The other night I tweeted this

“I’m going to stick my neck out here and say this is Arsenal’s strongest SQUAD ever.”

Of course my Time Lime was immediately swamped with mocking toddlers who were quick to tell me that I was deluded and the 04 team was better.

Clearly these people were unable to distinguish the difference between “squad” and “team” . Why was I not surprised ?

Before we go any further I should make it clear that I don’t think our current best eleven is better than that of the 04 team( Although I don’t think there is much in it).

“But we have only added Sanchez !” 

They say.

Well Yes. Since last May. Thats sort of true. if we say Debuchy= Sagne, Ospina= Fabianski and at a stretch Chambers=Vermaelen. (and conveniently forget Campbell).

However if we look at it over the last two years the squad is almost unrecognisable in terms of true quality.

In that two year period we have added Santi, Mesut and Sanchez . Those three are arguably considerably better than anyone at the club was, prior to Santi arriving.

There have been others like Podolski, Giroud and Monreal, but I think its fair to say we had players that were in the same class as them. I believe that Tomas is in the same class as  Santi, Mesut and Sanchez, but thats for another day.

We don’t however only have those three in the very top bracket though. Aaron Ramsey can stand shoulder to shoulder with any of them. We didn’t have this version of him two years ago

Then we have Koscielny. If there is a better central defender in the world, I haven’t seen him. I would not have said that two years ago.

Gibbs is now a really good leftback. Again much better than two years ago and the best we have had for at least since Cashley slunk across town.

Also its fair to say that AOC and Jack are much better than they were. Especially Jack as then he was out of the game totally.

Per and Giroud are also very much better than they were, having fully settled into the league.

Finally, Just look at what Szczesny has become compared to himself or Almunia two years ago. I believe he is the equal of any keeper in the country.

So,  Santi, Mesut, Sanchez, Aaron, Gibbs, Koscielny and Szczesny are massive improvements on what we had just two years ago. Then Per, Giroud, Jack , AOC and even Theo are also improvements to one degree or another.

We must take into account the improvement of our existing players when looking at the team, not simply the players we have signed.

Ospina, Bellerin, Chambers, Unsigned CB, Monreal, Flamini, Jack, Rosicky, AOC, Giroud, Podolski ! Swap Abou for anyone if you like, and that is our second string eleven. If anyone can list a second team that we have ever had that comes close to that, be my guest.

So I am convinced this is indeed our strongest ever squad.

By the way, we haven’t even finished shopping.

By pedantic george @Blackburngeorge.

I wait Nine years for a piece of silverware, and I’m buggered if two don’t come along at once !

Well ok, its not a real trophy, but its sure a lot better to be winning it than losing it.

We fans , and the club, have to listen as people tell us we cant beat the big team. Bollocks to them then, I’m counting that as a win.

At very least it should assure the players that they can indeed beat the top English teams. The importance of confidence cant be overstated.

When we had anything resembling a full squad we led the league., then when we got anything like a full squad back we won the FA Cup. Now this. The way I look at it is that if our players are fit we win shit.

More importantly the way we played in the first half speaks volumes. City players looked like sulking hound dogs after 10 minutes, as by that time they had realised that it was our ball and they were not going be allowed to play with it.

You all saw the game. Loads of positives. Sanogo, Chambers,Gibbs and Jack were all very good. Well, everyone was really, but they stood out.

However my man of the match would have been old “no legs”himself, our new club Captain, Mr “cant hack it in big games” Mikel Arteta. He never put a foot wrong.

Mikel is everything you would want in an Arsenal Captain and a lot more. The perfect professional and representative of the club.

So come on you Positistas, lets hear three cheers for Mikel…….hip-hip…………hip-hip………hip-hip

By pedantic george @Blackburngeorge.

It seemed a sensible time to review the “Closed Season” as 24 hours from now we shall be locked back into the 2014/2015 season.  Either our first silverware, will be safely on its way to the trophy room at the Ems, if not then the scarved mob will be forming up, pitchforks at the ready. Not of course that there is ever a ‘Closed Season’ in modern football, far too many people’s jobs depend on the 24/7 sporting cycle, but you know what I mean.

In contrast to the Summer of 2013, the past three months have been a serene and very pleasant interlude. For our mighty club to finish the season with the FA Cup victory, achieved in such dramatic circumstances, brought me into the break on a high.

