The curious case of an ARSENAL selfie.

  • ARSENAL 13.

 

After the ManCity victory Rambo tweets a pic of himself, Giroud, Ox and Per-fect Mertesacker. This was followed by Alexis Selfie or whatever they call it, which sends Liverpool legend into a rantorgasm. He sure loves that, doesn’t he.

Understandable he is annoyed seeing ARSENAL win, but this outburst wasn’t necessary. Though he is generalising it, the context was ARSENAL. He said something like this

“ This is winding me up. It’s an absolute Joke. Its one big club going to another. Not Championship going there a winning. Yes you can celebrate, but this team pics after winning the game , dressing room pics, social media, selfies are all nonsense. Normally such pics are to be had with a trophy. Nonsense. Bollocks. SHhiiitttt.”

Not exactly his words. And sorry for the last 3 words Mr Carragher, not yours again. And to be fair on him, he never mentions selfie ever. It’s the media he is working for have come up with that.

For starters what is a selfie? Just Google, we’ll get this

selfie; ˈsɛlfi/; noun; informal

noun: selfie; plural noun: selfies; noun: selfy

  1. a photograph that one has taken of oneself, typically one taken with a smartphone or webcam and shared via social media.

And Wikipedia has something similar. But what ARSENAL players have posted is not selfie but a group selfie. And this is not just about ARSENAL, he is pissed at, but all the clubs for allowing this thing.

What catches my attention in Carraghers rant is the word ‘social media’. One powerful medium of expression. Social media recently helped decide Indian elections. After a long long time, India has a stable government (at least we know who to blame when things are not right. We don’t have to speculate on which party is to blame). It connected masses like no other in the history, yet Carragher calls this a nonsense.

Football in general has become expensive for supporters now. And the supporters are feeling disconnected from the club that they love. But the social media has helped bridge the gap. The club itself has official accounts in the social media. So do the players. We supporters follow the club and the players with our respective accounts.

This connect was never ever possible in the pre-social media age. I hit like buttons or re-tweet button or + button on the posts by club and the players when I like things. The clubs think this connect is important part of their PR mechanism. They have all sorts of activities, like ARSENAL have MoM poll on twitter or Arsenal quiz on twitter or goal of the month or player of the month etc on their website, all trying to get close to the supporters. 

As far as the pics are concerned, are we not over the moon after our win over ManCity.  We supporters celebrate every victory, not just the trophies. We celebrate every goal, every tackle, every assist, every interception, every kick of the ball. Why should not the players join us in the celebration? Why shouldn’t the players show the mood within the dressing room. Is the pic with the trophy only what matters? I wonder if you have only one pic of you with the champions league on the mantle!!…

No Mr Carragher, social media is not nonsense and pics are memories, part of the journey. I am a big fan of trekking, after my love for ARSENAL – which is to say I do treks almost every month. What we remember the most are the moments we had during the climb and not at the destination. Every pic is important, not just the one with the trophy.

Go Gunners, keep posting. Keep us connected.

 

————————-

The books

And from the anniversary files today

23 January 2013: Arsenal 5 West Ham United 1.  Arsenal had 24 goal attempts.

 

 

49 Replies to “The curious case of an ARSENAL selfie.”

  1. if after the victory we are over the moon so be it. stick your f***ing opinion up your ar$e, Mr Carragher.

  2. Didn’t you know? Jamie Carragher is a cousin of Tarzan who was life in the jungle. So, we should excepted if he has some kind of gadget bloopers. Welcome to 21th century you red moron!

  3. I think Carragher is saying you should really leave your celebrating until you have won the war rather than after every battle. I think in his mind it shows a lack of winning mentality in the squad.

    Big clubs and big time players celebrate with big time trophies not after a single win away to a team similar in size to yourself.

