The Arse finished where they were without Van Persie and Henry for most of the season, so yes I still see them strides ahead of the competition.

As for the “Ronaldinho out of our grasp” comment, you’re deluded. Shearer came to the Toon when we were flying high and it’s his home town club. Kluivert was past it and wanted some money. Owen wanted an escape from Real and Liverpool didn’t want him. Now lets look at the Ronny situation:
Home Town club? No
Toon in top 4? No
Ronny past it? No
Money grabber? Maybe, but then I don’t think he’s short of it at Barca
Escape? No
Ooh I can see the attraction!

Ed Harrison – there are 2 things that make me concerned about you – the first is that you have actually gone to the trouble to devise a way of spelling Gudjohnsen – there’s obviously something pretty major missing from your life.

The second applies to you, but not you alone. When did we suddenly become so insecure that we need players to continually voice their commitment?
Modern society is raising a nation of oversensitive wusses with no confidence.
We’re unappreciated unless someone stands behind us repeating how well we’re doing. I may be 280 pounds and only 5ft 6, but if you call me fat I’ll burst into tears and run off head for 10 sessions of counselling and self affirmment – not to mention the lawsuit.
Now, of course, I cant accept a player unless he commits whole heartedly to my team. The fact that he could commit and then move anyway doesnt seem to matter – think Henry.

As for Martins’ worth – he’s shown that he has skill – he was just demotivated towards the end of last season – as was everyone in Black and White.
So Arsenal would have no problem splashing the cash on him, if they had the desire.

So we had Shearer, Kluivert and Owen – Is Ronaldinho really so far out of grasp? I dont think so. At that level money talks. If Ashley wants a trophy signing then you cant get much better – and how much would that bring in in merchandising?
Better make sure he has good insurance though – broken legs can be very expensive. I even doubt if Ronaldinho would make it through a training session with Taylor.

We don’t buy the big names because we are a club a little short in stature at the minute. We’re not in Europe, we’ve just got rid of a joke of a Chairman and we’re building. No class player is going to want to drop down the leagues (the top-4 is a mini-league of its own) if they are still getting regular games in Europe.

I think Martins is going to have a good season coming, regardless of who he starts with and I hope it’s with us. I also don’t think players should have to come out every week and state their loyalty each time a national rag wants to sell some papers.

i reckon he will stay, if you look at the quality in depth at arsenal up front (silva, van persie, adabayor among others, as well as the prospective £15m signing of Rodrigo Palacio from Boca) he would have just as hard a battle for a place there, plus with so many competitions on their cards i dont think they have a real target, whereas here we have clear goals, are startin to build solidly and seem to be movin in the right direction – if he has the right fotballing brain on him he should know where his future lies – black and white.

also i live round the corner from the Benton training grounds and it’s near Longbenton – not Little Benton. Though the vacinity is just in Benton i believe. bumped into Peter Ramage at work at the local supermarket the other day and asked him if he had any inside goss.. to no avail haha.

Al