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December 07, 2004
London Calling, December 7th
Dear NY Gooners,
Brum-day Afternoon
The day started with me not being able to find any parking at the station because of all the Christmas shoppers heading into the West End; thankfully that was the only setback. The main talking point before the game was the inclusion of Almunia for Lehmann, was this the end for the German or just a kick up the backside? Whichever it is I do not think that either will be our keeper next season.
After so many dropped points recently the tension inside the ground was being felt by everyone and the play in the first half reflected it. As in previous weeks, passes went astray and the tempo was just not there and although we scored in the first half no one felt relaxed having seen us drop so many points to so-called weak teams in the last few games. Thankfully Birmingham are in a worst run of form than us at the moment, so they gave us very little to worry about, bar one shot on the turn by Morrison, which Almuna fumbled at but managed to redeem himself before it went it. As the game reached the final ten minuets you felt that if they did managed to score heads would have dropped. As it was, we did get the second and the reaction of the team and the crowd was one of total relief as if that was the goal that saved us from relegation. The third goal was just a consolation but most importantly we also kept a clean sheet. I never thought I would be so pleased to get three points at home against Birmingham in December. Our season may not be back on track just yet but at least we are heading in the right direction.
Bloody Blue Kit
I say let's get the blue kit scraped now before it's too late. We have not won a competitive game this season whilst wearing this kit (I do not regard the Charity Shield as a real game). We should have the same club policy that Celtic do in that we should not have blue anywhere. I will sing "Come on you reds" and "Come on you yellows" but I can never bring myself to sing come "Come on you blues". Lets get rid of it now and never have it ever again no matter what the marketing people at Nike say about blue being aesthetically pleasing to the eye, well it might be in the world of fashion but not when we can't get three away points.
Chelskavich
And so we wait for the visit of the Chav's from South London this weekend and for the first time in years we are not the top dogs in London. We have often swapped top spot with other London clubs during the last 40 years, Tottenham in the early 60's & 70's, QPR (yes, that's right, QPR) in the mid 70's and even West Ham in the 80's, but we have always been seen as London's top team.
In the last few seasons we have seen the emergence of what has always been regarded as London's 3rd team Chel's, but this time it is not just on the footballing front that they are competing with us, it's on the financial side. There is no question that they can not touch us when it comes to success because 1 Championship and a handful of cup trophies is nowhere near us for history and silverware and, although they have always had a solid away following, there is no doubt that we have always had the larger fan base. But in the last couple of seasons, with the injection of Roman's billions, Chels' have the greater financial clout of not only us, but any other team in the world. There is no doubt that the man is here for the duration and anyone who thought that he would get bored after a couple of seasons and bugger off to find something else to fuel his hunger are living in hope more than anything else. He recently transferred the majority of his shares to his eleven year old son as a gift (?). This could be looked at in one of two ways, the first is that he is a very generous Daddy who loves the club so much that he wants to keep it the family for years to come or the second is that it's some tax dodge. I know what my theory is.
I am going to be brutally honest here and I know it will upset some people but here goes, I am worried about Chels', I worry that they will grow so much that no one will be able to compete with them, let alone us. Our new stadium will help us more than if we had stayed where we are, but whereas we will become millions of pounds wealthier in years to come, Chels' are talking in billions and that's just from one income. They do not have to worry about the team being successful, fans through the turnstiles or TV revenue for their money to come in, they just turn to their sugar daddy and ask for some more of his loose change to buy another world class player. Now money doesn't always buy you success, as was proven last year but money and a good manager goes a long way to getting you it. Our hope is not so much for Abramovich to walk away but that the ambitious Mourinho decides that he wants a new challenge and they end up with another Claudio.
I Heard It Through The Grape Vine
Pennent wants to sign a new contract but AW is still not convinced he is Arsenal quality.
Life After Arsenal
Gus Cesar moved away from Arsenal as quickly as we could find some mug to buy him. After plying his trade in the lower leagues and Scotland he ended up in Hong Kong playing for a local side. Was introduced to the banking fraternity and has made a fortune from investments. I always said he was a banker or something similar anyway.
Spotted out and about.
Mr. & Mrs. Ed(u) at Toys R Us on the A10 Enfield with a film crew for his "Premiership Diary" program. He bought a new cot and some toys for his new baby.
Players We Have Been Linked With This Week
Theo Walcott (Southampton) Teenage sensation.
Robrigo Taddei (Sienna) Brazilian midfielder/winger
Javier Mascherano (RiverPlate) Linked again with the Argentine wonder kid
Andrea Consigli (Atlanta) 18-year-old youth team keeper
Emmanuel Petit (?) Again
Jean-Pierre Fanfan (PSG) Defender
Carlo Cudicini (Chelskavich)
Keeper Sebastian Frey (Parma) Keeper
Useless Arsenal Trivia
The marble hallways of Highbury are not natural marble but a reconstituted material of a marble and cement mix.
