and share it with all of us? People are demanding answers from the great man but he's done things this same way for years. He's going to get his business done, and it'll be for an undisclosed fee like always.

6. If you are a member of the IKBTAC (I know better than Arsene Club), that does not mean that fans that aren't stressing every day over a lack of signings are not true fans or are cunts for making fun of you and your stress and insanity. We actually support Arsenal too, we just don't get our panties in a knot over Samir Nasri taking a while to sign. Reading the comments on Third-Gen's post and Arseblog's post yesterday shows that these IKBTA's don't think anyone that doesn't agree with them can give an opinion.

That's really all I have time for this morning. I may continue this list tomorrow if I think of more things. We'll see. Oh and also, check out this link from 1979 Gooner. Good stuff. Cheers