The internet gives fans the chance to instantly vent.
By Cameron Wolfe.
I well aware of the irony of writing on a blog and talking about not being able too. In my own defence it came from reading so many negative comments. Even here on UA. It crossed my mind that we’re very lucky that we can and what did fans do before the internet was up and running.
Imagine you were an Arsenal fan between 1953 – 1971 (18 years) or one between 1971 – 1989 (18 years) both times eighteen years without a league title. Although they did win the F.A cup in 1979. The Littlewoods Challenge Cup in 1987 (The league cup), the Southern Professional Floodlit Cup (no idea) and in 1958 and the Mercantile Credit Centenary Trophy in 1988 (100 years of the football league celebration trophy).
Now if you were an Arsenal supporter through those two periods of no league titles would the other trophies have sufficed? Or would there still have been disgruntled fans calling for the Manager and the Board to be sacked? Buy better players etc.
If you did want this how would you go about doing so? Mass protests at the ground? A black scarf movement to show your disapproval? Boycott the games? Write to the Evening Standard asking for your Arsenal back? Possibly all four.
Today it’s so much easier to voice your discontent of the team. You can phone talksport and vent in person on the radio or you can come to a place like UA and write a comment on how you feel. It’s so much easier to vent these days. Is that all it is though? Venting about how you feel? After watching an under par performance of YOUR team. You’re unhappy and want to express your opinion on how bad the team/manager/board are. Jump on the bandwagon and follow all the other disgruntled supporters and voice your disapproval in a public domain. It’s easy. You write it and in seconds it appears their in print for everyone to see. We live in such a great technological age. Hell I’m writing this from Canada? No snail mail these days. I just press send and it travels invisibly through cyberspace and arrives in Tony’s email inbox in secs. Even Nano seconds.
Seriously though. How must’ve those Arsenal fans felt in those two long periods of not competing for the top honours? Fed up? Disillusioned? I’m sure that a lot of fans drifted off and followed another team. Maybe they just went a long to the game in the hope that the team would play better? In the hope that the manager would get the tactics right and they would start winning every game? Maybe they stood on the terraces and hurled abuse at the whole team and the manager? Who knows. Some of the people who comment on UA have been around that long. They do remember those dark times. But they did get better and we went on to win the league. Win doubles. Be in the CL final.
See I can’t help it. Regardless of the result. I always look to the next game and hope that we do turn up. That we do put in a great performance and ultimately we win. Preferably in style.
Last year we were written off before we had kicked a ball. This year seems like we have only just begun and yet the writings on the wall. We’ll be lucky to finish in the top half never mind the top four. Let’s forget that we’re on 16points and ther’e’s still 81 to play for.That’s 94 points all in. We’re still in all four competitions and with some luck and better performances. We could still ultimately push the others hard for the title. Why not?
I got slated recently for sounding patronising? I shouldn’t be telling supporters how to support Arsenal? I’m not.I wasn’t I’m just giving my own opinion of how I feel at this current time being an Arsenal fan. As optimistic as when the first day kicked off.
Come the end of the season there’ll be almost twenty teams not in the same position as us and some will be envious of where we finish. Some not. The worst case senario as far as I’m concerned would be. Being relegated. Not being in the CL next year. Falling at the first round of the FA cup. Being beaten in the Capital one cup from lower opposition. See if none of those things occur then I’ll still be as happy as when the season started. Anything else that we get is a bonus. There’s only four trophies to play for and there are twenty teams all trying to win them. In football just like in life itself anything could happen but again being an optimist I think we’ll still surprise the pundits come May.
I just can’t think any other way.
Bring on those Spuds.
The books…
- Woolwich Arsenal: The club that changed football – Arsenal’s early years
- Making the Arsenal – how the modern Arsenal was born in 1910
- “The Crowd at Woolwich Arsenal”: crowd behaviour at the early matches
The sites…
- Referee Decisions – just what are the refs up to this season?
- The weight loss programme: The only guaranteed wayto stay fit
- Looking for a terraced house in Northamptonshire?
- For all your football betting try these Bookmakers with free bets.
