http://www.arsenalnewsreview.co.uk/...nal-are-puppets-being-operated-by-Daniel-Levy
Real Madrid and Arsenal are puppets being operated by Daniel Levy
By Myles Palmer
From Raphael Jones: he who laughs last . . .
How we laughed in May when we secured 4th place.
It made it all the sweeter that it was at Tottenham's expense and that we could tease their fans that their whole team would be disbanded with the sale of just one player.
With the prospect of qualification for the Champions League group stages, we would be going shopping with between £70m and £100m in our back pocket, and we had a head start on everyone else.
Confusion reigned elsewhere with managerial changes aplenty. This was going to be our summer and we were going to kick **** (no pun intended) for the whole season ahead. Happy days indeed.
Fast forward three months and where are we?
Well, as you all know, we still have all our money having signed two freebies and we can rejoice in the news that Bendtner will be available to us after all following the departure of Chamakh and Gervinho. That's a relief , as I was concerned that we weren't going to sign a top quality striker before the end of the transfer window.
It is becoming clear that Tottenham have been planning retaliatory action for some time now.
But in contrast to Arsenal they have made their moves without any fanfare or publicity. They have sold or loaned out players early in the window. And my goodness, hasn't the counter attack been decisive?
Franco Baldini has made some impact. His little black book contains some impressive contacts.
A club that has failed yet again to qualify for Champions League has been hoovering up some talent this summer. They may not be household names but they all sound decent. What is galling is that at least two of the players, Capoue and Eriksen, have been linked with Arsenal for some time now. If we have money to burn, how come Tottenham have been stealing our potential targets from under our own noses?
But the answer is there for all to see.
Daniel Levy has a plan and has provided leadership for the club and it would seem that his manager and technical director are all working together.
Back at The Emirates there are reports that Wenger and Gazidis don't talk.
We know our owner is not given to idle gossip – he didn't get the moniker Silent Stan for nothing. I have heard no dissent from any of the Tottenham players,calling for action to strengthen the squad as we have heard from Messrs Arteta, Giroud and Wheelchair. This indicates to me that their players have been instructed to keep schtum in the knowledge that great things will happen in the transfer market.
Our transfer plans look to the outside world like they have been conducted by the Keystone Kops. We have been knocked back by so many clubs and players that we are losing any semblance of dignity and respect which really doesn't help us to persuade other top targets to come to The Emirates. That in itself is embarrassing but is exacerbated by Tottenham's success at luring quality players to club that's not in the Champions League.
How do they do it? They have decided that what they have done for a number of years hasn't worked so they have come up with a radical change in tactics. Spend decent money on decent players. No browsing at the end of season sales and trying to barter or make silly offers. Now that would be daft and risky.
No, they have a clear plan. They have all stuck to the plan. They have kept their integrity and dignity by not crowing over their ambitions or captures, even though they must be intensely delighted to see their closest rival in a cringeworthy situation having failed to land a single target. And it is embarrassing because all the papers are running stories about us and writing us off already. OMFG.
But the best bit, the icing on the cake, is that despite having spent £110m and needing to sell their star player to fund this extravagant shopping spree, they are still pulling all the strings.
Real Madrid and Arsenal are puppets being operated by Levy.
He will decide when he is going to sell Bale and for how much.
And it will be as late in the transfer window as he can possibly manage so as to give Arsenal as little time as possible to negotiate with the clubs and players (the Madrid Three all say they don't want to leave – nothing like willing volunteers) and arrange medicals, all of which is taking place during an international break. You couldn't write it.
So perhaps the best possible time for the North London derby is right now. Before the dust settles. We have done this to ourselves.
I was going to finish by saying that Levy has merely taken the humane action of dispatching us, but I suspect this season is going to be very long and Levy will be Chief Torturer.
P.S. As long as we continue to qualify for Champions League the status quo continues.
But has it occurred to anyone that Stan might want us to fail to qualify for European competition?
That way some wealthy individual or consortium would feel obliged to 'rescue' the club from its silent partner and be prepared to pay whatever price (£20k a share anyone?) it took to gain control.
An odd way of looking at it – diminishing the value to increase the price.
Aug 31, 2013