    It’s like on Facebook when somebodt posts a picture of themselves eating a steak with some sycophantic coment like ” The best steak in the world for the best bloke in the world” Some would think “Wow look at him”, some would think “Who gives a toss you bellend”

  4. Well well well want can Arsenal do right.
    We are criticised for losing a game, for drawing, for winning, criticised for wearing long sleeves, for short sleeves, for Arsene standing by his players, believing nd giving youth a chance, we even criticised for the act of our ex-players,we’re criticised for playing football(soft) nd not been thugs, we’re criticised for allowing our legs to be broken, hmmmm now criticised for celebrating becoz we beat der money teams hands-down on their oil ground after weeks of them making stupid prediction of how we will lose. To all my UA faithful I care less infact am nt happy coz was expecting social media melt down of All Arsenal Fans worldwide to use dis week nd stuff their bulsh**t into all their a***s. Come Guys Many more victory nd selfie parades.
    So off Topic Sir!! After defeating oil city, Arsene has unleased bould dats why we won not because Arsene got it Right, dats d latest news trend now, just wandering if Arsene will ever Get Due appreciation for His effort in Arsenal.

  5. @Zoon,

    If thats the case, wonder why they insist on players staying back on the pitch to applaud the supporters after every game!!

    That was the show of appreciation and celebration in the pre-internet world. But now in the new age we have different mediums to express the same thing. Social media is more powerful compared to the the mainstream media now. And mainstream media will do all it can to make itself relevant before the imminent submission……

  6. Its not that the win was over celebrated
    carragher has over reacted to a simple group pic.

    carragher’s critism is nonsense, bollocks shhhhiiiit.

    Its just a group selfie, has this guy been living under a rock or something.

    in the past when people didnt have cameras and developing pictures was an expensive and time consuming process, they only took pictures of the most important things. Its not that everything else was not important or worth capturing.

    Im sure the players in the groupie, as individual human beings, would love to capture some record (in the form of a pic) of some of the times in their lives, whether other people think its important or not, like “the time we schooled an oil rich star studded man city team that people were skeptical about us beating”

    think carragher was just cranky and was trying to be a bit over critical, trying to find something wrong in an otherwise perfect performance that no one could really find a fault in. so he engineered a high horse perspective criticism

  7. I find it pathetic that he said that, and even more pathetic that we have to justify something like taking a picture.
    i feel really bad that we have to explain such simple straight forward things, why are we even giving this any importance, why am i typing out a 2nd msg lol

  8. @ Arsenal 13

    Thats not true. I have been to loads of games where players just storm of the pitch without acknowledging anybody.

    We all know the internet is taking over the world and that’s why we shortly have a generation of cyborgs who wont go to the games and will sit at home watching twitter to see what happens.

  9. @zoon how many trophies have Liverpool won in the last 5 years? and how many selfies have liverpool players have taken in the same period?

