I was writing this article a year back with the title – a star is making but then a season has passed and the boy from Brazil has matured enough to have a confirmed place in Arsenal starting XI and is an integral part of our present and future, hence the change in title.
It wasn’t long ago when Wenger retired and Emery took over. We lost our talent spotter in Sven Mislintat and Edu Gasper was appointed as the new technical director to work alongside director of football, Raul Sanllehi and coach Unai Emery. We were excited about a change in regime but often the excitements are short lived. We soon realised Emery is not the answer, and Raul Sanllehi was ‘made to’ depart. Club didn’t say why but everyone guessed the agents’ involvements and Pepe’s 72m deal.
Raul handled some of the worst signings of the previous decade. Denis Suarez on loan from Barcelona was a failure. Pablo Mari was another one which wasn’t exciting at all. David Luiz got added to the list of another transfer failure from Chelsea. William Saliba was an exception, and became an integral part of our team but his handling was one of the worst things that could happen to a young player. Only yesterday, we have let go of Nicolas Pepe after a contract termination. We spent 72m on him. Dani Ceballos, Cedric Soares didn’t do anything much.
Kieren Tierney can be termed as a successful transfer, having been an integral part of our team for couple of season before Mikel decided to bring improvements at LB in Zinchenko and Timber. He is not a bad player, but just doesn’t fit the Arteta’s game. Fair enough, he is on loan to Sociedad this season.
The last transfer of that regime was Gabriel Martinelli for a meagre 6m fee. A 19-year old kid, playing for a Brazilian league side Ituano, having trained with Barcelona earlier and linked to Manchester United. Though, for a large section of Arsenal fans, he was an unknown. It was believed that Edu scouted and convinced Martinelli to come to Arsenal in 2019.
He travelled with us in our pre-season tour to US and scored a goal on his non-competitive debut in a 3-0 pre-season win against Colorado Rapids in July that year. He was set to play for U21 initially and rise through the ranks but his impressive pre-season performances forced Emery to pick him up for the first team. We were also short on talents and we needed all the help we could have got at that time.
Martinelli’s first few games for us were scintillating. He scored against Nottinham Forest in his first competitive start in Carabao Cup. I was there in the stands that day, in the second row and that 5-0 win over Forest was the best game I have ever watched. I was a bigger fan of Nelson at that time, but this is the closest click I have of him.
In his second start in Europa against Standard Liege, he scored another one. He scored again in his next game against Vitoria Guimaraes and then another one against Liverpool in League cup in a 5-5 high scoring draw. He became the first player to score 4 goals in 4 consecutive starts since Ian Wright. Klopp was so much influenced that he termed his ‘talent of the century’ and there had been rumours of Liverpool’s interest in him ever since, in every transfer window.
He got his first Premier League start under Freddie Ljungberg after Emery was sacked, and scored again against West Ham United. He scored against Chelsea in a 2-2 away draw, tripping Kante over and taking the ball from our own half to end up in the Chelsea’s net. It was goal of the season and made Gabriel Martinelli the first player after Nicolas Anelka to reach double figure as a teenager. He was sidelined due to a surgery soon after for months.
Premier League Career
2019-20 : He had 14 appearanced and scored 3 goals for us.
2020-21 : 14 games in his second season for the club, netting twice.
2021-22 : This is when he started solidifying his place in the time. Gabriel started in 29 games and scored 6 times. Mikel asked for for more outputs from his forwards in his press conference…
2022-23 : and Martinelli delivered last season. Playing in 36 games, he scored 15 goals for the club and was an integral part of a team that was having a title run. In the end, we lost to City but everyone noticed his output, dedication and boost in his performance.
2023-24 : He has yet to score this season having played 4 games. I’m sure he will pick up his scoring form from last season.
In Feb this year, club announced his contract extension for a 4 and a half year deal that runs till 2027. In an interview last year, he showed his love for Arsenal by going on record to say that he wants to play for the club for his whole career.
