Here We Go Again

Déjà vu and here we go again, I feel that I have written this before.  I don’t really know where I’m going with this one… Do I hate the media ? Do I hate the Powers that Be in the English game or do I hate Arsene ‘Fuck Off and Develop Your own Players’ Wenger.  Yep, I hate all of them.

We have another academy player that all the big boys want.  Like Theo, Gareth and Alex before him, Luke Shaw is a target for the big guns and what can we do aside from bend over and take the money on offer.  I’m not too sure about the new EPP rules or whether they even apply yet – the report I read though, suggests that if the lad gets sold we won’t have to settle for the defined ‘development costs’ fee and that we’ll do alright out of the deal as there is more than one club wanting the lad (Man City reportedly being the other).  I don’t know what his contract situation is – I believe he’s signed a professional contract but it only comes into force when he’s 17 – no doubt there’s a fucking Arsenal clause before he’s 17 that means we’re stuffed.

We got a year out of Bale and Chamberlain and half a year out of Walcott.  Losing those players pissed me right off but if Shaw goes now, before he’s even played for the first team – that’ll be much harder to take.  I don’t know anything about the kid other than what I’ve read and I’ve never seen him play.  The fact is that I want to see him play and I want to see him play for my club, the club that found him and turned him into what he is today.

Today our youth Team have an important FA Youth Cup tie at Bolton in which Luke Shaw will be playing.  How nice of the media and whoever prompted them to bring this story out today so the lad’s got something on his mind tonight other than trying to help his team win.  It’s all about the big clubs though isn’t it!  The media have conjured up a figure of £4 million which I am 100% certain is a complete guess as I’m pretty sure neither Nigel Adkins or Don Cortese will have set a figure nor entered into any discussion whatsoever at this point.  The London-friendly media really piss me off as well, making out that we’ll do business with Arsenal because we have some sort of cosy feeder-club style arrangement with them.  Fuck off – just because they’ve lured away two of our best young players in the last 5 years, doesn’t mean we like them.  I’d say it’s more likely to be the opposite.  If we had a decent arrangement with Arsenal, you know, something that was beneficial in both directions, then surely we’d get some of their young players on loan when we need them.... no, I can’t think of any either.  At risk of going a bit Monty Python, ‘What have Arsenal ever done for us ?’.... Perry Groves, Scott Marshall, Luis Boa Morte....cheers guys, they were all years ago and they were all shite.

Football authorities - You say you want to encourage clubs to develop their academies - then why not bring in a rule stating that a player can’t move until he’s 21 if he’s at a club with a Grade A Academy.    If the player is at a Grade A Academy then by definition, another club won’t be any better for him.  At 21, the selling club can then demand what they want.  That’d stop teams like Arsenal just poaching every one else’s best kids for next to nothing and reward teams who get their Academies right.  You never know, there may be a changing of the guard with teams who get it right challenging the big boys ... oh hang on, we wouldn’t want that would we?  Another idea could be to say that the set fee for a Premiership club signing a player from another clubs academy before he’s 21 could be £15m for a 15 year old, £16m for a 16 year old, £17m for a 17 year old etc.  Get some proper compensation for the smaller clubs and spread the wealth around.  Surprise, surprise though – the new rules mean that in the majority of cases, the selling club will get less not more.

As for Luke Shaw and Saints – I have a feeling that we’ve been keeping him under wraps and assuming he’s still here, it wouldn’t surprise me at all if this lad is in the first team squad from February 1^st onwards - maybe on the left wing with Adam Lallana moving elsewhere in the side.  Maybe we’ll get half a season out of him then the media finger-in-the-air transfer fee will be about £10m.  The bigger picture is that we have this stated aim to have half of our first team players having come through the academy.  Of the current first team squad there is Adam Lallana and that’s it.  Is there much chance of that changing if all our best kids get hoovered up by bloody Arsene Wenger? I say, if we get an offer this month – turn it down, whatever it is.

It does show you though that we need to get promoted to have a chance of keeping kids like Luke for longer.   Hopefully the carrot of regular Premier League Football will outweigh playing for Arsenal Reserves at Barnet.  Mind you, I believe I said that before Alex Chamberlain’s move and though he’s hardly featured in the Premiership, he’s played and scored in the Champions League and now he’s sharing a training ground with Thierry Henry.  Bottom line is that if Luke Shaw wants to go then we’re stuffed.

I hate football sometimes.

PS – The Youth Team beat Bolton 2-1 and are now in the 5^th Round and playing at SMS in February.  Hopefully, I’ll get to see Luke Shaw play.

Go take a shit, Arsene