Stuff about money and players and things

It's another very quiet morning.

There really isn't much going on at all. It's most dull. At least next week we'll get some more football so people can complain that our kids haven't won the Champions League as the senior players work on their fitness for the coming season.

Should we discuss the ludicrous claims on ANR that Arsene needs to raise £24m every summer from player sales? Only if you think discussing claims that the world is run by lizard men from Mars who have three penises and shoot fully grown baby hippos out of their arses is a good idea. I mean, it's just so fucking stupid it's untrue.

You really would have to wonder why anybody would write something that was so obviously wrong. Scaremongering? Propaganda? That anybody might suggest the club has based their strategy for the new stadium on money raised by player sales, and that banks would be ok with it, is absurd.

There's no question that we have been cutting our cloth a little bit in recent seasons. The big earners have left, often for big transfer fees, but it's hard to argue that most of those players left at the right time for us. When their star had begun to fade a little. And yes, we've replaced most of them with younger players but when you look at Arsene's record in the transfer market he's always been a bit of a spendthrift. Even before the new stadium people praised his ability to build teams for an incredibly low net spend. So it's not a new policy in that regard.

ANR's claim that Arsenal's silence on the News of the World quote attributed to Arsene must mean it's true doesn't bear much scrutiny either. We know that Arsenal very rarely make any comment with regards to transfers or finances and it flies in the face of what Arsene said officially, not in quotes in a Sunday paper which sound fabricated. And if it were true why would we have spent £13m on Nasri, £5m on Ramsey when only recouping £12m for Hleb? It's all a load of bollocks but the sad thing is I suspect a lot of fans believe it's true and it's going to be one of those self-perpetuating myths that newspapers will run with over and over again.

Some more reaction to this on Arsenal Truth.

Gilberto says Arsenal need to win something this season. I don't think there's any fan who would disagree with that. Let's not forget how close we came last season and the season before in the Carling Cup so the chances have been there. You just wonder about a team the longer it goes without winning something but I think we've got a group of young players hungry for success. We'll be there or thereabouts again, I'm sure.

Gael Clichy calls Armand Traore an 'amazing player'. I have to say I haven't seen enough yet to convince me he's ready for first team football with us but there's always one or two who seem to make a big step-up from one season to the next, perhaps he might be one. Where he's going to play though is another question. If Clichy continues to progress then he's going to find his chances very limited.

The Sun links us with a move for 17 year old Crystal Palace forward Victor Moses. Apparently we're offering £1m but Palace feel he commands a greater fee than that.

With no further news about Adebayor's dream transfer elsewhere, anywhere, Goonerholic looks back on a man who won over Arsenal fans after circumstances even more difficult than the ones Greedy faces.

And that's really about it. Sorry there's no Arsecast today. This is due to 'technical issues' which are 'beyond my control'. Apologies. It'll be back next week.

More tomorrow.