By Myles Palmer
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MARK PINNES wrote on 23 January with a story : That Arsenal had faxed a letter to Ashley Cole’s agent offering him 2 years and £40,000 per week with “No negotiations.”
Hearing nothing for two weeks, David Dein called agent Jonathan Barnett, who said “Your contract insisted no negotiations, so we approached Chelsea, who have offered £80,000 per week. Would you care to match it ?”
That scenario sounds plausible to me.
Three weeks later we gather that Ash wants parity with Sol on £60,000.
Where do I stand?
Well, Arsenal is a better club than Chelsea. Always has been, always will be.
And Arsene Wenger is the most ambitious and versatile manager the club has ever had.
Arsenal will never be owned by an oligarch. And Arsenal will never be owned by Malcolm Glazer.
So far we think AFC has offered £40,000 a week to Ashley Cole, who can get £80,000 a week by joining CFC in the summer.
Personally, I’m not shocked by anything Chelsea do. And I’m not shocked by anything that a footballer does.
This is not the place to discuss (1) the obscenity of seven oligarchs inheriting the mineral wealth of a continent or (2) Abramovich buying a western identity with those billions.
I’m always saying to readers : Don’t get bent out of shape by bad results or transfer talk – it’s only football, it’s fun, it’s a soap opera. Enjoy it, but don’t allow it to damage you.
A MILLION WORDS have already been written on the Cole saga.
We are all bored by it now. So I will just say this :
1. Arsene Wenger and David Dein would never go and meet Frank Lampard in a hotel during the football season.
2. Did Mourinho say, “Get me Ashley Cole. Put me in a room with him, I want to see his eyes, I want to know he is serious about joining Chelsea.”
3.Or did Ashley Cole initiate that meeting?
4. Arsene is right to castigate Sven for his comment that players should consider offers of other work.
The England manager should NOT say its OK for an England player to meet the manager and chief executive of another club in a hotel room. That breaks the rules. That is sabotage. Agents are there to talk to clubs and arrange transfers on behalf of players.
It’s up to football fans to ask themselves a question: does Arsene Wenger inhabit a different moral universe to Sven-Goran Eriksson ?
READER ANNE R. says : Miles, I’ve been reading this site for about 3 years now and for the first two and a half thought that you were obnoxious and not a very good writer .
Remarkably masochistic, Anne, to read an obnoxious writer for so long.
I’m surprised to have female readers and can quite understand why a female reader would not be on my wavelength.
However, since its Valentine’s Day, please accept a large bunch of early-blooming parentheses (((((((((((((((((((((()))))))))))))))))))))))))))
EYTAN BENSON asks why Arsenal’s corners and free kicks are so unproductive.
Because they don’t practice them professionally?
I’m often asked : What do they do at that training ground all week? I don’t know.
But, as Patrick says, the truth is on the pitch. Everyone with eyes can see it.
Sometimes, after a well-rehearsed goal, hacks used to ask George about Arsenal’s set-piece routines. He would grin and say, “Totally off-the-cuff.”
But George, a student of golf, also said, “The harder you practice, the luckier you get.”
DREW GRAY and Dr. D. Panayi have asked me to refrain from predicting that Arsenal will win the next game.
So I will not tip Arsenal to beat Crystal Palace tonight.
I’ll save my predictions for Ladbrokes, where I had a half-decent weekend, winning on Chelsea, Spurs and Man United.
Been worried about the integrity of the Bundesliga ever since Rob Hughes told me a horror story, two weeks ago, about match-fixing in Bundesliga 2.
But on Saturday I won an accumulator on Dortmund, Hertha Berlin, Werder Bremen and Kaiserslautern.
Sunday I had Real Madrid to win in Osasuna. Match took place in a monsoon.
Osasuna played some great stuff and scored a fine goal.
Luxemburgo the dandy looked as cheerful as a drowned rat in his coat, jumper, gloves and turban.
As Casillas made five good saves, it looked a bet too far.
But wait : two freekicks by Roberto Carlos and Beckham, keeper spilled both in nasty conditions, rebound goals by Owen and Helguera – bingo !
Other predictions?
Bush will bomb Iran, but after Blair’s re-election.
Then Blair will stand down.
There will be a new PM. But it won’t be Gordon Brown. You read it here first.
GRATIFYING to know we have educated readers in Canada, like Steve Phillips in Vancouver and Arjun Datta in Toronto. Two cities I have yet to visit. Wife adores Vancouver, brother Neil was boss of Scott Paper in Toronto.
JULIEN ALLEN, like some readers, is unrealistic. He asks me to provide “the scoop” on Jose Reyes and his intentions.
I have no scoop on Reyes. But he will go back to Spain. He is unhappy here.
Reyes cannot play with Henry and he is competing for the position of Henry’s mate, Pires.
As long as those two are at Arsenal, his career will be stalled.
I would hate to see Reyes go because he is one of the most exciting footballers I’ve ever seen. He has freak ability, like Rooney, Gazza, Maradona.
Brave, electric, a fantastic technician, great attitude, very hard-working, not moody – a major talent.
In time Reyes could produce the sort of supercharged slaloms that Paulo Futre did when he took Scotland apart in that 5-0 game in Lisbon in 1993.
But Arsene has been unable to integrate Reyes into the team in 12 months.
That is because the team is built round Henry.
I reckon Arsenal can only go as far as Henry can take them.
In Europe it’s usually, “Cross your fingers and hope Thierry has a good night.”
Since 1997 there have been three moments when I thought Arsenal could go all the way in the Champions League :
(1) When Kanu made it 2-0 against Bayern (2) when Parlour’s 30-yard rocket against Valencia lifted Highbury into thunderous celebrations and (3) a year ago when Arsene signed Reyes, a goalscorer I thought would make a difference in tight quarter-finals and semi-finals.
Now,as 2005 gets under way, I think AW should send Bergkamp to Munich by road.
DB10 was awesome in the 4-2 defeat by Man United, a stronger team than Bayern, and Dennis would be invaluable in the Olympic Stadium.
Bayern can shut up shop at Highbury, so winning the first leg is vital.
Of course, he won’t let DB10 go to Munich.
February 14th 2005.