I have just read Mick Channon’s comments on Talk Sport about how young players like Calum Chambers are wrong to move to a club like Arsenal from Southampton. I can see his point, young players, perhaps should show more loyalty to their clubs, but what I can’t understand is why it’s taken a player who played 20 games last season to make this point. Or as I and a few others seem to think it has little to do with the player, but more to do with the club he has gone too.
Southampton over the past month or two have sold £27m for Shaw, £25m for Lallana, £4m for Lambert and £20m for Lovren. Shaw’s move was hailed as a great move for the future England left back, he goes to Manchester United and learn his trade at a top club. The other 3 to Liverpool was there any questioning of their loyalty to Southampton after they left? Not that I read, they were congratulated for their ambition to go to a club to win trophies. Chambers moves to Arsenal and all of a sudden we have ex players questioning his motives and radio stations questioning his skill and his value.
Yes, you can call me paranoid, I don’t care, but Arsenal do seem (to me anyway) to get a different treatment from other clubs in the media. Season after season Arsenal are held up by the media as having the most expensive season tickets in the PL, which on the face of it is true, but, what is failed to be mentioned is that Arsenal fans get 26 games for their ticket while other team’s fans get 21 or mostly 19 games (and some conditions that they must buy all cup tickets). If these prices are evened out Arsenal tickets, although are probably still the highest are very close to those of other clubs.
Arsenal were criticised for the price of away tickets by Manchester City and the media after fans were asked to pay £63 but again I saw little condemnation of the same club charging Arsenal fans £58 for an away ticket when their home fans are charged much lower for the same game. Also, there seemed to be little mention of Manchester City’s policy of charging home fans more money the closer they are to the away fans. £63 is a lot of money, but at least they have a clear line of sight at The Arsenal not like some tickets at Anfield, at least at The Arsenal they are not stuck miles up at the back of the stadium like Newcastle and the fans are not squeezed into tiny seats like at Manchester United. The media are quick to criticise about the cost of away games at The Arsenal but there was a lack of congratulation when The Emirates Stadium was voted the best away ground in the PL by the football fans survey last season.
You only have to read the Daily Mail, listen to Talk Sport or watch BT sport to see the unevenness of reporting towards Arsenal from “Ozil nicking a living” to “The Daily Arsenal” to Michael Owens yearly “Arsenal to finish outside the top four”. It was nice to see the bitter Alan Hanson apologize for his comments about Theo Walcott the other week, but for an ex professional player to question a 21 year olds footballing brain when he was still young and learning his trade was in my mind disgusting (Chris Waddle was just as stupid for saying the same thing). How many other young players from other clubs are roundly criticised by ex players in the media?
Arsene Wenger is the only manager I know of who has a running red card count, every time an Arsenal player is sent off we have “Wengers 1002 player sent off” (ok slight exaggeration but you know what I mean). The media always say “it’s great talking to Wenger as he will answer any questions put to him” but then moan about him talking about other teams/players when it’s them who have asked the question. Can you imagine how short press conferences would be if the media treated Jose Mo(an)urinho the same.
Let’s do the unthinkable and swap Arsenal’s position, ground, manager and board with that of Spurs. Can you imagine the column inches (perhaps that should be miles) and radio time spent slaughtering The Arsenals playing record, their inability to build a new ground, their transfer policy, their management policy and the motives of their owner (who is happy to stay in the Caribbean and hardly visits the ground). Yes, we do hear and see some, but not to the extent of that of The Arsenal.
Just think, I still haven’t got round to the media’s treatment of that nasty Eduardo (yes him of the broken leg by that “he’s not that type of player” Martin Taylor) diving against Celtic or why The Arsenals use of zonal marking seems to be the only one mentioned when there are plenty of teams that use it.
How come George Graham was the only manager to be found to be taking ‘brown paper bags’ where was the in depth investigations into other managers by the media? Or was it a case of we’ve got one lets sweep the rest under the table.
