What makes people dream?
It’s a funny old subject but I thought I would share a dream of mine I had recently.
It all began one night after sitting down with a half full bottle of Vodka. I had a few Red Bulls in the fridge and the two tend to go well together……
The old woman had gone to bed, and NCIS had just started on the television, so I nestled down and poured myself a nice stiff one, well before I knew it the Red Bulls and the Vodka was gone, the double episode of NCIS had finished and so probably I was as well, I laid back in the chair and I was gone.
It started off, I was travelling and I reached my destination and climbed out of the car.
My first view was The Emirates sign and realised we were at a game, we was walking up the steps leading to the stadium when a group of people came over and surrounded us and ushered us to a side door.
I went inside into a board room, I looked round and was surrounded by suits all asking me questions about my plans, and what I intended to do in the future. They asked if could I do a better job than Bertie Mee?
I was speechless, all I could remember was nodding to all of the questions and before I knew it I was sitting pitch side.
To my left hand side I had Tony Adams going on about Defensive duties and how Vieira shouldn’t be playing.
After every sentence he kept saying Boss, so much so it started to get on my nerves and I looked at Tony and put my finger to my mouth and he went quiet.
The next thing that happened was I was standing on the touch-line cutting oranges up into quarters and passing them round to the players, I can remember Georgie Armstrong saying I’m knackered boss, running that wing has done me in.
I asked him if he needed a break and he nodded yes.
I looked round at the bench and the first thing I saw was a pair of pink boots! I pointed to the player wearing them and he walked towards me. I said ‘your up son – but change those stupid boots only black boots in my team’!
The whistle blew and the game resumed but my team were still on the touch-line fighting over fairy cakes!
I said to them ‘Forget the cakes and get out there or the game started without you’.
They went back out but it was as though it was in slow motion, my players running for all their worth but not going anywhere and their players were running like Linford Christy. A shot was fired at our goal and I could see a dive, a pony tailed guy was reaching and stretching and finger tipped it away.
The crowd roared an as he looked round he waved, typical Pat Jennings. I could feel myself smiling.
The game was over I don’t know who scored but we won but every body was saying we still need two to three signings.
My dream took was into a meeting and we hadn’t lost a game, I was asked what are I going to do, I was the Manager, didn’t I realise we haven’t won a trophy for five years everyone wanted to know my plans there and then.
I stood up and looked down on the people around the table:
‘We are going to sell what we have and buy a whole set of new players and I don’t care how much it will cost, we have the money and were going to spend spend spend, just like that woman who won the pools’.
‘I want all English, no Scottish, no Welsh and definitely no Irish, I want bulldogs, people who know what its like to stand back to back in the trenches. I want fighting spirit, real winners’.
Someone shouted out, asking me who, I said: ‘Name me some English players’?
‘A stream of players names were shouted out and I nodded my approval, Terry, Lampard, Charlton, Hunter and big Jack Stories. Parker, Greaves, Styles, Hurst and Radford, there must have been twenty names and I nodded.
‘Get them I said, get them all – ready for Saturday’s match against Barcelona’.
The players were bought and match day arrived.
I walked through the dressing room and watched as my new players pulled on the red and white quadrant shirts, the time had come for my team talk and I started by telling them what Arsenal stood for.
‘Our supporters are out there singing and I want you to go out there and sweat blood for them, anyone not doing their bit will be taken off and castrated’. ( murmurs began), If you’re not man enough, walk now, this is your first and last offer’!
No-one moved, once I’d finished there was a loud cheer people clasping hands and lots of back slapping and out the lads went, happy, pumped up and ready for action……
Sadly, at this point I was woken by the Mrs telling me to come to bed!
I will never know how my team ever got on but we do know one thing and that is, anything can be possible in football if you dream long enough.
Oh, and I must get some more Vodka. 🙂
This was a Steve Palmer dream……
Morning all..
