Below is a post made by an unknown Tottenham fan on an unknown Santi Carzola fanpage. His understanding should put many Arsenal fans to shame. Sadly it wont because the ones who should read it wont bother.
“I’m as big a Tottenham fan as you’ll meet, but I can’t help feeling that if you hate Arsenal then you don’t really like football…
Football rivalries, when embraced by the wrong people, can be one of the world’s most depressing sights. I’m as big a Tottenham Hotspur fan as you’ll meet, but when I was at Wembley last year and sat behind four coked up-up, middle-aged, Stone Island clad monkeys who spent the entire game screaming at the Chelsea fans sitting 500 off metres away, punctuating every other sentence with a ‘f***ing blue c**t’, despite the presence of kids all around, I was embarrassed to say they supported the same team as me. This wasn’t because I’m a prude, or a fair weather supporter, but because no amount of footballing rivalry justifies being an awful, xenophobic human being.
Whether or not this makes me well placed to writing a guide to Arsenal I’m not sure, but I am sure of one thing that has made many Spurs fans crow in anger.
I like Arsenal.
I like the football they play, I like the way they do their business, I like (most of) the players they buy, I like their fans more than most teams fans. I even quite like Wenger. This isn’t to say that I don’t get an extra buzz out of beating them on derby day, but that’s more because of the atmosphere at those games than any heightened personal antagonism towards them as a club. In real terms, it’s now much more exciting to beat a City or a Chelsea than an Arsenal. These are the real glorious wins- David, Goliath and all that- not beating a club who, in essence, encapsulate everything we aspire to be.
Despite operating well within their relatively-paltry means, there is a large contingent of Arsenal supporter who go up in arms and demand a new striker every time one of their strikers misses a couple of chances and that’s not to say their point of view is not understandable,especially when you consider that the most expensive low cost season ticket, priced at £1,014, but this price is surely reflective of a couple of major factors: not least that they’ve got a massive great stadium to pay off. Other than that there’s also Arsenal’s geographical location to take into account, and the profile of their average supporter; Islington is just down the road, they’re a stone’s throw from Finsbury Park and King’s Cross. These are affluent areas full of (reasonably) comfortable people.
As a Spurs fan who sweated through the grey 90s, I’ve started to come to think of us Spurs fans as being spoilt. In recent years I came to expect glorious comebacks and Gareth Bale hat-tricks. Therefore, it’s understandable that when you are an Arsenal supporter who experienced the Invincibles, it must be hard to recalibrate your expectations, especially when you know you have money on the bank. But what Arsenal are doing is behaving the way that the rest of the world should. And with even more financial fair play regulations about to come in, it seems that eventually the rest of the world will catch up with them, except by then Arsenal will be two steps ahead.
Whether or not Wenger will still be at the helm them is another question altogether. In real terms the man should have enough credit in the bank to stay for as long as he can walk, especially with the future looking promising and the potential levelling of the financial playing field. But are they happy to put up with perhaps yet another year without a trophy? It seems nonsensical to talk about getting rid of someone when all they’ve done is continue to make you competitive in a world that is doing everything in its power to make you uncompetitive, but you sense it might be one season too far.
Regardless, I gave up the ghost on hating Wenger years ago. Without him the Premier League would have been a much sadder place, and United would have had a lot more titles: His three title winning teams, unbeaten seasons, the development of Thierry Henry and later Robin Van Persie into possibly the two best (certainly the classiest) strikers the Premier League has seen, the continual (occasionally misplaced) dedication to youth, the refusal to compromise principles of football as entertainment, the 80 odd minutes in the Stade de France where it looked like Lehmann might somehow emerge forgiven and victorious, that Adams goal. These are all moments and instances that any fan of football should revel in, regardless of geographical rivalry.
One final note: The chants of ‘stand up if you hate Arsenal’ are now much less regular at Spurs and this has been in direct correlation with us (almost) catching them up. I always thought it was a inane one at the best of times, but when it used to get chanted at teams other than Arsenal it was another time that I felt Spurs fans didn’t do themselves justice. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not about to get myself a ticket at Ashburton Grove any time soon, but I can’t help but think that if you hate Arsenal then you don’t really like football. ”
Positively Arsenal 
A very humbling post. Yes my friend, we are first and foremost football fans. Great piece, thanks.
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Very well thought out blog. Like the balance of the comments and all sane, sensible Gooners (and Spuds) will agree. Sadly not all football fans are not this objective
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Excellent article,well done,you are certainly more appreciative of Arsenal and A.W. than a lot of Arsenal Supporters should be.If we meet ,I will buy you a cold one.
