Premier League - Gallas loses captaincy

Eurosport - Sat, 22 Nov 10:34:00 2008

William Gallas has been stripped of the Arsenal captaincy and has not travelled with the squad for Saturday's match at Manchester City.

FOOTBALL 2007/08 Premier League William Gallas - 0

France Football report that France international Gallas, 31, has been dropped by Gunners manager Arsene Wenger after revealing comments the defender made about disharmony within the squad.

The respected news source also claims that either goalkeeper Manuel Almunia or full-back Gael Clichy will captain the side at the City of Manchester Stadium.

Gallas revealed in an interview earlier in the week several incidents where he has had arguments on the pitch and in the dressing room during matches, including at half-time during the 4-4 draw with local rivals Tottenham Hotspur in October.

"When, as captain, some players come up to you and talk to you about a player ... complaining about him ... and then during the match you speak to this player and the player in question insults us," Gallas told AP.

"There comes a time where we can no longer comprehend how this can happen.

"I am trying to defend myself a bit without giving names. Otherwise I'm taking it all (the blame). It's very frustrating," he said.

"I'm 31, the player is six years younger than me." The 25-year-olds in the Arsenal squad are Robin van Persie, Emmanuel Eboue, Bacary Sagna and Eduardo da Silva, who has been out injured since February.

Another incident occurred during the recent 4-4 draw at home to North London rivals Tottenham, in which Arsenal surrendered a two-goal lead in the dying minutes.

Those revelations from the centre-back - who arrived from Chelsea in 2006 as part of the deal that saw Ashley Cole move to west London - were then followed the release of a part of his autobiography detailing a row with a young member of the France squad during Les Bleus's failed Euro 2008 finals campaign.

Gallas wrote: "I was also 20 years old once. I would never have allowed myself to speak in this tone to a footballer who was older than me.

"The youngsters from the Euros seem cheeky, very sure of themselves. They think they know it all, but they don't know anything.

"Faced with his contempt, I raised my voice. The young player said: 'Lower your voice, speak less loudly'.

"I replied: 'How are you speaking to me? Who do you think you are? You are only 20 years old. I am not your friend.

"He said: 'Me neither, I am not your friend'."

Gallas was made club captain following the departure of Thierry Henry during the summer of 2007.

His captaincy was called into question the following February at St Andrews when - following striker Eduardo sustaining a horrific broken ankle and James McFadden's last-gasp penalty securing a 2-2 draw for Birmingham - Gallas slumped down in the centre circle at the final whistle and remained sat there, visibly upset.

Tony Mabert / Eurosport

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  1. Makes me leaugh all these man utd and chelski 'fans' commenting on here. Why would any gooner be slightly interested in what you have to say, now please go back to your armchairs. And i dont know how this numptey below me can call us 'divas' when they have Mrs nani and Mrs ronaldo, what a joke!

    Gallas should go now, he's a decent player but his attitude is bad for the team. KING KOLO for captain! Arsenal will bounce back at city today. We ae still the most proud FOOTBALL CLUB, not buisness like the other top teams, in britain :)

    ARSENAL FOR LIFE

    From luke s, on Sat 22 Nov 10:21AM

  2. Being a m.united supporter I think this is excellent news of boring Arse-nal namby pamby throwing toys out of the pram,sulking diva's actions.............long may it continue

    From luby, on Sat 22 Nov 10:04AM

  3. Why is John Terry's name being mentioned here this is about Arsenal and them destroying themselves from the inside,its f*** all to do with Chelsea so leave him alone..Idiots.

    From terdo@..., on Sat 22 Nov 9:58AM

  4. No one should be surprised at this, the man had an attitude problem when he was at my club (Chelsea) and in fact captaincy seems to have made him even worse.... In truth the only surprise is that someone as intelligent as Wenger made him captain in the first place!! As a captain you are supposed to put your teamates and your club first, with Gallas quite the opposite is true. Publicly slagging off teamates is the biggest "no no" in football, especially when someone does it just to line his own pockets with increased sales of an autobiography...Wenger will surely now further correct his mistake by dumping this egomaniac at 12.01am on the 1st of Jan...