There followed a great World Cup, best for 20 years +. Brilliant football, plenty to talk about incident wise ( steady Hunter), and the final won by the best team in the competition. With Ozil key in the German victory, Per playing a good part earlier in the tournament and Poldi, errrr , there.  I suspect Poldi is worth his place on character alone in the dressing room. Breaking into that German side would have been some feat for the boy.

And with the FIFA engraver’s tool barely back in its satin bag the REALLY IMPORTANT part of the closed season started, and the transfer window opened !

And Arsene moved, moved decisively, moved to secure the payers he had decided would take our club forward. And the Groaners made such a FUSS about his beach holiday. You know the names, you have a similar expectation of what they can and will bring to the club as I do. I need say no more.

Now there are 100 reasons presented on the internet and in the media as to how and why Arsene appears to have pounced like a panther into the transfer market and all or none may be true, partially true, or total bollox. I did not see one of the players who we signed as potential recruits on Cup Final day. “Callum who ….?” Now they all seem obvious targets. How clever am I ?

What is however pleasant for me as a simple supporter is that I have not had to put up to the usual CASCADE of abuse, contempt, disrespect, dislike, sneering condescension that degenerates over the weeks into outright hatred for the club from far too may who describe themselves as ‘supporters’. As I said in my opening remarks the pitchforks may only have been temporarily stacked but the past few weeks have nevertheless been a refreshing break from the civil war. Discourse has been sane, creative at times, funny even.  It has led to a wave of confidence in the players and the club that will carry us over a few obstacles in the next few weeks.

A final thought on tomorrow’s game, and in fact the opening weeks of the PL season, that occurred to me as I have been watching and England v India this afternoon. If you find yourself in a hole, stop fucking digging.

I am in Block 140 tomorrow so if anyone is about give us a shout.

I thank you for your attention and your patience.

And Thank you Andrew @anicoll5

So The Arsenal, one of the great clubs in the world, puts on a pre-season friendly tournament in the capital city, and invites three decent European sides, Benfica, Monaco and Valencia to come and join the party. They throw the doors open to their wider fan-base ensuring a full house of 60,000 on both days of the weekend, many of whom are children visiting the ground for the first time. There is a real carnival atmosphere, and although the Sunday game does not go entirely to script (it is after all a proper match, albeit one played not quite at full pace) a clear cut foul on the home team’s striker in the penalty area ensures that a moment of high drama will see the match end as a draw. Not quite the perfect result, but the young crowd will experience a home goal in front of the North Bank and glow as their heroes parade the trophy that they all but guaranteed in a five goal romp against Benfica on the Saturday. Just about perfect in every way, and the officials (who have been treated with the utmost respect and looked after all weekend so that they too can get up to match speed for the coming season) don’t even have to massage the rules to achieve the result desired by all those who flocked to the Emirates.  Just about perfect in every way. It is almost as if a script has been written. God, or at least Arsene Wenger, is in his heaven and all is well with the world.

Except between them the linesman and referee manage to find a way to avoid making the right decision. Instead of the initial penalty awarded by the ref, the linesman’s intervention results in a mere free kick. The match ends in defeat and the spoils go to a Valencia side that few in the crowd have even heard of. The disappointment is tangible and the young fans drift away: some will return, many won’t.

I cannot think of any other major club in the world that would have its hospitality so cynically abused. And if, given all the peripheral reasons for ensuring that justice was done on the Sunday afternoon of an essentially meaningless Emirates Cup, the officials still choose to disadvantage the home side, what chance is there that a level playing field will exist when we travel to Manchester, to Liverpool, to West London to contest not friendlies but proper matches where points and prestige are at stake.

The mind quickly returns to the FA Cup Final, May 17^th 2014. The Arsenal, rocked by two early Hull goals, slowly but surely gain a foothold in the match through the excellent Cazorla and go about securing their first trophy for several years. Referee Lee Probert, who once infamously sent Arsene Wenger to the stands for having the temerity to kick a plastic water bottle in frustration at yet another anti-Arsenal decision at Old Trafford, turns down three obvious penalty decisions in a show of breathtaking indifference to the actual rules of the game he has been chosen to oversee. This time his meddling makes no difference and an extra-time winner secures the spoils, but few would deny that Probert made it much harder for the victors to impose their obvious on-field superiority.