Fans of The Arsenal were not being fleeced to watch their games though. As a supporter who watched Arsenal in the 70s, we know we were watching absolute dross but it was all part of being The Arsenal, cup of tea on the stands knowing you were surrounded by like minded supporters. Nowadays it’s catered for the day tripper, where there is no atmosphere having to pay the most expensive prices in Football. A huge difference between then and now. If these guys want to do a march then there is little one chap on a blog sounding ever so slightly sanctimonious can do.
“There’s only four trophies to play for and there are twenty teams all trying to win them.” where is your ambition man? are we just there to make up numbers? Your line should have read “There’s only four trophies to play for and Arsenal should win them”.
i don’t want AW to go spend like crazy….just that the team to iron out school boy defending and put up a fight. back the late 90’s we used to win the game 20 mins before it started. teams feared us…..now?
Thing about those dark days between 71 and 89 was the lack of expectation. Most of those years were spent craving just a cup trophy every five years or so.
hey Rupert: so YOU did get your Arsenal back then! 😉
3 cup finals in the last 7 years it was I think? Not that bad in fact compared to those days.
Or has Wenger spoilt you in the years before? The years without the bags of money at Chelsea and now City?
Yes Walter three cup finals but I’d like to have won one of them.
And anyway didn’t Arsenal spend plenty of money in Wenger’s early days? Nobody was moaning about that.
In the 1950’s, mass TV had not yet thrived and it would be some time before colour, the dreaded playback and Alan Hansen.
We Gooners had to be satisfied with attending the live game for which we were grateful. We had not yet become “expert” advisors to successive Arsenal managers, we didn’t pick the team or buy a player and if we had opinions there was no way in which to express them. Happy Days.
My first visit to Highbury was in 1966. In the program was a letter from a supporter complaining about the fact that in the previous programme there was a message from the chairman urging fans to make more noise and support the team more enthusiastically. This letter objected to being told how to support a team he had been following ‘through thick and thin (mostly thin) for the past 20 years’. He said he would cheer loudly when there was something to cheer, and not to order.
Arsenal fans were nostalgic for the Herbert Chapman era, but didn’t expect much from the here and now. Crowds were modest, except for the visits of Tottenham and Man Utd and I even remember being in a crowd of only 14,000. Arsenal had not won anything in my lifetime and there was no reason to believe they would win anything, but people weren’t angry as far as I could tell.
Nice post Cameron. It’s good to see something positive amid all the gloom and doom!
I do not think people would be nearly this negative if they were not led into this by a cleverly and carefully orchestrated media campaign. I know what to look for now (thanks for some lessons Untold media team) and its just the same old nonsense again – same sh^t, different flavour, as it were. Take out the media specifically targeting Arsenal and things would be much more upbeat, I reckon.
Take old rupert there, he spends so much time on Untold, attempting to hijack decent discussions, wasting regular posters time with drivel, and any number of silly AAA pranks I bet. Maybe he is on the payroll of Fergie or Murdoch, we just do not know. It is all just a little too convenient, this constant negative nonsense. Take Arseblog making fun of ‘goal.com’, I think it was, for making up a BS article about Frimpong and getting called on it from Frimpong himself via twitter.
They’re just trying to play us for a fool. My answer to media droning is don’t pay attention. The sun is somehow brighter without them.
In the 50’s and 60’s. You simply didn’t turn up for games. Attendances at Highbury fluctuated considerably depending on how the team was doing. For routine games in poor times attendances would be around 25,000 (soemtimes less) with glaring gaps on the terraces. You could stroll up to the turnstile a couple of minutes before the game started knowing you could pick your spot in the ground. For the big games though the team would still pull in up to twice that figure which usually brought the season average into the 30,000’s.
Incidentally there was never any booing of our own players as we have experienced now. Booing was reserved for the opposition or the ref. But there was an alternative – a slow hand clap which would build up during really bad passages of play. At it’s worst it was quite eery. I think this method of showing disappoval went back to pre-war days, and had died out by the ’70’s.
In the 70s and 80s – think a few fans had the option of just picking a fight if they were a bit displeased.
