I’ve always known I was special. If I wasn’t I would probably only have suspected it rather than being so certain. This way of seeing oneself in the world is in all likelihood a common ignis fatuus – I very much doubt I’m the only one so thoroughly deluded. There are occasions however when my dissonant personality is thrust so far to the fore that I realise I am indeed something of, as we used to say at school, a case.
Take this football supporting malarkey. I have an interest in Arsenal football club. Not a financial interest you understand, there is no danger of me not making this month’s rent if stocks in AFC take a tumble in Tokyo, lurch in Lisbon or nose dive in New York – not a bit of it. My interest is, in all honesty, hypothetical. I have chosen to support this one particular team over all others and as such have decided, in my brain through the free will of which I am capable, that I will be happy if this group of footballers play well and ecstatic if they win. I will likewise be dispirited at missing out on that chance of fleeting vicarious happiness in someone else’s achievements should they lose. If they draw, then the waters are somewhat muddier and the context of the result is all.
With the exception of Jose Mourinho’s spectacular fall from grace I don’t have even this tenuous connection to any other Premier League club and being a social animal I just naturally assume that most if not all of my peers feel the same.
It appears I have been deluding myself on this point and that I am indeed, as I have always suspected therefore, special. Lots and lots and lots of my fellow Arsenal fans are, it seems, deeply invested in the outcomes of competitions and in the results of football teams that are not of any interest to Arsenal itself.
I read just the other day of this one chap who has the overwhelming good fortune to have a ticket for tonight’s match and the time and ability to travel to the stadium but does not want to go. Not because he’s undergone a Damascene revelation and tumbled to the truth. He hasn’t suddenly realised how utterly foolish he’s been, staking his happiness and well being on the actions of a group of professional footballers who know nothing of his existence. No, nothing so extreme; this individual didn’t want to go to see his favourite football team take on the chaps from West Bromwich because, and you may wish, if you aren’t already, to sit down at this point – Tottenham won four nil on Monday evening.
This would have raised an eyebrow and no more if the person concerned were in a minority of one. If he were merely a gibbering loon, sadly tipped over the edge by some family tragedy or had suffered a terrible mental breakdown but there are no end of others equally appalled by the prospect of someone other than Arsenal winning something.
I feel quite lonely being special and I hope you’ll tell me I am in fact not. I hope you too see the winners of the FA, League, and European cups as of much interest as I do. Which is of course none whatsoever. We can now, in all probability, add the league title to that list which is of course a shame but whoever wins it doesn’t matter any more, because it doesn’t involve us. How can you not want to go and watch the likes of Sanchez, Coquelin, Ozil and Ramsey just because two teams you don’t care about are contesting a trophy in which your team is no longer competing? It is bizarre and beyond the meagre resources of my intellect to fathom.
I start each season assuming we’ll win every competition in which our beloved club is eligible to compete. It’s a happy and comfortable illusion shattered by our first cup exit which, if it’s the League Cup, doesn’t cause me to shed too many tears. As time goes on, in common with nearly every other team in the country, the list of potential achievements is usually whittled down to the highest mathematically reachable league position.
This isn’t much of a revelation, it’s a simple fact which accompanies supporting a football team. If you are lucky enough to have chosen a side which ended up being managed by Arsène Wenger the list always includes entry into the following season’s Champion’s League. This is an unbelievable achievement and one for which I’m eternally grateful but one which doesn’t just happen because the planets align in a certain way. It happens year on year as the result of the amalgamation of hard work and talent all steered by the great man himself.
This season hasn’t yet come down to playing for the highest possible league position. This season still holds the remotest, vanishingly small possibility of winning the title but realistically the best we can hope for is qualification into the Champion’s League. The only other teams who’s results should hold any interest for us therefore are the two massive spending super rich Manchester clubs with whom we are locked in mortal combat for that precious top four finish.
Others may deride the importance of a Champions League qualifying place as if it is somehow a bone thrown to those not good enough for the real prizes. The reason they deliberately downplay such a valued and sought after achievement is of course because they are unhappy individuals who would decry any success if it fell below the standards they imagine their chosen team deserves. These people are special in a different way.
But I’m not here to criticise such people for their reactions to irrelevant news. If people feel like crying and screaming because Spurs won a football match that is their look out. I’m still reeling from news of Victoria Wood’s death which has devastated me far more than any football match and I never met the woman nor did she suspect my existence. We are irrational creatures – let’s face it we wouldn’t get so angry with each other about a football team otherwise would we?
Arsenal will still be here next season, and thanks to the tireless work of people like Arsène Wenger the club will in all likelihood be here long after I’m gone. Players will come and go and they will all try their best for us and sometimes succeed and sometimes not. They will certainly care more and try harder for the club than any fan ever will. It is, after all, their careers, their personal and professional pride at stake and not just a bruised ego because the team your workmate or school friend supports had a better season than you.
