Morning all,
I watched An Audience With David Dein and Arsene Wenger last night. Not much cropped up that most of us didn’t know already but it was good. Good to see both ex Arsenal men relaxed and sharing some funny moments. It became clear that Arsene Wenger believed Fergie was favoured by the PL during the time the two went head to head and he was honest about the did or didn’t he ‘see it’ – of course he did. David Dein suggested Arsenal were ‘used’ in Utd’s chase for Ronaldo and he explained how the Sol Campbell deal was done during the night and early hours of the morning.
Of course Dermot O’Leary asked him about his coat zips, and as Arsene and the audience laughed, a video clip of his struggles was played behind him. It was funny. A serious moment came when he reflected on the 2003/04 season. He regrets playing a strong team against Man Utd in the FA Cup fixture which preceded our Champions League quarter-final second leg against Chelsea because Utd kicked Arsenal off the park. His words, not mine. Funny though as if anyone is interested in reading the report for that FA Cup semi-final, you’d think it was Arsenal who were the more aggressive team. Anyway, we had to settle for being invincible instead of treble winners. Porto went on to lift the Champions League trophy, Utd the FA Cup.
The show is worth watching in my opinion and it was good to see so many ex Arsenal players in the audience along with a number of current and ex Premier League managers who clearly have so much respect for our old manager. How could they not after all he did for the game.
The subject of a World Cup tournament every two years came up which David Dein didn’t like the idea of and instead suggested a three year plan. World Cup, Euros and the Women’s World Cup.
That means we would have four World Cups every 12 years rather than three and give players more of a chance to play in major tournaments and also earn billions for national associations and developing football nations.
Here’s my twopence worth. Whatever the outcome which I hope isn’t a World Cup every two or three years, why doesn’t football follow the example set in the cricket where the Women’s World Cup is played at the same time as the mens? Play the Women’s fixtures first, the men’s second and that way, fans would get to the game earlier so they could watch both. I know the same countries won’t qualify in both competitions but it should be easy to pair countries together when the fixtures for the groups are sorted out. Seeding allowing of course. The same could apply to the Euros.
Much talk goes on about saving the planet so why can’t football set a good example? Instead of aeroplanes flying around the world every two years as Arsene suggests, leave things as they are and play the Women’s and Men’s competitions at the same time and in the same location then where possible, they can fill one plane instead of needing two. And once every four years for both the Euros and World Cup. Also, FIFA/UEFA need to do something about all these stupid international breaks which do the League competitions and players no good whatsoever. There must be a way they can all be played during one fixed month each year.
I’ve rambled on long enough. See you in the comments.
Morning Rico and all
I can picture a statue of Arsene, standing tall and proud trying to do his zipper up and a plaque with the words I wished they used Velcro instead of a zipper.
Morning Geoff, all.
Ha ha.
I would prefer to play the World Cup once every 4 years and all countries go into one barrel and a straight knock out rounds played over 2. Weeks
History will show that the Wenger , Dein partnership was as good as it would get. Both men were ambitious for the club on the pitch and without revisiting the Dein / Fiszman spat it was a great shame that our established board were too conservative to move forward at the pace that both men foresaw.
As much as I did not agree with all of his schemes I believe that as soon as Dein was removed the impetus within the club went with him. His position with both The Arsenal and the F.A made him a very formidable negotiator and I believe that he saw the oligarc take over of Chelsea as the forerunner of what has taken place
.
He mooted a new stadium at Kings Cross ,, a ground share with Spurs at the Ally Pally and subsequently selling the television rights to Kroenke to gain the same system that has worked to the advantage of Real Madrid and Barcelona in Spain . The board turned all of those ideas down and eventually sold out lock stock and barrel to KSE and now here we are.
One thing that they did accept was the bond scheme to rebuild the old Laundry end on the North Bank at Highbury , wholly unacceptable to many fans but in the end proved a successful scheme that financed the Wenger teams bringing Vieira , Anelka , Henry , Pires and many others .
However that ship has gone under the bridge now and we are where we are. I have to say that putting a womens game on at The Emirates wouldn’t get me into the ground any earlier but I can see the logic of cutting down on the carbon footprint of teams travelling all over the world.
But the pitch conditions would be a worry playing two 90 minutes games on top of each other might not be too popular with most groundsmen. I know that strangely and I did not believe it until the groundsman at Rickmansworth Town showed me the pitch following one of my first team matches and then next week the condition after the reserves . The nunber of divots were considerably higher and needed more work to bring the pitch back toit’s high standard.
Now that’s my ramble for today , see you all later when I get a break from pulling weeds .
Once every four years is enough I think..
I share the same opinion re Dein Potter, he and Wenger were great together and our soul left when he did. Plus, the club didn’t prepare for what they’d decided which ultimately landed on Wengers shoulders and it was far too much responsibility for one man. Arsenal suffered because of it and as time went by, appointed the wrong men imo. I like Edu though, I think he has the club’s interest at the top of his agenda, the fans too.
If he and Arteta can work together half as well as DD and AW did, we’re on to a good thing.
Three Arsenal players start for England tonight.
Kane will have to get himself moving if he wants to keep up with the rest of the team.
6 – 0 half-time. Kane 4, two of them penalties all he is doing is hanging around the six yard box knocking the ball into the net. Saka scored but it has been ruled an own goal after a big deflection. He and ESR are having a big impact on the game. Not much for Ramsdale to do, one save from a deflected shot and a punched clearance from a corner so far.
Could be double figures by full-time.
Makes you wonder if San Marino.Andorra and litchenstien should be in a pre-qualifying group.
ESR starting to remind me of David Platt with his recent scoring record. Cool side-foots into the corner, after late runs into the box. This was the one thing missing from his game last season, which bodes very well for the future.
Was a nice Goal shame that Matterface was gushing all over Kane. I thought when he said Kane had scored 4 goals in a competitive match and . Dixon said I’d hardly call this competitive was the comment of the night
The board during The Wenger years have a lot to answer. Lets hope the current board have learned a thing or two.
I will always thank Wenger for what he did for our club.
Watched highlights, very Nice to see ESR and Saka both score as for Ramsdale another clean sheet done him no harm.
Morning all
New post up now