Manchester City makes £250 million bid for Arsenal's history
23-07-12
PREMIER League champions Manchester City have tabled an offer to buy up Arsenal’s entire roll-call of honours for an estimated £250 million, plus Adam Johnson.
If accepted, the offer would see City retrospectively crowned league double winners in 1970-71, 1997-98 and 2001-2002, first division champions three seasons running between 1933 and 1935 as well as last-gasp victors in 1989 when they went to Anfield and snatched the title from Liverpool.
The transfer of history would also mean that the 1939 filmThe Arsenal Stadium Mystery, to which City’s owners have acquired all rights, would be renamed The Etihad Stadium Mystery.
Furthermore, copies of Nick Hornby’s Fever Pitch are set to be recalled and a new edition written, culminating in Manchester City’s thrilling Division Two play-off victory in 1999 when they upset the odds to beat Gillingham.
Insiders say that the money would be used to strengthen Arsenals squad, with £1.5 million of it put towards a bid for Laurent Ouidy, the injury-prone French winger whose three goals for FC Pantalon almost saved them from relegation last season.
The rest would be used to service the debt on the Emirates stadium, reupholster the executive restaurant dining lounge and as lavatory paper for the club’s shareholders.
Nathan Muir, senior accountant at Arsenal FC, said, “I know fans think trophies are what count – trust me, they’re not. Have you seen the Inter Cities Fairs Cup? You take that mantelpiece bauble down to a car boot sale and trust me, you’ll be driving the bugger home.”
Professor Henry Brubaker of the Institute For Studies said, “Clubs trading each others’ histories is nothing new. Deals like this have been commonplace in football for years.
“Take Manchester United – a nothing team until 1980, when they came into cash and did exactly the same thing as City. Nowadays, no one remembers it was originally Port Vale who beat Benfica to win the 1968 European Cup.”
BlueBas said:I thought this was quite funny. Even if it is meant as a dig. They have an equal dig a Uited further down!.
Mods, if it's in the wrong forum, or already posted, please merge.
http://arsenaltruth.squarespace.com/
Manchester City makes £250 million bid for Arsenal's history
23-07-12
PREMIER League champions Manchester City have tabled an offer to buy up Arsenal’s entire roll-call of honours for an estimated £250 million, plus Adam Johnson.
If accepted, the offer would see City retrospectively crowned league double winners in 1970-71, 1997-98 and 2001-2002, first division champions three seasons running between 1933 and 1935 as well as last-gasp victors in 1989 when they went to Anfield and snatched the title from Liverpool.
The transfer of history would also mean that the 1939 filmThe Arsenal Stadium Mystery, to which City’s owners have acquired all rights, would be renamed The Etihad Stadium Mystery.
Furthermore, copies of Nick Hornby’s Fever Pitch are set to be recalled and a new edition written, culminating in Manchester City’s thrilling Division Two play-off victory in 1999 when they upset the odds to beat Gillingham.
Insiders say that the money would be used to strengthen Arsenals squad, with £1.5 million of it put towards a bid for Laurent Ouidy, the injury-prone French winger whose three goals for FC Pantalon almost saved them from relegation last season.
The rest would be used to service the debt on the Emirates stadium, reupholster the executive restaurant dining lounge and as lavatory paper for the club’s shareholders.
Nathan Muir, senior accountant at Arsenal FC, said, “I know fans think trophies are what count – trust me, they’re not. Have you seen the Inter Cities Fairs Cup? You take that mantelpiece bauble down to a car boot sale and trust me, you’ll be driving the bugger home.”
Professor Henry Brubaker of the Institute For Studies said, “Clubs trading each others’ histories is nothing new. Deals like this have been commonplace in football for years.
“Take Manchester United – a nothing team until 1980, when they came into cash and did exactly the same thing as City. Nowadays, no one remembers it was originally Port Vale who beat Benfica to win the 1968 European Cup.”
r.soleofsalford said:BlueBas said:I thought this was quite funny. Even if it is meant as a dig. They have an equal dig a Uited further down!.
Mods, if it's in the wrong forum, or already posted, please merge.
http://arsenaltruth.squarespace.com/
Manchester City makes £250 million bid for Arsenal's history
23-07-12
PREMIER League champions Manchester City have tabled an offer to buy up Arsenal’s entire roll-call of honours for an estimated £250 million, plus Adam Johnson.
If accepted, the offer would see City retrospectively crowned league double winners in 1970-71, 1997-98 and 2001-2002, first division champions three seasons running between 1933 and 1935 as well as last-gasp victors in 1989 when they went to Anfield and snatched the title from Liverpool.
The transfer of history would also mean that the 1939 filmThe Arsenal Stadium Mystery, to which City’s owners have acquired all rights, would be renamed The Etihad Stadium Mystery.
Furthermore, copies of Nick Hornby’s Fever Pitch are set to be recalled and a new edition written, culminating in Manchester City’s thrilling Division Two play-off victory in 1999 when they upset the odds to beat Gillingham.
Insiders say that the money would be used to strengthen Arsenals squad, with £1.5 million of it put towards a bid for Laurent Ouidy, the injury-prone French winger whose three goals for FC Pantalon almost saved them from relegation last season.
The rest would be used to service the debt on the Emirates stadium, reupholster the executive restaurant dining lounge and as lavatory paper for the club’s shareholders.
