Stick that in your back pocket Ashley

I have got to get a couple of these babies. Ahead of the Chelsea v Arsenal all London Premiership showdown on Sunday, Arsenal fans have issued their own Twenty Pound notes featuring the picture of that lying little tosser Ashley Cole in place of the Queen.
They’re issued by the Bank of Russia, have a picture of a mobile phone with Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho’s face on it and are signed by Chelsea CEO Peter Kenyon.

In case you’re not aware of the story behind this, Ashley Cole was an Arsenal footballer who’d been associated with the club since he was about 9, and had come through the schoolboy and youth ranks to the first team. While negotiating a new contract he and his agent had asked for £60,000 per week, the club offered £55,000. In his autobiography Cole says he almost crashed his car when told over the phone the Arsenal offer by his agent.

Soon after, Cole, Jonathon Barnett (his agent), Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho, Peter Kenyon and Israeli super agent Pini Zahavi, held a meeting in a London hotel. Players speaking to another club without their current clubs permission is against football’s rules and after the story broke in the press all involved denied any meeting took place.

When hotel staff confirmed it did, Ashley Cole said the Chelsea contingent had come into his meeting room purely by accident, then after the English FA launched an inquiry Chelsea admitted to the meeting but said it was all Cole and Barnett’s idea. Cole barely played for Arsenal after that and eventually did move to Chelsea. Sunday is the first time the clubs have met since his move and even though Chelsea are at home travelling Arsenal fans are sure to give Ashley Cole a lot of grief.

It’ll be great to see these notes raining down on the pitch as the teams run out.