“We have a young group, we have a lot of time ahead of us, players with a lot of quality, I think we will achieve great things. Our focus is the Champions League. Fighting for that top four. A club like Arsenal has to be in the Champions League. It’s our total focus,”
“We always want more. Of course, Arsenal are a giant team. If I can, I’ll stay here my whole life. I want to conquer things, as I said, I want to stay here and win titles, with these wonderful fans, my teammates.”
source: Arsenal.com
The first part of this interview is complete. The second one, partially with his contract extension. I would love to see him become the epitome of success at Arsenal and in him and Saka, we have two of the best wingers in the world.
I personally see a bit of Ronaldo’s enthusiasm and intensity in his game. He has probably the best first touch in our team and the frustration on his face for every goal missed, every poor pass, each loss defines his personality to make things better. Scoring 15 goals for a winger, when Arteta specifically wants his wingers to hug the sideline and when the opposition always double up on him is a great output. We all will love to see him be a legend and be a legend at this club.
I would keep his Olympic wins and the country-career for some other time. I would love to hear what you think of him and his performance in his red and white and what are you expectation from him going forward. If you have any moments from him which you can’t forget, don’t forget to share that too. It’s always gonna be the goal against Chelsea for me, when Kante tried to grab him by his leg because he couldn’t match up his speed
#COYG
Hi Tony
I usually shy away from cover versions of originals because they are, by nature, derivative but I’d say this version is even better than Smokey’s. The worst ever sacrilege in my book was Tina Turner’s version of that Al Green song, ‘let’s stay together’.
https://youtu.be/yYrKe8K9lEY?si=nvIIIiq6-ydM8CKP
David Sylvian’s voice was a thing to behold. I’m not sure if you’d have been a big Japan fan but I’d be keen to know what you think of them. I can clearly picture you in the 80s outside the electric ballroom with some serious back combing and a frilly flared sleeve shirt Tony!
Watching the ABs later anyone against Namibia?
Vinai was a fucking banker who should have never been let near Arsenal. Looking what we pay for players and what we get when we sell players, the sooner he lets the door hit his ass the better.
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Next work on the not so dynamic duo, Mutt and Jeff.
I think it’s important to make note that Wenger’s unwillingness to spend was what ultimately led to RVP’s exodus…both he and Gazidis spoke pubicly about our purchasing power, yet Wenger continued to propogate the notion that we were short on funds; if Gazidis was little more than Kroenke’s lackey boy and our absentee landlord was behind the whole cash-strapped initiative, why wasn’t Gazidis relieved of his duties for going against his boss’s fiscal wishes
furthermore, it’s clear that Wenger held a certain amount of disdain for the “new” superstar-types, as they didn’t fit his manager-centric footballing model….RVP’s mere presence threatened to usurp his monopolistic control over the room, as he was not only our most prominent player, which meant his voice mattered in the locker room, he was likewise unwilling to remain silent about his desire to compete for major trophies
of course, I wish he hadn’t ended up at United, as that was a tough fucking pill to swallow, but the even more disconcerting aspect of this whole affair was that instead of using this as a lightning rod issue for organizational change, most bought into the whole wag the dog demonizing of RVP narrative, which actually helped to usher in the Wenger Cup era
KP
Loved the new romantic era, and the banning of the press to their gigs; Duran Duran and Spandau especially.
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The unique style bled into rock with Kiss, Bon Jovi et al with Glam Rock. I once saw the Sweet’s guitarist in full make up head but and whack a guy who had jumped up on stage after said guitarist kept blowing kisses at him and wanting to hit him so the guitarist followed the headbutt with with his guitar in the guy’s nuts, and then carried on playing out of tune while the little Canvey Club; The Goldmine, went nuts.
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It was never a good idea to have a go at a guitarist live. Confrontations never end well, and that’s before the security gets hold of the offending idiot(s).
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Back to the music the late 80s to late 90s was a great time for the differing styles emerging. Some like Ska with The Specials, Madness and Selector were new adaptations of the originals, such as blue beat & ska reggae. Out of the new originals (another oxy) UB40 were born with the lead singer being the son of a journalist and writer.
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I was tour manager on the 2Tone tour back in 79 I think with the aforementioned ska bands. I saw first hand the love for the music and all that went with skinheads. The latter not pretty at all.
