Ashley Cole (Out)

[wengerboy]

pernant, bentley etc this isnt the first this has happen with english player and they also claim the arsenal doesnt favour the english players

 

[awooga83]

Of course i dont agree with that, and like i said before he has made a huge mistake but i cannot HATE the player becuase of that, If he had only been at the club a couple of years then yeah *PISS OFF" but this is a kid who has always had Arsenal in his blood and something pretty ***** up must of happend for him to go to that meeting in the first place.

Until all the facts come out i cannot simply turn my back on a player who for years i have had on the back of my shirt.

Mate if he truly was a fan then he would know the effect doing something like this to one of our rivals would have and one of the reasons the betrayal feels so bad is that we thought this guy was Arsenal through and through thats why its not as easy to say oh well its not surprising he has hardly been at the club. Also whatever the board has done or is suppossed to have done there will never be any situation where i think okay fair enough i can understand why you met Chelsea. The fact is he has and that is enough for me to hate him for showing such disreguard for the fans and club that helped him to get where he is. At the very least he is part responsible for this whole affair yet at no point has he shown publicly any remorse and he owes the fans an apology because they never ****ed him over but he clearly doesn't have any respect for us becasue he hasn't done that. Doing it in a book is so impersonal particularly when he will have had help writing it. Why should we have to buy a book to here him apologize he should have held a conference or something but he is clearly not going to. He is such a negative influence on the club now i cannot wait till he is cut loose.

 

[Big Poppa]

pernant, bentley etc this isnt the first this has happen with english player and they also claim the arsenal doesnt favour the english players

The worst of all was Anelka. Nationality has little to do with it.

 

[drthorne1]

Honestly I cannot disagree with what you said there but this "HATE" issue is to much for me. In a ideal world it would be great of him to come out and give a interview about what's been going on but this is not going to happen but I refuse to ridicule a player based on Scraps of information that the press are releasing.

He is still an ARSENAL PLAYER and i hope to god he learns from all this and realises what a still **** has been.

 

[otfgoon]

Not really. Controversy is what sells papers - especially tabloid ones. Printing an apology (assuming that one is there) would draw a line under the saga and there would be nothing else to write on the matter thereafter. Firstly it was about Cole not inviting Wenger to his wedding (but then there were only 2 or 3 footballers there) followed by recycled quotes about the club feeding him to the sharks.

I hope I was able to illustrate to you how easy it is to paint a false picture of someone's current state of thinking by using selective quoting, and the club has known about this book for some time - so what would now suddenly trigger his sale?

The only thing I can think of with certainty is the question of whether or not he is willing to extend the duration of his current contract which has only 2 years remaining. We lost Edu for nothing when we could have fetched a good £10m for him and I don't think the club will want that happening again.

I just hope for anyone wondering why myself or any others are not coming down on Cole, you realise that I'm taking his behaviour and commitment to the club over 10 years into account. He's a young, wealthy celebrity and needs to deal with the fact that there will be millions of people who he's never met that will have an opinion on him. Please distinguish this from defending him over the club, because all I want to do is maintain a neutral position until I hear the full story.

There may be more to the situation than meets the eye or there may not, but all I have to go on is my own gut feeling and intuition that there are other details to this whole affair that we have not yet been priviledged enough to know. Details that would probably be less important if this had been a player who had repeatedly let the club down in the past (e.g. Pennant).

Thats the part I dont understand, the "10 years of comitment". Firstly, the first 5 or those ten years he done nothing for us, we are the ones who trained him, gave him a first team opportunity at the club and the chance to become the star he is. Also, he is playing in one of the top teams in europe, its not like we are sunderland and he has stuck with us even though he could do much better. The club and Wenger have contributed a lot into making him one of the best LB in the world.

Then of course it came to the contract negotiations. Lets for a second believe what Barnet said is true, that Arsenal agreed on 60k then went back and decided on 55k, what on earth is SO bad about that? I just dont understand it. I mean the fact that he thinks we were trying to take advantage of the fact that he "loves the club" *throws up repeatedly* because we chagned our mind and decided not to pay his agent 5k a week, and only make cole the forth highest paid player at highbury after Sol, Vieira and Thierry shows how this guy thinks.

I understand you want the book to come out first just to see the "full story" but that doesnt change the fact that he has done what he has done. And he has brought it all back up again by writing about it in his book.