Cracking Steve, Tell your wife to leave you sleeping next time, so we get to know the ending…
something different from the regular, we do alot with that
Morning Rico
Morning didee, just something with a fun twist, before the big duel tomorrow…
Yeah, i wouldnt wanna ruin the fun but apart from wrong signings i think on tactics the prof has lost it, the Liverpool game showed we dont do the right thing in training. How do you explain the persistence on crossing the ball when chamakh or Bendtner werent on the pitch
I can’t didee, we are in a pretty horrid place with Arsenal right now, I just hope this crop can give their all tommorrow and beat the swampies….
The media seem to think Ryo will get his Visa in the summer, will be good to see him playing in the English League – no doubt he’ll go on loan…
DREAM !
This is very sad news….
NIGERIAN international Olubayo Adefemi has died in a car accident.
The 25-year-old Skoda Xanthi defender lost control of his vehicle on the Egnatia motorway while driving to Salonika in northern Greece.
yeah got the news yesterday and its sad
Quiet old day didee, loads of rumours about who is going to be sold and who’s being bought…
Rotten, and with so much ahead of him…. very sad..
I have to go off for a couple of hours, catch up later…
alright, laters
or like Pedro would say, our bosses have decided we should earn our pay
‘I had a dream’ ‘If dreams come true’ ‘then bonny scotland i’ll play for you’ – whoops sorry wrong dream!
Geordies 2 Mancs 1 – dreaming again! (but you never know, just sometimes dreams come true).
Today’s question of the day is: Should I be bothered about the game tomorrow?
If we beat The totts tomorrow it has nothing to do with the prospects of us winning or cathing Man utd , we all know a weakend side with terrible tactics will be used by Newcastle today .
Also who is their coach ? Alan Padew , he doesnt have a great record against Fergie .God help them today.
The game against the Totts is a must win , we need it to reduce defect , we need it to increase the gap betwenn us and Chelsea.
It is our game in hand .
Where is everyone? Like me and had enough?
Gotta do some work sometimes Will…………..
Pfftt.
Looking on the other blogs, it looks like people are just done with this season.
Afternoon….
Will,
I think you are right, most fans are pretty fed up with our lot right now, so close yet so far it seems…
yet again….
Hmmmm morning 😉
Morning WATH, how’s you 🙂
What do you make of Hleb then? Says he wants to come back…..
I turn up and you buggers go…
morning all…official site indicates sagna likely to be back for tomorrow night…
Hleb? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Boo!! Steve, if you ask The Boss nicely, I’m sure she’ll let you sleep longer. 😉
Cesc has said quite a mouthful, I just read. Obviously a lot of frustration, but I still don’t see him handing in a transfer request. He has to make up for that Camp Nou nightmare…
Hi Oliver, thank the Lord for that….
I don’t ever want to see Eboue in an Arsenal shirt again….!
Will,
I had a feeling that would be the response 😆
Boo agag, what has our little Spaniard been saying??
It’s a long-ish one on goal.com, rico. 🙂 I’m not quite sure what to make of it in its entirety. How are you??
As for Hleb… Hah.
I’ll go take a read agag, not that i trust anything they write 🙂
I’m good thanks, busy trying to sell the house with no takers as yet grr ! How about you?
That’s why I did not want to quote it. I’m inherently suspicious of what that website says, but I clicked on the headline at NN, anyway. 😉
Good for you! Then you can go get that dream place. I’m busy bee-ing. 🙁 Work stuff before I get to play. 😉
Hleb=Help…………….
No ta………….!
Afternoon all 😉
You are always away playing agag 😉
😆 WATH, thats a no thanks from me too…..
Evening all what’s occurring
rico, travel’s cheap in SE Asia. 😉 I keep telling you to fly in! 🙂
Hola, WATH. Howdy?
Hey, Steve. Drink plenty of vodka tonight so you can finish dreaming. 🙂
Hi Steve, we all want the end of the dream???
