I am indebted to Yankee Gooner, one of the people I follow on Twitter, who reminded me of this little gem from Fever Pitch:
How could Nick Hornby suggest that back in the dim and distant anyone could possibly devote so much time and obsession to supporting a team that on the face of things they clearly hated?
It seems contrary to any logical behaviour and surely no one feels like this now, especially as there are so many choices of teams to watch on the TV, so many different forms of entertainment; if you think your team are rubbish, then either change your team, or your pastime. I suppose back then there wasn’t that much choice, live football didn’t happen on TV, so if you wanted to follow a team you were pretty much chained to the local club. If you were lucky in the Post Code lottery, you grew up close to Liverpool, or Arsenal, or Manchester United: unfortunate and you were left irrevocably chained to Oldham, Millwall or Portsmouth.
For on the face of things there is nothing rational about such behaviour, about hating so passionately the thing you are meant to love, and it beggars belief that anyone should behave like this nowadays in an era where quite frankly we have never had it so good (and I speak with some authority as I remember the three day week, the power cuts, the football specials and those pitches, shorts and haircuts – particularly the Baseball Ground and Charlie George for some reason). Perhaps however this masochistic impulse is deeply ingrained in the football fan, and looking at the responses on the various Arsenal Twitter feeds, and listening to some of the crowd reactions at the Emirates it would certainly seem to be alive and well in 2014. As far as I can tell, some sections of The Arsenal’s support are exactly like Fan 1: we have been top of the league most of the season, and they still think we are rubbish. How odd to be like that, and how agonisingly self-defeating, but the answer, I think, lies in his last line: to live in hope is all well and good I suppose, but it tends to have a terrible effect on your experience of the present, as almost by definition its suggestion that things must be better in the future also confirms that things ain’t great right now.
Especially so, of course, if your present existence isn’t all beer and skittles – and for so many that is the unfortunate situation. Few of us are true masters of our own destiny. Instead we are forced to work for others in jobs we do not enjoy, if we are lucky enough to have jobs at all. The daily grind eats into the soul, each repetitive task taking us further and further away from all that we thought we were promised in childhood, when everything seemed so rosy and full of possibility. Small wonder then that the fame and fortune as offered by a lottery win or X-Factor success looms so large in the hopeless dreams of the rank and file. And that is where the football club comes in, for each week it also offers an escape from reality and the illusion of success – but actually a much more tangible one. Each match is keenly anticipated and planned for, teams are picked, tactics debated. Those of a certain age believe they are the manager, younger ones the players. Briefly, the football fan owns the team, for his ticket or his TV subscription (items often dearly bought and involving sacrifice elsewhere) means he has invested in the club just as surely as the millionaire owner or the board of directors have done. All is set fair – let the good times roll! Momentarily we are invincible. The stadium is full of glamour, the latest top signing a beyond-human thoroughbred, the sense of belonging as the anthemic hymns belted out palpable. This is indeed the Promised Land, and giddy with anticipation the cares of our lives fade away, for we are by far the greatest team the world has ever seen.
Except most times they don’t of course. A bad decision, a moment of brilliance from the other team, an all too human error from our champion reminds us that actually everything is shit. We are, after all only mortal, our champions have feet of clay, and if work wasn’t bad enough already we know that on Monday every other fan in the world will be mocking us, buoyed and fed as they are by the sensationalist headlines that await every reverse, and extra-especially every failure to be outstanding from The Arsenal. It doesn’t matter that overall we are doing really rather well, that we are infinitely better off than every other club in the UK bar possibly two financially doped, but oh so beatable rivals; the fact remains that our dreams (however unrealistically) have been shattered. If you are lucky enough (and I can’t believe I am just writing this, because that is the weirdest definition of lucky you will ever see) to know that everything is terrible anyway, you will think something along the lines of “oh well, never mind, how foolish of me to think we might beat Barcelona or Bayern” and just get on with your real life: if however all of your hopes are pinned on the team, and if you were foolish enough to believe that one day that team would unload all good into your life, then of course you will be beyond angry, for your sense of betrayal will be absolute.
And so you resort to saying that they are rubbish, that they were last year, and that they will be next year too. If you are old-fashioned you will share this view with yourself and maybe a mate or two. If you are modern you will broadcast this betrayal of these fancy pants to the wide world you imagine will be listening on your various social platforms. For a moment you will hate your club and its players (especially the fancy ones that promised so much), because they have just reminded you of how much you hate yourself. But hatred is surprisingly close to love, and, as they say, hope springs eternal, and there is already the next game to look forward to….
Thanks to @foreverheady for today’s article.
Positively Arsenal 
Forever
Beautifully put!
