What's going on?

I was, once again, horrified by the response of many Arsenal fans to our defeat by Man Utd on Sunday. Yes it was a big game, yes we were at home and yes a win would have been fantastic.

But to see our own fans effectively booing one of our players onto the pitch and criticising the manager's decision to make a substitution - whether it worked out or not - is just plain wrong.

And I agree wholeheartedly with Wenger that he does not have to justify his decisions, team selection or substitutes to anyone. That's his job for goodness' sake.

However, while I am a strong supporter of the club, respecter of the players and manager, that does not mean that I just blindly accept everything without question.

There's something that doesn't quite stack up at the Emirates at the moment. It feels almost as if the collective foot has been taken off the gas and I've been wondering why.

The new stadium was meant to make us a bigger, stronger club, with bigger gate receipts and the ability, therefore, to compete with the Man Uniteds, FCBs and RMs of this world. Instead it seems to have become a (hand) brake on the club.

In addition, while we have not won anything for 5 years now we have, in all those previous years, remained serious contenders until quite late in the season. Last year we were in the mix until the last 6 games (when we fell away badly).

We have remained in contention through performances and results and, crucially, because we have had the sort of 'super quality' that can take games away from the opposition. This year we were effectively out of contention before the end of September. That has to be worrying for everyone involved with the club.

The Hill-Wood out brigade are, I'm afraid, barking up the wrong tree. He's a ceremonial figurehead. Doesn't make decisions or set policy. He has also done a great deal for the club over the years, so respect is due.

The WOB (Wenger Out) people are also, imho, being a bit naive. He's still one of the top five or six managers in Europe and, after that select group (none of whom are likely to be contenders to replace AW), it's a long way down in terms of quality, to the next best.

So what's changed? Yes it's been 5/6 years without a trophy, but this season the intensity seems to have gone down another notch in my opinion. And because he always fronts up (let's face it after Hill-Wood's performance last week we now know why), AW personifies everything that's good and bad in the fans' eyes.

If the purse strings are being tightly held by the board and/or the owner, AW still has to go out there and put a brave face on the situation. He's not going to criticise the club or the board or the owner. And for £7million a year, I wouldn't either :-)

An alternative view is that AW himself has decided that we don't need to spend any money in order to improve the quality and competitiveness of the squad. Now he is clearly a stubborn man, but I just do not believe that he thinks we do not need to invest in quality in order to compete.

I think that when the board had several members whose shareholding was effectively for sale, there was an urgent, unmissable need for the club to do as well as possible, to keep as high a profile as possible, in order to maximise the value of their shares.

Once the deal had been done, and there is now effectively a single owner, that pressure was off. At least that's what it feels like to me. It feels like the owner is stifling the required investment and that everyone else in the club, therefore, has to go along with it. I really can't think of another explanation for the current situation.

I am struggling to understand why Stan bought the club. Surely you want a 'toy' to play with, to have fun with, to compete with your rival super-rich people? He's been once in 9 months.

He talked a good fight at the AGM and hasn't been seen since. I wonder if perhaps he's over-stretched and does not have the sort of 'fun money' we thought he had?

Maybe what he's actually doing is waiting to make a killing when Usmanov comes in at a future date? Certainly his money will be making more money invested in Arsenal than it would just about anywhere else at the moment.

Meantime, we're stuck watching in despair as he consolidates his position, shores up the club's finances, pays off the stadium and gets to the point where AFC will be one of the most desirable/valuable sporting brands and clubs in the world.

It probably doesn't matter all that much to Stan if we're slightly off the pace for the next couple of years while all this consolidation happens. By then FFP will have kicked in and the stadium will be paid for.

I hope I'm wrong about this: I don't think the problem is the manager or the chairman, or the players' efforts or commitment. It is partly down to the quality that we are able to put on the pitch every week (irrespective of injuries) and about whether we can attract the top level players that we once could, now that mega bucks has come into the game.

But the bottom line, for me, must be that the owner sets the vision and ambition for the club. He controls the purse-strings and effectively dictates who says what to the outside world. We may not be able to compete, toe to toe with Citeh or Chel$ki, but we should be able to at least match United, Liverpool and Spuds and we should not be simply rolling over and becoming, effectively, a feeder club to Manchester City.

Like I say, something just doesn't stack up at Arsenal right now. It won't change my allegiance nor that of any true fans, but it is starting to become pretty bloody frustrating.

My message to Stan would be: If you're not here to play; to win; to have a bit of fun along the way, why not cash in your chips, accept your (considerable) profit and go and lie on a beach somewhere. You may not need the money Stan, but we fans need the excitement, competitiveness and sheer joy that being an Arsenal fan has always delivered in the past. If you're not committed to continuing that scenario, maybe you should not be our owner.

Partick Fickle fans

Great piece here and completely agree - have blogged as much myself in the past. The prospect of some fans actually wanting a defeat in order to prove them right, is ridiculous.

One of the great things about being a football fan is the discussion and banter that goes with it - everyone has an opinion and discussions can get heated in the pub, but, in the past, this has always been against a background in which we're all on the same side.

What twitter does is it makes public what were previously views only shared amongst a small number. This, in turn, tends to make one try to justify oneself, to prove one's point and to take a more entrenched position.

It also means that there are many more opinions coming back and this can quickly degenerate into an argument that has much more fury than exists down the pub. Especially if the team has just lost and tempers are running high.

