I write this with tears flowing. My missus has told me to pull myself together (not off) but I can't help it. I still love the geezer like a brother.
I've just read Matty Flamini's interview with BBC. He's still a Gooner, I wish he was still a Gunner.
When I look back at his departure I feel a little embarrassed. I think I called him a tosser on more than one occasion when the truth is he wasn't a tosser. Alexander Hleb was. Matty wasn't and next time I see him down the pub I will shake his hand and buy him a pint. And say sorry.
The harsh truth is that maybe Arsenal were the tossers towards Flamini. He was told to earn a contract and he certainly did more than enough to warrant a decent deal.
Look at it this way, Adebayor had one good season and now earns enough money to wipe his arse with a £50 note. Flamini only wanted to do the same with a £20, that's not greedy is it?
Matty was more loyal than a guide dog during his time at Arsenal. That is fucking loyal. He never complained and just got on with his job, most of the time out of position.
Arsenal even tried to sell him the year before he left. Liberty. He stayed, played out of his skin and still wasn't offered a new deal until virtually the end of his contract. I think Arsenal just expected him to sign whatever they put in front of him.
I took to Flamini as soon as I set eyes on him. His combative style is something Arsenal need and have lacked since his departure and if he decided he wanted to come back to Arsenal tomorrow I would drive to Milan myself, pick him up, drive him back and I wouldn't even ask for petrol money.
I bet you Cesc would chip in.
Keep it Goonerish..................
40 comments:
I NEVER understood the animosity towards Flamini. He completed his contract...what more could you want?!
We got him for free and he left on a free. I don't think we can complain about the nature of his departure when that's exactly how we got him.
Good luck to him, though with Beckham there, with Gattuso, Pirlo and club captain Ambrosini as well as Seedorf, Kaka and Ronaldinho, he might wish he stayed at Arsenal!
I miss him to! To think of the difference he could have done to our season!? And its made that much worse to think he was cesc's best buddy and wenger just let him go like that, i felt sorry for cesc that he had to lose two of his best friends in one summer, the other being the twat hleb who barely plays at barca now. Wish flamini could com back!
I miss him too, he was a Gooner. I thought Hleb was awesome, but I still feel sick when I think oh him kissing the Barca badge hours after being one of our favourite sons
yes I miss him and I wish he had never left but at the same time for 6 months he led wenger and fans to beleive he would stay to such a degree that wenger let 2 other DMs go. wenger trusted that Flam would stay having eventually been offered a very decent wage, but Flam played to the end of the season and then upped and left. it really had a big impact on this season. Only now has song come through.
It was tyical Arsenal penny pinching and a disgrace. Why is it that Arsenal think they shouldn't have to pay the going rate? Fair play to Flamini. When I look at those clowns Denilson and Diaby I can't help but wish we still had him. Can't say I liked him that much I am going to cry over it though. He wasn't that good.
Also if you remember Flamini played a very important role at left back on our run to the champs league final and was unlucky to be injured and lose his place to Ashley Cole for the final.
I see Bendtner has been talking it up in the papers again saying Arsenal fans 'haven't seen nothing yet'. TBH I hope he is shipped out and we do literally have to see no more of him in an Arsenal shirt.
Is it me or are there a lot of Ex-Arsenal players on the Beeb talking Arsenal up or down. That Petit interview for instance I thought was a right wind up, why have it just before we had an important semi final match?
Flamini was loyal I can't seem to think of any other player who played in so many different positions. He really was our utility man until last season.
Irocally i never understood the animosity towards him, but surely hes only making statements about how he misses arsenal now cos his own career didnt take off too well at milan.
Id welcome him back tho. hes a cool player to have.
then we could get rid of silvestre and have song as an extra backup CB :D
Hleb leaving has effected our season to a bigger degree, but Flaminiw as an important player for us.
At times this year, Denilson has been sensational, but recently he is playing as poor as he could possibly play, but Song is emerging into the midfielder that I thought he could be two years ago.
I blame Wenger on Flamini's departure!...
Never will i call him Flamoney
(But god do i hate "ghleb"!)
I bet he felt that the club took him for granted, at the beginning of the season i never mind if Adebayor became Moneybayor and leave us, we'll get plenty of money and will find a replacement for a mere marksman!
And now we have to play a kid call denialson the boy with no clue to replace our own Gattuso!
i'm sick off the "Youth Policy" It should be balance!
Wenger no more please denialson, please!
if we got alonso last summer , we will never be talking about flamini again
Who is to blame for flamini's departure AW or flamini himself? Though i felt bad when he left, but i later got to understand that the Arsenal board didn't just do enough to keep him. If the Arsenal policy is such that 'the better u play the more u earn', then what else can u ask for from a player who had play virtually every position for the team. All he asked for was a better offer but the board were (as usual), reluctant to give, and milan took advantage of the misunderstanding and snatched him! If AW really meant what he said, and i quote "the pair of cesc and flamini is the best midfield pairing i've ever produced for this team" then why let him go? DO WE CALL THIS LACK OF AMBITION? Somebody answer me!!! Gunner forever!!!
