Doing ‘a Likely Lads’; as tough today as it’s always been …
Arsenal in recent years has been subjected to levels of abuse from sections of its own supporters way in excess of what might be expected for a club routinely competing in all of England’s – and Europe’s – biggest competitions. Indeed, there are clubs that have been relegated with considerably less acrimony than the routine nastiness regularly dished out by a small minority of ‘our own’.
Working out what could possibly be behind the worst of the vitriolic verbal assaults on the club is confused by the presence of a good number of what we might also describe as ‘glory-hunters’ – those casual critics who spend much of the time moaning about anything and everything, often on the flimsiest of pretexts with little supporting evidence to back up their banal, negative claims. These more casual critics of course come from all walks of life and are not unique to any age group or background.
But the hardcore club basher – the perpetrator who is often aggressive and abusive to anyone opposing him rarely permits rational debate for any real length of time before the inevitable vitriol starts up again. These are individuals who appear to be anything but Arsenal fans, such is their disaffection from the club. Like a prisoner removed from society and denied the vote, they couldn’t feel less ‘apart’ from the club if they tried.
Surprisingly, I actually have a certain amount of sympathy for the genuinely disenfranchised fan.
Imagine, when the cost of doing so was just about still affordable, that you had been a season-ticket holder and a home (and maybe an away) game regular all your supporting life. And that your Dad had been, also. As was his Dad, your brothers and your dad’s brothers. Maybe your old mum used to go, before her leg or hip got too bad? Imagine you were related to one of the more than 500 now deceased fans whose ashes are scattered over the much loved – indeed, the venerated – Highbury pitch. And imagine being of modest means, gradually priced out of regular attendance as your mates were also side-lined and dispersed by a game and an institution that was undergoing a revolution right in front of your disbelieving eyes.
Imagine watching Highbury being partially demolished for flats and replaced by a new but very alien space, rapidly filling with a new generation of fans and visitors. Imagine that the long-held dream of taking your own children to games had effectively been supplanted by that new generation of fans and visitors.
The ‘gentrification’ of the club has not come without a cost, for some.
For a time, I was once able to take my place alongside the old guard fans who used to go to Highbury, just like my Dad before me.
But for me, the Emirates project spoke of opportunity and excitement – the possibility of being able at last to properly compete with Man u, Barcelona and Real Madrid. To finally go up a level and join the top table of clubs for whom success was a byword. I was one of the lucky ones able to afford the move. But my Dad, after that first Emirates’ season, being retired, was unable to repeat the season-ticket owning experience and has, like so many others, simply faded away.
Highbury held 38,000 by the end of its working life.
My guess is that a proportion of those have, like Dad, been unable to join in the fun at the Emirates but, unlike Dad, refuse to go away and have in recent years found, in Twitter in particular, a vehicle through which they can attack the club at will. Radio phone-ins, blogs, you name it, are all fair game, and all are legitimate weapons of war to the dispossessed.
Not everyone, by any means, who criticizes the club are former season-ticket holders from the Highbury era but many are carried along by those for whom no amount of success will ever compensate for the loss of their match day experience spent alongside friends and family; an experience that stretched back generations. Dressed up as concern for an absence of trophies in recent years, this particular red herring is as relevant to their real complaint as their attacks on Ozil and Giroud for being ineffective, Wenger for not spending ‘the money’ or for not replacing RvP, and the Board for raising prices.
So whilst I don’t agree with them, their actions or their views, yes, I do have some sympathy.
Imagine in ten years’ time someone decided to move the Arsenal ‘franchise’ abroad somewhere, say Spain, France or Germany (as unlikely as that now seems).
Would I be likely to hold back in my criticism of the club? Would I care about the impact of my words?
Would I even care if they won anything, anymore?
So what about the future – are we destined to always have this hideous split amongst our own supporters? Will the price of joining the ‘top table’ of Europe’s footballing elite be a prolonged near-civil war fought online and elsewhere by the very fans who once found camaraderie and common purpose in supporting, unconditionally, the club we all loved?