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http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/20140318/cazorla-ramsey-zelalem-sign-contracts more good news
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http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/20140318/pictures-u19s-tour-the-nou-camp
game on eurosport in 15 mins
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oh and great post by the way
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Personally, I’m of the Tomas Rosicky school of thought…
“I mean no disrespect to you but I absolutely don’t care what you are saying.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/arsenal-title-challenge-tomas-rosicky-3254030
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Congrats to Santi, Rambo & Gedion for opting to continue prospering @ the greatest club in the world!
Santi:
“I like being here, I’m happy and I think that the Club can be a big player in competing for the top trophies in years to come. That’s important for me.
“One of the main reasons for coming here was to get better as a player and joining Arsenal has definitely made me a better player.”
WE LOVE YOU SANTI, YES WE DO!
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Hoping that Ramsey and Cazorla wouldn’t have signed if they thought that there was about to be a regime change.
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One thing one can be sure of in life is CHANGE.
Mancs U & Milan treading similar paths.
http://espnfc.com/news/story/_/id/1754884/paolo-maldini-ac-milan-throwing-away-10-years-work?cc=3888
http://espnfc.com/news/story/_/id/1755092/david-moyes-defiant-manchester-united-future?cc=3888
…..boo-hoo…….NOT!!!
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brilliant foreverheady…the promised land is a state of mind
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philosophically speaking it is this exact distinction that seperates serious football fans from the animals who attach to winning groups to make up for other failures.
its an escape for all of us but some know its an escape they have no control over and are just appreciative of whats on offer and others are….animals who havent got a clue and depend on some false sense of democracy to talk bollocks really…
the civilised vs the uncivilised, clever vs dumb
i can not believe we had to put up with animals calling us deluded.
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and they will say : so what ? let me be a miserable bastard.. im entitled to my opinion
and i will say: oh do fuck off ….so first you admit you could be wrong but we shuodl tolerate your offensive shit just cause you want to fart in the wind like the rest of animals ? so is it about the club then or is it about you ?
roua -mat
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Yup, that’s much better then any of my own efforts at writing would be! Thanks foreverheady.
I met Nick Hornby once when he was promoting his story about a record shop on Upper Street, in that record shop on Upper Street! I forget the name, it’s gone now. No one likes vinyl anymore *sobs*. But The Arsenal, that’s still there. Or here. Unlike, say, the giant clubs Glasgow Rangers or Leeds FC – Leeds fan last night on the wireless:
“I’d love to have AW as manager and be like Arsenal. Our club has been destroyed…” like so many others. Yet The Groaners, the Groaners, they continue to Groan. Whilst being incapable of denying any associations with R&W Holdings. Yes I will continue to repeat this line till the Lion Of Uzbekistan stops hanging out at The Auld Triangle (no wonder he is so round!) or The Che Guevara (hehehehe!) and takes all of his Wonga out of London and puts in in Shanghai.
http://rt.com/business/usmanov-china-apple-facebook-514/
Makes sense that Usmanov would invest in the alibaba site – the most dodgy site I have seen (I’m sure there are worse). There are more then fourty thieves!
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Ohhhhhhhh Santi Carzola:
“I think that we can be a big player in competing for the top trophies in years to come and that’s important for me.
“I have already had lots of good moments here and hopefully there will be many more to come. One of the main reasons for coming here was to get better as a player and joining Arsenal has definitely made me a better player.”
Who or what could he be talking about? The training equipment? Some coach (no offence to the much forgotten Neil Banfield who alas is always, perhaps tellingly, ignored by the Experts) he’d never heard of before he came to the club? Perhaps he means Owen Coyle? I dunno. It’s a right old mystery.
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but they ban us…them cunts…right when you have the detractors and doomers on their fucking knees the blogger will ban you for being TOO CORRECT AND LOGICAL for the animals to cope…….
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Fins – presume that’s a joke about Usmanov at the Auld Triangle?
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Hunter,
Gnabbers equaliser against Bunga Bunga was far more interesting then any Groaners.
Speaking of which it’s S.Robson still slagging of Theo. In spite the overwhelming evidence. What a useless *coughs*. Let’s see how well England do with Lennon or Townsend. The Plonker is too bitter to accept that Roy has Chambo in his squad ahead of those lame brains, that Walcott is the best of his type or style in his age group.
Anyway 1-1. Apparently Arsenal missed a pen too! Thanks for the heads up AorB. This work is going very slowly now.
Intersting how the squads have been blended this year. I have Gnabbers down for some minutes against Swansea (Chambo will need some rest?), so this will hopefully keep him niggle free and also nice and sharp. He’s playing striker too. V. Exciting.
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“i can not believe we had to put up with animals calling us deluded.”
