January, 2023. Under the guidance of Mikel Arteta and his DOF, Edu, Arsenal have risen to the top of the premiership table. But despite this Lazarus-type resurrection nobody at the club was taking anything for granted. The intensity of competition amongst England’s elite clubs was reflected by the awareness amongst Arsenal’s leaders that this was no time for self congratulation. Instead, the opening of the transfer window presented the club with an opportunity to strengthen a squad that many felt would not last the distance against the two Manchester giants and a growing threat in England’s North East.
It was under these circumstances that the People Responsible for Arsenal’s Transfer Strategy (P.R.A.T.S) assembled in the pristine and hallowed surroundings of Arsenal’s boardroom.
As the scene unfolds before us, a clearly upset and emotional Mikel Arteta is standing before the others, demanding answers. The intensity of his emotional trauma is clearly evident in the two hairs above his left ear which are no longer perfectly aligned with the rest. The Arsenal manager is incandescent with rage.
MA: I will ask you this one more time and one more time only. How the fuck did we lose him?
(There is a palpable silence as Arteta slowly shifts his gaze from one person to another, daring them to speak yet challenging them not to. Only goalkeeping coach Inaki Cana returns his stare though in truth it isn’t clear if he even sees Arteta from behind his dark shades. The silence grows in tandem with the manager’s rage)
And not just lose him, but lose him to those chav bast*rds! What the fuck do they have to offer that we don’t? I mean am I missing something here? (Turns to his assistant manager Steve Round) Steve, who’s top of the league?
SR: We are boss.
MA: Exactly! And Edu who plays attractive football with an attacking and vibrant style?
Edu: (nervously) We do boss?
MA: Exactly!
(Edu wipes his brow and smiles in relief)
MA: (turns to chairman and son of owner Josh Kroenke) And Josh, who’s offering this Ukranian kid a chance to play in London and earn more money that he can dream of?
JK: Chelsea.
MA: No! No!! No!!! (starts jumping up and down while somehow simultaneously beating his fists on the table) We are! We’re top dogs in London now! He should have joined us! (An accusing look appears in his eyes once more) Something smells fishy here.
IC: (Defensively) It can be difficult for the visually impaired to maintain a regular bathing routine you know.
MA: (slowly, menacingly) I was referring to the failed transfer. Somebody here is keeping secrets. (once again his icy stare sweeps across the room, withering all in it’s wake, uncovering the most deeply buried skeletons.. one by one each member succumbs to Arteta’s power)
SR: It was just once boss and I swear the doctor told me the stockings would improve my circulation.
IC: It was a freezing winter that year, sheep can bring great warmth to a bed.
RG: You don’t understand, I had been a very, very bold boy, I HAD to be punished.
(Watching in horrified awe Josh Kroenke hurriedly whispers to Edu)
JK: For the love of God, tell him. If he turns that look on me who knows what I might say? Twins don’t have to be two girls, I mean, who knew?
Edu: (Equally uncomfortable) You’re right. The time has come. (in saying this Edu looks directly at a painting on the wall of legendary Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger and with an almost imperceptible nod he sends a signal that had long been planned. Turning to Arteta he addresses him with gentle but firm words)
Mikel, there is something we need to tell you. I think you should sit down.
MA: Not you as well, you sound like that c*nt Richard Keys. I can’t sit down for 90 minutes and still look this good (he lifts his t-shirt to reveal chiselled abs) Those carbs aren’t going to burn themselves you know.
Edu: I’m not talking about during the game, I mean now. You should sit down now.
JK: Yeah Mike, we gotta talk. Pops sent Ricky (points to Stan Kroenke’s lawyer Richard Garlick) over here a few months ago with some pretty bad news. We didn’t have the heart to tell you.
MA: Tell me? Tell me what?
JK: It’s gone Mike.
MA: Gone? What’s gone?
Edu: (wearily) The money. The blank cheques. The magic porridge pot.
JK: Pops has pulled the plug on the unlimited funding. He was, like, bummed. Kept talking about profits and sustainability and shit. Kept going on about Arsenal being a business. Weird shit I tell you. I tried to explain that this (expands both arms to take in his surroundings) is a football club not a business but he wouldn’t see sense. Man was tripping.
MA: (speaking slowly, an air of disbelief resonating with every word) So what happens when I give multi million contracts to players like Aubameyang and Willian and then decide I don’t like them anymore? Surely I can just pay them to fuck off?