Penalties are game-changing moments and as such spotlight the referee’s competence, not just in applying the rules correctly, but also and perhaps more importantly, of having the courage to do so impartially, no matter what the situation, no matter how hostile the home crowd. They are real talking points, and it is no wonder that at times it is obviously easier to wave play on. However, while penalties clearly do affect results, they are not necessarily the most important decisions that referees are called upon to make. An early Yellow Card not given for a professional foul sets in motion a whole series of cynical assaults, all designed to break up the rhythm of the better side – playmakers are targeted for rotational fouling, so lax officiating not only amounts to a cheat’s charter but also threatens the skilled player’s entire career. Any team that plays a passing game does so to maneuver their opposition out of position before making the final and telling assist: little unpunished professional fouls allow the out-maneuvered time and space to regroup. The Arsenal are particularly vulnerable to this tactic, but, and this cannot be stressed too strongly, this tactic cannot work if the referee is doing his job properly. Every time you see the official keep his card in his pocket when a yellow should have been given you will know that he is, either intentionally or unintentionally, favoring the transgressor over the transgressed. Every time you read an opinion that suggests that The Arsenal have been contained or beaten by a manager that does tactics, ask yourself whether the referee has also played a part in those tactics. And if you find that yes, in fact the ref has had an influence, then you might also begin to ask about the validity or the motive of that anti-Arsenal opinion.

Any Arsenal fan will have their own particular examples of games that have been refereed in a particularly anti-Arsenal way, and it will be interesting to see the comments section fill up with moments when the decisions have literally beggared belief. The best Arsenal site for detailing the vagaries of specific referees is Untold Arsenal, and it is always sobering to read their referee reviews before any game. There don’t seem to be many refs who call it evenly, and I leave it to you to think about why that might be the case, and why so few Arsenal blogs draw attention to that situation. But I think they should, and I think that all Arsenal fans have a responsibility to speak loudly and clearly about the way the games are officiated. If there is an anti-Arsenal bias then we should all draw attention to it. Fans interviewed on Arsenal TV should talk about the decisions of the referee, fans on Twitter should point to the man in black, influential bloggers should have the officials firmly in their sights. We all enjoy having our own views about what the manager should have done, and who has played well or not so well, and there is a time and place for those opinions, but I would suggest that in the immediate aftermath of a game the performance of the officials should be clearly and vociferously scrutinized.

And perhaps most importantly of all, those who go regularly to the stadium should be very loud and proud in support of their team – and even louder and more hostile towards the referee if he shows any signs of getting it wrong. The season ticket holders need to be the 12^th man, and referees should expect any decision not correctly given Arsenal’s way to lead to a violent storm of ear-splitting hate. We expect marginal decisions to go against us at Old Trafford, the Bernabeu, and the Allianz for that is the way of things, but we must do all in our power to ensure that when we play at home we at the very least get the rub of the green. It would be nice to think that on match days all Arsenal fans would put aside their differences, and unite to make The Emirates a proper fortress that our players adore and opposing teams and referees fear. Make some noise, create merry hell and make the referees mind up for him. Together we can indeed be stronger and when we go to matches we need to remember that supporting The Arsenal means exactly that – and that proper and noisy support can and does lead to key decisions going the home team’s way

Today’s article was given to us by Tim Head @foreverheady

Yesterday I tweeted this:

“Same philosophy, same tactics, same vision, but increased spending power.  So, NO, ARSENE HASN’T CHANGED, his credit limit has.”

A few days ago I had this to say:

“Wenger isn’t back, because he’s never been away. He hasn’t changed and he certainly hasn’t  listened to fans, or the media.”

It doesn’t take a lot to irk me [No shit – Ed] but the insistence from certain sections of the fan base and the media that Arsène has changed infuriates me to the point where I could punch a puppy.

They are adamant that Arsène has changed. Well, he has. He is older and wiser.

He has not, however, changed in the way they are insinuating.

These idiot halfwits (trust me that is the nicest description I could muster) want us to believe that they were right. He had “lost it”.  He did want to feed his enormous ego by trying to win with a bunch of kids and cut price players. He was choosing not to spend the money that was available. He was happy with 4th and a last 16 place in Europe.

They have to think these things otherwise they would have to accept that they have been wrong.

Very wrong.

Completely wrong – and they won’t do that!

They have been wrong about Arsène.

They have been wrong about Ivan being incompetent.

They have been wrong about Stan being an asset stripper.

In short, they were wrong about everything.

However, having spent years talking absolute bollocks, they have to find some way of justifying their stupidity.

They want us to believe that they were right. Their lack of support for the great man – our greatest ever manager – is to be excused because “Arsène has changed“.

