The internet is awash with bloggers pod-casters and tweeters quickly changing tack and realigning themselves behind Arsene.
Gone are the days when someone was brave enough to voice their wholehearted and unequivocal support for the great man. Now you can’t mention his name without someone trying to praise him above and beyond the level of praise you express.
Twitter is full of the few remaining WOBs duking it out with former WOBs.
Most of those that were respectfully asking for Arsene to go have climbed onto the fence and are willing to let him stay (Bloody decent of them, eh?). You can hear them with their “I’m softening towards him” or “I will wait and see if the improvement continues“, some even begrudgingly concede “I might have been harsh on Arsene“.
Those who previously had splinters in their backsides, from sitting on the fence, are shuffling into the “I support the manager” camp and looking for a place to pitch their very portable tents.
Of course there are still some WOBs remaining. These though are looking more and more like Ishmael , clinging to a coffin that is bobbing among the wreckage of their sunken arguments. And why not? What is their alternative? Admitting they were wrong in the most disrespectful and ignorant manner? I think not!
Now this sounds like I am complaining. That it shouldn’t be happening. That I don’t like it or want it. Wrong. It’s great that more and more fans are appreciating the stellar work of the manager, staff and board are doing. I love it. Climb on board. The more is the merrier.
But let’s be honest here. They are not changing for any other reason than the team is improving and things are being won. They have not been educated to this new level of support. A few bad results will likely see them once again slipping their stilettos into the backs of people who have consistently been transforming the club for years.
People that have seen the light, should be asking themselves why they have been sitting in the dark for so long? There is nothing happening that could not have been foreseen by anyone willing to look.
Players were sold – the reasons were obvious.
Great players were not bought – the reasons were obvious.
We were not winning trophies – the reasons were obvious.
We couldn’t beat the best teams – the reasons were obvious.
The priority was CL qualification – the reasons were………….. you guessed it………….obvious.
Everything the club was working towards was obvious.
They had a plan………………….obvious.
They were smart enough and resolute enough to stick to it………………..obvious.
The plan was way beyond the comprehension of many fans, yes, but that didn’t mean there was no plan.
I always found it ridiculous that the most ambitious club in the country should be labeled by many of its own fans as unambitious.
Even now though we see fans trying to justify their previous stance with claims of “Arsene has changed“. The alternative is them owning up to being wrong, stupid and uninformed.
Arsene has not changed. All that has changed is his credit limit. His philosophies have not changed one little bit. What has changed is the standard of the players he now has to put them into practice.
People begrudgingly admit the plan is working, while still thinking that they had a plan that would have worked better and quicker.
Unlike the doubters and disbelievers, there were some people, a precious few to be fair, who for years predicted exactly what is happening right now. Not because they are seers and prophets, but because they understood the plan was sensible and it was being implemented by experts, not the least of which is Arsene Wenger.
So, if you are someone who is either overtly or covertly changing you position, please just hold your hand up and accept you seem to have been wrong, rather than trying to justify your previous stance. Because, as they say Ignorance is no defense.
Positively Arsenal 
You’re far more forgiving than me George. I don’t welcome these people into the tent. I’d rather them outside trying to piss on the canvass than inside pissing all over our pillows the moment we lose a game or don’t sign whoever they think we ought to.
They’re not fans, the truth was obvious all along and they deliberately chose to whip up a hate mob to try to destabilise the club when it most needed support.
Fuck them all. They’re not welcome.
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Steww, I think that’s true for few. The rest were just stupid.
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Like I said George – you’re much more forgiving than me.
My attitude, by the way, does not indicate a schism in the Arsenal support base. These people are not and never were supporters by any definition and so there can’t be a split.
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Top work George, and in particular the comment about the most ambitious club being labelled unambitious was what has really irked. It must be a real source of comfort to so many to see that at long last the manager has taken heed of their advice, and has changed his ways. Just one more trip to the chiropractor to sort out that troublesome spine and another glorious unbeaten season beckons. Until of course which ever hapless keeper it happens to be should have done better, until the shiny new defender is caught strangely out of position, until the guaranteed 25 goal a season predator shows that he too sometimes misses and runs out of luck.
And then it will be business very much as usual for the sneering clickunters.
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the WOB’s ambition is not to have a great club but to have a clubgreat at wining trophies like celtic or bassel or olympiacos. even if it means their club run at a loss ( not their own money ) or play in a rented stadium. but the ambition of arsene and the board is to see arsenal become a club that can compete both on and off the pitch while still self sustaining and retaining its class.