RG: Mr Kroenke was clear. You’re not to do that anymore.
MA: What?? (becoming angry) Does he think I’m bloody clairvoyant? How am I meant to know if these players are going to be worth the money or not?
JK: (soothingly) We know Mike, it’s madness.
MA: (unmoved by the solace on offer) And how the hell does he think I’m going to continue developing this team if I’m not given hundreds of millions each year to buy new players?
Edu: (visibly moved) It’s cruel, we know.
MA: And what about project youth? Did you explain to him how I have given away our team for a pittance and replaced them with expensive young players? Surely he sees the value in this?
JK: I’m afraid not Mike. He said that people who unearth diamonds don’t do it by walking into High Street shops and offering even more money than the robbing jewellers are already charging.
MA: (confused) What does that even mean?
Edu: (hands spread wide) Fu*ked if I know.
RG: (Coughing softly) Ah gentlemen, if I may? Mr Kroenke has been most clear. You are free to spend the proceeds of any player sales that you complete but you will be expected to limit your spending in future to money generated from the club’s incomes. However as a gesture of good faith he has instructed me to forward you the sum of £40 million pounds to help with the purchase of any targets you may have.
MA: (Optimistically) £40 million? (looks to Edu) How much can we raise in sales?
Edu: (Takes out a pocket calculator and with professional intensity casts his tongue out of the side of his mouth and begins mumbling) Let me see, sale of Leno…Guendouzi…Bellerin…Auba… (his muttering becomes inaudible as all present strain to hear him. Finally, triumphantly, he finishes and declares) £21 million!!
MA: (appeased) Ok then, we combine the two and we have £61 million to play with. We can do something with that.
Edu: (Embarrassed) Eh, not exactly boss. £21 million is what we have left over from the £40 million gift. By the time we pay Ozil’s wage and Auba’ ‘going away’ gift it’s all we’ll have left.
MA: £21 fucking million. What the fuck are we going to get for that? I spend more than that in one year on Carribean Seaweed Eyebrow nourisher. We’re ruined. (As he speaks the following lines he slowly folds in upon himself until he finishes on his knees, head bowed) My dream of proving to the world that I could take a team of expensively assembled misfits and by casting them aside at great cost and replacing them with a team costing hundreds and hundreds of millions I could somehow build this club a better football team is over. (With theatrical reflection) Little Arsenal in the champions league. Perhaps I dreamed too big.
Edu: (whispering and elbowing JK simultaneously) Tell him!
JK: (A little too loudly) No fucking way man, you tell him!
MA: (Rising up from the floor) Tell me what? Tell me what???
RG: If I may? Mikel, Mr Kroenke is nothing if not an astute businessman. He anticipated some months back that his new fiscal policy would cause you some…difficulty. He was also aware that the January transfer window would prove an unsettling time for you given your…fondness…for parting with his money. As such, some months back he took steps to find support for you during this period of policy transition.
MA: (a mixture of suspicion and anger in his voice) Support? What kind of support??
RG: (Remaining perfectly composed) Mr Kroenke thought it prudent for the club to seek the services of a man experienced in the area of financial conservatism…for the time being at least.
(With almost impeccable timing a knock is heard at the door which slowly opens, drawing the eyes of everyone present. Slowly, magnificently, the unmistakable figure of Arsene Wenger, resplendent in a long puffer Arsenal parka enters the room, a man whose very presence seemed to radiate command. He turned and smiled in his own inimitable manner, his lips never parting as he beamed his hellos. The reaction of those present varied from shock to outright elation. Hands immediately reached for zippers as a homage to this footballing God, but a raised grey eyebrow was enough to warn them against revealing their identity in this company. Arteta however, having been momentarily dumbstruck, began to struggle to verbalise his thoughts).
MA: What the ..who.. why? What is he doing here?
AW: Mikel, you must not look on me as a threat to your reign here. I have merely returned to offer you my support and what little wisdom I can to guide you through these difficult times. But I can assure you the reins of power are still firmly in your hands (as he speaks he ushers a cowering Josh Kroenke from his seat at the head of the table and seamlessly replaces him in the chair). I will be a mere shadow, only appearing when called upon.
MA: (Pointing at Wengers jacket where the word B.O.S.S has been sewn in large letters in the left corner.) What the hell is that then?
AW: (Points to jacket) This? Why, this is merely a reflection of my new role as Bestower of Special Services. Think nothing of it.