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The glam rock I probably liked the most.
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Finally, seriously musicians were not taking themselves seriously as the Electric new movement and New Romantic’s sound musicians did; the Glam rockers just outdid everyone with everything. Literally!!!!!!!
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They were the most fun to be around and work with, with Led Zeppelin being the gold standard setting the ‘sex drugs and rock and roll bar’ by far the highest with the adoring MC clubs’: Go Hard or Go Home rule for life.
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The punks tried and failed abysmally. I found the punks to be psychologically interesting with all their paradoxical childlike ideas and angst completely entrenched in hatred, forming first from their parents and social conditioning, and then the establishment. Malcolm Maclean was simply the brilliant(?), manipulative 80s versions of Machiavelli in playful mode.
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Maclaren the Punks’ Yoda.
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So back to your original question of Japan and the cover? He murdered it. I agree with your other disdain of covers; they are very difficult to do well.
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Sorry, KP, you can’t fuck with Motown. Uh UH! No way, No how! Junior loves Motown and the almost a capella range of voices that could stand alone of fit perfectly with instruments.
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By the way the Tears of a Clown single? The B side was better.
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Here’s a reminder of Beri Gordy’s finest Motown had to offer.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3WwuW1Ebyc
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Tomorrows away game. Saka is fit we are led to believe with no mention of achilles, but Partey is out for a couple more weeks so Rice will be able to show if he can fully cover Partey and if he is an improvement..
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He has the right attitude and leadership qualities to do well with us.
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All depends really on Arteta. Ditto Havertz.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yglzDizF2aU
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One of my favourite Elvis songs also a B side I believe.
My bad it wasn’t Tears of a Clown B side. Can’t remember now.
Now when it comes to a knowledge of sports CEOs, I am sadly lacking other than to read CVs and deep dive on a shortlist to get to the interview stage.
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However, there is one woman I advocated for our CEO job when Raul was brought in and again after he was given the long walk on the short plank.
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None other than Marina Granovskaia. We know Marina is a skilled negotiator with her dealings with The Chavs TWs. Perfect to deal with A&E’s devilish good looks but little up top. She would make sure the lift went to the penthouse with those 2,, and if it didn’t get rid of repeat offenders.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marina_Granovskaia.
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It’s a difficult position to fill where there needs to be clear demarcation lines as to who reports to who. A&E should only report to the CEO unless a DoF is appointed above Edu or better in place of.
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The most important standard the incoming CEO has to set is AccountabilitY from all departments but especially with both A&E’s performances now they have the squad they want/need that amounts to around £1billion.
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That’s what I’m hoping for the most. However, what if Josh becomes the CEO with his other US sports titles? Will there be accountability for Arteta? I very much doubt it. Josh will be the last to see Arteta for who he is and act on it unless the fans revolt first.
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The fear is we’ll get a puppet figure with KSE pulling the strings and their sacrificial lamb when needed to clear absolute blame from Stan & Josh when needed.
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David O’leary sprang to mind, but he made a mess of Leeds.
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Then also when Arsenal and the board are spoken in the same breath the biggest fear of all would be Arsne Wenger being our new CEO now he’s proved himself with FIFA.
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What say you lads? Arsene, Josh or Marina fr CEO?
Hi Tony
Don’t fuck with Motown. Point taken. I was brought up on it. Always been a huge fan of Marvin, the Temptations and the 4 tops in particular. Here’s one for junior, another favourite of mine by R Dean Taylor.
https://youtu.be/jDAha2XYIOY?si=bzGoFywN0uuyOtQD
Not sure if he still is but this guy was known for being the only white singer on the label. Wonderful stuff. Almost a crossover with Northern Soul.
On Japan, I’ve come to appreciate them even more with the passage of time. ‘Quiet Life’.
I said this last year and the year before ad nauseam but we’ll have too much a sad old Everton. Nil three. Goals for Martinelli, Unket and Ode. Dyche to spontaneously combust. With any lunch it’ll be the last time we play Everton for a long while.
Cardiff – Swansea tonight…
New post.