Good morning Positivistas,
Three years ago today Arsenal Andrew delivered the first blog on Positively Arsenal, and in his elegant analysis moved swiftly over a rousing victory over Brighton in the 4th round of the Cup, the closing of the transfer window, shook his head in pity at incessant and self destructive traits among our following, with fan against fan in the ground and on line. He delivered the ethos of the site, that we are together here to support Arsenal football club, win, lose or draw. New born, but fully formed.
On those days when the footballing sky fell in PA was a haven to retire to, away from the madness. On the days of triumph, of great results and great performances, of silverware and victory, a forum to celebrate on and together. Just support, enjoy yourself, it is really not that difficult.
And so in the intervening three years it has remained so. We remain unique.
I am delighted that contributions came in from our Leader and DC pre birthday but I trust any who have a few words to say, on whatever topic takes their fancy today, will do so;
Blackburn George: Three years ago, even previously supportive bogs were losing their shit and throwing their toys out of the pram, together with Arsene ,the Board and half the team. It was a grim time for those of us that believed the future was bright.
For me, the saddest thing was seeing fans that not only jumped ship, but climbed on-board the ship that was sailing in the absolute opposite direction.
Something had to be done by someone to create a safe haven for those that stayed strong. Well some of us did something, and this is it.
We could of course make the comments section much larger, by opening the door to the malcontent, miserable and stupid. But guess what?
I hope everyone feels part of Positively Arsenal, and I thank everyone that contributes to the articles and the comments.
Onward and upward. COYG
Double Canister; Thoughts on PA
“The difference in winning and losing is most often…not quitting.” – Walt Disney
The more difficult the victory, the greater the happiness in winning.” – Pele
Just over 3 years ago, Arsenal’s supporters were being pushed into a very dark place. Very few rationally minded supporters were left resisting the barrage of constant negativity aimed at us from the media and the hate-fuelled perma-bitter fringes of our own fan base. Looking back, we might remember the constantly repeated memes that Arsenal had an exceptionally long trophy drought? as if other so called big clubs have far worse and on-going ones? Remember the meme that they couldn’t win a big game? Arsenal were the perennial chockers and bottlers, led of course by the biggest eejit of them all in the coat with the dodgy zip?
Such was the state of near universal censure aimed at Arsène Wenger, I found it hard to find anyone to discuss our football club’s genuinely upward progress in a sensible and intelligent manner. Mercifully and quite luckily one night browsing through other blogs I heard of people in the underground, people who weren’t drinking the kool-aid, people who were laughed at for driving in the sunshine bus, who were pariahs from other more ‘sensible’ minded sites where the mantra was the boss’s time was up. I found Positive Arsenal as a beacon in the fog, a place of hope and reason; not for the reason that George and Co. were defending Arsène’s and the Club’s actions to the hilt no matter what he did- but that you were prepared to look at actions the correct context: the stadium building, the financial doping going on by rivals, the low value sponsorships the club had to deal with, the post invincibles rebuilding of a weaker team piece by piece and the desertions of key men who wouldn’t wait or wouldn’t understand.
Positively Arsenal for me stands as a paragon of rational and clear thought; Sometimes brave, always encouraging. It must be deeply unfashionable to be a staunch and proud believer in of our club’s continuing achievements and to have the temerity to actually trust the current incumbent in the hottest of hot seats leading our great club to be doing his very best each and every single day to ensure that Arsenal continue to achieve greatness. In terms of Arsenal’s future: no one else is looking over the horizon as far as Mr. Wenger does.
In the 3 years since PA has been around, it has remarkably paralleled Arsenal’s own up-turn in fortunes and I’d like to wish we had something to do with that- but that would be pushing the boat out too far. Suffice to say though, that George’s and Co.’s stalwart defence of our clubs actions and manager here and in the wider online realm has kept the flame alive for many, and for the many regular contributors here, I count you all as good friends and I’ve been lucky enough to meet several of you in person to watch Arsenal games. I hope to get to the Emirates again a few times this season and would love to help out with giving PA a few match reports.
A final word to some of our lost friends: Paul Brickhill, Adam Brogden and to where ever Frank has disappeared to. Arsenal are doing you proud – you believed in them when no one else wanted to. Thank you.