Nathan Muir, senior accountant at Arsenal FC, said, “I know fans think trophies are what count – trust me, they’re not. Have you seen the Inter Cities Fairs Cup? You take that mantelpiece bauble down to a car boot sale and trust me, you’ll be driving the bugger home.”
Professor Henry Brubaker of the Institute For Studies said, “Clubs trading each others’ histories is nothing new. Deals like this have been commonplace in football for years.
“Take Manchester United – a nothing team until 1980, when they came into cash and did exactly the same thing as City. Nowadays, no one remembers it was originally Port Vale who beat Benfica to win the 1968 European Cup.”
yes i even recall arsenal buying Hudderfields history.
gordondaviesmoustache said:r.soleofsalford said:BlueBas said:I thought this was quite funny. Even if it is meant as a dig. They have an equal dig a Uited further down!.
Mods, if it's in the wrong forum, or already posted, please merge.
http://arsenaltruth.squarespace.com/
yes i even recall arsenal buying Hudderfields history.
Yes, they always forget this when being sanctimonious to the point of tedium. History is written by the victors and Arsenal are no exception.
r.soleofsalford said:gordondaviesmoustache said:r.soleofsalford said:yes i even recall arsenal buying Hudderfields history.
Yes, they always forget this when being sanctimonious to the point of tedium. History is written by the victors and Arsenal are no exception.
yes mate i was playing golf on the Marriott a couple of months ago and was talking to an arsenal fan while waiting on the tee, long story but after a few holes and a few waits on the tees i felt obliged to mentioned Herbert Chapman and then had to give the bewildered **** a potted version of arsenals history.
i probably didnt deliver this news to him in a pleasant way.
i wont be expecting a Christmas card
Arsenal finished fifth in the Second Division in 1914-15, the last before all sport stopped for the duration of the war. Derby had 53 points, Preston 50, Barnsley 47, Wolves 45 and Arsenal, Birmingham and Hull each had 43. Meanwhile, Spurs had finished bottom of the First Division that season with Chelsea one place above them in nineteenth spot.
On the resumption of football in 1919-20, the League, whose president was Liverpool’s chairman, John McKenna, a good friend of Norris, decided to expand the First Division to 22 clubs. Whenever this had happened in the past the two bottom Division One clubs had been allowed to stay in the league. So the expectation was that Chelsea and Spurs would remain to be joined by Derby and Preston.
This seemed even more likely given that there had been some well dodgy results in the First Division in April 1915 when clubs were jockeying for advantage before the shutdown. We can hardly credit it now, given their auspicious histories, but the Man U vs. Liverpool game - won 2-0 by the Mancs – was fixed by some of the players, leaving Man U with 30 points, just two more than Spurs, although even if two points had been deducted Spurs would still have been bottom on goal difference. But, as Soar points out: “Nonetheless, the incident did throw considerable doubt on the final placings and suggested that there could not possibly be any alternative but to re-elect the bottom clubs after the War.” Anyway, fix a match like that nowadays and you’d probably get banned for good. Just think – no Man U………..
What happened next was astonishing, even looking back from the hyper-cynical times that we do now. When the League met after the war to decide the make-up of the divisions, Derby and Preston were automatically promoted from the pre-war Division Two. But then, McKenna invited Division two clubs to apply for places occupied by Spurs and Chelsea and then stated that Chelsea should stay in the top division because of ‘special circumstances’. He was referring to the bent Man U game which would have put Chelsea above United had they had the two points ‘won’ against Liverpool deducted.
So Chelsea stayed and Spurs were suddenly under threat. They had come bottom, true, but only one point behind Chelsea and had not fixed any matches. Then came even more insult to injury. Norris’s great mate McKenna urged the committee members to vote for Arsenal to be promoted on the grounds that they had been league members longer than Tottenham! As Soar says: “The suggestion made little sense; Wolves, who had been founder members of the League in 1888 and who had finished above Arsenal in 1915, were also applying, as were Birmingham who, as Small Heath, had entered the Second Division a year before Arsenal, in 1892.”
A nod’s as good as a wink and the committee members duly voted Arsenal in with ten more votes than Tottenham. And they’ve remained in the top division ever since, the only club never to have earned the right to be there on the field of play.
Rumours of money changing hands persisted for years. After all, Norris had invested £125,000 of his property-developing/local councillor, highly unsuspicious, small-fortune-for-the-time funds into bringing the Arse to north London, and a few more grand wasn’t going to stop him now if it mean more for him in the long-run. But the story does have a happy ending. Norris was done by the FA in 1927 for irregular payments to Arse players and even getting the club to agree to pay for his own chauffer. He lost a libel case against the FA and was booted out of the game, dying just before Arsenal started their great run in the 1930s.
To quote an Arsenal fan website: “The arguments for Arsenal’s promotion were complete nonsense”. True, but I have to say that I rather like having the South Londoners three miles down the road. Let’s face it, it’s great being able to hate another football team like this and it’s caused no end of additional enjoyment and emotion over the years. But they have no right to be where they are and we should never forget that, especially as they did it at our expense.
It’s too late to do anything about it now, but it does no harm to remind ourselves of the original reasons our forebears hated the Arse and why we should uphold and continue that honourable tradition.
carrington boy said:250 million,no value in the market some might say
Skashion said:I found it very funny. At least one Arsenal fan has a sense of humour but sadly he/she's virtually alone.
St Helens Blue (Exiled) said:The green eyed gooners fans........