What Is Ashley Cole’s Problem With Arsenal?

Update: Wenger has said that he wants Ashley Cole to stay.

I’m hoping that one of you guys can help answer this for me.

For my part, I’m totally stumped. My knowledge of the “tapping-up” incident between Chelsea and Arsenal is limited, and from what I know nothing was done from Arsenal’s side to deserve such remarks.

The Sun quotes a blurb from Ashley Cole’s upcoming book:

“Arsenal hung me out to dry, using me as a scapegoat to get back at Chelsea.”

“The board ‘rewarded’ me with an insult and threw years of loyalty back in my face.”

“I’ll reveal the shattering truth about who fed me to the sharks. It changed my view forever on the club I regarded as family.”

A couple of things in that don’t make sense. For starters, Both Chelsea and Ashley Cole went against EPL rules when they met without telling Arsenal. Arsenal were within their rights to take legal action against Chelsea, which they did.

Now moving beyond the illegality of that meeting, what do we have?

• Ashley Cole wants to jump ship from Arsenal to Chelsea because he will get paid more and he will have a better chance of winning titles with Roman’s money and Mourinho’s coaching.
• Arsenal were pissed at Cole for what they saw as disloyal conduct. Because of this, while they maintained that Cole would not be sold and would remain an integral part of the Arsenal squad, they refused to help him with his subsequent dealings with the FA.
• The incident resulted in a lot of bad press for Chelsea and Ashley Cole, with Arsenal trying to distance themselves from the mess.

Honestly, I can’t see what Arsenal did wrong here. Ashley Cole fucked up bigtime, and whether he’s being brainwashed by his agent or if he genuinely feels let down by Arsenal, it’s clear that he isnt happy at Arsenal.

Without getting into a “A. Cole is a fkn cunt” mode, can someone please:

1) fill me in on the exact details of the incident in case I got something wrong or missed out on something, and

2) tell me why Cole is saying all this (if you guys have a better idea than I do)?