I in all honesty I could go on for ages at how the media treat The Arsenal but I will finish with a true story.
A few years ago I took my two boys on a tour of the old Arsenal Stadium (Highbury to you & me). It was a legends tour with Bob Wilson, we get to the old home changing room where Bob recalls a couple of stories about his time at the club. He then gives us all time to take pictures with the players shirts etc Bob is left standing by himself so I decide to ask him a few questions. The first was about why he quit so early in him career the second was “why do the media dislike Arsenal so much” now I was expecting a ‘your just seeing things through Arsenal glasses’ type of answer but the answer I received was “it’s down to jealousy, officials from other clubs all wanted their clubs to be like The Arsenal, players from other teams wanted what the Arsenal players had. The media they do not like Arsenal because The Arsenal do things the right way, from the boardroom down to the tea lady. There is no gossip, no leaked stories just things done correctly”.
So when you read the daily mail, listen to Adrian Durham or watch MotD etc. on TV just remember what Bob Wilson told me it’s not because they hate us it’s because they are JEALOUS of THE ARSENAL
Todays post was by @Swales1968
Positively Arsenal 
Swales
The quote form Bob Wilson is a gem that you have shared with us, thanks! That one quote is sufficient to explain so much today….excellent, well done!
Passenal
Meet up in the Tollington before the first game, say 12.30?
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Arsenal have always been unloved…. that’s why I love them so much.
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Excellent article and I agree with you and Bob, I’m sure so much of the apparent hatred is a thin veneer for jealousy.
To add slightly to your piece, it’s not just the away fans that are treated well at Arsenal but the visiting media, too.
We have what I think is the only purpose-built tv studio at the Ems (most clubs borrow a broom cupboard); the written press is fed and watered from dawn to dusk on matchday and have their own internet-linked writing booths. When long-standing journos pass away, their old booth gets a brass memorial plaque to mark their passing.
I could go on (action replays on demand, car parking etc) but my point is that when the media write lies about the club and its staff then the club really could consider temporarily suspending access to the miscreants. Just to make the point.
They might start to treat us with a little more respect, you never know.
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Excellent post and 100% correct. At an AISA event with Paddy Barclay I asked him how come Ferguson using the same agent as George wasn’t done or even investigated. He, after pushing from Tom Watt confirmed the F.A. used GG as a scapegoat and didn’t want to find anyone else. Mick channon is a horse trainer and from the moment he retired from football was always known as the worst pundit ever, famous for mispronouncing lineker and saying he wouldn’t make it. He is the village idiot of punditry in a village that’s not very bright to start with. Talkshite is filled with spuds who yes have been jealous of us for years now
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Spot on in my opinion – both about the media treatment @ the reason they do it as well.
The football industry works a certain way on these shores & The Arsenal don’t confirm to it. Hence, the ‘those guys are not one of us’ treatment.
Worse still is, they all deep down know that The Arsenal way is the correct way but following that would less on the gravy train for everyone.
The media gets more clicks when an obscure Billioner buys up a club & starts to stock pile superstar players to buy a trophy. The media gets up report on a lot of these activities & also cozy up for exclusives.
In comparision when Ramsey grew into a superstar player (though from a broken leg), it’s for all to see, no exclusives to report! There was no marquee signing to report on for months & fuelling the speculation with the up & downs of the negotiations!
If The Arsenal go on to succeed this was there will only be disappointment with the media. The only thing they can make a story of is fuelling a faud between Wenger & some low life’s!
Everyone would have been relived that following Eduardo’s leg break our title challenge collapsed, otherwise the tune of this footballing nation had to change from ‘spend spend spend’.
Similar to the red card count there was hue & cry about lack of English players in The Arsenal but now that we have a core group & a good one, there is no mention of it, even when Wenger says Arsenal will win The World Cup.
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Excellent article.
I am not a fan of Alex Ferguson, but I think he was onto something with the way that he treated journalists, broadcasters and pundits who attacked him/Man Utd with contempt.
