Apparently, now is the time for change …
Just prior to kick off, the above scene presented itself to thousands of fans arriving from the south east of England ahead of the crucial Manchester United encounter. This was a game that had United won, would have seen one of our greatest rivals consolidate their unlikely position at the pinnacle of the Premier League, one point ahead of Citeh, six points ahead of Arsenal and eleven points ahead of the Champions of England.
The timing of the protest left everything to be desired, not least some support, and even managed to clash with the nationwide “£20’s Plenty” campaign to reduce ticket prices for fans of visiting teams.
Positively Arsenal would like to take the opportunity to apologise for the size of the photograph illustrating this article. As you can see, it is a very small banner with an even smaller turnout from the supposedly seething anti-Wenger ‘masses’. Forensic examination of the image reveals as many as nine gathered around the bannerette which reads:
“ARSENE Thanks for the memories but it’s time to say goodbye”.
The image was tweeted just before kick-off, supposedly a contemporaneous scene set above the Armoury Superstore. It’s as laughable as it is inconsequential but it did lead this writer to wonder: just how many people really do want to say goodbye to Arsene Wenger?
Naturally there are many of us not backward at coming forward to express disappointment at the occasional under-whelming performance/near total disaster in Europe. One of Wenger’s greatest achievements is that few of us can actually quite believe our eyes when our boys lose the occasional game. But reading Twitter from a safe distance suggests that there are followers of the club who think it’s time for Arsene to hang up his zip-unfriendly coat and say farewell. After match-day setbacks, the numbers of these fans seem to quell exponentially, as shrilly hysterical on Twitter, blogs and radio shows as their incoherent, and generally random, blunt barbs are hot-headedly inconsistent.
Yet when the team is doing well, these ‘contributors’ to the Gooniverse are largely silent. At such times, the phrase ’empty vessels’ springs to mind and the quieter majority bask in the golden sunshine of an Arsenal era quite unlike any other.
So just how large is their number?
Well, in the aftermath of the Olympiakos defeat, an online petition was launched to have the evil dictator, I mean Arsene Wenger, removed from office once and for all.
“Now is the time for change, do the right thing Arsene Wenger and GO!” exhorts the internet petition, replete with its own little red logo of a cannon and the words ‘ENOUGH IS ENOUGH WENGER OUT!
Ah-ha, at last, a handy metric for calculating the true scale of this pluckily determined protest group seeking to mobilise the views of the dispossessed, the disheartened and the disbelieving. And, at the time of writing, some seven whole days after the launch of the petition, the numbers signing it have risen to the heady heights of almost 1,300. Numbers seem stuck on 1,265 today and if the instigator of this petition and the carriers of the banner, above, were hoping for support to match the recent Mike Dean petition (106,445 signatories and still rising), then they have been badly misled.
However, all is not lost for the would-be revolutionaries, as there have been at least four other ‘Wenger Out’ petitions in the last year alone and support for some of them have even reached double figures. No fewer than forty end-of-their-tether types have pitched up to sign up to see off Arsene. So the latest petition, with nearly 1270 names has actually done comparatively well.
However, when you consider the official Arsenal Twitter account (@arsenal) has 6.3 million followers and Arsenal Facebook has 33.5 million ‘likes’, then it looks as though the petition has a fair way to go yet. As a percentage of Arsenal’s Facebook following, the petition has attracted almost 0.0037% of the fanbase. By comparison, the organisers of the banner-led mass-protest achieved a far superior result, attracting nearly 0.016% of the estimated 57,000 Arsenal supporters swirling around the Emirates Stadium on Sunday.
Cleverer statisticians than me (that’s most readers) will point out that even if all 57,000 had joined the banner protest, this would still have been a small percentage of the club’s total global following. But the fact remains that online, there are (virtually) no geographical boundaries, so a petition conducted in cyber-space really should be doing a little better. Indeed, to achieve parity with the laughably slim turn-out at the Emirates, the petition should by now have reached an absolute minimum of 3,500, which would of course, give it 0.016% of Arsenal’s Facebook following.