    From melaniepoynton@..., on Sat 22 Nov 9:51AM

  5. Arsenal are best european team in England. Gallas stay he must he is great class and typify all that good about england football player. But John Terry good also and he better than Gallas I think. Arsenal are a bit of europe in heart of London.

    From Kim, on Sat 22 Nov 9:46AM

  6. We are all mugs ....ive just woken up....gallas is on the way out one big finale pay day back in le francaise...in collusion with wenger probably ...he needs to sell his book and without any reason for the purchase it would end up in the bargain bucket at WH smiths

    Good Stunt Willie boy now that ways the exit and i'll give you a lift to Dover ...i'll even by your @#$% for ya ...tara

    From MARC G, on Sat 22 Nov 9:40AM

  7. If anybody has got anything credible to say then please go away and learn to spell first and then take a reality check and get your racism problems sorted. Maybe then we can talk about football.

    Three-quarters of all premiership teams are made up foreign players, so deal with it. I'm fed up of Tottenham fans spurting off about having English players. That's why you are where you are in the league! Foreign players are part and parcel of the Premiership. And it's just a sad fact that there are not enough good English players. And as for the person saying that they like Arsenal because there are no English players, well I'm sorry but that's down right racist and also ill-informed as there are a hand full of English youngsters at Arsenal.

    So people, can we please talk about football and not the tone of someone's skin, albeit slyly done by putting down their nationality.

    Toure should be captain, he has grit and determination and would die for the team! Almunia wouldn't command enough respect from his position. I personally hope Gallas goes in January!

    From LEE B, on Sat 22 Nov 9:37AM

  8. Its About time the Arsenal Board woke up and got rid of wenger outdated outmoded and out of touch this is supposed to be a spectator sport not so much business

    From MARC G, on Sat 22 Nov 9:36AM

  9. Two ideal Captains John terry the thug dont make me laugh

    From MARC G, on Sat 22 Nov 9:31AM

  10. all is well, I think they have to check the quality and maturity of a person b4 taking such person as the capitain, it not easy to be a leader rather it takes alot of wisdom and understanding. May God grant windom to the managment of the team for proper things to do. I thank God for the Blues they are doing well "Up Blues"

    Tony

    From oluomok, on Sat 22 Nov 9:23AM

  11. There should be more than one captain on the field...all encouraging each other..just one in name only. Arsenal have no leaders. what influence will the goalkeeper have.

    From mike_burwin@..., on Sat 22 Nov 9:21AM

  12. Two model/example/ideal captains for both club & country : John Terry (Chelsea/England), Henrik Larsson (Helsingborgs/Sweden)

    From The Northerner, on Sat 22 Nov 9:19AM

  13. this is why john terry is captain both at club and for the country, is good example of what captain is

    From tochukwu j, on Sat 22 Nov 9:13AM

  14. toure should be the captain

    From Francis, on Sat 22 Nov 8:49AM

  15. the man who deserved the armband was Gilberto in the first place

    From tzika_87, on Sat 22 Nov 8:39AM

  16. William Gallas must go because he has no qualities of a leader. Arsene Wenger has been so linient with him that he could have stripped him off of his captaincy longtime back. Mr.Gallas behaves like a child and sometimes in a very funny way.

    From Raymond, on Sat 22 Nov 8:32AM

  17. It was only a logical move to strip him of the captaincy. A captain should encourage unity and positivety when things aren't going so good. He was just causing the team to drift further apart rather than trying to mend things. Every great team has a slump. With a negative attitude like Gallas's as captain, there was no way of getting out of a slump whether sooner or later.

    From Nathan, on Sat 22 Nov 8:31AM

  18. Kolo toure should be captain

    From Thomas, on Sat 22 Nov 8:07AM

  19. thank god Gallas is gone, now lets get on with the game as opposed to this idiot thinking he knows everything. He was a bad swap for Cole Wenger should have just taken the money. Gallas has never been a leader and after his antics he has the cheek to criticise others, good ridance!

    From r.j.hall@..., on Sat 22 Nov 8:04AM

  20. I would say Almunia,but Gallas is still hot on the pitch.Well, he played for Chelsea.

    From wizzo, on Sat 22 Nov 7:52AM
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