The simple truth is that being a football fan is more about emotion than it is about logic. We want what we want and for most it matters not that what we want is a fantasy. We have a romantic notion of how our club should perform. We all think our club should be “taken to the next level”. This is not an Arsenal thing, you hear fans from most clubs saying the same thing. And when they don’t get this “next level” they blame others for failing to achieve their dreams for them.
It’s the players to blame, or the board, or the hapless manager. It’s never their lack of acceptance of reality or their unrealistic expectations. Oh no, and, as many fans feel the same and think the same, they have a consensus.
People seem prepared to ignore any reality that means that their happiness is unlikely to be realised for them by their club.
Let’s look at some of the things Arsenal fans are happy to dismiss in order for them to justify their demands, and let us consider whether these demands are reasonable or not.
We use history (we are the 3rd most successful team in history) yet ignore the recent history of how the game has changed. History is no more what happened in the thirties than it is what happened yesterday. It’s all history. But there are turning points and we are affected by recent turning points more than we are of ancient ones. And let’s be honest here, if it happened pre-war then in football terms, that’s ancient history, almost prehistoric.
In 1992 the advent of the Premier League changed the landscape. If you don’t believe me, ask any Liverpool fan. Their history had them as default league winners, they haven’t won it even once since and are hurtling farther away with each year and new signing. But they still benefit from that history in that they have a huge domestic and overseas fan base that brings in money through commercial deals. However, as each year passes this fan base will likely grow at a slower rate than their rivals and their historical advantage will diminish, much like that of Villa or Forest. So we can see that the further back in history we look, the less relevant it becomes. That’s why George Graham is more relevant than Herbert Chapman.
In 2003 Roman Abramovich bought Chelsea. Another turning point. A total game changer for teams like Arsenal and Liverpool who were hoping to challenge for honours. Rather than me trying to explain it, here is an article written and researched by a Liverpool fan:
Read it and weep.
In 2008 Sheikh Mansour bought Manchester City and brought with him the £500 billion sovereign spending power of Abu Dhabi.
Now in simple terms if you accept Manchester United were top dog and in a class of their own on spending power, then these other two bought into the top table. So all the history that Arsenal and Liverpool had was bulldozed out the way by huge wads of cash writing its own history.
The next bit of history that we have to consider is Arsenal’s move to the new stadium, with all the restrictions on team building and maintenance that brought. This subject has been done to death and if someone does not accept that in this period we were miles behind then I am not about to address their stupidity today.
Then recent history works in our favour for a change. Financial Fair Play had some effect and the long term commercial deals we were tied to ran out and we were able to make big strides. The short term loans on the stadium were repaid and we found ourselves more able to compete for top players.
Please note how I said “more able” because no matter that we are better off, if the others are still richer we are still at a disadvantage. All be it less so.
People who say we now have enough money to compete, ignore the fact that, actually, we don’t.
For example, let’s say Real Madrid buy Aguero and that frees up Benzema. First off all there will be an absolute bun fight for his signature and some of those fighting for it will be able to offer more in fees and wages than Arsenal. Now remember that he was sold because he is not Aguero, not Messi or Ronaldo, not Suárez or Neymar, but the level below that. So even if Arsenal got him we have not caught up, not by a long way. And yet people insist we should be competing with the teams that have the real top drawer players. I simply ask “why is that then?”
This is the argument I like best: “We should be better with scouting, fitness and tactics”.
These people seem to have forgotten that all these avenues for improvement are open to every club, and more open to clubs with more money.
So again I ask: “Why should Arsenal be the club that excels above others in these fields?”
Well I will tell you why. It is because we are unreasonable and illogical.
Recent history has made it very hard to catch, let alone pass three clubs in England. In Europe it’s just the same. Almost every year the richest clubs win the ECL.
It’s not a coincidence you know?
So ask yourselves: Are Arsenal failing to achieve, or are they just failing to achieve your unrealistic expectations?
If your argument is “we should be doing better” I will counter that with the suggestion that perhaps we are where we should be, given the history.