I also think that the society in which we now live, which is much more about instant gratification, wanting and getting everything right now, and the computer game scenario in which, if you lose you can instantly start again and have another go, means that increasing numbers of (mainly younger) fans cannot seem to accept that it takes time to build a campaign and that not everything can go our way all the time.

When one points that out to people they say, 'yes I understand that.' Then pause. and then 'But we've spent all this money, we pay all this money for tickets...why not?'

A couple of defeats and, it seems to me, every team's fans turn into Partick Fickle supporters!

Rant jan 2

seems like it's that time again. look away now

A young, well-dressed articulate black man was interviewed on BBC Newsnight after the riots in May. He opined that the culture of greed was the source of the trouble.

He was right, not just low-end greed but politicians, bankers. The rich saying 'fuck you' to everyone else. And everyone else saying 'Fuck you' back.

Yesterday we branded a black MP racist for her (perhaps silly) comments about colonialism. which were incidentally correct.

I'm not an apologist for Dianne Abbott, she can stand up for herself. But..

On 5-Live today they interviewed an indian shopkeeper. His English was not that favoured by the queen. But he made an interesting point.

'The only people who are upset by racism are racists themselves'. I can hear your howls of indignation from here.

But if one is confident in one's skin. one's culture, one's belief system. It's just name-calling. Why do you need to play the racist card?

Is it just to make a bigger impact? Calling someone a c*nt, whether that term is preceded by the word 'black' or indeed 'white' makes no difference.

All you are doing is insulting and disrespecting someone in as impactful a way as possible. It's not racist as such. It's anti human. It's shows what a hate-full person you are.

Essentially, it reveals what you are.

It's clear to me that Liverpool FC has a problem. They supported a player who made a racist comment, with tee shirts and naive statements. Not good.

But if an Arsenal player, in the heat of the moment, said something similar, how would we react? I think we'd be minded to support him.

All I'm saying is that it' not a simple issue. Not, dare I say it, a 'black and white' issue. Ultimately it's about disrespect. and we all do that.

Calling a Sp*rs fan or player a 'Yid' is racist. Yes it is. Yes it is. It's almost the definition of the term. It's not 'banter' it's racist.

It's all about respect in the end. You may hate in the heat of the moment, on behalf of your 'tribe' but then applaud 'him' off on a stretcher.

I know that the heat of the battle can do strange things to people. I know that without passion we don't have a spectacle. Without passion it doesn't really matter.

But sometimes I just think that we need to care for each other a little bit (!) more. And respect each other a great deal more.

Henry

I think we all watch sport and support teams for special moments. Tonight was one. Doesn't happen every week, or even every year. Or decade

It might not happen again for TH12. I think it might, but it's not guaranteed.

Sometimes the script is just too good. Yes it was Leeds, a shadow of their former selves. Yes it was the FA Cup 3rd round. Not a trophy at stake.

But sometimes one has to just enjoy the moment. The thrill. The exillharation. How the fuck do you spell exhilaration?

Sometimes you just have to live the joy. I certainly did. And am. make the most of it. Special is not every day. But it was today. TH12.

AFC rant, Jan 2012

Rant alert. sorry you may want to look away now!


When one Googles 'football fans' there doesn't seem to be an accepted definition. It seems to be an accepted 'thing' but not really defined. It's assumed that we all understand what it means to be a fan. I'm not sure that this is actually the case.

My view for what it's worth, is that (a fan is) someone who supports the club, is actually part of the team (albeit in a small way) and for whom a defeat is as devastating as for the players.

It is not, in my view, an excuse to criticise the manager or individual players on a personal basis, either during the game or afterwards. We all want to win of course.. You may think this or that player or this or that tactic from the manager was poor and contributed to the defeat. No-one is suggesting that you shouldn't make and discuss that point.

But to say "so-and-so" is a 'f' useless 'c' who should never play for the club again, or that the manager is clueless and it's time to go, particularly after the turn-around achieved earlier this season and the results of the past 16 years, is just ridiculous.

Having the best manager in the world, who is human. who makes mistakes, but who does not have unlimited funds. Is where we are..

He has to operate in a realistic, constrained commercial environment; may not get his way all the time and undoubtedly has an ego too, but his hands are tied both commercially and in terms of the number of players who actually want to come and play at the Emirates...

But he does his best as do the players and therefore has the right to expect complete support from the fans, the 'members of the club'. We are, to coin a phrase, all in this together, thick and thin, win and lose.

Comment is cool. Encouragement is fine. Demanding improvement is accepted. Expecting better is right. Always striving for improvement is part of the deal.

But personal criticism of individuals is not acceptable in my view. They are trying. They want what we do.

If you think that turning on @AFC when things are not going well is helping. maybe you could 'help' by going elsewhere.

It is a free world (at least for many of us lucky enough to live where we do) and therefore completely up to the individual as to whom he/she lends support. I sometimes think it would be fantastic if the over-riding 'club' of which we are all part, could write to some 'fans' with the following words:

Dear prospective fan, it is with regret that we have to inform you that you do not possess the required level of intelligence, patience, commitment or belief in the club to be an Arsenal fan. Why don't you try Manchester City or Chelsea?

Obviously this will never happen...not officially anyway!

Short-term gratification is not - and never has been - a central tenet of being a football fan. Come on you Gunners.