You hear things like, “we wanted him to buy world class players and now he is“.  Completely ignoring what has been clear to anyone with even half a brain for 10 years.

He didn’t have the money to spend!

Or this little gem  “We wanted to win trophies and now he has!”  Again ignoring that he didn’t have the players to do it given that there were three clubs spending north of a billion pounds to buy up the said trophies.

I repeatedly hear “mistakes were made” and yet the vast majority of these perceived mistakes can be put down to the simple lack of funds.

They will do anything, and say anything, rather than admit they were the ones that were making mistakes.

Arsène is the same as he was last year, 5 years ago, 10 years ago, and 18 years ago when he first tipped up.

These people were unable to understand the simple economic realities that hamstrung the club. They spent years writing blogs, doing podcasts and tweeting about how they could do a better job than Arsène and the board. Make no mistake, if you are telling someone how to do their job, it’s because you think you know better.

Well they didn’t, not a single one of them.

The divide in the fan base was caused by them. It was not caused by those people who held their position of simply supporting the club. Both sides of the divide were not to blame. It was the uninformed pea-brains that thought they had the answers. Not those who just wanted to support the club.

It’s alright to be wrong. We are all wrong from time to time. But it’s not alright not toaccept being wrong, look for an excuse for your wrongness and hide behind it.

The most popular excuse seem to be Arsène has changed. 

Well he hasn’t, so admit that and stop digging.

By pedantic george @Blackburngeorge

So, Arsene – what’s changed?

Yesterday I tweeted this:

“Same philosophy, same tactics, same vision, but increased spending power.  So, NO, ARSENE HASN’T CHANGED, his credit limit has.”

A few days ago I had this to say:

“Wenger isn’t back, because he’s never been away. He hasn’t changed and he certainly hasn’t fucking listened to fans, or the media.”

It doesn’t take a lot to irk me [No shit – Ed] but the insistence from certain sections of the fan base and the media that Arsène has changed infuriates me to the point where I could punch a puppy.

They are adamant that Arsène has changed. Well, he has. He is older and wiser.

He has not, however, changed in the way they are insinuating.

These idiot halfwits (trust me that is the nicest description I could muster) want us to believe that they were right. He had “lost it”.  He did want to feed his enormous ego by trying to win with a bunch of kids and cut price players. He was choosing not to spend the money that was available. He was happy with 4th and a last 16 place in Europe.

They have to think these things otherwise they would have to accept that they have been wrong.

Very wrong.

Completely wrong – and they won’t do that!

They have been wrong about Arsène.

They have been wrong about Ivan being incompetent.

They have been wrong about Stan being an asset stripper.

In short, they were wrong about everything.

However, having spent years talking absolute bollocks, they have to find some way of justifying their stupidity.

They want us to believe that they were right. Their lack of support for the great man – our greatest ever manager – is to be excused because “Arsène has changed“.

You hear things like, “we wanted him to buy world class players and now he is“.  Completely ignoring what has been clear to anyone with even half a brain for 10 years.

He didn’t have the money to spend!

Or this little gem  “We wanted to win trophies and now he has!”  Again ignoring that he didn’t have the players to do it given that there were three clubs spending north of a billion pounds to buy up the said trophies.

I repeatedly hear “mistakes were made” and yet the vast majority of these perceived mistakes can be put down to the simple lack of funds.

They will do anything, and say anything, rather than admit they were the ones that were making mistakes.

Arsène is the same as he was last year, 5 years ago, 10 years ago, and 18 years ago when he first tipped up.

These people were unable to understand the simple economic realities that hamstrung the club. They spent years writing blogs, doing podcasts and tweeting about how they could do a better job than Arsène and the board. Make no mistake, if you are telling someone how to do their job, it’s because you think you know better.

Well they didn’t, not a single one of them.

The divide in the fan base was caused by them. It was not caused by those people who held their position of simply supporting the club. Both sides of the divide were not to blame. It was the uninformed pea-brains that thought they had the answers. Not those who just wanted to support the club.

It’s alright to be wrong. We are all wrong from time to time. But it’s not alright not to accept being wrong, look for an excuse for your wrongness and hide behind it.

The most popular excuse seem to be Arsène has changed. 

Well he hasn’t, so admit that and stop digging.

