Football

Can't bring myself to think too much about fantasy football just quite yet but I will be there in due course to defend my double crown. Hopefully my "human values" (as "AVB" would say) will shine on through!

Okay, thy deed is done. Michael, you may have to send some reminders to the usual gang.

^Much appreciated, Fred. Other invitations going out as we speak!

I want it on the record that I was planning on calling my team Before the Devil Knows You're Fred but alas, the silly character limit prevented such majesty.

I am in, thanks Michael

^Fantastic, thanks Astronomer.

Now you have someone (me) who will finish last, guaranteed

mouahaha

Football is becoming even more the rich and the poor. Selling to direct rival (traditional direct rival any way, because it's not really the case anymore) is just sad

This is why Arsenal will always be a pathetic club. They always play with promising youngsters hoping that they will someday become great footballers and once that comes true, Arsenal just sells them away.

It's not just Van Persie, it's also Nasri, Fabregas and many other footballers. Arsenal will never win any title again if they keep this policy. Maybe they don't care about the titles, they care about money only!

If they wanted to have a strong team able to win titles then they wouldn't be selling all of their greatest players every season!

Van Persie turning out for Man United is going to be a bizarre sight, and after successive summers where their best players have moved on I wouldn't blame Arsenal fans for feeling down today. But this isn't the end of days at the Emirates, and provided he's adequately replaced (which of course, is another conversation entirely) it's a shrewd piece of business by Wenger. Last season was the first and only injury-free stint of Van Persie's career and there's surely a strong possibility that he'll revert to knackered type again in the near future. Take into account his age and contractual situation as well, and the fee starts sounding pretty generous.

Now you have someone (me) who will finish last, guaranteed

As it stands, I can guarantee you at least a top four finish.

I fail to see much drama in this scenario. Van Persie wanted to leave, plain and simple. Arsenal made him a better offer, bought two highly talented attacking players to play alongside him and he said "thanks but no thanks". He has one year left on his contract, a rancid history of injury and is 29. What the hell else do you do but sell him for as much as possible? Force him to stay? That's worked so well in the past.

He wanted to leave cause he knew that he would never win any titles with Arsenal. The gunners have been nothing but losers the last 6-7 years.

He wanted to leave cause he knew that he would never win any titles with Arsenal. The gunners have been nothing but losers the last 6-7 years.

True. What Arsenal should have done was building a strong team and persuade him to stay. That never happened so Van Persie left for a bigger club where he can pursue his dreams.

I wonder if he has qualms for leaving the gunners for United. He was turning into something like a symbol in Arsenal and now he plays for a rival club, I guess this will hurt Arsenal's fans a lot.

Signed in, put team on auto-complete.

Signed in, put team on auto-complete.

Thanks Enigma.

Auto-complete, eh? Who did you end up with? Not Joey 'Le Taxi' Barton, I hope.

Dear footballing brothers and sisters in arms,

Requesting the pleasure of your company at the fourth annual BZ Fantasy Premier League extravaganza (yes, it's that time of year again!). All welcome. First deadline is on Saturday August 18th 2012, 11.30 GMT, free transfers unlimited until then.

Classic League: 600942-153361 (I've renewed this one so players from last season should be automatically entered upon registering a team)

Head-to-Head League: 600942-153389

RSVP

Signed in, put team on auto-complete.

Thanks Enigma.

Auto-complete, eh? Who did you end up with? Not Joey 'Le Taxi' Barton, I hope.

Came here just to see if the tradition was going to continue. I joined with only hours left, and will make debut in h2h.

How are you guys doing by the way. Hope each and every one of you (whether you're reading this or not) are doing great with your lives.

As a well known Arsenal fan, and a well known optimist (by the old-heads of this thread at least), I am certain that this season will be another one on the long line of the trophiless seasons. Nevertheless, I hope for a similar effect of Henry's departure at '07 to be in place, when our team stayed relevant, and got respectable results during the whole year, even though at the end we came up a little short.

vPersie's departure was a sure thing to me, but him going to Manure was literally the worst case scenario. So our Liverpool fan friend's that read this, please PM me the formula of that Torres spell.

Anyway, let's all hope for beatuiful and competitive seasons on all the top leagues. And good luck to you Michael* on today's opener.

Good to see you eNe, and thanks for signing up.

I suspect yesterday's match would have been a rather dull affair for the neutrals, but it was a hard-fought game and though we didn't turn in a particularly pretty performance, I thought a draw was a fair result. Best of luck to Arsenal for the rest of the season. Now bring on Reading!

I hear RVP's house burned down last night. Police suspect Arsene. *Hangs head in shame, sees self out*

To be honest it wasnt a bad side, wanted to pick my own, but lost track of time.

Is the wildcard facility still avaliable Michael?

I believe so, the option to play it usually appears if you make more than the allotted weekly amount of free transfers.