We're Not All Anti-Ashley Cole

[sabret00the]

Give someone an audience and it's only a matter of time before they start informing us of our opinions, this is the case with Ashley Cole and the general media inclusive of amateur blog writers.

It is this writers opinion that the whole thing with Ashley Cole has gone too far, so I think it's about time someone at least tried to counterbalance the arguments that are awash out there.

Recently The Sun started printed portions of his book in a bid to sell papers, we forgive them, it's their job. In fact most Arsenal fans should've fully understood the situation before even reading the articles but alas this is a little too much to ask.
Months ago now, we read in various papers how certain members of the board weren't happy with certain parts of Ashley's book and thus tensions arose, time went by with each party standing their ground until the story faded from public domain to private resolution. Given the goings on of the serialisation, I guess Ashley's lawyer went into a dance regarding something or another about free speech.

However the situations dead, or it should be. But it's not, and why? Because of course when the fans got to read the actual extracts (not even the full book) they went into an outrage.

An outrage, I'm not disputing the rights of some fans to show disappointment, seriously I've been around a lot since this whole thing started and different fans saw it in different ways. You're split between the "if you're promised something, you're pissed when you don't get it", the "he hasn't even apologised" and the "he met with our arch rivals, he should just leave". Please note, my niceties here are far above that of the pub or an internet message board.

In all this the best question has been raised, Ashley really hasn't thought about the fans in his actions at all, he hasn't stopped to think how this all effects us and the bigger picture in which he's apart of. While he's pissed off at the world of Arsenal surely we're the ones who don't deserve to be put through all this? The very fans that gave him a standing ovation on his return from injury. The fans that defended him day-in, day-out. The fans that took it upon themselves to believe he loved the club and it was just a family spat?

In spite of all of this, there's still some fans who don't want rid of Ashley, they tend to fall into three groups: the "blame his new wife, he went funny since he met her, he's still Ash deep down" posse, the "he's got a point but this has all gone too far in regards to both parties" gang, and the "I'd rather him play for us than anyone else even if he isn't a very nice guy" crew. Excuse the niceties again.

At some stage Ashley has to use his power as a celebrity to address the fans, enough with the playing the media, enough with professionalism, just a straight out, I care about you or I don't. You see as football fans, we do a lot of things we shouldn't, pay over the odds, buy merchandise, get our kids addicted. Honesty, when dealing with us, isn't something to fear.

We've always looked at Ash like he's a Gooner through and through and now we're not so sure, if his heart is in another place now?

Honestly speaking, I condemn the notion that we must all hang Ashley out to dry, I understand the contempt but I don't support it, I feel we all have questions as fans that are unanswered and I'll be bitterly disappointed to see him leave for a multitude of reasons.
I guess I just wanted to state and to particularly Ashley that not all Gooners are now anti-Ashley, some think that he's still pivotal to our future. In spite of this whole debacle, for the fans I hope all this can be put well and truly behind us by the start of the season.

 

[YeahBee]

glad to see that there isn't a complete Cole-pogrom going on here

 

[Big Poppa]

That post deserves some sort of knighthood. I'm glad that someone is willing to look at it from all sides.

 

[yankeegunner]

how long do we have to wait for ashley to speak with us then? his only comment so far has been that he gives 100% on the pitch- as if we should be awed by that. he has had plenty of opportunity to speak out but has said absolutely nothing. the sun printed press releases from his book that were released to help sell the book. further, he wrote the damn thing. do we not have a right to be outraged when we see these headlines and ash has nothing to say about them?

ashley cole was my favorite arsenal player for a long time and i kept holding out hope that he would make good with the fans and the club- he could have done that after signing his 1 year extension but did not and he certainly could have done that over the course of the past few weeks. you make some fair points about overreaction in your piece but i think enough time has been given and everyone will be best off if he moves on.

 

[burnsjed]

This was written by the same man that had double standards when it came to Henry.
You were very vocal in you disapproval of Henry during his contract talks, and the fact that he was being linked with Barca, yet seemed to think it was fine for Cole to go and see Chelsea behind our backs.

Your hatred for one player and love for another unfortunately clouds all of your posts that concern either of these players.
Sorry Sabre, nothing personal.

 

[sabret00the]

This was written by the same man that had double standards when it came to Henry.
You were very vocal in you disapproval of Henry during his contract talks, and the fact that he was being linked with Barca, yet seemed to think it was fine for Cole to go and see Chelsea behind our backs.

Your hatred for one player and love for another unfortunately clouds all of your posts that concern either of these players.
Sorry Sabre, nothing personal.