Worst PA Moment – Hunter
May the next three be as good as the past three. Enjoy our birthday !
Positively Arsenal 
Happy birthday PA and to all who have sailed with us the distinctly choppy waters of the Arsenal experience and its beloved fanbase.
It is hard now to imagine exactly how dark those dark days were in the run-up to George’s gallant launch of the site. At one point it really did feel as though there were about a dozen of us left still backing Arsene and the club.
Even now I could probably name those dozen.
And dirty they were not but principled, loyal and decent to a person.
It was a massive honour to be asked to write the first post and a huge surprise and delight to see all our friends spring out of the online woodwork over the next few minutes, hours, days and weeks. When we published that first piece, a very real fear of being completely and utterly ignored prevailed.
As seemingly ‘everyone’ was turning on the club, what had felt like a potentially ‘last post’ turned out to be anything but, and we were truly thrilled that we were joined by so many friends who were equally stubbornly refusing to throw in the positive towel. I was just as thrilled and delighted by the numbers of new friends that have since joined us from near and from far away. Even now I am contacted by readers of the blog directly on Twitter – often from the other side of the world (I mean India and beyond, not Middlesex) – who don’t want to contribute to the blog but who say they never miss a post and who express appreciation for its very existence. The numbers of readers suggest this is a silent but very watchful majority.
These days Andy Nic and Steww are the blog’s heroic mainstays but the many guest articles we publish are equally welcome and just as thoroughly enjoyable. I don’t know, maybe me and George should get off our backsides and write more but as the club’s prospects have improved so the ‘need’ for contribution today seems a little less acute.
And whilst Andy and Steww say what needs to be said, the true joy of PA remains in the comments section.
And it was ever thus.
I would go as far as suggesting that the preservation of the group of commentators some of us have been writing with for years now was a huge motivational factor for me personally in the rationale for the site and I’m pretty sure that’s true for George, too.
So PA, today no longer quite so much the safe haven it once needed to be but still one of my all-time favourite Arsenal places to visit.
Cheers to all you online friends, old and new, sadly departed or just missing, for now, from the action – you are all hugely appreciated and you are now firmly part of what makes loving Arsenal fun.
Thank you.
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Andrew – good to hear from you.
If you are about tomorrow I will be in the Bank of Friendship from 1.30 ish – DC may be there (?) and possibly any others who fancy some refreshment before kick off.
And yes Hunter – you too (banned smiley)
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Wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
3 years already…. Right from the start, it has been great.. we have had our ups and down arguments and agreements… great all rount. Even miss hunter…
That was a great shout-out on ZimPaul and Adam….
Still recall so many insightful points by ZimPaul… on the progress the team will make and am glad many of his expectations are slowly but surely coming true… he would have so loved this stage of the team’s development and waxed lyrical about it too.
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Andy5
I’m aiming for that.
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This is a most brilliant and wonderful site for true Arsenal/Wenger believers.
Well done and keep it coming.
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It has certainly been interesting in the last three years. Some lows, highs, and frustrations, despite a distinct upward curve in the clubs fortunes
I get some of the frustrations and concerns but never cease to be amazed how much inner anger can be directed at a football club, these people should turn that energy and anger into something constructive, or against something genuinely loathsome….not hard to find examples of the loathsome.
But for me, perhaps the biggest source of anguish is that I am sure we know fully, and many refuse to get what Arsene Wenger has been up against,,and what he has achieved in that context. And he gets so little credit from,so many quarters. Still, guess for some, it is inconvenient to forget all that and focus on the signing of a player with a broken back, our record against Chelsea or players tapped up and taken in by the petro dollars.
But cuedos to all on this and other sites who have backed them through the darkest days, although thanks to some wonderful people at the club, the darkest still meant top four, some great football, and the Champions league. Not many teams can say that
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Yeah! The H13 shows up… nice of him! What a lad… or eh.. man. LOL
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Like you Mandy I can understand people being frustrated and disappointed and wanting to get it out – I have my moments
Like you the rage that comes out, the ABSOLUTE hatred of players manager Stan etc is nuts – where does that come from ?
