Right, busy busy so let's get stuck right in.

The fallout from Lady Nina's departure has begun in earnest with the Lady herself hitting out at the board and the way she was removed. She said:

I'm in total shock and very upset about the appalling way I have been treated. The board have no manners whatsoever and my views were ignored on many occassions.

I can't understand why I have been removed in such a ruthless fashion. I have had no proper explanation as to why they wanted me out so much. It is very difficult to accept especially after what my family has done for Arsenal for so many years.

Harsh words and it confirms that the split was most certainly acrimonious. However, given the fact Usmanov is hovering around like a fat slimy bumble-bee there has to be more to it than she's saying. Her shareholding, and that of Richard Carr, is significant, so they certainly didn't decide to get rid of her on a whim. There must have been a very good reason and I'm quite sure Lady Nina knows exactly what that is.

Going to the press and saying she doesn't is hardly believable. It is in the current board's interest, greatly so, to keep her shareholding within the current structure. For them to have apparently made life that much more difficult for themselves makes little or no sense on any level. There's more to this than a clash of personalities. There has to be.

It does make the scenario whereby her shares are bought by current board members a lot less likely and again that opens the door for Usmanov to swoop. Whether or not he still has the money remains to be seen. Whatever's going to happen you feel this is just the start, things could get even more messy. I know it's not the done thing and the board generally maintain a silence in the face of most criticism but I think this is a situation which needs an explanation or, at least, their side of things to be told.

I don't buy her story that she has no idea why what happened happened. Especially when she says:

I've never had a thought of selling my Arsenal shares, and I still don't.

From what I'm told she has been willing to sell but mindful of the connection her family has had with the club she hasn't done so. So saying she never thought of selling them isn't entirely accurate. Anyway, it now seems as if the boardroom mirrors the pitch, everything's all over the fucking place.

Away from the board and ahead of the Liverpool game on Sunday the team news is that Samir Nasri is 95% to make a comeback before he goes and gets injured a couple of games later. Nicklas Bendtner is a doubt with a knee injury, as is Kolo due to his calf, and beyond that it's the usual suspects out. We'll have more on that game tomorrow and Sunday but you can hear the Mugsmasher's thoughts on today's Arsecast. Sylvester talks about Liverpool too.

RedAction are urging people wear yellow on Sunday to bring a 20th Anfield 89 anniversary feel to the place. Check their site for more details.

The draw for the knock-out stages of the Champions League draw takes place today from 1300 (CET). Just to remind you Arsenal will play one of: Roma, Panathanaikos, Barcelona, Bayern Munich or Juventus

Some interesting game there but obviously the stand-out fixture is Barcelona. Now that would be some trip, back to Barcelona, the old haunts, the bocadillo de tortilla francesa con jamon washed down with an Estrella. Bring. It. On.

Update: It's Roma! 

Right, time for the Arsecast and it is a busy one. With no Arsecast next week due to the festive celebrations and what have you there's lots to get through on this one. The Mugsmasher is on to talk about Liverpool, Nigel Phillips from the Arsenal Supporter's Trust talks about the whole Lady Nina situation, there are some special Christmas messages, Amaury Bischoff PI, the winner of our Savile-Rogue scarf and one more chance to win the finest scarf in the entire kingdom, plus the Man in the Bar has a Christmas song. Phew.

You can subscribe to the Arsecast iTunes by clicking here. Or if you want to subscribe directly to the feed URL you can do so too. To download this week's arsecast directly - click here (24mb MP3) or you can listen directly below without leaving this very page.

As well as that there's a dedicated Arsecast hotline available all season long should you desire to make a comment, get something off your chest, share a song a chant or hilarious anecdote. Feel free to call it any time during the week, it'll go to voicemail and you can leave your message. The number from inside the UK is 020 3286 6360 or from outside the UK it's +44 20 3286 6360.

Right then, have at it. More tomorrow.

So major goings on in the Arsenal board room yesterday. The club announced the arrival of Ivan Gazidis to both the boards of the club and Arsenal holdings, the departure as a board member of Richard Carr who will remain a director of the club, and the departure of Lady Nina Bracewell-Smith with immediate effect.

Now, the first two moves aren't exactly unexpected. It's normal for Gazidis to be appointed while Richard Carr is 70 years of age and, according to Chairman PHW, he will continue his work with the Academy and Youth Development department.

However, Lady Nina's departure is significant, although it's hard to say what's going to happen. From what's been said it seems it wasn't exactly amicable. The Chairman doesn't know what she's going to do with her shares, saying:

We hope that she would remain a shareholder but she has not spoken to me about it lately. She is no longer in the lockdown so she is free to do what she wishes to do.

So there's 15.8% of the club up for grabs right there. There has to have been a complete breakdown in the relationship for her to have left the club without having discussed her intentions regarding her shareholding with the Chairman or the board. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say the board are aware of her intentions and just don't want to say anything at this moment in time. There are suggestions that Lady Nina wanted to sell her shares months ago, reluctantly entered into the lockdown agreement, and has now seen the value of her shareholding fall significantly thus causing the strained relationship.