  10. I am very dyslexic so please bare with me i have a very simple point ot make i get to it eventual but as i do with most things in life i get distracted and take the long way, so i choose to embrace it hear and let it go.
    While i agree with what you are saying Jamie Carragher know the way the press works as a footballer and now the Pundit the one who spread hate or love depending on his mode, should of know better. Therefor he new what he was doing. The man him self is partial to not only being in a selfie with mates but he managed to work out how to use the Camera on his phone to take one hime self ie!
    http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/jamie-carragher-slams-arsenal-players-5009436
    Now the phrase selfie i not convinced was invented by the media its yet another word to be invented by our kids say aged between 5 and even up to 20 the age group that has never watched star wars and think they invented computers but they have no idea how they work. like my generation (iam 37) you had to be tech to keep them running as they cost to much to throw away and buy a new tab like you do now. i would say the word selfie the act of taking a picture of your self is not new at all and if any one invented it, it wa the digital camera it self! but i am sure there are pictures taken years ago and decades ago here is some evidence that the Beatles invented the selfie (no they did not just proving a pint)
    https://creazioniartec.wordpress.com/2014/05/25/selfie-dalle-origini-ai-beatles/
    these pictures are in fact the art work of Astrid Kirchherr their official photographer of the early beatles hamburg ira and their original Bass player Stuart Sutcliffe. So sorry my kids and all your others out there the Selfie is a new annoying word not an idea!!!!
    Back to football sorry. I think this is again evidence of the media as a whole are anti arsenal for no reason what so ever we get slated when we don’t win as for some reason top 4 after buying and building the best stadium in the country is not good enough. Remember people Wenger will not be remembered for the man who win a few trophies and moved stadiums then was crap (words according to most of the non arsenal media eg Adrian (secrete gooner) Durham) he will be remembered for so much more moving home is a stressful time for a family of 4 let alone a family of millions and 60,000 seats and sorry to those who doubt it but moving is different to adding seats in. Arsenal did it right we don’t spend money we don’t have. While Man United are supposedly the second richest club in the world they are in more debt as far as i understand!!! and Chelsea don’t count as they are not a football club they are a hobby for a rich man, and despite agreeing with Jose on Man City recent buy Chelsea invented breaching financial fair play in the late 90’s and early 00’s and still been doing it buying players with non club generated money!!!!! Arsenal buy with money earn t the right way!!!! So Wenger will be remembered for so so much more and while i think we need a change he is not done yet he could cause some upsets domestically and European this year yet!

    The fact the media hate us so much i feel is jealousy we have always embraced technology we have the best web site other clubs have now caught up but ours has been doing it for years. and the media slate us for making fans happy i love all the silly videos are boys make and share over various media not just the official site, they have a youtube channel etc etc. this is not new we have always led the way for tech. The controversial first tsar of football Henry Norris (yes the man that bribed us in to top flight football after WWI) had friends in high places Arsenal where the first live football match ever and apart from some experiments with broadcast at rugby it was the first commentated full game of any sport! and it was not scheduling it was Arsenal Henry Norris that made this happen! again we where the first live TV game that may well of just been scheduling but a London team the Queens team would alway be first.
    Basicly i am dyslexic as said at the start. All i wanted to say was F@#k of Carragher you Muppet your just jealous Embrace the Tech you Dinosaur!!!!

  11. Go easy on him guys. Afterall, Carragher is a RED-PUNDIT who is walking alone at the moment. He is yet to reach the 21st Century!!

  12. I won’t hear a word said against Carragher..mainly because I can never understand a word he says.
    With due respect to the citizens of Liverpool, I find their accent the most difficult to follow.

  13. ZOON, every team celebrates after a victory. In the picture in question they weren’t even celebrating, they were just standing around for a photograph. Did you see the wild celebrations Liverpool had after they beat Aston Villa? There were a lot more Liverpool selfies and celebratory photographs after that victory than there was after we beat the Manch€$s€r Accountant$.

    Everyone can see this is just blatant and idiotic Arsenal bashing.

    I’m not sure I agree with this article. Supporters were just as passionate and ‘connected’ to the clubs before ‘social media’ came about. It’s just that now we live in a world of self-obsessed ‘social media’, and that’s just the way it is. Every young adult, and just about everyone else, is on social media, sharing every minute aspect of their life with everyone else. That’s just the world today. Carragher is just a c**t.

  14. Well if you take the last 10 years it is probably more than us but dont understand the point you are making.

    I am sure Carragher doesn’t like selfies after 1 win no matter what players take them.

  15. I suspect the problem with Carragher was that we won a match that he expected, predicted and hoped we would lose – I remember him stating a week before the match that our midfield would not stop or cope with Silva.

    Post match what we saw was a petulant rant or vent – silly and classless man – but in keeping with his ineptitude as a punter.

    Lets keep winning and keep the Selfies coming.

  16. Zoon

    Do you seriously have an issue with the selfie or u are just Mr. C’s twin. Probably, u’re not an Arsenal Fan or at best aaa.