The other peculiarity is the lack of capacity of some fans ever to enjoy anything about the football or the club. If we win it is because the opposition is crap, if we win a trophy it is second rate, if we sign player X he is useless and player Y is better
Nothing is ever ever good enough
And on and on to the crack of doom
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Happy Birthday PA……
Kudos to PG and all who keep this blog going….
I’m looking forward to meeting up with Anicoll, DC, Mel and any Positivistas tomorrow 1.30 pm at the Bank of Friendship….
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Sadly won’t make it out Andrew, just completing a house move; last 3 weeks have been manic but all done now, bar the shouting (the blame and the recriminations). Enjoy the game and say ‘hi’ to the PA contingent (inc H13 whom I last bumped into at the north bank some months back).
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Really do not know where all the anger comes from. Guess some of our so called fans have issues with their lives, inner anger, maybe these sheeple are too easily taken in by the media, doom mongers….and fans of rival clubs. Perhaps they subconsciously think Chelsea fans have bigger dicks than they do? Yes, Maybe some have an inferiority complex, others have an unrealistic sense of entitlement?
But it is a strange phenomena, football should …as a rule, occasional frustrations aside, be a release from the negative side of life…..isn’t it supposed to be entertainment….unless of course you are watching a Pulis team week in week out? It seems some take all the negative aspects of their lives into Arsenal, as opposed to using football to get away from it.
Still,whatever does it for them I guess. Maybe we should just leave the more extreme of them festering in their own fetid feculence ……and worrying about Spurs.
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an article about the two Nigerian lads AFC are signing
http://www.eurosport.co.uk/football/nigerian-duo-bound-for-arsenal-came-through-tough-times-to-be-world-beaters_sto5093610/story.shtml
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Mandy you make some very good points, I have seen so many grown men act like schoolkids, with comments like, “I’m sick and tired, at work, of fans of other clubs taking the piss out of me over Arsenal”, or even more laughable still, “I’m embarrassed to be an Arsenal fan, even spurs fans laugh make fun of me”. Now any adult Gooner should easily be able to stand up to any barbs aimed at them by the fans of the very few clubs who are more successful than AFC, and on the second scenario, I would suggest that if a spurs fans is able to laugh at you, then it most certainly has nothing to do with you supporting Arsenal, but more likely cos you are a complete idiot.
As to why there are so many negative Arsenal fans out there, well bloggers realized that there are more clicks to be got with negative stance, that and transfer stories, its the politics of No, and sensationalism. No deep thinking, no realism(no matter how much they like to describe themselves as realists), no analysis, and as you say Mandy, a lot of them seem to take the problems of their everyday lives out on Arsenal.
The most laughable think is where they accuse anyone who is not a WOB, of being Arsene supporters and not Arsenal supporters, and saying that the AKB’s will soon turn on any new manager if AFC do not have loads of success, when in fact it is the so called AKB’s who have proven themselves the ones who are prepared to support all aspects of our club, the players, the manager, the staff, in our barren years, and that in fact its the WOB that are far more likely to turn on any new manager, if their unrealistic expectations are not met by the new man, and as I seen mentioned lately, we should stop referring to them as WOB and instead call them AMOB (any manager out brigade), as as sure as Day follows night, it is these malcontents who will be the first to turn on whoever takes over from Wenger and all who come after. I have seen a number of the more rabid WOB, claim that they “got rid of Billy Wright, Terry Neil, Don Howe and (even their all time favorite Arsenal manager), George Graham, and that they’d get Arsene Wenger out of their club”, so you can see why I agree with calling them AMOB. Its a dick swinging contest for them, anything other than complete domination by the team, with a home crowd that is all male, all white, anglo saxon, north london based, and tickets costing 1980’s levels, is all that would stop them for any period of time.
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looks like Arsenal have signedthe two Nigerian lads, Nwakali and Chukwueze, they were pictured with Wenger, Gazidis and Kanu, at Arsenal, today.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/kelechi-nwakali-samuel-chukwueze-pictured-7274103?
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are pundits actually trying to out stupid each other, Ray Wilkins with a real gem of advice for Wenger.
Ray Wilkins said on Sky Sports News on Friday morning: “If I was Arsene, I would certainly be looking to reinforce forward-wise, with a big lump up there with some talent, because I really do think they need it.