Hunter, I cant remember you ever putting up with it.
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AA
Usmanov’s amazingly effective PR team paid some idiot to tell us that Usmanov liked to go for pint in his local. Can’t imagine why.
I therefore randomly assumed that he would like to go down to the Triangle for a little jig after a victory. I bet he looks good shaking his booty up there on the dancefloor.
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Wearing his Princess Leia fancy dress outfit.
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Great news about Santi, Ramsey and Zemelen.
I’m surprised about no news about offering Arteta a contract extension.
On the other hand great to see news that Diaby is making progress on his latest comeback.
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Bunga Bunga score
2-1
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Where did you get banned from this time Hunter?
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Ah, the bear!
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The Auld Triangle is a song about a name do well in Prison.
Ironic.
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Great run from Gnabbers. Should’ve/ifhecould’ve released Akpom.
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Corr. Akpom at CF not Gnabry.
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DC
A song? Interesting, will look it up.
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Ooops. ‘Keeper sent off and a penalty to Bunga Bunga. But they miss!
One missed penalty each but Arsenal down to ten. It truly is a crap rule for the ‘keepers.
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Bloody hell FH that was a really well written and entertaining piece !
Right on the money (banned thumbs up thing)
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Delighted with the contract extensions.
Per, Rosicky, Ramsey, Santi all extended as well as youth getting tied down.If Mourinho explodes tonight it will have been a fantastic day. What did you guys think about the AST fannybandit meeting? Apparently the moneypile is causing them emotional pain nowadays.
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OMG 2-2!
An impressive long spell of pressure from the ten men leads to the equaliser.
Chuba! He’s a talent, I’m not the first to say it. He’s also very quick! Hehe.
These kids have some gr*t.
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Ah well.
3-2 to the Bunglers against the ten men.
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4-2
The Bunglers even play that stupid song at the end of the game in their empty academy stadium. It’s bad enough having songs drowning out fans played on tinny speakers before kick off. Urgh.
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Do they play another leg in London?
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No ,thats it Gains.
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Nope. Would’ve gone to pens if they had held on.
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Excellent post Foreverheady. I really enjoyed it.
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This escape then which is obvioulsy used by governments and establishments to hypnotize the masses or else we’d be out demonstratiing about the laws and rules and directives that fuck up our lives, stopped being a game long time ago and became a business and in the last two decades id say one of the biggest industries worldwide. Its a product, this football. Still even in this hard cold capitalistic definition of the beautiful game our club was tremendously lucky to find a manager/leader that understands both the real world and how it works as well as the pseudoworld of football and its technicalities as a bubble industry which at some point will have to get in line with the rest. ( thats if the central european mafia in brussels and geneva decides to go legal) Arsenal hit the jackpot with Wenger. Big time.
As to the club itself, in my eyes, he took an ok establishment and turned it into proper world class. Arsenal sits along with names of Europe that according to history we have no place sitting amongst them. That is because this manager encouraged the club to think global and not just local. If you want to appeal to the world like the milans and madrid then you need something bigger than a 38k seater stadium and a hell of a lot behind the scenes infrastructure whether that is academies, scouting, traning and medical facilities, you name it. These things dont just magically appear from one day to the next unless your owner/president is laundring money via your club. There is no businessman no matter how rich or mad who would give his personal money in return for watching a few clowns celebrating about trophies with pints on the streets, unless there is a hidden reason. But thats what football is all about people say. Owners pumping money in and bringing in big players and winning trophies. Its that simple. No it is not. That is a 5 year old’s idea of what football is supposed to be.
In these last ten years ive noticed that many of our fans have no clue
a) what kind of a football manager Wenger is
b) what kind of policy Arsenal has chosen to run its business
c) Arsenal’s actual position and prestige in relation to others (domestically or abroad)
Accusations about not changing things in the course of a game, or not motivating players enough, or not spending. All the wrong questions at a totally wrong time. As if Wenger were some babysitter and has to carry footballers by the hand and show them how its done. Wenger identifies players who have it technicaly and mental wise and after that he provides them the best conditions and environment for them to flourish. He is no madman despot lowlife to bully players or intimidate them due to their price tag into performing. He expects you to grab the opportunity. He is so annoyingly romantic he is still looking for the next anelka using the exact same method. Throw the talented youngster in the deep end.
As for the policy, the fan should shut up and realise that yes for a while arsenal had to become a selling club and for a while the club had to save money rather than spend any. Sadly the Arsenal fan can not comprehend that building a new stadium can easily bring you close to relegation or even bankrupcy if you take the slightest of wrong turns. And yes since the stadium was built for you and me and our children and grandchildren …fuck yeah we re gonna chip in and pay for it. What did they think? That hillwood would make a 450m donation to Arsenal fans out of his own pocket …for the glory ???…certainly not. Sure ticket prices went up, sure many got priced out of it but what else could we do? We knew we were entering lean years. years where wed keep a lower profile perhaps for a decade or two.
