Tapped Up Gunner Should Have Been At United Says Sir Alex

Earlier this week bona fide Arsenal legend Tony Adams admitted, not for the first time, that he was close to joining Manchester United before Arsène Wenger was appointed manager. Mr Arsenal came very close to being considered Stapleton 2.0 before that unfavourable moniker was assigned to Robin van Persie.

Prior to Wenger joining Arsenal were in a bit of disarray and Adams was looking to end his career with success and financial stability - things he was being offered by then Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson who according to Tony was on the phone to him daily (we'd call that tapping up these days). Sir Alex recently angered Arsenal fans by referring to Adams as "A United player in an Arsenal shirt". Ouch. Although he did go on to say he got his "revenge" on Wenger for beating him to Ramsey by snatching away Chris Smalling....

Despite the advances of United and Ferguson Peter Hill-Wood, the much maligned and caricatured ex-chairman, convinced Adams to stay with the promise of a great new manager and the added bonus of a tripled salary. Adams signed on, Wenger joined and we all know the rest.

Another member of that famous back five, David Seaman, yesterday confessed that he too had the opportunity to join Alex Ferguson's Manchester United but much earlier in his career when like current star Aaron Ramsey he has the choice between the two great clubs. Much like our new number one, Petr Cech, David Seaman opted to stay in London and move to North London from West London, leaving QPR behind and becoming and integral part of many great Arsenal sides to come.

When asked if any teams were interested in him while he was playing at Highbury, he said: "No, there were just rumours. But I was happy at Arsenal, I was always happy at Arsenal". Although he did admit he would have considered leaving had the opportunity arisen to play abroad stating "I'm sure that if there had been an opportunity I'd have tried it because I would have loved to have played in a different country."

The Arsenal great also took some time to express his bemusement at the officiating in Arsenal's controversial loss to Chelsea last weekend. "I think it spoilt a good game. It was a great game until then. I thought the decision was really harsh. The most embarrassing bit of it was the little flick. What I mean by embarrassing is we're actually sending players off for that?!". Seaman claimed it was embarrassing to see such scenes in football, especially with the Rugby World Cup going on. "Being a footballer, it's embarrassing. We're watching the Rugby World Cup now, they're knocking ten bells of you-know-what out of each other! And we're getting sent off for a little flick."

Arsenal play Tottenham in the Capital One Cup tonight and the Gunners will be hoping for a better refereeing performance.

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