Morning all.
I hope you are all keeping safe and warm during this cold snap. After a few days of blue skies and sunshine, the clouds have landed so it looks like we might get a few flakes of snow before the day is out. I keep being told that the Isle of Wight protects the south coast from severe weather but I’m not sure they are right.
Anyway, it looks like Igor Tyjon is on the market this month as the 17 year old striker will be out of contract at Blackburn at the end of the season and he’s told Blackburn he doesn’t want to stay. If reports are factual, Arsenal tried to sign him back in the summer but Blackburn turned down two offers from us. The first around £1 million, the second, £2.5 million. That decision seems to have backfired as they either sell him cheap this month or see him leave in the summer for nothing but a basic training compensation fee. Perhaps the interest shown in him during the summer has turned his head.
I’d love him to join Arsenal’s academy, not because of any other reason than he’s reported to be very talented. Reports are doing the rounds suggesting Arsenal are front runners for his signature but who knows, he could end up anywhere.
Going off at a bit of a tangent, certainly away from Arsenal but back in December, Andover Town Youth Football club announced it had been left with just 95p in its bank account after losing more than £30,000 in a suspected fraud. Chairman Nick Stephens said there was “anger” and “despair” at the club which allows about 140 children to play football. Local police confirmed that woman in her 30s from Hampshire had been arrested on suspicion of fraud by false representation.
Anyway, I was watching the local news last night when it was announced that Mason Mount, who was born in Portsmouth, not that far away from Andover, had made a ‘significant’ donation to the club. What a lovely gesture I thought, until the newsreader announced that figure to be £500.00. He’s reported to be earning £250,000 a week yet all he could give was £500.00. He could easily have covered Andover’s loss in full and not notice it leave his bank account.
In other football news which we all know by now, Ruben Amorim became the second Premier League managerial casualty. What did he and Maresca think when they publicly criticised their employers, a bunch of roses and a pay increase? Their respective careers were doomed from the moment they opened their mouths. I’m pretty sure every manager wants more from owners, certainly when it comes to money for signings but there’s a way of asking for something and it’s not through the media. Personally, I think they both found life as a Premier League manager too much and wanted a way out. I know Maresca has been linked to Man City but if he found managing Chelsea difficult, good luck following Pep Guardiola.
Finishing with Arsenal, according to The Athletic, after four years, Arsenal will no longer wear its all white “no more red” kit for the FA Cup fixtures, instead, this Sunday the boys will be wearing our home kit. By the way, Man City have nine players out injured at the time of writing, including Dias, Gvardiol, Savinho, Bobb, Gonzalez Marmoush and Stones…
#Just saying…
Finally, Anthony Taylor is set to referee against Liverpool, assisted by Gary Beswick and Adam Nunn. Simon Hooper will be the fourth official. Surely Taylor can’t be as bad as Kavanagh was in our last match.
Catch up in the comments.
https://dailycannon.com/2026/01/arsenal-rice-gyokeres/
For the Gyokeres critics, it’s worth reading what someone like Rice says about his teammate. Not that anyone here is overly critical of course. 😜
Good morning Rico.
If at first etc, etc..blame all around you and run off with a pocket full of cash in the certain knowledge that there is always another mug of a football club owner just waiting to give you even more dosh.
The merry-go-round is back up and running! 😉
Morning Cicero, agreed. I’d love a managerial post for a week or two. 😜
Could we do it by consortium and share the cash around , ?
All quiet on the Arsenal front at the moment apart from fears that a total fixture foul up is on the horizon should Portsmouth not be able to get their pitch ready for Sunday.
Other than that nothing happening apart from Norfolk dropping to minus 11 last night .
Thinking of going to my mates house in Norway it’s a bit warmer.
Morning Rico and all,
I wonder if Edu is regretting leaving us for Forest, as there are news stories going around that he could be on his way out.
Sounds like a good plan Potter, maybe we’d last a bit longer… lol
Pompey pitch should be fine, it’s due to warm up down here. Their postponed fixture was at Hull.
Morning Geoff, who cares now? 😂
Morning Gooners
Morning Rico, thanks for the post, Tygon sounds interesting, I hope we get him because our academy has a blind spot when it comes to sourcing and developing strikers. Some might say ‘what about Obi Martin’ but he never came through Hale End, not sure why we’re so poor in this dept?
Thank God we aren’t playing in that jinxed ‘no more red’ kit. I’d forgotten about it but it is synonymous with FACup failure. So no more no more red kits thankfully.
Morning Kev, he’d be a good challenge to Annous. I’d love to see our academy keep bringing players through. Hoping to see Nwaneri start against Pompey.
Obi jumped a bit too quickly, he’ll soon be at a Championship club or elsewhere, unless Fletcher brings him back from the cold.
Fletcher will probably bring his two sons into the squad, following in the footsteps of Ferguson who loved finding jobs for his sons at OT…
I think that Nwaneri will get a central role at Portsmouth and possibly Chelsea in the League Cup.
I hope so re Nwaneri Kev.
Rico, at the same stage of their development Foden had played less than Nwaneri has now so although I understand that many fans are anxious about his lack of minutes we’ve also gotta accept that it’s a symptom of the deep squad we’ve got and which is what we all wanted.
Also, whilst many fans are insistent and say that he should go out on loan, for his development, maybe Ethan himself actually wants to stay because he can see what’s coming down the track and he wants to be part of what could be a memorable season?
I get he’s still young Kev, same with MLS really. I think what concerns me and probably others is if he gets itchy feet..
Biggest danger to the Portsmouth game would be a waterlogged pitch. Due to get a lot milder but wet.
Only Thursday isn’t it Limey, back to sunshine after I read.
The multi club ownership seems to work well for City and Chelsea and though KSE own The Colorado Rapids we don’t see any interaction between them and Arsenal. Couldn’t we swap some of our youngsters with theirs in a series of loans? It could be beneficial to both sides. or maybe KSE could buy a Brazilian Club and we could get first choice of their players.
I commend the idea to The House. 😉
Can’t see Arteta playing young Americans, the last one we had didn’t last long.
David Bowie used to sing about young Americans
And about Starboy…… oh no, it was Stardust😂
G’day all.
Rosenior gets a five and a half year contract at Chelsea as Head Coach, not manager.
What’s the betting Old Red Nose gets the interim job at United? 😉
Hair-drier treatments, flying tea cups and boots, exactly what the (dis)United squad needs.
Could be why he doesn’t rotate so much if we were that close.
https://www.footballinsider247.com/stefan-borson-drops-update-on-arsenal-breaching-financial-rules/
Word on the street:-
No Havertz no Mosquero yet. No other significant injuries.
What the F villa and city draw 😃😃😃👌