Official Gooners Thread - A New Hope

[Goats Do Shave]

That was my point Max.

Fair play O'Neil! 

[hitzelsperger]

Forget the shite talk lads, Henry is still the best player to have ever played in the premiership, on his day, completely unstoppable as many a defender will agree! This season he hasnt been his usual best but will still bang in 20+ goals!

[ONeill]

So Blackburn tomorrow in the cup. Brings back memories of the 05 victory.

Someone asked me recently, if Arsenal had to give their unbeaten record at Ashburton up to anyone, who'd it be? I thought a  crappy team like Hartlepool or Spurs but now think it'd be fitting if it was Barcelona or the like.

[ONeill]

Feck it. The crucial fortnight hasn't started too well.

[Tony Fearon]

Shane you were beaten by a Electrical Factory works team last night.

The fluke win against mighty Spurs has lulled the goons into a false sense of security

[Dinny Breen]

Only saw the last 30 mins and it looked very un-Arsenal like, gave away possession, no urgency in midfield, poor communication....

The Goons should win the second leg but I think it might take extra-time to shake off PSV....

[ONeill]

The fluke win against mighty Spurs has lulled the goons into a false sense of security

Which one are you talking about now?

[ildanach]

from arsenal.com

Arsenal Holdings plc half-year financial results
Group turnover increased to GBP100.8 million (2005: GBP57.0 million) as a result of higher gate and match day revenues at Emirates Stadium and sale of a property development site at Drayton Park.
Operating profits before depreciation and player trading increased to GBP20.0 million (2005: GBP8.0 million).
Profits before net finance charges and taxation increased to GBP19.6 million (2005: GBP14.3 million).
GBP210 million of fixed rate bonds and GBP50 million of floating rate bonds issued in the period to refinance all of the Group's stadium related debt. The refinancing provides a stable financial base and significant reduction in annual debt service costs for the long term. One-off, exceptional costs of GBP21.4 million associated with the refinancing result in the overall result for the period being a loss after taxation of GBP6.2 million (2005: profit of GBP9.6 million).
The redevelopment of Highbury into over 700 residential units has commenced and the demolition work has now been completed. Approximately 90% of the units released for sale at Highbury Square have already been pre-sold.
Commenting on the results for the half year Peter Hill-Wood, non-executive Chairman, said:

"As well as providing improved match day facilities and tickets for a far greater number of the Club's supporters, the Emirates Stadium project had an objective of providing Arsenal with the financial strength and resources to compete at the very highest level in all competitions. I believe that the results for the Group's first period in its new home demonstrate that we have already achieved this milestone."

The six months to 30 November 2006 has been another very successful period for the Group marked by the opening of Emirates Stadium in July 2006 and the commencement of the redevelopment works at Highbury. At the end of October 2006 we were very honoured to welcome HRH Duke of Edinburgh for the official opening of Emirates Stadium. 

In November the Emirates Stadium / Arsenal on the Move project collected two awards at the 2006 London Planning Awards — "Best Built Project Contributing to London's Future"  and the "Mayor's Award for Planning Excellence".  The project has also won "Best Mixed Use Regeneration Project" at the 2006 Regeneration Awards, a commendation from the 2006 Structural Steelwork Awards and has been nominated for the "Major Project Award" at the Quality in Construction Awards.

We have set ourselves very high targets for the standard of match day experience which we want to provide for all of our supporters at Emirates Stadium with its increased capacity, use of technology and significantly expanded corporate and hospitality facilities. This has been a major challenge and although we have been very pleased with the progress made to date we do not expect to reach our final targets for operational efficiency until the end of the season. The feedback from supporters has generally been extremely positive. Emirates Stadium has also proved to be a popular venue for conferences and other non match day events.     

In addition to the Club's own home matches, Emirates Stadium has also played host to two prestigious international friendly fixtures; in September Brazil played Argentina and earlier this month Brazil versus Portugal. We hope that international matches of a similar stature will become a regular feature of the Emirates Stadium calendar.

The redevelopment of Highbury into over 700 apartments and penthouses commenced as soon as the first match had successfully been staged at Emirates Stadium.  We have again appointed Sir Robert McAlpine as our main contractor and they expect to have some 800 workers on site at the peak of the construction work on the 3.5 hectare site. The demolition work has already been completed whilst at the same time retaining the facades to the listed East and West Stands. The level of pre-sales of the residential units remains very strong at approximately 90% of the units released for sale.

The financial results for the period are covered in more detail below - the Group's turnover for the period has exceeded GBP100 million and profits, before exceptional costs of GBP21.4 million and taxation, were GBP12.8 million against GBP14.6 million at the same stage last year." 

[ildanach]

hope fully those results will give wenger a few quid for the summer transfers.

chelsea, blackburn,reading then psv. over the next fortnight, needs to be in top form reading and psv being the most important games, I hope  plays a full strength team in both.

[ONeill]

Intriguing match-up this Sunday. It looks like Wenger is sticking with his experiment. The Carling side has shown much more passion than the first team in recent weeks so I'm looking forward to this. Sort of a no-lose situation.

[Norf Tyrone]

This 'young' Arsenal side is a bit of a myth is it not? If you take the two sides from Arsenal and Chelsea that completed the 2nd leg of the LC semi, Arsenal's average age is 23.5, while Chelsea's is 25. In fact take 34yo Makalele out of if and Chelsea's age is 24.

Hardly a world of difference!

[ONeill]

A myth, you must be joking. Arsenal's 'average' is pumped up by Almunia and Gilberto. To average 23.5 is incredible.

In the Carling Cup, Arsenal have fielded Denilson (19), Walcott (17), Traore (17), Diaby (20), Djourou (19), Fabregas (19), Connolly (19), Randall (17), and throw in Clichy, Hoyte, Senderos and you've one hell of a young team.

Besides, the serious lack of experienced players Arsene has used has been phenomenal. In all 5 games he has played Jeremie Aliadiere, Manuel Almunia, Denilson, Armand Traore & Theo Walcott - they're our carling Cup foundation!

[Norf Tyrone]

Don't get me wrong O'Neill, you have some fine players coming through, but I don't think they are as good as the hype. Perhaps by 4:50 on Sunday, I might edit this post.

Chelsea have some fine youngsters coming through too, but will Jose play them...ever?

Woods, Maciene, Sahar, Jimmy Smirh, Sinclair, Jack Cork, Stoch etc etc

[ONeill]

There is the possibilty that the final against a team like Chelsea is a step too far for the youngsters. I have actually bet on Chelsea on winning by 4 or more goals (and Arsenal winning on penalties to keep it interesting).

In terms of hype, the 6-3 win at Anfield against a team that possessed Dudek, Aurelio, Hyypia, Gerrard, Gonzalez, Luis Garcia, Carragher, Alonso, Bellamy and Fowler was some achievement no matter what happens on Sunday.

[Square Ball]

that was a hell of a kick on the Face JT took