The ArseNole Podcast - Episode 2

The second episode of the ArseNole podcast is out now! It's much longer than the first one, because Joaquin and I had loads to go over. We talk about Euro 2008, Adebayor and Hleb, other transfer stories, and some early predictions for the squad next season. The sound quality isn't great but we're figuring it all out as we go so please bear with us on that. We're new at this so give us a chance, not to mention we live 3000 miles apart!

We want to hear from you! Let us know what you think of the format and the content and also what you want to hear on future podcasts! It's only going to get better so I hope you all enjoy it and please tell us what you think.

Cheers!

You can listen to the podcast here or download the podcast here or subscribe to it using iTunes here. If you missed the last episode you can find it by going to the main podcast page here.

Comments much appreciated!

More on Adebayor and His Shenanigans

Morning all, probably going to be a quick one today but we'll see how it goes.

We'll start off with Vicenzo Morabito, who is Alexander Hleb's agent but apparently is representing Emmanuel Adebayor right now. He had quite an interesting quote today:

"Arsenal are looking for Adebayor's replacement. Until that search is over, the negotiations won't reach the final stage, but I am fairly optimistic. What are the chances of Adebayor coming to Milan? I'd say today we are between 70 and 80 per cent."

That's pretty messed up shite. You know what, after hearing this, I'm totally changing my original tune. I now think Adebayor is definitely leaving. Do I think it's all his doing? No I don't. I think his agent is a wanker who was offering his services to every big club in Europe and Milan and Barca took the bait. Milan came in with a bid that was just too good to turn down and Adebayor is caught between a rock and a hard place.

This isn't a Cuntley Cole situation or a Mathieu Flamini situation...this is more of a situation where the offer is just too good to turn down. If he does go I'll hold nothing against the big man. 28 million quid is enough money for Arsenal to bring in a replacement for him and more. You want David Villa? Well this is how you get him, by freeing up 28 million quid that you didn't have before.

Arsene Wenger addressed the transfer stories here and said that he isn't worried by it all.

"I don't know why I should be nervous. It's like when you take a penalty, if you are nervous it doesn't help. I will approach it with my usual calm. My biggest challenge is to make sure I have a competitive team next year no matter who it is."

And he's absolutely right. When does Arsene fail to put out a competitive team? Never, even though we have lost loads of big players throughout the years. Pires, Adams, Seaman, Cole, Bergkamp, Vieira, Henry, Campbell, etc. He knows what it takes to compete in this league and in the Champion's League, and he'll get it done again. Whether Ade and Hleb stay or go, we'll have a better team next year than we did last year.

Apparently there have been five bids put in for Andrei Arshavin. No idea if one of them is from Arsenal but the article does say all the current bids are either from France or England, even though he has said over and over that he really wants to play for Barcelona. I could definitely see him playing in the Arsenal system because he seems just that type of player but I think he's really got his heart set on Barca.

Good news about Tomas Rosicky. He walked for the first time without support yesterday. He said he's flying to London in a few days to get on a rehabilitation program before hopefully starting full training in July. Can't wait to see the man back in action.

Thierry Henry is visiting Disney World this weekend in Orlando, which happens to be only two hours from my house. I might go ahead and make the drive down there because they say people will get a chance to meet him. Worth a two hour drive to meet Thierry? I think yes.

Russia versus Spain today in the Euros. I guess everyone left in the Euro 2008 competition will be rooting for Spain because nobody has a Germany-Russia final. I think it should be a good game, but I'm going 3-2 to Spain. I think Villa will get a brace and Xavi will score one.

That's all I've got today, I'm going to get a burrito because I'm starving. Have a good one, join the forums, leave a comment about what you want on the next podcasts, and enjoy the Euros!

Arsenal Have Signed Aaron Ramsey

Morning all. Quite surprising news this morning tells us that we have signed Cardiff's Aaron Ramsey. I don't think the deal has been finalized but it is by the BBC and they don't usually completely make up stories like some other papers and websites. It's 5 million quid, straight up, according to reports and comments from Cardiff.

As you probably know, Arsenal flew out Aaron and his agent to Switzerland to meet with Arsene Wenger and they gave him the VIP treatment. He had the choice to sign with Everton, Manchester United or Arsenal and it looks now like he's chosen the Gunners.

Cardiff seems genuinely disappointed by the news, as they were clearly favoring him moving to Manchester United. This would have allowed him to be loaned back to Cardiff for next season. Check out some of these quotes:

"It is a very straightforward, no strings attached £5m cash offer - simple.

"We felt that Manchester United equalled it because it included a loan back option."

So that covers the cost of the player, which I thought would be higher honestly, based on appearances and the like, similar to Theo's deal when we signed him from Southampton. As for the confirmation that he is coming, Cardiff released a statement saying this:

"Cardiff City were informed on Tuesday morning that Aaron Ramsey's preferred destination this summer is the Emirates Stadium with Arsenal.

"We will now continue the dialogue with the Gunners with a view to Aaron's move being completed.