Don't get me wrong, i would've loved to draw parralells between the two cases and say "you candemn one, you condemn both" but seriously this is Arsenal-Mania, at any one time, there's 200 people running around calling Henry a God and i wanted to write something to displace the crap that is the headline "Goodbye Ashley Cole" from the front page. i chose to play it safe. All in all though, one couldn't convince his wife to move country and was thus stuck with us and rewarded with a Captaincy, payrise and undoubtedly at some stage in the future a statue, where as the other is condemned because "left backs don't win you trophy's" and don't even get me started on the farce that is Gael Clichy ever replacing Cole. There was a lot more i could've said but instead i just choce to write a focused article in light of the other circumstances i just brushed upon.

But yeah i am biased so no worries.

 

[burnsjed]

I was wondering where you were on the other thread, seemed very unlike you not to have given that side of the argument!
Good Luck bro.

 

[Rocafella]

Rightly said Sabre, left backs won't win you trophies and they won't become the clubs highest ever scorer but that's not why he was slated, far from it. Somehow due to the fact that Theirry has enough respect for the fans and club as a whole to not go and speak to Chelsea in secret and then blatantly lie about it might be why he isn't slated as much as Ashley yet you didn't mention that, it somehow must of slipped your mind.

 

[sabret00the]

Rightly said Sabre, left backs won't win you trophies and they won't become the clubs highest ever scorer but that's not why he was slated, far from it. Somehow due to the fact that Theirry has enough respect for the fans and club as a whole to not go and speak to Chelsea in secret and then blatantly lie about it might be why he isn't slated as much as Ashley yet you didn't mention that, it somehow must of slipped your mind.

Personally i don't for one second beleive that Theirry didn't meet with a Barca official, however i do beleive that it never made the papers and thus he saved face, honestly, we know Thierry isn't like Ashley in terms of the whole PR thing, so we wouldn't have to deal with the post-fall out but how would you feel about him if his meetings with Barca were made public?

 

[Arnie]

I dislike Ashley cole as a person but not as a footballer. He is a great footballer for club and country, but as a player he is a mercianary (i still don't know how to spell that word!!) He was caught talking to the enemy, when at the time it happened, it could never have been for footballing reasons only money, because at the time that was the only way they were better than us. I've never been rich, but i have alot of friends whose parents are, and i can tell you, they don't notice the difference of an extra 5 grand when they are worth millions. He should go instead of disrupting the club.

 

[>YounGunner<]

I dont really hate him as much as others but i feel he is betraying us.

 

[awooga83]

I think Ashley Cole and Theirry Henry are different types of people and as a result conduct their business differently. Theirry comes across in interviews by the way he talks and deals with things as a more intelligent person and does seem to have a greater sense of honour or loyalty whatever you want to call it i have never seen any of these attributes from Ashley primarily because they are not a major part of his character.

 

[Rocafella]

Rightly said Sabre, left backs won't win you trophies and they won't become the clubs highest ever scorer but that's not why he was slated, far from it. Somehow due to the fact that Theirry has enough respect for the fans and club as a whole to not go and speak to Chelsea in secret and then blatantly lie about it might be why he isn't slated as much as Ashley yet you didn't mention that, it somehow must of slipped your mind.

Personally i don't for one second beleive that Theirry didn't meet with a Barca official, however i do beleive that it never made the papers and thus he saved face, honestly, we know Thierry isn't like Ashley in terms of the whole PR thing, so we wouldn't have to deal with the post-fall out but how would you feel about him if his meetings with Barca were made public?

Well until you're theory about Henry meeting a Barcelona official becomes a 100% proven fact then he isn't in the wrong unlike Ashley who's been lying through his teeth the past year or so. He said not long ago he said until someone tells him otherwise he sees himself playing here next season. What a load of crap that turned out to be. This guy chucks out lies for fun.

 

[sabret00the]

Rightly said Sabre, left backs won't win you trophies and they won't become the clubs highest ever scorer but that's not why he was slated, far from it. Somehow due to the fact that Theirry has enough respect for the fans and club as a whole to not go and speak to Chelsea in secret and then blatantly lie about it might be why he isn't slated as much as Ashley yet you didn't mention that, it somehow must of slipped your mind.

Personally i don't for one second beleive that Theirry didn't meet with a Barca official, however i do beleive that it never made the papers and thus he saved face, honestly, we know Thierry isn't like Ashley in terms of the whole PR thing, so we wouldn't have to deal with the post-fall out but how would you feel about him if his meetings with Barca were made public?

Well until you're theory about Henry meeting a Barcelona official becomes a 100% proven fact then he isn't in the wrong unlike Ashley who's been lying through his teeth the past year or so. He said not long ago he said until someone tells him otherwise he sees himself playing here next season. What a load of crap that turned out to be. This guy chucks out lies for fun.

As per my "article" the book was released to Arsenal before Ashley started making statements about him wanting to stay.

 

[Rocafella]

Rightly said Sabre, left backs won't win you trophies and they won't become the clubs highest ever scorer but that's not why he was slated, far from it. Somehow due to the fact that Theirry has enough respect for the fans and club as a whole to not go and speak to Chelsea in secret and then blatantly lie about it might be why he isn't slated as much as Ashley yet you didn't mention that, it somehow must of slipped your mind.

