This blog is about the demise of the weekly show on Arsenal Player , hosted by Adrian Clarke.
Last year Adrian and his The Clockend show replaced Tom Watt and The Fans Forum.
Some years ago when we had Arsenal TV the Fans Forum was two hours long. It was reduced to one hour when it reappeared on Arsenal Player. If my memory serves me well it went to a 90 minute show until it was replaced by The Clockend, which was back to only one hour per week.
I now learn that the show is to become monthly. Personally, I find this very disappointing. And I’m sure I’m not alone. Here are some words written by fellow blogger @Alternativearse.
“The Clock End running out of time.
With the start of a new season, the Arsenal machine is back in full effect; all the usual news media and opinions being wafted around the various channels with the usual gusto.
Except this time round, there is a slight gap in the proceedings.
Like a school kid who has just lost one of their first gnashers. You see the same face, it’s just not quite like it was before. Something is different, and only unveiled when you start asking questions.
For the first time on Monday, the Monday after the Charity shield victory, Adrian Clarke hosted the first edition of this seasons Clock End chat show. If you are a regular to Arsenal Player, then you have probably caught the live broadcasts or the highlight show at some point in the past.
It was a Monday night staple for some fans; the perfect way of connecting with the club, being part of the analysis of the team performances and a bonfide method of passing on your opinion to the club without the anonymity of the internet.
Twitter, Facespace and the rest of them are all very good methods of connecting, but they are fairly impersonal. You just can’t beat a good old fashioned phone in to chat live with the shows host and the emotion that is conveyed.
The BBC’s 606 is a perfect example of this interaction working a royal treat.
And it’s that interaction is an important aspect of being a fan of any sport. The ability to connect and feel apart of the big show is critical, and the Clock End show provided that link for many supporters.
Sporting the Arsenal colours and that sense of pride it gives you is important.
Feeling like a part of the club you shout for each weekend is important, and being given opportunity to be involved in some way shape or form is also very important, especially in this global age of instant communication that we now live in.
Take members day for instance; 100% in your face connectivity.
Unfortunately for the Clock End Show, Arsenal Media have deemed it necessary to shorten the availability of the weekly show, turning it into a monthly installation instead, citing poor viewing figures as the reason.
The podcast recording of the same show does do well. It received thousands of listens per episode, but the live performance has unfortunately received the hatchet. (not the full axe in case you are wondering)
But the podcast is a recording.
It may be cost effective, but it is history, and offers little in the way of connectivity for fans. You can’t phone into a podcast, nor can you react to another opinion apart from sounding a bit mad and talking back to your computer, or, if you listen to it on the train, the stranger sitting next to you.
This is not the best way of connecting with your club.
But it is only when motions like this curtail something that is loved, that people start to take notice, and often it is then too late.
Football clubs are marvellous things in the way they attract attention, but this support goes far beyond podcasts and favourite tweets.
There are supporters out there who really will support a clubs ambitions Arsenal Media with it’s productions, especially those created in house , have clearly tried different formats and presenters and time slots to boost the viewing figures. They have done their bit and now its up to us to do ours by watching .
Match footage, is of course off limits – that has to be tightly controlled, due to licensing and fees, – but in house media, such as the Clock End, could be streamed, advertised, shared and promoted by individuals across the globe, potentially increasing audience and involvement.
In this day and age, you can watch live TV inside a pair of glasses as you walk along a hill top…so why can’t Arsenal take advantage of it’s colossal fan base and benefit from its outreach and connectivity?
I for one would be very keen to promote my teams activities, I am a supporter, and can offer a lot more than just buying the shirts and watching games.
If it’s for the benefit of our football club, then there should be no issue whatsoever.”
Now then, to get to the point.
Although I feel the club could perhaps have done more to promote the show, there wouldn’t be a problem if more of us had tuned in. Its a great show and we can only blame ourselves that its not to be aired weekly.
If the club are to invest in its production then the least we can do is invest our time and watch it live. If there is a demand the club will cater for it.
So, lets all tune in every month, that way the viewing figures will justify a return to a weekly show.
Arsenal Media will , like the rest of us , be working on a budget. They do ,in my opinion, produce some fantastic shows. If I were them, my budget would be used towards the shows that attract the most views. So its up to us to ensure that The Clockend is one of them.
If you have never tuned in I promise you that you will not be disappointed, its an excellent hour for all keen Arsenal fans.