 

[goonerwarsh]

I agree with you Big Boppa, I actually think you post very well and always give a thoughtful account of what your trying to say.

I'd be interested to read what Cole has to say, i'd be interested to hear what Wenger has to say about the whole affair, bloody hell at this point i'd even take the tea lady's account of what the hell has happened.

When Wenger finally comes to write a book....now thats the one that i'll be buying, when he can finally have his say on all the pre madonnas that have passed through the club whilst he's managed it. He can give us the low down on all of them....Vieira, Anelka, Cole, Bentley, Pennant and Stack. They've all stuck the boot in after they've left either through books or the papers. He must be sick to death of them...

If any of the other players need a prime example of how to behave as a footballer then they should look at Bergkamp who has been the absolute model professional throughout his whole time at Arsenal. But then again he seems to be the only one with as much intelligence off the pitch as he has on it!

 

[arsenal05]

How can anyone hate someone for some **** up that is more than likely only half the truth ! ashley cole has played with passion for arsenal for so many years he has saved our backs so many times he is ion my eyes still one of the best defenders in the world and almost certainly the best left back when hes on top of his game!! To call for him to pack it in and piss off to chelsea is a load of ****!!! Just cause you read in the papers that he backstapped arsenal that he met chelsea cause he wants more money and doesnt care bout arsenal DOES NOT mean its true!! He deserves to be given the benifit of the doubt even if he did **** up i for one forgive him and will also forgive him if he does leave because hes done his team proud and like many players may want to move on and try to win the hearts of other fans!! I respect his decision watever he does!!

 

[drthorne1]

For me it comes down to the fact people are saying "he is S*** F*** off" and all this trash based on things we might not ever understand or know, and he has not even signed for chelsea yet and might even not.

What are these people going to do if he stays boo him for a couple of games and then start singing his name again ??

I would rather wait until unti his furture has been decided and we get more of an idea about what went on.

 

[awooga83]

I think though if Wenger ever writes a book i don't think he would indulge in pathetic slating of fprmer players you do that when you are a bitter person who blames everyone else but yourself for your own failings i don't think Wenger would go in for that but who knows.

 

[drthorne1]

How can anyone hate someone for some **** up that is more than likely only half the truth ! ashley cole has played with passion for arsenal for so many years he has saved our backs so many times he is ion my eyes still one of the best defenders in the world and almost certainly the best left back when hes on top of his game!! To call for him to pack it in and piss off to chelsea is a load of s**t!!! Just cause you read in the papers that he backstapped arsenal that he met chelsea cause he wants more money and doesnt care bout arsenal DOES NOT mean its true!! He deserves to be given the benifit of the doubt even if he did f**k up i for one forgive him and will also forgive him if he does leave because hes done his team proud and like many players may want to move on and try to win the hearts of other fans!! I respect his decision watever he does!!

Well everyone knows i am going to agree with that...

 

[otfgoon]

How can anyone hate someone for some **** up that is more than likely only half the truth ! ashley cole has played with passion for arsenal for so many years he has saved our backs so many times he is ion my eyes still one of the best defenders in the world and almost certainly the best left back when hes on top of his game!! To call for him to pack it in and piss off to chelsea is a load of s**t!!! Just cause you read in the papers that he backstapped arsenal that he met chelsea cause he wants more money and doesnt care bout arsenal DOES NOT mean its true!! He deserves to be given the benifit of the doubt even if he did f**k up i for one forgive him and will also forgive him if he does leave because hes done his team proud and like many players may want to move on and try to win the hearts of other fans!! I respect his decision watever he does!!

Im confused, you dont think he met Chelsea when he has admitted it himself, and says there is nothing wrong with it? If you feel the same way fine, but personnaly I dont expect ANY of our players to MEET with our rivals manager and chairman.

 

[arsenal05]

i know he met chelsea though im sure he had his reasons!

 

[awooga83]

The thing that matters for me and many others i suspect is he met with Cheslea that is a fact and that is unforgivable in my eyes what ever the reason you don't meet with rivals that is enough in my book. When it first happened i instantly wanted him gone but we as a club kept him and seemed to be giving him another chance. So i was willing to try to forgive and forgt but to proceed with this book thing just shows me what he really thinks f the club and its fans and now there is no chance of me ever forgiving him or forgetting it.

