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.
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