Now, having said all that, I expect us to compete with the very best next year, both domestically and in Europe.
The thing is though, I won’t be squealing and stamping my feet if we don’t and blaming others for not achieving my own personal expectations.
Pedantic George ( aka @Blackburngeorge )
Positively Arsenal 
thanks anicoll, our U21’s drew 1-1 with Bournemouth U21’s in a behind closed door game today, Hinds gave AFC the lead, and AFCB leveled with 5 minutes left.
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Well that’s two events down – England slaughter Australia !
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Delph has made a statement saying he is staying at Aston Villa
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what is it with Arsenal fans that they can’t like Ramsey if they like Wilshere, its so funny seeing grown men act like five year olds when it comes to supporting our own players, can’t rate Ramsey if you rate Wilshere, can’t rate Gibbs if you rate Monreal, can’t rate Ozil if you rate Cazorla, etc etc etc
Gooners giving stick to Ramsey for this interview cos he did not speak as highly of Wilshere as they wanted,
http://www1.skysports.com/watch/video/sports/football/9909085/ramsey-hails-cech-signing
for me Ramsey spoke exactly the way he should have, it was all about the team/squad, not just one or two players like the interviewer tried to steer it. It was very captain like from Ramsey, he might be learning a thing or two from Arteta and how he performs in interviews.
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so our new No. 1 is in fact our new No. 33
Cech has chosen No. 33 cos he is 33 years old and has played 333 BPL games and as he will be part of the spine of our team and the spine has 33 bones.
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the whingebags are already having a go at Szczesny cos Cech has taken the no. 33 shirt, and not got the no. 1 shirt as they predicted,
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I wonder how many clubs will hold Man City to ransom over the sale of homegrown players to them, city have only 2 and so need 6 more, the Delph deal was a cheap option for them cos he had an £8M buyout clause, which is rare in the English game.
Of course city can include some of their own U21 players in the 25 man list, but that may be ok to do for one or two, but anymore will cut down their overall squad options and squad numbers.
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gunnerstown.com/arsenal/2015/07/12/the-explanation-for-arteta-is-leadership-buy-in-from-the-current-squad-what-makes-a- …
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when I was kid the off season seemed liked ages but now after the cup final, the parade, The kit launch,youth tounaments club and international,CL final, Copa america (which ARSENAL won by the way), womens world cup (which many ARSENAL players got medals by the way), The cech signing, players back in training, squad numbers annouced, friendly squad annouced and now just three days before our first game it seems like weve hardly been away. this means the doomers havnt had much chance to moan about transfer activity and my usual off season preoccupation of the leather hitting willow has not yet fuly come to the fore.
Anyway this is for all those players still trying to get moves
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Ive found a way AKB’s and wobs can finally settle their differences.. and possibly solve the middle east crisis
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1weDjpXhCE
The link is deliberately disabled – you need to go on to YouTube and put in Arabs v Jews Dance Off
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media reporting that Sterling has been pulled out of LFC’s touring party after Man city bid £45M + £5M of add on’s.
Maitland-Niles is said to have played well on his debut for Ipswich, and Jeorge Bird reports that Ipswich are in talks to take a second Arsenal youth on a season loan – I hope its Martinez.
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Well played the England cricket team. Took a while to rebuild the dressing room and squad, but they got there in the end.
There’s an Arsenal connection here, and Eddy will be happy to know it involves the AAA chief flagellator himself, The Moron. The Moron was so beloved by the lovely AAA that they’d give this desperate parasite the airtime when possible.
This is the same Moron ,the PR expert that used KP as another vehicle to keep himself in the meedjah after he helped disintegrate the previous England Dressing room. Not entirely KPs fault but he made mistakes which meant it was over for him,never getting back. but is interesting to see how easy it was for The Moron to manipulate the players’ not insignificant ego to his own ends. Which had nothing to do with the Sport.
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I suppose though that they did sell one or two, a handful, more copies of KP’s book!
