“Arsenal has embraced everyone” and “there is something wrong and we can’t fix it”

By Tony Attwood

I have two article sketches ready for this morning.   One is the “embraced everyone” piece, which reflects upon the parade through north London, which was not just a celebration of Arsenal winning the league against all the odds, but was a celebration of the community.   The community that supports Arsenal, and the community that lives around the Arsenal stadium.  But as the Guardian put it before I could write my piece, the “trophy parade” was a “celebration of a community”.

And yes, I felt that.  Although I no longer live in that part of north London, I spent some 16 years of my life living in close proximity to the Arsenal, and know exactly what yesterday was about.

The contrast of course, is that “French police arrest 780 after violent clashes as PSG fans celebrate Champions League win” which did get some coverage in the media but is now removed from the sports sections of most papers.  But even though the story is gone, 780 arrests is a fair number, and the rioting was extensive.

The Arsenal celebrations did us proud, did London proud, and did England proud.    Unfortunately, there are few comparisons between the two sets of celebrations in the media, so few note the difference between the two clubs, the two sets of fans, where London has got to and where Paris now is.  But this is Arsenal so we’d not expect anything positive.

Although to be fair, even the Telegraph had something nice to say about us, with “Arsenal parade shows their fanbase is energised, diverse – and enormous” although as ever you’ll need a subscription to read the whole piece.

But then we look on and find that the habits of a lifetime linger, as the same paper also runs headlines such as Sir Alex Ferguson takes aim at Arsenal tactics and Arsenal must sort out attack in next stage of Arteta’s masterplan.  Yes, even in winning the league, the negativity of the media is still rampant.  And I mention it again and again because that is what most people read and take on board.

But still we can hold on to the Guardian with “Watching the Premier League trophy pass by was a moment of joy for a generation that has often not had much to celebrate”   and to be fair even in the Telegraph one can find Arsenal parade shows their fanbase is energised, diverse – and enormous.

But things pass, time moves on, and we are already into speculation about the transfers needed, without any contrast between what happened in Paris and what happened in London yesterday.  And that I think is a shame because comparing and contrasting is a fundamental of human activity.   Indeed, I think I can even remember having to face questions in exams at school that were full of “compare and contrast”.

And I do think it is worth comparing and contrasting London and Paris last night, both in terms of what happened and what the media said about it.  But then I suppose that is just me.   I’m a Londoner.   Although, to be fair, the French activity yesterday was not just Parisian.   As another headline says, “Interior minister says 57 officers injured as rioters set fires and vandalise shops in about 15 cities”

Indeed, the reporting of the events across France last night offers an interesting examination of how the French and English media react.  “Most of the celebrations took place peacefully,” said the interior minister, ­Laurent Nuñez, noting that 57 officers were wounded.   Ah well, different cities, different newspaper reporting.   Can you imagine what the English headlines would have been if 57 officers had been wounded in north London? 

Calls for Arsenal to be kicked out of football would have been the least of it, alongside demands that a) Arsenal should be ejected from the league, b) the Arsenal stadium should be shut for 10 years and c) anyone wearing Arsenal colours should be detained for questioning.  But we have different countries, different styles and different approaches to life, law and order, club support and pretty much everything else.  We might, as ever, be disgusted by our newspapers’ bias but can be eternally proud of our club.

But still the papers in England are good for a laugh.   Consider “The changes Arsenal must make to take the next step after Champions League final defeat: More attacking potency is a must for Arsenal” in The Independent.    Perhaps I might be allowed to remind the esteemed journalist who wrote that of the top of the Premier League table in the order of goals scored last season….

Yes indeed, as you can see.  Arsenal were the top scoring club in the PL last season, as well as having the second best defence.   And yes of course, I would like to see more goals, but given that teams play against us by packing their team behind the ball, 77 in 38 was not too bad.