Yep, all of us hate losing games and most are fed up when the team doesn’t appear to fulfil its potential. A fair number will make a fair racket on Twitter. But very, very few, actually want Arsene Out, it would seem.
So maybe, as far as the Wenger Out Brigade is concerned, enough really is enough?
Positively Arsenal 
I attended this match and was blissfully unaware of these idiots polluting our great club. Probably just as well.
I have actually been laughing out loud as I read your summation of the pitiful numbers who signed up to Arsene-out petitions. Pathetic, pathetic.
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And a whole 9 with the banner. Maybe they will manage double figures next time.
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TBF, they can shout loud.
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Where’s the pirate ?
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Sent his apologies, Andrew. Something about planks.
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Well said AA. Dismiss them with the contempt they deserve.
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VengahAAht’sOut!
The poor bastards must have been sick to their gills that Arsene and the team pulled off such an overwhelming win, a win that has been due for a long time – based on efforts put in in recent meetings and that Utd. Weren’t able to cheat their way to a result.
Something that still seems to be affecting poor fat Wayne’s fragile ego.
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Klippity going to the Kop has taken the wind out of their sails – partially.
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Klopp 4 Kop Means Black Scarf Strop!
What a headline DC ?
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Arsene in!
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arsene in from me too!
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NINE (9) Black Scarfers. LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL!
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if Wenger leave arsenal we fans will regret it, a sating my got married to a humble lady, lady was in the house cooking for the man doing other things she suppose to do, at a time things change for the man, they don’t have house were there living the woman tell the man that they have to reduce something’s them do in other to save money for house, and they did it and now they have house of there own, i want to ask is that woman bad or good woman? that’s same with arsene Wenger, any body that want Wenger to be sack is enemy of progress
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They bought cheap rings on line from she whore, and now he owns their souls for eternity.
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a Zagreb player failed a drug test after the Arsenal CL game,
http://www.101greatgoals.com/blog/dinamo-zagrebs-arijan-ademi-failed-a-drugs-test-after-the-arsenal-champions-league-game/?
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Football clubs, such as Plymouth Argyle, Portsmouth, Darlington etc., not forgetting the Rooks, Lewes FC. All, could have folded, a footnote in the history of football.
Real fans support their football club, even if that club loses 30 games a season.
Why waste any time on vermin
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I was under the impression ast had a survey the other year that much to their dismay it proved overwhelmingly that the majority still backed Arsene.
those nine have been punched a few times so im surprised they are so brazen still.
while im all for anyone having an opinion when fans start hurting or embarrassing the club thats where the line should be drawn.
they continually make out that Arsene is a bumbling old fool and cant explain how that bumbling old fool keeps finishing in the top four and has won two F.A cups in a row. I cannot imagine how depressing it must be to be upset every time my team win.
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Well done Andrew, great piece…
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I am really intrigued. What do the WOBs think and feel after a performance such as on Sunday? Some of their twatterings suggest they must descend into depression when Arsenal play spectacular Wengerball…..
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G p I seen one of those WOB types – a guy who all summer long pretended he was an ITK, today say that at this moment in time he would take anyone over Wenger as manager of Arsenal, he just wants a change regardless of how it turns out. this is the sort of mentality we are dealing with.
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Being a WOB must be one of the great exercises in futility. Wenger has the backing of most fans, clearly is players, and the owner and board. But they really do think they, along with their fickle media allies can create a hostile atmosphere and bring him down. Don’t know who they want to replace him with now, Klopp is a loyal guy , he will be staying at Liverpool for a while if he signs, Pep about to extend with BM, and Jose is looking increasingly a bitter busted flush.
Interesting link Ed, Zagreb….so we were facing a club with suspicion hanging over it, a strange ref, now the drug thing. All wengers fault of course.
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Great blog AA. And thanks for researching the stats – I had no sense of how big the WOB was. Not worth wasting time on it seems. Ignore them.