This “Want our Arsenal back ” is an interesting concept – depending on which Arsenal you chose to remember as a great era. We now have a manager under fire, but who has kept us in the CL, the top 4, and at least, on the whole, competitive in cups, and now has to do so while paying for a stadium, competing against the petrodollar and who knows what else, has, for whatever reason kept to..or has been told to keep to a negative transfer spend, with a wage cap…for most of around £80gpw when top players now exceed £200gpw, and under an owner who it is widely believed has no intention of investing anything in the team. We, for whatever reason, seem to be taking FFP to its most extreme. Good luck to anyone that follows Wenger is all that I can say. Is it possible, even in recent years, we have been living through an era of relative success compared with what could potentially come to pass? Could we now have the Arsenal people in 10 years time want back?
@Sav
I agree with your last point.
“They’re just trying to play us for a fool. My answer to media droning is don’t pay attention. The sun is somehow brighter without them.”
Whenever we get a less than beautiful result, I avoid the internet and all my carefully bookmarked websites for 48-72 hours because I just know, I just know the sky will have fallen over London N5…Life is too short to dwell over disappointments of this nature. The beauty is that next Saturday always comes (well, during the season, anyway)
Good article and I think the problem is twofold. As well as the rise of the Internet we have the decline of the local boozer where the smoking ban and outrageous pricing is killing off the pub trade. Where before the internet people would congregate in pubs and set the world to rights over a few pints and then go home happy and then go to the next game in hope and optimism. Now people congregate on blogs and vent their spleens to the point of hysteria and panic, calling each other names and abusing the players etc. I’ve always wondered if the players ever read such blogs and what the effect would be on team morale knowing the supporters aren’t behind them.
I think what becomes clear with blogs is that it creates extremes in opinion and divides the fan base. On here, critical Arsenal fans are called AAA’s and on le-grove pro-Wenger fans are called AKB’s, two terms I should say I highly despise.
I happen to think this blog has some very valid points in terms of media bias and refereeing bias especially in favour of Man utd, the recent criticism of the Arsenal away fans for their chanting at Judas Van Persie was widely criticised yet the entire home support’s chants at Wenger in reference to Jimmy Saville was barely mentioned apart from one red top by Keown. But I also think Le-grove has very valid points about FFP not being all it’s cracked up to be i.e. City sponsoring themselves £400m via the ethiad deal and Roman Abromavich wiping out £160m of Chelsea’s debt by creating equity. Also paying below average squad players above average salaries and then being unable to shift said players on isn’t exactly good financial acumen and the biggest criticism of all in my book – selling our best player to our fiercest rival and then not reinvesting that money in the glaring deficiencies in our squad. We have £70m of uncommitted funds in the accounts and in my opinion that money should be spent on a top class keeper, a left back, a holding midfielder and a top class striker. Who these may be I don’ know and I concede this isn’t Championship Manager.
Personally I think it’s good to have differences of opinion and freedom of speech after all is what this great country is built on. What I don’t like is the abuse that comes with it when others disagree with others’ opinions. I feel this blog takes to extremes its defence of Wenger equally as much as le-grove’s commenters (not all) take to extremes its criticism of Wenger. I sit somewhere in the middle, (perhaps leaning more slightly to le-grove’s view) and as yet haven’t found a blog that sits likewise, never the less I enjoy both and will keep doing so.
can anyone provide me a reliable source(s) as to where I can access player wages and uncommitted fund and arsene’s pay. Or is it that the figures are created out of thin air.
I’ve been arguing for ages online with other #Gooners about the same thing. You think 8 years is a long time? Try supporting a team like Newcastle, Sunderland or West Ham. Those teams haven’t won shit for DECADES but their fans seem to be the most loyal and vociferous and put Arsenal fans to shame. I’ts embarrassing to read some of the comments about how we should just spend 70m on this player and that player and to hell with the consequences. Yeah, lets just do a Chelsea and buy a player for 50m and HOPE he’s a success.
