With Pat Rice wavering over his future, shouldn’t we just kick old Pat to the curb because as we all know and have sat in the training sessions, he offers absolutely nothing to Arsene Wenger. Usmanov is the man with the tactical plan. He knows where we are weak or is it that he has read the opinion of many an Arsenal fan around the blogs? This absolutely reeks of a man who has regurgitated as much information that he has been able to muster from a section of disgruntled Arsenal supporters.
I can envisage him sitting on his desktop PC late an night with only a pair of white Y-fronts on, copying and pasting views of Arsenal supporters and then using the information to formulate ‘his’

A late blog today this is due to a lovely Sunday late morning nap. After my little terrors dragged me from my pit at 6am this morning, I decided to wake the better half a few hours later to deal with the troops and then continue whichever beautiful dreams I had earlier.

I hadn’t expected to sleep as long as I did but now I feel revitalised and full of beans. Now on to matters Arsenal.

Alisher Usmanov has all of a sudden pepped up and has plenty to say for himself regarding the current board and his love for everything Arsenal. Pretty impressive from a Manchester United fan wouldn’t you say?

He told the News of the World: “If the role of a board member is to oversee a trophyless period, while making significant personal profits and asking fans to pay inflation-busting ticket price increases then, no, I would not want to be on the board.

Fantastic way of distancing himself away from the board that have received plenty of flak for the ticket increases and the lack of major investment into the club. Usmanov has continuously tried to paint himself as the saviour, the supporters choice. The man who wants to invest big money into the club he ‘loves’ and that taking money out the club is of little interest.

“If instead it is to try to deliver sustained success, to increase your personal investment in the club, to help develop the commercial position and to ensure the fans have a say in the running of the club then, yes, I think I certainly have something to contribute.

“In terms of doing things differently, let me give you a very clear example. Arsenal has all of its major commercial contracts coming up for renewal in the next couple of years.

“It’s no secret that to maximise the value of those you want to have success on the field and be winning trophies. To do that you need to invest now in building a winning team. This is simple commercial logic. Whether it comes to pass, we shall see.”

Ahh, beautiful. Pulling on the heart strings. That is exactly what us the fans want. A strong team to win trophies and the rest will follow. This Usmanov fellow really knows his stuff. I am surprised the rest of the Arsenal board haven’t cottoned on to this fact.

I have saved the best until last though.

“There is a widely-held view among most commentators – and one that I agree with – that the club needs to stiffen the defensive spine of the team, with a dominant keeper, strong centre-halves and a powerful defensive midfielder in the mould of Claude Makelele,” he said.

With Pat Rice wavering over his future, shouldn’t we just kick old Pat to the curb because as we all know and have sat in the training sessions, he offers absolutely nothing to Arsene Wenger. Usmanov is the man with the tactical plan. He knows where we are weak or is it that he has read the opinion of many an Arsenal fan around the blogs?

This absolutely reeks of a man who has regurgitated as much information that he has been able to muster from a section of disgruntled Arsenal supporters.
I can envisage him sitting at his desktop PC late at night with only a pair of white Y-fronts on (well that were white to start with), copying and pasting views of Arsenal supporters and then using the information to formulate ‘his’ attack on the Arsenal board.

So why has he taken this long to surface? Oh look there is a small matter of the Q&A Session with Ivan Gazidis from shareholders. Funnily enough, that is being held tomorrow.

Many I am sure will be able to see right through him but sadly others will believe that all he wants is to hand over his shekels and make everyone at Arsenal smiling and high-fiving on a daily basis, apart from those evil no gooders running the club.

I am certainly not going to fall for it. Is this the same Usmanov who had demanded a dividend on his Arsenal shares when he first got involved in our club. Arsenal is a wonderful cash cow to business men in 2011, the debt is close to being wiped out and the profits will increase. It is what attracted Kroenke and it is certainly what attracted Usmanov. Don’t let him blind you of that.

Back in the world of transfer rumour. Apparently Barcelona have offered us £34 million plus Thiago Alcântara. Which made me question it from the start. Thiago is supposed to be the next big thing since slice bread over there and has already played games for the first team at 18. A highly technical skilful attacking central midfielder who can touch the ball at high speed in such a small area.

I would be massively surprised if Barcelona sold the kid for any price let alone include the guy in a part exchange package.

I prefer to listen to our manager than any media outlet or Barcelona representative. Wenger was speaking to French television and he said (and I paraphrase) ‘The Spanish press have been talking for years. I will be clear Fabregas will be a Gunner for a long time’

Now that is what I am talking about. I must admit I have been a little more open to admitting that he could leave the club this year but if he was to stay then I think cartwheels would be in order. I appreciate that a 6ft 2in man in this thirties doing a cartwheel may look a little strange but I think it would be necessary.

Arsene didn’t sound quite as convincing when it came to Samir Nasri though. He said the usual, that we will be doing all we can to keep hold of him but he did come out with a great line about great clubs making players and not the other way round. I like that.

Funny isn’t it? (not really) but at the end of the season I thought Cesc would be off and Nasri would most certainly sign a new deal, that could be totally wrong. Who knows.

If they both commit for the long term then perhaps a naked cartwheel would be in order. Okay, sorry for that. Remove that thought from your minds and I promise not to ever mention that again. Apologies.

Gervinho has gone all quiet on his future suggesting that it will get sorted out one way or the other and that he just wants to enjoy his summer. One thing is for certain, if we have any interest in any players then we will more than likely tell said player to shut up and once reported targets start getting all coy then I tend to take a little more notice.

It appears that Abou Diaby will have surgery on his ankle which may see the midfielder miss pre season. I have noticed that many Arsenal fans get angry at Diaby because of his injuries and personally I do not understand it one bit. How frustrated must the player be after having his career completely disrupted because of a few thugs.

I feel nothing but sadness for the guy and just hope that this will be the last problem he has before he gets his career back on track. These are the years that a player needs to develop and hone their skills and not find himself broken on the sidelines because his body has not recovered from serious impact.

Good luck Abou.

Back tomorrow.