Personally i don't for one second beleive that Theirry didn't meet with a Barca official, however i do beleive that it never made the papers and thus he saved face, honestly, we know Thierry isn't like Ashley in terms of the whole PR thing, so we wouldn't have to deal with the post-fall out but how would you feel about him if his meetings with Barca were made public?

Well until you're theory about Henry meeting a Barcelona official becomes a 100% proven fact then he isn't in the wrong unlike Ashley who's been lying through his teeth the past year or so. He said not long ago he said until someone tells him otherwise he sees himself playing here next season. What a load of crap that turned out to be. This guy chucks out lies for fun.

As per my "article" the book was released to Arsenal before Ashley started making statements about him wanting to stay.

So that suddenly doesn't make it a lie anymore? Somehow I don't think Ashley is that stupid, even though he is stupid, to forget about his book when saying that and the obvious provocations it would have.

 

[Gurgen]

That post deserves some sort of knighthood. I'm glad that someone is willing to look at it from all sides.

There are no other sides.

Do you think there is another side to the Sol transfer to us for the ****?

Some things are just plain wrong.

 

[sabret00the]

Getting back to this being posted on the front page, can i get a yes or a no as opposed to being left wondering please, mods, admins, someone? :cry:

 

[RocktheCasbah]

All in all though, one couldn't convince his wife to move country and was thus stuck with us and rewarded with a Captaincy, payrise and undoubtedly at some stage in the future a statue...

But yeah i am biased so no worries.

And your bias shines through in your first statement. So Thierry stayed with us because his wife didn't want to move to Barcelona?

I think you'll find, as usual that that is a complete leap on your part, and not really based in any fact. I also think that if you look at Thierry's body language towards the end f the season, it was obvious he would be staying and was happy to do so.

You'd get a bit more respect if your favouritism didn't cloud every single aspect of your postings. And whilst you're probably right in that there are two sides to the Cole saga, Ashley could surely have put this whole sorry mess to bed by now, yet he's chosen not to. He has apparently lied to the fans on a consistent basis, can you remember a homegrown, world class talent at Arsenal that has ever been so reviled by the fans? No, well, there's clear reasons why Ashley is the first in my memory.

PS PM Ash about your article going up, but you might need to smarten it up a little.

 

[sabret00the]

All in all though, one couldn't convince his wife to move country and was thus stuck with us and rewarded with a Captaincy, payrise and undoubtedly at some stage in the future a statue...

But yeah i am biased so no worries.

And your bias shines through in your first statement. So Thierry stayed with us because his wife didn't want to move to Barcelona?

I think you'll find, as usual that that is a complete leap on your part, and not really based in any fact. I also think that if you look at Thierry's body language towards the end f the season, it was obvious he would be staying and was happy to do so.

You'd get a bit more respect if your favouritism didn't cloud every single aspect of your postings. And whilst you're probably right in that there are two sides to the Cole saga, Ashley could surely have put this whole sorry mess to bed by now, yet he's chosen not to. He has apparently lied to the fans on a consistent basis, can you remember a homegrown, world class talent at Arsenal that has ever been so reviled by the fans? No, well, there's clear reasons why Ashley is the first in my memory.

PS PM Ash about your article going up, but you might need to smarten it up a little.

all in all, i think it's unfair to judge my bias here considering i never even mentioned Henry until broached on the subject. in fact i haven't mentioned much of any Arsenal player in the past few weeks outside of transfer talk.

if my posts don't warrant respect in your (or anyone elses) eyes, then i must say there's not really much i can do. i have my opinions on Henry and despite that, since his resigning really haven't spoken a bad word about him (bar wading into a thread to state that "he's not the best in the world but it's good he's here") or something similar.

the point i tried to make with the above piece isn't so much that there's more than one side to the story, it's that not all Gooners are Anti-Cole. I'd honestly just like to have that message out there, because all the anti-cole seems to get so much air play.

As for the smartening it up, i'm not sure what you mean, however i'm pretty confident you're right, in no way am i a journalist such as yourself or so many others on this site, this is just me trying to make sure that the media is as representive as possible.

 

[Hypo]

You people are not cynical enough, think about it.
The publisher of this book is loving it, Ashley is keeping his mouth shut and for every second he does that someone new becomes interested in the book = money. My only problem is; who will buy this book. should Ashley leave Arsenal? Not one Arsenal supporter will touch the thing with a ten-foot pole, except perhaps to burn it outside the grounds. No Chealsea supporter will buy it, because to them Ashley hasn't proved anything at all and is still an Arsenal player. So who does that leave? After all Ashley isn't a striker nor a high-profile player, he's just some guy in the back that sometimes does a great game and sometimes a poor one, so your standard football supporter won't be interested enough to buy the thing.
So I guess that leaves no one, and I fail to see the idea of that from the publishers point of view.