For God's sake use the grown-ups...

Arsene Wenger is, without doubt, the greatest manager Arsenal has ever had. His record is outstanding.

However, can he please choose the first team for the second leg of the League Cup semi-final against Spurs and not play the juniors?

I understand all about giving the youngsters experience but at the end of the day the fans want to see the club win matches and win trophies.

The club has not won anything for three years since we beat Manchester United 5-4 on penalties in the FA Cup Final.

Realistically, it looks as if Manchester United will win the Premiership; we almost certainly will not win the European Champions League so at least play a full-strength side to win one trophy this season.

Please.

The footballing prats

If ever evidence was needed that most footballers are complete prats, I present this picture of Manchester United's Carlos Tevez...

Keep Arsenal English

Once again my club is on the front pages of the national newspapers for reasons that have nothing to do with football.

Former vice-chairman David Dein who was sacked in April has sold his shares in Arsenal for £75million to a Russian chap and then become chairman of the company, Red and White Holdings, set up for the shareholding.

Dein wanted the club to be taken over by the American Stan Kroenke because he believes that the club cannot compete unless there is a huge injection of cash - from a foreign buyer.

The Arsenal board has signed a memorandum agreeing not to sell until April 2008 at the earliest. Will they sell then? I hope not.

Do foreign buyers actually make any difference? Chelsea have won the premiership and the FA Cup twice each since they were bought by Roman Abramovich in 2003. It is generally agreed that the Russian oligarch has put money into the club.

On 6 February 2007 Liverpool were bought by two American businessmen, George Gillett and Tom Hicks. It is obviously too early to say if that purchase has had any positive effect on the Anfield club.

When Malcolm Glazier bought Manchester United on 12 May 2005, against the wishes of many fans, his supporters claimed that he would invest in the club. As far as I am aware that has not happened.

Back to Arsenal.

The board has invested hundreds of millions of pounds in the new Emirates Stadium. It is a long-term plan that won't see money recouped for several years. Why would they sell to a foreign businessman so that he can benefit from all their hard work? Unless he paid well over the odds, it would not make sense to them. If he did pay over the odds to compensate for future losses, it would not make sense to the business tycoon.

I hope that they don't.

Beckham's knighthood

Should David Beckham be knighted seems to be the question du jour?

Absolutely not. What has he actually achieved? Bobby Moore let England to our only World Cup win and didn't get a K. Geoff Hurst, who does have one, is the only man to score a hat-trick in a World Cup Final. Bobby Charlton, another stalwart of 1966, had to wait until 1994 before he became Sir Bobby.

As for the rest, an MBE sufficed.

What has Beckham actually achieved? How many times has he led England to victory in the World Cup or even the European Championship?

He is most known for his ridiculous voice, a series of daft hairstyles, having an affair with Rebecca Loos and wearing a sarong.

Should Beckham get a K? No.
Will he? Knowing Blair's pathetic posturing to celebrities and headline - probably.

The price of watching

This season I have twice visited the Emirates Stadium to see my beloved Arsenal. Each time the visit set me back £35 which works out at around £4.40 every 10 minutes or so.

The first time I went to Highbury it set me back £2.50 (well, actually it set my Dad back a fiver since he paid for the tickets). That's a rise of 1,300 per cent.

Today a report is published that says that the most expensive ticket at Arsenal this season costs £94 for "Category A games". That would be an increase of 3,660 per cent (if I had paid).

The report blames the phenomonal rise in watching sport on the building or development of stadia and exorbitant wages paid to players.

Here's a radical plan: cut the players' wages.

If no club paid £70,000 a week to often mediocre players and offered a good but resonable salary - say, £100,000 a year, then that would still enable them to have a very nice lifestyle. They would still be paid double or triple what the people on the terraces earn.

Will it happen? Will it 'eck as like!

Vicky's Going to Hollywood

So the Beckhams are off to Tinseltown and he is to play for LA Galaxy while she peruses the midfield that is Melrose Avenue.

In today's Daily Mirror Karen Yallop, the wife of team captain Frank gives her views on her husband's new teammate's wife. I think Mrs Yallop doesn't know anything about Mrs Beckham.

Mrs Yallop says: "The players' wives are all lovely. There's no bitching, no cliques, no competing about clothes or fame or anything like that."

