FRIDAY'S Champions League draw is vital.
The qualifying round is important because huge money is at stake.
In all competitions, including the Champions League final, Arsenal earned £52.7 million in prize money and TV income.
That was more than any other English club and close to the £54 million that Man United earned in 2004.
Jens Lehmann is banned from the Champions League qualifier, so Almunia will be in goal, which is scary. Almunia is a clown who should not be at the club. Let's hope that Arsenal face weak opponents rather than Spartak Moscow or Dynamo Kiev.
THIS HEATWAVE has made July horrible.
Let's face it, July is the worst month for football fans because July is all about price. It's about haggling over the price of the players being bought and sold. Haggling over the price of Ashley Cole, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Curtis Davies, et al.
July is a month of things not happening and it's not fun and it comes at the end of my year, when I'm thinking about holidays. In case you were wondering, Myles Palmer doesn't do pre-season.
That's always been my philosophy. Pre-season is for coaches. You can quote me on that. Rehearsals are for groups and pre-season is for coaches. When I co-managed groups they sometimes invited us to a rehearsal, and I usually said, "Yes, if you play me the set."
In music, I want to hear your set because I can make constructive comments about your set. In football, I want to see your team. I don't want to see half your team.
But I'm now footballed out after writing 70 pieces on the World Cup in 40 days, many of them on hot days when I cannot think clearly. I'm an autumn person, not a summer person. At my best in October.
Dennis Bergkamp testimonial ?
Watched it on Channel 5 with my son Michael. It was obvious that fox-in-the-box Klaas-Jan Huntelaar would score. He missed two chances and then scored one at the near post.
The second half was the Ajax legends against the Arsenal legends and Thierry Henry scored the only goal in 55, taking Lee Dixon's cross, holding off Aron Winter, and stroking his shot past Van der Sar.
In 63, Edgar Davids was clean through one-on-one with Almunia and Gilles Grimandi clattered him from behind the box, an outrageous foul which would have been a red card in any game but this one.
Ronald de Boer took the penalty and blasted it just over the bar and then Jan came back from visiting our friend Penny. She came in and said, "What's going on? I'm in the car and I can hear you two guffawing."
When Grimandi flattened Davids, I said, "In a game like this, that tackle was out of order."
But Michael said, "You can't have a Spurs player score in the first match at the new stadium. Grimandi understood that."
ONLY A FEW more things to say.
One, there's never been a testimonial like this.
Two, I remembered some Dennis's goals, his first against Southampton from Glenn Helder's cross, one against Spurs when he passed to himself on a wet night, bursting past Steve Carr and blasting it beyond Ian Walker, and one in a 2-2 against Aston Villa in the League Cup, where he was 35 yards out and I said to myself, "He's not gonna hit it from there, is he?" He did hit it from there and the ball flew low into the bottom corner of the net.
Three, the day neatly connected Arsenal's past with their future.
Four, the event demonstrated Arsene Wenger's values.
It showed you why he sold Merson and Hartson but kept DB10 for DB10 years. Dennis Bergkamp is a team player and a family man.
The family was the big message of the day. His Dad kicked off, his kids were on the pitch with him. And he thanked his Mrs, graciously, succinctly. He said, "Thanks darling, I couldn't have done it without you."
He is part of the Ajax family too, alongside Johann Cruyff and Marco van Basten.
I remember once seeing Dennis's brother outside the ground. A big guy, like their father, with longish blond hair, he was with his wife and Dennis's wife, who was carrying a little blonde girl who was about three. The child wore a yellow Arsenal away shirt. On the back of her shirt was a word : DAD.
Dennis Bergkamp has a box at the Emirates and he will endure as a symbol of Arsenal. He will always be part of the family. He gave a lot to the club and the club gave a lot to him. But, of course, Arsenal paid a high price for his refusal to fly. If Dennis had flown, Arsenal would have been in the European Cup Final sooner.
The message sent out by AFC and AW to other footballers was: This family man has been a phenomenal success. He has shown you how it should be done. He has not squandered his talents. This family man has had a magnificent career, so we have honoured him today. And we are proud to keep his family as part of our family.
I'LL SOON BE washing off all memories of the Sven's World Cup as I swim in the Algarve.
But we fly to Lisbon first to visit the Gulbelkian again. He was a billionaire art collector at a time when a million dollars was a lot of money. He left his estate and all his paintings to a Foundation.
Last time we were at this fabulous museum Jan said, "This place makes the Tate look like a jumble sale." That was exactly what I was thinking, having been to the Tate two weeks before with my brother Neil.
DID YOU READ David Lacey during the World Cup?
On June 14, Lacey wrote about Hiddink's Australia and recalled the Australian team of 1974.
He mentioned the Reeperbahn, the famous red light district of Hamburg, where the Beatles played R&B in sleazy clubs and consorted with hookers and strippers.
On the whole Premiership players have begun well, especially the Chelsea set of Didier Drogba, Michael Essien, Hernán Crespo, Joe Cole and Robben. Everton, in the shape of Tim Cahill, inspired Australia's late comeback against Japan and confirmed Guus Hiddink's side as a serious presence.
What a contrast to 1974. Before they met West Germany in Hamburg their Yugoslav coach, Rale Rasic, informed his players that if they won he would treat them to a night on the Reeperbahn. Birds, booze and the rest, it would all be down to him. Up piped a voice from the back: "Say boss, if we draw can half of us go?"