"The move, unlike other options, does not include a loan back period at Ninian Park for the 2008/09 season."

So it really looks like he's coming and I suppose now would be the time that I should start getting excited about him. I really thought he would be off to Man United but it appears he is not, in fact, a huge cunt. Ramsey's desire to move to the Emirates has even been put up on the Cardiff official website.

I'll admit right now that I've seen him play about 20 minutes in my entire life. I know he's 17 and he's obviously a huge prospect, but can someone that has seen him play (maybe a Cardiff supporter happens along here today?) tell us more about him? I don't trust YouTube videos but I haven't seen any for him anyway.

In other quick news, Spain and Russia are just now kicking off and Cesc Fabregas isn't in the starting lineup. I'm pissed. Go Russia.

And for Euro 2008, an Austrian Brewery has offered a lifetime of free beer to any Austrian player who scores the first goal for the country in the tournament. I think that would provide extra motivation for anybody! Cheers.

Arsenal Off To Amsterdam

Morning all. I was woken up way to early this morning so I'm sort of as useless as Eboue right now.

The first topic today is that Arsenal have been confirmed for Ajax's annual Amsterdam Cup, which Arsenal won last season. The other teams in the tournament are Ajax, Sevilla, and Inter Milan, who are now managed by Jose Mourinho. Arsenal will play Ajax August 8th and Sevilla on August 9th.

I like these friendly cups like the Emirates Cup and the Amsterdam Cup. We get to see the squad early on against other top sides who we could end up playing in the Champions League. I think it's great for some of the young players to get time in these matches against big teams. It's really good for their development. Plus it'll give us a good chance to see Carlos Vela against top class clubs. He's one I'm really excited about so we'll get to see what all he can do.

In Euro 2008 news, Robin van Persie is going to miss Holland's first game against Italy on Monday through injury. Marco Van Basten says he is training normally but he's just not ready to go yet. I cringe every time I see van Persie take the slightest hit, and you know we are cursed by international competitions. I just hope RvP can make it through this thing healthy.

Following up on the story yesterday about Adebayor agreeing a move to Milan, he's come out today and completely rubbished that notion.

"I am very happy here. Reports which suggest I have threatened to quit are rubbish," he said. "I love the club and the fans.

"We have a great set of players here with a fantastic team spirit.

"We have had a good season, but next year we want to go one better by winning a trophy."

Now to me that story is pretty much done and dusted because he's said several times that he doesn't want to go anywhere, and I for one am glad. I was astounded yesterday by how many people wanted Adebayor to be sold after he just had a thirty goal season at the age of 24! What more do you want from a guy who played almost every game the entire season without a steady strike partner next to him? RvP was injured, Eduardo was injured, a lot of the time he was on his own up front and yet people are apparently not happy with thirty goals. Spend more time on Championship Manager and stop trying to make decisions for Arsenal, because they are clearly terrible ones.

Apparently Giovanni Dos Santos has signed for Sp*rs. I know some fans really wanted him at Arsenal but I didn't. I don't really think he's that much quality, and going by his transfer fee (4.7 million) and the team he is signing with, a lot of people agree with me.

So you all know what tomorrow is...the start of the 2008 European Championships. If you haven't entered the contest then today is the last day you have to do so. You can visit the main page and see everyone's prediction's here. You can also email me your prediction or post it on the comments or forums. So now that I've heard everyone's predictions I suppose it's time for me to give mine. I'm going to go with Germany over France 3-1.


Well I'm going to take my time and enjoy the Euros. I'm not going to worry about transfers, and I'll probably even write about some of the Euro matches on here. If you want bollocks transfer rumors, you know where to go to find that. Till tomorrow...Cheers.

And oh yeah, Go Celtics.

Arsenal In Bid for Ramsey

Morning all. There isn't much for news today honestly so this may be a short one. If you haven't joined the Euro 2008 contest, you can do so here. Just pick the two teams to make the Finals at Euro2008 and the final score and you win.

We'll start with the England-USA friendly which if you don't live in England or the States you probably don't care about but I do and I watched it yesterday. A couple of observations from the game: Is Jermain Defoe really the best option to be leading the English strike force? There have to be better options than that. I don't know who exactly but I think maybe Young, Agbonlahor, Ashton, or maybe even Theo would be better than Defoe. The fat scouser Rooney and Gerrard were both great behind him though. As far as the USA goes they couldn't manage shite. I hate saying it because I'm no fan of Landon Donovan but we missed him yesterday. Our strikers looked lost all match and while part of that is because of good defending, some was just because it wasn't the first choice strikers. Oh and one other thing on England, why is Wes Brown playing at all? He is absolutely terrible. Hope he gets hit by a bus.

Ok enough of that, now on to Arsenal. According to reports Arsenal have put in a £5million offer to Cardiff for Aaron Ramsey. Cardiff rejected the offer because they want more money up front. Arsenal's offer was based on incentives for appearances and the like, similar to how we got Theo Walcott from Southampton. Ramsey is a good young player, and this was shown as he just got his first call up to the Wales squad for the friendlies this week. They say we'll go back with an improved offer but I'm not so sure how highly Wenger rates him. It may just be a, "Well if we can get him for this much we might as well." But I guess as always we'll have to wait and see.