Celebrity Gooner
Spike Lee, film director and good-mate of TH14.
This weeks 'Totally Irrelevant' link to Arsenal
The burgers inside the ground are rank and tasteless.
All the best,
Teabag
Posted by gcurtis at December 7, 2004 08:18 AM
Comments
Hey Teabag,
Another great column... here are a few comments:
Blue Shirts:
Finally someone who agrees with my hypothesis (oft mentioned in the bar after a few beers) that the lads just play worse in blue... my own personal (and slightly silly) explanation is that they don't recognise a player in blue as a friendly player quick enough to play our game properly. Note that we have also not won the League will possessing a blue away shirt.
As a side note, a friend of mine in the fashion industry says that Nike are trying to get blue shirts all the time because a survey of the *public*, not a team's supporters, showed blue to be one of the most popular colours... they're thinking like Yanks and assuming that non-supporters will buy more shirts cause of the colour...
Chel$ki:
I'm concerned by the happenings down the Kings' Road but not overly worried. Personally I still see the Red Mancs as the bigger Championship contenders. Despite the hundreds of millions spent, they're still not any better than us or United and they'll suffer some more setbacks as the months drag on into Spring... hopefully the first of which will happen on Sunday!!!
Pennant:
Many folks may disagree with me, but I agree with the Boss... I just don't see him as good enough. I said the same about Upson years ago (and got ridiculed for that plenty) but my main argument has always been, so who would you not play...? In my world, Pennant comes after Freddie and Bobby as far as who I would select on the right wing. Pires can play on either wing easily so if Freddie's out it's easy to slot Jose or van Persie in on the right and move Bobby over (with Flamini available as a sub - assuming we sort out the temporary lack of depth in central midfield). Meanwhile, the youngsters are looking better and better all the time... Pennant had his chance to catch Wenger's eye in training - instead he turned up late (which The Boss apparently hates) and caused problems... You are the weakest link - Goodbye!
Posted by: NY Gooner at December 7, 2004 08:50 AM
Actually, Chelsea are looking to become self-sufficient so that they do not need to rely on the money of Roman even though it will always be there. We'll see!!! However, it is why we nicked Peter Kenyon from the Mancs. Roman's son is slated to take over from Roman when he turns 21!
To become a big club, Chelsea need to win the Champions League as that's what the "big clubs" do. Real have their 9 cups, Liverpool 4 and Mancs just 2! Right now, Chelsea are a small club in the world.
Posted by: Blue Mike at December 7, 2004 10:34 AM
Unfortunately, they do pick their colors based on the ability to sell jerseys to non-fans. i have a friend who works for Nike's ad agency out in Portland, and he says Nike have a huge problem moving red and yellow jerseys. And there's a cache for american and japanese non-fans to wearing football kits and they want that market. They figure the supporters will wear whatever.
And as for the hamburgers, the one's outside the ground aren't much better. But the french fries are excellent.
Posted by: Toures jersey at December 7, 2004 10:37 AM
Maybe Nike doesn't want to alienate the lucrative Crips market in urban areas. But I seem to recall that they didn't have any trouble shifting predominantly red gear when it had the number 23 on the back...
Posted by: CharrdWood at December 7, 2004 12:30 PM
Mike tell me how Chels' can become self-sufficient when they have a wage bill 4 times greater than Arsenal & the Mancs but can only get 42000+ thru the gate.
They will have to sell a hell of a lot of shirts to make up the short fall.
Posted by: teabag at December 9, 2004 03:05 AM
Yeah, I can't see it either but that's what we're hearing from Chelsea. We have the hotels and rec centre and Chelsea are trying hard to become a world brand which will take time and at least one CL title! However, the last I heard the hotels weren't doing very well and are a bit of a cash cow. Actually, I'm hoping they knock down one hotel and rebuild the Shed End to increase capacity. They want capacity in the 55,000 area but we don't have enough exits from the Bridge which means that safety regulations keep us at the current 42,000 capacity. Our only hope is that Kenyon can finally get that extra exit that was so elusive to Bates by being nice to the local council (money talks!). Then again, Bates was always at war with the local council and residents! Bates' plans to build a path to the train station was finally killed thanks to some rare flower!! We'll see what happens. First stop is the Champions League title. The US market will be tough to crack which means buying Beckham for a couple of seasons might be a great investment simply to improve visibility in the US. Everyone knows Becky in the States! Lastly, Roman simply has too much money and is getting richer by the day regardless of what he spends on Chelsea. Even if Chelsea become self-sufficient, that will not stop Roman from buying whatever player he desires!
Picture this...Frank Lampard, Wayne Bridge (you know him ;-)) and John Terry are at the top of the steps in Philadelphia (the steps Rocky made famous!) and a lady poses for a photo with the three England players. Her question to these men..."Do you know David Beckham?" It's a tough market!
See you Gooners Sunday!
Posted by: Blue Mike at December 9, 2004 10:29 AM