Kashtanchik Says it with Flowers



For some reason Arsenal seem to think that the more crap that they give away the more fans they'll attract. I have a more novel idea, why don't they just spend the money on assembling a squad who can at least compete for a UEFA cup spot instead of wasting money on cheap gimmicks?


To be fair I received free tickets for this match - and I usually do from the official fan club. However, all the lads were away for this game, but I still managed to pick up some, when Nadiya spotted some girls handing out free tickets outside Teatralna Station. That said, I also bought 2 and don't mind paying for them. Arsenal's tickets cost 5 UAH (about 45p), which sounds ridiculously good value for money even if you compare it with Dynamo (25UAH), Metalist (35UAH) and Chernomorets (30UAH). This still doesn't stop people touting the free tickets outside the ground though. Added to this ol' concker head was handing out free flowers and there were free snacks and soft drinks for everyone at this game. Added to this is the expense of the club renting out Respublikansky Stadium for every home game, oh and the Playboy models who provide the half-time entertainment of course. The Playboy models have been associated with the club for a while, but I have to feel responsible for some of the other stuff. I happened to mention to someone with connections to the club how much the kids enjoyed FC Seoul matches, because of the free stuff. The big difference here is though Arsenal haven't got the cash to burn and most real fans would definitely prefer to see the investment go on players or the club to start building a stadium of their own.


Anyway, as for the match Karpaty were dreadful and didn't create any chances. You have to think that they are the Newcastle of Ukraine, as they have a big fan base, are out on a limb geographically and always disappoint their fans. Arsenal on the other hand have shown great form in the second half of the season and managed to win this game 2-0 with goals from Seliymanov (Who else?) and Evseev, despite a rather lacklustre performance and Seliymanov spending most of the game off-side. If only they could have played like this in the first half of the season they would now be safely in the UEFA cup. At the time of the match, on 4th May they still had a shot at the Intertoto, but after drawing away to Kryvbas on Sunday - you can guess the score - 0-0 they are now out of Europe.
Notes on photos:
Top: Can you spot Concker head?
Bottom: This is the venue for the Euro 2012 final, in one of the better sectors. Will it be ready?

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