I am Nostradamus

Well what a terrible result in the Champions League on Tuesday night, not only was I forced to listen to the utter bullshit that is the commentary of Peter Drury, but Thierry Henry actually won! Yes it was Real Madrid vs Henry and weren’t we constantly reminded throughout the game about how Arsenal were such underdogs and wasn’t it weird to say that, and weren’t Madrid in such a rich vein of form, how on earth were Arsenal going to win!?! I should actually point out that the last time I watched Madrid play they were ripped to pieces by Zaragoza, in a 6-1 cup thrashing. So it was really not a surprise to see Madrid play so poorly as even though they have a star studded line up, they are certainly capable to not turning up on the day. Which made the ignorant ramblings of ITV’s commentary team even more irritating.

So Arsenal and their only decent player managed to pull one over, in fairness it was a pretty good goal, but they are nothing without their funny shaped headed striker. I’m sure normal service will be resumed and Madrid will win the return fixture 4-0. That will then be the end of Arsenal’s season, they will focus their attention on claiming fourth spot in the Premiership, to which they will be beaten to by their North London rivals.

This will have disastrous consequences for the club. They could not possibly expect to retain the services of Henry, their only class player, he will off to Barcelona. With no champions league football they will be unable to attract star players and improve their squad. Their inaugural year in the new stadium will be tainted by the fact that they are no longer a top 4 club in the country. The departure of Henry will no doubt ensure the departure of other old hands at the club, do not expect to see Pires, Ljungberg, Cole or Bergkamp next year. Sol Campbell has already lost his mind, and will no doubt be selling the big issue in 6 months time. Moving to a new stadium is very expensive; they will be without the significant income that the champions league brings. This will mean that they will have to direct all their funds into payments on the new stadium, thus not having any money to spend in the transfer market, a further hindrance to improving their squad.

So 2006/07 will not turn out to be a very successful season for the Arse. A top 10 finish but no European football. Debts will start to mount; the club will need to sell its better players in order to fund its new stadium. This will further deteriorate the quality of the squad, Arsenal will continue their slide down the ladder. We have seen all this happen before, yes that’s right last time it was called Leeds United. It may not be that season, it could be the season after, but Arsenal will be relegated. Once this happens, they cannot possibly expect to afford to stay at their very expensive stadium, indeed how can a club expect to fill a 60,000-seat stadium when playing in the championship? So Arsenal will be forced to move to a cheaper, smaller stadium, however by that time Highbury will no longer be a football stadium. So where could they go? Who cares really, I’m sure they’ll find something, but in order to stay liquid they will need to lease their own stadium out to another side, that’s if it hasn’t been repossessed by the creditors. So which team would by that time be looking for a bigger stadium to seat its many loyal supporters while playing in Europe’s premier competition? Yes that’s right,

Tottenham Hotspur.