Shattered Reality : Robin van Persie Must Leave!

Good Evening Goonerverse!

The past week has been an interesting one from a sporting perspective. With The Olympic Games in our back garden, fully ruining our journeys to work (well, some of us anyway), I was reminded of the frenzy of excitement and expectation that competitive sport brings into our lives.

The collective national pride when our fellow Britons compete on the worlds stage, egging each other on to achieve more and to compete against the best is something that should inspire everyone in this green, yet heavily concreted land to always have hope for a better tomorrow.

With that thought in mind, I turn my attention to the upcoming new football season, and the prospects of our team, of which in recent times those relative moments of pride and expectation have eroded away from our memories.

I was accused by a few readers in my last blog that I was a tad negative about our team (Master of the GoonerVerse, I'm talking to you!!!), but I felt that I was realistic in my pure angst and frustration at a seeming lack of ambition in the transfer market and the overpaying of certain average squad players (Denilson, I'm talking to you!!!) which has contributed in part to our inability to be competitive in the transfer and wage department.

Myself and the Master were talking the other day down the pub about the Style of our blogs being very different-the Master is always the optimist, while I am the harsh realist, Good Cop/Bad Cop, if you will. That way the reader gets both sides of the situation from two very different bloggers.

So, I've just read the Masters' last blog, and I disagree with almost everything he said (I'm definitely playing the bad Cop).  his belief that Robin van Persie should be made to see out the remainder of his contract is, in my opinion flawed, but this is why we have opinions, we don't have to agree. Some might say that letting him go shows a lack of ambition, and that he should be made to stay no matter what, but I believe that ship has sailed.

If we had wanted to entice him to want to stay, perhaps we should have had a world class squad in place about 2 years ago that was competitive to make him (and Fabregas, and Nasri, and Clichy) all want to stay because there was a massive chance at winning trophies.

Maybe 2 years ago we should have spoken to him about extending his deal and offering him a little more money to sweeten the deal. On the other hand, maybe if he hadn't written his little piece on his website a few weeks ago questioning the direction and ambition of the club and stating his refusal to sign up for longer, maybe his position wouldn't now be untenable.

He can no longer play for the club. He does not want to be there. His head has been turned by offers from richer clubs offering him ridiculous money, and the possibility of trophies. Nasri was largely shit for City last year, making fleeting and largely unimpressive performances, yet he earns shitloads of money (probably double that of RVP) and has a Premier League medal. Mercenary he is, yet he has his medal, and in his mind he has justified his move.

There is NO point in holding someone against their will. If he doesn't want to stay 100%, which is clear to see, what kind of performances will we get out of him? Is he going to give a shit about the Arsenal cause? Will he put his porcelain body on the line when it really matters? More likely he'll challenge and beat Nicolas Anelka in a sulking competition while potentially damaging the already questionable team spirit in the dressing room.

RVP is 29 on the 6th of August (same date and age as me, incidentally) so he doesn't have many years left at the top level, plus his injury record is woeful (same as me, incidentally). He has only played one full season in 8, and has missed a huge percentage of games as a consequence. He is one stubbed toe away from 3 months on the sidelines, being nursed back to health by our Medical Department (yet to achieve it's First Aid Badge from the scouts), so why not cash in big style and let someone else worry about his fragility? Many must have considered that last years' fine health could well have be a one off, along with the impressive goal tally?

I don't want us to continue to strengthen the squads of our rivals in England, so in a fantasy world, I would love Arsenal to play hardball, don't under ANY circumstances let him go to either part of Manchester and ship him off to Juve where that boy will get the living shit kicked out of him by Italian centre halves, frequently returning him to his rightful place on the treatment table. If Juve don't want to risk the investment of huge transfer fee and wages for a relatively fragile old man, let him rot in our reserves, far far away from the First Team where his unhappiness and discontent can't be allowed to destroy team moral, while his contract runs down. He'll then be 30 years old, he'll leave, and no one will offer him anything near what he's worth in wages then!! This of course won't happen, most probably Manchester will beckon, but we will live on. The Club is always bigger then the players.

 Already some exciting moves in the transfer market have been made with the acquisitions of Giroud,  Podolski and the imminent arrival of Santi Cazorla from Malaga, which are all very positive moves. The RVP leave contingency is in place early, which is very good news indeed. On top of this, Wenger has made it very clear that some average squad players have, or are going to be moved on (maybe he read my last blog?!) meaning that the squad is already shaping up for the new season, and we could be in a pretty solid position, regardless of whether RVP stays or goes.

If Steve Bould is able to sort out our Pub Team defence, possibly with the acquisition of further cover in full back and centre half positions, plus our dire Medical Staff somehow get Jacky-Boy fit again (ha!) we will be up there again, hopefully challenging, striving to achieve more and do better this season. Last year our league position flattered us because the quality of the Premier League last year was pretty poor. Surely it won't be as rubbish this year, so we must hit the ground running quickly, and integrate any new recruits as quickly as possible.

I'm very excited about the new season. I'm not overly optimistic or pessimistic, just comfortably sitting in the fence and hoping for a couple more strong additions to our squad to greater facilitate a more competitive season. Whether or not RVP stays or goes, I still have pride, and hope for a better tomorrow. Some might say we will find a brighter day.

Thanks for your time.