Victoria famously kept herself separate from the other Wags during the 2006 World Cup, socialising only with Cheryl Tweedy who was nicknamed Mini-Me as a consequence.

"When I lived in the UK, I worried about what I'd wear to Frank's game on Saturday.
It's not like that here. The wives turn up in jeans and trainers. We chat about our kids, the game and normal family things. Not designer clothes, hairdos and handbags."

I doubt in recent years that Victoria has ever worn a regular, non-designer, pair of jeans.

"Our husbands are away a lot - it's not like in England where an away game is a two-hour drive away. Here it can mean a very long flight. So the wives all get together to watch the games on TV while the children play. I often put on functions - it's a happy ship."

See point one about Victoria's social habits.

"If she is like me, it'll be the small things she'll miss from home. Cadbury's chocolate is the main thing for me - over here chocolate is much more grainy and sugary."

Chocolate, Victoria Beckham, same sentence? Unlikely.

"Frank misses his HP Sauce but his parents send that. So although I can't compete with Victoria's famous friends like Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise, and can't talk about my couture clothes, if she ever fancies bangers and mash with Heinz beans and brown sauce, she's very welcome."

Please, Mrs Yallop, don't hold your breath. I can't ever see the super skinny Vicky tucking into bangers and mash.

"The football scene over here is very different. They sing but they don't chant rude songs like they do in England so Victoria needn't worry."

Phew, no more chants of "Posh Spice takes it up the arse" to contend with.

"The wives don't discuss money though, we're not impressed by flashiness. We just talk about our lives."

Asking Vicky B not to discuss money might be difficult although she does love talking about her life.

"If she ever wants Heinz beans on toast and PG Tips tea, my door's always open."

Hmm, don't think so...

Despite the money, I don't think the Beckhams know what they have let themselves in for. This is going to be fun.

Beckham heads West on the money trail

So David Beckham is off to LA Galaxy in a five-year deal reported to be worth £128m. Having left Manchester United because he fell out with Sir Alec Ferguson he is now leaving Real Madrid having fallen out with their manager Fabio Capello. Something tells me Beckham does not take direction well.

Beckham is quoted as saying: "I am proud to have played for two of the biggest clubs in football and I look forward to the new challenge of growing the world's most popular game in a country that is as passionate about its sport as my own." It is always funny how Beckham's "statements" bear little resemblance to the inarticulate man who appears in television and radio interviews.

Why did he choose the USA? Simple really - no other club would have him. He is past his best and the wrong side of 30. He could not go back to Old Trafford. Arsene Wenger would not want him and nor, it must be said, did any other Premiership team.

Anyway, will he be a success in the States? Unlikely, I would have thought. Far better footballers than Beckham - Pele, Bobby Moore, and Franz Beckenbauer to name but three - couldn't stir interest in the game which is still mainly played by girls. It must be said that those three did not have Beckham's erm, outside interests. Still, when the Beckhams were trying to conquer the USA before it should be remembered that they were introduced at a dinner as "Victoria and Derek".

It's the end of his career as it was for Pele, Moore and Beckenbauer when they made the move Stateside and Beckham is looking for a big pay-out. Who can blame him although I doubt that he is being paid the reported £25½million a year. More likely, he is being paid that figure over the whole term of the contract.

So both Beckhams are on their professional uppers... couldn't happen to a nicer couple.

Gunners overcome the Addicks

Tuesday night and I was at the Emirates Stadium for the Premiership tussle with Charlton Athletic, the team supported by my Dad.

It was a grudge match between the managers - our own Arsene Wenger and new Addicks boss Alan Pardew. They had clashed when Pardew celebrated with too much enthusiasm West Ham's winning goal against us when he was boss at Upton Park and the two came to blows. Pardew spent the entire match on the touchline while the ever cool Monsieur Wenger watched the game from his usual seat in the dugout. The Arsenal crowd helpfully sang: "Arsene, give him a slap/ Arsene, Arsene, give him a slap".

Charlton seemed to take an age with their free kicks but once Arsenal took the lead there was only ever one team in it.

Two goals from Robin van Persie, a return to the first team for Thierry Henry and 4-0 thank you very much.

So this season my visits to the Emirates have produced first three, then four goals. Let's hope it is five next time...