My own view is that the areas behind the goals should be made standing and should be available at a fraction of the current price. I believe that some of those spaces should be made available to season ticket holders but also there should be many tickets available on the day. I think the season tickets should have the option to cover just league matches or include cup games also, to enable the price to be even more affordable for those who might otherwise struggle to pay.
My view of the pitch when I’m sitting down, in the North End, with the goal on the left just out of shot …
… and my view of the pitch standing up.
That there are presently no standing areas in the English game is hardly AFC’s fault but the potential for change could certainly work in all the clubs’ favour as much as the fans. Whether there is stomach within our own club to provide the necessary leadership on this issue at FA and government level is not known to me and in any case, the club acting in isolation, could hardly expect too much success.
But the benefits, not just to Arsenal, are such that this kind of development should, in my view, be everyone’s number one priority.
Well, once they’ve sorted out introducing video technology and improving the ref’s, obviously …
* ‘Doing a Likely Lads’ has lived on as a phrase used in England to describe the predicament of anyone trying to avoid the results of a game before getting to watch a recording later. The show first aired in 1973.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPiKQGJZfkc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwkUdnyiU5U
Positively Arsenal 
Yes ,yes & YES… AHHHHHHHH
that is a good start FOREVER. and fans ,flares ,drums and banners. Now you got yourself an awesome party. Don’t forget some proper cannons blasting at every goal and win. Oh yah. Heaven…..
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Chelsea probed and found a weak-spot. I did not expect it. Without it’s triumvirate to tantalize and tease the opposition, City is vulnerable, even at home, oh the horror. If they are not scoring and going forward, they lose rhythm. 0-1s were and will always be Maureen’s signature dish. I thought it tasted quite good.
I had a whiff of an old Highbury-soaked atmosphere in 1976/7. As I recall both ends behind the goals were all standing, can that be? More than that, the experience was entrancing, how different and similar to mine in Africa. Football stadiums sandwiched in working class suburbs, the pride of locals, scarves in windows, red-and-white pubs and chippies en route packed with clumps of fans, match-day, cold breath, red-and-white families, opposition fans pouring in controlled streams from trains or buses, police on horses, noise, banter, jokes with strangers. It’s a hugely important debate. The now common place all-seater stadium with crap catering and VIP membership sections, larger and well-behaved crowds, somewhat expensive, is to my mind an American innovation; there is no turning back. It’s up to fans to reinvent and reassert themselves.
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Nicely written Zim: a touch of the elegiac about this. Not sure if urban pastoral is possible, but I think you’ve just invented it. This is very much the 1970’s experience described by Hornby in Fever Pitch that resonates so clearly with those of us condemned to enjoy our teenage years with a glam rock sound track.
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I literally gasped for air when I saw Liam Brady onto the pitch. My boyhood football hero, from 3000 miles away, who I had only ever seen in odd snatches of TV highlights!
I forget most of that match, except we won (1-0, I suspect), it was Coventry, and a slightly lofted, hard-but-so gentle, 30-yard left-footed curling through ball from Brady – to no one – but no, look again, into the right-side channel, weighted into an area of two Arsenal players, one of whom who took possession Giroud-like (could it have been Frank Stapleton, I forget?), passed backwards (finding Rix), moved, received the ball side-on to goal, turned and took an instant ferocious shot from just inside the box, tipped over the bar, the crowd stood as one, arms aloft, one mighty staccato roar; that skinny boy Graham Rix had exchanged a sweet one-two with Brady to create the space for Brady to make the pass, then ran 25 yards; but it was Brady-alchemy of such vision it left its mark and memory up to today. How he even thought of the pass, outrageous.
Eat your heart out Mesut Ozil!
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Howzat! Laudrup, the great hope of the End-OF-An-Eraists, is fired. Get that, fired! No mutual agreement to resign, a-la Ian Halloway, but sacked by the owner. Lets be clear; Laudrup’s team may have been pleasing to watch but recent results showed clear signs of stagnancy and retrogression after a one year glitter. Even more damning are reports his own agent was acting contrary to the interests of the club.
Hopefully this is a salutary reminder to those who began writing obituaries of Arsene Wenger and posting high flown manifestos demanding a “root and branch” review of coaching, tactics and transfer policy. Those who turned their back on Wenger when times were tough still have a lot to answer for.
