Are the board regreting not letting judas go on a bosman?

[A dallying Gus Caesar]

Cobblers mate!

RVP is no Judas, just as Ashley Cole was no Judas either. He was going to waste the remainder of his career at our club. He did what any sensible person would have done and got out. I do not like the fact he went to Man Utd but it was the right thing to do to sell him and now he has a proper manager to work with.....and some winners on the pitch.

Anyone who has ever been employed in a dead end job will have an inkling of how RVP felt.

A DEAD END job playing for The Arsenal.....has every fucker on here gone insane

Honestly I fuckin cringe reading some of the shit lately (more than I do at the jokes I post ), clearly posters have run out of insults for our club and manager so now resort to posting more outrageous claims than baabaa, red wumber or usmary ever did

I don't normally post many emoticons so just giving it a try, might make my post more valid

In retrospect, you are quite right, my term dead end job is not appropriate.

The obvious point I am making is why waste time playing at a club with no ambition and not geared for success when you can ply your trade elsewhere and believe there is a reasonable expectation that you could win something......like Cole did!

[A dallying Gus Caesar]

In retrospect the Cole situation signified the start of us penny-pinching ahead of ambition. Was it worth it for the sake of (allegedly) reneging on 5 grand a week? Cole is a greedy, money-grabbing bastard, but casting my mind back it was hardly an unreasonable wage.

But that doesn't in any way what Cole did. He is, without doubt, the biggest back-stabbing turncoat that has ever and will ever play for AFC. No matter how shit we get and what happens in the future, it'll never change what he did. He didn't see what was going to happen, nobody could in 2005. He just had dollar signs in his eyes.

Cole was the best left back in world football, so why should he not be paid appropriately. You know that the truth was the club thought they could abuse the fact that he came through our system and as a consequence we could take the piss when it came to contract time. And Cole was not having it, and why should he have. Cole left Arsenal because messed up, it is as simple as that.

There were plenty of games I attended, where the 'stars' of the team would go missing and renege responsibility. I never once saw Cole do either. He was under appreciated when put up against the 'star' names in our team.

[QuartzGooner]

In retrospect the Cole situation signified the start of us penny-pinching ahead of ambition. Was it worth it for the sake of (allegedly) reneging on 5 grand a week? Cole is a greedy, money-grabbing bastard, but casting my mind back it was hardly an unreasonable wage.

But that doesn't in any way what Cole did. He is, without doubt, the biggest back-stabbing turncoat that has ever and will ever play for AFC. No matter how shit we get and what happens in the future, it'll never change what he did. He didn't see what was going to happen, nobody could in 2005. He just had dollar signs in his eyes.

Cole was the best left back in world football, so why should he not be paid appropriately. You know that the truth was the club thought they could abuse the fact that he came through our system and as a consequence we could take the piss when it came to contract time. And Cole was not having it, and why should he have. Cole left Arsenal because messed up, it is as simple as that.

Agree with Dallying.

The board messed up over 5 grand per week.
As Harold Shand once said, "A POXY FIVE GRAND!"

The thing that Cole did that was disrespectful to the supporters, was take part in those "co-incidental" public meetings with Chelsea staff, whilst under contract with Arsenal.
That was tasteless.
Should have been done discretely.

[donaldo]

In retrospect the Cole situation signified the start of us penny-pinching ahead of ambition. Was it worth it for the sake of (allegedly) reneging on 5 grand a week? Cole is a greedy, money-grabbing bastard, but casting my mind back it was hardly an unreasonable wage.

But that doesn't in any way what Cole did. He is, without doubt, the biggest back-stabbing turncoat that has ever and will ever play for AFC. No matter how shit we get and what happens in the future, it'll never change what he did. He didn't see what was going to happen, nobody could in 2005. He just had dollar signs in his eyes.

Dont think you can compare Cole with Greedybayor.Unlike Cole Greedy WAS given a double your money contract after one good season not 4 great seasons that Cole turned in.And how did the Greedy repay us?by going on strike the following season.His two non performances in the CL semi's v Man Utd were a disgrace. Cole when he did play for us he always gave 100%

[northbank123]

I agree about Adebayor on the pitch Don, I'd also add the FA Cup semi against Chelsea in 09 as well as pretty much every league game that season too. But just because of the background with Cole it didn't annoy me as much. It also helped that we were paid handsomely for a player that nobody wanted to stay and has nowhere near justified that price tag since, whereas with Cole we gave up the best left-back in the world for years to come for an ageing centre-half with an attitude problem.. I'm not normally a fan of perpetuating stereotypes but African players are hardly known for their loyalty, I remember cringing when he kissed the badge at the Emirates Cup at the start of that season because everybody knew what a greedy prick he was.