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Great piece George and I’m inclined also to agree with Steww; you just know a bad run at any stage, or the falling out of any competition, will see an almighty dash by a noisy minority to get off the fence back into their piss-strewn field in a tragic attempt to ‘prove’ they were right all along.
Like Steww, I hate them for this.
But who are ‘they’?
Well most were just ordinary fans jealous of our rivals, frustrated by ‘failure’.
But I know of one prominent blogger (not George) who in all seriousness felt there was a co-ordinated campaign against the club following Dein’s failed attempts to broker power into the hands of Usminov. This was quite a few years ago now (maybe five or so?) and manifested itself in the comments section of blogs at a time when Twitter was still a new player in social media. The effect of this campaign was to create a bandwagon for the weak and weary to hop onto. And there were plenty who were only too happy to play ignorant and stab the club and staff in the back at every opportunity.
There are also some who sincerely felt/feel we should have done better, even with the limited resources available to us. Done better – and become ‘successful’ – sooner.
This is a harder argument to counter as it really is just an opinion (and not one I agree with, by the way). I believe we came incredibly close to trophy-defined success on several occasions but the critical need to finish fourth or better in the league may well have played its part here as league matches were always the priority, as far as I could see, throughout this extended period.
It was tough going.
For the paying fans (and I was a season-ticket holder throughout this period) it was absolutely gut-wrenching at times. Admittedly, any anger I felt was invariably directed at what still appears to have been the most unforgiveablely, sustained inept refereeing campaign I have ever seen – and over many, many years.
So poor, in fact, it would take no great leap of imagination to link the activities of those behind the bandwagon mentioned above, to the subversion of the second shadiest, unaccountable footballing institution after FIFA, Mike Riley’s PGMOL.
Who knows, maybe the PGMOL may one day go the way of FIFA though it’s hard to imagine, given how brazen and untouchable Blatter felt his stateless cartel had become by the end. But certainly to my eye, there were just SO many games SO poorly officiated with outcomes invariably detrimental to the club at a time when the anti-Kronke badwagon was speeding along, that it’s almost impossible to ignore this coincidence of dark forces aligned against the club.
And it’s most interesting to note that the concerted social media campaign against the club has faded away just as the refereeing performances no longer seem quite so bad. Actually, the referees DO seem just as poor as they ever did, but it’s no longer mainly at the expense of one club.
Funny, that.
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ambitious clubs to some are those who pay the highest amount for players every season like di maria, falcao, bale torres, david luis . or who buy more players even if those players end up warming the bench or disrtupt the team’s harmony like spuds, liverpool, city, inter. to them it shows ambition to pay £20m for danny blind than getting coq for free. to pay £30m for luke shaw than promoting bellerin from the youth team. ambition is to replace the manager every other year even if he meets the targets set for him
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Arsenal Andrew: you have the makings of a really interesting piece there and I hope you might have some time this close season to expand on your theme.
PS I tried to ‘like’ your comment but despite liking it very much the technology did not seem impressed.
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You may have that ‘Like’ from me and FH
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Great article. Agree with it.
As a colleague blogger from the AKB site I feel proud and honoured to have supported not only Wenger but also the board in their unseen (or should I say Untold) plan to move our club forward.
Keep up the good work, so will I and we. 😉
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I have a slightly different view on the fan base, the splitters, the opportunists, the scarfists and their fellow travellers.
I could not give a fuck what they thought then, I could not give a fuck what they think now. Any of them.
I don’t engage, I don’t click, I do not study the turd on the sole of my shoe when I return from a long walk. I simply wipe it away and make a mental note to be a little more cautious with my footsteps next time.
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george there may be a crossing over by some, but i would say that there are a whole host of AAA out there, still totally against All things Arsenal, there are many sites/blogs that promote negative spin all the time, only in the last few days we seen the reaction of a couple of these bloggers on their twitter accounts to them not being invited by the club to an event they claim they “did not want to go to anyway”,
ANR, Le Grove, SheWore, Arsenal Times, BlackScarfe, AST and many others are by and large overflowing with negative views and in many cases anyone with positive views are pounced upon.
Andrew is certainly on to something about the Dein/Usmanov campaign that has been waged against the club for years, and its still ongoing. Only recently I seen someone claim that we need Dein back on the board, we need his football knowledge(he has no more football knowledge than anyone already on our board), we need him on the board to lower the age profile of our board(Dein will be 72 in a couple of months) We need him to get transfers done (we never missed out on targets with him around), we need him to get Usmanov on board (yeah we need a guy who only ever comments about Arsenal in negative terms or when things are not at their best, not a word from him after either of our FA Cup wins)
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Well put George.
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Well done George, great piece…..