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I am not entirely sure the sacking of a manager signifies all that much Shotta, and may tell us more about the employer than the employee ?
Wenger was sacked, if I recall, by Monaco, Alex Ferguson by East Stirling/East Fife/Some bloody two-bob Jock outfit, Bill Shankly was given his marching orders by Workington, Madrid have sacked every manager who has ever worked for them Heynckes, Del Bosque etcetera
As most clubs find sacking the manager is the really easy bit – if it wasn’t Mike Ashley could not cope – its the next bit that is where you need to be clever
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As usual Coll is is the timely contrarian. Yes, a sacking is not the scarlet letter it once was on a managers’s CV. In fact it may become another notch on the good ole .45 as the manager proves his durability and ability to triumph adversity. But there is no getting away from the short-termism of those who held Laudrup’s one year swan song as sufficient reason to call time on the tenure of one of the greatest ever managers in the modern era. Swansea is just one loss away from being dragged into the relegation scrap.
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No getting away from it Shotta Swansea have been a pale imitation of the club that played such good football and lifted the League Cup last season – funnily enough it was after that day at Wembley, and an easy win against poor Bradford, that their form deserted them. First trophy ever for the club, Europa place guaranteed. Even Chelsea firmly mugged in the semi final by the diving ball boy. I can understand why they were giddy.
I suspect some of the Swansea players took their victory as a sign that they could slack off, perhaps Laudrup did too, and inevitably in such a competitive league they paid the price.
Things have not really ever got back to that pre Wembley state at the Liberty and it has to be the manager who carries the can. The timing of the sacking is a bit of a mystery though, and it is clear there is no new manager in the wings ready to step in and give the Swansea squad a much deserved kick up the arse.
I think that Laudrup is bright enough and capable of managing at a high level. He’ll not be out of the game too long.
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What is this talking going around about Barcelona’s charges for their man city games and how come city are not boycotting the game and all the other related dramatics that went with their game at the emirates last time out?
£77 for adults and £97 for adults with wheel chair?????
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No doubt the whining mob of Her Majesty’s Press Corp led by David Conn will get round to it Team – if they can detach their collective tongue from Mansour’s arse
I see Citeh have been allocated a total of five wheelchair spaces so I am not entirely sure it is a cunning money making wheeze by the Catalans to screw cash out of the disabled
And after all when it comes to screwing cash out of the disabled we lead the world
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Laudrup had to deal with the absence of Michu, while De Guzman and Leon Britton have missed a lot of games due to niggles. Then there’s Jon Joe Shelvey. Personally, I liked what I saw of him at Liverpool last season, but I wasn’t expecting him to be the embodiment of a giraffe in roller skates. This being said, I have no problem with Laudrup getting sacked. Swansea’s board has a knack of finding really good managers.
Hunter, Mourinho was dying to use that trivote at Real Madrid. The reason he didn’t is because the Madrid fans would have burned him alive. Unlike Chelsea, Madrid have a long history of playing free flowing football and that’s what prevented Mourinho from going completely defensive like he has done.
Did you all hear? Arsenal is the most popular club in the most populous country in the world. Even though we didn’t whore ourselves out and go on pre-season tours until very recently, we are more popular than Manure, Milan and the two Spanish giants. Yet another thing the twunts can’t moan about anymore.
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Zim: “The now common place all-seater stadium with crap catering and VIP membership sections, larger and well-behaved crowds, somewhat expensive, is to my mind an American innovation; there is no turning back. It’s up to fans to reinvent and reassert themselves.”
I want to see this at professional stadia.
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Hunter, Mourinho was dying to use that trivote at Real Madrid. The reason he didn’t is because the Madrid fans would have burned him alive. Unlike Chelsea, Madrid have a long history of playing free flowing football and that’s what prevented Mourinho from going completely defensive like he has done.
i never thought youd take it seriously as i was basically pissing on jose and his trivote but thank you for taking the time to reply…for luiz see pepe…. lol…
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Pepe in midfield *wipes a tear*
I dunno. Demichelis in midfield takes some beating.