By pedantic george @Blackburngeorge

I have just read Mick Channon’s comments on Talk Sport about how young players like Calum Chambers are wrong to move to a club like Arsenal from Southampton. I can see his point, young players, perhaps should show more loyalty to their clubs, but what I can’t understand is why it’s taken a player who played 20 games last season to make this point. Or as I and a few others seem to think it has little to do with the player, but more to do with the club he has gone too. 

Southampton over the past month or two have sold  £27m for Shaw, £25m for Lallana, £4m for Lambert and £20m for Lovren. Shaw’s move was hailed as a great move for the future England left back, he goes to Manchester United and learn his trade at a top club. The other 3 to Liverpool was there any questioning of their loyalty to Southampton after they left? Not that I read, they were congratulated for their ambition to go to a club to win trophies. Chambers moves to Arsenal and all of a sudden we have ex players questioning his motives and radio stations questioning his skill and his value.

Yes, you can call me paranoid, I don’t care, but Arsenal do seem (to me anyway) to get a different treatment from other clubs in the media. Season after season Arsenal are held up by the media as having the most expensive season tickets in the PL, which on the face of it is true, but, what is failed to be mentioned is that Arsenal fans get 26 games for their ticket while other team’s fans get 21 or mostly 19 games (and some conditions that they must buy all cup tickets). If these prices are evened out Arsenal tickets, although are probably still the highest are very close to those of other clubs.

Arsenal were criticised for the price of away tickets by Manchester City and the media after fans were asked to pay £63 but again I saw little condemnation of the same club charging Arsenal fans £58 for an away ticket when their home fans are charged much lower for the same game. Also, there seemed to be little mention of Manchester City’s policy of charging home fans more money the closer they are to the away fans. £63 is a lot of money, but at least they have a clear line of sight at The Arsenal not like some tickets at Anfield, at least at The Arsenal they are not stuck miles up at the back of the stadium like Newcastle and the fans are not squeezed into tiny seats like at Manchester United. The media are quick to criticise about the cost of away games at The Arsenal but there was a lack of congratulation when The Emirates Stadium was voted the best away ground in the PL by the football fans survey last season.

You only have to read the Daily Mail, listen to Talk Sport or watch BT sport to see the unevenness of reporting towards Arsenal from “Ozil nicking a living” to “The Daily Arsenal” to Michael Owens yearly “Arsenal to finish outside the top four”. It was nice to see the bitter Alan Hanson apologize for his comments about Theo Walcott the other week, but for an ex professional player to question a 21 year olds footballing brain when he was still young and learning his trade was in my mind disgusting (Chris Waddle was just as stupid for saying the same thing). How many other young players from other clubs are roundly criticised by ex players in the media?

Arsene Wenger is the only manager I know of who has a running red card count, every time an Arsenal player is sent off we have “Wengers 1002 player sent off” (ok slight exaggeration but you know what I mean). The media always say “it’s great talking to Wenger as he will answer any questions put to him” but then moan about him talking about other teams/players when it’s them who have asked the question. Can you imagine how short press conferences would be if the media treated Jose Mo(an)urinho the same.

Let’s do the unthinkable and swap Arsenal’s position, ground, manager and board with that of Spurs. Can you imagine the column inches (perhaps that should be miles) and radio time spent slaughtering The Arsenals playing record, their inability to build a new ground, their transfer policy, their management policy and the motives of their owner (who is happy to stay in the Caribbean and hardly visits the ground). Yes, we do hear and see some, but not to the extent of that of The Arsenal. 

Just think, I still haven’t got round to the media’s treatment of that nasty Eduardo (yes him of the broken leg by that “he’s not that type of player” Martin Taylor) diving against Celtic or why The Arsenals use of zonal marking seems to be the only one mentioned when there are plenty of teams that use it. 

How come George Graham was the only manager to be found to be taking ‘brown paper bags’ where was the in depth investigations into other managers by the media? Or was it a case of we’ve got one lets sweep the rest under the table. 

I in all honesty I could go on for ages at how the media treat The Arsenal but I will finish with a true story.

A few years ago I took my two boys on a tour of the old Arsenal Stadium (Highbury to you & me). It was a legends tour with Bob Wilson, we get to the old home changing room where Bob recalls a couple of stories about his time at the club. He then gives us all time to take pictures with the players shirts etc Bob is left standing by himself so I decide to ask him a few questions. The first was about why he quit so early in him career the second was “why do the media dislike Arsenal so much” now I was expecting a ‘your just seeing things through Arsenal glasses’ type of answer but the answer I received was “it’s down to jealousy, officials from other clubs all wanted their clubs to be like The Arsenal, players from other teams wanted what the Arsenal players had. The media they do not like Arsenal because The Arsenal do things the right way, from the boardroom down to the tea lady. There is no gossip, no leaked stories just things done correctly”. 