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Gary Monk is this months Owen Coyle for the AAA, laughable lot,
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Gary Monk ….interesting….doing a great job, but no experience in the challenges Wenger has to face….like the media, the WOB, strange refereeing performances, the wrath of other influential managers, and who knows what else. And no ECL experience. As has been posted , the WOB are fickle, their managerial darling changes by the week, remember the Martin oneill lustings, the Redknapp worship, erm….yes, the Myles Palmer inspired Owen Coyle desire….next month it could be Pardew , howe, George Graham, Eddie Howe or even David pleat the way these guys work. Still think that when the great man goes, Arsenal might look closer to home, but, hopefully Wenger remains healthy and successful and has a good few years left yet, should that he his choice.
Gary Monk……whatever does it for them I guess
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Mandy – I’m wholly with you in hoping Arsene carries on for another five years at least, if only to match Ferguson’s longevity and to also pick up a good run of trophies along the way.
The entire issue of succession planning has been fudged by both Liverpool and United and the truth is, it’s a tricky business. If you don’t need to do it, then it’s best avoided! The biggest clubs struggle with it but look at the turnover lower down the league, with Tottenham and Sunderland in particular changing managers as often as they change their kit designs.
And hopefully Chelsea not too far from further reinforcing the point …
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Chelsea…that would be nice, wonder if it will really cost RA the reported 37 millio to get rid of a man recently referred to in a Matthew Syed article as a cultural terrorist? As you say, succession is incredible difficult. Moyes, a decent manager, and seemingly a decent man, got nowhere.
As for Arsenal, Stan has his critics, but like lots of those with money, and especially those married to Walmart hieresses, he knows when he is onto a good thing. While there is always room for improvement, advancement, challenging those in place, maybe refreshing teams when appropriate, surely there is no need for wholesale managerial change at Arsenal as things stand. I am not sure what the protesters ultimately know what they are protesting about, they seem to equate Wenger not being around with guaranteed success for their team…but if they were to just stop and think about that..
I read that Arteta had recently taken charge of the U16s, can see him as a great manager/coach in the future. Those La Masia boys can do well. We have Henry and Pires helping out, Bould as assistant, Dennis…all smart men who understand the club, philosophy and fans. If it is a few years down the line, I am sure these types will at the very least be considered as Wengers replacement should they impress. A man who knows and understands and loves the club vs a media darling/ flavour of the month, or one doing great things at a club with far less pressure and expectation…know who I would pick…unless they identify another Wenger out there…..but hopefully not for a while yet
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9 of them, so it’s more of a Wenger Out Squad than an Brigade?
Lose two more of them and they’d have to abandon the contest, no?
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I see the media are now targeting Jogi Low as a possible Wenger replacement.
Not a bad candidate; no doubt he will make the interview shortlist when the time comes, several years hence.
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“Nine (Rings) for Mortal Men doomed to die,
One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne
In the Land of Mt. D**M where the Shadows lie”
The Nine, the living dead, the Shadows have been unleashed by their Lord and Master?
Is it a coincidence that they rose at the same time as when Sauron the Deceiver lost his mask?
Did anyone who saw them notice if they were covered in slime and creepy crawlies?
Did they make an unbearable inhumane screech when attempting to talk and communicate, is that why they needed the banner?
Corblimey.
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Usain Bolt looks better here:
https://instagram.com/p/8jyRM5ocYK/
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one of the most laughable soundbites of the WOB is that those that do not want Wenger sacked will be the ones who will give any new AFC manager a hard time,
I have yet to see a cogent argument put forward to back such a stupid claim – why would people who have shown themselves to be staunch supporters of not only this manager, but previous AFC managers, and who are loyal Arsenal supporters, not back any new manager. If anything it is the WOB who have shown themselves to be the sort to attack a manager, it is them who despite the club winning back to back FA cups, who still demand a new manger, so surely we can expect them to turn on any new manger if he goes trophy less, if we don’t win the CL or BPL within a very short period of time.
We know from their words and actions, that many of the WOB are also AAA, and find fault with everything connected with the Club as often as they can. Why should we expect them to show any support or loyalty to a new manger.
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Northern Ireland on verge of qualifying for the Euros, they are 3-0 up at home to Greece with 30 minutes left to play. Topping their group.