And that is despite the largely favourable media coverage that he/Man Utd received during his reign.
I would love to see an Alastair Campbell type spin doctor employed by the Arsenal whose sole purpose is to actively and consistently put the boot into our media enemies, showing no mercy.
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Oh gawd
I don’t read the Mail and I would not wipe my arse with the rag
I do not listen to Talksport – alright maybe once a year if I’m trapped in the car
Did I see a MOTD reference ?
I could not give a toss what any of these parasites have to say and I find it truly incredible that usually sane Arsenal fans do appear to care.
My experience is that Arsenal Football Club have never been “loved” by fans of other clubs.
Arsenal Football Club have however always been respected
And that has been one of the enormous privileges of supporting the club.
Try and bear that in mind next time Adrian Durham is pushing your buttons
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Every time I hear or read a negative comment about us, I feel a little more in love with the club, its manager and all its players.
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Two on the bounce, Swalester. Billy Hill have suspended betting on the Hat-trick. Thanks so much.
Taking the family to The Ems today. A lot of excitement.
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Finally the penny is starting to drop, of course it’s jealousy, it’s also envy and with the ex players in the media the fact that they were never considered good enough to play for us, Owen, Gale, Thompson, Cottie, Savage, all sad and bitter. The press are just cowards, as you say Arsene answers any question put to him they then rip into to him over it, and they do it because they know he’s not a Fergie he’s too polite, there are a couple that are reasonably fair, Paddy Barclay for one, but in the main they are just back stabbing shite.
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It will be very interesting to see how the media handle a second Wenger-with-trophies period having all but collectively written him off.
You can sense the shock everytime we buy a top, top player.
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Superb Stephen,Old Primrose was right-their jealous. Took a load of family over there yesterday aged 6 to 76,we sat in club level and had a fantastic day-as we took our seats I got a tap on the shoulder,a gigantic smile and a big hug from an old West Indian guy who’s had most of his throat removed due to cancer-I’m friends with Johny because he works in my Arsenal local,The Bank of Friendship,if you go in there-you’ll see pictures of some of the old players who used to drink in there & he’s in some of those photos-turns out Johny and his fellow pensioner mate bumped into Chippy Brady a few nights ago in Islington and he gave em both 2 tickets for yesterday’s wonderful game,as my dad said yesterday to me-that’s the Arsenal you’ll never read or hear about.
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A very good Post and it has been the case since the early 20th century that jealousy of the Arsenal has become ingrained in so many people.
With regards to the Durham idiot, he does in fact have some instinctive cunning in choosing to vent against Arsenal, and you touched on it in the Post, and that is Gooners are very protective of the club, when it is needlessly criticised, and their telephoned responses swell the programmes ‘hits’ and that in turn earns the Radio Station more sponsorship money.
There is a dark side to this though, and it sickens me more that Durham himself.
It is the inane calls from some so called Arsenal fans who bask in their moment of ‘fame’ to be on the radio with their unctuous ‘great show, guys’ and ‘you are spot on there Adrian’, before adding their poisonous anti-Arsenal crap to the Durham stew.
The only thing that brings me down from the disgust and outrage caused by these crap-merchants is the hope that the cretins are not Arsenal fans at all but Spuds and Chavs in disguise – but the cynic in me is not so sure.
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Henry – I was recently ‘blocked’ by Durham on Twitter for having the temerity to politely enquire as to the number of trophies and awards he has won over the last nine years.
Touched a nerve?
Still makes me chuckle.
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Andrew,
That is the best way to deal with thin skinned idiots like him. Searching questions are all that is needed — insulting him with abuse just makes him run for the moral high ground.
Well done, you!
Oddly enough he claims to be a Peterborough fan (good luck to them) but admits that his young son is an Arsenal fan. With a prat like him for a father, at least the kid gets to support the best team in the country — come on Arsenal.
