One of the great things about life is the ironies that it throws up along the way. No, not the twee unironic ironies that Alanis Morrissette sang about but the full-blooded ones. Rather like, well,

George Graham - a man who gave the distinct impression that White Fivers (ask your parents) were still legal tender when he was in charge - telling Arsene that he had to spend a considerable amount of money to catch Manchester United and Chelsea. For the uninitiated, Graham had a similarly strong base in 1991 as Arsene had in 2004, a team that blew away all-comers in the league and were within touching distance of the double. The difference is that the Scot did not have a stadium being built to improve his surroundings but still squandered what should have been a glorious future by signing players over the coming seasons of a peculiarly low standard like Jimmy Carter, Eddie McGoldrick or Glenn Helder. There might be complaints about some of Arsene’s squad in certain quarters but those with any memories of that era will surely have joined me in wincing at the mention of that trio. It could have been worse because I might mentioned Kris Kiwomya. Ouch.

So forgive me if I find it amusing that Graham is now dispensing advice about being less parsimonious and telling Arsene to ‘splash the cash’,

Arsene has got to sit down and be honest with himself, which I am sure he is…He must look back and ask: ‘did the players get tired? Why did they get tired? Did he have a strong enough squad? Were they too inexperienced to get over the white line and win the trophy? He needs, in my opinion, three or even four ready-made players, which will cost a lot of money - and that may be a problem because I don’t know if Arsenal have got a big budget to get new players in next season

All of which seems pretty reasonable. The last part in particular needs to be understood. For all of the trumpeting of this fabled £70m cash that was floating around at the end of last season, it struck me as questionable as to whether or not it was actually there on June 1st, the day after the end of the old financial year. However, that there is some available is undeniable but Arsene’s M.O. is not to buy ‘big names’ rather get players who are technically capable irrespective of their reputation. This is good but this time injuries have cost him dear. ‘Once bitten, twice shy’ ought to be permanently tattooed on his brain for the future.

Graham has thoughts on this,

Certain players at Arsenal keep on getting injured, and you know next season, the same players will probably be on the treatment table a lot. I think he needs three or four, and I think he needs three or four ready-made players, star players who are going to cost big money and big salaries, which will not go down well at Arsenal

Whether the spending element of what he says is true or not remains to be seen but Arsene has his cloth and will have to cut it accordingly.Two areas that may need addressing are central midfield and central defence. He has players in place who fulfil those roles at the moment but that might not be the case in the summer.

Mathieu Flamini has been given until the end of this month to sort out his contract or face being ousted from the squad,

We are getting close to ‘yes’ or -no’. He wants to stay and I believe him. But as long as he has not signed, he is free to sign where he wants. We have set ourselves a target at the end of April to finalise the situation, one way or the other. April is an absolute deadline because, afterwards, we have to make decisions in the transfer market. My first target is to keep the team together, but we want to continue to respect our wage structure. That is very important. Flamini has to fit in that

Flamini has used a solid base of logic for his demands, if they are indeed what have been portrayed in the media, the transfer cost of a new signing plus salary and signing-on fees although the first element is indeed very subjective. This morning reports suggest that the fluttering eyelashes of Juventus have offered him £3.5m per year (£67k per week) for running around in Serie A which puts some more flesh on his calculations.

Flamini has played one full season in his favoured role for Arsenal and it has been a good one that ought to have put him in the running for Player of the Season. Yet that is hardly a basis for going in with demands that will make him one of the top earners at the club. If this had been his second in the position and at a similar level of performance, I might be more sympathetic to his aims. He is not indispensable in the way Fabregas is; he is replaceable and you never know it might be with someone better. I have a suspicion that it will be resolved by the end of the month unless Flamini’s agent thinks Arsene is bluffing and plays a double bluff, which might be met with a treble bluff…Hold on, I’m bluffed out for the moment and need to catch my bluffing breath. Anyway, the one thing that Flamini might like to bear in mind is the case of Lassana Diarra; Arsene will not let that happen again, which might just be the incentive that Flamini needs to sign.

William Gallas on the other hand is the fox being chased by the media hunt. For six months, he was deemed to be a good captain but one emotional afternoon at St Andrews put him on this earth with a target on his back. Arsene has fed that frenzy by not committing himself to making Gallas captain next season, which is fair enough given the current campaign is not over. Replacing him in that role is fraught with dangers but they should not be enough to keep him in situ. The obvious concern is that his toys come out of the pram and the free-speaking player returns as a disruptive influence in the dressing room. That might not happen given his maturity this season but it might, making it a consideration for Arsene to bear in mind. The other concern is who to replace him with? To my mind, it would be folly to make Cesc captain at this stage of his career. He might have two hundred appearances and endured some hardship but that does not necessarily make him captain material. Nor should it be a case of simply because he is the best player. Look at the case of Ian Botham and the England cricket team – best player, bad captain. The summer will no doubt bring the answers to that as it runs its course and no doubt, there will be plenty of advice for Arsene along the way. Kolo Toure might be a better bet with the respect he seems to command from his colleagues. Plus he will probably be the last surviving member of an Arsenal title-winning team with the usual reports of Gilberto wanting to go to Italy resurfacing. The Brazilian will miss part of the start of next season again, if he remains, with his participation at the Olympics seeming to be his plans for what might be a cruel summer, and so be consigned to benchwarming duties if he returns to The Emirates.

I am off to do some totally unironic working for the yankee dollar so ‘til Tomorrow.

Your response: