Greetings everyone from a not quite as sunny as the last time I blogged Wicklow. Last time out I spoke about a couple of the players we had been linked with in the press during the week and gave my thoughts as to how and why they may or may not happen. Today I will be focusing on transfers again but from a slightly different angle.
I’m a newcomer to twitter by most people’s standards having only joined at the same time as I started writing for the Republic at the end of January. I must say I love it, its great for keeping up to date with your interests and allows you to converse with people you otherwise wouldn’t. In the months between the end of the season and the beginning of the new one however it seems to be most Arsenal fans(im sure it affects other supporters too but I don’t care about them) source of hand wringing nervousness. Whether we are hearing from sources and “journalists”(more on that later) of the Captains definite move away from the club or new potential signings information that appears on twitter suddenly becomes fact. Take the Llorente to Arsenal rumour
Sometime last Sunday a tweet emerged from a journalist in Spain stating the Bilbao giant striker Fernando Llorente would hold a press conference on Tuesday 29/5/12 stating that he would be joining Arsenal. At this stage we all know that is didn’t happen and while I would love if it did we don’t have the necessary funds to make it a reality in my happen. That didn’t stop the Daily Fail running the story on their site thus adding more fuel to the fire. I know they aren’t exactly the most reputable of sites for your information but it is still a national newspaper both here and the UK.
Next on the Internet mill was the supposed deal done for Ganso from Santos. This was a player that the club has been heavily linked with in the past so it held some credence. This subsequently was proved to be a hoax on one of the supporter sites(can’t find the link) started by some Gooners to see if it would take off, and it did. People with a few thousand twitter followers retweeted tweets from supposed journalists(aforementioned Gooners using fake twitter accounts) and away we went. Why our fellow fans felt the need to do this I’m not sure but it just goes to prove how quickly these things can spread around(like an STD at a Spurs supporter party).
In the days before twitter and my access to the Internet the summer was unbearable enough just from reading the transfer gossip pages in the newspaper. I’m not completely negative about the twitter rumour mill as it undoubtably gives us something to discuss over tea in the mornings and on the various message boards but I’m only 25 and I fear I’ll have no hair left by the time August rolls around from Arsenal transfer related stress.
Il leave you with the words I keep seeing everywhere although I don’t know where it’s from “Keep calm and don’t believe all the stories you read”
Till the next time
Follow me on twitter @wicklowgooner for all your transfer news 
