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Monday 20 June 2011

Don't do it Arsene, Olympic ticket farce

Barton - not welcome with me

As you know I don't like to comment on tittle-tattle, but it's time to make an exception. There seems to be a growing rumour that Joey Barton is seriously on Arsenal's radar. The very thought of this makes me wince. I despise Joey Barton.
A few years ago our Chairman, Mr Peter Hill-Wood, famously said of Stan Kroenke that "we don't want his sort." This is certainly a phrase I would apply to any idea of signing scum like Barton. He's actually a decent player, but he is an animal who should be be in prison, not on a football pitch. He is the complete opposite to what Arsenal Football Club stands for. I have no desire to watch an Arsenal team in which Joey Barton is a part. 
There is little doubt that a player of Barton's type, a tough-tackling midfielder, is required in the team. We have not had someone who would truly put their foot in since Patrick Vieira was sold. However, the likes of Joey Barton are simply not "Arsenal" players. Barton is the lowest form of scum and I hope all Arsenal fans would have a similar view to myself with regards to his type of personality becoming part of the family. This is one transfer rumour I hope is totally made up.


Elsewhere in the Arsenal supporting wastelands it's all still annoyingly quiet. Aside from the usual nonsense from Barcelona etc there is still no sign of anyone coming in, or anyone going out. We hear occasionally that transfers take a long time to complete these days - this is obviously a lie as we see so many deals done in a matter of minutes on deadline day. The trouble with these long and drawn out public transfer deals is that the sense of excitement that used to be engendered by the announcement of a new recruit is taken out of the whole thing. Be honest, will you be excited if, and when, Gervinho is finally unveiled?


It being quiet I can't let the opportunity pass to say what a complete joke (and not a funny one) the Olympic ticketing debacle has been. As you might have guessed I missed out completely on the tickets I had applied for. I had hoped to take my son to see the Games and applied for numerous tickets across seven different events. To not get any tickets at all is a disgrace. That posh twat Seb Coe can come on TV and claim that things have been done in the best way possible, but that is simply a lie. There would be more sympathy if they admitted they had misjudged things and, in hindsight, had got it wrong.
As one of those who missed out (another thing - how has it gone from one million applicants to more than two million over the past few weeks since the ballot closed? - the fact is that there have been major issues with the computer system, and I suspect some serious foul-play as well) I now have the "opportunity" to apply for other tickets - no doubt more expensive ones, and not for the things I originally put in for. However, instead of a ballot it is now "first come, first served" from 6am on Friday with a limit of three events per application. Two things to say about this - firstly, why didn't they limit the number of events in the first ballot, thus ensuring more people got to see something (they could even have applied this policy retrospectively once it emerged that the events were so badly over-subscribed)? The second thing is that a lot of people work unsociable hours and so can't possibly get in on a "first come, first served" basis this Friday - guess who is among that group?
There is one final issue with this second round and the way the tickets will be sold. Every ticket agency in England will have numerous logins for their staff for the Olympic ticket site. On Friday morning they will all be wired up and hoovering up as many tickets as they can, before selling them on at a premium as the Games approach. You couldn't make it up. It's the most scandalous thing to occur in British sport in my lifetime - the public pay for the Olympics, but none of us can actually go and watch any of it. Disgrace.

Hopefully more tomorrow, and all of it about Arsenal.

7 comments:

  1. And what about Peter Storey? And Tony Adams being in prison and nearly killing someone while drunk driving? As you say, Barton can play, I'd rather watch him than Diaby and Denilson.

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  2. Peter Storey - Arsenal through and through, any criminal misdemeanours came after he left Arsenal.
    Who exactly did Tony Adams almost kill? He flattened a wall, not a person.
    Added to this is the fact that Storey and Adams were top class players - don't let Storey's reputation cloud the fact that he was a fine footballer.
    There is something of a difference between the people you mention and Joey Barton, with his long history of extreme violence.
    I accept the sentiment with regards Diaby and Denilson, but we can find better players than Barton, with a far more acceptable character.

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  3. Arsenal really need a man in the miidle of their spineless midfield. But i really hope Barton stays with us the toon army, fans who appreciate a fair but firm player on the pitch unlike mourners like this DvbrisG who might hurl insults at him even when he is winning balls.

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  4. Yeah, the Toon Army. Wonderful people. All there during the dark days, crowds never dipped below 40,000. Big Club, Newcastle. Or maybe not.
    As for Barton, you can keep him.

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  5. Just a point that you need to think about because I am ambivalent as to whether the signing of Joey Barton would be a good thing or bad. You cannot condone any of his past actions, for which he now accepts full responsibility and agrees was unacceptable behaviour deserving of the punishments he received.
    It would appear Mr Barton may just have grown up.
    What I can say is that the press in the past were quick to point out his misdemeanours and rightly so, yet have been very slow to point out that the player is attempting to reform. I believe the use of the word "scum" to describe Mr Barton is ill considered, since this reference is made on the basis of what he has done in the past, which I again state cannot be condoned.
    Many will come back and point out the Diaby incident at St James Park last season and using this as justification for the fact he has not changed, but as an Arsenal fan I would say the tackle was hard and no different to many seen that go unpunished in many games, even some committed by the likes of Vieira and Petit, Storey and I could name many more. I accept these names did not go out and commit acts of brutality against others on training fields that led to a custodial sentence.
    It is easy to criticise someone's character on a forum such as this, but the player does not have the right of reply especially when they are trying to be circumspect and looking to change their ways.
    Give the guy a break and judge him fairly on his footballing ability or lack of, not just his past record of violence. I accept you recognise his ability as a footballer, but did the writer ever change his mind about Vinnie Jones, after watching Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, if he ever did see the film? Maybe, maybe not but one thing is for sure I know half a dozen people who changed their attitude about him after that film yet he was still the same person.

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  6. Exactly what do you fellow gooners want??
    We show interest in an English player who will add some bite to our midfield, who won't be afraid to stand up to the opponents, who will be making sure Wilshere, Nasri, Ramsey etc are not bullied on the pitch,
    someone who knows how to cross the ball, thus making plan B with Chamakh as our forward effective,
    and yet you gooners complaining! So do you want another one like Denilson, all round nice guy, but pants?
    i seriously cannot make out what you want!
    We need that bite back in our midfield!

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  7. At last some honest and well-structured debate. I honestly do not believe that Barton has "changed." His tackle on Diaby was nasty and could have done damage to the Arsenal man - Diaby's failure to not react to it was just the latest in long line of failings evident in his game.
    I'm not sure where the Vinnie Jones bit comes from and what his acting had to do with it. Incidentally, I always felt Vinnie was a bit under-rated as a player, and there was nothing sly in the way Jones went about things - everyone knew he was a hard man, and so did he. He also never picked on innocent people in the street while drunk, and never put a team mate in hospital. He also never put out a cigarette in a youth team players eye.
    As for the idea that we need someone with bite, I couldn't agree more. But, as I said before, we can find a better player to do it than Joey Barton, and a better man than Joey Barton.
    Arsenal still has some class, Barton doesn't.

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