MA: (Unamused. Looks at the others in the room) And I suppose you all knew of this before me?
JK: (Speaking quickly, attempting to mitigate the damage) Only out of necessity Mikel. You were so busy with the team. And Arsene has already had some fantastic ideas which have helped us enormously.
MA: (Still annoyed) Already? What do you mean already?
AW: Mikel, we are on the same side you and I. The fans, they love you. We must not risk that.
MA: (Arteta, his ego stroked, responds more willingly) Well, what do you suggest?
AW: We must put our faith in FFP.
MA: (disconsolately) Financial Fair Play is a myth, a joke. Pep used to laugh at it all the time. It won’t help us.
AW: What is this financial fair play you speak of? I am referring to a plan I created almost twenty years ago…Feigning Financial Power.
MA: (Showing interest) How does it work?
AW: (Smiling as he recognises his influence growing) Oh, it’s quite simple really. We leak word to the press of our interest in all the top players, we even go so far as to bid outrageous sums of money for them.
MA: (Beginning to understand) So the fans will think we are dining at the top table?
AW: Of course. Ronaldo, Ibrahimovic, Benzema, Hazard, Mbappe. I have ‘courted’ them all.
MA: (slowly realising the truth) So it was you who gave the green light for the 90 million Mudryk package? But you never intended paying a penny did you?
AW: Of course not. I wouldn’t pay that for a small country.
MA: But what would you have done if the offer was accepted?
AW: (smiling) Simple. Insult the player with a ridiculously low wage offer.
MA: And if that doesn’t work?
AW: Then I make a call from line 3 in the manager’s office.
MA: (Confused) line 3?
AW: It’s bugged. Every word I say is heard by the top brass at Chelsea.
MA: (Scratching his head) Then why use it?
AW: Because I tell them what I WANT them to hear. (Chuckling) I’ve had great fun over the years. I rang David Dein one day begging him to buy Adrian Mutu, said he was going to replace Thierry (starts giggling at his own joke). Or the time I rang Gerry Peyton and told him to scout Kepa, said he was the next Casillas! (Lost in thought) Funny thing was Gerry agreed… I still don’t remember telling him about the ruse. (Shakes his head). Of course Alex was in on it too. They had his office bugged as well. We still laugh about the time he rang me ‘desperately’ trying to offload Juan Sebastian Veron before Chelsea came sniffing. (starts guffawing at the memory) He was in a Chelsea kit before the week was out!!
MA: So you orchestrated this entire Mudryk saga?
AW: (Steepling his fingers together and slowly peering over the top of them). But of course.
MA: And the fans believe we really tried to buy him but we’re gazumped by Chelsea or rejected by a greedy player?
AW: Precisely.
MA: But the fans? They’ll still want fresh blood.
AW: We then move to phase 2. Have you a crowd favourite who has been out injured for a while?
MA: (thinking) Well there is Smith Rowe.
AW: Wonderful. Reintroduce him at the end of some meaningless match. Announce his return as better than a new signing.
MA: The fans will buy that?
AW: (eyes glittering) Absolutely.
MA: Then what?
AW: Phase 3, Misdirection. Take the high ground. Start talking about ‘The Arsenal Way’. ‘We don’t buy superstars we make them’. That kind of nonsense. Just keep pointing at City and Chelsea for long enough that the fans forget that your team cost the same to assemble as a NASA space shuttle while your mistakes cost more than Jurgen Klopp’s dental bill. Let jealousy of our rivals be your ally.
MA: (delighted) This could really work!
AW: Believe it my friend. And then finally stage 4. The gift.
MA: The gift?
AW: Yes. Having destroyed the supporters levels of expectation you can then present them with literally any piece of shite and they will fall over themselves in gratitude. (Starts chuckling at the memory) I remember one year I has convinced the fanbase we couldn’t afford petrol for the lawnmower. When I presented them with 3 of the worst players I’ve ever signed the fans hailed me as a messiah! Santos, Park and (Suddenly realises what he’s about to say)… and… and it’s guaranteed to work.
MA: (Feels like he’s missed something but is unwilling to admit it) Ok then. I’m in. But I’m warning you, I won’t broker the slightest undermining of my authority.
JK: Absolutely Mikel. You are king of all you survey, no-one doubts that. Nothing will change. Nothing at all.
AW: (humbly) Mikel, you won’t even know I’m here.
(At this all rise and Arteta and Wenger move towards the door)
Edu: Goodbye boss.
