By Myles Palmer
I WAS looking forward to tonight’s game till I heard that red card Riley is the ref.
Thankfully the Champions League is back next week and we can see some decent refs who know that football is an emotional contact sport and who know the difference between a tackle and a foul.
Our refs will never be any good while overseen by the appalling Philip Don, who was himself one of the worst referees in English football.
If we could import 40 Spanish referees, our game would flow and be 50 times more enjoyable.
Players would still be sent off – when they deserved it.
THE TABLOID PRESS have been disgusting this week.
OK, Keown was out of order, and Lauren lost it as he has never lost it before, but Arsene was right to say what he said about RVN after the game.
It was 10 seconds of argy-bargy, provoked by Ruud Van Nastelrooy’s gamesmanship, his cheating, his opportunist pantomime.
RVN is the man who punched Ljungberg and got away with it, the man who decked Legwinski with a left arm to the face, and then raced away and scored a spectacular goal against Fulham in March this year.
A cheat provoked 10 seconds of jostling by 16 players. Is that mega-news?
Arsene is absolutely right to say that the media have over-reacted.
Tabloid hacks laid into Arsene in a ferocious 30-minute session yesterday, with tonight’s game hardly being mentioned.
A lesser man would have despaired and quit years ago.
I think Arsene is absolutely right to say that he will defend every one of his players.
I NOW BELIEVE what I had been reluctant to believe until last Sunday.
It’s deeply unhealthy when one organisation owns Sky Sports,The Sun, The Times, The Sunday Times and Talksport radio.
Sky have an anti-Arsenal bias because they own shares in Man United.
They own 9.9% of Man United PLC.
AND NOBODY EVER MENTIONS THAT FACT!
They should be forced to sell those shares.
And since Sky are able to set the agenda, other TV, radio and papers follow their stories.
The mass media are vicious, shameless and heartless, while masquerading as guardians of decency.
Senior executives and sports editors have got to own up and start writing about football.
They should hire reporters who can write about football.
If they did that, they would be allowed more access to players.
Gooners know that there is a big anti-Arsenal bias in the media, so the atmosphere will be electric at the game tonight.
And Arsenal will win 2-0, with Pires turning on the style and creativity.
AS I HAVE PREDICTED HERE FOR MONTHS, Arsenal now have the loan of £260 million in place and will announce that at the AGM next Thursday.
The Guardian breaks that story this morning.
Ashburton Grove will be built, as I always said it would be.
Do I ever get sick of being right?
No !
Last night’s BBC4 profile Arsene Who? was too short at 30 minutes, but pretty intelligent and stylish.
Well done, Amy Lawrence !
Great to see an interview with Alphonse, Arsene’s dad, a tall, jolly old boy with fair hair.
26th September 2003.