Please support it and promote it !
I’m pedantic george @Blackburngeorge , thank you for reading and I hope you will all help with this matter.
Positively Arsenal 
Interesting 2nd leg in prospect. Within even a goal advantage Besiktas would have put 11 men behind the ball and tried to screw a result out of the game through resolute defence. Now they will need to rely on a breakaway or extra time and penalties. The game should be a little more open therefore.
Fingers crossed that Mikel’ s knock was not too bad as he will be required as orchestra leader next Wednesday.
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Heh ..not really, hope mikel gets well soon but was glad to see flamini in. And after we qualify wenger will present khedira to fans….pandemonium…
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Flamini’s contribution last night showed what is good and what is not so good about him as player.
Bit of steel to bring on in midfield, but the moment he came on the clock was ticking on the inevitable yellow card and lo and behold he did not last three minutes before picking up his obligatory caution. A crunching challenge well in the Turkish half. No tactical or football advantage, nothing apparently at stake. But a card deservedly earned. Brilliant, just brilliant.
Now don’t get me wrong, I have no objection to kicking the opposition. However with so long to go in the game ffs control yourself Mathieu and if you do kick someone do it for a purpose. You are not some 19 year old kid.
And having blotted his copybook in the eyes of Anicoll5 Flamini then played well, controlled, sensible work and even joined in the attacks as chances came up.
His pretended ‘winding’ with a few minutes to go was a masterpiece of acting, so sneakily competent it drove Bilic into orbit, well into the stands anyway.
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short memory i guess…last season when arsenal was sitting top of the table for 4 mos …it was with flam jack ram in midfield…..or even flam ram oz and jack on right (santi left). This wasnt coincidence…
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But dear A thats the job there. To show everyone ‘approach at your own risk’. Flamini belongs in the ‘ball or player, never both’ scholl of thought.
and I agree 100% on that simulation., he should be given golden phoenix award, bafta etc…he got their manager sent off…hehe…legend.
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School*
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And chambers…titan.
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One thing was obvious from last night – unless Arsenal become invincible again in all competitions this season, (a bit of a big ask, I would think) the malcontents self-inflicted grievances are just bubbling under the surface, and their spiteful crap will surface at every opportunity.
As Gerry Adams once said – ‘they haven’t gone away, you know’.
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Thrown in the deep …and swims comfortably…like a mermaid.
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Voodoo-Hunter
I don’t know: if the scholl fits…..
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No dc i think we did well. Mid august 30 degrees heat ..not all players back yet…away fixture… left with ten ….dont despair. 0-0 is tricky to bring back home but we will suffocate them in our ground.
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Heh the voodoo is for cesc…..
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I’d feel very comfortable with
Rosicky-Jack-Flamini-AOC
in midfield, if that’s what is available in the 2nd leg.
With Diaby on the bench, hopefully fit enough to play as cover.
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The shoe is the sign! Let us follow his example!
First Arsenal fan in black scarf: Let us like him, hold up one shoe and let the other one be upon our foot, for this is his sign that all who follow him shall do likewise!
Second Arsenal fan in black scarf: No, no, no, the shoe is a sign that we must gather shoes together in abundance!
Woman in black scarf: Cast off the shoes! Follow the gourd!
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I agree V13
0-0 in a tricky away let is nowhere near the disaster the doomers are making out.
So what if OG didn’t score – he did his bit to keep the turks at bay.
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Well dc arsenal fans in their majority …in my experience…. are utterly useless at football and dare i say fickle. I would have thought 18 years under wenger were more than enough for the arsenal fan to get educated, but no…..
Giroud offers a lot to the system arsene has chosen…they just cant see it. They are also ignorant to the fact theo can provide the alternative type striker as well as sanchez supporting as shadow striker. Obviously oli needs his form back…its only fkg august…lol
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I don’t know what you guys think but I am bemused by the somewhat popular idea that sometime soon Arsene is going to bench Giroud and thrust Sanchez into the role of central striker. This is a player who never played as a central striker in his recent clubs and on TransferMkt his Main position is listed as Right Wing and Secondary positions as Left Wing/Secondary Striker. This reminds me of the last transfer window’s mania about buying Julian Daxler as a wide forward to be transformed as a main striker. That one panned out very well, didn’t it.