Pellegerini’s yellow submariners were a great team, fun to watch, but if you want someone to play like Senna in ’08 they need to be able to run, to turn, tackle, think, pass…a niggled Milner or an underplayed and rust ridden Rodwell would have been better choices any day of the week.
As for Endofanera nominee Pellegerini?
Red card!
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Pellegrini’s failure to strengthen during January window casts doubt on title chances.
At 60 years of age Manuel Pellegrini may well have years of top club experience, but his unwillingness to boost City’s ailing squad leaves fans fuming in the wake of Etihad embarrassment. As the Sky Blues paper- thin midfield crumbled in the face of Chelsea’s robust physicality, doubts were raised as to whether City could maintain their challenge, especially as an injury to Toure would seriously derail their chances. City, who have managed only three points out of a possible nine against top tier clubs, have a tricky away fixture at Carrow Road on Saturday, before taking on Barcelona and then Chelsea again in a run of fixtures that looks sure to define their season. Can City weather the storm, or will their expensively assembled group of ball players prove to have flattered only to deceive? Sources close to the club speak of genuine concerns about the tactical choices made in recent weeks and in particular the decision to employ Demichelis in the middle of the park. Arsenal, whose squad was put together at a fraction of City’s, remain two points clear as the League heads into the final third of the season.
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“Did you all hear? Arsenal is the most popular club in the most populous country in the world. Even though we didn’t whore ourselves out and go on pre-season tours until very recently, we are more popular than Manure, Milan and the two Spanish giants. Yet another thing the twunts can’t moan about anymore”
Have you got a link to that Gains? It might be worth an article?
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http://edition.cnn.com/2014/02/04/sport/football/arsenal-beats-manchester-united-in-china/
Here you go, young George.
Fin, Pellegrini was missing both of his holding midfielders. He could have played Milner in the middle, but I can see why he played DeMichelis instead. Mourinho, on the other hand, starts David Luiz even though he had Obi Mikel and Lampard on the bench. If it wasn’t for that Ivanovic goal, it would have been 0-0 and Mourinho would have been fine with that result.
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Foreverheady
Great comment.
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Be interesting to see how the Abu Dhabi regime change gurantee do in their games against the Qatari brokers based in Barcelona as they go through a vaguely transitional phase (The waning of Xavi). I thought City would sneak through the tie, not least because Barcelona themselves have also failed to find a CB in three seasons and I’m starting to have some doubts now.
We’d better not tell not so nice but dim Tim and friends of such mistakes. I wouldn’t want to ruin their fun partay of incompetence in N.London but Barcelona did try to play Song at CB in his first game in a new league.
It didn’t work. Probably the last or second last time Song played at CB for Arsenal was against Barca in 10/11 where he had a decent 45. But he wasn’t a regular!
Somebody made a bit of a boo boo there.
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Yes an interesting midfield battle on Monday between two central defenders, Luiz and Demichelis, both playing out of position and neither looking exactly born to the new job
To his credit, and for once, Luiz did a slightly less bad job than the Argie
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Luiz was bailed out by Matic on numerous occasions. And how the hell do you play him against West Ham? It’s not like Fat Sam has Man City’s offense at his disposal.
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Gains,
Demichelis kept on over hitting so many passes, I dunno. He needed a phalanx of Carzola’s to make some use of his attempts to pass the ball out.
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Everybody saw how Maureen wanted his new Chelsea team to play in that CoC game against Arsenal (Mata played btw! heh.). Trying for real pace on the counter. DM played the way that Arteta’s critics imagine he plays.
A full strength Arsenal team “out-tacticed” the Gazprom bores in the first league game, the return leg in Fulham could depend upon the first goal. Missing Walcott on that cunning counter-counter (he’s a sly one, is Arsene) means that it could turn out to be a Big game for AOC.
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I genuinely like Pellegrini’s approach, as a less mature version of Arsenal. There’s no doubting the attacking prowess, movement, speed, the goals and the combative role of Toure or Kompany to buttress the midfield battles. Or so many had started to think. Chelsea unlocked that tactically and City did not have the personnel or the structure to answer. Now City have a little problem. Teams will say “beatable, call their bluff”.
