Friday, 22 July 2011

Dear Arsene,

Oh my Arsene.

I love you. I really do.
You have given me some of my favourite memories. The 5-1 drubbing of Inter Milan at the immense San Siro, the rejuvenation of our legendary Back Four and Thierry Henry.
But right now, you are causing me so much pain.

Come on, are you surprised David Moyes is a little bit peeved at you? You made a bid £2million less than you did last summer, even after Phil Jagielka had another good season. Weren't you just complaining about Barca doing the same to you, over Cesc? If you want the player, go and bloody buy him. It's not like the coffers are empty, far from it if I believe what I read! It feels like you enjoy making it a little painful for us, the Gooners. You did the same thing over Mark Schwarzer last summer. Fair enough, it didn't work out too bad in the end. That Wojiech Sczcesny is a star. But arguing over £250,000! That's like me arguing over 25p.

But this year, we really need and want a Premier League experienced defender. I think we deserve it, after some of last years cock-ups. That doesn't mean some unknown is exceptable this time around.

Look, you even have a choice.
Jagielka, Gary Cahill and Christopher Samba. Admittedly Cahill does represent the best value for money and you do have a good relationship with Owen Coyle. But that's not the point, just buy one of them. Before I get to the stage where I don't care which one.

Please. I beg of you.
Just buy a defender, keep TV5 away from Belgium and re-sign Samir Nasri. It is that simple.

We can win things again and I can regain my bragging rights over the Spurs fans.

I just want things to go back to normal, or I'm afraid you might have to go...

Best wishes,
Natasha.
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Tuesday, 3 May 2011

Racism Still Kicking!

Just like most of you I was watching Barcelona v Real Madrid, enjoying the wonders of Messi and hoping there would be less theatrics than last week. Wondering where the hell Jose was and wondering how many fouls Ricardo Carvalho would make before he got a seccond yellow.

Then in the second half, Emmanual Adebayor replaced Higuin up front for Real Madrid. At first, I thought I was hearing things but after turning up the TV and sitting quietly I knew I wasn't. This wasn't my imagination, I really was hearing monkey chants. In the year 2011 when the United States of America has a black President and some of the World biggest stars are people of colour, the ignorance of some people still continues to shock and disgust me.

As an Arsenal fan, I'm not a lover of Adebayor but I would not wish that kind of bile on my worst enemy. No person should ever have to suffer abuse because of their heritage, sexuality or sex. It is not acceptable and it should not be tolerated.

Luckily in England it happens very rarely and if it does the bigot is usually given a lifetime ban from the club. But in other parts of Europe this continues to be a regular occurance. The problem for me is that when it does occur FIFA and UEFA do too little about it. Either it is brushed under the carpet or the club/country is given a paltry fine. An amount so small it wouldn't even cover a weeks wages of the average player.

If they are supposed to be the masters/ the headteachers of all things football; how can they allow such things to continue?

They preach of their commitment to diversity within this beautiful game yet they ignore events such as this. If Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini feel they deserve their seats at football's top table, this is the time for them to prove it. Create a clear set of rules and punishments - should the club/country allow it to continue - to keep this ignorant hatred from spoiling our games.

The Kick Racism out of Football campaign has been going strong in this country and I am proud to say I have not seen or heard any of this filth while watching football. Maybe that is why there are so many foreign players in the UK compared to other countries. Because we welcome everyone with open arms and judge them by their person, not by their colour.

If other countries did the same, imagine how great our wonderful game would be.
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Thursday, 28 April 2011

Bolton 2 - 1 Arsenal: Match Report

As I've been on the missing list for a while I thought I'd give you a match report before I try to resume normal service this weekend.

Tamir Cohen's first goal in 18 months gave Bolton three points and realisticly ended Arsenal's title hopes at the Reebok on Sunday afternoon.