MA and AW simultaneously: Goodbye.
[Satire] is a collection of brilliance from one of our readers Almuniasaynomore, who can be seen lurking in comments often. This section tries to have a laugh at expense of some.
If you feel offended, remember, they’re just jokes. We’re all gonna die soon and there’s no football in hell or heaven, so remember that.
Feedbacks are welcome in the comments!
I’m going to be even more pissed if Sabitzer ends up on loan at United, as that the sort of deal that makes infintely more sense for us, as he’s very positionally versatile and incredibly well-rested, due to his lack of playing time with Bayern this season thus far…energizer bunny-type player who can defend, help with transitional play and score from distance on occasion
as I’ve stated in the past, I’m not a big proponent of the loan gig, except under specific circumstances, which would apply here because we failed miserably to acquire any of our “top” targets, if one even believes that our transfer intentions were pure, so instead of forking out monies and term to stop-gap targets, we could simply rent-a-player for the remainder of this season
4+ hours left in the window…
that’s all she wrote I guess….lots of spin doctoring going on out there, with anyone suggesting the obvious being vilified by the Kool-Aid crew…as for the “press”, it’s a cake and eat it too blindersfest for everyone on the organizational payola train:
“With a deal for Caicedo off the table, it emerged on Monday night that Chelsea playmaker Jorginho was instead being lined up for a shock switch across London. But although a deal for the Italy international has only been pushed through at the last minute, Jorginho has been on Arsenal’s radar for a substantial period of time. The club first registered their interest in the 31-year-old, who was then on the books at Hellas Verona, almost a decade ago”
imagining having the unmitigated gall to package this last gasp desperation buy as the utlimate realization of a deacde’s long dream??
the only saving grace in this whole equation is the fact that at some point MA will undoubtedly tighten up his tactics, as nerves invariably set in, and maybe just maybe the nous of this aged Italian international might come in handy when things start to go sideways…as for all of those people who have claimed that he’s here solely to replace Lokonga/Elneny, I beg to differ, as I just can’t imagine him signing off on this deal without some assurances
Hi Ambarish I just spent time writing a TW round up and can’t send to your non existent email address for posts. Your email address to send posts for publishing doesn’t exist.
It’s below if you want to publish for today:
Afraid to say many are going to be pissed when they wake up and get their time zone morning PL news feed.
Xhaka clone is about right but this new improved slower-than-refs Jorginho is just as costly brain fart stupid at times.
Xhaka and Jorginho pivoting is likely to resemble something out of Fantasia and the dancing Hippos. Shouldn’t take more than 3 minutes or the time it tales to birth a super yacht sideways onto the dock to complete the pivot.
19 games to pray to whomever is your deity that Xhaka and Jorginho don’t play together in midfield. Do we remember how easy it was to have Jorginho in Ramsey’s(?) back pocket, in Wenger’s last FA cup win? Jorginho was completely ineffective and that was over 3 years ago.
Does Arteta and Edu think Jorginho has improved? To anywhere close to Partey’s level?
We were after the ‘Dogs Gonads’ and ended up with the neutered version no one wanted, and on the put down list, to be cast off in the next 5 months into football’s player wastelands: better known as Sunday League football parks.
So what does this season now offer for us in light of our revelatory Jan TW?
I think we were our usual incompetent selves overworking our vast PR machine who deserve a pay increase and a reduction of hours to just 20 a day.
22 is far too much but with The Arsenal and Arteta and Edu very necessary to keep a semblance of our tradition in TWs from Wenger’s last dozen years of almost signing the world’s elite players: who all turned us down.
Now Arteta and Edu are forming their own nearly-signed list to match Wenger’s in less time, only they’ve added a gazumped column now as well.
If you were talking to a complete football ignoramus or blinkered cricket mate and said “My club has just been gazumped by Chelsea for a player we really needed above all other players, and then a few weeks later we went to Chelsea to give them money for their worst and slowest player they were replacing with the gazumped player, which in turn helped Chelsea to buy one of the world’s top young talents.”
What answer do you think you’d get?
Now try that with a savvy PL club supporter and watch them collapse in the snow/ground laughing uncontrollably. Poor Junior is putting out fires all over his school, as more hot banter is hurled his way. Thai kids give no quarter.
Before Junior went to school he had his well prepared “Well where are you in the league?”
I didn’t have the heart to tell him it wouldn’t be enough because he’s been giving them belters all season. All I could offer was keep your noise cancelling ear pods in your ears and talk to girls who don’t follow football.