And i keep telling you agag, i am scared of flying 😆 😆
I do know one thing, they would have done a lot better than our sorry bunch
That wouldn’t be difficult though Steve, and i am not looking forward to us facing the swampies down the road….
Can’t say i look forward to any of our games at the moment rico. Until the Frenchman leaves, or buys, whats the point. I dont believe i have ever been so disgusted with them for years. and to think that Jens was waiting in the wings ready to come on, fills me with emense disleasure. what is that Frenchman upto.
rumours are circulating that cesc has said wenger would not get 6 years in spain as a manager and hes also put his house up for sale..
steve..good post..
supporting the arsenal..sweet dream or beautiful nightmare? 😉
How ya doing Jon Jon
Steve, I know, I think most of us feel the same…
Jens??? Dont get me started…
Hi jj, i read that too,
If you read the bottom bit of the article, there is a disclaimer to say its a spoof… Its naughty…
not great steve my good man
not feeling it today..didnt feel it yesterday
and if utd win tonight i wont feel it tomorrow either..
really rico
thanks for that..
luckily i didnt over react and make a fool of myself but to be honest the only reason why i didnt over react is cos i dont give a toss whether he stays or goes anymore
sick of the rumours sick of the shit i think hes a great player but hes not a great captain and all the barca fuss drags us down and cesc for all his attributes is becoming a bit of a hinderance more than anything..
I got a gut feeling Utd will lose tonight JJ 2.1 so i predict your going to feel better tomorow
ive looked at it again rico and theres no disclaimer..or im just being thick
i read the comments from the online gooner and the telegraph just so you know
are we reading the same thing??
have you a link??
Hang on jj, i’ll try and find it…
and like you, i don’t give a toss whether he stays or goes, lets build a team, not a bunch of ten players around one other….
i’ve read the interview…cesc apparently said “if a coach in spain, like (current valencia manager) emery, mourinho, or guardiola doesn’t win anything for three years, he’s out.” the tabloid headlines are more inflammatory, like “wenger would have been sacked in spain”, but it is difficult not to infer that is what cesc meant…of course, in his next breath, he said “things are different over here…”
for me, the statement “we have to make a decision whether we want to develop young players or whether we want to win trophies.” is more telling…i think arsene has been working to accomplish both simultaneously, but when his captain makes the public comment that he sees it as an “either, or” choice, well…
we’ll see how this shakes out…i imagine there will be praise in some quarters for his saying what many supporters feel, and criticism in other quarters for disrupting squad harmony – although i am not convinced there a lot of actual harmony at the moment.
if these quotes were lassna diarra, circa 2008, then arsene could dismiss them out of hand…cesc saying these things in april 2011, however, is quite another matter…
i hope they lose
but then its upto us to win
we all know how we do in pressure games and they dont come much bigger than a NLD that could change our title race on its head..
newcastle could very well win later
but will we get three points tomorrow??
rico thats one of the best comments ive seen anyway in a while
lets build a team, not ten players around another one..
I might be getting muddled up jj, with the Shawcross spoof…
Sorry 🙁
if it is a spoof, rico, you are probably the only person who is aware…everyone else is running with it, as it is legit.
i think united will grind out a 1-0 win tonight…rooney will be back and either he or hernandez will score their goal…tomorrow is already must win for us, but a united win will just reinforce that.
oorrr yeah i read that rico yeah thats a spoof yeah its ok…
i think cesc wants out anyway..hasnt really had the best of seasons since we knocked barca back and against barca he was embarrassing as a captian
he wants to go
I think its time for a new manager and new ideas, Wenger has lost the plot, i would like to see a man at the helm that has the will to win, even if he never, it would be refreshing to see some one at least try. It dosnt cost absolute fortunes, what it takes is to have someone in there that can move players on that dosn’t fit in with his future plans, and buy in the players we all know we need. If we continue like this, were as bad as he is.
jj, i was talking to a friend of mine and he made me realise that it’s all been about Cesc, look what happens when he goes off, every player’s head drops and that is because the focus has always been about him..