The only board member who could realistically buy her shares is Stan Kroenke but you have to think if that was going to happen then some kind of deal would have been made before her departure. We know there was a board meeting last week, with Kroenke present. I think we now know that it probably had more to do with this situation than ensuring the manager had money to spend in January. But given the circumstances Kroenke buying them, or at least sharing the purchase with existing board members, would be the ideal scenario.

However, the spectre that looms over this whole situation is that of Alisher Usmanov. He's been fairly quiet of late but with that much up for grabs it might reawaken the beast slumbering in his Uzbeki lair.

We know he currently has close to 25% of the club so another 15.8% would be a significant chunk. However, if a shareholder takes more than 30% they are obliged to make an offer for the rest of the shares. That offer doesn't have to be accepted, and it wouldn't be by the current board, but it would mean a huge change in the way the club is run.

Usamanov would have 40%+ and would be by far the majority shareholder in the club. To expect him not to use that shareholding to have a say in how things are run would be foolish. Anybody who buys 40% of any company would want to get involved.

Now, this is worst case scenario stuff, I suppose, but I'm just worried that if Lady Nina's departure was that acrimonious then she might be reluctant to sell to other board members like Kroenke or Fiszman. We know that Usmanov has been prepared to pay over the odds for shares in the past so it wouldn't be a stretch to think he'd do it again if he really wanted them. On the other hand Lady Nina may decide not to sell her shares at all, but I think that's probably unlikely.

We know the relationship between Usmanov and the board has been strained, to say the least. We have been told that David Dein is no longer a part of Fat & Orange but I wouldn't be at all surprised if that wasn't necessarily the truth. If Usmanov got 40% of Arsenal he'd have to have representation on the board. It's unlikely he'd do it himself and the return of Dein would not surprise me one bit. If that were to happen then you've got a club split right down the middle at board level.

The existing board members have no relationship with him at all, Kroenke feels that he was used when Dein initially approached him trying to sell his own shares and those of Lady Nina - the move which led to his sacking by the club. I'm also told Kroenke was less than impressed when Dein subsequently sold his shares to the fat Man United fan.

So the whole thing simply adds to the sense of turmoil around the club. Things are not going well on the pitch and now at boardroom level too. I imagine the next few days are going to be very interesting until we get a clearer picture of what's going to happen. It might get even more interesting after that. Hang on to your hats.

Away from the board room and onto the pitch and the manager says that Eduardo's biggest hurdle will be pyschological. He returned for the reserves the other night (some highlights here) but it's going to take some proper matches and some proper kicks for him to get his confidence back.

Cesc wants to avoid Barcelona in tomorrow's Champions League draw. I can understand why. They're a fantastic team playing some fantastic football at the moment. It's funny how, after two seasons in the relative doldrums, they solved their problems by ... it's revolutionary I know ... buying some better players than the ones they already had.

It's something our manager should pay close attention to. Yesterday in a webchat thingy with the offical website he said of the current crop:

That team in 2004 was of course special, but funnily I believe that this team is not very far, and can get there as much as the team in 2004

You know I could say that it's his way of boosting the confidence of the team but he cannot possibly think this group of players even comes close to the 2004 team which was, to my mind, one of the best football teams I've ever seen at any level. It had pace, power, experience, quality and the kind of mental strength that the manager goes on about ad infinitum. It was almost the perfect team, so to suggest the team we're seeing now is not very far from that level, when it's quite clear to all and sundry that it is miles away, makes me head hurt and makes me a bit sad.

He went on to say:

The belief I have in this team is not shared by the immediate people who love this club. That’s why I work very hard to convince everybody that we have the ambition, the motivation and the quality to achieve that.

He's obviously referencing the fans and while nobody can possibly doubt how hard Arsene works or his commitment to the club, you get the sense that he's working that hard to prove that this project with these players can work. As for the upcoming transfer window, he says:

At the moment I must sincerely say we have not seen anything special that can convince us we will be much stronger, so I cannot say that something will happen… but you never know. Sometimes a signing can give an extra belief to the squad, and it can help even if on the pitch it’s not that convincing. We don’t reject it, but we cannot say for certain it will be done.

Again you hope that he's talking so as not to dent the brittle confidence of his young charges but there comes a point when you have to take a different approach. Wenger's belief in young players will not win us matches or trophies. He is not some kind of Jedi. Wenger buying some better players to augment the squad will do a lot more for us. I know we can sit here and say things like 'Oh what Wenger says in public is no reflection of what he'll do in the transfer market' but increasingly that's not true.

He spent all of August saying he probably wouldn't buy anyone and in the end we didn't, bar Sylvester, a purchase I likened yesterday to grabbing something off the shelves as the shops are closing on Christmas Eve.

If he honestly can't look at other clubs and see anyone who wouldn't seriously improve this squad then I'm very, very worried indeed. Gunnerblog has more from the webchat.