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Iwobi now a full International for nigeria
https://arsenalyouth.wordpress.com/
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Scotland can no longer qualify for the Euros, Republic of Ireland will have at least a play off for qualifying, Rep of ireland beat Germany 1-0
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Liam Brady being hired by AFC again
http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/arsenal-legend-liam-brady-return-6599407
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Liam’s loyalty to the club has been resolute.
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Ozil was unusually quiet tonight, thanks be the fuck.
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He was still very efficient DC
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Alexis scores in Chile’s 2-0 against Brazil, Aguero carried off as his hamstring pings in a defeat against Paraguay
Interesting times.
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Very interesting times, Andrew.
Alexis certainly didn’t look restricted by a groin injury in the clip I saw of his goal. But maybe he just ignores it – that’s the danger.
Bournemouth will no doubt be rejoicing at the Aguero news – not that they can win; just avoiding the hammering Newcastle got will be a relief.
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City have seven games in three weeks starting with Bournemouth Dk and after the Cherries it is the Manchester derby – I’d guess a few coaches are not too disappointed with the news from buenos Aires this morning
Fingers crossed for our own lads though – we have a similar schedule beginning on Saturday week
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We can’t feel smug about Aguero’s misfortune until we count all our boys back from intl duty unscathed.
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Ramsey has to get past this trip to B-H, could be a tough game.
Devastated at the news that Ivanovic picked up an injury too. It’s a tragedy. The special tactical genius might finally be forced to play his best RB, at RB. Managers and left sided forwards up and down the league will be bawling their eyes out.
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I’m hoping that Lewandoski’s run of goals will come to an end just in time for the CL games.
And that Muller will bring his form from last night to N5.
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I don’t think Muller, Reus or Goetze quite worked out their positioning relative to Özil? Automatisms etc etc etc. Of late Germany only play three of the four, winning the WC with a flatter three in CM and some part-time Klose.
Perhaps they just need to watch videos of a fit and firing AFC team at work? Arsene’s Arsenal teams have always played with more flair zip and bang then the wankers, pardon me, who think that AFC try to play “tika-taka” could ever see.
It’s why Low and the German coaches looked to AFC (&MUFC) for inspiration when trying to remould German football a decade ago. It’s why Özil said when he signed that he was looking forward to playing the famous one two touch football that the Arsenal are, well, famous for. And it is this understanding that exposes the myopic hatred of the WOBs for their club more then anything else: their deliberate misrepresentation of the actual Football upon the football pitch.
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An interesting consideration about Klopp’s time in England is that he’s going to be applying everything he learnt from the ties against AFC in order to be successful. That old half-pressing technique as he described it which he learnt of the old gaffer. Which we all saw work so well against Utd. Heh. If you won’t tell the self declared Experts, I won’t either…
Klopp will not be going ballistic on the press for 90 because that’s simply not possible at the pace of the average modern PL game over a 50 game season. He’ll also have manage with less protection for his players. Sturridge etc. The only time he’ll be able to set Liverpool up like he did Dortmund for the away game in the groups last year is if he has nothing to play for in the weeks to follow (their form did tank!), or at the least a week off for his players.
He might try to use the bloated overpriced squd he has and rotate a lot. We shall see.
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I notice how the media has given scant attention to Alexis scoring a goal and in general tormenting the Brazillian defence in Chile’s emphatic 2:0 win. Obviously he doesn’t play for United, City or Chelsea. I am sure the Watford manager and players are just hoping he picks up an injury vs Paraguay on Tuesday. The mainstream media can really be trusted, innit.
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In an ideal world Sanchez will be rewarded for another great performance for Chile with the next game off.
Ramsey will score for Wales, help them to qualify, and then get most of the next game off. Chambo will also score for England and get the full ninety, Walcott loses his spot to the Dyke saviour and hero Kane and takes it out on the rest of the league, leaving Hodgson with no choice on the eve of the finals but to go for Wally having fortunately left him to rest during all the interlulls.
The rosary type beads are a clicking.
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Wales are playing on the Saturday and the Tuesday, the dreaded 48 hours inbetween games…
…click…click…click…
…
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