By the time you read this it is possible that Jamie Vardy may have been announced as the second major signing of the summer. If so it will be an almost Fergusonian transfer. Buying the star striker of a top four rival, spending big to cover a temporary injury problem on a player with only a couple of years left in the tank. Aggressive, positive and short term. Well, possibly – that is one interpretation.
Of course Vardy might simply prove to be this summer’s Higuaín. A steaming heap of click baiting baloney providing social media know alls and bloggers like me the opportunity to spout ill informed bollocks about something which was never going to happen in the first place.
I’ll be up front with you; I don’t give a hoot either way. Similarly the Suarez transfer never interested me in the slightest quite simply because it never happened and never came close to happening. It was as worthwhile a use of our time and attention as a discussion on whether or not the earth is flat.
I no longer get angry when people follow up on the journalist’s daydreams and discuss them in all earnest – after all like the flat earthers they do no one else any real harm. They’re entertaining a fantasy which engages and amuses them. So what? The real transfers happen in due course and all the stupid pointless arguments and debates about the hallucinatory targets and fees evaporate like the hot air they always were.
So it isn’t the existence of the Vardy rumours which interests me. It isn’t even the moral debate which signing such a player, even in merely hypothetical terms, has provoked among my friends and other contacts. What made me prick up my ears was a conversation with my wife, a person with less interest in football than I have in macramé, as we traversed the car park of our local Lidl.
I’d outlined the problems people were having stomaching the thought of cheering on a man who has proven to be of dubious moral fibre. ‘But you can’t control that’, she said, ‘you have no say in the players you support. Someone else hires them, someone else picks them. In any case they change every year until after a while the entire team has altered and yet still you support it. Heck the manager and coaches change, the kit and the badge change and even the stadium can change, and still you support it.’
Then came the sixty four thousand dollar question. ‘What exactly do you support? If The Arsenal is like some huge, complex Trigger’s broom, what is it you are actually throwing your weight behind?’ My mouth opened and closed a few times as I absently stowed a half dozen bags of cut price and highly tasty groceries into the trusty Hyundai Matrix.
We can kid ourselves it’s the ethical nature of the club and quietly overlook the scandal of allowing people to work in and around the stadium on match days for less than a decent living wage. We can point to our players’ avoiding the tabloid excesses of those from other clubs as if they were saints rather than simply well drilled and controlled. We can dislike the politics of someone from Leicester City and assume none of the current or past squad are raving right wingers in favour of politicians who’s sole aim is the destruction of all that is decent in our society.
We can make a big deal of Arsène Wenger’s decency, the unquestioned statesmanlike dignity with which he manages our club, but then what if someone like Jose Mourinho was appointed in his stead? We wouldn’t stop supporting would we? We’d perform like moral contortionists, make our excuses and go on cheering for the team.
We stand on feet of clay and I suggest we have no option but to find shoes to fit them. It’s distasteful sometimes but what can we do? The only option is to support someone else and good luck finding another team any better or more consistent with your moral stance. I suppose one could just give up following the sport at all, but where would be the fun in that?
So what did I conclude in the supermarket car park? What exactly do I support? If not the players, manager, owners, stadium, crest or shirt then what? In the end I decided all I was left with was the name. It seems that I support The Arsenal. And like my marriage I do so for better or for worse.
Positively Arsenal 
Karma in effect – cheating Spaniards didn’t get away with it for a change.
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Zack Goldman
@ThatDamnYank
So,
#GER #ESP #ENG #ITA #FRA are all on the same side of the bracket.
#SUI #POL #WAL #CRO on the other.
#SVK & #NIR are thru to KO stage.
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I haven’t been able to watch many euro matches.
Can people please tell me whereabouts Özil has been playing for da mannschaft (Germany), if they’ve been able to track his movements.
This image below would seem to indicate an arsenal-esque role for him, swapping with Muller and Gotze etc. in their last game. Was it the same for the previous matches when Gomes wasn’t playing?
https://mobile.twitter.com/11tegen11/status/745316221252341762/photo/1
Asking for a friend. Thanks!
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Arsènic @Lexus7Sanchez 3m3 minutes ago
Arsène on French TV said we are in the market at the moment but ‘can’t say more than that’. #afc
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Ozil has been moving right across the 3 attacking positions behind the main striker. He has been popping up left right and center
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come on you boys in green
thought it was gone when holahan fucked up his great chance
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Well done Ireland – I have quite a few Irish friends, so I know there’ll be dancing in the street after this result!
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Congrats Eddy… the home nations are doing good…
Wales even top of their group!
Was that quote from Ramsey about finishing ahead of spurs true?
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Nothing Arsenal related about tonight’s result but:
COME ON YOU BOYS IN GREEN!
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Also, if you can vote on Thursday: vote to remain in the EU. Please.
