The opening half of the 2007/08 season is one the schedule writers at Sky and Setanta certainly want to forget.
Convinced by the propaganda put out by their own pundits that Arsenal would sink to mid-table obscurity they abandoned us to a round of 3pm Saturday kick-offs (apart from the ones the police moved to lunchtime on Sundays), covering instead the likes of Manchester Bankrupt, Liverpool Weetabix, CSKA Fulham, and … er… the Tiny Totts.
It was with growing amounts of dread and not a little embarrassment they found themselves trying to explain the fact that the most entertaining team in the league who were clearly mounting a serious challenge to the title was just not avaiable on live TV.
This year the TV companies have swung in exactly the opposite direction, with match after match after match moved to suit the schedules. In fact the club are on TV live three times in August alone, and twice in each of the following months.
Of course Sky and Sultana never admitted to any sort of cock-up and we were all expected to take it that Arsenal had boring fixtures in the first half of the season, and then deserved to be on every week thereafter to make up. What a bunch of drongos.
Article by T.Attwood
July 12, 2008 at 6:28 pm
I prefer it when we are playing 3pm on a saturday.
July 12, 2008 at 6:43 pm
Sorry Gooner Chris but these people dive me crazy sometimes. Soon the word parody and humor will be taken out of the dictionary because they will have too many syllables and it will make the stupid kids feel bad…..
July 12, 2008 at 6:45 pm
Censorship is alive and well on this site innit?
July 12, 2008 at 6:46 pm
I have no problem with a bit of light-hearted banter but when you get accused of being a racist for calling Setanta ‘Sultana’ the whole article seems pointless..
July 12, 2008 at 6:49 pm
Seriously take into account the mood of the piece before you start throwing accusations of racism around.
July 12, 2008 at 6:51 pm
Thanks Stonroy.
Back to the topic, practically all of Arsenal’s pre-season games are being shown on both channels, looking forward to seeing Nasri & Ramsey in action.
July 12, 2008 at 6:54 pm
Gooner Chris how would you rate the chances of us signing arshavin???
July 12, 2008 at 6:55 pm
stonroy; it looks kinda stupid giving someone stick about racism when there aint no posts referring to it any more.
Stick to the topic please.
Tv schedulinzzzzzzzzzzz
July 12, 2008 at 6:57 pm
Hmmm, out of ten I’d say four.
He obviously has his heart set at Barca and we don’t want a player who isn’t committed and will look for a move to Spain in a few seasons time.
July 12, 2008 at 6:58 pm
One thing that has been crossing my mind about this whole thing from Ades agent is that, if this is true, and Arsenal have accepted a cut down offer, then it would only happen if a couple of players are involved. They have already mentioned the French U21 player who’s name escapes me. I also think they may have offered Gattuso as part of that package as well…..Only if that story is true..
July 12, 2008 at 7:01 pm
Players are professionals in the main. So what if they say they want to play for one team, then go to another.
Carrick said how much he wanted to play for Arsenal, right up to the time he went to the spuds!
It dont mean jack.
Players aint fans, the sooner people get over thinking that they are anything other than employees, always looking out for the best thing for themselves, then the sooner we will stop getting all worked up when players move on every 2 seasons or so.
The only loyalty is shown by fabs and we sometimes think its time for players/managers/board members to eff off don’t we.
July 12, 2008 at 7:02 pm
Stonroy;
It isn’t Ade’s agent saying that stuff. It is really poor and lazy reporting, one media source claimed it was HIS agent and all the others have followed suit.
Morabitto is acting on behalf of AC Milan.
July 12, 2008 at 7:09 pm
“Morabitto is acting on behalf of AC Milan.”
And every other story also claims that AC have ended their interest in buying Ade and are set to buy Ronaldinho.
It’s all so much chip paper, it’s hardly worth getting excited about!
July 12, 2008 at 7:19 pm
And yesterday Milan apparently offered £24 million and Gourcuff.
July 12, 2008 at 7:30 pm
Anyone watching the goal 4 africa game?well van pesie featured but only lasted 1 minute….even mandelas grandson lasted longer lol
July 12, 2008 at 7:32 pm
On the brighter side Van persie set up the opening goal
July 12, 2008 at 7:35 pm
Suli mate, what game are you talking about?
July 12, 2008 at 7:39 pm
Suli;
You aint trying to say RvP is injured are you?