As for spending money, I think most of us knew once the new stadium was announced that money would be tight, right? In fact, I’m amazed we’ve bought any new players since we moved to the Emirates but the fact is we’ve spent only 20m less in the same period before we moved – £202,790,000 compared to £182,300,000. Compare that to how much Citeh have spent since they were taken over by the Abu Dhabi group – £409,750,000 – and it’s about the same. What’s even more ridiculous is the amount the chavs have spent since RA took over in 2004 – £607,500,000 – and I think you’ll see why we are on the right path.
Also love how the anti-Wengers seem to think Arsenal just have 70m sitting around in a filing cabinet somewhere gathering dust. I’ve never met so many securities and Global financial experts in my life. Why aren’t these people working in the city I wonder? I mean, if you know the best way to operate a global multi-million pound PLC, surely you would be getting paid for it right?
I think the swiss ramble blog goes into the financials in detail.
Cameron,
Your use of dates in your post has sparked off my memory.
In 1948 on honeymoon, my wife and I occupied two front seats in the East Stand at Highbury. In 1973 on the Silver Anniversary of our wedding we occupied the same seats.
This time, my seat bore an obvious razor slash diagonally across it.
Trouble is, even if we did spend 35 to 40 million on a player, as some say we could, it is highly unlikely such a player would accept less than say 150 a week, and may want considerably more. You are then talking a very serious investment, on a single player. And how would a new comer on such wages sit with the rest of the team, some of whom may have it in their contracts they will be paid on a level with the highest earner. It is frustrating , we will also lose further players on wages, but that is where we are
Paul,
If your little rant is aimed at me you’re well off the mark I’m afraid and you’ve just reiterated one of my points about hysteria and abuse. I never said we should spend £50m on one player and I am no anti-Wenger so why don’t you just calm down fella and have yourself a cup of tea before you burst a blood vessel.
Success breeds success. In the last 10 years Man utd’s revenue has gone up £100m a season in comparison to ours – you have to speculate to accumulate. With our sponsorship deals coming up for renewal how do you propose we have equal deals to Utd when we aren’t successful and have any global super stars in our team anymore?
Paul,
At no point did I say Arsenal have £70m sat in a filing cabinet. However the figures are out there in the public sphere for anyone to see. It was also raised at the AGM and the AST so again you’re just creating hysteria and going to extremes to try and valdate your incorrect statements.
As one of those supporters from the 50’s we certainly had less expectation but we also lived off the stories of our parents and grandparents i could tell you all about Cliff Bastin Ted Drake and the great 30’team.We still had our hero’s mine was Jack Kelsey David Herd yes when we went to highbury there was plenty of room every season we hoped not get relegated and a good cup run.The best team in the early 60’s was Spurs Arsenal could never attract the best players they always went to Spurs,i was 20 before i saw Arsenal win anything that was the Inter City Fairs cup then the double team of 71 the joy you get from football stays with you for ever and thepride you have in your team but you also know it will not go on for ever so enjoy the good times and prepare for the bad what ever you do you support the team.
In the late 30s the records show that Arsenal were not the force of the early 30s but hope remained and was given some reward. After the war for a while there was hope, so the records show.
However no one was to know at the time that 1953 would see our last trophy. At first there was hope which eventually turned to acceptance that the ‘good times were over’ and apathy set in. We have seen this happen to Liverpool. Who would have thought at the time that 1990 would be the last time they would win the league. However Liverpool supporters still get behind ‘their team’. They express their anger at those who run the club – not the team.
In the past 8 seasons we have come close to a trophy, yet for all the effort we are empty handed. We can blast off at management as much as we like but not the team. We can blast off at the FA or FIFA EUFA as much as we like but not the team. We can blast off at the Refs Association and the refs but not the team.
A player knows when he’s made a mistake, when he’s having a bad game, when nothing is going right for him, when he’s out of his depth in a game (just as we do in our little lives). Booing him is not going to help him or encourage him to keep trying. He needs encouragement just as we do when we have a have bad day at the office.
We know who our friends and who the ‘hangers on’ are when life is going against us. Its the same with fans of a football club.
