Stuff and Nonsense

And you know that I love you
Here and now not forever
I can give you the present
I don't know about the future
That's all stuff and nonsense

- Stuff and Nonsense, Split Enz

We're playing West Brom in the Carling Cup.

It's been a number of years since Wenger first turned the Carling Cup over to his youth players, and it's been proven to be an excellent decision. It's turned the Carling Cup from an annoyance into an exciting, thrilling glimpse into our possible future. It's Wenger's chance to sell us the future, and most of the time it is such a thrilling, fun future that you get swept up with enthusiasm.

I thoroughly enjoy the Carling Cups. I rarely have the time to watch a match, but it's still enjoyable to click on the link on the Guardian Football website and read about how our latest batch of 18 year-olds ran rings around a Championship side. And who knows? If I find myself awake at 4 o'clock tomorrow morning, I might even get out of bed and have look at Jack Wilshere, Fran Merida and the rest of our Carling Cubs.

But sadly, part of the reason why the Carling Cup is infused with such optimism is because it plays no significant role in our season whatsoever. It doesn't matter whether the kids bomb out or perform, because the Carling Cup doesn't really count. Remember the original Carling Cubs? Denilson, Diaby, Bendtner, Walcott... the side that thumped Liverpool at Anfield and which made it to the final against Chelsea. And what's happened to them? Occasional brilliance in a youth side doesn't translate to sustained brilliance in the senior side.

So if you're watching the kids tonight, just enjoy it for what it is - an entertaining performance by a bunch of precociously talented kids. It's unfair to put too much pressure on them and to extrapolate future success from Carling Cup fixtures. They can give you the present, but I don't know about the future.

That's just stuff and nonsense.

And in other news, Kevin Whitcher had this to say about the Highbury Square development:

“The problem is that the club have either got to push through the Highbury Square development or cut their losses and effectively declare that part of the organisation is bankrupt and walk away from it. They’ve got a £120m debt repayment to find for next April. The club have always maintained that the football and the property business are completely separate, and legally that is true, however, if they are going to see it through they do need to find money from somewhere. What I can foresee is that the club will pay back as much of the debt as they can by next April, but I heavily suspect they will re-negotiate the loan of what is left and this situation will drag on as long as Wenger is prepared to tolerate it.”

Well, at least we know where the £40m from the Man City sales went. I'm just glad the Club didn't use it to pay for Peter Hill-Wood's Cigar of the Month subscription.