With regards to the history and actual position in the game on a world basis, sorry to say, but Arsenal has nothing of serious note to show in Europe and the domestic success however big does not constitute some titan. I have had endless debates with fellow fans giving them our trophies and the frequency with which they were attained. Endless. In the end i get fed up and swear at them cause i cant belive such stupid uneducated people could ever support a club like Arsenal. If Wenger’s ideals do not agree to your principles on the game then what the fuck are you doing supporting them in the first place? Is it cause your dad told you so? Fair enough… you are 18 now , make your own decission.. will you still support them classless cunts at chelsea like your father did or will you be man enough to select the club/team which agrees to your philosophy of how the game should be approached/play?. We all start from somewhere but along the way we keep our eyes open and take notice. And once youre done with the trivial shit you realise that hang on ….i like football, thats what i like, the game, the sport, not some logo….first i love the game and then i support/watch/follow/connect to the logo that gives me what i look for in this game. Thats how i see it. The stance to defend wenger and arsenal and the players is not becuase of some blind faith, it is because i know what i want and will fight for it. And when i know who i am who i support and what i want, then noone can fool me.
I will not go into any more detail or shaming detractors or fence sitting individuals who had the pulling factor lets say to calm down the masses ( i will do that when we win the title) . Today i heard a podcast by two gentlemen who are well known in the arsenal blogosphere, laughing and drinking and being lighthearted. These same gentlemen, and just a year ago, had got fed up and were lookign to ask legitimate questions and open the path to criticism. Wrong word, not criticism, JUDGING. final verdicts on topics none of them have the full facts. Not with the ferocity of others of course, but still this 50-50 gave me the impression that it is the fan who isnt sure of what he wants and drowns in a sea of uncertainty. We ask our players to show character yet we as fans have shown disgraceful character allowing media and trolls to determine what our club is about.
There is a person who writes for mean lean, alistair brookshaw or soemthing. this guy should be the fans spokesman. He understands 100% what i understand and he has no fear in also ripping into another huge element responible for the venom Arsenal gets. He is not afraid to talk about the limitations and poor english football culture that still views the game as a battle of the beasts and an area where they dont need to be taught anything by anyone. That is very narrow-minded and i hate it that we have allowed such narrow-mindness to affect the support for this club. Hate it. i expected a lot more education and culture.
So, happy Arsenal millenium Mr Wenger. Long may you live in good health to guide this club to further glory. And dont worry, your players will give the replies your detractors deserve. Without you i simply wouldnt bother with football…just watch the world cups in the summers eating pizza…
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Looks like Eto just stepped on a live electric cable there at the bus stop. Hopefully Didier will put his foot on the wrong spot. Or do Arsenal want another round in the CL for Gazprom?
The Arsenal players will have to watch out for Gazprom players electrocuting themselves on Saturday.
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Thank you very much for that Talksport link.
This being said, Stan Collymore is a prick. He tried to compare our midfield to Barry and Yaya, even though Barry is playing at Everton. He tried to dig on the loose defence angle and Nigel and Pele rocked the shit out of him. Stan is a fucking hack.
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Another round in the CL for Gazprom.
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I am afraid the doings of AST are right up there with Talksport and the Daily Mail Dyllan
I suspect I shall read the usual self important quote from Peyton advising Arsene/Gazidis/Stan how to run the club in due course
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Just been reading about the under 19 game – almost a mirror of the seniors! Missed penalty from our main playmaker, goalkeeper gets sent off and 10 men are unable to hold out against top opposition. I would have loved to have seen the outcome 11 v 11. It sounds like we might have had enough to get the better of them.
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ah youre wathcing football? who is playing?
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How the fuck does Stan Collymore know about micro-dots?
Ray Parlour’s story about Arsene taking the piss out of his divorce was hilarious.
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kolo stole the show gains…three tackles three knockouts …..i can picture him storming through like vidic on suarez on sunday..that was 6 yellows…..shocked to see suarez got up and walked. vidic got him in the back , weist, back of the knee, claf, ankle everything
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H13 @ 8:14 & 8:33
Yes.
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WS1 post tatty
http://youtu.be/6EqWN93eFAk
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Ramsey signs pic
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He fucking deserves it, Hunter.
How would you like to make your CL debut as a time wasting substitution? Poor Kalas.
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Haha! Arsene’s got that look in his eye that says, it’s going to cost you a shit load to prize him away from Arsenal.
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