Holloway Harry
FYI : Ticket prices
http://blog.emiratesstadium.info/archives/25542
See I like that. Comments from fans who were around in the 40’s through 60’s. Lifts my heart to hear fans talking about Arsenal from that far back. You’ve obviously stuck with Arsenal through the lean years.
Also likes the comment about how long other teams have been waiting for silverware.
No one team is guaranteed to win anything. Look at Manure last season?
I still think City winning the league on goal difference with the last kick of the ball. Demonstates just how much harder it is now to win the league now.
When we are happy finishing forth or higher we get slated for having no ambition. In reality though being in the CL every year is a must.
Arsene was quoted recently as saying “the League Cup is the Gunners lowest priority this season, adding that potential signings “don’t ask if you won the League Cup, they ask if you play in the Champions League.”
See I think that’s the manager being realistic.
Remind me where Birmingham are again?
Gooner for life!
Sav from Australia, you do talk a lot of rot. Why do you think the media and other Arsenal blogs are so negative? Because the same faults have been repeated every season at Arsenal. I’ve never read a post of yours that actually has any original input to back up your bias, just tired old conspiracy theories.
There’s money at Arsenal. Check out the Swiss Ramble site.
And then you’ve got Cameron comparing us to Birmingham. They are where they are because they’re a small team and always have been.
Course it’s hard to win the league if you sell your best players every year and fail to create any stability at the club.
@rupert (depressive sewer rat with acne but not a lisp.)
It is a bit ironic for you try to tell Sav that he talks a lot of rot – you are the one who talks an awful lot of rot an awful lot of the time – so persistently that I suspect the compulsive pontification disorder that I first thought you suffered from may not be quite right – it could be even worse – maybe diarrhoea of the mouth!
Sav talks a lot of sense, but just because discord and disharmony are your purpose you try to attack him. Tiresome rat.
@ Rupert
Are Leeds a small team too?
They spent hundreds of millions in the hope of getting success. They got to the CL semi final then imploded.
They still get a full house every other week just like us. Difference is they sepnt their money unwisely and paid the ulimate price by being relegated.
Cameron,
I would like to thank you for this article as it brought a lot of “old boys” to comment and some interesting things were said.
Thanks Walter.
I enjoy hearing from life long supporters too. Nice to think that there still are Gooners who stick with Arsenal no matter what.
I hope I’m a Gooner and still writing for UA when I’m in my nineties.
I remember during the invincible season there was alot of excitement amongst the fans. At the games there was no booing our own (of course) but there was not much chanting / cheering either. It did get noisier the closer we got to goal. With regard to singing, every now and then a song would pick up and move around the crowd with people around me singing bits here and there.
Yes Leeds are a small team. They don’t have the support we have. They’ve had a few decent years and that’s it.
Who the hell cares about Leeds outside of the UK?
bjt gooner, you’re straining for attention. When you actually say something worthwhile I’ll let you know.
I think Leeds have probably the best support in the country, just my opinion.
@rupert (depressive sewer rat with acne but not a lisp.)
You are still being ironic – you are the one trying to run the rupert show on UA. Look in the mirror boring rat.
bjt, do you realize how stupid you look with your repetitive insults?
@rupert (depressive sewer rat with acne but not a lisp.)
If you don’t like being insulted little rat then stop knifing the team & manager.
If you have a compulsive need to continuously back stab someone then try some variety – e.g. amuse me by sticking your fangs into an eastern European company that has dabbled in ethnic cleansing.
bjt this site is about Arsenal, not ethnic cleansing. But funny you should mention such things as you’re so opposed to free speech.
You and Sav and others who throw insults at others are merely highlighting your lack of self-belief in your stance. Your arguments are too weak to employ in a sensible debate so you dabble in a little invective, and not very creative invective at that.
Such jejune behaviour seems to be addictive.
Cameron. Thanks for the good read.
Leeds….could be a sleeping giant, or a second disaster, completely at the mercy of master bates and who he chooses to sell them to. The new owner could be a petrodollar sheikh, could be a kronke/l Lerner or could be a venkys….or even worse…….such is the predicament of a modern day football club.
bjtgooner,
Rupert Cook’s comment at 10.17 actually said what is actually happening right now where as all you’ve done is insult him and abuse him, again reiterating my earlier point about extremism and hysteria spread on blogs where others disagree with others’ opinions. Instead of burying your head in the sand in sheer denial only to take it out to throw insults how about you come back with an articulate alternative point of view?
