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‘Song sung blue’

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Alex Song’s recent departure to the mighty Barcelona has been widely seen by many as a large dose of good riddance to selfish rubbish. Yet the truth surely lies in the muddy waters somewhere in between the rebuttals of the Song camp and bullish ‘leakings’ of the Arsenal camp.

Neither side have covered themselves in glory over this.

What is surprising is that unlike previous departures from Arsenal, the club has never previously felt the need to ‘brief’ against an ex-player.

Samir Nasri was never decried as ‘lazy’. Gael Clichy was never deemed to be unwilling to take directions. Cesc Fabregas was never late to training.

Yet here we have the deeply unsavoury spectacle of a club seemingly intent on putting the boot in to an ex-player. And the question has to be: why?

If we take what is coming out of the Song corner at face value, then it would seem that numerous requests were made to renegotiate Song’s contract. We are told that Song was committed to the club. We are told that even after Barca made a formal offer, there was still a desire to sit down and talk about a new contract. And we are also told that the formal response was a) that he still had three years to go (with the

suggestion of: why should we?) and b) it would happen after the transfer window closed (with the suggestion: when we have you over a barrel).

There is something very odd, then, about Song now belonging to the Catalan’s rather than to us, and the uncivil sniping that has resulted since the move was confirmed.

To those who say Song moved because of money, I just don’t buy it. £55-70k, once you take tax into considerations, isn’t that big a deal. And if my boss turns round and tells me he won’t talk to me over a new contract until my opportunity to leave has passed – then by anyone’s standard, that’s dirty tricks.

Song, just like Robin van Persie, had a stand-out season last year.

The request for a new contract was entirely reasonable in light of his performances and if an extra 15k-a-week means we tie him down for another fours years – that seems an absolute no-brainer. Yet he left.

And you can’t help but wonder whether the managements ‘little league’, penny-pinching mentality kicked in. Yet again, we lost another rising star in Arsenal’s firmament over money.

Neil Diamond knew a thing or two – ‘Song sung blue, Everybody knows one, Song sung blue, Every garden grows one’.

Even Arsenal. We grow them at The Emirates. But we don’t have the big

time mentality to keep them at The Emirates. And it’s us, the fans, who are left whistling the blues.

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9 comments

  • Iain says:

    twaddle- he had 3 years left on his contract and just wanted more money now. Its traditional to renegotiate contracts with 2 years to go so why should the club pay more before they had to? Song was so loyal he jumped rather than wait a year.

    It was poor judgement on his agents behalf- testing Wengers patience just after RvP had pissed him off.
    Endgame- see ya Alex and good luck

  • The BearMan says:

    There is someone at Arsenal it appears that delight in rubbishing certain players that move away from the club. Their favourite slang words are: Poor Attitude and Lazy! (I venture to say the targets are mainly black players).

    If anyone cares to take the trouble and look through the achives of every game for the past two seasons they will see a different picture. If they can still say having viewed all Alex-Song’s performances that he is lazy. Then I would add every team in the Premiership would crave lazy players like Song.

    It’s about time Wenger ought to be questioned about this matter in one of his interviews.

    I can personally name 3 players someone at the club slung this mud at.

  • The BearMan says:

    Wanting an improvement to his pay conditions is a totally different matter altogether. If in fact Arsenal truly valued his services, they wiuld have instigated it. Consider £50k, we might be happily paid Sihin £115k.

  • Jafac says:

    This is a load of horse dung.

    There were three years left on his contract, meaning the contract wasn’t even half-way done. The club is not required to renegotiate a player’s contract whenever the player desires. Furthermore, just because Arsenal didn’t want to negotiate a new contract in this transfer window, it wouldn’t prevent Song from leaving in the January window or at the end of this year when he would STILL have two years left on the contract. If Song was put over a barrel, he put himself there.

    The bottom line is this: Song was trying to bully Arsenal into renegotiating a contract long before it expired. Arsenal sent out a clear message by selling Song (at a relatively low price too) that it doesn’t matter who you are, if you try to strong-arm the club, you will find yourself on a plane leaving London.

    • Sirmose says:

      Now is losing? Arsenal of course. The same we (Arsenal fans) wanted to crucify Wenger and the board for allowing RVP, Nasri and others to leave with just one year left on their contracts. Now we thought three years is too much to renegotiate a contract. Thank God he has gone. Lets suffer like this. Redknapp prediction will soon be a reality. How can wenger be paying Song 50-55k while Squilaci and co collect 60k for no work done all season? Until Arsenal value those outstanding qualities with higher pay, we will continue to lose our best on the cheap and remain trophyless. Imagine Chamberlain rceiving 20k? He will soon leave.How could you have sold a 55k player and started looking for a 115k player replacement who is not even up to the one you sold? Watch out for another last minute market rush to gather the world rejects as players.

  • Sirmose says:

    Sorry for the mistake. I meant to say, “now who is losing”

  • Tom says:

    Whatever the circumstances that facilitated Song’s departure , the fact remains Arsenal have lost two star players for the second year running, which had to have had a chilling effect on rest of the squad. Needless to say it’s no way to run successful club, perhaps it’s precisely why Wengwer hasn’t been successful in years. His ego might be bigger than his desire to succeed.

  • Rob Fisher says:

    Hi Folks,

    thanks for responding to the article. Really good to hear your views.

    I’m with Tom on this: ‘something’ happened and yet again, we lost a big player – someone who still had some development potential and who could have become a really big time player for us. You all make a good point: part of what we are struggling with is the club’s legendary wage structure. Song = 55k: Sahin = 120k? That’s just not right.

    I don’t know about the way contracts work. Is it right to ask to renegotiate your contract with 3 years still remaining? I don’t know. If you had a really good season, why not? If you want to send a message that you believe in the club and you want the club to believe in you, why not? I think he was entitled to at least ask the question. Seems a shame asking the question then = he ended up elsewhere, and at a fierce rival!

  • Dave says:

    one of the epl’s best midfielder and you think he dont deserv a payrise if Song sung blue den Theo very soon would be singing red just like RVP all thanks our astute managment board two of the clubs best players are gone with a third in Theo sooon to join

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