    U have a problem with players rejoicing over winning a game. Maybe next will be why are they rejoicing after scoring goals. Its unfortunate that Mr. C is being a moron by his comment, and if you agree with him then …

  17. @ Quincy

    That’s a very fair point. I was explaining why i think Carragher said it so we could have some discussion rather than have post after post slagging him off for waht he said to prove ho much we love our club.

  18. “Understandable he is annoyed seeing ARSENAL win, but this outburst wasn’t necessary. ”

    Unless this comment is tongue in cheek, it is actually incorrect. Carragher gave raving reviews to the entire Arsenal team after the City win , and also said he was happy to see it happen, because as he put it , he couldn’t stand the sound of his own voice saying the same things over and over after Arsenal losses to big teams.

    Whether he really meant it is another question.

    I do agree with him about not being able to stand the sound of his voice though.

    On the subject of selfies – it’s a none story but they are rather silly.

  19. This is nuts.

    If all people care about is winning trophies then only go to the cup finals or the league game where the title is secured. But you won’t see many games (even if you support Chelsea…). The whole point is the journey. Many of my best football memories are from games where no trophy was won!

    Of course big wins should be celebrated!! And that includes selfies if that is how individuals choose to celebrate. What is the problem? If you can’t celebrate “interim” successes then you must lead a pretty joyless existence! Are players and fans not supposed to celebrate a goal?

    Ridiculous.

  20. What I can’t understand is how this has become a big media story at all – and in that sense I agree with the people saying it’s part of the anti-Arsenal agenda.

    Some players take a photo of themselves after a big win and share it on social media with the fans. Nothing particularly odd about that.

    The press is pointing out what a big win it was. According to some journalist, we haven’t won against the reigning champions away since 2002 (I think that was the date they gave). I’m sure one of the Untold readers who knows a lot more about football figures than I do will say whether that’s true or not.

    And then there’s the fact that the press had been guaranteeing a Man City win. So every reason for the players to smile. And every reason for the fans to smile too with them.

    Jamie Carragher expresses some slightly odd views during his punditry and this is one of them. The interesting thing is how this one got so much coverage.

  21. Maybe the press have an anti Carragher agenda as well as an anti Arsenal agenda.

    On that point have Untold decided yet why there is an anti Arsenal agenda?

  22. I saw Ramseys pic, it said something like, thanks for your fantastic support, great result, safe journey home.
    My mate tells the story of bumping into the Arsenal team at Burnley train station after a game in the café, where they were tucking in to ham egg & chips, with big mugs of tea, he got all their autographs, they all said, safe journey home.
    Carragher could perhaps the effort & cost it takes us supporters to get to games, especially at 4pm on a sunday, so his employers can make more money.
    The players are just giving a little back, he should apologise really, what he thinks doesn’t matter, it was aimed at us supporters !

  23. Dont other teams take these photos when they beat another? I’m sure I’ve seen pictures of other clubs footballers celebrating a win, so whats the problem? Bit of a non-issue from Carragher there, mere tabloid feed to fill the column inches.

  24. What can I say about Carragher that ain’t already been said. He’s a poor pundit so is trying to make himself relevant by tackling an ‘issue’ and all the better that it involves arsenal. A prize muppet. More pics please lads. If you can’t enjoy a win what’s the point in playing the game?

  25. Anyone can take as many ‘selfies’ as they want, when they want and wherever they want. The bit I don’t understand is why would anyone else want to see them?
    My only real interest in our players is on the pitch, although I’m obviously pleased to hear there’s plenty of ‘team spirit’ there, I don’t need to see pictures of it.