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Unless I’ve been well duped it looks like Leicester have released a statement saying his signed a new 4 year deal
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yeah Ian, the media is full of it, saying LCFC have confirmed that Vardy has signed a new 4 year deal. Watch the malcontents go into meltdown, it will be all about Arsene not being able to convince good players to join Arsenal, Ozil, Alexis, Cech, Xhaka, don’t exist.
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Chile beat Colombia 2-0, and now face Argentina in the final of the copa america. Colombia will play USA in the 3rd/4th play off
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http://dailycannon.com/2016/06/alexis-named-motm-as-chile-knock-out-ospinas-colombia-to-make-final/?
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A four year deal is longer than JV would have got out of us, or probably any other big club. I presume his agent used our offer as a lever on the wages as well and contract length. Fair enough he has a short career and finally hitting the big time at 29 and only has one chance to make a deal to set him up for the rest of his life.
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reports that AFC offered him a 3 year deal, at 120K a year, while LCFC offered him a 4 year deal, at £100K a week. So wages of £18,720,000 at AFC over 3 years, while LCFC wages work out as £20.800.000, so just over £2M better off with the LCFC offer, all be it over an extra year.
his former clubs will not be happy, both Fleetwood and Halifax were both in line for massive pay days if he had joined AFC
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It’s the same the whole world over:
It’s the poor what gets the blame.
It’s the rich what gets the pleasure;
Ain’t it all a bloomin’ shame.
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me – very happy to miss out of Vardy… I can’t lie… Just didn’t see who was to replace among our present lot even the up and coming Iwobi and Akpom!
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Adrian Clarke @adrianjclarke 2h2 hours ago
Don’t think Arsenal will be that devastated at Vardy’s decision. Always looked an opportunist approach. Big call from him to say no tho!
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If you make an offer for someone you will always be disappointed if they don’t agree to join. We won’t know if we’ve dodged a bullet on this one or missed out on a great deal.
29 yr olds, no matter how good or how short term they are, will always be a gamble. Win the PL or the CL and the extra couple of million and carrying a 33 yr old player taking up a squad place in his final season, might seem worth it. Personally I agree with TS although strikers are a rare breed, a younger one would be a better investment.
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Well. The England vs Slovakia game hopefully clarified for the self flaggelating expert that Vardy could never offer more at No.9 then a fit Welbeck, not for England as per their records nor for the Arsenal.
And Andrew was right if I recall correctly to not entertain the rumour. just another agent haggle even if it did involve a genuine bid from AFC. Nothing new there.
On the player himself, I still don’t know any details or info about what happened in his personal life, but on the pitch that red bull and nicotine patch diet is going to lead to burn out sooner rather then later. Possibly after his last summer tournament? Unless he pops in to see that new upstanding manager Jap Staam?
Given that Lauren (& probably Alexis, and a few others…) have come off the, um, ah, the what FUFA refer to as “dieting pills” (please refer to the Rico enterprises reaction to comments from AFC last year) after their moves to the Arsenal then it was only ever a speculative bid for someone to cover Danny Boy, and possibly a good dogde as far as AKPOM is concerned.
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Vardy…..would have been a tricky one, do you back the managers judgement, and knowledge on someone seemingly so unpalatable……and a bit of a cheat with it.
But we are spared any such dilemma.
For me, Vardy not coming to Arsenal….best summed up by the words and general tone of a Windsor Davies character from days gone by………oh dear….how sad……never mind….
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quite Mandy;
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Perfect!
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another pre-season game has been added for Arsenal this summer, Lens have announced that we play them on July 22nd, making it our first pre-season game
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July 22nd: Lens
July 28th: MLS All-Stars
July 31st: Chivas
August 5th: Viking FK
August 7th: Man City
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FK² @fkhanage 43m43 minutes ago
PSG have agreed a €22m settlement fee with Laurent Blanc. Twenty-two million euros. Wow.
but of course Wenger stayed at AFC cos of the big wages he gets
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If smiley’s weren’t banned here…
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rumor that Arsenal are in talks with Inter Milan for 3 of their star men, central defender Jeison Murillo, wide midfielder Ivan Perišić and their captain, striker, Mauro Icardi. Would be a blockbuster of a deal, if that was to be completed.
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LIKELY TO END A RUMOUR SINCE WE ARE 1 DOWN 2 TO GO IN THE max 3 that AW always things should be added to a team at a time so as not to destabilize it
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From an eerily quiet corner of the UK this Friday morning all I can say is;
There may be trouble ahead,
But while there’s music and moonlight,
And love and romance,
Let’s face the music and dance.
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Now you know why I don’t have referendums on who can post.
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has Brexit signaled the downfall of the BPL. unless the UK can agree deals with the EU and with FIFA, that simulates the sort of freedom of movement rules that are in place across the EU, then we will see the influx of foreign players reduce to a trickle, and we will no longer see foreign players in the Academies, no more players like Bellerin, Szczesny, Cesc, joining at 15/16, they would have to wait till they are 18, by which time they will cost loads, and they are likely to have already signed pro deals at home, they would be under the same sort of rules as African, Asian, South American players, where FIFA do not allow U18’s to move country.
