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 
George
My guess is it must be a bit hard to take for some in the Arsenal Corporation to have to listen to any criticism from some fans, no matter how watered down it gets.
Clarky does a wonderful job, he is a great public face man for the club and runs a very balanced programme.
When you consider that our rivals have their own full time TV stations … it does make you wonder if Arsenal Media are up to it sometimes.
Nonsense like Arsenal FAN TV will fill the void, and do the public really want to hear nonsense continuously spouted from their regular line up of buffoons??
I would pay good money to see Hunter catch Robbie in front of a TV camera outside the grounds. That would be fun.
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I dont know what this is. Imo these are gazidis matters and the clubs pr machines. Its not a show in the media we want but a show in the stands. Arsenals ultras to be allowed back in and sing for the team. Stewards to learn their limits and realise this is football and that thatcher died. Going from one extreme to the other is rarely the right solution. Its usually somewhere in the middle. I respect the family man who wants to brings his kids for the day out and the club should provide for them but they must also provide for the civilised nutters who eat drink sleep arsenal. We come to sing and support not eat hotdogs and sit down…my two pence…
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Or we can have sections….those who eat hotdogs and want to watch theatre go that way..and those who want to swear at the mothers or rooney van persie and mourinho to go the other way. Its big enough for all.
For the occasions where ultras smash the place for ammunition to throw at mourinho and terry each ultra to contribute a symbolic sum/amount for the broken seats…just so they dont call us hooligans and vandals. We are responsible.
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Arsenal fan tv… haha…. moh stands for git in peruvian…
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I never watched the programme live but always took the podcast – blame me !
So I am pissed off at the reduction to once a month as it was always entertaining and callers extended from the informative to nutcases. How much ££££ is involved ffs (banned unsmiley face)
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Another good thing about The Clock End:
Nearly every other podcaster in the goonerverse seams to be a rampant ego maniac full of the wonder of their own bluster. (Not you of course PG!).
Clarky isn’t like that.
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Seems like a silly move to reduce the airtime to me.
The benefits to the club outweigh any production costs. It’s a no-brainer. There’s a reason why we have multiple 24/7 sports broadcasters and that reason does not stem from charity. Many like me could not catch the show live.
The reason why there was such a large petition to get rid of the strange Robson is because there is a massive demand for the show and in-house Arsenal media coverage free from the likes of Phil “I’m a great coach” Neville and Robbie “I’ve just made an idiot of myself in front of Henry and the watching world. Again.” Savage.
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Hunter
As to the bin dippers, I remind you that individual clubs are powerless against the state.
You can see the public statement on safe standing released by Celtic FC on their website following rejections from the local authority/council. Safe standing areas are the only way to achieve a reduction in prices in some areas whilst getting in more people and creating variance etc.
And there’s nothing that can be there done till the PL and the FA show an interest in football fans. In order to do that they’d have to ask their toryboy chums to think again. Which won’t happen anytime soon. In the meantime, like the Groanering toryboy AAA who like to attack those who don’t go to games because they insanely assume that they are the only ones with Loadsamoney (they are not so nice but dim) we can choose to blame Vengarrrrghhhhh for not getting the club into debt with our toryboy chums whilst claiming we are not against the manager. Just asking questions. Y’know. That have to be asked.
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Fins
Toryboy is one of the more polite insults for the little rich kid who decided to support Arsenal for a hobby – y’knew, to be down with the peeps in one’s ‘hood.
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DC
It also the only fitting description I can think of for people who have been observed to attack fans that they don’t agree with both in the UK and abroad because they think that they are the only ones who can afford to go to games: which, apart from being crazy, also helpfully explains why they’ve put more effort into slagging off the manager as opposed to helping RedAction etc (no help at all!).
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Fins i always thought the state can only issues fines/penalties. The decision of who to let in and for what price is the club’s decision not the state’s. Our ground our rules. If the club wants the ‘loadsofmoney’ type fan then thats what theyll go for. But if they do that they cant complain for lack of atmosphere. Atmosphere comes from those who are not there for entertainment but to do a job…support. if you check ultras all over clubs they go to matches to support/ sing…they dont give a shit about results. Win lose or draw home away rain or sunshine they are there for the players/club. Its a way of life. Imo the ultras of arsenal got priced out and took out their frustrations first on the team and manager via the internet while the prawn sandwich brigade was moaning for lack of return in their ticket investment….LOL…Now that they learned that pricing comes from the very top they are chasing ivan and stan… if it were up to me …heh..if i were the owner… id devote 6000 seats at north bank for firms not individuals. Firms with their members. These firms would be able to have tickets at maximum 600-700 pounds per member and i would cover whatever financial holes from puma and bendtner..or fool usma to pay the difference for an extra 0.0000125% on shares…hehe…
In the row in front of me there is a dad with his two sons. He must be paying something like 4,500 a year…add transport, add hotdogs, add drinks, add whatever shit the kids will ask etc. Conclusion: the boys sit there with their tablets and iphones checking facebook while dad has steam coming out his ears….they dont even stand up when we score. The club is making money out of this dad and his unappreciative kids but im suffering as a supporter…i want to kick them out.
i look around to find alikeminded faces but we are scattered all over the place.. 4 here …5 there… 3 somewhere else…you cant have atmosphere like that. Put us all together ivan and watch the place become a fortress.
