So I finally made it to the Emirates nearly two weeks ago. Those of us who work for a living have to plan meticulously; identifying the appropriate home game, getting time-off, booking flights at the right prices, securing tickets. Damn, I felt like an event planner. Call it my English safari.
Obviously I am testifying on behalf of the “foreign-fan” who is so casually and frequently criticized as being a plastic with no vested interest in the club’s success or failure. Those of us who are privileged to afford the trip are usually making significant sacrifices to share in the match-day experience which some of our domestic-based fans seemingly take for granted. This is not counting the revenue foreign fans generate for the club in the form of expensive subscriptions to cable or satellite tv providers who usually put their PL games on premium channels. Then there are some of us who make significant outlays on replica jerseys and accessories. Guilty on all counts, your honor.
So what were my takeaways.
The Emirates may not be a fortress but the enemy is still outside
April 30th at the Emirates was fraught with portents of doom for the future of Arsene Wenger. One week prior the club had essentially lost any mathematical chance of competing for a title after a disappointing nil-all draw with Sunderland. Concurrently the Neighbors were still flying, seemingly immune to their annual cock-up in, making the annual celebration of Saint Totteringham’s Day a waning possibility. Taking advantage of the inevitable fan disappointment, the usual malcontents, Scarfists and Bin-baggers, decided a League game where the club vitally needed to secure its champions league place was appropriate to conduct a protest aimed at the manager.
As has already been well reported their pathetic demonstration with A-4 or letter-sized papers, was drowned out by chants of One Arsene Wenger and Arsenal We Love You, We Truly Do by the vast majority of the approximately 55,000 fans in attendance. I came to the Emirates under the apprehension that it was a cauldron of bile and dissent, only to leave with a more positive nuanced view.
Obviously it is naive to gloss over the fact that supporters’ feelings were ultimately shaped by the results insofar as the team eventually overcame Norwich by a slim one-goal margin. But long before Danny Welbeck inflicted the crucial blow, the vast majority of my peers within the Emirates gave the Scarfists, Piers Morgan and their enablers inside and outside the mainstream media (bloggers and podcasters included) one hell of a beating.
This is despite 12 years without a title, the consistent attempts to diminish Wenger’s consistency in keeping us among the top-four and to also denigrate the significance of two successive FA Cup titles in recent years added to five previously won. Contrast this to the moaning and handwringing by the media when Liverpool, United and Chelsea fall out of the top-four or the bigging-up of United for getting to this year’s Cup-Final. In spite of this relentlessly negative narrative, it was clear to me the fans aren’t buying it and their resounding rejection of the protests is cause for optimism.
The stadium is certainly no cauldron of rabid support for the team. To the contrary there was ample booing and whistling when Iwobi was substituted by Welbeck with audible demands that Giroud should have been the one to give way. But too many of us make the same mistake as the Scarfists, a desire for a goal-scoring Giroud is not the same as a demand to get shot of the manager. In fact it is the wisdom of the manger in persisting with the likes of Giroud or Walcott in his belief that they will come good, as did Van Persie (or Adebayor for one-season), that have sown deep seeds of goodwill for the manager even though he has been unable to pluck another phenomenon like Henry from obscurity. The fact that our travelling-fans at Man City were loud and boisterous in singing One Arsene Wenger while they were subject to the usual post-game segregation and detention was another kick to the gonads of those who foolishly think the greatest manager ever in the history of the club is somehow unwilling or unable to lead us to another title as was done thrice in his illustrious career.
On the importance of being positive
Nothing impressed me more from this trip, apart from actually attending the game, than uniting for the first time with the Positively Arsenal posse, those of us on the Sunshine Bus as Andrew Nicholl so aptly described. Having a good old piss-up at the appropriately named Bank of Friendship was like a reunification of old partisans who had been in the wars together.
It got me into thinking how important it has been over the past twelve or so years to be positively in support of the club rather than the repeated cycles of despair and negativity because the club was limited to winning the Top-4 or Top-3 title. The mainstream media now acknowledges the importance of either title apparently because it is being contested by United and City.
A quick overview. Twelve or so years ago, in the post Invincible year, I was introduced to Wengerball and decided then and there this was the type of technical, fast-paced football I would not merely support but give allegiance. Inevitably, once you adopt a club, there is need to find the proverbial “water cooler” on Monday for a post-game chin-wag with fellow fans. Living as I do in a barren desert when it comes to football in general and Arsenal in particular, I was drawn to the internet at a time when message boards were on the wane and the explosion in blogs and blogging had begun.