As far as 2015/16 is concerned, there is still a job to be done, still matches still to be played. Nothing is yet certain, nothing can be taken for granted. I intend to carry on enjoying the season today and for the next few weeks just as much as I enjoyed the charity shield back in August when the whole thing started. Enjoying the spectacle is of course all any of us can hope to do. Nothing I nor any other fan says will have the slightest impact on managerial nor boardroom decisions and that is absolutely how it should be. You wouldn’t have told Shakespeare how to write and you don’t tell Arsène Wenger how to manage. If you are so special that King Lear simply isn’t good enough for you, then stop watching it, leave the theatre and let the rest of us enjoy the show.
Positively Arsenal 
” If you are so special that King Lear simply isn’t good enough for you, then stop watching it, leave the theatre and let the rest of us enjoy the show.”
If I could have thought of that one sentence, I would have just blogged that on its own.
Wonderful blog again today.
LikeLiked by 3 people
If I were a tug I would go “Hoot, hoot” very loudly !
LikeLike
Oh Steww, great read but you are so old school, enjoying a game…come on, thats no longer the point of things.
Need to get with the new breed of fan….
Goes to the Emirates with the express aim of a rant on Arsenal Fans TV, not to see the game.
Posts incessantly on multiple forums using multiple IDs about…erm… Groundhogs, misquoting Einstein on the definition of insanity.
Threatens to support Leicester if Flamini plays again,despite said player about to save the world from future fossil fuel crisis .
Lets the world know they have given up their season ticket because of Wenger then moans about ticket prices. .
Follows the every word of an anti Arsenal blogger, whose site suggests it is a review of Arsenal news,but who recently came out as a Spurs fan.
Claims to hate Arsenal, then not care about them, but liable to attack…verbally, or physically stewards, strangers, spouses or pets when we lose.
Claims the FA Cup is not a trophy but spends a week online slating all concerned over going out to Watford.
Hates our boring football, but wants Jose in.
Thats where the enjoyment lies in todays game, you can keep your Ozils and Cazorlas.
LikeLiked by 4 people
george are you trying to tell steww he goes on a bit too much, ha ha,
well steww, I agree with mandy, you need to get with the modern fans way of thinking, you should not be a supporter of Arsenal, but a supporter of successful Arsenal, its the like of you that is the reason Arsenal is not achieving my hopes and dreams, and the other men laugh at me in the playground when the see my arsenal badge, how can I as a fully developed adult possibly cope with friends and colleagues dissing me cos I support Arsenal and I don’t possess the intelligence to put up a counter argument, I’ve only 2 recent fa cups and they don’t count, I want my arsenal back, they one that won the littleswood cup final under the great george graham.
LikeLike
Arsenal play Blackburn Rovers in the U21 play off semi final – may 3rd at the Emirates – its a one off game, so et and penalties are possible.
Arsenal lost 1-0 away to BR earlier this month, and beat them 3-2 at Home in January. so on paper it looks like it will be a tight game.
LikeLike
Glad to see I’m not alone Stew. Btw, would this quote carry on your Shakespeare reference attached to AW’s pic after the Palace game? From Much Ado About Nothing
You have such a February face, so full of frost, of storm and cloudiness.
LikeLiked by 1 person
JB™ @gunnerpunner 3h3 hours ago
Can’t wait to see the fans go crazy tonight when we still haven’t scored after 5 minutes.
LikeLike
“How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is To have a thankless child!”
LikeLiked by 3 people
Hear, Hear. Despite the recent disappointments I have every intention of enjoying the greatest football team in the world when I travel to see the Norwich game next week. In a perverse sort of way, the fact that we are not in a title hunt is a good thing, a friend of a friend is letting me use their season ticket. Could you imagine how the fair weather fans would have deprived me of a seat if things were going swimmingly?
LikeLiked by 2 people
Feel like the man in the Hamlet cigar ad when being reminded by Stew that we have a game tonight only to remember I’m bidden to support my two youngsters in some bizarre concert in Aldershot.
I’ve been puzzling over this whole business of supporting the club, and just what that actually means in 2016. I was asked this morning whether I dreaded Spurs winning the League and had to reply that as I hadn’t grown up (or even lived) in North London I had no reason to dislike them. The man who mends my car is a Spurs fan and he seems a decent enough cove: one of my better friends also supports them, but I’ve always known he is a w%£$*r so can’t hold Spurs against him for that. So they remain a team I don’t care for but have no special reason for loathing (unlike a few who seem to me the very opposite of what I think a football club should be all about). In other words, for me, location isn’t an important factor in support any more, although it used to be back in the days when the only football I was likely to see was live football which is why I grew up singing the Pompey chimes, even though they were pretty rubbish.