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Arsene has made so much money off the Catalans. The best deal was buying one of their academy players and selling him back for twenty and some odd million pounds.
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Or we can play our passing side, Fin. Arteta, Ozil, Ramsey, Jack, Santi and Le Beau Goss. We were ripping teams apart with that line up at the beginning of the season.
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Zim, I think Chelsea are the team more likely to have their bluff called. Since they have only Ba and Eto’o to call upon, they are more dependent than ever on goals from Hazard, Willian or Ramirez. If teams set themselves up to play narrow, like West Ham did, it will make it harder for their midfielders to score and Chelsea will drop points more often.
With City, other teams have to capitalize on the fact that Fernandinho, Aguero and Javi Martinez are out injured. Their next four fixtures are Norwich away, Sunderland at home, Stoke at home and Man United away. I can see them dropping at least four points during this stretch of games.
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Yes, both have shown they are more vulnerable. That’s good. I always thought Mourinho’s formula football (I guess he spends a lot of time on structure or is it low risk high return percentage football, whatever) will falter at times without that Drogba type outlet, even with his gem Hazard. City will seek to bounce back no doubt, but teams will watch the Chelsea approach and reduce the margins now.
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Ah, but we should focus on our challenges. Liverpool will be a test, a big one. They sure have the capacity on their day to score a couple.
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Gains,
There have been some great games from our wingless wonders.
Southampton Home was one I’ll be happy to re-watch. What was interesting in that game was the width maintained by the wider players, Rosicky hugging the touchline at times. For those that think that AW doesn’t tweak when possible based upon who the opponent might be, there’s some evidence that he does.
Gnabry was maybe cutting in a little bit too much last week, though it is fun when he goes on those runs.
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I don’t know about Liverpool, Zim. Despite missing a few key players, West Brom handled them pretty easily last week-end. Losing Lucas Leiva was huge for them. They’re midfield is quite weak at the moment. If Rodgers plays SAS he better hope they’re on fire. Otherwise, Arsenal are going to have a pretty easy time of it.
Hazard can be marked out of a game if the opposition leave a midfielder in his general area. He can’t be marked too tightly, because he’ll get around the defender. But put someone close to him and he becomes less useful.
Fin, Napoli and Liverpool are great games to watch if you like the wingless wonders.
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I also found the Oil Bowl very interesting. Unlike the press and pundits, I think tales of City’s demise are grossly exaggerated. I agree with Gains. They had their chances but without their best players (Aguero, Fernandinho, Nasri in that order) they lacked that extra edge. Evidently they have a soft center as Yaya seems to see defending as a secondary part of his job description but going forward he had moments when he practically mauled Mou’s three CMs. That vulnerability will continue as long as their injured players heal. (As a sidebar, did anyone notice how terrible their two big CFs, Aguero and Dzeko, played with their back to goal? Did they ever control and layoff one pass while under pressure from Cahill and Terry? Can we honestly Imagine Giroud being so ineffective?)
As for Maureen’s vaunted tactics, it is clear with his moves over the transfer window the negative shape his team is taking. Three big defensively-minded CMs behind a front three of one striker and two wide MFs dedicated to counter-attacking. Did anybody see the big disconnect between the CMs and the midfielders. That is a lot of space for the likes of Ozil, Cazorla and Rosicky to operate. It would be a travesty if such defensive strategy triumphs by the end of May. But you never know.
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It’ll be interesting to see how many clubs follow Jose’s ‘how to nullify/beat City’ tactics; by the end of the season the game on Monday will have cost the Blue Mancs a lot more than just three points.
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To be honest, I was not that much impressed with either team last night. So much for City’s much vaunted squad depth ha! Only Arsenal can replace 4 world class midfielders with another 4 of virtually equal quality. As for My Little Pony FC anyone who thinks that was not bus-parking last night is sadly deluding themselves. I read that Chav players are circle jerking themselves over how clever they were against city,
Did they score 5 against them? No. Arsenal did. City’s defending has been there for the taking all season. Pool did it, BM did it & every team they play away do it. Only the British media don’t know it.
And a great quote about Jose’s team of big bruisers is that they are just a rich mans Stoke.
