Friday Update: Arshavin, Cesc, Kroenke ups stake & Cygan 10 July, 2009
Posted by lasagnechef in Arsenal News.trackback
Lots of little stories to talk about today so I’ll just get straight into it. Arshavin has denied any link with Barcelona and has said it’s nothing more than just a rumour and is looking forward to the new season with Arsenal.
I was never worried about him going to Barca this summer. It just started off a load of crap in the tabloids which Dennis Lachter caught on to and invited them to make a bid. This all after Andrey told us he’d sent a letter to Lachter saying he was no longer required as his agent. Well a couple of days ago Lachter told us that he is still Arshavin’s agent despite what he thinks. If you missed it, here’s what he said:
“We have a contract; this contract will be finished in one and a half years. Until then, I am the manager of Andrey Arshavin.
He sent me a letter, absolutely. Listen, it’s like entering a contract with Arsenal or anybody else; there are obligations. If you think that you can just cancel this formal relationship between two parties only because of a newborn baby it’s…what can you say…well you can’t do it. That’s it. I’m his agent.
And then he went on to respond to the allegations he invited Barcelona to make a bid for his client:
“This is the first time I’ve heard anything about these comments. I haven’t spoken with anybody and it’s quite strange to hear. It appears I’m getting quite famous again, but also that somebody is just trying to use my name.
I’ve never spoken with Barcelona and I think that somebody is just trying to get a story. All this stuff is made up. Two months ago I heard a lot about some kind of conflict between Arshavin and other Arsenal players. It’s bullshit you know. I would say that it looks like your media colleagues are just trying to find some hot news.”
Well I just don’t know who to believe. It seems you just can’t trust anyone so I’m not going to bother going into it. Arshavin will still be with us come the end of the transfer window and that’s that. Well, until January, then next summer, then the January after that, then the summer after that and on and on and on…
Barcelona president, Joan Laporta has said they will try and sign Fabregas if they cant get Franck Ribery. Well that’s just fantastic. He says they want to take Ribery off Bayern Munich but they don’t want to sell so they’re going to move on to Cesc. What, because we want to sell him do we? No, no I don’t think we do. I hate the way Barcelona and especially Laporta just stroll around like some kind of arrogant prick just assuming everybody wants to jump at the chance of joining Barcelona. Don’t get me wrong, they are a great club with incredible players but the way they act off the pitch doesn’t gain any respect from me.
Even if Barca did come in with a bid for Cesc then I don’t think he or we would allow it to happen just yet. There is an absolute minimum of one more year in Cesc’s Arsenal story. I was thinking earlier whether I want Barca to get Ribery or not so they don’t bid for Fabregas and I decided – I don’t care. I hope believe Cesc would politely tell Barca to fuck off (again) and insist he is staying at Arsenal. You never know, he might get so fucked off with it all that he says he will never return to Spain and will just stay at Arsenal forever. Yeah that last bit might just be me praying but we’ll see.
Stan Kroenke has increased his shares in Arsenal to 28.58% moving him closer to the magic 30% mark which requires him to make a bid for the whole lot. It’s a bit scary that. I don’t think his intentions are to complete a takeover of Arsenal but he is getting closer and closer to that 30% after his latest £1.36m purchase. There’s no hint that Kroenke is going to stop buying up shares but in the recent interviews with Ivan Gazidis, he said the club are quite happy with Stan Kroenke and the club is in a very stable position.
There’s some strong quotes from Manuel Almunia today. He’s been saying how we need to gain some more experience and ‘youth doesn’t give you titles’. He says we need to put more effort in if we are going to start winning things too. It reads quite blunt but I don’t expect Manuel to make such a harsh statement about his team mates like that, I’m sure it’s all meant positively. Every year we are becoming more and more experienced and gradually edging closer to that first trophy since 2005.
So Almunia wants to see a bit more experience in the side. Well who better than 35-year-old Pascal Cygan? He’s been joking about an Arsenal return saying Wenger told him the chance to return was always open:
“And as for teaming up with Wenger? He told me that if it went wrong in Spain, the door would still be open. Now I’m awaiting his phone call”
It says he was laughing as he said that but I hope he was actually joking. God could you imagine him coming back to Arsenal?! It would cause chaos. Actually you never know it might work in our advantage, Spurs might do their usual trick of finding out who we’re interested in and claim they’re after them too. Then who’d be laughing?