I miss the fuck out of him to. He was amazing. His workrate and desre to always win. And he wasnt too bad on the ball either and even managed a few important goals.
He would have been my choice for captain because his performance levels and leadership qualities, especially vocal and leading by example, were impecible.
He waqs great last season from the off so there was no reason why the board couldnt have offered him a new contract earlier than late in the season. Its their fault he was allowed to leave.
And even Cesc hasnt been the same without his best friend beside him. Their understanding was there to see even before last season started.
BUY HIM BACK
Yes.....most of us still miss Flamini but I think it's time we fans "MAN UP" and move on. Thinking about what he did for us in the past (which was good) will not help with the current season or our Champions League chances. He is gone....and now we have to pray that Wenger doesn't make a similar mistake this coming summer
Flamini bled for the cause, can't say that for many of our current team.
Next season Ramsey will be our new Flamini!
Wrighty7, glad to see you've come to your senses on this issue. Flamini is better than Denilson, Diaby and Song put together.
Fizman/Edelman said 'they pushed the boat out' on Flamini's contract offer, but they lied, they pushed him out in a boat cause wenger believed denilson, diaby and song were better. It's more likely diaby, denilson and song are the rope wenger hangs himself with.
imagine flamini and song playing in midfield at the same time lol. both running like mad chasing down everything. defensively teams would have no chance against us, there would be so much running they'd never get a moment to think!
How quickly people forget! Denilson has played crap the last 2-3 games. For the rest of the season (while Cesc was out) the kid has been running his ass off holding a different midfield every week. He's burnt out, he's not shit, on the contrary I think Denilson will become an Arsenal great in the exact same mold as Gilberto. The quiet achiever...... Cut the kid some slack.
And as much as I too miss the Flamster he chose to go to Milan for money. He was offered a very decent contract at AFC with the option to be a part of AW's vision to create the finest football team in the world. He chose the cash, lets not forget that. If he had backed himself as a player I'm sure he could have renegotiated his contract in 1,2 or 3 years time. He's now playing with has-beens.
We all know that he'll never wear an Arsenal shirt again, and whether or not it was his or AW's fault that he left, doesn't matter now.
well said goergesy....ppl complain about denilson but the boy has just worked on silently..how many remember the midfield he held during our initial 10 matches or so when cesc and co were not firing.he has played the most number of games this season and its his first full season.hes still young.suddnely song who was shit for a long period is the darling in MF?song is good no doubt but so was deni,cut the team some slack.theyve done well.if any it is AW with whom i have reservations since hes been playing deni without a break for long.hes kind of done the same with cesc last yr when he was defo tired by the end of the campaign....maybe he should give denilson a breather.
I think that Flamini was treated like shit it makes no sense to wait after until the contract is virtually over Wenger would have tried harder to offer him another contract just remember it would have been like a free signing the idea was to save money but look at it this way that if we have to sign someone which we have to do we will have to buy pay something in the range of between 6-12m and we dont know if the guy will adapt what was wrong with offering Flamini this amount, if not, sign him then sell him later just like we did with Henry
the reason flamini left was sadly because of the nature of modern day football...i think 90% pro footballers in the world would love to be part of this team wenger is building..the reason he left was some clubs ready to pay over the odds for a squad player and arsenals failure to recognize this..i can't say that flamini was not at any fault 'coz football should come before money..but i hate to admit it with flamini would have done our season a load of good..imagine an midfield of arsh fab flamster n walcott/nasri for attacking games and arsh fab den/song flam nasri/walcott for defensive matches...we'd kill teams in the tunnel by the shear talent of the footballers on offer..still believe we're 1 or 2 signings away from the return of the untouchables..sorry for the little flamini dream team section, wrighty started it!
Flamini did well when he was with us. What I like most is the 100% effort he put in in every matches although he was not the most technical type of players.
He said in the BBC report that he left for AC Milian because he supported the club since he was a boy. Some of his family members and relatives live in Italy too and he wanted to be closer to them. Money was not the most important factor.
I think we should be thankful to him for what he has done for us, especially last season and move on. Wenger never buys back a player that has left the club. I hope Wenger will buy a defensive midfielder next season as currently there is only one reliable one in our squad - Alex Song. Denilson gets muscled out too easily and Diaby does not have any tactical brain.
Flamini was over-rated. A midfield of Flam and Cesc would never win the premier league. For 2 years Flam was the one name you really didnt want to see on the teamsheet. He had a good last year with us. Thats it. Song is easily as effective as Flam, and has a much bigger physical presence. Diaby has twice as much ability as Flam, but is handicapped by injuries.
The Board did offer him a new contract. He turned it down. I dont think they shouldve broken the bank to keep him, he's not world class by any means.
FLAMINI IS A FUCKING BACKSTABBER
Flamini did probably intend to stay until AC Milan came calling. I'm sure he regrets that now, but's Wengers cock up.
