The SoccerDiva talks Sahin and More
Ed Note: Alright boys its time to clean up and show some respect. I am pleased to announce that The British SoccerDiva – Shie Nicolau has joined the YAMA basis. Sophie Nicolau is the former co-host of World Football Daily and more importantly she is a Gooner. She’s going to share her thoughts with us on all things Arsenal and anything else she has going that may be of interest. Today – she covered the Jose Mourinho presser after his Real Madrid side thumped the LA Galaxy 5-1. I know you lot are opinionated but keep it clean. – DAG
Mourinho Wants Sahin to be Happy
Real Madrid destroyed the LA Galaxy in front of a record-breaking crowd of over 30,000 at the Home Depot Center. Madrid travelled to LA with a full strength squad for the U.S. pre-season tour and they even gave a run out to some players who might be facing the club’s chopping board during this summer transfer window.
Kaka who is rumoured to return to his beloved AC Milan showed the Angelino crowd he still has that Brazilian magic. The big news however this week has been about Nuri Sahin and his potential move to Arsenal. There is even a suggestion that Tottenham have entered the race to sign the ex Borussia Dortmund star on loan.
So does the German star have a future at Madrid or is Mourinho looking to move Sahin to pastures new? He has failed to impress at the Santiago Bernabeu, a place even Mourinho highlights as a tough environment to play your football. And when asked if Sahin deserves another chance to prove himself, the Special One gave a very frank response, “Real Madrid is very difficult. It’s not an easy club, we demand a lot, we have great players and when you don’t start, well it’s difficult to do it.”
Mourinho didn’t reveal anything about where Sahin might be heading but he did perhaps give the youngster a lifeline should he decide to stay at Madrid. “His situation is also a specific situation. If he stays he stays and if he stays we will treat him good, I will treat him good. I will try to help him. He will be another option, so if he stays it’s not a problem for me. He’s one more solution. If he stays it’s perfect for me.”
But is it really Sahin’s choice? Desperate for first team football, Mourinho understands Sahin’s position. “The point is he’s a young boy. He wants to play every match. He wants to be happy to play. He wants to play to be happy. In Real Madrid you have Alonso, Khedira, Lass, Grenero, Ozil. The situation is not easy. We leave it in his hands. Be happy. Decide what you want to decide to be happy. If you want to leave we will help you to leave. If you decide to stay we are going to support you to be successful this season.”
It was clear Real Madrid are ready to talk business with another club. The big question is what club wants to talk and can Sahin rediscover the form that made Real Madrid want to sign him in the first place? If Arsenal sign Cazorla and also add Sahin to their squad in addition to the already captured Podolski and Giroud, this could turn out to be the first non-summer horribilis for Arsenal fans in a long time.
Mourinho Can’t Believe Beckham is in Los Angeles or I’m Sorry I Could Never Be Beckham’s Coach
Football icon David Beckham was recently quoted as saying Jose Mourinho is one of the greatest managers in football right now. It appears the two men have a tremendous amount of respect for each other. When Beckham’s quote was presented to Mourinho in a press conference after his Real Madrid side thrashed LA Galaxy 5-1 in a pre-season friendly, he reciprocated the compliment. “Beckham has always been nice to me. He has always had very good words for me. I’m sorry I could never be his coach. I would love it. Now it’s too late as David is in the last years of his career.”
Clearly Mourinho admires the ex-Real Madrid star and he didn’t hold back about Beckham missing from Team GB at the Olympics. “There is something I don’t understand and I know because I was also inside the project. If now the Olympic Games are in London it’s because of him. Yes it’s because of Sebastian Coe and other people, but he was the most important face of that project. I don’t understand why he is not playing though. I cannot understand. I think in a group of 18 players you have football qualities to give, human qualities to give. I think he is one of the best soccer professionals to express the ideals of Pierre de Coubertin. I’m so sorry he is not there. I also participated in the London project and I don’t understand why such a big personality is playing in this match, when he should be at the Olympics.”
About the Soccer Diva
Sophie Nicolaou is the former co-host of World Football Daily and London Greek Radio and has been in entertainment and broadcast media for the majority of her career operating on both sides of the microphone and camera. She worked at 20th Century Fox and Columbia Pictures in London and Los Angeles, spearheading PR and Communications campaigns for some of film and TV’s most revered franchises including Star Wars, X-Files and 24. From the London, Edinburgh, Cannes and Venice Film Festivals to working with some of Hollywood’s highest profile talent, Sophie has broad experience of everything that encompasses the entertainment mix.
