Going by our recent behaviour, it seems as if we are content on waiting, waiting until either a fee has been agreed with a target of ours so we can match it which would prevent a bidding war and then use the charm and attraction of playing for Arsene Wenger which in many cases has worked. Abou Diaby and Oliver Giroud chose us over Chelsea. Aaron Ramsey chose us over Manchester United and it was the same with Chamberlain and Walcott. It could also be why we wait until deadline day to make moves assuming that another club has not made a move for that player, by that point Chelsea, Manchester United or Manchester City have already filled up their spaces or they are too late to get involved

Last night on Twitter the discussion was all about Cesc Fabregas making a potential return to Arsenal, talk was about where he would fit in, if we forgave him or not and what it would mean to other players. Today we have moved on to David Villa, apparently he has an offer from us on the table. What table is it anyway? If it is on his kitchen table then I hope he remembers not to leave drinks lying around, you know what people are like these days, knocking things over left, right and centre.

Like I’ve said previously, I like a transfer as much as the next Gooner but in these early days I am pretty proud of my pinch of salt approach. I tend to get sucked into these things and most of the time it is just unnecessary and not at all good for your health.

Not everybody is able to brush it all off though and frustration tends to build pretty quickly. As someone put it yesterday and apologies, I cannot remember who it was but it goes a little like this.

• Supporters talk about wanting super striker Twitterov from Transferhungry FC
• Reporters catch wind of this and publish ‘Arsenal to make move for Twitterov’
• Supporters rush around clicking and buying articles of rumour
• Increased hype in Twitterov means increased talking
• Twitterov moves to Juventus
• Reporters publish Arsenal lose out in race for Twitterov
• Supporters go into rage and blame Arsenal, mainly Arsene Wenger for ‘Dithering’

That right there is a term that has cropped up a few times in the recent past. It reminds me of an old man not being able to tell his daughter whether he wants a serving of potatoes or not on his plate. I think the idea is that Arsene clings onto his cheque book for dear life, dreading the day when he has to spend some of it. David Dein was the man who used to shake it out of his hand and tell the old git to stop jabbering. Or something like that.

As is the case these days, those perceptions spread faster than it takes John Terry to get into his full kit and join a celebration that has little to do with him. Funnily enough, those perceptions come from a selection of people who want to see the back of the manager.

You don’t need to be Albert Einstein to guess that I think that is a load of horse poo.

I tend to think that football supporters like to use their imagination to fill in the blanks. The blanks being the bits that we have little or no knowledge about. For example the ridiculous notion that Arsene Wenger stopped Steve Bould from getting the team to play a completely different way because he was getting too much praise. Hahaha. I think this is because Arsene is a ‘dictator’ (another one for you)

Forget the more logical thinking that the team were creating very little going forward during the early part of the season. But my mate Jim heard from this guy called Bob down the butchers that Kevin who works at London Colny said that Whenga was smashing his office up after he read praise for Steve Bould in a national newspaper. If it wasn’t for the dictator Wenger then we would have gone unbeaten and he knew that.

Back to the whole dithering thing, it often stems from the club seemingly not making moves in the transfer window, or perhaps only making moves for players when it is known that other clubs have made their move. I can think of a couple recent examples such as Chris Smalling and the face puller Phil Jones. *chuckle* Google is a great tool. I couldn’t actually remember his name for a second so I typed in ‘face pull Manchester United’ and his name came up straight away.

Rather than use the term dithering, I will try and add some logic to guess work, because like you I don’t know the ins and outs of the club.

My guess would be this, any early business we pull off (Podolski, Gervinho, Koscielny, Rosicky etc) is because we have already completed most of the work before the transfer window had opened. Work like watching the player x amount of times, been impressed with their off field character, given the green light from agents and had initial discussions with the club.

These seem straight forward and can be done as soon as the window opens. Some of our interested targets require more work and more to the point, other clubs with large wallets are waiting to pounce. I have a feeling that the club have been burnt in recent years, especially from the likes of Chelsea who if rumours are correct, have spent years watching our scouts who are watching players we want. Then Roman and his open cheque book steal our sweets in the playground just as we are about to eat them.

Going by our recent behaviour, it seems as if we are content on waiting, waiting until either a fee has been agreed with another club for a target of ours so we can match it which would prevent a bidding war and then use the charm and attraction of playing for Arsene Wenger and Arsenal which in many cases has worked. Abou Diaby and Oliver Giroud chose us over Chelsea. Aaron Ramsey chose us over Manchester United and it was the same with Chamberlain and Walcott. It could also be why we wait until deadline day to make moves assuming that another club has not made a move for that player, by that point Chelsea, Manchester United or Manchester City have already filled up their spaces or they are too late to get involved.

This is just guess work so please do not take it as fact but it makes far more sense than just simply ‘dithering’ which is now a word that I detest. When you look at Arsenal FC and indeed Arsene Wenger over the years and how they have operated. So much has been planned from the stadium move, to our focus on youth, to now more experienced players. Arsene is known to be obsessed with preparation so forgive me for not buying this whole dithering narrative.

I am sure our approach has failed several times when it comes to bringing in certain players over the years. We have missed out on some top talents and it seems clear that we were interested but for whatever reason, it did not happen. Juan Mata springs to mind but in truth, we do not know what happened and only a handful of people do know. If it was from Bob the butcher then well, thanks for the info but I shall pass for now.

The transfer window has yet to open in some leagues so relax, don’t take anything seriously until it becomes obvious that something is actually happening, i.e. a quote from our side of the fence or the selling club. If it is only on Twitter or a newspaper article sourced from Twitter then perhaps take a step back. There will be plenty rumours from now until the window closes.

One bit of news though, I heard that Carlos Tevez was spotted walking around London Colny last week, Make of that what you will.

In other news Arsenal have announced that old favourite Freddie Ljungberg has joined the club in an ambassadorial role. I have yet to read what that role entails because I have been writing this but I guess he will be doing ambassadorial things like walking and talking and being all ambassadorial and stuff. Maybe he will be showing off Arsenal’s own whey protein shakes that he uses for his y-front ads, who knows.

I’m sure it is good and I am pleased to have one of the old guys back at the club.

’till next time.