In those days there was a virtual land grab on the internet to become an Arsenal blogger. They literally sprang up daily like weeds. It was then some of us learnt that most blogs and bloggers do a piss-poor job of educating fans into truly supporting AFC. Apart from either lacking originality or suffering from a massive deficiency in writing skills, they either parroted what the mainstream media fed the public or engaged in wild speculation mostly without a shred of supporting evidence. As it was then and now, we discovered that too many bloggers had massive egos and would not countenance any serious questioning of their viewpoints.
After the euphoria of the Invincibles era had waned, the club had moved from Highbury to Islington and it became evident that winning titles was going to take second place to paying for the new stadium, there evolved 3 distinct market segments in the goonersphere: (1) the doom-mongers who see the club going to hell on a hand basket because it is unable and unwilling to match the biggest spenders, (2) a middle-of-the-road that supports the club in good times but able and willing to slag the club, manager and players for perceived shortcomings when the going is rough, and (3) a minority of fans who emphasize support for the club, manager and team whether in good or bad times.
Well over a decade later I have concluded that, while the context and circumstances have changed, the basic differences still remain despite naive, platitudinous calls for unity. It is like a biologist demanding uniformity in nature when in fact it is the diversity that is important for natures’s survival.
Most of us at PA initially gravitated to another blog where it seemed priority was given to supporting AFC as a club that played, attractive technically-oriented football while pursuing a self-sustaining strategy that could eventually challenge the big spenders like United, Chelsea and City. Apparently the setbacks and defeats over the years took their toll; i.e. the selling-off some of our best players after 2004, the loss of Fabregas and Van Persie derailing project youth, the smashing of Eduardo in 2008 which destroyed our title challenge with five games to go, that ignominious loss in the 2011 Capital One Cup final come to mind.
All these disappointments evidently loosened and eroded the conviction of some fans. No surprise disputes broke out within and outside some blogs about whether the club had the right strategy and whether Wenger was the right man to manage the footballing side of things. Eventually our old blog took the editorial position that Wenger had reached the End of An Era. Rejecting this throwing-in of the towel, our Blackburn George took the initiative to establish Positively Arsenal as a home for those of us who support the strategy of the club and the vision of the manager despite the setbacks.
My trip to the Emirates confirmed, despite the Cassandras of Doom, annually predicting the demise of Arsenal and Arsene Wenger, the club continues to succeed where other traditional top-4 clubs are failing. Once again securing a top-4 champions league place, a 19-year uninterrupted run, and at writing 3rd place is imminently possible. Two successive FA cup wins are in the bag. A new stadium is almost paid off. The youth teams are attracting some of the best and brightest talent at home and abroad with the U21s winning their way back to the Top Division. Thousands of new fans worldwide are becoming supporters of the club. Arsenal is financially secure with revamped sponsorship deals and eligible for a huge slice of the PL money coming in.
No wonder the Sunshine Bus was rocking at the Bank of Friendship. Those who remained positive have all the reasons to be smiling and optimistic while the negative nervous nellies have failed to enjoy what has been the most wonderful footballing ride in the past 12-years.
We love you Arsenal, We truly Do!
Positively Arsenal 
Top work Shotta, thoughtful, accurate and funny.
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Which ‘barren desert’ do you live near Shotta? Wish there were more like you. A good tale, well told. Thanks.
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Shotta
I Stand Up and Applaud!!!
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Absolutely brilliant stuff Shotta!
Of course I’m gutted that we didn’t meet….I was hoping you might still be here this weekend?
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37 years ago today fell on a Saturday. It was Cup final day. I remember the day very well, an early start, and a late, late finish.
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Would it be platitudinous of me to say I didn’t expect any less? (I’ve added that word to my working vocabulary…banned smiley)
Excellent surmising of events, Shotts! I daresay it couldn’t have been better put. I wish I can put enough aside to make that trip to the Emirates one day… *Sigh
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Superb read, glad you had a good day.
Despite all it has faced, the club and those who wore the shirt have kept us where we needed to be during difficult times , now, there is a bright future despite what we now compete with.
I know this will be used as a stick to beat the manager/board, but a glance at the latest rich list shows this club is in a very healthy place. yes, there will be the odd statistical blip whereby those with lesser resources do better than AFC, but statistical anomalies should be seen for what they are.