Obviously this plays well into the anti-Giroud meme whose main theme, ever since he was signed in 2012, we can never never win a title with rhe Frenchman as our CF. Obviously ever since May 2014 the FA Cup no longer counts as a title.
It bears reminding those with short memories that Giroud had a slow start in 2012 with his 1st goal for Arsenal coming vs Coventry on Sept 26 in the League Cup, 1st PL goal on October 6th vs West Ham and 1st Champions League goal on November 6th vs Schalke. Last year he started like a house on fire but after his World Cup exertions it is reasonable to expect that it would take time to play his way back into form. But when did reasonableness win followers on Twitter?
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No ..we can win title with frenchman provided midfield flows like 1st part of last season.
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Shotta,
Wait till The BFG and Özil come into the team. They’ll need two/three games to catch up with the rest but don’t worry. The Groaners will be groaning. The manager is still French, after all! And the Arsenal, they still refuse to run themselves like a mafia laundrette sponsored by Willy Wonga and his army of Oompa Loompas (refugees from the now defunct Glaswegian ‘tanning’ salons that did for Rangers FC).
I’ve often wondered what an anthropologist or psychologist would make of it all. On reflection I think they’d just laugh at the idiots!
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Hahaaaaaha … anthropologist? .. psychologist? … try a veterinarian. More qualified…
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My favourite non-Özil midfield in recent times when Arteta was also out:
Ramsey-Rozza
Cazorla
Chambo Mk I should be ready to start next week, I’d like to see him back in his starting berth from last season at LF.
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It was a tough match. I suspect the result will only be judged in hindsight. Win the return leg, and the 0-0 will be seen as Arsenal having weathered the storm; lose or draw at home, and – well, it doesn’t bear thinking about.
It was interesting to note how Arsenal’s fluency all but disappeared once Arteta went off. Correlation? Causation? Who can say. But the rest of the match was very scrappy. I understand that many don’t like Arteta (and Giroud, and …), but, on many occasions, he is the glue that holds the team together. Next week will be a good opportunity for others to step up in his absence.
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I wonder what the odds are on Roy Hodgson including Chambers in the senior squad for the early September ?
We wont rule it out
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I always think we flow much better when gibbs is in the side and that’s not having a go at anyone else just he links well with the midfield and attack hope he’s back soon
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A. Reckon we could learn from alex and declare them all unfit/injured to travel with national team….just cause they ask for them dont mean they can take them.
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There are Arsenal supporting cunts happy that Arteta was injured.
I don’t understand this Giroud is rubbish stuff. And I understand it less when people use his stats from last year as an example of him being bad. Our pacy wingers were out for most of the season and he helped keep us fighting with the other top four clubs. He does other stuff that the fancier strikers would never be able to do.
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Anicoll
I shudder at the very though of Wroy running jack and AOC into the ground, as is his wont.
What other options do England have? Not many.
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“Arsenal had their chances – they create them against whoever they play – but we were closer to beating them,” said Bilic. “We had clearer chances. But, simply, if you want to beat Arsenal you have to score from one of those chances. Nobody respects Arsenal more than I do but I wouldn’t have taken this result before the game. I was really hoping to win this game.”
“They’ll be without Ramsey and, even if they have many great midfield players, he is their top man,” said Bilic. “We’re going to London not to go shopping in Harrods but to try to fulfil, some would say, our dream. I’d say our task, our plan.”
I like this guy
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I’ve heard several interviews with Bilic on Irish radio – he’s a bit of a star, very insightful and honest in his opinions. Likeable indeed, Sens.
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II think Besiktas are going to have a much harder time against us at home. That they didn’t capitalize on their chances is an advantage for us.
I wonder why Arsene didn’t bring Campbell into this game. Giroud had no gas left in the tank after the 75th minute. Campbell and The Ox running at them late would have helped a lot.
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Gains,
Lost a sub through injury, wanted to give OG his first 90 for the season (he needs the minutes) etc. lots of reasons I guess. Also I’m thinking JC is about at the same stage of fitness as Chambo. at the WC stamina looked like a weakness so he also might have had a different fitness programme? Infinite possibilities!
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Talk Sport onto the anti-Giroud bandwagon. Facile, foolish Gooners have let the enemy under the tent.
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DC, his team also played decently. They played some intelligent balls and kept up the intensity.