July 12, 2008 at 7:53 pm
A game that was organised by seedorf and being played in germany….its a fundraiser called goal 4 africa being played on behalf of nelson mandelas 90th birthday….some of the players involved are ballack,guttuso,shumacher,van bommel,etc….im catching d match on supersport in South Africa
July 12, 2008 at 7:53 pm
A game that was organised by seedorf and being played in germany….its a fundraiser called goal 4 africa being played on behalf of nelson mandelas 90th birthday….some of the players involved are ballack,guttuso,seedorf,shumacher,van bommel,etc….im catching d match on supersport in South Africa
July 12, 2008 at 7:54 pm
Ok mate, and you’re saying that RVP is injured?
If so, could you provide more details on that, and i’ll post an article up.
July 12, 2008 at 7:56 pm
Lol i swear he lasted like a minute….the commentator did say he had a knock before kick off though….
July 12, 2008 at 7:57 pm
censorship my ARS u think u are smart deleting any message against ARSenal
July 12, 2008 at 8:01 pm
Not at all, if you haven’t got anything respectful to say then I’d appreciate you contribute to a different blog.
Thanks.
Suli, do you have MSN?
July 12, 2008 at 8:01 pm
Nope cant be anything serious….not like he picked up the knock during the game…might be that he’s not fit enough and dont want to risk getting injured in a friendly….
July 12, 2008 at 8:03 pm
cant be anything serious chris….not like he picked up the knock during the game…might be that he’s not fit enough and dont want to risk getting injured in a friendly….
July 12, 2008 at 8:04 pm
Hmmm ok mate, was he limping or anything?
July 12, 2008 at 8:04 pm
Its a lie RVP was in holland as at the day of the match
July 12, 2008 at 8:10 pm
No, he’s playing in the Goal 4 Africa match, I just caught a clip of it myself.
Suli, do you have msn mate?
July 12, 2008 at 8:14 pm
Nope mate…will let you know soon when i register
July 12, 2008 at 8:15 pm
Ok, cheers.
July 12, 2008 at 8:21 pm
Nope wasnt limping or anything of that sort mate….just set up the opening goal and came off……shumacher just scored…seems a pretty decent player….
July 12, 2008 at 8:26 pm
gooner chris i thought barca had pulled out of the arshavin move because of hlebs capture surely that just leaves us to sign him!! Wenger has publically stated that he rates arshavin, he also came out with the quote about how he thought arshavin misght struggle to cope with 3 games a week, i think that was a smokescreen to hide his desire to sign him!!
July 12, 2008 at 8:30 pm
Maybe mate, but I personally feel he’ll move to Spain, we’ll find out more in the coming week though.
July 12, 2008 at 8:48 pm
I like the latest rumour of Gareth Barry coming to Arsenal, will be solid besides Cesc.
I just can’t wait till Ade and Hleb are gone, so bored silly with hearing about them. Just go, don’t care where…pre season is upon us and we need fresh blood. Where is the Central Defender we need??
July 12, 2008 at 8:48 pm
Suli, could you find any pics or the teams that played mate?
July 12, 2008 at 8:50 pm
Highly doubt wenger will pay a ridiculous amount for arshavin…..imo anything above 12million is far too much for him
July 12, 2008 at 8:54 pm
According to the Sunday Mirror, there havent been any bids for Ade. He may well be staying!
Funny, reading that article, saying how bad it’d be if he stays. When all the ither articles have been talking of an exodus. Now it looks like he might stay, then they ntry and portray that as a disaster too!
Media tw*ts!
July 12, 2008 at 8:54 pm
Don’t think Arsene will put that kind of money on the table for Arshavin (transfer + salary). Anyway we have to have a stronger team next season as we fell short by so little and palyed so well last season…
Interesting the TV guys give us more credit this time around despite all the noise around us losing 3 key payers… seems like they learnt their lesson.
July 12, 2008 at 9:00 pm
fuck sky, they should put all the arsenal matches live on arsenal tv
July 12, 2008 at 9:02 pm
Suli, do you have any info on the teams that played?
July 12, 2008 at 9:14 pm
Jules’ the TV guys may have not yet written us off, but Mike porky Parry and his Talk Shite colleagues have already written us off claiming once again that l’pool are the only team that could challenge the so called top two, and that Arsenal will make make the top six at best.
July 12, 2008 at 9:35 pm
Yeah.. we’ve heard that before haven’t we?