And I read (a little bit here, but mostly elsewhere) that Arsenal need a whole new team, and I wonder how I would feel if I switched on next season (given that however bad this season has been and however loud the howls of protest I am unlikely to have risen to the top of the waiting list) and saw 8 new faces in the side, all sourced from elsewhere. What, I wonder, is the maximum number of new players before it feels like watching a new club – and would they automatically claim my almost unconditional love. I have taken immediately to Elneny, partly because I like the way he plays, but also I suspect because I see him fitting in so nicely with others who I am fond of. (And don’t even ask why it might be appropriate for someone of my age to feel fond of a young man many decades my junior, save for the fact that somehow when I watch I am still 11 and they remain older and heroic to me). And that’s funny in itself, for when I was younger I didn’t really follow any of the main sports, largely I think because I knew too many of the players and saw all too clearly how flesh and blood and fragile they were, so there was no mystery or awe) – but now, as I move on I am likely to find inspiration in someone still able to tie shoelaces without getting out of breath so its not only OK but also essential to create a new pantheon. I don’t know why – it just is. So I don’t think I want a new team, bought wholesale, because I might as well support someone else if I just want better players, immediately. And when a new manager turns up one day then I think I want to see him work with players I know already, so I can see them gently learn his new style and ideas, rather than him managing a job lot brought in from elsewhere.
So for me, I think it is the players (and getting to know them, virtually of course) that provides the continuity and the basis for my support, which is why (silly concerts notwithstanding) todays game is just as important to me (like Stew said) as any of the rest. But oh for a run of straight wins now and inexplicable and constant glitches from the spuddy foxes!
LikeLiked by 6 people
This supporting malarkey really is a comedy. A tragi-comedy. Lol.
Another timely reminder that we shouldn’t allow football to consume and take over the way we carry ourselves. I feel rather foolish now for withdrawing myself social-media-ly after the disappointments of recent results. We are out of the titles runs, so what? The Arsenal I love is still there, the players I love are still there. The disappointment I feel are nothing compared to what Arsène and the boys feel because this is their livelihood.
If the role of Gooner is getting too much for me nothing is stopping from supporting another team that will feed my glory-hunting needs.
If Arsène Wenger can go to the mat every day for this team. Put up with ppl’s shit, being asked stupid questions just to get his face plastered on the backpages with the sole purpose to embarrass him, yet treat so very same ppl with the grace and respect, not because they deserve it but because he’s a good person. Who am I? What makes me so special to go and pout in a corner just because 2 other teams performed better than us? Because I buy a ticket, pay a subscription or bought a t-shirt? I am special alright but I’m not that special.
Thanks Stew. We need to get over ourselves. Our love for Arsenal should always trump the disappointments of losing / drawing games in a competitive event.
PS: COYG for tonight (banned smiley thing)
LikeLiked by 5 people
Fabulous, Stew. And once again, FH says what I’m thinking. A wholesale turnover of playing staff? Might as well be watching another club, then. “So for me, I think it is the players (and getting to know them, virtually of course) that provides the continuity and the basis for my support” Yup.
So I’ll hobble my injured arse up to the Emirates tonight and count myself lucky to watch a group of young men I’m extrodinarily fond of, coached by a man who has my utmost respect and admiration, play a game I love. I call that a hell of a Thursday night.
LikeLiked by 2 people
image: http://www.arsenal.com/assets/_files/scaled/696×392/apr_16/gun__1459611496_Bellerin-.jpg
Bellerin celebrates v Watford
BELLERIN NAMED IN PFA TEAM OF THE YEAR
Hector Bellerin has been named in the PFA Team of the Year.
The Arsenal right back has been in fine form this season, and scored his first goal this term in the 4-0 win against Watford earlier this month.
However, there is no place for PFA Player of the Year nominee Mesut Ozil in the line up.
PFA Team of the Year: De Gea, Bellerin, Morgan, Alderweireld, Rose, Mahrez, Alli, Kante, Payet, Vardy, Kane
Copyright 2016 The Arsenal Football Club plc. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to http://www.arsenal.com as the source
Read more at http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/20160421/bellerin-named-in-pfa-team-of-the-year?#mW3KjfmbOs3rf8av.99
LikeLike
Squawka Football @Squawka 46m46 minutes ago
Sergio Agüero has still never been included in a Premier League Team of the Year, despite scoring 100 goals.