For six years, she presented her own sports and pop culture radio show on London Greek Radio 102.3FM and was also the subject of an ITV documentary based on successful broadcasters within the U.K’s ethnic media. She has been pod casting about world football since 2008 and in the same year, Sophie also launched her football blog British Soccer Diva which is a social platform for fellow football fans to rant, rave, post and poll about the game as though they were sitting in a pub with their mates, on a soggy or sunny Saturday afternoon!
Sophie has interviewed players and managers including ex Arsenal super captain and now Manchester City Ambassador Patrick Vieira, Tottenham Hotspur’s Rafael van der Vaart, Wigan Athletic Manager Roberto Martinez, David Beckham, Jose Mourinho, Jan Vertonghen, MLS Commissioner Don Garber and US Women’s stars Abby Wambach, Hope Solo, Alex Morgan and Megan Rapinoe.
On World Football Daily, Sophie talked about the beautiful game with the finest analysts and correspondents. Regular guests included, Tim Vickery and Andy Brassell from the BBC, Graham Hunter from Sky Sports, Grant Wahl from Sports Illustrated, John Cross from the Daily Mirror, Charlie Wyatt from The Sun, Neil Ashton from the Daily Mail and Derek Rae from ESPN.
“Football, soccer, call it what you want. The voice of a fan, for every soccer fan. It’s just like being down the pub with your mates.” Follow Madam Football on Twitter @soccerdiva. Her web site is : http://britishsoccerdiva.com/prod/
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For any doubters on how quickly season tickets have become available… (which signals fans making a MASSIVE statement about the club)… then see this story below.
Its title says it: CAZORLA SIGNING can’t mask Arsenal Season Ticket FIASCO.
http://www.givemefootball.com/premier-league/cazorla-signing-cant-mask-arsenal-season-ticket-fi?state=c9f5e929954547059554568b696933d1
In a nutshell… the fans aren’t buying it any more.
They can SHOVE their 4th place is a trophy… and trying to blame the players who they sell, the teams that are trying to win trophies, and all the other BS.
I am VERY HAPPY that the fans have finally stood up and said “NO MORE”.
@stag133, Did you actually read that article? I
skimmed it and it sounds like there’s a lot going on….Overall, I think Arsenal
are well placed to charge plenty of money to plenty of people for plenty of
years to come–and they’ve made some reasonable changes to the ticket pricing to
try and accommodate the needs of their large (and changing) clientele.
It’s handy to use the lack of trophies as something to beat the club over the
head, but to pretend that the landscape hasn’t changed is absurd. To borrow the
restaurant analogy….it’s like saying that a couple of very trendy ones moved
onto the block and started serving up very high priced ingredients at good
prices and in good portions, without a worry re: overhead. The (former) best
restaurant on the block has a choice, match the new ones or play to the
loyalties of the diners while maybe trying out some more rustic ingredients
or different preparations. If you want to remain loyal or feel ill at ease
with the trendy folk what do you do? First, you decry that things ain’t what
they used to be. 2nd you demand a new Chef. Maybe you accuse the owner of
being greedy, or at least fail to give him eye contact when he comes around
and asks you how your meal was and moans about the new places down the block.
Or maybe you hope he one-ups the new eateries for a season or two before
shutting his doors permanently (see for example, Portsmouth FA cup win a year
AFTER our last one….) Finally you go back to #1 (saying things ain’t
what they used to be) and start eating at new restaurants or even preparing
your own food at home….
Or maybe you start some sort of internet protest…..
The fact of the matter is that things ain’t what they used to be. My friend
who grew up in Barnet was afraid to go to matches at Highbury because the
locals would sharpen coins and throw them at others. He only went wif mates
looking for a bit of boffer (bother) and, it was too much aggro….. I ask him
what the tickets cost and he can’t remember nor can he understand as I try to
tell him about the modern (antiseptic) stadium and the dinosaur (not to mention the
trendy restaurants on Upper Street or the gastro-pub at the other end of
Highbury Fields)…..
Football/Soccer trades on tradition (and loyalty) but is in desperate need of
modernization. The cost of players (transfer fees hardly matter relative to
salaries….) will get passed onto the fans unless you have the right owner
who also makes the right payoff to the right executive of the right associations.
Ticket prices are the way at the moment, but watch your TV/internet streams
for bigger bills coming down the road, and then, finally reorganization for
profit sharing…. Arsenal seem well placed to handle these turbulent times,
(didn’t Marx suggest that Capitalism is a state of permanent revolution…..)
probably much more so than its “consumers”…..