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I am personally thinking of starting the “Alexis Sanchez is shit” bandwagon nice and early. With his first season here, there is definitely going to be a patch where he struggles and is the cause for a few things going bad. Then, just as the mob is frustrated, I will say “I told you so”. Someone will shout back “he told us so”. Pretty soon the mob will be baying for Wenger’s blood and bay that no one wanted Sanchez and he was a Barcelona reject.
Someone on twitter made a good point. Yes, Giroud was set up beautifuly and he was just not in sync. However, in the second half, Giroud set up Ramsey and he missed too. It happens.
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You would not think even the most cack handed ‘designer’ could fuck up a football shirt that for 100 years has been green and white hoops.
But some dickhead has managed it – green and white pinstripes, with a thin charcoal weave ( I think)
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Mikel out for a fortnight to three weeks ?
Abou get your boots on
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Arteta clearly targeted by Ba, right in front of the ref too.
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Hello to everyone on the sunshine bus!
It’s been a while bt I’m happy to read comment from people who r holding the fort after all the rubbish being spouted about the team and manager because of sn early season performance that gave us an away draw against BESIKTAS.
Here is my two cents on everythg so far:
The team is almost ready in terms of personnel with maybe a CB and an understudy to relieve the Captain when he need to rest as age is catching up on him.
The boys need to up their fitness level so we can see the best from them
Walcott can’t come back early enuff so we’ll @ least have anoda option from the wings and even give us more variations in the way we set up our attack.
Ozil will b the assist king this season. Just wait for the team to gel and get walcott and sanchez running unto the through passes he’ll supply to them.
I love Podolski for his attitude and what he brings to the team as a super sub.
Chambers is a better player/prospect than Shaw and it shows that Arsene is more intelligent than all the coaches in England put together.
Finally, give Arsene a contract for as long as he wants to remain the manager of the greatest club in history.
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Fair comment lankylorde, I agree!
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Did ManIOU just spend +£45M on two LBs?
No idea where Rojo played for Lisbon but we all just saw him play as an attacking wing back. I think he might need some time to adjust to playing CB in the PL.
And in other news Arsenal are still D**Med. The WOBs are still wobbing, it’s all they can hope for. Poor lambs. They must be well gutted.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a more perverse spectacle then arsenal fans pining for a former captain who stank out the dressing room whilst he went on strike. Don’t get me started! In my opinion anyone who thinks like that is not supporting a club. A simple and easy conclusion.
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Important development this week was the revelations about the rampant racism, homophobia, sexism, xenophobia and corruption by Malky Mackay and Iain Moody, who were head of the football hierarchy at Cardiff City. Exposed by thousands of recordings of their own tweets, texts and physical documents. Reminds me of the days at ACLF when some of us would be villified for daring to describe the Over-The-Top criticism of the foreign players as well as Wenger of being motivated by racial bias and/or xenophobia. While polite media like the BBC gloss over the details, no less than the Daily Mail (as part of good old capitalist competition) did not spare us the details:
Fkn chinkys. Fk it. There’s enough dogs in Cardiff for us all to go around.’
– On the arrival of South Korean international Kim Bo-Kyung
‘Go on, fat Phil. Nothing like a Jew that sees money slipping through his fingers’
– On football agent Phil Smith
‘He’s a snake, a gay snake. Not to be trusted’
– On an official of another club
‘Not many white faces amongst that lot but worth considering.’
– On a list of potential signings
‘I hope she’s looking after your needs. I bet you’d love a bounce on her falsies.’
– On a player’s female agent
A picture entitled Black Monopoly (where every square was a “Go to Jail” square)
– Sent to members of Cardiff’s staff
Surprise expressed by some quarters is a lot like some in the US expressing surprise about events in Ferguson, Missouri. Racism, xenophobia, sexism and corruption is alive and well in our societies and just as rampant in football.
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Shotta
Sadly not surprising, when we look at who is in charge of the FA and premier league.
Our own Wenger and the Arsenal club stand out a mile above the others, maybe that’s why they dislike us so much.
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Its amazing how the media took an instant dislike to Arsene but will lick maureens balls. Maybe it was because Arsene was the first really successful foreign coach and the little Englanders didn’t like it. The media used to hate the Scots but now there considered part of the English association. Although I think the main reason they hate Arsene is he keeps proving them wrong. Anyone who seriously ever considers bare bones arry as a manager anywhere near Arsenes capabilities must have a screw loose
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New post is up
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