Arsene Wenger would have excelled in any arena is chose to work in. He qualified in economics and studied medicine for about a year. I also read that he also flirted with engineering (but don’t quote me on that one).
Fundamentally, he is a scientist.
If my memory serves me well the following story is in the biography of Arsene by Xavier Rivoire. Arsene was travelling by train with a colleague who was struggling to solve a complex a statistical problem. Arsene took the notebook, read the problem, scribbled down the solution, smiled and handed it back….
What his detractors do not understand is the process we here have been observing and trying to understand with evidence:
He has not changed, he will not change and he does not need to change….
He is a scientist and science is a self correcting discipline…..
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George is unto something. Like many Positivistas, in the last 9-10 years we have supported the club’s ambitious transformation and the sacrifices it entailed under the leadership of Arsene Wenger. In doing so we took full aim at the internal and external enemies of the club and the middle-of-the-roaders who were intent on undermining the plan, many of whom were only interested in the short-term gratification of winning a trophy and not caring about the big picture. But as George has observed, the wheel is turning as the plan is succeeding. Former WOBs are duking it out in the open with the die-hards. What a complete contrast to the situation as recent as 6 months ago with that scandalous booing of Wenger at the Stoke train station.
So what should we do? Froth at the mouth and continue treating them as enemies? Obviously not. There is a window of opportunity to win over some new readers to Positively Arsenal, to form new alliances on Twitter and hopefully get George invited to more podcasts. Maybe our blogs will be perma-linked to other blogs. Maybe a few more bloggers outside of e Peter Wood will be willing to openly blast SheWore, Highbury Harold and the black scarfers to oblivion.
Why is this important? Because we need a a stronger fanbase to take on the football establishment which has a lot to lose with the success of Wenger and Arsenal, as it would loosen their grip on the football public whom they have convinced that you can only succeed by spending to infinity. Nope, we don’t need to become Chelsea and Manchester City, relying on sheiks and oligarchs to succeed. Arsenal represents the alternative path, a self-sustaining club, spending wisely, patiently growing to become a super club which wins playing attractive football. At least that is how I see it.
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Ensure you have a very, very long spoon Shotts
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Long spoon? I didn’t get it Andrew. My children would say I am so slooww.
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Walter, congratulations on your banner I have said this before but not sure you would have seen it.
I think we need to remember alot of those suddenly liking Arsene will be quite happy to slag him again if we only come third this season. Many are frightened of ARSENAL success in case the biggest egg in the world will fall on the many faces of doubt, doom, and downright morbid outlook on football life. Come judgment day their place will not be inside the stadium.
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He who sups with the Devil needs a ‘long spoon’ Shotts
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Agree with Shotta; a positively unified fanbase is better able to marginalise the opportunists and the idiots and makes it far harder for the enemies of the club to divide and rule.
Although the idea of the crowd being the team’s 12th man is a cliche, it’s not too far wide of the mark to suggest that this has been our weakest position on matchdays for far too long now.
A unified fanbase has many benefits not least the ability to turn the Emirates Stadium in to a seething cauldron of intimidation capable of putting doubt and uncertainty into the minds of even our staunchest rivals.
(Would still endorse Andrew N’s recourse to the long spoon, mind!!).
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Part of the problem is that anyone, and I mean ANYONE, can just bole up and say they want to start supporting ‘Arsenal’. Blokes dressed as pirates, blokes knocking out dodgy cufflinks, dysphoric depressives of every hue, in fact any nutter who applies can literally be admitted as Arsenal fans.
Extraordinary isn’t it ?!
No I have long recommended that any person wanting to support THE Arsenal should be required to undergo a rigorous selection process, examining their personality, morals, propensity for fancy dress outfits and financial rectitude. A significant financial bond should be paid by the applicant. For those short of the £necessary goods and services should be pledged, even the blood of a family member (at a push).
Then, and only then, would this aspiring Arsenal fan be admitted on a provisional/probationary basis for a period of three years, during which their behaviour would be carefully scrutinised and their contributions at games and/or in social media measured for quality of support and consistency.
Slowly they may be allowed to equip themselves with the accoutrements of fandom, a pair of club bedroom slippers after one year, a club tie in polyester after two and finally, on completing their probation, a first team shirt in year three.
If they fail to meet the standard of behaviour required then that is it, immediate expulsion and a future at Brisbane Road or the Lane beckons.
We have put up with mediocrity among the fan base for too long at the club, Arsene deserves better.
Who is with me on this ??
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Agree with 90% percent of what you say. The 10 % I disagree with has to do with Arsene Wenger having not changed or evolved his position/strategy whether be it tactics or fitness, or anything else for that matter.