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To be fair the anti Arsenal conspiracy has it’s lighter side
My favourite is probably the “Osama bin Laden is a Gooner” headlines after 9/11 and detailed reports of his regular attendance during the George Graham years in the Clock End.
Those were the days, when you could rub shoulders with a fellow fan with a long beard and not expect to see him spouting crap on FanTV ten minutes later.
Admittedly bin Laden’s reaction to the decline of the team in the later GG years was extreme in that he took himself off to the caves of Bora-Bora and plotted the destruction of the United States. If he’d only stuck to football.
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“Nobody likes Arsenal. I was bought up not liking them”
– Brian Clough, giving his stamp of approval to the 49ers. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzYPN3igOX4
There’s a great scene in the Damned United. Cloughie has a big argument with the Derby City chairman which led to the end of his time at Derby. The writer used this line for the chairman, something about the ‘Money’ people taking over the Game from the ‘football’ people. People like Clough.
In years to come the full stupidity of the Groaners will become apparent to their children. Unless they have bought them up to repeat the gospel, and I quote,
“Vengaaa Out”.
They chose to turn their back on a ‘Football’ person as the game, the clubs, became became toys at best for the ‘Money’ people. Worse when you consider how the richest club have been damaged with their owners using Manchester Utd to simply clear other debts.
They tried to justify this immature rage towards their own club by trying to pretend that this football man was lying to them. This was always false and weak justification for being easily led, and now it has proven to be so. Watching players like Jenkinson, Ramsey’s story, the growth in all these young players alongside the superstars….what other top level clubs have retained such romance? Only a few, and fortunately for us The Arsenal is one of them. I suppose the lesson is that some people just don’t have any romance in their hearts.
The zombie Groaners will continue to moan and groan that the club embraced the twenty first century (& beyond!) when they decided to embrace the stadium move and all the many compromises that entailed (corporate partnerships, bank loans, the full monty), but what else were they supposed to do? Say no to Kronke and invite in Risdale? Of course, the likes of Risdale, his cleaners and fleecers have many allies amongst the petty plunditry. And the Arsenal have the Great Bob himself, and others. I know whose colours I am happy to wear.
They don’t like us. We don’t care.
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Great post, I now understand the negativity towards The Arsenal by the Daily Mail and a certain Adrian Durham if i got his name right,
cheers
from Uganda.
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Corr.: Invite in the likes of Risdale or perhaps worse in Usmanov…?
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Passenal
I can’t make it now. Need to do deal with some domestic issues. Sorry.
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Was very interesting to observe last season how after the Happy One’s translucent mask slipped that the Arsenal PR wallah’s simply rolled out the Great Bob, to good effect in the wider media. You can’t mess with the heavy artillery.
I’ve also been impressed by how the PR people at the club have out-foxed the AAA PR “experts” this summer, they’ve been leaking with intent hehe. Though it is easier when you are allowed to make your signings before the last day!
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Haha this always gets me to rant about the 07/08 season. They were actually asking “Could this be the worst side ever to win the league?”!? We had the 2 best fullbacks in the country, 2 highly reputable CBs who managed to form a solid defence, the best destructive midfielder in Europe by a mile that season, Fabregas playing out of his skin, 2 quality wide midfielders, RVP playing as he does until his customary injury, Adebayor destroying teams and Eduardo who was looking like the next big thing till his injury. However when it all fell apart (and everybody knows it only fell apart because of the Eduardo injury) there were no questions about Utd being the worst side ever to win the league – they were average that year! Wouldn’t even have been close were it not for that injury.
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Sorry not to see you Georgaki. Good luck sorting your domestic situation
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Passenal
We’re in block 117. Where are you?
