Ashley Cole has still not buggered off

Monday morning brings no further concrete developments in the Cashley Tweedy episode, or in Jose Antonio Reyes' protracted departure to Madrid for that matter. The longer it goes on the more I think that Chelski have every intention of paying up, but want to wait until the last possible moment so as to give Arsene absolutely no time to do anything with the loot.

Of course I could be completely wrong and it could be all about us wanting Gallas, and him wanting to come here, as reported in yesterday's Observer. It's in a much larger article by the delightful Amy Lawrence, basically spelling out why Roman Abramovich is a massive mafia money tosser. Alternatively the Independent reports that a bid "between £22m and £24m" (that'll be £23m then) is expected sometime this week, after Lyon told Chelsea that their second choice, Eric Abidal, would cost almost as much.

It's more of the same from Reyes, as he continues to push Arsenal into a difficult negotiating position with Real by claiming it will be bad for him and Arsenal if he has to stay. I expect Madrid to be proper bastards over this deal.

Redsblog has done a nice piece on how the new stadium might affect the way we play. It'll be interesting to see what the atmosphere's like for a competitive game, as DB10's testimonial, though it was a special day, isn't really a fair barometer of how the stadium will sound with 60,000 people urging the Arse on to victory.

In other footballing news the bindippers beat the chavs 2-1 in the [insert politically correct synonym for charity] Shield yesterday. Chelski looked poor (apart from Shevchenko who, unfortunately, looks like he's going to bag plenty of goals this season) and Liverpool deserved the win. But as anyone, including Mourinho, is quick to point out, the game is meaningless, and any psychological advantaged that Liverpool now claim to hold is negligible.

Aston Villa have announced to the London Stock Exchange that they have struck a deal for American billionaire Randy Lerner (surely one of the all time great chairman names) to take control of the club. It'll be interesting to see what O'Neill does with some money to spend at a decent-sized Premiership club. He's delivered everywhere he's been so far, but they've been at low levels (Celtic in Europe aside). He'll be expected to get into Europe and push for the top six now, and it's a different world to what he's done before. Still, he'll be entertaining in post match interviews.