Games like away to City or United in the cup prove that he has. Hiring of Shad proves that he has.
Players have spoken up on tactics and fitness issues and how certain changes have been implemented, so there’s no point denying it.
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AnyNic: Do we continue fomenting a civil war or neutralize the Black Scarfers and bin-baggers? I am not fooled; the idiots and those on the payroll of the destabilizers will always remain.
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It is all about what you mean by “change” Tom.
Do you imagine Arsene was doing the same things throughout his career as a football manager, until this season then, and the visit to the Etihad, or recruiting a new fitness coach called Forsyte?
That does not seem very likely to me.
I have absolutely no doubt Arsene is constantly changing, experimenting, refining, improving, discarding, starting at square one again, looking at coaches and adding to resources, and always has been, and probably always will be.
And how do I know this ?
Because the man has been manager of one of the largest and most successful football clubs in the world for moving on towards 20 years. If he was not able to learn, adapt and change he would not have lasted (and would not today last) five minutes.
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No Tom he has not changed…..he has not changed because his philosophy is to continually change….
I suppose it is because you can point to discrete, significant changes like the hiring of Shad that leads you to represent Wenger as having changed. I think not. The implementation of such a change is the culmination of much observation, discussion, debate and cost-benefit analysis. It’s an ongoing process……
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I had no prior discussions with anicoll before my last post…..
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“sups with the Devil should have a long spoon, he who proverbial saying, late 14th century, meaning that one should be cautious when dealing with dangerous persons.”
ELIZABETH KNOWLES. “sups with the Devil should have a long spoon, he who.” The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 2006. Encyclopedia.com. (June 22, 2015). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O214-spswththDvlshldhvlngspnhw.html
Google is great!
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Death to Spies – Смерть шпионам
We must build upon recent progress, forced re-education camps must be established to encourage those supporters who had been found lacking in devotion to the true spirit of Wengerism.
Sterner measures must be reserved for the recalcitrant Quislings who thought the grass was greener elsewhere. There can be no mercy shown.
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Thats the spirit comrade;
Positively Arsenal cannot play its world-revolutionary role unless it wages a ruthless struggle against this degeneracy, spinelessness, subservience to opportunism and unexampled vulgarisation of the theories of Wengerism.
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Anicoll5
“I have absolutely no doubt Arsene is constantly changing, experimenting, refining, improving, discarding, starting at square one again, looking at coaches and adding to resources, and always has been, and probably always will be.”
That’s true for most of your statement perhaps apart from “looking at coaches and adding to resources”
Arsene Wenger is by far the most loyal boss ( always has been) to his coaching staff , medical team and most players under his employment.
In the same time Pat Rice was his number two , SAF went through five of his Nr two’s.
And Rice only quit for health reasons. If he hadn’t, it is reasonable to think , he still would’ve been Wenger’s Nr two.
As for tactical changes I’m talking about, I broadly mean the attention to defense first under certain circumstances, and respecting your opponents abilities to hurt you.
The infamous 8:2 at the OT comes to mind, when decimated with injuries Arsenal played United like you would play them at home at full strength.
6:0 to Chelsea was another example of total disregard for safety and caution against a talented team away.
Seeing our left back , Gibbs venture into a right winger position in opening minutes of that game , tells you all you need to know about our tactics on the day.
You won’t see those type of sores against top rivals in the future and not only because we have improved our talent level.
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I am a bit puzzled by that Tom – regarding Ferguson, Wenger, coaches and “loyalty”.
As far as I remember most if not all of Ferguson’s coaches left Trafford park to manage elsewhere, Brian Kidd, Quieroz, McLaren to name a few I can recall. Their departure wa followed by much toy throwing from the Scotsman.
So where is the “loyalty” there ?
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G-p
“No Tom he has not changed…..he has not changed because his philosophy is to continually change….”
When Risicky, who’s been at Arsenal since 2006, says “this season we have changed certain things tactically against top rivals from previous years” , it probably indicates more than just an evolution of tactics.
But hey, we can agree to disagree on the 10% of what I consider a very sensible article.
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The Infamous 8-2 at OT ? A mere blip.
You make it sound as though we had never lost a game in Manchester Tom – Surely you you recall the Infamous 6-1 Thrashing (when we did not arrive “decimated with injuries” ?
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” You wont see those type of s(c)ores against top rivals in the future ……..”
Tom Tom Tom
Has watching football taught you nothing ?
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Don’t whisper it ‘Coll!