My point is that you can cry all you want but if the Kobe beef costs $50/lb
(or 50 pounds/kilo) at the market you better get to the restaurants that are
trying to make a name for themselves (while maybe driving the long-standing
places out of business) or accept what’s on offer (even if it seems pricier
for what you get) i.e., TAKE YOUR BUSINESS ELSEWHERE or JUST EAT OUT LESS OFTEN.
Certainly if you do go out, try and enjoy the meal, eh….
On that note, congrats to longtime poster CaribKid, whose Jamaican boys sure
can run…..
Also, when do we get our Cazorla announcement? Or will it be like in the
movie (Goal II–Living the Dream), when his girl says (w/bad Geordie accent)
“‘Ow could ya, Santi”……
@HighburyTerraceSteve,
Thanks, T&F has always been huge in Jamaica and we have been producing Olympic gold since 1948 at the London Olympics.
I’m a big T&f fan and was an excellent 800 meters runner until women became a priority :)
Oh well, athletes never made money back in the day.
@HighburyTerraceSteve, Great but little depressing analysis.I would love to see every Sports Franchis run like the Green Bay Packers. No other Club,Franchise or wathever word you like is better managed and fan friendlier than GBP. I hate to see a owner wedge himselfe between the consumer and the provider (Fan-Club) and pretends that he is adding smth to the mix. (OK they often do but just as often they kill a club)
And Boy those Jamaicans sure can dope (I’m extremly cynical
when it comes to Athletics I’m not trying to upset you Caribkid)
@Ty,
If you ever had the opportunity to see their training facilities you would totally understand that they don’t have the technology to even comprehend the concept of doping. Very basic, spartan and rudimentary facilities. Doping? Go talk to the Chinese, they have replace the Soviet Union of old.
When we won 2 Golds, 2 Silvers and 1 Bronze in 1948 we didn’t even have a training facility. Without doping, no weight lifting regimes and a 350 yard track to train, I had the 6th fastest time in the 800 yards worldwide in the under 16 age group. My training partner was #3.
During my time in the US I have had to organize training equipment, funds and homes for then to compete in the Penn Relays because they have no money. Also, look on our success in the Penn relays from the late 50’s and you will see that we regularly beat college teams with our high school lads.
You touched a very raw nerve with your comment based on zero knowledge. Usain Bolt still holds the youth 200 meters record which he initially broke at the age of 15 having just competing for 2 years as he was a Cricketer before his track discovery.
Would prefer if you comment on situations you have at least some iota of knowledge about.
@Caribkid, the success of the Jamaicans at the Penn Relays is just amazing…
ran and coached track for many years, and the highlight of the season as a runner and coach was going to Penn, to see the Relays.
The Jamaican relay teams were just amazing to watch…
@Caribkid, I know that Bolt
is running faster than a sprinter who did with 100% certanty
used performance enhancers and won gold not that long ago.
Tahts all I need to know.
@HighburyTerraceSteveHTS, yes… I read it.
And yes. A lot is going on.
But the reality is… the fans “waiting list” is gone!
You can get season tickets and tickets to Arsenal quite easily at this point.
There is two reasons. Lack of success and high ticket prices.
If the club can’t figure it out, the fans will for them. You can’t play the fans for fools, in a tough economy with crazy ticket prices, and and not really competing for trophies.
This is 1000% why, the club seem to be attempting to bring in players, and keep RVP…
Without the fans, they have NO INCOME.
There were large swatches of empty seats at time last year… and a massive decrease in the demand for tickets, makes even the most stubborn board member think twice about the path taken going forward.
This is NOT NEW.
The Boston Celtics had a season ticket waiting list of historical numbers for years… and then the sucked once the original big 3 were gone… and so was the massive waiting list.
NOBODY was going to pay big ticket prices, to see average to poor basketball.
The club were forced to sell $10 tickets to get young people to get interest… and now after some success, the ticket sales are up.
This crazy notion that “real fans” will show up no matter what, at whatever price… is RIDICULOUS. Its ancient history.
Arsenal football, used to be available to the regular man, the blue collar guy… its not any more… and it has ZERO to do with whether many of those fans WANT to go…
The jig is up… and its time for Arsenal FC to put up…. as in spending on its players…. or they’ll lose their periphery fans, after pricing out many of their base fans.
Looks like, they MIGHT be getting the message, partly do the the evaporating season ticket waiting list!