That's all Wenger seems to do these days, fuck things up. What he did to Diarra was shameful. It compounded his Flamini fuck up.
l dont miss that fool, he turned his back on the mighty Gunners, now that he cant earn a place in Milan he want to come back,sorry but no thanks , let him rot on the bench in Milan, sell-out
It wouldn't have mattered what money Arsenal offered - the Milan deal was offered shortly after our game there. He was always going to go there once that had been offered to him, and although he is hardly playing there and won't be a first team player for a long time to come, he is happy there and won't return.
Hold on now. He is supposed to have said that he felt that to replace him would cost Arsenal £20 million and he wanted that money spread over five years. He was good, but £20 million? In the end, no matter whether you liked him or not, this came down to money and he wanted lots of it. I don't have a problem with this, but this charm campaign is happening for a reason. Flamini is no fool and there will be something happening in the background. Coming back to AFC? That's not Arsene's way, but I do think this interview, at this time, has not been done for no reason. Here's to a good Middleborough thrashing!!
I agree, Matty is missed. It will never happen because of the attitudes Arsene Wenger has, but I think a swap of Adebayor to Milan for Flamini and cash would be good. We would need a striker, obviously, but for the most part this season Adebayor has been rank poor.
Is there any chance of wenger getting him back this summer?And by the way Wrighty7, Ive been reading your blogs for quite some time now and i seriously think you are the best goonner blogger!!
You muppet..... Get a life....
The geezer is div. A cabbie I know saw him in London after the Paris and when asked what he thought, Flam replied with "I don't give a fuck"
I've noticed some on here having a right go at Denilson now - is there no stopping these people from slagging off our own players!!!
Cheers Ashwin
Was never angry at Flamini. However i don't think 75k was warranted. If Wenger was prepared to pay that then fine, but as he wasn't why shouldn't flamini move to his boyhood club for more money?
Flamini left us to go to a club full of old cunts and thought "yeah, I should get straight into the starting line up" what he forgot was those old cunts in his same position were ambrosini and the bulldog(Rino Gattuso) What a cock up he made, he still don't really start and Gattuso's out for the season! He's doing a Hleb now, saying he still loves the Gunners, but he's going further and saying he would love to come back... fair dooze we've missed his bite in midfield, but not only (like song) does he have bite in the challenge, but he can play and he is mobile like denilson, but his passing and range of passes are much greater. I'm in two minds, he sold us old, but Wenger almost left a fucking "bargain" sign around his neck and said to the world of football come and get him. We should've offered him a contract the summer before, or even when he played at left back before the champions league final, and he should not have been dropped because of Cashley Mole, he was hungrier for it, and was better defensively. But anyways if we do sign him again, our squad will be stronger, if not, fuck it! lol
Let's be honest here fellas. Up until Flamini's last season with the Arsenal he was piss poor. That's why he wasnt offered a new improved contract alot sooner than he did. Prior to his great season last year, Flamini was a mere squad player. Matty to his credit took advantage of the injuries in the Arsenal squad and made the position of DMC his own, keeping Gilberto out and absolutely playing out of his skin. 1 good season out of 4(?) though doesnt justify the sums Flamini wanted.
Arsenal have always been fair with their contracts and they rarely break the wage structures. I believe AW and the board felt the contract put on the table was justified, Flamini though was seduced by Milan and the money they offered.
I don`t agree with your comments Wrighty and those of most replies on this thread. Why would a professional footballer who has struggled to make the 1st IX for 2 or 3 seasons and finally gets it together, walk away from the club he has started to repay the faith his manager had placed on him over that period of time??? MONEY. End of. 2 or 3 seasons of mediocraty, filling in LMF,LB, in a team like our invincables, and he finally comes good for about half a season and you guys think he`s the best thing since sliced bread. Rubbish. Good ridence I say. AW has said publiclly he thought he (AW), made a mistake in not offering Flamz a contract earlier. But how could he? The guy just wasn`t doing it. Just like Diaby at the moment. A fill-in at best. IMO Flamini was and is not up to Arsenal standard.
Flamini is the missing link--end of story!
No Flamini, Gilberto=no stabilizing force in the middle of the park that allows Fabregas to go ahead and concentrate on what he does best.
Letting Diarra go wasn't a wise move either (doing this role perfectly at Madrid as he did for Portsmouth).
Song is average at best ---United, chelsea and Liverpool will continue to win the major trophies until this is corrected. Injuries is not the problem. All of the top teams have had their share and go on.
They all blend power, mental strength, physicality with technique, tactics and experience.
Unfortunately for you, Wenger has adopted this penchant for youth and style!!
There was a time when arsenal stocked their squad with the likes of Vierra(sp), Petitte(sp),Parlour, Keown and Adams and Arsenal had power, strength,physicality,technique and tatics albeit less style, but a cabinet full of trophies.
You ain't the only one who misses him. Fucking love the guy.
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