With a move being interpreted as the first stage of a collapse of the determination to keep Ice Skunk at bay, The Daily Mirror reports that Keith Edelman is to meet with ‘Silent’ Stan to find out about his reported takeover of the Club. Given the source of the story, it has to be taken with a pinch of salt but it would be nice to think that they are actually trying to make contact with him to avoid a twelve month period of speculation and uncertainty. Yesterday’s trading in the shares was certainly small fry, around 14 when I last looked but no guesses as to who is believed to be the buyer. Only another 24,000 to go then. If you want some pompous opinion on the ‘Arsenal Affair‘, read this piece by James Lawton in The Independent. Whilst knowing what Lawton looks like, I still picture him mentally as the Spitting Image puppet of Kenneth Baker. Ask your mum and dad about it if you have no idea what the hell I’m blathering on about.

Dein’s replacement will not be Daniel Commolli if his comments yesterday are anything to go by. Following on from Robbie Keane’s assertion that Tottenham are really a good team and almost Arsenal’s equals, it seems that there is a huge outburst of denial taking place at WHL. Personally, I cannot see anything happening on the ‘Director of Football’ until post the season’s end unless Arsene is going to just appoint someone and get them in on the nod from the Board. Otherwise, it strikes me that there will have to be meetings about the role and compensation to current employers – unless AW’s gift of spotting unrecognised talent extends to off the pitch as well – all of which takes time to sort out. How many of our media targets will have escaped the transfer net in that timescale?

Cesc Fabregas is ‘interviewed’ in The Sun this morning. It is the usual mature stuff from him but also revealing that he turned down Madrid because

The club said I was not for sale and that was very important because it showed Arene Wenger had a lot of trust in me…Therefore he is a big reason why I stayed

Given that he has been the most consistent performer this season – surely a shoe-in for the Club’s Player of the Year award? – he cannot really be expecting Arsene to show anything other than complete faith in his abilities. Fabregas is magnanimous is coming a runner-up to Ronaldo in the PFA Young Player of the Year awards,

Ronaldo is perhaps the best player in the world…I’m honoured to finish just behind him…He has been exceptional this season and played a big role in helping Manchester United fight for honours

It is stretching the imagination to believe that others in the squad would be so complimentary – step forward Mr Gallas – and it is surely only a matter of time before the Fabregas mantelpiece is bowing under the strain of the rewards that he deserves?

Jens Lehmann has apparently tested Arsene’s patience with his antics at the corner that led to Keane’s opener on Saturday. He stopped short of giving him a final warning but it is unusual for Le Boss to be openly critical but then he did defend him as well. With Mourinho slating Referees – will that be enough for him to have to visit FA HQ? Probably not – there is a tendency to use them as the soft target. Whilst I do not think that the Officials are overtly biased against or for some players, Lehmann cannot be doing himself any favours as I am sure that they all watch MotD or Goals on Sunday and can see that 90% of the time he is making a fuss over nothing. It is time for the antics to stop and for him to concentrate on the matter in hand because more than anything else, he must be losing concentration himself.

News that Liz and her mum have been ‘outed’ as Gooners comes at the worst possible time, given the American’s fascination with our Royal Family. Talk about the ultimate ‘jumping on the bandwagon’. Call themselves Supporters? Where were they at York in 1985? Nowhere. Sitting comfortably at home, I should think, not standing freezing their wotsits off, cursing the early arrivers who helped clear the pitch as Shirley Williams gave away a penalty for another dreadful Cup defeat. Mind you, it would explain why the Corporate Seats do not refill after the half-time interval, with all the lackey’s waiting for the toilet seats to be changed after Liz had used them. Apparently, and this is true, once she done the business, the seats are whipped off to avoid anyone selling them to Royal souvenir hunters. It beggars belief…’and this is the toilet seat that Liz used in Ulan Bator in 1972. Actually, there’s a really funny story about this one…‘

According to Dallas Mavericks Star Dirk Nowitzki, he concentrates on the accuracy of shooting his foul shots by quietly singing Looking for Freedom, supposedly a hit for David Hasselhoff. Perhaps the Arsenal forwards should do the same when thinking about shooting at goal? Although that may not be so good, nightmares abounding at the thought of The Hoff in his leather jacket singing psuedo-soft rock is enough to make anyone miss and we are good enough at that already.

Yeah, it’s a slow news day.