“If they were to get it, then I think they would secure the Premier League. I think they can win it this year.”
so all AFC need to win the league is to sign a “big lump, with some talent” and the league would be ours, is it any wonder there are so many idiot fans, when the experts are the likes of Ray Wilkins.
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Great post Eduardo, I have heard that Spurs fans laugh at us stuff as well, but all the genuine Spurs fans I know,and I know a few and am related to a couple… are actually quite respectful of Wenger, bordering on envious. They speak more sense than a lot of our so called fans.
The WOBble fanatics, and I mean the haters, not those who can be described as just critics….spend their lives accusing those who don’t side with them of all sorts, they are the football fan equivalent of ISIS…….hopefully they stop short of barbaric punishments on those who don’t agree with their views, but with some, I actually do wonder….
As for Ray Wilkins, a true football man and a citizen of a free country entitled to his opinion, but like arch Wenger critic Gary Neville, hope he realises actually managing a team is not so easy
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The prolonged nature of the club’s redevelopment into a true global powerhouse has given more than ample time for those with a limited outlook to come to the fore and make complete idiots of themselves. In this day and age, very publicly so.
Whilst in reality AFC don’t in fact have the monopoly on idiot fans (and I’m referring to the rabid ‘ISIS’ wing here, not mere critics) it does feel as if we do, simply because at most clubs a negative head of steam may build up (as happened at Chelsea recently; as is currently happening at Manure) and it ends with the sacking of the incumbent manager.
Of course, in almost 20 years this denouement has yet to happen to Arsene. And of course it is highly unlikely he will ever be sacked. But in the meantime localised pressure built then ebbed away again, and, like the sea at low tide, all sorts of lowlife has been exposed by the vanishing waves. Uniquely in AFC’s case, the lengthy tenure of Arsene has resulted in the exposure of the same idiots over and over again.
And that’s why it feels we have more lunatics following the club than anyone else.
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Happy belated birthday, PA!
Each of us has his(her) story of how this journey on the sunshine bus begun. Mine is no different. There was a site, that shall not be named, where I used to frequent for matters relating to Arsenal and on which I met the stalwarts of this blog. Needless to say, I was aghast at the amount of negativity and vitriol directed at these posters who were well in their right to be rational and defend the manager whose antecedents as a winner, and a sensible one at that, who wouldn’t get sucked into the black hole tha was silly spending was well known.
Crestfallen, I couldn’t understand the thinking behind this sort of, em, thinking. AKBs they baptised us. I could barely open the comment section of the blog that shall not be named without cringing inwardly or outwardly at the expected blackness I was to encounter. Until I read a reference to a “sunshine bus” and I went after the said bus. I have not regretted that decision. Although in the shadows these many years, I decided to crawl out last year to comment as regularly as my time could permit at the behest of AndrewArsenal. I have not regretted that decision.
I have witnessed the closely knit camaraderie in this house, like a one for all, all for one theme; I have experienced the ebullient theme of match day previews and reviews the day after; the excellence of the statistics made easy for dummies like me; the experience of belonging that knows no boundary of race, country or residence or origin, colour, political or religious inclination, profession or other dividing line people subscribe to. I have felt keenly the pain of losing a comrade at arms, ZimPaul; though I never knew him or met him personally, it felt as though I had shared a life with him, hence the sense of loss I felt.
All these in three short years.
The future is looking bright for us, for Arsenal, for Arsène. Special shout out to the founding fathers, foundation members, regular and ‘ghost’ commentators of this great blog. Here’s to many more happy years ahead. And I’m glad Hunter could pop in…missed you lots (banned smiley thingy!)
Victoria Concordia Crescit
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Andrew I note you mention that despite their best efforts the AAA/WOB have been unable to get Wenger sacked, and that at this point the chances of that ever happening is almost non existent, and I do feel that this is why many of them act so butt hurt, and why Gazidis and Kroenke are such big targets for them too, as they know that despite all their tantrums, all their hours of on line abuse, all their little hissy fits, Wenger ignored them, and Gazidis and Kroenke ignored them, Hill-Wood at least did not ignore them, he openly laughed at them, Sir Chips is following suit, and it has dawned on some of the mob, that they are indeed the irrelevance they have always feared themselves to be. and they don’t like it.
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