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it seems SKY put a utd fan in a city shirt so he could slag off the pending Sterling transfer to city, pathetic stuff from SKY
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I wouldn’t expect any different from Utd’s equivalent of Marca (newscorp).
But the few is intriguing. Considering that Chamberlain had done more at the same age.
(I know both players have the same agent but there are other parties in their entourages or families who have more influence or guidance, and there’s a huge difference there)
If the Ox can have good luck with injuries…
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fee
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Fee,few, wtf
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If Sterling is worth that much ten AFC can have fun with any bids for Chamberlain, Wilshere, Ramsey etc.
“50 mil for the Ox? you’re having a laugh?”
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A poor outcome – a brat of a player, apparently wound up like a clock by his agent, levers his way out of a football club, one good season, one poor season, skips on to a new employer just up the road. Next I shall be hearing it is because LFC’s ‘ambition’ did not match Raheem’s. He did not agree with the direction.
Nasty little c*** – understand actions have consequences
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it seems Arsenal have made one change to the squad for the trip to Asia, Jon Toral in for Reine-Adelaide
Chuba Akpom
Mikel Arteta
Hector Bellerin
Santi Cazorla
Petr Cech
Calum Chambers
Francis Coquelin
Dan Crowley
Mathieu Debuchy
Mathieu Flamini
Gabriel
Kieran Gibbs
Olivier Giroud
Alex Iwobi
Laurent Koscielny
Emiliano Martinez
Per Mertesacker
Nacho Monreal
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain
Mesut Ozil
Aaron Ramsey
Wojciech Szczesny
Jon Toral
Theo Walcott
Chris Willock
Jack Wilshere
Gedion Zelalem
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reports suggest that Man utd have agreed a £27M fee for Schneiderlin and that medical has been passed with deal to be completed in time for him to join their squad in time to go on tour tomorrow.
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the wob in meltdown over Schneiderlin, some even wishing Arteta gets injured on Wednesday, its so amusing seeing this lot so keen to get a chance to abuse Arsenal and Wenger
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Sanogo might be going on loan to Ajax
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Can we compete? Well aren’t we one of the richest clubs in the world? The only difference between us and Chelsea and City is they have owners who will spend money and we have Kronke who is richer than Abramovic but wants to keep his hands in his pockets. So there’s little ambition from the owner. I’m not saying we should spend 200 million on players, I don’t think we need to but we could easily spend half that. I recall Wenger saying he could spend 40 million on one player if he wanted back in 2011. If only he’d done that on Hazard. On the whole though I’m happy with the direction we’re going. Cech is a good signing and I’m sure we’ll make a couple more good signings and whether they cost a million or 40 million makes no odds to me as long as they do a good job. The current squad is the best for nigh on ten years and we have won two major trophies in as many years, that’s something to celebrate. I just hope we won’t be waiting to win the league as long as Liverpool have!
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edu, schneiderlin wont make our first eleven, maybe not even manure’s eleven as well. but i guess it pays him more to earn 100k/w on their bench than 50k here. there is also the small matter of 27m fee and the fact that coq who will play ahead of him is reportedly on 40k/w.
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one guy i really love see on the tour is wellington, but unfortunately, he isnot in the squad. hope we see a revelation like jack and bellerin on this tour. isaac hayden is also a player i wish can come good this season. maybe a back up to coq and our captain
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“On the whole though I’m happy with the direction we’re going”
Phew.
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It was touch and go there for a minute Stew
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http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/20150713/wenger-on-singapore-title-and-transfers
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Kronke’s wife’s family are richer than roman, Stan himself is not.
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It was in the queue
My finger hovered over the buttons
I thought ‘why not ?’
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We dont have trolls on here Tom – try elsewhere
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Well Arse or Brain I guess we know who is in charge in the Kronke household. Perhaps the Mrs is a Chelsea fan. I understand the doubts over us winning the league for the few years but look what Liverpool did with Suarez and an inferior manager to Wenger. If Wenger had been managing that Pool team he’d have almost certainly won the title. One player like Suarez can make the difference. Find him, maybe Sanchez is that man, and with the rest of the squad we have the title might be ours.
