With our game on Monday and superb powder in the mountains this has proved to be an excellent weekend to jump on a  train to Grindewald for skiing trip...

 Speak to you all on monday...

Bis Bald

As Sky Sports News ticker goes into 6th gear, then turbo charged and finally warp drive before exploding at 5pm today.... Here's the photo to sum up the whole TW experience.

For some strange reason the weather over here has done a complete about turn and seems to have decided it's FA Cup weekend in this country. We have gales, lashing rain and dark, dark clouds across the sky. Since only yesterday I was sliding all over the road and pavements on my way to the station it's come as a bit of a shock. Someone should have told the weather gods that there isn't any football going on in Switzerland at the moment(it has a break until February).

The weather could be interpreted as a dark vision of the football future that is descending upon us as managers and chairman get madder and madder in an attempt to avoid relegation/win leagues or promotion/buy a shiny new player to parade in front of the press. However, today there haven't been any signings as mad as £14M for Bellamy although anyone taking Mido on loan will need to ensure the benches have been strengthened to cope with his rather "large" frame. I know he doesn't score goals but Heskey to Villa seems sensible business (as does Bullard to Hull) relative to some of the stupidity going on.

Little on Arsenal today as we prepare for a tricky trip to Cardiff at the weekend but since the cup now takes place over 3 (or is it 4 like the 3rd round) days and the draw is held before the final game it's all a bit crap really, not quite so magical

I usually manage 3x45 minute Spinning sessions during the week at my local gym, which just happens to be located within the FC Basel stadium complex, St. Jakobs. I discovered today that when the team return from their winter break for training they also use the gym as part of their preparations for the resuming of their season. So I'm warming up when the entire first team squad walks past followed by our good old ex-Tottenham manager, Christian Gross, who smiled as I picked up my Arsenal towel in front of him! Many of the players were happy to talk to people and certainly didn't strike me as prima donnas.

I can't quite imagine this happening with any of the Premier League sides (and yes I realise how small the little old Swiss League is) though you could see at at some lower league sides. It always amazes me the sheer physical size of many football teams and Basel, despite not being amongst the European elite (whatever the last 32 place in the Champions League may say), are a big set of lads.

So that was better than talking about the TW. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

When I first moved out to Switzerland there were 2 Easyjet flights a day from Basel to Luton which made it perfect for flying back to games on the weekend. Now as I look to book tickets back for the Roma and Fulham games (unfortunately a combination of family events and poor train connections between Plymouth and London mean these are the next games I can get to!!) they've completely buggered up their flight schedules from Switzerland to the UK. I can't even get a Saturday morning flight from Zurich any more so it looks like BA will be getting used more often and my BA miles total will drop quickly. It's not the end of the world in any sense but these changes never seem to be announced whilst I get email after email telling me of NEW routes from Gatwick to Spain or Iceland. What good is that to someone living in Switzerland!!!!

Anyway I have, at least, sorted out my travel plans for that week and let's hope the team finds a bit of spark from somewhere. The most noticeable thing about the game yesterday was the lack of pace all over the pitch, both in terms of our players' movement and the speed with which we moved the ball around. Switching Nasri to the centre and the impact of Vela helped but it wasn't too pretty to watch and you can understand Arsene's desire to improve our creative play at the end of that game.

Anyway off to drink beer and watch the Mancs with some Americans who have no real idea of what goes on but for the privilege of this I have agreed to watch their team (New York Giants) straight afterwards in some play off game. Apparently it will last four hours and we drink lots of beer, well the second bit sounds fine.

Due to an unexpected slice of excitement during DAY ONE of the TRANSFER WINDOW I've been told by a doctor (well I looked at an online service) to stay off alcohol and drugs for the month of January. In order to make life seem bearable I shall be spending the weekend in Champery doing a little R&R on the ski slopes. Have a good weekend watching the FA Cup, no idea what team Arsene will out out tomorrow but having seen Plymouth over Christmas I didn't see much to frighten us other than our ability to lose to teams with less ability but much more effort!

Bis Montag

Do you remember the days when the New Year was just about parties and resolutions (not meant to be kept of course) rather than the start of this artificially created "Transfer Window". I think most people have forgotten the reason it was even created in the first place (apparently it was to do with differing rules in Europe and the EU negotiations...zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz). What does it actually achieve?

Well obviously the most important people during these times are the media, who now have carte blanche to write any rumours, gossip or random guesses they dare to dream up. Since this is, for many, their raison d'etre and they've had four months with no opportunity it's generally seized with gusto! Many websites drop off the radar for weeks only to be reinvigorated by the chance to try and excite fans with stories about Johhny nobody's Mr 15% saying he's definitely* interested in coming to YOUR club!

 So keep calm, enjoy tonight and let the month look after itself.

* - depending on money, other clubs' interest, the weather or his astrological forecast

I could go on about the Champions League draw (seen on a TV in the gym at lunchtime) and the possibility of a trip back to Rome (I used to go there a lot for work) but it doesn't mean anything until February so we can wait till then.

It seems the boardroom saga will run for a few more days and the game against Liverpool that used to be all about sport is now more about problems in each of the boardrooms and contracts and buy outs and bollocks...

It's not stopping me coming home for a game but when the main story about your club, the club you've supported since a young boy, is all about who owns 15.9% of the shares, who wants them, why they owner of the shares left and a Russian oligarch....then...truly...as ...most..of .....us know....

The game is well and truly f##ked.

But we still get up to catch a flight at 6.50am for a game of football.

If there's one thing I feel less like talking about than boardroom reshuffles then it's something I've yet to discover. Today the blogs and media are all a frenzy all because Lady Penelope has sold her shares, bought a new pink Rolls Royce and started shagging Parker...

It might as well be the case because this story coupled with the media loving to stir a story up where there is or isn't one has probably worried a few gooners out there. Yes I don't want the fat orange Russian corporation taking over our club and maybe it's more likely now than ever before but I can't do bugger all about it so I'll concentrate on trying to set up my email account on my new iMac. It's a thing of beauty but has caused me a morning's worth of grief to try and get going. Now it's working I can just sit back and ogle it.

Only 2 days to go before I get a flight home for Christmas and the Liverpool game. This game has the misfortune to fall on a rather important anniversary (though to woman all anniversaries are vital - first date, first kiss, first time you went to Ikea together ....) and I may have had a few beers before I get to see her in the evening. If this were to be compounded by a poor result and hence a bad mood on my part, it could all go horribly wrong. So come on Arsenal do your bit please.

Here in Basel we're getting even more snow. That's good for my New Year skiing and not so good for my flight back to the UK for the Liverpool game and Christmas festivities. I was fairly sure that it wouldn't be a problem with the wonderful Swiss transport system but Zurich had so much snow today that their buses stopped running! That just doesn't happen out here. Anyway I'll assume it's all okay for the weekend trip back!

It seems that the madness of football is never ending - first we see Ramos go to Madrid, now he's buying Diarra and Alladyce is back in a job. As for us well there isn't much to talk about though Eduardo's return seems to have been tempered by him coming off with a "strain" - let's just hope he doesn't suffer Van Persie syndrome whereby every return from injury is a long drawn out delicate balance against sustaining another one. Some things never change and Ferdinand's comments about us remind me why I've never liked the goofy looking one - made any more of those really crap TV shows eh Rio?