@stag133, read the article yes, but perhaps not for comprehension…
if there were 30 to 40k on the list and they are offering tickets to “as low as” 22k then, by the miracle of math there are still 8 to 18k still on the list.
so to summarize, the waiting list is not gone. shrunk; well yes, but you always seem to have the flair for the dramatic.
@jroybower,
HALF the waiting list has evaporated.
I am pretty sure that’s HIGHLY significant.
And the season ticket holders REGULARLY sell off large portions of their tickets…
you can get a ticket to ANY Arsenal match, without much difficulty.
Is that hard to comprehend?
Not really sure what’s going on with the site these days….Guest writers posting resumes and Jose Mourinho pressers? Where’s the analysis? Did I miss it in the part about Beckham? I guess this is better than “We’ve bought M’Vila” or “Gorcuff is our Guy”….
I’ve been steering clear given that the comment section has given over to “AW needs a lobotomy” one day and “If we buy who they say we’ll buy I’ll be happy,” the next. Our Greek chorus of one (apologies to Sophie, whose opinions I AM curious about….) has been compared to a 10 year old, and, given that my own kid is 10, I’ll say that it DOES seem difficult to see beyond momentary obsessions, all the better if they cost money– Clyde’s current mania is for ice skating at the rink, but just try and get him out on a frozen lake in the correct season…. Still, the extreme reactions and demonstrations of will seem more like when he was 3 or 4, though maybe the whole “blame the world” idea is yet to come with his teen years….
But these complaints, I guess, are neither here nor there. (I guess I just miss some of the regular posters, but I shouldn’t complain if I don’t carry my own weight.) We’ve got two weeks to the opener and 4 weeks til the close (of the transfer window). Maybe the Koln match will give some indication of who will start vs Sunderland, which maybe will suggest who’s staying and who’s going. It’d sure be nice to get a little clarity….
So Carzola, Sahin in? RVP, Theo out? (Not to mention Arsh, Bentner, Chamakh, Denilson, etc….Do we have a player we need to purge for each letter of the alphabet?….) As many have reported we’ve got absolutely massive turnover happening, but we seem at least a bit on the front foot this time, actually spending before selling. Overall, it seems like a bit of (cautious) optimism might be in order, but only if early results follow.
Enough said, back into hiding….
@HighburyTerraceSteve,
We’ll resume normal service in the week prior to the season opener. I wanted to give some writers a chance. Found some good ones.
I just didn’t want to have to write 3-4 articles a week in the summer. There’s only so much you can write about the ongoing Van Persie saga.
@DaAdminGooner,
Well, I kinda like you bringing in differet writers and different stuff that they bring in. Interesting actually on what they are writing eventhough some of them I completely disagree with. No harm done.
@HighburyTerraceSteve, ummm. yeah, so if I am complaining about a like of significant signings, and then the club start making significant signings… I am not supposed to applaud or be happy about it?
WTF are you on about?
There is no doubt Wenger needs to STFU… and stop the idiotic rantings of a manager who doesn’t think its his fault that the club can’t win anything, but that its everybody else improving their teams too much… and he doesn’t like the way they do it.
I don’t want to hear anything from him, about other clubs doing business. EVER. Just do your job, and shut up.
WIn something, then talk.
And with the POTENTIAL signings of Sahin and Cazorla…
we have the rumor mill saying RVP is possibly excited by the signings, and considering STAYING at Arsenal.
So,
all the jack-asses that RIPPED HIM… for being greedy and a judas and we can do without him, will do a U-Turn and say they love him, and his loyalty and he’ll be wonderful for us. (if he stays)
It is, and was NEVER about making the most money he could… he wants to be paid handsomely, but he wants the club to have AMBITION and COMPETE for trophies… like most fans do. (though some just want us to play nice football, and coming in 4th is OK, as long as we make profits, apparently?)
@stag133, Its not that he wanted
out its the fact that he did it behind the managers and boards
and ultimatly fans back. If he would have done the decent
thing and spoke with Wenger first then he would have known
that we will sign Cazorla,Giroud,Podolski and maybe one or
two others (Sahin)and he woudn’t look like a total douche.
And if he stays and gives another statement in wich he says
it was a mistake and apologieses than everyone would support
him again I would even consider him as skipper again.
@Ty,
“Its not that he wanted
out its the fact that he did it behind the managers and boards
and ultimatly fans back.”
The Board and Wenger knew his decision when they met after the season ended.