It happened with Henry, it’s now happening with Cesc, look what happened after Henry left, we started playing football again…
And then came Cesc….
hernandez and rooney both starting for united – no berbatov in the squad…nani, carrick, giggs and anderson in the midfield.
not really sure it will matter who lines up for newcastle united…
steve
if cesc goes wenger philosphy is over..dead
cesc is the perfect eg of project youth and if he leaves before hes won anything then it throws a huge spanner in the works and it makes wengers theory a lame duck..
whats the point in developing a side for years when the best players up and leave before theyve hit their peak
not only that but we are looking at 40mil for him at least..
wenger cannot defend losing the whole credibilty of his project and then not spending the money..
if cesc goes its over…
Amiobe
oliver, re your earlier about wenger, man utd apart, can you think of a club that would have stood by wenger??
i though still believe he has been the fall guy, i don’t believe anything the club have said about money, despite them saying there has been money available i don’t think they ever had any intention of spending much….
What they have wanted all along is to clear the debt…
just my opinion and i no, i don’t have any proof….
everythings about cesc, rico
the whole team, the tactics, the whole philosphy of the club has been built around cesc..
thing is though with cescs comments
hes right
hes saying what weve all been saying for years…
wenger hasnt listened to anybody so far, and now even cesc is pissed of so maybe he’ll listen now??
jj, it probably will be if that comes to pass…and i am guessing it will be sooner rather than later…the question will be whether or not he goes with at least one winners medal on his neck, or nothing…
if it is the former, arsene can say we build a winning side from scratch, and cesc’s departure is the natural result of our developing stars and selling them for profit, as well as making room in the first team for the next generation of stars…
if it is the latter, i don’t think there will ever be an admission that this “failed”…the sale might even be explained as cesc helped groom his teammates into winners (without actually winning anything) and cesc’s departure passes the captaincy mantle to another who will lead this squad to winning things.
re cesc – here is my view…
the man is crocked, the man wants gone and wenger will sell him this summer.
i have always had a theory about players who come back too early from injury and get risked. i believe wenger does that the season before they leave…
does he risk theo? No
vermaelen? No
Robin? Not really,
Song? No
Sagna? No
Nasri? No
Diaby? No
JD? No
Cesc, Yes and at every opportunity and then he breaks down….
Let Barca pay a young crock, not us!
jj, if cesc goes, we get a real leader and we get Arsenal back ( imho)
Wenger will never admit our game was all about Cesc but its clear to see it is, its all been about keeping him at Arsenal rather than letting him go to Barca – why else would anyone in their right mind give a player the armband at such a young age??
Adams… Admas was an exception, he was Mr Arsenal….
Steve, i’m giving Wenger one more window, well, half a window if i’m honest – all deals done by the end of july…. anything after that is a bonus….
rico, it is hard to tell…if i had to guess – with absolutely no concrete evidence on what goes on inside our club – i would say that there is a good chance that arsene and our board understand each other very well. that there is an understanding that transfer outlays will be minimal, with the bulk of the transfer fund invested in improved contracts. arsene agrees to that with the understanding that he runs squad matters completely as he sees fit – no interference, no nothing…his word is final on transfers, recruitment policy, formation, coaching staff…perhaps part of a hypothetical agreement is that he provides input to everything the club does…
no way i can no for sure…just what i suspect…sometimes…
that is what i am saying oliver, and that is why OUR club stand by him, he is the fall guy for them not wanting to spend mega buck over the last 3/4 seasons. The board want us to be devt free and wenger goes along with it…
mind you, so would i for 7 million a year…. or whatever he earns…
and re the contracts oliver, the club could save a lot of money by culling the youth… 😉
nufc bringing it to man utd right now…
yes, but i think the large wage packets are part of the club’s marketing strategy…appeal to the best youth players out there by showing we give them a chance and pay them better than anyone else.
the problem is that paying them so much hamstrings us in other areas. i think the club acknowledges that not all – probably less than half – will ever make a first team impact. but the strategy for those who don’t make it is to sell them for a profit, so i imagine that club feels these are sound investments either way.
it becomes a problem when we have an urgent need ready-made quality and experience – or even experienced cover – and most of the budget is already allocated.
bloomberg are reporting usmanov has bought more shares??
wtf is going on..