If £sterling stays low then buying foreign players becomes much more expensive, both fees and wages.
The BPL could end up with Championship or League One level players as the only option to replace the foreign players. Back to the 1970’s for the English game?.
Will the paying customers be willing to pay the big ticket prices for all British teams(oh and by the sound of it that will mean English, Welsh and NornIrish, as the Scots look like they will demand another chance to vote on leaving the UK). Will pay tv customers be willing to pay the massive subscriptions if we don’t have the masses of skilled foreign players, will this mean the end of all these over the top TV deals for the game. Will the foreign TV subscribers have the same interest in the BPL if its all Cattermoles and McCauleys and not Cescs and Martials.
Liam Brady was on RTE earlier this week involved in a discussion about the low standard of young Irish players coming through the ranks at English clubs, and he said that it was not a problem just for Ireland, but that there was a big shortish of English talent, that the pool of players in the UK has shrunk, that youths are no longer playing the game in the same numbers as was the case decades ago. He has mentioned in the past, that their is a far better attitude towards making in it the game from the children of immigrants than there is among the white anglo saxon children.
Loads of schools no longer have football teams, many of their pitches have been sold off, as has many of the parks that kids used to play football in, and as the UK has become more affluent kids now spend their time playing football on their playstations, and not actually out playing in the streets, and in the parks, and at school. And this is not a problem that can be fixed within 2 years, maybe not even within 2 decades.
Here is an article that goes someway to explaining some of the problems British sport might face in 2 years time.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/jun/24/brexit-vote-what-does-it-mean-professional-sport-eu?CMP=twt_gu
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I hope AFC paid in full for Xhaka already, as if not, it will cost us about £5M more, if not more, with the way sterling is falling
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and on the same note, any player now bought by english clubs from abroad this summer will cost more, as the Guardian article pointed out, the west ham bid for lazcette has risen £3m overnight, with the fall of sterling against the euro. Any player coming in will surely take that into account when wage talks take place, so again wages will rise for them, and in turn mean english players will demand a rise too. The new tv money could easily be eaten up quickly.
Clubs are now in an unknown, how much money can they risk on EU players now, can they risk buying someone for £20M, giving him a four or five year contract, knowing that in 2 years the player might not qualify to play in England, and so his value halves,
a message to Arsene,
its time to concentrate on the best young english players we can afford to buy and if you had any notion of letting the likes of Gibbs, Jenkinson, Oxlade-Chamberlain or Walcott leave, you need to think about it again.
but hey, I’m just scaremongering (but that worked for the leave campaign)
one final thought
I now understand why we have so many WOB and Malcontents. The UK has far more idiots than I ever gave it credit for. The 52% prove it, and in fact the 28% who did not vote, prove it even more.
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Spanish Gooner @ElSpanishGooner 2h2 hours ago
Michael Robinson (ex pro footballer for Man City/L’pool): “I’m devastated, I’m ashamed, guess I don’t understand the country I was born in”. “Brexit is an overdose of patriotism misunderstood by people”
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Spanish Gooner@ElSpanishGooner
It’s going to be ace when Brexit happens and we have to say Henderson is top quality for the Premier League.
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Spanish Gooner @ElSpanishGooner 42m42 minutes ago
You just have to see who is happy after Brexit won… Marine Le Pen, Donald Trump, Boris Johnson, @DeejayDt. Says it all, really.
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Guys we may not have won the league but at least you guys in England are out of that CIA NATO concocted cess pool that is the EU.
It’s a great day! Now we just need Trump to trump the war criminal Hillary aka ” We came we saw he died . ” and maybe the English speaking world will be saved .
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Eduardo Google Veterans Today and false flag brexit.
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Football wise I’m going for Wales and Croatia.
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Sorry guys I just had an exam and I get out and it’s the opposite of the fix I thought would happen and they are letting Britain leave the dying EU. I feel like now that shit has changed maybe Arsenal well get a chance to win the league.
For a change.
Arsene might get tapped up for Education minister tho
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https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/131215
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Gutted for all my friends and family across the pond. Thinking of you all today. One thing is certain we have some exciting challenges ahead. Hang in there lads xo
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Steve Gooner @Merse10 4h4 hours ago
Can only hope Daily Mail & Daily Express go out of business now. Can’t blame foreigners or the EU so have nothing to write about. Rags
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No Eddy – they will find someone else to blame, single parents, gypsies, gays, Muslims, left wing scum, and don’t forget the Jews
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Alex Iwobi has been named in Nigeria’s provisional 35 man squad for the 2016 Olympics
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anicol if that is true, then that will mean there will just have to be another referendum to vote all of them out of the uk, its the only answer, uk is only for wasp’s
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