Right so, that's about that. More, including a Mugsmashing Arsecast, tomorrow.

Right then, something to talk about this morning. Danny Fiszman has been talking and a number of things have come to light.

Firstly the club won't be appointing a new 'director of football' and will instead be creating two new directors. Firstly a CEO who will 'work with the manager, negotiate player purchases, sales and wage contracts', and a Chief Finance officer.

With Ken Friar currently carrying out the first of those roles it'll be important to get the right person in place, but Friar is certainly more than capable of carrying out whatever work needs to be done this summer.

Now, the second thing Fiszman spoke about was new players and I can see the headlines generating more headlines, if you know what I mean.

GUNNERS WON'T BREAK THE BANK - will probably get some pulses racing this morning but if you look at what he's saying it makes sense. He has eschewed the 'benefactor' model, whereby someone like Abramovich comes in and starts throwing around cash for a few glory signings. As Fiszman rightly points out these players cost more than just their transfer fee. For example, take Ronaldinho - you could probably buy him for £20m but a four year deal with wages of around £5m a year (and that's erring on the cheap side) brings the whole deal to £40m over four years.

When you have somebody with the kind of money Abramovich has it's easy to sign those kinds of players but there are dangers too. If you read about the kind of money that Chelsea and United owe it's scary to think of us in that kind of position. We're going about things our own way, making our own money, and not mortgaging the future of the club with short term thinking. When you see our wage bill is comparable to Manchester United you know our players aren't going short - and when Henry was at the club and by far the best player in the world there wasn't a better paid player in England.

When it comes to transfers he spells out the club's policy, saying:

It is not a big name, it is big talents and committed players we are after. We have never said no to Arsène so whoever he wishes to bring in, he will be fully supported.

And I don't know that any Arsenal fan, no matter what side of the transfer fence they sit on, can really argue with that. I think all Arsenal fans will accept that we need to strengthen the squad this summer. We might have our differences in terms of how we go about expressing that but the bottom line is we all want to see new players come in. But which kinds of players? Would we be happy with three signings of players we don't know so well but who possess the kind of quality of Sagna or Eduardo? Or is it necessary to make a statement of intent and sign a 'big name' to show we mean business?

Personally I think what's important is the experience and quality of the player, that far outweighs the importance of his fame. Often big name players, despite their quality, come with baggage. Do they still have the hunger for the game? You look at Thierry Henry. Last summer 30,000 Barcelona fans packed into the Camp Nou to watch him do a few keepy-ups and to laud him as the signing that would win them back La Liga from Real Madrid. Now, you could argue that Henry was the straw that broke the camel's back - he's been distinctly average for Barcelona this season and at a cost of about £23m (transfer fee + one year's wages). Can we really take that sort of a gamble on a player?

It might not suit some fans who want that big name signing but I can't see it happening. And that's not so much the board or the club's policy but the manager's. While he has bought the odd player with a big reputation before it's generally been when their stock has been quite low. Overmars off the back of a knee injury which many said would finish him, Henry playing as a wingback for Juventus etc. When he has spent big, big money it hasn't necessarily worked out great as Reyes, Wiltord (to an extent) and Hleb demonstrate.

So, it'll be interesting to see what the manager does and who he looks to bring in. The message from the club is clear though - they'll fully back him whoever he wishes to bring in. So that could mean they'll cough up for a big player if AW decides that's who he wants, similarly if he finds a couple of Sagnas/Eduardos they'll do that too. So look beyond the dramatic headlines (but haha at the Mirror for saying we can 'spend, spend, spend!') for the real story - and I think the way Arsenal are going about things at the moment is the right way. Arsenal FC needs to exist not just for the season ahead or the one after but for decades in the future and I like the way we do business, it has a touch of class about it that no other club has.

Update: The full Q&A with Danny Fiszman is here. 

In other news the Grimster could be on his way. He currently scouts for us in France but could become the new sporting director of PSG. How sad to lose him again. We'll always have Davids though.

Francis Coquelin is an Arsenal player according to reports in France. He's a 17 year old midfielder and unless he's Cescesque in his brilliance he's not one for the first team straight away.

Young Dutchman Nacer Barazite says he wants to play for the Arsenal first team next season but wouldn't rule out going on loan. He's an interesting player.

Nothing new happening in Spain from an Arsenal point of view. For those of us that get fed up with the machinations of the Spanish press and the big clubs though the Cristiano Ronaldo story should raise a smile or two. Real Madrid president Ramon Calderon has basically said everything is done and now it's up to Ronaldo to come ouut and say he wants to join (sound familiar?!) while manager Bernd Schuster is already talking about he'll fit into the team and be accepted in the dressing room. Whatever you might think about United/Ronaldo, Real Madrid really are the most ill-mannered, insufferable cunts when it comes to transfers. It's still nice to see it happening to someone else though.

Right so, plenty to chew on this morning. Have at it.