Alex Mcleish of Birmingham says he hopes to keep up the relationship with Arsenal so they can keep loaning our players. I'm not sure Alex, but that relationship may have been hurt a little bit by that cunt Martin Taylor breaking our striker's leg.

Goonertalk is having a poll of sorts to see who everyone's all time best Arsenal players are and is going to put them in a book. So if you're into books and voting for things then go ahead and do that.

Alexander Hleb says that he's never said he wants to leave Arsenal. Very crafty there Alex...but we know that you told your agents to find you a way out and they have been essentially begging for it for the past month. I'm so sick of Hleb honestly, I hope he's gone sooner rather than later and I couldn't really care where he goes. Be nice if he went to play for Tottenham. Then when we kicked the shite out of him all the time he'd not think it was so bad at Arsenal.

Jose Mourinho is just about in as manager of Inter Milan, and I can't see Hleb playing for him, so I think if he's going it's going to have to be Madrid or Barcelona. Hopefully the report is true and he's agreed personal terms with Barca and all that needs to be worked out is a transfer fee. Like I said yesterday, I'd take 10 million quid for him. What would be your selling price for Hleb?

That's about all I've got today. Remember the Euro 2008 prediction contest! We had a great start to it yesterday with people getting their predictions in so let's keep it up. Remember all you have to do is pick the two teams that will be in the finals and the final score. The winner gets a free ArseNole Stein Mug. That way you can drink Newcastle Brown Ale, which along with Yuengling are my top two beers! Sign up by posting your prediction in the comments, the forums, or emailing me at ArseNole@arsenole.com.

Hleb Off To Spain, Euro 2008 contest.

Morning all. Nasri has again not been confirmed today in case you were wondering, but this is most likely due to the fact that he was playing for France last night. Awful hard to be in London when you're playing for France. Try it. Arsenal News Review says he played well. Le Grove said he didn't play all that well. I didn't watch it so take your pick of the reviews of his performance if you're that into it.

Nasri's agent did however confirm that the deal will be done in the coming days and it will be to Arsenal. Read this.

Biggest news we have today is about Alexander Hleb and if it is anything it's confusing. Apparently Hleb's agent met with Txiki Begiristain (nice name), the Barcelona director, yesterday in Germany. They reportedly reached a verbal agreement on the player's terms and now an agreement must be struck with Arsenal to complete the move.

At the same time, Real Madrid have declared their interest in Hleb, with coach Bernd Schuster saying this:

"Over the past two months we have had a plan and we know what we want, but now Hleb has been added. We did not know he could leave Arsenal but in recent days it has been more positive. We were surprised that he might leave there."

Remember also that Inter Milan was thought to be leading the race to sign him for ages until the Spanish gians got involved. Personally I couldn't give a shite where he goes to, I'm just ready for him to be off. This reminds me of the Jose Antonio Reyes story last year, where we didn't know where he was going to go we just knew we didn't want him back. It took weeks of him being linked with Real, Atletico, and Sevilla before the move finally went through. There are some people that may still want Hleb in the team, but I'd take 10 million quid for him right now in a heartbeat.


If you're looking for a laugh you can laugh at Mathieu Flamini, who was dropped from the France squad for Euro 2008. A lot of people probably feel sorry for him, but not me. I like ex Arsenal players this is true, but I only like ones who were great players here for years, like Pires, Henry, Vieira, etc, not money grubbers who leave after one good year. Flamini deserves all the hardship he gets in my book. If you disagree, please name your reason why.

Robin van Persie has said that Arsenal need to raise their wage limit to keep players happy and make them stay at Arsenal. Of course he wants the wage limit raised, he's a player and he wants more money. I like van Persie and all but he can talk about all this when he becomes club director, or at least stays healthy for a whole season.

As you probably all know, Cesc Fabregas' new agent is Darren Dein, David Dein's son. With Cesc getting ready to go into contract negotiations with Arsenal, the talk is that he's going to play some hardball with the club. Cesc is going to re-sign, trust me on this one. There is no need to worry that just because Dein is his agent he is going to go to Barcelona this summer. He'll probably get a deal about 100,000 quid a week. This story is meant to get all the Arsenal supporters nervous but don't worry about it.

And in other news Mad Jens made the final cut for the German squad for the Euros. Good job Jens.

That's about all I've got for the day. I'm pretty stoked for the Euro's so if you want to give me your prediction on the finals, give me the two teams that will play in the finals and the final score and I'll give the winner a free ArseNole stein mug and maybe some other stuff too. It's used to drink excesses of beer, like Yuengling. So post your prediction on the forums or the comments and I'll write em all down and the winner will get that. Or you can email your prediction to me at ArseNole[at]arsenole(dot)com. They have to be in before June 7th.