We came so close last season.. I don’t believe AW will let Ade go without proper replacement (he might well stay). Having said that we need to come back stronger and losing Hleb is a blow. Nasri is class, he really is but I believe he will need a little time to find his marks. Eventually he’ll have a great partnership with Cesc. Walcott and RVP – if fit – might make the difference next season.
July 12, 2008 at 10:47 pm
Sunday Mirror article is dated from last sunday 6/7/08.
July 12, 2008 at 11:40 pm
Guys we are in trouble, Flam gone, Ad and Help going the squad is weak we have no cover in attack or midfield.
For the first time under Wenger I worry for us.
July 12, 2008 at 11:44 pm
It is going to be a long season, for the first time I have doubts maytbe Arsen’s time has come to an end.
Flam going, Ade and Helb about to go and no quality cover in any position. TV pundits aside look at the bookies they have us in 5th position.
July 13, 2008 at 1:42 am
The bookies had us at 14-1 to start last season, too.
I took a decent punt on that and then sold half the bet for a profit when we were still fit and slick.
All the worry and predictions in the world mean nothing when they kick off.
Everyone forgets so easily just how much talent Wenger has floating around the place. United and Chelsea will always be picked 1-2 because of the money they spend, but money doesn’t always score goals, either.
Chelsea and the world’s largest pay packet won exactly the same number of trophies we did — and fired two managers for producing boring football.
Relax, gang. We’ll be there or thereabouts again, and that’s a lot of fun.
July 13, 2008 at 3:39 am
wats all the sultana talk?? i like raisins and sultana’s ,very healthy stuff , oh yeah everyone knows sky are man utd lovers an believe it could be liverpools year every year, they should put arsenal games on the discovery channel
July 13, 2008 at 3:43 am
mcgooner relax man,if flamini could do it why cant song or diaby? if ade can score 30 then most fit strikers could in our team,an hleb is a weasel who only had ten good games in an arsenal shirt
July 13, 2008 at 3:45 am
when half the team plays shyt u can guarantee hleb will be one of them,the man never drove the team once in 3 years
July 13, 2008 at 3:52 am
problem with arsenal fans is weve been spoilt over the last ten years,first trophys then style makin up for lack of trophies,id rather wenger do a jesus an feed us well with the bread an water than have the superstar buys claiming they love arsenal just because they earn 100k a week or more,when we win somrthing everyone will say we did it our way the right way,chelsea an recent man utd teams wont be able to say that
July 13, 2008 at 4:54 am
Arsenal were on TV a whole lot in the 2nd half of the season , when they collapsed in embarrasing fashion.
July 13, 2008 at 6:57 am
Will check around for you mate….Otherwise try visiting goal4africa.org….quite sure they would have it….apparently it was suppose to be the seedorf team vs chris ronaldo team but obviously after his surgery he couldn feature….not many present day stars were on show besides for van persie,ballack,edmilson,guttuso,lucio(son of zico),seedorf and his brother featured as well.The remainder of players were mostly from Africa.The game was played at the Allianz arena
July 13, 2008 at 7:13 am
Weird that you guys didn’t catch the game on sky sports or sentena.I live in South Africa and catch pretty much everything on supersport as well as you could say 90% of the arsenal games
July 13, 2008 at 7:41 am
Mate other players that were on show were:michael shumacher,emanuelson from ajax,boulorouz,ferrari,nelson mandelas grandson,senegals gk silva,shaun bartlet and few other South African based players
July 13, 2008 at 7:42 am
Mate other players that were on show were:michael shumacher,emanuelson from ajax,boulorouz,ferrari,nelson mandelas grandson,senegals gk silva,ze roberto,shaun bartlet and few other South African based players.The rest of the players were pretty much unknown to me
July 13, 2008 at 10:06 am
im happy with early lunchtime kickoffs go the match then go work at 6 suits me fiinnne!
keep the faith ,victoria concordia crescit
July 13, 2008 at 12:14 pm
http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1177220 gooner chris try that link has both sides on it
July 13, 2008 at 1:18 pm
Considering we have so few home games in the opening month’s of the season, it can only be a good thing. By the Way, Join the http://fantasy.premierleague.com/
Done mainly for us gooner’s but open to all. League Code 116231-29485
(don’t worry about all the transfers not being done, as you can chop and change as many times as you want until the start of the season).
July 13, 2008 at 2:28 pm
You dick McGooner what betting are you looking at, where are we 5th, you must be one of the morons I sit by! All doom and gloom or are you a sp*d dreaming