Rotten eggs and more protests….

Morning all.

Sitting top on NewsNow this morning was a headline suggesting Arsenal are close to signing the ‘new Cristiano Ronaldo’ – and before you question my sanity, no, I didn’t feel the need to look further into the story. There is no new Ronaldo, or Messi, Bergkamp, Henry, Vieira etc etc etc because only one of each was ever born. After all, Ozil was meant to be Arsenal’s ‘new Bergkamp’ but we know how that turned out.

The best thing has been to keep a team, a staff, employees and everybody together. In those circumstances when you are not winning and when there are so many people, some inside and some outside, that are trying to hurt [you] – And to keep them together and block that and be so strong, I think that is some achievement. As normally when that happens [makes a cracking sound], that cracks and everything falls, and it didn’t. – Mikel Arteta

Asked whether the “some inside” were still at Arsenal, Arteta simply replied: “No.”

One doesn’t have to be a genius to work out who Mikel Arteta is referring to and all I can say is good riddance to those who were trying to tear the Arsenal squad apart. I strongly suspect the same person/people caused problems for Unai Emery too and possibly Arsene Wenger before him. No club can have dressing room unrest if it wants to be a success and regardless of how good or bad the perpetrators are/were, they had to go. I admire Mikel Arteta for telling us because I think we need to know. It’s all too easy to brush things under the carpet, keep calm and carry on but when on the pitch there’s a problem, the team is never going to play well together. And Arsenal weren’t playing well together at all.

Ideally, Arsenal would have moved players on in January for a transfer fee but they couldn’t. No fault can be placed on Arteta or Edu’s shoulders for that as neither were responsible for the hideous contract Mesut Ozil was on or the salary Mustafi and Kolasinac were being paid. Some losses in life, in this case financially, are worth taking for the greater good.

It would be ideal to do everything as early as possible and have all the players who know they will continue here on the first day of pre-season but it’s not going to happen. We have the Euros and everything is going to be delayed. There are many things to be done that will take time. But we know how key it will be and what we don’t want is what happened last year.

In other words, he only wants players in his squad who want to play for The Arsenal. Rightly so and without sounding like a smart arse, I said the same yesterday. Arsenal/Arteta, or any future Arsenal manager simply cannot afford to carry passengers, or have bad apples in the squad. I think we can be sure Sead Kolasinac won’t be back at Arsenal next season. Another loan for him perhaps or the club could just let him leave for free.

There are a lot of conflicting stories doing the rounds regarding Joe Willock. Mikel Arteta has spoken positively about him and his future at Arsenal but I think his comments can be taken with a pinch of salt. Same goes for a lot of things he says really because he’s not going to discuss Arsenal’s future plans with the media.

I’m really looking forward to seeing how the next few months unfold. No, not the Euros but Arsenal’s activity in the transfer window as well seeing whether or not Stan Kroenke sells the club. Our club!

The AST are pushing for change, a change I think the majority of fans would like to see take place. Dennis Bergkamp is the latest ex Arsenal player to talk about Daniel Ek and how he’d not treat the club like a toy should he convince Stan Kroenke to sell his shares. Ek is serious fan of the club and has been for years and like many of us, believes Arsenal should be in a much better place than it is.

The Super League fiasco has done the Kroenke family no good whatsoever. Not as far as Arsenal go anyway. Rumours are that another protest will take place tomorrow prior to our final game of the season. A final game which any decent club owner would be at but I bet neither Stan or Josh Kroenke will make an appearance.

See you in the comments.