One of the most perplexing aspects of being a Gooner is to see the predicted being played out before your very eyes. I hope that we do not fall into that trap by failing to secure a decent keeper. Vic Crescit has already robbed my thunder by correctly likening the Fabianski scenario to Alex Manninger. Alex Manniger was a Keeper who seemed to be the answer to all of our dreams when he arrived at Highbury in 1997. The Austrian arrived after amazing displays for his former club Grazer AK. His string of saves against Inter Milan in the 1996 UEFA cup game showed that he had potential.
He came to Arsenal as Seaman’s understudy and when Big Dave “England’s no 1” got injured, the Austrian was able to show his class. The save at Anfield from Michael Owen’s penalty is shown below, and despite being named as player of the month, Alex went back to reserve status when Seaman returned. He went out on loan to Serie league club Fiorentina in 2001 when Everton’s Richard Wright arrived. He stayed for the majority of his career in the Italian leagues most notably his spell at Juventus as number 2 to Gianluigi Buffon. Here is a tribute to the world’s best reserve keeper on Youtube which will bring back memories to many of us who felt that it was premature of Wenger to get rid of Manninger.
Arsene Wenger seems to be very intolerant of Goalkeepers making errors as Jens Lehmann and Manuel Almunia will no doubt testify. Jens “Mad” Lehmann held the gloves after the departure of arguably the best Arsenal keeper since the great Bob Wilson (ignoring Pat Jennings who went back to the scum?) I liked Jens and for all his faults, the Invincibles could not have been so without some of his critical match winning saves. Manuel Almunia was only ever a shot stopper. He never gave me confidence as a top class keeper, and he certainly does not command the support of Arsene Wenger.
My advice to Arsene is to focus on the need to replace Fabianski and send him out on loan. Fabianski needs time and to rebuild his confidence. His inability to gather crosses confirm his nervousness. He will be targeted by opposition teams until he can get that monkey off his back. I regretted the move to dispatch Manninger, and I fear that we may be making the same mistake with Fabianski. Give the lad time he will come good. But the unforgiving goldfish bowl that is the Premier League is not the place to learn your trade.
This is why I see the present turmoil at Manchester City very interesting. Shay Given is a quality keeper and I understand why he decided to make the big money move to Eastlands. However if he really wants to be number one, then he must hand in a transfer request and come to the honorary home of all decent Irish players Arsenal Football Club. Of the other keeper’s linked with Arsenal, Joe Hart will not be allowed come to the Emirates as Manchester City see us as their close rivals, which is a shame.We could still see Fulham’s Mark Scharwzer between the sticks before the end of the transfer window even though the two club’s could not agree on his valuation. Arsenal will not pay more than 2 million, and Fulham want 4.
Fan Ownership arrives!
In any event do we have the numbers required to take over the club? Don’t even dream of that as the majority of Arsenal shares are held by very powerful individuals. But if the unthinkable ever happened then these are the numbers required for a fan takeover of Arsenal football club.
Total number of shares = 62,000 approx
Fanshare = £95 = 100th of a share
100 fanshares = 1 share at £9,500
1000 fanshares = 10 shares @ £9,500
If every seat at the 60,000 Emirates stadium was filled by an independent fanshare holder then they would own 60 Arsenal shares.
We would need some 6.2 million fanshares to take over the club, approximately 1/10th of the population of Great Britain. So if ownership of your club is your goal then you had start by teling all your mates, your next door neighbours and get saving pronto…lol
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