For me it’s pretty simple oliver – let those who have no chance with us go, some for free, some for money – bang goes their wage and we make some cash – i’m not tlaking about the JEt’s, Afobes, Chuks, Lansbury’s etc,
Put all that money together, what we save on wages and that would get us a bloomin good player…
That is aside from what we have available to spend…
he’s up to, what, 27 per cent now? probably a symbolic statement of intent – perhaps to let ksv know that rwh is not just going to disappear…
jj, that cannot be true, what shares are there to be bought?
i imagine he is biding his time…rwh will not sell to ksv, so we are at an impasse at the moment.
Russian investor Alisher Usmanov has moved to increase his holding in Arsenal, despite Stan Kroenke clinching deals to acquire a controlling stake in the club.
Usmanov has underlined his vow not to sell his shares to the American tycoon by spending more than $115,000 (£70,500) on six shares to maintain his hold of 27 per cent of the club.
Kroenke secured a 62.89% controlling share in Arsenal earlier this month after agreeing to buy out two major shareholders for around £234million.
Usmanov: Has upped Arsenal stake
The late Danny Fiszman (16.1%) and Lady Nina Bracewell-Smith (15.9%) were those bought out and, by passing the 30% threshold, Kroenke is obliged to make a cash offer for the remaining capital at £11,750 a share.
The club’s total value has been set at £731million and Kroenke will look to purchase the £194million stake owned by Usmanov.
But the Russian, who does not have a seat on the Arsenal board, has previously stated he has no intention of parting with his shares, underlining his ‘love’ for the club.
i think the same, he is watching, waiting and ready to pounce – i’d bet he ends up buying arsenal out in 2/3 years…..
the academy serves two purposes
1..to develop players for the first team..the cream of the crop
2..to provide finances for the club..
a good academy provides a steady stream of players and finances but we seem to be stockpiling them and keeping the lot
weve got 14 players out on loan..and the first team, the reserves and the youth team is still heavily stocked
we dont need them all logic suggests that we keep the best ones and get rid of the ones who are not good or who overstayed their welcome..
next year we will have over 60 players on our books..
we dont need them all it needs to be culled…
and the wage bill will drop with it
jj, perhaps that is another flaw in our model. we stockpile the players, but persist with some of them too long. the argument can be made that arsene does the same with certain members of the first team squad…
nevertheless, the model – as we appear to agree upon – is to build the squad through a steady stream of the best and brightest youth players, while selling those not quite good enough for profit…in theory, it ensures a two-way pipeline of home-grown, arsenal developed players for the first team squad, and funds for squad investment. i am not sure it has worked completely as advertised – or as i perceive it to be.
Fabregas told Spanish magazine Don Balon: “From 2007 I had already started saying “we’re not winning, but we’re playing well”. And then you realise that’s no use.”
He added: “You enjoy yourself, during a phase of the championship – like this year, for example, when we were still in four different competitions. And you say to yourself ‘here I have everything!’ But then that final point is missing and it’s then when you have to make a decision: either go out and win or develop players.”
Fabregas was also asked why Wenger was not under more pressure following Arsenal’s lack of trophies with their last triumph being the 2005 FA Cup.
“It’s different here,” the Spain midfielder added. “The coach is an intelligent person and the club value other things – that the team is always in the Champions League, that they fight until the end, bring through young players, economic stability.