Sadly, the perspective in this piece is in short supply in the MSM/Arsenal blog/super fan world.
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bit surprised to see you use the falsehood “stadium is almost paid off”, there is still something like 15 years of payments to be made, with the yearly payments around the £20M mark, so that is still around £300M to pay on it.
It is more accurate to say that the state of the clubs finances means the Stadium debt is now easily managable
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Fantastic work Shotta – and useful history for any of us who have only recently arrived in the online Arsenal world.
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Lovely stuff Shotts,everyone loves Raymond!
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arseblog @arseblog 26m26 minutes ago
Mark Clattenburg prepares for the intensity of a Madrid derby in the Champions League final by taking charge of Arsenal v Villa on Sunda
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just been reported that Debuchy has suffered a thigh injury and will miss the Euros
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Lovely read Shotta and it’s unbelievable really that you should visit just as I move away, having lived so close to the ground for so long. I would hate for you to imagine for one minute that anything more than a moronic minority actually believes in the xenophobic guff occasionally attributed to the locals.
And yes, as per my post yesterday, I agree there are a million and one reasons to feel optimistic about football in the wider sense and Arsenal in particular. Not least the reduction in stadium debt to a rump of temporary ‘rent’-like payments, running at peppercorn levels relevant to turnover, which will clear in a few years, by which time no-one will really notice.
So when are you coming back Shotta?!
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great news for the WOB, as it seems one of their ideal replacements for Wenger is about to become available, its being reported that Everton are in the process of agreeing a severance package with Martinez. How many more of these great managers need to fail before the WOB realize that they don’t know squat about football.
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more good news for the malcontents, the football club rich list for this year has been revealed and Arsenal are 5th on it, with a value of over $2bn, if ever an excuse was needed for a good whinge then this is it as far as the malcontents are concerned. Everyone from Kroenke to Gazidis, to Wenger and the players and all in between are targets with this news.
Oddly enough none of the malcontents have even suggested that the strategic advice KSE was paid £3M for each of the last two seasons, could in any way have contributed to the growth of AFC and its finances. Very odd that, unless one is to assume that these guys don’t want to link the two things for whatever reason.
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Not only Martinez, but Jose, Moyes, Owen Coyle….and I would assume that should he be approached, Arry Redknapp are also available.
Happy days for the WOB, just a shame for them that their current darlings, Simeone….and for that matter, Poch seem out of reach.
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JJ @JasAFC 9m9 minutes ago
Coyle, Moyes, O’Neill, Laudrup, Monk, Martinez. If the WOB highlights you as a Wenger replacement, you’re pretty much cursed.
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http://untold-arsenal.com/archives/52698?
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Martinez is sacked.
I didn’t see that one coming.
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Martinez hasnt done so well this year, but one of the few who was grounded in a similar footballing philosophy to Wenger….seems a difficult philosophy to maintain in this league….for a number of reasons.
At the risk of sounding snobbish, some fairly primitive football seems to pay dividends to greater or lesser degrees in the EPL. Wonder how Pep will reconcile his football principles…and heritage with this league?
Or, maybe Martinez had some good ideas , but just not very good at getting the players to implement them.
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Thanks guys for your usual kind comments. Unlike my more accomplished colleagues I struggle to put something readable together. Working and reworking this piece took me late into the night and after sleeping on it I have made some edits up to and including the headlines. I hope I conveyed how this little piece of internet real estate is playing an important role in giving positive support to the club and the manager.
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Having put up with the yo-yo league position that they experienced during the Moyes years EFC have taken a more ruthless line on Martinez. History indicates is dead easy to sack a manager but a damn sight more difficult to appoint anyone who actually does any better. He took a chance in quitting Wigan and moving to club with expectations, the same as the vast majority of managers who do not match their new employers expectations.
Arsene has been sacked, Ancelotti, Ferguson was sacked by East Fife I think, Alf Ramsey, Clough sent on his way, even Bill Shankly was sacked by Workington ffs – Martinez should not take it too hard. He is in excellent company.
The ‘rumour’ for next boss at Goodison is Frank DeBoer and if it correct I look forward to his take on managing a mid-table PL side. He will find it a little difficult to Ajax – with Klopp across Stanley Park it will be a treat for the banter-wallahs !