So how did we really fare?
We got a watered down version of Mickey Mudflaps but…….. one acclimatised to the rigors of the PL but a far lower ceiling.
For our title ambitions Trossard fits the bill being one of those nuisance players that buzz around the box breaking the concentration of defenders, as Trossard brings our other attackers into play.
Trossard has an eye for goal and an assist and that’s exactly what we need right now someone with goals and assists this season and who seamlessly fitted in after one training session. Jesus will love playing with Trossard’s, especially for his movement.
He can also play 8/10 and on each wing. Trossard’s a Duracell Bunny player whose gas tank rarely empties.
Arteta got lucky; Trossard had been a bad boy upsetting De Zerbi in the process who wanted rid of the player in quick time and Edu obliged for £21+++.
In a normal TW situation Mr. Bloom would have wanted £40+++ and Edu would have not gone near Brighton because he was floundering on what to do in the wake of Mickey Mudflaps debacle until the bargain basement player & price appeared. Edu grasped with both hands thinking there is a god!
Jacub Kiwior just 23 is unknown to me but Zinchenko seems to rate the Pole highly, so perhaps we’ve got a semi-polished diamond who can fit equally well as a CB and CDM. I would imagine Jacub is a vastly improved Holding who may well move on in the summer.
It’s too early to be predicting winning the title or what effect if any (if Partey stays fit) Jorginho is going to have on our summit defence. More likely the EL cup will be Jorginho’s brief.
Europe comes into the mix in February, which generally causes pain for a few of the competing clubs with injuries and playing players in the red zone: something Arteta does often without consequential thought for our long-term strategy: see last season.
It wasn’t a bad window just embarrassing once again for Edu and Arteta with them being snubbed by the players they needed.
In the end we couldn’t go through a transfer window without our usual trolly dash in this case Jorginho as our panic buy.
What are the odds on Xhaka playing all remaining 19 games if fit?
Buckle up lads/lassies it’s going to be a rough ride to when the fat lady sings for the last time this season.
Tony—I must say, you just might be my brother from a different mother…have a good one
After those three pretty underwhelming signings, Paranoid Propaganda Peddling Pedro is going to have to rework his revisionist bullshit about Arsenal having the youngest squad (as if that was a guarantee of success).
I think it’s raised my level of disquiet about the remainder of the season. Next opponents Everton – they sold Gordon for 40 million and bought?…… No-one. What an utter abortion of a club.
Good analysis there Tony. I’m enjoying reading your stuff.
Perhaps I’m institutionalised from having to rationalise window after incompetent window with Arsenal but I’m okay with this one.
It’s a low risk, just good enough window that offers alternatives that are about the right level for back ups. That was the minimum requirement, box ticked.
I’ve no idea how Mudryk or Caicedo would have planned out but, and again, it’s hardwired in over the years but I didn’t want to spend £160m finding out they weren’t what we needed, it’s an expensive gamble. What we have is relatively risk free.
I can’t get outraged because we couldn’t outbid Chelsea or Brighton didn’t want to sell yet another player to us. I’d be more outraged if we’d had to offer BHA ridiculous sums or outbid Chelsea’s ridiculous bid. We’re not that flush.
I’m not particularly upset Jorge played for Chelsea. Big players move between big clubs all the time, it doesn’t mean he’s a bust, it means we’re a big club.
In short, I’m not ecstatic about the deals but they improve our situation, we’re better off than we were at the start of the window so I’m content.
Hi Aicho
Welcome to LIR.
Being gazumped by Ted B by all accounts was always going to happen.
Mudryk could have said no to the Chavs and become our player for a lower price if he’d wanted to play for Arteta. We’ll see if we’ve missed anything of note in the remaining games.
Vlahovic before Mudryk has shun Arteta; other targets, too, have stated preferences to stay or go to another club. That’s the more embarrassing factor and a more concerning for me.
Win the league and that will validate Arteta credentials as a manager where hopefully his future targets will be eager to be part of the next process of winning the CL.
I like Trossard as I have mentioned and have hope for Jacob to be decent. Jorginho is the curious purchase, which could easily go either way.
I agree we’re better than before the window opened, but I’m far from content at the way we went about our business.
Will it be enough to get us over the line for the title remains to be seen where I remain ever hopeful at least for CL next season, but we should finish what we have started so well with few stutters and topple City with all their oil money.