Think you’re capable of that?
there is nothing explicitly mentioned about how much wenger or a particular player earns. that said some players might have been paid more than they deserve. this is down to the fact that when the contract was signed both parties agreed to a particular amount in lieu with the potential and future prospects during signing-on. however it might seem on hindsight some mistake have been made- prime example being squillaci. and I believe arsene is working not to repeat it.
Cameron. Almost all my family support Arsenal, we have one London red amongst us but even his wife and child follow Arsenal. What I would give to chat to my Granddad about a lot of things including the Arsenal and his life in and around Islington, My Grandmother too. We have a short story about my Great Grandmothers life and times in and around Islington in the late 1800s early 1900s and I can promise you the lives they led were very hard. If you compare their lives to ours, the differences would be vast. My Grandparents were born in 1904 & 1922, What they went through and witnessed would put following a football team into perspective I suppose and may also have made it easier to detach themselves from the emotional disappointments football can throw at the emotionally invested. Following a team was a privilege.
Americangooner,
Agreed. Gazidas said as much at the AGM about reviewing the wage structure of the squad. Let’s hope it happens.
americangooner;
Happy reading chap.
http://www.arsenal.com/the-club/corporate-info/arsenal-holdings-financial-results
Boring Boring Arsenal.
@Bennydevito
When rupert responds to each and every article he criticizes the team, manager etc. It does not matter what the subject matter is, the same comments repeatedly come out of rupert. So I take the view that there is no point entering into a logical debate with him, particularly when most of his comments are half truths – maybe he was a politician before he became a sewer rat.
Consequently, when he uses this pro Wenger site as the vehicle with which to attack the manager and team – especially at time when all fans should be backing both – he is fair game, and deserves to have his tail stamped on, (metaphorically speaking).
@rupert
I am glad you recognize the site is about Arsenal, not just about rupert. It is also about supporting Arsenal, not back stabbing the team and manager.
bjtgooner,
Fair enough. I haven’t read any of his other comments and wasn’t aware of that so point taken. It just irritates me reading blogs full of abuse. This site in my opinion is written by intelligent people and most of the time the commenters are too. Even though I disagree with a lot of what Tony and Walter write I respect their views and their efforts of producing a well written articulate and cohesive blog and feel that resorting to abuse kind of lowers the tone on here.
I’m not a regular commenter on this site although I do often read the articles but with the greatest respect I find the stance on here sometimes beggars belief and sometimes I try to come on here and contribute but get frustrated by the abusive tones of the replies, the branding of being an AAA and even once being recommended for an oik award! It frustrates me too when others try to put forward a different opinion and more often than not get equally abused, branded and even censored with legal spiel.
Anyway I bid you all goodnight. No doubt I will show my face from time to time as I like to read a broad range of opinions and at the end of the day we’re all Arsenal fans.
@Bennydevito, perhaps you should read what I’ve written before agreeing with bjt who is now making excuses for his boring abuse. I see you’ve had exactly the same experience as I have. These people despise debate because their position is indefensible.
There are some posters on here who will enter into debate such as Mandy, Adam, Shard, Stuart and Nicky. Some more eloquent than others but all passionate in their beliefs and they make very cogent points. Some I disagree with but I don’t bombard them with abuse. In fact on the whole most on here make salient points. The answer to all these arguments will be where Arsenal finish in May and if we have a trophy or not.
@bjt your abuse is idiotic and juvenile. You claim I undermine the club. How exactly? Is this the scenario you envisage?
Wenger is sitting down to breakfast hunched over a hot croissant. He’s dreading another phone call from Fergie demanding he sell another one of his players. Last week he received a photoshopped picture of Cazorla in a Manu shirt from an anonymous sender. He has his suspicions.