  26. Whatever Carra meant, the media have again twisted it to their agenda. Love them or hate them, selfies are part of modern day life, they are not restricted to trophy winners, this one was harmless, cannot see it as disrspectful. There are far bigger issues facing football than a bunch of players taking a photo after a win. but clearly not for the UK media who remain very quiet on some of these very issues, using convenient smokescreens like this non story

  27. To laugh is to risk appearing a fool.
    To weep is to risk appearing sentimental.
    To reach out to another is to risk involvement.
    To expose feelings is to risk exposing your true self.
    To place your ideas and dreams before a crowd is to risk their loss.
    To love is to risk not being loved in return.
    To hope is to risk pain.
    To try is to risk failure.
    But risks must be taken, because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing.”
    ― William Arthur Ward

  28. “The pessimist complains about the wind;
    the optimist expects it to change;
    the realist adjusts the sails.”
    ― William Arthur Ward

    May our Captain AW direct the sails of the good ship Arsenal FC forward and onward forever more.

  29. The media scream about our inability to win big games and then when we do they criticize us for celebrating the winning of the big games; they help create the notion that we can’t win then when we react to this notion by celebrating we are over the top. Mr. Carragher own selfie demonstrates his inability to see the irony of the situation.

  30. Jamie Carragher is a hypocrit. He’s not even a very good footballer.

    There are lots of selfies he is involved in from the changing room after games. They appeared on social media shortly after his disgraceful comments hit the media. he actually claimed teh team were celebrating teh victory like they had won a trophy. Thsi was not true at all. It was just a few of teh players taking a picture of themselves. They were clearly pleased to have won and were enjoying the moment. These boys have been slaughtered in the press for having no bottle and they had every right to be pleased.

    This is just what Arsenal have to put up with.

    Carragher is just another in the long line of wa**ers that use our club as a punch bag.

    For some reason our club is immensely disliked and after every win the search starts for a negative.

  31. Quick Joke:

    After years of research, Scientists have discovered what makes a young AAA happy.
    Nothing.

  32. Carragher is an awful pundit, his material is so cliche ridden, he was so annoyed because he’d already written his analysis before the game had kicked off, because it’s the same as every game that he sees Arsenal losing. Now when Arsenal beat man city in a way that he didn;t see coming, he was f**ked all his pre-prepared material down the drain. So he talks about selfies, lame!

    To some extent it’s Arsenal FC fault (not just Wenger), that they always lose or make the same mistakes which makes anaylyzing them quite easy and that’s why they’re the most talked about club because it’s easy material.

    I found the Liverpool pic more pathetic the whole team fist pumping over a win with Sunderland.

  33. @ ZOON

    “It’s like on Facebook when somebodt posts a picture of themselves eating a steak with some sycophantic coment like ” The best steak in the world for the best bloke in the world” Some would think “Wow look at him”, some would think “Who gives a toss you bellend”

    You mean a bit like every time I see your name at the top of a post?!!!!!

    The media love slagging off Arsenal at every opportunity. Then when we stick one to the media, they still slag us of and people like Zoon get off on this and perpetuate at it with a tirade of verbal excrement.

    @ Menance

    I’m sorry, you’re wrong. Zoon doesn’t need to get a life. He needs to do us all a favour and get another team! I would suggest one of those that buys trophies and is more suited to glory hunters.

  34. I don’t find Carragher as objectionable as many other pundits. His understanding of the game is limited, reflecting his own approach as an average traditional English defender and this is revealed through his comments.

  35. I just laughed at Carragher as did Gary Neville. The social media pics are a nice touch. Carragher doesn’t like them which is fair enough. I enjoyed his rant. Good tv.

    What is irking me is the multi coloured footwear of players. All the colours of the rainbow these days. Black footwear please unless you are Alan Ball and then white is permitted 🙂

  36. Beautifully put article and love the analogy of it being the journey not solely the destination, also as someone has mentioned where exactly is the celebration, I see friends sitting down having a photo together, like when they take pictures on a coach somewhere , or a plane on the way back from somewhere, not sure exactly where the harm is….. Oh and nice to see Scholes with his two peneth, apparently Fergie didn’t allow it so it shouldn’t be done , well now we know…

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