Erikson is a big loss for Manure, too.
Thanks K’phobe 🙂
sorry Aitcho*
Hi Aitcho
Good to hear from you again mate. How’s it going? Trossard has made a decent start. Little George is a known quantity and not terribly inspiring (although he’s obviously done well for Chelsea) and Kiwior is a complete mystery – could be another Squillaci or a new Kolo Toure. I’m just praying TP keeps his form and fitness.
I expect there’ll be a very weird atmosphere at Goodison this weekend. We need to start like a train, and not let their crowd get into it.
Anyone know who the ref will be? I think they’ll be snapping at our pkayers’ ankles so Tets and the players need to stand up to it and keep cool.
Hi K’phobe
Live Score says David Coote is the ref.
https://www.whoscored.com/Referees/150/Show/David-Coote
Seems like sensible stats.
Dyche will have the rotation fouls in action for sure. He’ll want to take a big scalp by any means possible to reassure his employers who seem clueless anyway.
Hi Tony
That referee data leaves little to the imagination does it? Thanks for copying that. He last reffed us against Brentford away where I cannot recall anything untoward happening so good.
Don’t worry, I’m not getting all LG/Unsold Anusol about officials.
Cheers KP, things are fine. As it should be for all of us. Last game I went to was Newcastle, missed the ManU due to son’s football, in some godforsaken part of Essex.
We need to keep cool heads and not get sucked into manufactured outrage. Some of my friends are losing the plot at every minor hiccup. I was content with the draw v the Geordies, they’ll pull in some more against our immediate rivals, I was content with the loss at ManC. The teams around us have sussed out that we’re for real.
The only focus is the league and we’ve shown we’re good enough talent-wise. It’s going to come down to mentality and focus now. I think Jorge might be a better fit for the expectations we have now than some players fresh out of small teams.
Thanks Tony. Been on before but not commented for a while now.
Aitcho
I think you’re right about the barcodes draw. In the cold light of day, it proved to me that they weren’t capable of being title contenders themselves.
The cup defeat was disappointing but I was over it pretty quickly. As you say, it’s all about the PL but I still think there’s enough depth to have a credible go at the EL.
Slowly breath out, inhale, slowly exhale… the TW is done and dusted and in my opinion we came out of it strengthened and I am optimistic no need for a LG meltdown. But best of all it will NOW be clear for all to see the LG claim of the special sauce of Tets and Edu.
For me the aim is now clear, concentrate on the title and as a bonus the EL trophy would be a real accomplished season. We didn’t get our 1st choices Mickey Mudflaps and MC from Brighton, but they are either unproven EPL players or limited in their EPL games played. If we would have done a record transfer for MC then Edu would be a chump just like Todd Dodger Dude and future business would be one valuation for City, Manure, Chavs & AFC and another valuation for everyone else in the EPL. But we walked away and kept our powder dry.
The summer TW will look excellent and attractive to talented players coming to us if we are Champions and have the EL trophy because we have cough, cough, a manager that delivered albeit a few years late. But as they say better late then never.
Aitcho—I completely understand what you’re driving at, but I would suggest that this mindset has far more to do with our transfer window PTSD, than a commonsensical reaction to what has actually occured…now things would have been vastly different if our manager had come out and made a definitive staement about the need for more experienced players, then ONLY pursued those who fit this narrative, but the exact opposite actually occured
the fact that expectations have been lowered to such an extent that many are quick to fawn over every little morsel thrown our way does the club no favours and, in my opinion, simply speaks to the very real possibility that our ciurrent manager is simply a more viscerally palatable and PR-savvy version of a latter days Wenger…so until we truly change the organizational culture, both on and off the field, we will struggle to establish long-term success…of course, this season notwithstanding, as we’ve clearly found a way to navigate this rather unusual season better than anyone else, thus far, but that, in and of itself, guarantees us nothing from this point forward
trust me, everytime we find ourselves in a very familiar predicament I so desperately want us to not repeat the mistakes of the past, but almost invariably we continually choose the historically flawed course of action…that said, I can only hope that our TW decisions provide us with the necessary impetus to get over our title hump, as I would be incredibly elated, but I’m not confident whatsoever that what transpired was either planned or terribly convincing
Here is a problem that is good to not to have. The Chavs have 39 players on the books, they surely don’t fit into one dressing room how do you keep the players happy? They surely will be without any European competitions next season which will just aggravate their situation even further.
https://imgbox.com/UTQiUoSF
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