He eyes the laptop with disdain. Will he dare to visit Untold Arsenal? He can’t control his curiosity and logs on. Oh no, that Rupert Cook has posted again. What a rat, he thinks. How will the players respond? Perhaps he can sabotage the UA site. Gazidis is better at such things so he gives him a call.
“Ivan, it’s that Rupert Cook again.”
“Call back in ten minutes Arsene, I’m negotiating a fee with City for Wilshire.”
Wenger kicks a bottle of Evian in frustration.
You say I’m backstabbing the management. Actually I’m frontstabbing them. What I’ve written is in the public domain and for all to see and I’d gladly repeat it to Wenger’s face.
Even your insults are illogical.
You obviously think the keyboard is mightier than the club (reasonably clever pun). We shall see.
And here’s a modern fan’s view. I loved this piece. I know it won’t appeal to everyone but it’s a poignant tale. Please take the time to read it and then you can rant against it.
http://www.thefootballnetwork.net/main/s378/st179907.htm
Nice article Cameron . Belonging to the second group (post 1971 ) , my first season’s highlight was the FA cup final which we lost to Leeds .Then came the semi-final loss to Sunderland in 1973 and it just went downhill from there .We avoided relegation in l975.
3 FA cup finals (1 win )later and the loss in the Cup -Winners cup in 1980 were the ‘ high’ points.You’d notice that I’ve not mentioned the league position as we were never really in the running !
Then came the dour “Stroller ” GG and there was an upsurge which culminated in the greatest moment in most Gunners lives, the magical ,elusive 1st Division championship after 18 years of undivided and unwavering loyalty .
I’ve never smiled so much as I did that night(early morning here in Malaysia)as I went to bed – not even on my wedding night !
After witnessing the Arsenal win 5 1st division/EPL titles(2 doubles ),4 FA cups , 1 League cup ; and losses in 4 FA cup finals ,3 League Cup finals ,2 CWC finals and 1 CL final , the hunger is still there .
Every defeat, setback and backstab is painful ,but we are not down and out – far from it .I’ve learned to temper my emotions and try to be positive .I’d like to advice the ‘younglings’,” Take a chill pill guys !”
Up the Gunners !
Sorry ,nostalgia blurred my vision and I left out our CWC win
and the loss in the UEFA cup !
As for the question of Leeds , they were the top dogs (pun intended)in the late sixties and early seventies .I’ve had many friends who supported them ,only to desert them to follow Liverpool ,Nottingham Forrest, among others .But there are others who are still loyal fans of them (beats me too !).
When I went to Highbury for my first game ever in 1979 we lost that game. So I started to support a losing team. I never expected them to win anything. I just fell in love with Arsenal. As you can fall in love with a woman. Other man might say: what does he sees in her and think she is not that pretty. But the man who is in love sees more than just a good shaped body with some nice breasts (admit it helps a bit 😉 ) and sees the person inside, the friendly smile on her face, the warmth in her eyes.
So is falling in love with a losing team the same. I don’t want my wife to be considered the most beautiful women in the world. And I don’t need my team to win all and everything. Just having them around, giving me the emotions I wrote about in my latest article is what I want from the persons/things I love.
If we win anything I feel ecstasy, if we lose I feel down but then I think about the fact that I am blessed to be able to follow them at all.
Why should I get angry about something I love? If that would be the case then I think it would be time to stop following it.
Our daily life is filled with joy and disappointment. So is football.
@ Rupert & Bennydevito, its good to see you both hold your own, which actually says a lot. i really don’t how long Sav from Australia has been following Arsenal. think that this abuse of fellow commentors should stop. what Bennydevito said is right. this site is run by sane people with some really really good articles. just because one has a different view point is that a crime?
no1 for 1 second doubts what a massive job AW has done for us. from a mid-table nr. london team, we now have a global pressence, but every1 does have their faults.
Rupert,
I wasn’t agreeing with bjt I was merely taking his point on board. I get quickly tired of getting into blog arguments so I try to get my point across whilst acknowledging others and leaving it at that, it doesn’t mean I agree I’m just merely accepting others’ points of view. I agree though that it is exceptionally hard to get our points of view across on here but we have to respect this is a pro Wenger Arsenal site and to a degree we have to accept a fierce defence of their views.