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It looks like Yaya Toure is quickly becoming this seasons’ Alex Song.
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“My Little Pony FC” ha ha! Love it!
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That could catch on DC.
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ZimPaul
@ February 5, 2014 at 10:12 am
excellent comments, however the irish striker who played at the same time as Rix,Brady and O’leary is always known as judas the 1st or other such dire terms. His full name should never be spoken.( or written )
and gains the stadium idea is brilliant indeed i own a trumpet myself although the jazz band at watford during Eltons era regular got asked to place their trumpets up their arse!
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Hahahaha. My little pony FC. That cracked me up.
The only pundit who thinks Mourinho put on a master class was that plank Robbie Savage.
More interesting will be seeing who follows fat Sam’s how to nullify Chavski strategy. Let’s see how Pardew lines his team up this weekend. Apparently, Tiote is a big doubt for the Chelsea game.
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A-or-B, yes, I know. Ooops.
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Liverpool sure have weaknesses in midfield, and can be cumbersome anyway there, and depending one would expect a weak spot or two at the back and a little error prone. Very strong as we know up front, fast too, slippery even. This is a big home game for them. A win would be a major step, and a draw would be advantageous. The Arsenal line-up will be very interesting, every game a cup final now. Defense sorts itself out. Hard to leave Ox out, as he seems to have found where the goal is, AW as we know likes that. Ox also has surprisingly good stats (comparable to Aaron) in running back and tackling (albeit over very few games). Santi is in prime form. Arteta, Giroud, Mesut first names on the team sheet. Jack and Tomas are slight question marks, as is Gnabry for inexperience over 90 minutes top flight. Podolski? Somewhere in between, secret weapon. No doubt AW will go for the strongest possible team, which might be (if 4-2-3-1 ish): Mikel and Jack, Ox (left), Santi and Ozil (right), Roo. That line-up is so flexible you could interchange names and positions almost at will. Strong bench too if it goes that way: Lukas, Tomas, Gnabs, NB. Naturally, AW will do something unexpected.
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I hope Liverpool attempt to play it cautiously and defensively, 4 midfield pressing, and grab a goal over the top on the counter type strategy. That will not work, they not set up that way (I think). An attacking game plan (S’hampton) would suit them and be a little dangerous for us if it comes off.
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we are short in midfield as a squad at the moment. Midfielders are split into several different types of players and so although we have plenty in numbers one more injury or ban in the wrong area could prove costly.
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Makes you wonder exactly how many midfielders a squad would need to avoid being damaged by injury/suspension. At the start of the season we seemed quite well stocked …
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Or indeed what the definition of midfielder is. Is Cazorla a midfielder or a winger, Podolski winger or midfield? When Monreal comes on to shore up a lead is he then a midfielder or does he remain a defender? Oxlade looked like a striker last week, while Giroud is credited with greater defensive stability at set pieces. Ozil has played as a false 9, so does that make him a false midfielder too? Positional names are yesterday’s fossilised tactics.
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foreverheady
February 6, 2014 at 11:00 am
Arsene Wenger, total football
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yeah just no injuries full stop then.
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Looks like Citeh have got permission to extend the My Little Pony stadium from 47,000 to 62,000.
Guess they’ll have to have somewhere to accommodate the overflow from the Old Toilet exodus.
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AA
City struggle to get anywhere near 47k in for the regular games.
The place only sells out for the ‘big’ games.
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The OT exodus. Surely they will go to Chelsea as being not so far to travel every other week? I sold my shares in Virgin Trains when Moyes was appointed.
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However successful City are they will remain forever beige.
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Forever, that is precisely why Arsenal holds the upper hand against in the billionaires playground, as tight as it is; why I imagine AW might rate a Tomas Rosicky more highly at 33 years than most superstars. I loved it when AW called Tomas “Mr. Arsenal”. I think he refers to versatile, adaptable skills as much as loyalty. Some groan to see Aaron and Jack “educated” wide right or left, and all the rest, but we seem to creating a team in which “played out of position” is an all-but obsolete concept.
Still we are a little short, at least until Jack and Flamini are fully back.
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