So when you read the daily mail, listen to Adrian Durham or watch MotD etc. on TV just remember what Bob Wilson told me it’s not because they hate us it’s because they are JEALOUS of THE ARSENAL 

Todays post was by @Swales1968

A post by @Swales1968

How many of the fifty five thousand Arsenal supporters that will be at the Emirates to watch the opening game of the season against Crystal Palace could be called “loyal supporters”? How many would turn up if Arsenal were in the position that West Ham or Aston Villa find themselves in season after season. Their main objective is to avoid relegation, a good cup run will treated as a second team try out and a hindrance at the expense of three points on a Saturday

So how many supporters would there be?

I started going to watch Arsenal in 1976. Attendances were good then at around thirty thousand, if memory serves me right. (If this figure is incorrect I am sorry)

In the early nineteen eighties regularly, there would be figures of sixteen to twenty thousand. On one snowy night just over fourteen thousand turned up. Yes the standard of football was poor, we were cheering when an Arsenal player had a shot, it didn’t matter that it missed, someone had a shot.

It was the period just after “Chippy Brady” went to Italy, and if you think the Dutch skunk RVP’s move to Manure was bad, it was no where near as bad as Frank Stapleton’s move in the same direction. This was the start of the bad feeling between the two clubs, reports at the time said that at the following Arsenal V Manure game at Highbury that the Arsenal board refused the normal hospitality given to opposition boards. I think this was just hearsay because the one thing that Arsenal have always been good at is to rise above such petty things (personally though, I would love to know it was true)

Anyway, I digress. Attendances?  How many of those fifty five thousand would have turned up thirty years ago. Nowhere near the fifty-five to sixty thousand Arsenal get today. Expectations were lower, could Arsenal have a good cup run, could Arsenal qualify for the EUFA cup?  Win the league; you’re having a laugh, not the league. It was the same level of expectation that a Spurs supporter has now.

Would the Arsenal fans standing on the old NorthBank and ClockEnd get at the players the way Eboue and Ramsey were got at by fans? NO, we laughed, please don’t get me wrong, we wanted to win, we wanted the best players. We were even happy for a game or two when Lee Chapman signed. (And for all those who think Wenger has signed the worst duds they really need to look up Mr Chapman’s career at Arsenal)

Of today’s supporters and their expectation from Arsenal, I think maybe ten to twenty thousand would be bothered to turn up if Arsenal were in the same situation as Aston Villa or West Ham. There would be more attending than fifteen thousand attending as younger fans that have no chance of getting tickets today would be able to attend.

The atmosphere would be better as these younger voices would get behind the team. The people attending would be going because they love “The Arsenal” and will go whatever position the club find themselves in.

The signs were there a couple of seasons back, attendance figures stopped being read out at the matches, people stopped attending matches even though they had already paid for their tickets and this was in a season when Arsenal finished forth(again)

This is what Arsene Wenger has done to the majority of the supporters, he has raised expectations. He has moved the club forward, a huge leap forward. And today’s supporters expect trophies, demand trophies, forth is seen as a failure without a trophy. That’s why I believe only around ten to fifteen thousand out of the fifty five thousand would be bothered to attend if Arsenal were in the same situation as Aston Villa. Fans only seem to be loyal if a trophy is on its way.

Yes, Yes, Yes, what about the eight seasons without a trophy, I can see the replies now. Look at my inbox hundreds of replies from fans saying “I stayed loyal during this period; I paid for my season ticket which went up when Arsenal wasn’t winning anything. It was a disgrace that it took that long to win something”.

During the eight seasons without winning a trophy, Arsenal have been playing Champions League Football, finished in the top four every season, they have not been relegated like West Ham they have not struggled season after season like Aston Villa have done on a very regular basis.

In the early eighties the fans’ expectations were a cup run and/or qualify for the lowest ranked European competition the EUFA cup. Clubs like Aston Villa or West Ham don’t even have these expectations in today’s league; their only aim is SURVIVAL

Under Wenger Arsenal have won trophies, qualified regularly for the Champions League and are now after a period of belt tightening and careful spending are spending again.

So the question I am asking is: –  

WOULD YOU GO TO WATCH ARSENAL IF SURVIVAL WAS THE ONLY TARGET?