Gazidis Promises An 'Active Summer'

Arsenal CEO Ivan Gazidis told us the supporters trust that it will be an active summer at the Emirates.

I was present with around 200 other supporters to listen to what Ivan had to say. As I expected, he did not give much away and it felt he was worried about what would be in the morning papers so all we could do was read between the lines.

Gazidis mentioned an ‘active summer’ three times I seem to recall he talked about a lack of experience in seeing games out and that was the major clue about what sort of players will be bought.

Gazdis was not going to be caught up with individuals but said Arsenal have been in touch with many clubs about many players.

I do think some important issues were raised and will be looked into. The issue of reserve games being played behind closed doors during the winter months cropped up and people that have been to reserve games will agree there is always a good atmosphere and a good chance to see the young talent on show but also talk to other supporters about club issues. The argument from Gazidis was that it helps player development to play on the pitches at the training ground but I also think playing in front of a crowd will aid player development so I guess a balancing act has to be found.

The Arsene Wenger question was asked several times. Someone asked if removing Mr Wenger from the financial aspects of the club would help but Gazidis rejected the idea because he felt Mr Wenger needs to be involved as he is the manager and knows what the club needs. In terms of the future of the manager, a lot depends on if he loses the supporters and if he did; it may be hard to keep him at the club.

I am firmly behind Arsene Wenger and I think he knows what he has to do this summer and I really hope we win something this season so we do not have to even consider his future this time next year.

There was a good debate after the meeting too and the passion for the club is as good as ever.

Come on you Arsenal !

End Of Yet Another Season

Fair to say I had that empty feeling as I woke up on Monday morning knowing there was no more Arsenal for a few months; but in a way, I was glad.

I think we all need a holiday and a break from football. Supporters, players and manager and even the stewards look a bit worn out! This has to be one of the more frustrating seasons in recent years because of the dramatic fall from four competitions to one then to none.

The Emirates was a strange place in the latter part of the season, it was very uneasy and very tense and with the results on the pitch, no one can be surprised.

Fulham away on Sunday pretty much summed up the last few months. Robin Van Persie scores AGAIN and some school boy defending meant we conceded two goals.

The best thing about Sunday was the atmosphere in the away section at the cottage and once again it was superb. Chants such as ‘your statue is S***, your statue is s***, it should have been Jedward, your statue is s***’ was a highlight.

The other chant that created a story was about spending money. I didn’t get involved in the chant BUT completely understand it. This squad does need some work and some investment and for many supporters who like me, paid £50 to come and watch the Arsenal on Sunday just wanted to get their message across. What was touching was that straight after that chant, there was a chorus of ‘We Love You Arsenal’ for about a good five minutes and that just showed that supporters are frustrated BUT are still very much in love with the club and only want the club to be successful.

After the game Mr Wenger said we cannot spend 50m on a player and off course the supporters were not hinting that we do but I do believe Mr Wenger knows exactly what the supporters mean but wanted to fob the question off a bit because he has always been quite tight lipped about transfer activities.

In an interview with Arsenal Tv (Arsenals own media channel) he was more open and said he will be active so I guess we just have to wait and see.

With players like Denilson and Bendtner indicating they may leave and with others rumoured to want to leave, the boss has no real choice but to strengthen. In a press conference a few weeks ago, he was asked about conceding late goals and he put it down to experience and said the transfer window is a way of solving it.

For me, it’s not about how much we spend; it’s more about the off course the quality but personality of the player. Take someone like Martin Keown, he perhaps was not the most technically gifted footballer we have had BUT he was a warier and a leader and stood up to be counted for ALWAYS. I think it may be time to look at a players personality as much as their playing quality because we do lack leaders. The right balance has to be found.

You get the feeling this is a HUGE summer for the Arsenal but one thing that we wanted was Jack Wilshere to get a rest and we got that, so wanting a few experience players may follow!

Come on You Arsenal !

Ps. My favourite moment of the season is always at the cottage because when the second half is starting, Mr Wenger always forgets to come out ON TIME rather then his usual 30 seconds into second half but at the cottage, the tunnel is on the other side of the dugout and you have to go right through the pitch and EVERY year Mr Wenger makes the same mistake and is told to run and seeing our beloved Frenchman in a suit running is always a sight that makes me smile!

Have a good summer!

Emirates stadium…See you in July / Laurent Blanc

Another season at the Emirates comes to a close and it is a similar story. It was bitterly disappointed how flat we were against Aston Villa and it was sometimes painful to watch.

A season of ‘what ifs’ dominated life at the Emirates this season and questions will be asked again.

I think it’s a bit of a under statement to say we were a bit flat yesterday and the game was very much that sort of end of season game. A win was vital if we want to go straight into the group stages of the Champions League but now we have to rely on other results.

We will just have to wait and see.

One thing interesting that happened yesterday was that I met Laurent Blanc (French National manager plus World Cup winner) and he was happy to answer a few questions we had for him.

I was keen to ask him about Mamadou Sakho and how he rates him because Arsenal have been linked to him for a while. Blanc said that he is very strong physically and very strong mentally. I asked him if thinks he may become an Arsenal player in the future and Blanc thinks he might.

I was keen to ask him about our Arsenal lads and in particular Samir Nasri. Blanc thinks Nasri has a lot of potential but is not there yet. That got me thinking about Nasri playing in the Cesc role if Cesc goes this summer and I had never really been convinced and listening to Blanc has made me see that Nasri will get even better and it really is vital to keep both Nasri and Cesc as one can learn from the other.

A player I think that has had a good season and will be a star for this club is Laurent Koscielny and as Arsene Wenger said the plan was only to play for him for about 20-25 games this season but he was ‘thrown in at the deep end’ and Blanc thinks he can be a real player and just needs to develop and get stronger and he will get there.

Laurent Blanc saw me turn to the Jack Wilshere page on my program and instantly pointed and told me how good Jack Wilshere is and thinks his vital to any future Arsenal and England have.

As you can imagine, talking to Laurent Blanc was probably one of the more interesting parts of my day and it was quite amazing talking to an international manager and Blanc was a very intelligent man.

He was a world cup winner too and I was keen to see what he thought about players he played with and he said that Ronaldo was the best player he ever played with followed by Zidane. He really rated Manu Petit too.

He also thinks Arsene Wenger is the right man as he complimented my In Wenger We Trust t-shirt.

Now comes Fulham away and then perhaps one of the more important summers of recent years will start (after a few weeks holiday though!)

Come on you Arsenal!