I do like balance in the force.
There are many good posters on here that defend their views intelligently. I do find it odd when others who have different views meet with an avalanche of insults.
Gouresh,
Thanks for the comments and Rupert keep up the good fight. Paul, bjt we will meet again. Good on you for sticking to your guns but less of the insults!
To the rest of you, Tony and Walter, thanks for tolerating me keep up the good work. Cameron, good article.
@Gouresh
How long have I been following Arsenal? The implied point is that if I have not ‘followed the team for decades’ that I am ‘not a real supporter’. The thing is mate, it is not for you to decide which team another supports – you may point as to whether I or others might be ‘fair weather fans’, but alas, your cheap shot falls too short.
Ironically, I have only been interested in the fortunes of Arsenal football club after they stopped winning trophies. Funny what good football, a well run and classy club and a principled manager can do for the discerning football watcher’s interest.
@Sav from Australia: Learn to respect some1 elses view. i bet you would love if 1 of us start calling you names? grow up!
As a supporter of a lower league team, we are often envious of the success of bigger clubs such as yourselves have seen over the years but then I look at your ticket prices, your more expensive match day tickets cost almost as much as some of our lower priced season tickets! I think if I was paying as much/game as I do/season I’d be more demanding of success. I do get along to a couple of Arsenal games a season and must say I enjoy the football you play, I like the atmosphere and have always been warmly welcomed.
We moan as much as you do, we love our club and support it as much as you guys do yours, we have the same unrealistic fans, we have those who back the manager/board with blind faith, those for whom the manager/board can do no right, same with the players. The same cries of unless you go to every game you’re not a “real” supporter etc. We just get it on a smaller scale. Genuine fans of all clubs big and small have the same complaints week in week out! We all experience the same joy when our team scores/wins, the disappointments and if onlys from a draw and the despair from a defeat. Money has been the curse of football.
For little clubs like mine, we never have any, for clubs like yours it’s made supporting your club financially very difficult for the average fan. I admire those who can get to support the big clubs (the real fans not the corporates) because of the financial costs to you as much as I admire ours who will be doing the 700 mile round trip to Carlise for the 2nd time in 6 weeks… The monetary effects are the changes many of us have watched. At your end of the league expectations are high, millions rest on every kick of the ball, at our end we just hope for a decent 3rd round tie in the FA cup to get us through the next season, assuming of course we can ever reach that far in it!! Your youth team earn more than our 1st team – we can never hope to compete in that.
A good pont was made on page 1, in the old days we’d all go down the pub after a match, have a couple of pints and put the world to rights, you need a mortgage to do that these days. Social clubs seemed to go out of the window when the money came in, didn’t cater to the corporates. At Bournemouth we used to have cushions, 10p per match they’d cost to save you from the hard rickety wooden seats, I remember many a time 4000 cushions being thrown onto the pitch at the team/manager when things were not acceptable on the pitch, it was how we showed our frustration before heading for the supporters bar and a moan! I had a front row seat in those days and trust me those cushions hurt!! These days you’d get a lifetime ban for such outrageous behaviour!
The internet is in many ways a beauty and a curse, we can go onto our respective forums/blogs and vent but unlike in the pub if someone is going a bit OTT there’s no-one sat next to them who may put an arm out to them and say woah calm it lad like would happen in a pub/club. That does lead to quite a few rows and insults being flung back and forth that probably would never happen in person. It’s hard to inject a sarcastic/flippant comment onto a forum or blog because the tone of voice makes it what it is, how do you write a rueful sigh?
Still come tomorrow we’ll all be either at our respective games, or huddled round a radio, or watching our team on TV, the internet etc. hoping this is the game, the one where we will put on a class performance, we’ll win and it’ll take us up the table, we’ll oohh we’ll ahhh, we’ll sing, we’ll cuss then come final whistle we’ll be back here to celebrate or moan! That has always been the beauty of football – some you win, some you lose but the love for your club never dies.
Good Luck against Spurs 😀