Money Talks

If Eduardo da Silva wanted any indication of his place in the media pecking order, he has it in spades with this morning’s papers. No sooner had the newcomer finished his platitudes – the only thing he left out was how he had supported the club as a child – than Cesc continued to endear himself to the Supporters by reaffirming his commitment to Arsenal,

In ten days I’ll be back training with Arsenal. My team. I’m staying in London

In terms of what he can say or do to prove that, there is nothing else. The key words were ‘My team‘; not manager, not Thierry Henry, the team. A new season approaches and there is cause for optimism that the troubled waters are not behind us but have at least been negotiated to within view of the coastline. The final part of the jigsaw has still to be pieced together and the Board appear to have done their part by putting together a financially attractive package for Arsene Wenger. Whilst the headlines focus on that part of it, my guess is that Le Boss is not primarily looking at that, more how the squad looks and subsequently performs. Whether he signs the deal by the end of the week as the media want us to believe the Board’s aim is, remains to be seen. I guess they have an aspiration for him to do that but are comfortable waiting for him to be sure it is the correct thing to do. We would like him to do so, to cut off the legs of media misrepresentation before any dissenting stories gather steam over delays in signing a new deal. But you have to respect the thoughts of the Man, to allow him to be sure he is doing the right thing for himself firstly, because if he is not sure then that uncertainty transmits to the players. However, I do not think there will be a problem for him signing a new contract, he has invested too much effort in the rebuilding the squad so far to walk away from an incomplete project. Much is made of the ‘instability’ caused by DD’s departure but compared to the suitors from Barcelona and Madrid, we are the safe choice with politics there rendering any long term planning almost insane to undertake.

I was going to lay into Merson for his naysaying about the coming season but what is the point. He has just become another ex-player seemingly unable to view positives about the Club any longer, eager to take his pieces of Silver from the media who only want to transmit the bad news stories.

UEFA have released details of earnings from last seasons Champions League. Despite going out in the Round of Sixteen, Arsenal still made £10m, more than double the amount earned by Sevilla who won the UEFA Cup. In fact, to put their revenue into perspective, Levski Sofia played six Group matches, lost them all and scored one goal in the process. Their earnings were only £1/2m less than the Spaniards. If Platini is serious about sharing the money around more, that is the Gap he has to bridge rather than sops to countries over Cup Winners and the like. Back to Arsenal. £10m is quite a handy chunk of change to acquire. However, there is a sting in the tail. Going out in the latter stages is a far more lucrative avenue to follow, the four semi finalists all earnt more than double the amount Arsenal did. PSV earnt £21m for losing in the next round. It seems that no longer is getting into the Champions League going to satisfy the Bean Counters; Quarter Finals will be a minimum requirement in their eyes.

Back to the transfers or alledged ones. Bakari Sagna continues to big up his desired move to Arsenal although he is seemingly convinced Auxerre may price him out of the move. The quote that caught my eye was when his words were translated as calling Arsenal a ‘mythical Club‘. Presumably if the move ever happens, and I have doubts about that, it will be a fairytale move for him but it’s all looking a bit Grimm for him at the moment.

’til Tomorrow.