Tricky tie in Kiev + Kroenke (and Lawell) to join?
Add comment September 17th, 2008
After being away for a few days, I have reached the following conclusion: Lisbon is sunnier than London. Today will entail a trip to the beach, before popping into a bizarre British-themed ‘pub’ to watch Arsenal play in Kiev.
Any blogger who claims to know anything out the Kiev side is either based in Eastern Europe, or lying. The only thing I know is that the player who scored when they last beat us, Maxim Statskikh, is still plying his trade for the Ukrainian side, and that they beat Spartak Moscow 4-1 (home and away) in the qualifiers. Arsene says he’d take a draw (quite odd rhetoric given our good form), but I hope we can go there and win. There’s only one change from the squad that beat Blackburn, with Carlos Vela returning in place of Kieran Gibbs.
And now, off-field matters. The Times report that Stan Kroenke will be invited to join the board this week, safe-guarding the club against vulture-like foreign investors. They also suggest Celtic CEO Peter Lawell, who (for reasons I’ll outline if he does join) I believe would be an excellent appointment, could be given the job as Chief Executive of Arsenal Football Club. The Telegraph claim Lawell has decided to stay in Scotland. Whatever the truth of the stories, it’s clear something will be going down at this week’s board meeting. Like I said: more as and when it’s all ratified.
Right. To the beach!
