Early AGM News + Bergkamp to coach? Yes please…
2 comments October 24th, 2008
The Annual General Meeting of Arsenal Holdings took place yesterday, and hopefully later today I will speak to an attendee from the Arsenal Supporters Trust about the various goings-on in greater detail. For now, here is a round-up of the headline news from the event.
- Eduardo to return from injury – Arsene confirmed that the Crozilian striker will return to full training in three weeks. Due to some ambiguous wording, it originally seemed as if he might be back playing within that timespan, but that would have been a little optimistic by any stretch of the stretchiest imagination.
- ‘Manging Director’ to be appointed soon – At one point we were going to be getting a Director of Football, then it was a CEO, and now it seems it’s going to be an MD. Apparently an appointment will be made ‘fairly shortly’, which is frustratingly ambiguous.
- Three busts have been unveiled – disappointly, none of them belonged to Nina Bracewell-Smith.
- Tomas Rosicky is no nearer to returning from injury – this has never and will never qualify as news.
- Arsene Wenger has called for tennis-style challenges to be introduced to football – When I read this headline, I feared that after his decision to play Alex Song at right-back, Arsene’s latest brainwave was to introduce a net across the half-way line and give the players rackets. In fact, it’s something far more dull about cameras.
The Times has quite a full report here, which highlights the rallying cry Arsene delivered to the hundreds of shareholders:
“I feel that this team does not get the support it deserves. Last year we were close to winning the championship, finishing just four points behind Manchester United. Instead of showing resentment, we have to believe in our team more than ever because this team will deliver.â€
Le Boss clearly feels that if this young side is to succeed, it’s vital the fans are at their backs rather than on them. Next week’s home game against Spurs will be a perfectly-timed opportunity for the fans to follow up Arsene’s call to arms with appropriately vociferous vocal support.
Elsewhere, Dennis Bergkamp made me almost wet myself with glee by suggesting he might return to Arsenal in the not-too-distant future as a coach. If it weren’t for The Ice Man’s fear of flying, he’d be an ideal candidate to become the first Arsene-coached player to manage the club. That said, having him at the training ground in any capacity would be tremendous. Come home, Dennis: you are missed.
Finally, early team news for Sunday’s game with West Ham suggests that Kolo Toure and William Gallas will be available for selection. In some ways, it’s a pain they’re both back at once: I would have been interested to see Silvestre + one of Kolo or Gallas for a run of games.
It’s Friday. Rejoice.