“I guess that for the board that is important. Although I imagine there will be a moment when you have to take the plunge…either you win or you don’t win.”
Fabregas also believes his side are lacking a few important ingredients to challenge the domination that Manchester United and Chelsea have enjoyed over them recent seasons.
“It’s difficult. For me it’s more a lack of a winning mentality, also of maturity in key moments,” he said. “We have plenty of quality but lack this bit of confidence. The problem is that the team needs to win something. That’s why it was so important to win the Carling Cup,” he added.
“We needed this cup to be able to believe in ourselves as a team. (Robin) Van Persie has won an FA Cup as I have, but there’s no more. Nobody in the team has won anything. We are missing that ability to say: ‘now I know what it is to win and I know what it takes to win’.”
it looks as though kroenke will hang tight..
raise the profile of the club as well as his shares price
then sell the lot to usmanov for a massive profit..
On that Cesc note….
I’m heading off out for the day guys, its been a long one for me ….
Catch up tomorrow on a day we spank the swampies….!!
Be good, nighty night…
jj – see my 8.12 comment, ditto, he’ll be our owner before too long, stan is just waiting to earn mega mega bucks…
sad isn’t it….
Night folks…
later rico…
Usmanov will own Arsenal within 2/3 years for sure…! Think your spot on Rico…!
nufc under plenty of pressure here…
and then the circus comes to town
but to be honest..
i dont care anymore..all the current affairs are fucking up the club anyway..
The yanks in it for the money, he’s come across as Mr nice guy he’ll brand the club up big time in North America he’s keep AFC broadband and then sell for a tidy profit to Usmanov….!.
looks that way wath
and when usmanovs in we turn into chelsea..
might as well accept it…
I don’t think so JJ…………. I think he’ll make the manager spend but I have a feeling he’s seen the hole Abromovitch has dug himself into, he knows AFC makes money we need to spend the money sell off the deadwood and stop paying kids a bloody fortune, buy 3/4 quality players and we’d be fine…! That doesnt need hundreds of millions but you could generate 40/50 million if you solf off the ones that are stagnant…! then we could buy 100million worth 🙂
haha
thats what we all want wath..
if usmanov does that then all good but if he decides one morning he wants to go spend 100mil on his sons favorite player then we become just as much as a laughing stock we are now…
Thing is though JJ in a year or two you just won’t be able to spend like that so buying players for 50/60mil if you aint generated the funds won’t happen.
im caught in two minds with that rule wath
i dont know how they will make it work..
citehs owners have already found a way out of it by getting one of their oil companies to sponser the shirt..
so if your a multi billionaire you can use one of your companies to sponser your team for 200mil a year and its seen as spending what you make..
if fifa find a way round that then all the top teams will just break away i think and make a european super league and do independent tv deals and take all the cash like what real and barca do in spain..the cl will become like the uefa micky mouse euro cup
dont know how fifa are going to make this ruling work to be honest..thought chelsea were working towards it but then they go and spunk 70mil in one window on two players..so they cant be that bothered…
The 3 yr rule comes into play JJ but don’t forget there would always be ways round it but its not going to be like its been the last few seasons where citeh n the chavs can just spunk 150mil on 2/3 players…! I think the rules will make a difference but totally agree there will be ways round it. citeh and the chavs had nothing to work with though don’t forget they have had to buy from scratch, Usmanov would not have to do that he’d just have to buy the missing pieces to the jigsaw which is what we have all been wanting. See Paul Davis wantsa strong No2 to challenge wenger and to question him…? no way will that happen wenger is never wrong Paul so a strong No2 isnt gonna happen.
I’m off mate long day 2moro 😉 take it easy.
My Dream?
Arsene Wenger is on the verge of creating his 3rd and greatest team that will come true during 2011/12 season.
Morning all
Big day today, the geordies did us a favour last night, for once lets make it count…..
New Post up……