Martinez had a set of decent players at Everton and it will be up to the new man to get more out of them collectively than the Spaniard managed.
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I see the Exchange is fully open for business and plenty of tickets for Sunday
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Love it love it love it Shotta,
Your hard work has paid off and it is indeed an excellent piece.
We must have had the most successful difficult period in the history of football but some are too hard nosed to realise or enjoy it.
Ed, there is an important thing to add to your graph about long stays in the top division.
Everton would have almost certainly been relegated had Hans segers not deliberately conceded a goal which sent sheff utd down.
Liverpool are really the next to us in terms of longevity in the top division with the difference
of about forty years not bad huh.
The Martinez decision is crazy, Moyes sailed close to the relegation places in some seasons and played crap football to boot.
The Leicester situation has given everyone delusions of grandeur. Every set of modern supporters will be expecting their team to win the league and call for the managers head when they dont, unfortunately for most managers alot of naive chairman will believe it to.
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Everton had assembled a team of players that the media and therefore gullible public rated highly.
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Speaking as one of the gullible public the form of the Everton player en masse over the past ten games has been abject – they cannot defend to save their lives although that has been the case all season. in the past two months Lukaku appears to be their only source of goals and he has missed chance after chance (after penalty).
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It’s a bit of both surely.
The young Everton CB who has probably not hit the heights we’ve seen Chambers hit (at CB), he had been hyped to the max. By his agent and friends of his special agent no doubt. So right there and then is the contrast.
As with Chambers it’s clearly hard to have the consistency at this high level as the game is now. Varane is one of he highest rated young CBs? We’ll see him make mistakes, he makes mistakes, and he does get rested every now then I think.
Barkley? No comment.
Having written the above I am not the biggest fan of Martinez, but I wouldn’t argue against the understanding that he is a good manager. However if anyone ever mentioned him as a future AFC manager my feet would start to twitch and I’d be looking for an excuse to run away.
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< Consistency at that age and experience…
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Great stuff Shotts.
Hopefully next time…keep well.
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This time last season Barkley was the finest young player to emerge among English footballers for X seasons Fins
This season it is Dele Alli
Jack has been in that spot – probably the Ox too
Young English players are next week’s carrion
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The other odd one is why sack a manager after 37 games of a PL season ? A suspicious person might think the new owner it sucking up to the malcontents among the banner wavers in the Gladwys Street
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anicol it has been reported that Martinez was sacked now, instead of after Sunday’s game, is cos Everton fans had planned a big protest at a club function(tonight I think), so yes in a way it is a new majority shareholder sucking up to the malcontents.
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the Arsenal Foundation Charity Ball is on tonight, most if not all the squad are there
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Ed @ 11.11, looks like even more bad news coming soon for the Scarfistas then.
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It’s like; I was sauntering nicely through an unexpected article, picturing the writer and companions, feeling sunshine when there hadn’t been any and therefore sampling a plethora of warmth – On the importance of being positive!
I found that uplifting. Thanks Shotta.
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There’s only one Arsenal and one Arsenal Wenger..COYG!! Emirates will be a fortress next season.
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Friday the 13th – Nightmare on Scarf Street
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An unhelpful ex-colleague (and long-standing City fan) mailed me a link to a Henry Winter article this morning but it seemed to disappear behind a pay wall so I only got a brief sense of it. Apparently young Henry finds it hard to understand why The Arsenal might want to extend the contract of (arguably) the most successful manager in its history. I wonder why he is so keen to see the club fail?
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Winter frothing at the mouth this morning – hilarious effort to re-kindle the protest movement in advance of Villa’s visit.
Interestingly the Comments section on Henry’s article has been disabled.
Finest traditions of the 4th Estate and all that.
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Winter is a just another Murdoch whore.
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I’ve just read this again.
How has it become even better?
We love you Arsenal, we truly do!
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Arsene Wenger claims Winter’s article is ‘Absolutely False’.
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Very Interesting view of Arsenal’s finances:
http://www.css-investments.com/arsenal-report/
As we’ve been saying all along – all the money at the club get’s spent on the club, staff, players, wages, infrastructure every year. There is no mythical Pot of Gold hidden away in the vaults.
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‘mountain bike levels of gearing’
That is a new one.
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So a Murdoch hack is floating an anti-Wenger piece to get the WOBs and Scarfists aroused. The enemy is inside and outside innit?
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