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The stuff they show on Arsenal Player to let the fans in on the lives of the players is horrible. No one wants to watch Szczesny play ping-pong with Jack Wilshere, we want training videos, tunnel cams, free replays of games, press conferences, a weekly conversation about tactics with Arsene, shows like the one featuring Adrian Clark, humorous anecdotes from Ray Parlour. And we can have all that on Arsenal’s You Tube channel. I mean, seriously, what serious organization doesn’t have a You Tube channel in this day and age, for fucks sake? Whomever takes care of Arsenal’s social media/web presence needs to be fucking sacked.
This is a bit OT, but it has to do with the fan experience. Last week there were all kinds of stories about empty seats at the Emirates. One simple solution for the empty seat dilemma is to put an attendance requirement on season tickets. If a season ticket holder doesn’t show up for five games his season ticket will be revoked and his slot will be given to someone on the waiting list. This will encourage season ticket holders to be more proactive about selling their tickets or giving them away. Further, to help these people give their tickets away more easily, the club can set up a scheme to receive said tickets from absentee fans. In turn, the club can make a bit of cash by selling these tickets at a discount on line and at a much deeper discount an hour before kick off. Either way, the important thing is to have bums on seats to liven up the atmosphere and people buying beers in the stadium. This is a win-win either way.
Another thing they should do is have online purchases inside the stadium or set things up in a way where you can pre-pay for your food and beer. This would reduce the amount of time one has to stand on a line waiting for their food and it will reduce employee theft. I don’t know about you guys, but I hate having to miss a kick off because some dumb ass is buying thirteen mixed drinks for his friends.
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And if you have a section of them leading…the rest of stadium will follow. Ive seen it happening. It works.
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Hunter,
If you choose to ignore the fact that the local council has the legal authority to close down the stadium if they feel that the club is breaking the law, then you are using as much of your grey matter as those dooming twats on their stained bed sheet marches.
The reason the stewards pester people is because if they do not then the ground will be closed. This is not difficult to understand. I would not like the ground to be closed.
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Fuck you gains you aint taking my season ticket 🙂
…i could be on holidays ..or sick …who do you think you are? Finder keeper. Get your own. Wait suffer chase make 1000 phonecalls move countries if you want it so bad …just like doomers like me do…..haha
And for your information they are already doing that thing where if you cant attend (for whatever reason) you either have to put your seat on sale or else they charge you the price of the game when its time for renewal. They do that once the 6 cup games ( 3 cl and 3 f.a cup) are over and team qualifies further.
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The local council? Shut down the stadium? And where is our president to kick the council’s ass? What kind of stupid law is that. So if we all start smoking joints and take beers in the stands with us what will they do? Shut us down ? Thats crazy. We improve the local community and improve the standards of the area and they will give us shit? Would the council do that to roman abramovic? Lol…like hell they would….
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Civilised society seems to have passed you by Hunter.
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Fins we are not talking about full scale violence and hooligans…lol… just supporters having fun pushing their team on. Dortmund has such a section. Most clubs do
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A civilised society allows/provides for all. Relax …heh…we are talking about supporters not criminals…..
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And lol…which civilised society you talking about exactly…the one that declares suarez a racist based on two players trashtalking on the pitch or the civilised society that sells weapons to israel and invades countries for ‘freedom and democracy’… if thats the ‘civil society’ youre talking of….give me ultras any day. 😉
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“then you are using as much of your grey matter as those dooming twats on their stained bed sheet marches.”
A top, top quip Fins – I shall steal it and pass it off as my own elsewhere.
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You’re moaning about atmosphere and you don’t want to penalize the idiots who leave loads of seats open?
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The lack of atmosphere is not due to the 20-30 empty seats on any given matchday you outrageous person…the lack of atmosphere is due to the social and age group of the fans who can afford to go….
And try to stay on course. I said that the club cant complain for lack of atmosphere when they make no schemes to fix it…… atmo or no atmo im still there… so take your fan lectures and go to another beach to preach ….
I go every saturday…will you profess to know more about it again? Lol …have you no shame?…
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“the lack of atmosphere is due to the social and age group of the fans who can afford to go….”
Like you, you mean ?
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and less of the “age”
Good tune, old fiddle
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No…more like the sitting down eating hotdogs checking facebook variety.
Hey…lol..whats wrong with my age/ social group? We have fire in our bellies 😉
If youre thinking orks then ….thats your privilege…im thinking of good people who come to support the team in one voice.
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It’s not twenty or thirty seats empty on match days, you dumb fuck, it’s more like five to six thousand according to the Metropolitan police.