Ok that’s it for today. Nearly one week until our first pre-season game, can’t fucking wait.
barcelona a great club they fucking aint
So Stan Kroenke has again increased his stake in Arsenal. Thus another windfall to the deserving poor on the Board. The more I see of Usmanov the more I appreciate him. First he sees the need for investment to be competitive. Second Red & White Holdings are lead by David Dein. In our recent history many good things (Bergkamp, Vieira, Henry, Wenger etc) have had their genesis as a result of Dein Initiatives. The Board strictures on balancing books only had merit if Chelsea were the only club lashing out money with no heed to economic reality. Now Man City are in the picture it is time to change, or forget success!!
I though he’d sacked Dein in an effort to suck up to the board
correct DD left R&W holdings earlier in the year.
I am alsoin agreement with Ushmanov and i dont understand why they refused his offer to underwrite the private placing. the current board incuments who ahve treated many of the older board members disgracefully.
Ladny Nina was ousted as was DD who wre both pro spending on the team to maintain our challenge for major trophies.
instaed we have hill wood and co playing at turning Arsenal FC into a property company and that has gone disastrously wrong leaving Wenger frustated at his lack of ability to manouver int he makrket.
a year before we moved to the emirates hre wre dvelopers falling oer themsleves vying ofr highbury sq we could have sold it for minimum 100million paid down the debt and increased Wengers budget.
no the board who are all supposed to be super smart did not see the property crash coming or were arogant enough to think it would not affect their project.madness!!!
they are also double faced they got rid of DD for colluding with Kronke as hillwood put it “hes not our sort” now they are all licking his asre.
this rabbel needs to be removed from the board we need a clear strategy of which there is none.
I am amazed at Wengers loyalty, he can have nay job he wants and turned down the biggest job in world football by refusing ral madrids offer.
how Arsenal fans on blogs can criticise him leaves me baffeled, without him we would slide quite quickly.
i hope lady nina sells her stake to ushmanov and he has a face off with kronke as to who should takeover arsenal.
i favour ushmanov as he wants to stick to arsenal being a football team first and foremost.
kronke has injected no capital into the club only into hllwood and fizmans pockets. they keep going on about balancing books but the team is producing money yet that money is going towards proping up the dsastrous highbury sq development. the loan for that is coming up for renegotiation and under the current economic climate we will have to pay ahigher rate of interest with more caveates to restrict spending.
something has to gifve we cannot go down this route this is madness.
i hope and pray the Wenger does not leave us.
here here well said i couldn’t of said it better myself (although i might of checked my spelling before posting) but that aside everything you stated is exactly to the point i too hope lady nina sells to the russian heres hoping. Gooner forever
guys….who r u kidding?!
usmanov on board? ya right!
this fat uzbek has something in him…he just don’t give the money, he expects something in return too!!!
and what is kroenke gonna do mate??? at least usmanov has the cash
Usmanov is not the sort of person we want anywhere near our football club. Seriously, its not just all about the money he will supposedly give us. Have patience.
Loki – Not disagreeing with you mate, but I think you will find that between Kroenke & Usmanov the former has quite a lot more money and added to that the family he is married in to are one of the wealthiest in America
fab is overrated anyway. he has done fuck all over the lat 2 years
Amazing the way Usmanov has been demonised for having the timerity to challenge the way the club is being lead. Kroenke may gain control and we can look forward to the status quo continuing. Another nearly season with resources stretched and not having enough experience at the crucial run in to the end of the season. Arsene is a saint to put up with it. The Board when pushed make statements about the money being available which Arsene will not spend. Clearly laying any blame at his door to the fans. Do supporters really believe Arsene would not be able to spend the extra funds if they were given to him?
here are the facts
the curent board have got rich through the perseverence of Wenger.
they continue to deny him funds
kronke has not put a single penny into Arsenal fc.
all the money he is spending is going to the current board who are making millions selling their shares.
they charge us the highest ticket prices in world football
its time the Arsenal fans stopped having a go at Wenger and the squad and targeted the greedy directors of the club.
i am 100% behind Wenger and the players
i am 100% against the current board.
kronke will not be any better then them he likes to run his clubs tightly so dont expect any better.
