Well the title sounds better than ‘An Irish Loony’s Rant’. Just kidding Noel, all input appreciated!
Regular correspondent Noel Conway is having a quick go at me for taking my eye off the finale to the season. Go Noel!
“Phil for goodness sake we have three games left , the spuds have taken themselves down to the STI clinic to see just how bad there dose of the pox is , the dutch “scumbag” is due to walk out on our hollowed turf with his medal this weekend and all you are interested in is a quiz ! I need to get a few things off my chest and it has to do with that pig rvp. Arsenal players should turn their backs to him . Here is a player who spent all of his Arsenal career lying on treatment tables in London, Switzerland, and the US while the club paid for it and the fans gave him all the moral support he needed. He gave us one season out of eight and then buggered off to “redface” united. He should be treated with nothing but contempt especially after the way he embraced the mancs backroom team after the win against Villa .He owes his career to Arsenal and he should be reminded of that . I cannot stand him ,he is typical of todays losers Anelka, Terry, Cole , all smart boys on the field but brainless off it . Ya robin , small letters for a small man . By the way look out for flying boots and roy keans , more small men in ferge land . cantona me arse.”
angryofislington 
Agree with this 100%, however, we also should not have sold him to Utd. We should have taken less money from elsewhere to ensure that he doesn’t go to one of our rivals (even if used in the past tense). RVP should have also been told to find another team. I find it hard to believe that there weren’t other teams interested.
Disagree entirely. He was sold for ‘business’ reasons, not football reasons. Anything other than a show of respect to the new champions (inc Robin) will be undignified and ‘un-Arsenal-like’. Let’s clap them and then beat them. And let’s save the boos for Gazidis and Kroenke (if he bothers to turn up).
It certainly was “business” reasosn: a player who wants to leave and refuse to renew his contract – duh.
Note that even the spinmasters never tried to claim that Van Persie was willing to sign a new contract – even when Podolski and Giroud turned up. He was merely willing to stay….and run off into a Bosman, meaning he would play until January, sign with someone else and then suddenly find niggling injuries to excuse risking his legs any further.
Sorry but you really have to be desperate to claim the club was trying to run this guy out of town for a transfer fee. They pushed out the boat to make him stay, but nothing short of 250K per week, signing all his mates and letting him pick the team everyweek was going to be enough. Speaking of which – where are Affelay and Van Der Vart today anyway – these were the guys that Van Persie demanded we sign to please him……..
They pushed the boat out to make him go. When are you finally going to cotton on that this is the way the Club is being run – as a business? Duh?
I understand fully well the club is a business. However, what too many Arsenal fans dont grasp is that once Dein, -fisman & co cashed in, all future owners will ONLY operate the club as a business, regardless of their personal wealth. The days of Jack Walker, works clubs etc are history.@
More importantly, and also way over the heads of football fans, is that Robin Van Persie Pte is also a business. And he was hell bent on cashing out at this stage of his career, with the emphasis on the O-U-T. He cant talk as much as he wants about winning but he sure as hell would not have gone to Dortmund either for a lesser payout than what Man U was offering.
The guy was at the exit door, same as his mates Nasri and Fabregas and Arsenal took the best deal they could before he jumped ship. Dont try to make out like he was interested in resigning – he never would have unless he broke his leg or something.
And speaking of broken legs, Vermalen signed a new deal offered when he was long term injured. Dont be surprised, despite his polite public utterances, if he hasnt already found a new club, now that he is fit and apparently not guaranteed to play. Time for his last big payout.
Thats how players are today. They are businesses. Get it….
Sorry Phil and to you guy’s for some inappropriate use of language during my rant . My angst is born of pure frustration. If a player no longer wants to play for a club, fine sell him on to the highest bidder. RVP was a different case, a world class striker, an integral part of Arsenal’s drive for trophies. I am sure that every effort was made to keep him except granting him his wage requests. But he should never have been sold to Man U one of our biggest rival’s. He should have been sold abroad at a lower transfer fee if necessary let him warm his hands on the bench. RVPs history of injuries plus his age mitigated against a major amount in transfer fees and while 24 million pounds sounds like a lot of money in the context of what has transpired since his transfer ( Man U winning the league and the money that will generate for them), its peanuts. Ferguson described RVPs signing as the most important since Cantona. What annoyed me was watching him embracing his “new” best buddies after the Villa match. I have developed a deep dislike for the bloke and have no interest in what does or how he does it . As far as I’m concerned he is of no consequence and I hope Arsenal fans let this guy( who expressed his “love” for the club this time last year) let him know it. Thats my final word on him .
A top player – in fact your captain, no less – being chained to the bench purely as punishment for not re-signing, is a very good way to destroy the rest of the team spirit.
Once you decide to sell him, well its the highest bid. You cant run around playing games. And there is absolutely nothing to stop him signing for cheap to Juve and then turning up at Man U a season later. So that’s just pointless and wasteful. Once you are selling, you are selling to the highest bidder.
People need to come to terms with the fact that the players too are money greedy and they have a say in how these things play out. The old days are gone. Dont keep running around with fantasiful ideas about what these players think. Very few have any real loyalty.
You make a very fair point Ziontrain and I can’t argue with it. But I’m old fashioned and I put great faith in loyalty. Commitment is the backbone of any club .Players like Tony Adams would have died for Arsenal. Look at Ryan Giggs ,23 years at United, Stephen Gerrard 14 years at Liverpool , all quality players who could have gone elsewhere for bigger money but did’nt. These players understand what it means to play for their club and their fans . They understand what it means to be loyal. Those who are responsible for the game have let us all down. We are now slaves to agents, Russian oligarchs (whatever they are) Asian betting syndicates and cable tv channels. I could go on but you know what I mean and I don’t want to bore you anymore
Thinking on this subject, look at Goetze & Dortmund. There are a million places he could have signed for but he picked the one that would hurt his own fans the most. And the coaches who groomed him.
I mean that’s just the ultimate in player disloyalty. Not just a youth product but a local boy as well. It would be like Wilshere decamping to Man City or something.
Unfortunately players own greed is also destroying the game.
Loyalty is a two-way street – and it’s clear that, under the current regime, turning a buck comes way before loyalty. My own view is that Robin wanted to stay but was sold off as a declining asset – but even if I’m wrong and he chose to go, can anybody blame him? He’d seen Fabregas and Nasri sold off, no sign of real ambition from the owner and no realistic chance of winning a major trophy if he stayed. And even if the motive was solely money, which of us would stay in his job if he could get twice the salary elsewhere? As for feeling guilty, why should he when the Club was selling him for £20m more than they paid for him. And would we all be feeling the same anger if the £24m had been spent on signing a player of equivalent quality? Imagine if, instead of OG, it had been Lewandowsky? What hurts us most, if we are honest, is that selling him to Man U shows how far we have fallen behind them, what little ambition the Club has and that we face the dismal prospect of continuing decline.
Fabregas rumors had been going on 2 season before he left and he was sold for less than his value because he had already agreed with Barca. And we had no replacement ready. But you think we were trying to get rid of him?
Nasir had one good half season when his contract was coming up, sold himself to Man City and suffered mysterious “hamstring injuries” from that winter window until he was sold, although he was always fit for France. But you think it was Arsenal who wanted him to go? Seriously?
Van Persie the same – worse even. Sick note for most of 8 years, one good 3/4 season and his agent already had the auction going the summer before he left. One full calendar year. But you think arsenal forced him out.
Good lord, wake up man. These two-faced snots are paying you like a piano. They don’t care about the club or the fand- they just milk you dry for their ego & riches.