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Clearly the hush on here has been the result of the overwhelming total superior incontestable shit hot performance by Chels in the province of Eastern Lancashire
Oh do fuck off
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I seriously doubt that number. Is it an average? One game? Show me source. Every game ive been to …its packed…. ( only missed the dortmund home fixture cause i was sick in hospital)
you are either talking low importance games or friendlies (in which instance team should be winning without help from crowd) or youre talking bollocks.
there is no chance youll have 5-6,000 as you say, empty seats in important games. These are the games where the crowd needs to help the players going…..i.e atmosphere
And even if 10,000 and 15,000 seats were empty scattered around the whole ground, you can still have the dedicated ones gathered all together either at north bank or clock end to shout. In a crowd of 60,000 or even 45,000 not all of them are there to shout and sing. Even 5k could be enough as long as theyre all sitting together and noise comes from one place….. so i dont see your point in punishing the absent. Even the disenfranchised who may have season ticket but dont attend…they sell their seats online or via club for the matchday. The issue is putting the ones who support vocally together. Not a 5% loss in crowd attendance . …..Ok dumb fuck?
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Kos should be fit for tomorrow.
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Hey A, did they drop any points?
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Err no H
He is referring to the comparison between the figures for attendance between the tickets sold/money collected figures released by the club v compared to the figures recorded as the attendance inside the ground by the Metroplitan Police Service as listed in a Freedom of Information request response to MPS this week published.
By god that sentence was exhausting
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Why whats wrong with kos?
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At the Chels’s football was of good quality
To say otherwise would be foolish
At other times however a big fragile
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This week? Lol… for the first game of the season where people could be still on holidays? Against palace? Oh…ok….
Still…even if 20,000 were away, nothing is stopping us from having 5-6k together singing. Only our lack of organisation.
Gains is suggesting that the absent fans are responsible for no atmosphere and wants to punish them by taking their tickets. That does not change anything. The nutters are still not together to start the noise and encourage the rest….
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Devote a section for ultras and everyone will be happy. The one who wants entertainment can sit and clap, the one who wants to sing will be together with those that sing. The club makes its money cause all games are almost sold out and if even 3-4,000 of them dont come…no worries we can party without them. Solomon13.
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It has been shown that some ST holders only come to 1 game and their tickets are not used. That cant be right. No matter how hard some others are going to sing.
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Fucking cesc…2 assists already. Lets voodoo him. Sickening.
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George ..even if the few fools dont come due to ideological disagreement ala robin…we will still have a designated area for those who want to bring the roof down. Lets go again….in a crowd of 60k not all want to jump and scream. Some want to enjoy the game in a civilised manner, and others my not come at all. We are talking about atmosphere and putting the vocal ones in one place. At dortmund its not the whole stadium singing ALL the time but the sudtribune. Roma = curda sud, liverpool = kop.
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Curva
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Yeah I have to say I’m missing the Clockend already, was really looking forward to it.
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I dont see how the few absent fans can be used as an excuse for lack of atmosphere. The first problem is organisation among fans. The second problem is that the club needed to run an expensive tight ship which resulted in a loss of hardcore support. The third problem is that were in big brother state with big bad law petrifying and subduing people to conform like sheep.
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Chelsea aren’t going to be this open again until Burnley play them at Stamford Bridge. Instead of Shurrle and Oscar, we’re going to see a lot more of Ramires and Willian. And that’s where things are going to become interesting for them. When Mou goes defensive and teams start to press Cesc further back, Costa is going to see a lot less of the ball. He’s going to have to fight for balls in the air like Drogba used to do and I don’t think he’s cut out for that type of physicality. But shhhhhhhh, let the people who are naming Chelsea champions after one game against the weakest promoted side find out for themselves.
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Gains 2:06am
That’s a very good point.
Mou won’t be able to help himself – his Chelsea team will revert to being ultra negative as soon as possible. 1-3 at Burnley was practically showboating from them, amazing how nothing happened in the 2nd half.
The sit kcikers will be back in his team soon.
That being said – Matic looks awesome. I would love a carbon copy of him for Arsenal..
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Interesting thoughts on Mourinhio.
Certainly it was a gift to Pellegerni, his preference for the Mendes signing over Schurrle, amongst other obvious howlers that the Arsenal Groaners bizarrely choose to gloss over last season.The plonker.
Matic: you’d need a special relationship with special agent menses, it’s what makes Maureen so special (average net spend at every club in every season works out as some stupefying figure, plus £30m a season at least I think, many at £60m+).
So there are, um, strong, er, habits visible through in his career *coughs*
Therefore it’s totally feasible that he’d completely muck it up again, just like last year.
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Menses = Mendes
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George, one of the problems with the live clockend show is its timing on Monday nights. It clashes directly with Sky Sports Monday night football.
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agree with all of this and as a downunder gooner very disappointed. why not email arsenalplayer@arsenal.co.uk and show support for the program as I have just done
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good idea. I have as it happens . But EVERYONE SHOULD.
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It’s a shame about the clockend I could never watch the live show, internet connections in Africa being what they are but I always downloaded the podcast. It is an integral part of being a positive arsenal, where else can you get balanced commentary about our beloved club.
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