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jenkinson has signed a new five year contract and will go on loan to west ham for the coming season
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As it is Bastille Day tomorrow I thought this excerpt from Casablanca might cheer us up. The scene has resonance for Positivistas, with the noisy mob of black scarf wearing, cuff link designing Groaners, drowned out by the song of the righteous.
Sing up brothers and sisters;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTsg9i6lvqU
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PA Dugout @PA_dugout 18m18 minutes ago
#Breaking @SpursOfficial goalkeeper Hugo Lloris has suffered a fractured wrist
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Squawka Football @Squawka 5h5 hours ago
Manchester United have now spent a reported £289.35m since Sir Alex Ferguson retired in 2013.
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Man Utd throwing money around like crazy – desperation is a powerful motivating factor. A 30-year Bastian Schweinsteiger…surely a gamble in this league.
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double canister @double_canister 20h20 hours ago
Van Gall has spent more than the entirety of Arsenal’s 2014 turnover at Man United on purchasing players in 12 months. Not counting wages.
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Sav, Eds, it all reminds of that memorable occasion when Man Utd spent £60M on three LBs (half for Shaw!) in one window.
Summer 2014:
“BUY ALL the LEFT BACKs”
Winter 2014:
“Fwuck”
Summer 2015:
“BUY ALL the CMs you can find. QUICKLY.”
There’s definitely a pattern there.
Poor old Schweiny great player but he hasn’t managed 30 games in the grueling BL since 2011. Then again playing for Utd is a bit like playing in the second tier of the German leagues when it comes to hacks from opponents.
Still it’s not as obviously a dodgy purchase as the loan (heh, a loan for £20M!) for the poor blighted Mendezian Mule (I expect Falcao to be a little better next year but after such enlightened and fucked up rehab it’s also fair to say he’s fucked, beggin’ yer pardon).
After years of having no control in midfield bar Carrick (another criminally under capped Gr*ttish player) they’ve gone a little bit OTT heh. I suppose we can look at Schweiny as slightly expensive cover for Schneidy. A day after City spent some Sterling no wonder the A Holes are having kittens. Some people simply like to do as they are told.
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Toral in the tour squad?
Haven’t seen much of him, don’t know much about him but his goal scoring record last season off the bench for Brentford as a teenage loanee tells us he’ll make it somewhere at least, at a good level, if not at AFC. If he has some decent luck with the old injuries etc.etc.etc.
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A good goal scoring record off the bench, from midfield ( I think )
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Toral came with Bellerin from Barca, he has a spanish dad and an english Mum. He used to play as a central striker but since he has been with us he has played as a winger and as a number ten. His progress has been hampered by injury so thats why he is a season behind Hector, I believe the two still share a house together.
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wow..just wonderful article.
i would have ended the article like this however..
Can Arsenal really compete?
Yes, of course, we have one Arsene Wenger. The greatest in the football world.
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arteta explains why he delayed signing the new contract
http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/20150713/arteta-the-reasons-for-deal-delay?
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From the Independent http://tinyurl.com/o8o2est
“Meanwhile, Wenger says his club “never considered” a move for Raheem Sterling, because he already has “plenty” of players similar to the England forward…
…the forward had previously been linked with a potential move to Arsenal or Manchester United but only City officially bid.”
Ok boys and girls at the Independent here’s a simple question: linked by whom? Wenger said he “never considered” Sterling. Your sloppy journalism is so entertaining…
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To fill the void if you’re interested…ESPN actually has an interesting article for a change – http://www.espnfc.com.au/spanish-primera-division/15/blog/post/2520200/iker-casillas-era-ends-at-real-madrid
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everything you want from an away kit launch, great kit, players having a laugh and Giroud mouthing fuck off to millions of people watching round the world…….brilliant
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http://1nildown2oneup.net/how-can-wenger-take-us-into-a-season-so-unprepared-and-under-strength-will-he-never-learn/
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