1. Grimaldi said Giroud was RVP’s replacement. Giroud was purchased before RVP aired his announcement.
2. Why put a gag order on him if nothing was known? If things were still up in the air or he was going to sign there would be no need for a gag order. The gag order was requested so they could get Giroud at a decent price and sell their season tickets.
Way too much credit being given to the Board and Wenger for being the angels in this situation. They would not have had players looking to scoot out the door every year if they had shown ambition and put a team on the field which was able to compete for trophies.
@Caribkid,
BTW, quite a few fans who were way down in the pecking order for season tickets have been getting email offerings from Arsenal up till a week ago. Someone who was 10,000th on the waiting list received both an Email and phone message.
@Caribkid, that is CORRECT on the Season Tickets… while some people believe the fans will never make a “statement”… they have… with not renewing season tickets, or when the opportunity came, they passed on them.
That says A LOT.
@stag133, Ty.
MANU BARCA REAL and CHELSEA…
HAVE WON TITLES!!!!!!!!!!
It hasn’t been 7 YEARS, and they HAVEN’T SOLD THEIR CAPTAINS and STARS EVERY SUMMER!!!
How the hell can you say we are in line with ticket prices …
with the ELITE clubs in Europe…
we are MORE EXPENSIVE than ALL of them… how is that overused?
Its FACT.
So we are selling tickets for prices higher than United, Chelsea, Barcelona and Real Madrid…
yet we’ve won NOTHING for 7 years, sold our star players… and they have all won titles…
what kind of comparison is that?
@Caribkid, I think Carib has correctly and effectively shot down the absolute BULLSHITE that RVP did much of anything wrong… I’d say he actually did what Wenger and the Board asked, and allowed the club to sell tickets and kits and all that crap.
He doesn’t need to apologize for a damned thing… should he apologize for wanting to win too?
how about he begs the fans forgiveness…. pleads with Arsene for going against his wishes… maybe he should take less money now, because he was soooo wrong for what he did… (what did he do wrong again?)
The club would be LUCKY to have him back.
@stag133, How about he just STFU and said to Wenger Im Out and I will not resign no matter what. Do you believe Wenger wouldn’t let him go ? You really believe Wenger who sold all those quality players because he couldn’t just let them walk drew the line now.I’m sorry but all that conspiracy he keept quiet so Arsenal could sell season tickets, kits stuff is pathetic. He has every right to leave but don’t try to play the fans and the club. He wanted to drive his price down and thats all that statement was good for.You convieniently gloss over the only problem I have with the whole situation and those who didn’t renew theit season tickets because they wanet to make a statement I respeckt them (10000 No way in hell maybe 100) but do they know how long you have to wait to get one if the team is good again(also why have I the urge to call them Hollywood Fans)
@Ty, so you expect FANS to pay the HIGHEST PRICES in EUROPE, regardless of what kind of product the club throw out on the pitch?
REALLY?
you must really think fans are idiots… to expect them to just eat up the Arsenal bullshit year after year after year, the team hasn’t won anything since 2005, and you want them to pay THOSE prices and … they are “Hollywood Fans”?
Ty.
Would you return to a restuarant over and over again, if they had GREAT FOOD for a few years, and charged the highest prices in town… but over the last 7 years, the food was OK, even good sometimes, but nothing close to what they built their reputation on?
What type of fool would continue to frequent a business regardless of what type of service they are provided, and continue to pay top dollar to do so?
If the club LOWERED PRICES on tickets, concessions, and merchandise…
then the fans might lower expectations!
Calling fans “Hollywood Fans”… because the club have priced out most of their most LOYAL … long-time season ticket holders… because when you pay the HIGHEST PRICES, you expect some sort of modicum of effort by the club to compete for trophies… IS PERVERSE!!!
The club have PISSED on the fans for YEARS with these prices and selling Captains and stars over and over…
@Ty, That whole highest
prices in Europe thing is just so overused. We are a top
10 Club in Europe still. Our prices are right in line
with those at ManU, Chelsea,Real and Barca. Bayern has
ridicoulously low prices because they have standing areas
and if you look in Italy those Clubs have attendence
problems.
And Stag really get your arguments right you talked about
the RVP situation and then said the fans made a statement
and didn’t renew theit season tickets. But now you
bring up a completly different reason why they did it.
And I didn’t say they are hollywood fans but I have a
club like dortmund over here were litterally somebody
has to die without having had kids or a stadium expansion
has to happen for a season ticket to become available.