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The words of a grown-up !
Not often heard amidst the clatter of bullshit that submerges supporters
Admitting Bale was a shit hot footballer = heresy
To the stake with him
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Nice post……a very balanced one! I think all football fans irrespective of the clubs we support should think like this man.
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I’ve heard similar thing from fans of the tinies. It’s as John Gregory (Tottenham fan former player and ex-Villa manager) said one of the podcasts –
“Arsenal football club represent the best in English Football”, I guess he means at the top of the game.
If you like football, then…
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George, last time the Arsenal played Burnley Arshavin scored! Walcott too.
We might get ten or fifteen minutes on Theo today.
Opportunities are there for a few on the fringes of the first team.
Should be interesting.
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Decent sentiments, balanced perspective.
Things that appear missing from one or two of our own.
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A football fan with a knowledge about Arsenal that puts most Arsenal fans in shame.
Georgaki-pyrovolitis October 31, 2014 at 3:05 pm
I remember that. And for sure while great tackles make you smile, an interception is far more effective as a football art. A tackle can break up a play at best but with an interception you can also immediately gain control of the play and set up an attack while opposition is caught off movement.
arse_or_brain October 31, 2014 at 5:47 pm
I was thinking that too. But i think Southampton is getting more plaudits because the players they bring to the table are mainly British. As club we have greater means so we can operate in greater scales. People tend to leave out players like Clichy, Fabregas and Woj when playing with numbers.
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*Defending art
COYG
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Well certainly an interesting pre match.
The lads are surely up for it and yet the goal remains illusive. But I enjoyed that half, goal or not.
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always a please to see ramsey walk onto the pitch..common arsenal!
and btw qpr scored!
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one word for alexis sanchez – superhero.
oh my gawd!
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TRUST!
the superhero scores!
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Thats Arsenal. Too sharp.
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Just heard the brilliant Arsenal 3:0 result and read the Post written by a Spurs fan, and what a spirit lifter, not just about football but also for decent humanity that someone can be honest about another club, and not be a hate-filled name caller.
Yes! [Double smiley things]
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Nice win. Chelsea were a dodgy penalty away from dropping points. Here’s hoping for a Manure draw tomorrow.
I would buy this Spuds supporter a beer or three. He seems like a nice guy.
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Although like I said when this was originally posted its amazing that lots of opposition fans appreciate what we have done more than our own fans there are still things I can’t agree with in this post. Its ok being upstanding citizens and holding the moral ground but we mustn’t forget English football is about rivalry and although I don’t hate all spuds I certainly hate Tottenham. I know there are times in history when they have played better than us but I would always defend our style to the hilt. One of the reasons I love Arsene so much is because I no longer have to defend the indefensible so it would be hypocritical of me to attack a spud for not admitting were the dogs bollocks.
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An excellent post that I nearly missed. Sober, well thought out. This is the essence of PA. Thanks Mr Spud.
I must admit while the game was on, like George I was on twitter smiting the malcontents until we eventually smashed our way to victory against Burnley. Admittedly, “smash” comes to mind when I think of those two thunderous shots by Poldi that nearly dismembered the opposition. What a way to finish a game. We should have won 6-0. I know the media and many of our fans take the default position and give all credit to Sanchez but it was essentially a team performance. Those combinations in the final third are more frequent and more dangerous, that is why we created so many (?) chances and should have won on a canter. Up the table to 4th at 17 points. By christmas we may be in striking distance. Don’t count us out.
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I was worried that the goals were never going to come today, but thank goodness our superstar Chilean stepped up once again. What a great acquisition he has turned out to be. I thought the referee was mostly good apart from missing that handball that should have seen Boyd dismissed. But I have to give him credit for giving him the first yellow when I was so sure he was going to bottle it with the usual ‘talking to’ that the opposition usually get away with. I also thought Monreal was outstanding at the back. He has really grown into his emergency centre back role.
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At half time I really wasn’t worried, I have seen many games where we look stale or frustrated but was convinced this wasn’t one of them. My mate had a 3-0 bet at 9/1 and was cursing his luck but I was still convinced he was in with a chance. Like Passenal I thought the ref had a reasonable game although he obviously doesn’t understand about time wasting as he totally ignored the Burnley keeper all game
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Jenko assist:
http://gfycat.com/GraciousLegitimateAfricanwildcat
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