Wenger will leave in 2011 when his current contract expires
we will be in shit street.
Btw, you can purchase over 30% of a company in the UK and NOT have to make an offer to buy all the shares.
However, there is then a time period that follows during which you may not attempt a takeover.
That is how enic managed to own 60% of the shower down the road.
usmanov is not some rich sugar daddy whose sole goal in life is to buy squillions of players to make all the little fans happy – honestly, just how clueless are some people?
Usmanov would ruin Arsenal football club and you would look back on the day you said you wanted him in just ‘cos he had a bit of money. Just look at him, do you want that owning our club? No we fucking don’t. Seriously, don’t believe the shit about Usmanov offering cash for players – it’s all just to get some fans side to try get a bit more popular. He has an awful reputation and there’s no way the club are going to just forget that by offering us some ‘free money’.
We have a chairman who only owns a fraction of the club, a leading shareholder who married an heiress, a multi-millionaire diamond merchant who has made a small fortune selling off his Arsenal shares for a hundred times what he paid. All hanging in for the windfall profits which will come their way. Collectively a Board who lecture the fans telling us how fortunate we are to have them. Where recent evidence shows a club in decline.Honestly are these the people you would choose to run a Football Club. Usmanov we are told is not the right type by the Guardianistas, Find out for yourselves and make your own decision, do not believe everything you hear!!
lasagnechef how do you know he would ruin the club? what do you know about him other then what you have read so far, which has been cleverly put out there through media agencies on behalf of certain interested parties connected to the current set up of the me me culture in the Arsenal board room.
do you think he became a billionaire by ruining things?
he has put his money where his mouth is and was prepared to underwrite a 100million placing so that wenger could have funds to stregthen the team. the board refused because it would dilute their holdings not for any other reason.
when i see the board members put their own money in i will think differently.
upto now they have accumulated in access of 400 million of debt.
i agree re the stadium move financed by debt but their vanity in wanting to be a property company was down to fizman and his cronies.
we are a FOOTBALL CLUB not a property and construction marketing company which is now denying wenger funds to strengthen the team.
every year the directors keep saying wenger has funds when it is a blatant lie he is tied to 13 million worth of funds which has to include salaries, go and read the accounts for any of you who dont believe me.
he HAS to sell to buy untill the highbury sq development is sold off who knows how long that could take in the current climate.
before anyone quotes the 96% quoted by the club that is 96% of downpayments lets see how many people end up buying, that figure could halve if the current industry norm applies.
ushmanov is the only shareholder who is talking about injecting money into the team the other shareholders are busy taking kronkes money and stuffing it into their swiss bank accounts.
why doesnt fizman lend money to the club to buy players?
who pays for the private jets and the 5 star lifestyles that the board enjoys through the expense accounts? i have been a guest in the directors box and let me tell you there is no scrimping on anything only the best of the best gets served there.
take it from me the current board are out for their own gains at the detriment of the team.
kronke has not said a single word about how much he will invest in the TEAM!!! his shareholding does nothing for the team. the whole saga continues whilst the teams ability to compete for major honours declines.
there is no manager out there who could have done what wenger has achieved in the face of dealing with a greedy bunch of loatharios who are in charge of a club in decline.
i hope for our sakes that Wenger does not leave when moron fans begin to boo the team and blame him for failing to keep up with the other top teams on budget that is less then sunderlands. our neighbours spend more then us every year and they dont even play CL football how sad is that?
citeh will break into the top 4 sooner or later anyone thinking otherwise is in la la land money buys top players.
i am not calling for wholesale changes to the squad i want wenger t be given sufficient funds to buy a player like rebery or a torres every other year atleast. the yooth project can continue with sprinklings of star material.
before anyone mentions that the board coffed up for arshavin, no they didnt those funds came from player profits that wenger had generated.
lets all hope that wenger the miracle man can keep up the good work but i doubt it as man city have clearly moved the goal post and the other three of the top 4 clearly back team building.
oh to have yank owners like glaziers who back their manager with funds even though they have more debt then we do.
ASRENE will leave soon and we will go into decline. enjoy CL football cos we wont be seing it soon.