It Rhymes: Red & White Talk…And A Bit Of Transfer Gossip

Awwww, come on, you know the word which was missing. Red and White has launched its own PR offensive with Farhad Moshiri interviewed by the BBC offering their own version of the current state of play at the club. Mindful that the manager still has the support of all but 0.001% of supporters, Moshiri chose to divert attention to the Board and their rejection of Red and White’s Rights Issue.

There were several curiousities that emerged from the interview, not least of which is that Red & White are refusing to put their information into the public domain. The Lazard Brothers Report is based purely on the published financial statements of the club and at best, that information is six months old. Therefore, most of their conclusions are either out of date or based on estimates. That is not to say some of their thoughts might well be true but until R&W put the whole of their plans for the Rights Issue open to scrutiny, they will never be able to win the minds of supporters on this matter.

Despite his resignation from the Board of R&W, Dein appears still be heavily involved. That deduction came from Moshiri’s comments that the relationship between Dein and Wenger has never been replaced. That is according to Moshiri. No evidence exists to suggest that Wenger and Gazidis are heading towards that level of friendship. Likewise, no evidence exists to suggest that their is anything other than personal respect on either part. Any antagnosim is being hidden from public view, if it exists.

It is apparent that Moshiri is particularly clueless:

Based on our analysis any money is very limited and possibly spent already and I don’t think there are any spare funds with the exception of Adebayor’s proceeds

Even by my dodgy grasp of mathematics, that means that there are about £20-25m of spare funds. Since wild, sweeping statements are the order of the day, I would suggest that R&W would not make that money available in its entirity to Wenger since one aspect of their investment is abundantly clear. If they take the club over, money will be diverted into dividend payments, a matter on which Usmanov already made his views known before being put in his place by the current board.

The lack of knowledge displayed with regard to the first team squad was baffling if R&W are truly intent on taking over the club. Moshiri or one of his minions has obviously been reading blog comment sections and taking the extreme views as some sort of vindication of their intentions towards Arsenal. Particularly baffling was the notion that Arsenal will suffer greatly when Kolo Toure goes to the ACN next winter. It must have escaped their notice that there are six centre backs at the club.

The sale of Adebayor unsurprisingly brought more ill-informed comment. R&W clearly believe that Eduardo, Bendtner, van Persie and Vela are not up to scratch. It may well be that Wenger brings another striker in but more than anything else, R&W were clearly starting to stoke the fires of malcontent. Should the start to the season be less than spectacular, it will be little surprise to find another exacting analysis provided by R&W, stating that since Dein left, no success has arrived, erasing Wenger’s contribution entirely.

Having failed through normal channels to secure support for their strategy, R&W are now clearly attempting to portray themselves as the voice of supporters, the assumption being on their part that fans are too shallow to see through such pitiful posturing.

Elsewhere, the usual suspects are emerging for the first train into Euston. Lee Catermole is probably the first to arrive since it will be quicker for him to journey down from Wigan. Hot on his heels on the Heathrow Express is Klaas Jan Huntelaar, whose wages demands have seen Peter Crouch  usurp him as ‘Appy ‘Arry’s top transfer target.

Kolo Toure has apparently agreed personal terms as part of Manchester City’s triple transfer swoop which is rapidly disintegrating since John Terry has refused to countenance earning huge wages. Apparently Toure popped out to a local Wiener Schnitzel parlour for talks with City when Arsene turned his back. It seems many moons ago that clubs agreed a fee before contacting the player directly.

’til Tomorrow.