In my view its not about ability its about being committed and respecting the team you play for and the fans and he has done none of those things over this. His years of service have been undone by this one selfish act of his and people seem to forget that its not just Cole who put in years of loyalty. Arsenal fans spent years supporting him, Arsenal club spent years investing in his development and helping him be the best player he could be, but that seems to mean nothing. It is not the action of a loyal player to meet with rivals neither is the act of a respectful player to not apologize to the fans for this. Not just forgeting what Arsenal has done for him he goes out to destabilize the club he supposedly loves, do me a favour he couldn't give a **** if he did he wouldn't do that.
When a player crosses a certain line the benefit of keeping him no longer outweighs the negative of selling. Even amongst fans you can see the disharmony and lack of stability his presence creates and we aren't even involved in the internal running of the club To keep him sets a bad precedent, kick up a fuss if you have some talent and you can get what you want.

Well these kind of players in my eyes have to be made an example that no player can hold a club to ransom whatever their ability. A manger has to be strong to do that the best managers are willing to do these things i just hope Wenegr has the resolve.

 

[otfgoon]

i know he met chelsea though im sure he had his reasons!

Right, because Arsenal (according to his agent) went back on a 60k deal and offerd 55k to take advantage of the fact the he "loves the club" :roll:.

But frankly I dont care what reason he has, if someone stabbed you several times, would you say "wait wait, I dont want to jump to conclusions let him tell his side of the story first before we all jump on his back lolz". I doubt it.

 

[awooga83]

I agree totally ofgoon people will have had reasons to do almost everything done in world history but that still leaves a hell of alot of things that aren't justified as the reasons are minimal or simply ridiculous.

 

[celestis]

It doen't matter whether what his reasons he broke written rules and regulations and as such had to face up to it in court. Quite simple , the sooner he realises that his predicament was of his own doing the sooner he gets on with his life.

 

[gunnerturk]

Simon says "IT WAS not the disloyalty of Ashley Cole that shocked. It was the blatant disloyalty. It is one thing to break the rules, apparently, but it is another thing entirely to be blatant about it. "

 

[Mulberry21]

I don't doubt Cole has given everything for Arsenal in the past few years and (of course, with Wenger's guidance) he's become one of the best LB's in the world. He's been with us ever since he was a kid, and that must mean he has some feelings for the team. Sure, he appears to be handling his fame in a less than optimal way, but he's relatively young, perhaps influenced by his wife, and you can argue he doesn't know better. At any rate, that's not something I can honestly accuse him of, as it doesn't affect Arsenal directly. As for the meeting, if he had met with, say, Milan or Barcelona, I'd say fine. It would still be inappropriate because of the timing, but I wouldn't be able to actually blame him. He's been with us forever, he has the right, if you will, to try his luck in another league.

But that didn't happen. He met with Chelsea. Arguably, our biggest opponent. Knowing that his departure would weaken Arsenal to begin with, he chose to also enhance one of our rivals. When Sol left the spuds (and they were rightfully angry) you could still make the argument he left a smaller team for a much bigger club with higher goals and ambitions. But leaving Arsenal for Chelsea? Why? Because we "fed him to the sharks"? When? I'll only buy that if he reveals Arsenal knew about the meeting and had reassured Cole they were OK with it, only to publicly accuse him later. Frankly, I don't think that's possible. Why would we want to lose Cole? I can only think we saw his lack of devotion, which, though, would still primarily be his fault. So, if something like that is true, he has the right to say we mistreated him, but he should also admit he wanted out in the first place.

I honestly think the glass is broken. The reason many people are saying "oh, Cole is ****, good riddance" is the fact they don't want to face the truth, which is that it's going to be hard to replace him. But that doesn't mean the "good riddance" sentiment is unfounded. I think it's clear Cole wants to leave, it's clear he can't devote himself to the team anymore (compare his behaviour with that of Dennis, Freddie, Thierry or even Sol who left somewhat gracefully), it's clear he'd rather be playing for (and getting paid by) Chelsea. Sure, Arsenal could have possibly treated him better, but so could he. Frankly, "good riddance" sums up my feelings pretty well.

(sorry for the long post, but I've been thinking about this lately)

 

[bethie]

If people choose to belive what alot of the papers are saying then thats up to them. Just please dont take everything as the TRUTH

even if i take 1/10 of what they published as the truth...

it still sucks big time and he's still the world's biggest ass.

 

[seatiger]

I think meeting with Chelsea and get caught was his agent's plot of forcing Arsenal to up his pay. He probably didn't intend to go to Chelsea. But I don't know about now.