People would still have been bitter had Cole left with class, that's football fans for you. But just saying ah well he shouldn't have met with Chelsea isn't really painting a picture is it? Yes, it was our fault for being so bloody tight that he left, and we acknowledged our mistake when we gave him a one-year extension that summer at a higher wage than he'd originally asked for. But you can't just brush under the carpet the fact that he secretly met with Chelsea at a time when opinion against them amongst our fans were at an all-time high. That was far worse than joining them, and it was exacerbated by the fact that he mouthed off about the club not backing him to the hilt when he was punished by the FA. Not one single person I spoke to at the time thought that Cole acted in an acceptable way, people are just changing their stances now because they're disillusioned with the club.

What I'm getting at is that I've heard people on here saying that he saw what we were turning into and he saw what was happening with the club. Bollocks. Nobody saw what was happening in 2005. He may have been vindicated by his achievements there but don't for a second suggest he was ever doing anything but looking out for his own pocket.

[SteveO 35]

The loss of Cole was the beginning of the end in terms of us being a major force in domestic football. We got to the CL Final that year, but unfortunately the elephant in the room was the big concrete bowl up the road which immediately turned us into a selling club.

Strange how at THOF we managed to keep Henry, Pires, Campbell, Vieira, Ljungberg and countless others happy year after year? Thought we were moving to compete with Europe's elite

I think that must have been a misprint which initially read "we are moving to complete Europe's elite teams" as that is something we've certainly perfected most recently by gifting United the title by supplying them the one man that will make the difference

Still, enjoying living the dream eh?

[markyp]

The loss of Cole was the beginning of the end in terms of us being a major force in domestic football. We got to the CL Final that year, but unfortunately the elephant in the room was the big concrete bowl up the road which immediately turned us into a selling club.

Strange how at THOF we managed to keep Henry, Pires, Campbell, Vieira, Ljungberg and countless others happy year after year? Thought we were moving to compete with Europe's elite

I think that must have been a misprint which initially read "we are moving to complete Europe's elite teams" as that is something we've certainly perfected most recently by gifting United the title by supplying them the one man that will make the difference

Still, enjoying living the dream eh?

The move to the emirates was one big lie,like you said SteveO we must have misread what they meant and indeed we have completed europes elite teams,the saddest thing of all though is that there are still so many AKB'S,it makes it almost impossible to get the point across,brain washed fuckin idiots,i just hope it all ends in a big Waco seige type thing with them all locked in the Emirates with their beloved messiah as he napalms the place in order to take his disciples to a better life in the promised land,now that really would be something,we can only live in hope

[oboe123]

Selling him to the Mancs was the gutting thing.If he had gone abroad it would have been more acceptable.Every time he scores it guts me.He is your typical no loyalty money driven footballer.

[falkirk goon]

I dont think the cretins on the board give two fucks about letting him leave theyre probably delighted at the transfer fee and there are probably bonuses if manure win trophies so even more port and cigars for the
Because of the shite quality of the teams outside of the mancs and chavs we're still in with a shout of 4th as long as we get in there the board dont give a fuck all they give a fuck about is balance sheets they certainly dont give a fuck about us

[oboe123]

the board dont give a shit about fans.all they are intersested in is MONEY.They would rather make a profit than win a trophy and lose money hence our transfer policie.

[Barriecuda]

The loss of Cole was the beginning of the end in terms of us being a major force in domestic football. We got to the CL Final that year, but unfortunately the elephant in the room was the big concrete bowl up the road which immediately turned us into a selling club.

Strange how at THOF we managed to keep Henry, Pires, Campbell, Vieira, Ljungberg and countless others happy year after year? Thought we were moving to compete with Europe's elite

I think that must have been a misprint which initially read "we are moving to complete Europe's elite teams" as that is something we've certainly perfected most recently by gifting United the title by supplying them the one man that will make the difference

Still, enjoying living the dream eh?

lol Well played