After the football frenzy at the weekend, the majority of the squad will be sold in the Summer if everyone’s wishes come true. Some hate Hleb, others Baptista, some Senderos, Rosicky, Clichy. In fact the only two whom nobody has shown any desire to dump are Fabregas and Toure. Which is a pretty sad state of affairs for the Support to be in. And extremely bad news for Arsene who is quoted on the official website as saying,

With the fans’ support we can beat Bolton

Well, Arsene is going to need some other inspiration for that because it seems to me that there is a vocal minority outrightly critical of the club and certain individuals and a passive majority who are despondent at recent results but otherwise happy. It is time for the majority to make more noise.

Transfer news is more plentiful at the moment. I say news, gossip is a better description. It seems that Yago Fernandez’s Mr 15% is telling porkies as Arsene claimed never to have even heard of the boy when asked last week so his dream move to The Emirates could well be up the swanny. However, a possibility to consider is that a deal has been done but not yet ratified at Board Level. Either that or the whole story was a vague attempt to screw a Professional Contract out of Valencia.

Phillipe Senderos is being tracked by Monaco, Lille and Hamburg apparently. Described as ‘out of favour’ in the Press, it is believed that a £2m bid would prise him away. Jeremie Aliadiere’s departure is gaining momentum in the press with Middlesbrough and Everton impressed enough by his outings in the Carling Cup to shell out for his services, with those two also being tipped as new homes for Matthieu Flamini. One returnee to the club in the summer will be Nicklas Bendtner, who by all accounts has set himself up nicely as an Arsenal player by starting the brawl at Oakwell. When I commented the other day about him starting ten games next season, I obviously thought that was due to the fact that Henry & Co would not get so many injuries. However, it seems he may only be available for ten games at this rate. Fair play to the lad though as he will fit in well, provided that he signs the four year contract he has reportedly been offered.

Hooliganism is starting to occupy the minds of all and sundry in the light of recent events and I am not about to pompously postulate my social theories, there are plenty of other (not so) well-educated numpties who will do that in the media. The biggest threat of hooliganism to Club football is coming from an unlikely country. The Yobs from Strasbourg have mooted the idea of a European Super League following on from The Independent European Football Review, sponsored by Sports Minister Richard Caborn. According to The Guardian, Ivo Belet, a Belgian MEP, has said that “a European super league that distributed cash across Europe was a perfect solution” for the increased wealth of the top Clubs, enabling UEFA to undertake a proper wealth redistribution programme. And kill off any investment in Clubs in the process for there are very few of the G-14 who will be an attractive investment proposition if they know a large portion of their profits are going to go to the lower tiers. Quite how much each of the smaller clubs would get is not calculated but about £26.75 would be my guess. One of Belet’s other proposals is to allow UEFA to licence domestic football, rendering the FA as nothing more than an ineffective talking shop. So no change there then. Whilst the Powers That Be may get all wet in the knicker department, they need to fully consider the implications of a Super League. As in everyone will get bored if Arsenal play AC Milan four times a season for fifteen years. At that point we may actually be crying out for a visit to The Ricoh Arena by way of a change.

Finally, rumours abound that the Ice Skunk may actually own about 15% of the Club. I can guess where those rumours have come from and they need to be treated with some scepticism. However, fair play to the Arsenal Supporters Trust for trying to find out his intentions and get to meet the man who is supposedly going to be the new owner. They will come away being told a lot but still not knowing the true intentions is my own cynical view but as a certain telephone company used to say, It’s Good To Talk. May I suggest though that the following quote attributed to the Trust could be construed as, well, provactive,

We cannot stop someone buying the majority of shares but we can prevent the worst – where an intruder buys all the shares and turns the club into a private money making machine

Erm, no you can’t stop that. If the majority shareholder decides to pay a dividend, it will be voted through. If he decides to cross-charge interest or other costs, it will go through. The statement over-estimates the power that the minority shareholders have in the business’s operational decisions. More to the point, as Manchester United have shown, when a breakaway supporters club is formed, it has jacksh*t effect on attendances and commercial revenues. But that is to get ahead of ourselves unless by the time you read this, he has bought the Club.