LikeLike
Paddy @VieiraPaddy 2h2 hours ago
Özil has been miles better than Alli. So has Dembele. But only one of the 3 is young and English so no surprise which one made it in.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dan Roan @danroan 9h9 hours ago
BREAKING Ched Evans wins appeal, rape conviction quashed, retrial ordered
LikeLike
LikeLike
LikeLike
WBA. Foster; Chester, Yacob, Evans, McClean, Berahino, McAuley, Fletcher, Dawson, Sessegnon, Sandro
subs Myhill; Olsson, Gardner, Anichebe, McManaman, Rondon, Leko
LikeLike
Arsenal Ladies @ArsenalLadies 8m8 minutes ago
Our U17 & U15s now take to the pitch to parade the @FA Girls Youth Cup and the Dallas International Cup. #ALFC
LikeLike
reffing bias even happens against the Arsenal ladies, Nobbs just scored from 25 yards, but ref disallows the goal, to award her a free kick.
LikeLike
Ryan Tomes @RyanTomes 27m27 minutes ago
I swear to god there is absolutely NO combination of players Arsène can name on the team sheet that people won’t moan at.
LikeLiked by 1 person
looks like a disgraceful turn out
LikeLike
5 minutes – Alexis with a quick turn and instant shot from outside the area, 1-0
LikeLike
9 minutes – Ozil has shot blocked six yards out, ramsey shot wide
LikeLike
Couldn’t go as I had to work (insert very sad and not very smiley face) even though people were throwing tickets at me (I guess that travelling to the far side of the earth is a better excuse then others), so it was nice to tune in when I could and see that goal.
And the turn(s) on 08.40 was quite nice too.
Come on the glorious Arsenal. Bring those home points home.
LikeLiked by 2 people
amazing to see the amount of time wasting WBA are doing
LikeLike
23 minutes – good driving run and shot by bellerin, shot well over
LikeLike
‘Ector with the direct run and finish.
Andrew will have enjoyed that. I did. And I imagine quite a few others too.
LikeLike
< attempted finish/shot
LikeLike
28 minutes – wba hit the bar from a corner, they have had a few corners in last few minutes.
LikeLike
30 minutes – Bellerin shoots over from edge of area after a one two with Giroud
LikeLike
Through the ‘keepers legs and off the line!
Nearly 2-0.
Lucky for the neutrals the Arsenal scored first, now we get to watch a bit of footy.
LikeLike
32 minutes – WBA clear off the line after Forster lets ball squirm through him, good build up play by AFC
LikeLike
36 minutes – Ramsey wins free kick right on edge of the area, Alexis takes it and its 2-0
LikeLike
Giroud and Mertesacker had joined the wall, they split and Alexis’s shot went right between them and into the bottom corner of the next.
LikeLike
Alexis.
Training ground free kick manoeuvre? Hehehe.
LikeLike
Stew, King Lear?
Mr Arsenal, going thataway?
Otherwise, spot on!
Poor Arshavin. As the gossip in the Russian rags followed his downward travails with his property and salary forfeited to the bank because of a forged signature, leaving “Zenit”, a fallout with his beloved Alice Kazmina and, and is constantly seen in places of entertainment, consuming whisky with dubious fraternal companions. King Lear, perhaps?
According to the stats, Sunderland had 20 shots at the Pulis “Siegfried Line”, with no return and WBA, no shots. We have been warned.
Ramsay and Walcott stats on expected goals this season, are in the bottom 10! No penalties and at least 30 attempts.
COTG
LikeLike
42 minutes – MacCauley booked for deliberate foul on Giroud
LikeLike
some delightful football from afc, especially Ozil in that last move
LikeLiked by 1 person
45 minutes – Ozil lucky not to be booked there, high foot
LikeLike
HT: Arsenal 2-0 WBA
Well worth our lead, Alexis really in the mood, Ozil good too, Elneny perpetual motion. Iwobi and Giroud finding it hard to get in the game. Bellerin with several surging runs and shots. Ramsey disciplined, Defense all solid. WBA only danger is at set pieces. A lot of time wasting from WBA.
LikeLike
I did enjoy Hector’s attacking work first half and he had got the bit between his teeth – I thought he was a bit tired on Sunday but no sign of fatigue tonight.
Delighted he is in the PFA team to – he has been the stand out right back in the PL
LikeLiked by 1 person
west brom have brought on rondon and olsson for the second half
LikeLike
47 minutes – Iwobi and Giroud on a breakaway, Giroud shoots from edge of area, keeper saves
LikeLike
great covering tackle by Ramsey in our area
Iwobi has been more involved so far this half
LikeLike
WBA still time wasting
LikeLike
moss can’t wait to give WBA free kicks
LikeLike
67 minutes – close to a third a couple of times, Ozil with probably the best chance
LikeLike
arsenal fans finally sound like they have found their voice
LikeLike