Apart from Step-step-stepanovs that was a strong eleven not beset by injury horrors the aforementioned MOB officials or a gruelling and draining test for a young squad (as in not fully mature athletes) against the impressive Udines days before whilst the evil mancs had their feet up watching that taxing contest from the comfort of their sofas.
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The unpalatable truth for the of pedlars o the world’s finest BullGr*t is that in today’s world with its fancy Dan HD cameras and Internet access to videos from your phone is that all the top coaches copy each other.
There’s a reason why they cover their gobs when speaking in front of the cameras and that reason is that there has been too much copying going on.
Not an opinion you see, but an observation.
They’ve been doing this for a while. All coaches. Hence people like former managers at Gazprom or the current manager of Munchen have spent weeks or months at London Colney simply hanging out. And the reverse is also true. AW was trying to incorporate some things we might have seen with the lowe’s German team at the start of the season is a consideration not many Groaners were willing to make whilst groaning – the same Lowe who said he an others rebuilt German coaching a decade or more ago having been inspired by Wenger and Ferguson so we can see that this is a cyclical process that hasn’t stopped it even begun, it’s just the way it’s always been.
Btw:
That’s not an opinion but a simple observation.
If people want to insist on looking like twats they can try to bang the “Vengargghhhhh has changed” drum if they like, but it’s not a good look and I wouldn’t recommend it.
And I didn’t even need to mention the clear examples of tactical changes which the Groaners denied were happening at the time (they don’t watch the football is one reasonable conclusion) in order to do so.
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In the spirit of George’s excellent blog I, for one, will gladly take Tom’s 90%. I/we may quibble over the other 10% but only in the spirit of agreeing to disagree, respectfully.
As for taking the piss with the Bolsheviks, even they realized the error of their extremism during the civil war of the 1920s and thereafter made peace with the Cossacks and other pissed off Nationalities. Not surprisingly their revolution survived for 70 years much as many pretend otherwise. So much so that despite the provocations, the sanctions, the growing encirclement by NATO, Mr Putin still speaks of his western partners. It is not easy learning the right lessons from history.
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Anicoll5
Yes I remember the 1:6 at OT.
Two different games , two different circumstances.
Arsenal will always try to play attractive style of football and at full strength you fancy their chances against any PL club.
We got outplayed by a rampant United team with the help of some defensive mistakes from some of our players in the 6:1.
We had no business trying to play the style we did play in the 8:2 with the players we had on the pitch that day. Simply ,reckless football.
And I’m perfectly willing to wager a large amount of money against your ,substantially smaller amount , that we won’t see those lopsided scores against Arsenal under Wenger in the future.
You have my e-mail if you want that wager.
Peace!
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I don’t follow again Tom – you say we got outplayed ( with some defensive mistakes) when we got hammered 6-1 but not when we got hammered 8-2, which according to you was “Simply, reckless football”
I reckon we were comprehensively outplayed in both games, with plenty of defensive mistakes, and a few attacking errors too. That is what happens playing football.
As for the wager more than happy to take the bet Tom – at 56 years old I have, according to the GAD, an expectation of another 25.75 years of life.
I fully expect to see a number of drubbings of our mighty club in that last quarter century of life, same as I have seen in the two preceding quarter centuries. Same as happened before I was a gleam in my father’s eye. Same as will happen when I am no more than ash.
Why not just send you cash to a charity now though – it will be put to better use ?
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I do my fair share of charitable donations already. The US tax code is very inducing in that department.
Also, I said ” under Wenger”.
I highly doubt the man will be in charge for another 25.75 years, although if he does , I wouldn’t mind.
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Its a thought!
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We have caused quite a stir on twitter. The “Arsene has changed” merchants are up in arms.
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I admit my attention today has been caught by the new Partick Thistle mascot Kingsley
jaw dropping
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Season 21014/15
Spuds – chelski 5-3
Chelski-Bradford 2-4
West brom – chelski 3-0
I see bourinho actually change tactics and can play entertaining games.
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Provide would be a better chosen word as bourinho hasn’t played football at any level. He’s a translator with inferiority complex that has grown bitter because he knows what legacy his is and further frustrated by it as he’s incapable of change.
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It’s a safer bet Arsenal won’t lose with such large margins again during Wengers last few remaining years as Arsenal manager, as it has been something very rare during his almost two decades as manager at the club.
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Reports coming in we have signed a new keeper.
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The Daily Mail – what a shower of liars.
If it not on .com, don’t believe it.
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Shotta
The Bolshies haven’t gone away you know.
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On a more sensible note,
Perhaps the WOBS should be reminded it took Arsenal 17 long years before the fruits of the Club’s last long term investment in moving to a new, bigger, better stadium in the past came good.
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