Edelman Leaves Arsenal, Money Matters

On May 1, 2008May 1, 2008 By jamesgillespIn Arsenal1 Comment

Arsenal are the third most valuble club in the world according to Forbes, they value at:

1.Man United at £905m ($1,800m)

2.Real at £646m ($1,285m)

3.Arsenal at £603m ($1,200m)

Moving to Ashburton Grove has played a big part in this, and the man behind much of the move has been Keith Edelman MD at the club since 2000.

Keith has left the Arsenal after 8 years at the club. He had this to say:

“I have thoroughly enjoyed my time at Arsenal. It has been a very exciting period for the business and I am proud to have contributed to the Club’s many off-field achievements over the past eight years, not least the Emirates Stadium project. Now that we have completed our second season at Emirates, I believe it is the right time to seek pastures new and embark upon fresh challenges.”

Peter Hill-Wood said:

“Keith has played a major role in the growth of the Club since he joined in 2000. In that time we have successfully implemented the move from Highbury to Emirates Stadium that has underpinned the future of the business and confirmed our position as one of Europe’s leading clubs. We are grateful to Keith for his crucial role in this transformation.

“Under Keith’s stewardship the Club has achieved record profits and the Board owes him a debt of gratitude for his contribution. We wish him the very best for the future.”

Ken Friar, the previous MD, now becomes Acting Managing Director. There are some conspiracy theories concerning Red & Shite Holdings, and Dein’s involovement, but I think the case is more that Edelamn has done the job he was brought in to do.

Flamini, Adebayor’s Agent and Potential Transfer Targets

On May 1, 2008April 8, 2010 By jamesgillespIn Arsenal

We haven’t heard anything official about Flamini, but if he hasn’t signed by now he is as good as gone. There are unsupported rumours from the Corriere Dello Sport that he has told the team he has chosen Milan. Who knows?

GilbertoSilver thinks that we might have a perfect replacement for Flamini in Kolo Toure. Arguably our most versatile player, I saw huim play up front in his early days! I think he could do a job for us there, it would be convienent because his partnership with Gallas seems a little shaky at times.

I would quite like to see Michael Johnson, the England Under-21 midfield player signed up. We have been linked to him as well as Gareth Barry to replace Flamini. Man Citeh are in turmoil at the moment as their owner, Thaksin Sinawatra has decided to sack Sven, because he didn’t do well enough this year (wait, we are talking about City here right??), a valuble lesson against outright foreign ownership.

Anyway it seems Flamini may start against Everton on Sunday, no matter what his status is.

Adebayor’s agent has also been worrying Wenger by fueling transfer speculation about Ade:

“Today he is happy at Arsenal, he showed it on Monday. But you know football, everything goes very quickly.”

Just money grabbing in my opinion, there’s no reason Ade would leave Arsenal, so don’t listen.

Also, Van Persie is going to miss the Everton game:

“We don’t want to gamble at this stage of the season on a muscular problem. We had a little alert but it is not big at all.”

Fair enough, RVP has struggled badly with injuries these last few years. Maybe a rest will help him recover, I hope Holland get knocked out of Euro 2008 early!!

Clichy Talks And Where Is Flamini?

On May 1, 2008May 1, 2008 By jamesgillespIn Arsenal

Morning,

I have to ask the question, where is Flamini?? I don’t think he has signed a new deal if we haven’t heard from him today, but thats the thing, we haven’t heard anything from him! So we shall have to wait and see, I only hope we won’t miss him too much if he has gone.

Clichy talks about the transfer rumours saying:

“It’s up to everyone to think what they want to do.

“But we’ve got so many examples of players who leave to win the Champions League and titles, and that didn’t prove them right.

So true Clich, how many times have we seen ex-Arsenal players falter elsewhere. He went on to praise the squad, and their belief:

“I think that we have to believe in the quality we have in the team at the moment.“I believe in it, most players believe in it and I’m sure we can do it.

“So we just have to stick together and work hard because with the team we have, we’re so young, the future is in front of us and we’re going to do something great that’s for sure.”

Thats the sort of thing we want to hear, inspiring stuff, and it’s all true!

There’s a good season review here, which points out the fact that we played very well for most of the season and should be positive about next season.

We’ve taken Ergotelis’ 16-year-old striker Nikos Karelis on trial according to Setanta. At the weekend he became the youngest player ever to play in a Greek Super League game. One for the future if we do take him on.

Eboue wants to keep his spot on the wing, after a lot of critcism this year.

“I have worked very hard to change my game to be able to play in midfield. Now, I want to keep playing there and keep improving to become a better right midfielder.

“I need to do better and be more effective next season. I want to show the coach that he got it right by asking me to play there. I want to pay him back.”

I think he is a decent defender, but he hasn’t impressed me at all on the wing. His passing and shooting are not up to scratch, many times he has found himself in front of goal, only to fluff the shot. He also dives a bit.

I don’t hate him, just don’t think he should play on the wing. You can’t say he hasn’t tried.