Early Doors - Your morning briefing blog

Gibbs gets his chance

Tue Nov 03 04:11PM

Gael Clichy's stress fracture of the back sounds like the kind of thing that could end a career, but the medical expertise ED could find on the internet suggests he will be out for no more than six to eight weeks.

An interesting consequence is that Kieran Gibbs will get a run of first-team games that could catapult him from 'one-for-the-future' status into a genuine contender for England's World Cup squad.

Fabio Capello does not like picking weak teams, but if you were him, would you use your friendly against Brazil in Qatar to get the regulars to trudge reluctantly through the motions, or would you give Gibbs a shot?

Clearly there is a tendency to over-rate Arsenal youngsters (wasn't Justin Hoyte once the new Cafu and Jeremie Aliadiere the new Bergkamp?), but Capello likes him and attended Arsenal's Carling Cup game against Liverpool to see the 20-year-old in action.

Can Gibbs prove between now and Christmas he is better than Wayne Bridge? Early Doors wouldn't bet against it.

- - -

Stan Kroenke has moved infinitesimally closer to ownership of Arsenal by increasing his stake to 29.6 per cent. He needs 30 per cent to trigger a compulsory takeover offer clause.

Early Doors thought the Glazers took a long time to buy Manchester United, but this is just excruciating.

If he has the money, why doesn't he just buy the club? Is he waiting for a cheque to clear?

Last month he bought shares in batches of 10 and 90, making today's swoop for 427 seem positively thrilling.

ED understands that, before you can buy shares, you have to find somebody willing to sell them, but where is the drama in this?

Not even the presence of a second competitor in this snail race - Russian businessman Alisher Usmanov who is back on 25.4 per cent - can make this palatable.

ED suggests the pair of them just wade in unilaterally and announce that they have seized the reins, Sulaiman Al-Fahim style, and they can worry about the money stuff later.

- - -

Alan Curbishley has won his case for constructive dismissal against West Ham, claiming he had no option but to resign after the club sold Anton Ferdinand and George McCartney against his wishes.

Early Doors would be staggered if the decision does not pave the way for Curbishley to take over at Hull. Give it two weeks and Curbs will be in the KC Stadium and Phil Brown will be in the Job Centre - probably penning a claim for constructive dismissal.

- - -

COMING UP: Massive Champions League coverage tonight, with live comments on every game - as well as the QPR-Crystal Palace game in the Championship.

Comments1 - 15 of 15

Jay - can Arsenal survive this set back???
From doobie.doobiedoo on Tue Nov 03 04:32PM
Report abuse
aghh 3rd?
From skillfc on Tue Nov 03 04:36PM
Report abuse
2 Yes ofcourse. Gibbs played against Ronaldo twice in the Quarter finals of the Champs League last season. Gibbs is a good player.
From jay8my on Tue Nov 03 04:40PM
Report abuse
i like the sound of milan v real bobo =]
From skillfc on Tue Nov 03 04:42PM
Report abuse
9 - 13 There is some serious wound licking going on there boys. Hardly surprising - you are way out of your depth. That was some kicking you both got today. Still, at least you've got each other. Ha!
From darksideray on Tue Nov 03 05:10PM
Report abuse
"but if you were him, would you use your friendly against Brazil in Qatar to get the regulars to trudge reluctantly through the motions, or would you give Gibbs a shot?" Id pick my best starting 11 and make sure they compete against the best team in history preparing them for the world cup...wtf kind of question is that N O B!
From glennvdpas on Tue Nov 03 05:13PM
Report abuse
If I was capello I would try some unestablished players, but why gibbs when he hasn't even broke into the Arsenal team? We have plenty of established English left backs in the league who deserve a go first, such as Leighton Baines or Paul Konchesky, why pick an inexperienced child ED? Is it just because he plays for Arsenal? No loyalties my bottom mate. Also to back up my theory you are biased to Arsenal, why no mention of cheif gunner villan Ashley Cole, only his understudy, the frankly inferior Wayne Bridge?
From blue4life316 on Tue Nov 03 05:25PM
Report abuse
Why do my comments never show? I don't use any bad language or offensive terms, nor am I trying to plug my website, so why?
From blue4life316 on Tue Nov 03 05:28PM
Report abuse
Oh, way to shut me up!! Big fan of your blog ED, keep up the good work, oh and get your blog in on time so I can read it with my Breakfast again, lol.
From blue4life316 on Tue Nov 03 05:30PM
Report abuse
17, Bobo, he prob wouldn't be able to make a decent point, so stayed away
From saschavanpraagh on Tue Nov 03 05:31PM
Report abuse
19, Ed doesn't like blues......
From saschavanpraagh on Tue Nov 03 05:32PM
Report abuse
17 No easy internet access available in the country I've just visited...
Your tormentors are undeniably correct about one thing though, bobo.spamble - you do frquently tend to fantasise sexually about men and sexual acts. There are perhaps some latent issues for you to come to terms with?
Racism is nothing to be proud of. Neither are the peadofile 'fiddler' comments both you and FBF were throwing around today. You should be ashamed.
The comments on "McJob for burger King" don't seem to be so bad, if that is what you are referring to? I've seen worse. I'm just a little suprised that both you and FBF didn't leave any comments for a change - unless they were racist ones that have since been removed.
From darksideray on Tue Nov 03 06:43PM
Report abuse
Would Arsenal want to lose Gibbs if he got injured in a pointless match ? Who is Gibbs cover ?
From tim_heaps on Tue Nov 03 11:06PM
Report abuse
villa match tonight too..
From sameenuk on Wed Nov 04 08:42AM
Report abuse
Gibbs already made mistakes last season when he came in for clichy, especially against Man united when he slipped and let PArk Je Sung score (of all people). I think this time round he'll have the experience to do well.
From dkuhne2 on Wed Nov 04 09:50AM
Report abuse