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I know my English friends have to suffer this b.s. 24/7. But just imagine being on the other side of the Atlantic, and you discover a football club that plays the most beautiful football (even better than the last great 1982 Brazillian team), that has one of the most intelligient football managers instead of the usual incomprehensible idiots, a club that went unbeaten for a whole season, a club that decided to sacrifice short-term gain by bravely undertaking a massive new stadium project at considerable risk, a club that refuse to be the plaything of a billionaire sugar-daddy or refuse to sell-out to a bunch of corporate raiders; and despite all of this almost all you see on tv and mainstream media and social media are the usual suspects who have fucked up this world, declaring that Arsenal has no ambition and that it is the end-of-an-era. You have gotta be a football to bet against Arsene and Arsenal FC. In the words of our beloved Finsbury:
“They don’t like us. We don’t care.”
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thanks for the super article.
brilliant couple of days. thank god arsene clarified diaby’s situation. i hope he has a kickass season.
why does everybody keep saying we need a defensive mid. thoughts?
take a look at this btw: (something that connects with all of us the foreign fans)
http://www.101greatgoals.com/blog/arsenal-superfan-bully-predicts-the-gunners-will-win-the-2014-15-premier-league-video/
i love football.
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wrong link sry, i was referring to this:
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I’m watching Valencia v Benfica and these cute little kids wearing their “Alexis” shirts are jumping about with huge smiles on their faces. As long as these babies are happy, Adrian Durham and the rest of the haters can go rot in hell, as far as I’m concerned.
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Shotta
As far as I know that quote is from an infamous Millwall song, I think it was a favourite one for the goose stepping right ole whingers. *coughs*
With some irony I feel it’s far more appropriate for the Arsenal!
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Fin, isn’t it funny that in the most capitalist country on the planet the sports leagues have mechanisms like salary caps, profit sharing and a luxury tax to keep the influence of the “Money Men” at bay?
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Arsha, if we draw our first game, that Bully idiot is going to change his toon tout de suite.
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Gains
I don’t know how things work in the US. Kronke comes from there, but they also have an an appreciation (born out of the 1919 scandal and others in the 20s?) of the need for a robust structure to support fair play (like we used to have over here: the old everyone kicks off at the same time conventions etc.) in sport.
Point this out to your average oligarch fan and it’s like talking to a brick wall.
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On players that we have dreamed of playing for the Arsenal: I may have mentioned, once or twice, that Alexis Sanchez has been a fantasy signing of mine for years. Vidal too but who needs him when you have Ramsey!
Chamberlain, Campbell, Walcott, Gnabry, Akpom, etc. + the lumps (Giroud and Sanogo) = Happy, happy days.
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Crap i forget Alexis!
Alexis, Chamberlain, Campbell, Walcott, Gnabry, Akpom, etc. + the lumps (Giroud and Sanogo) = Happy, happy days.
I love it when a plan comes together.
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Great article btw
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Outstanding, Swales, just outstanding. Jealous bastards.
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Enjoyed the article.
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Oh dear, here we go again, “Stand up if you hate tottenham”
I wonder if one of the reasons we are dislike is that we seem to define ourselves so negatively, i.e. by our hatred for the local neighbors.
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27 minutes gone and what a good contest
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Wenger Out
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We are doooomed I tells ya!
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Decent first half, few rusty players and Monaco playing well
We shall move up a gear in the second half
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Much better second half – final 15 and a goal required to finish off a good display
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The FA must be pretty happy. Two weeks before the season starts proper and the referees are already in top form.
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Japanese linos!
I bet Untold have his statistics
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Atkinson and Mason were both poor.
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i like players who play with their heart. thumbs up for you ox.
even if the referee assistant got wrong, atkinson should do its own part and show the correct card.
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Two games. Two non-pens!
Just kidding, I hope.
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I like Akpom.
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Ah, but these things always balance out over the season.
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I thought that was a bloody good game tbh – Monaco were very good and took the first half, then dug in for the second half.
Some good performances from us I thought. Debuchy impressed me, the Ox was great, Chambers was good, Jack looked fit and sharp and Miquel impressed.MoM Sanchez.
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When I saw those step overs and slick one-twos in the compilations of Chambers’ games at RB last season I knew that he was destined to come and play CB!
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