Adebayor: “What is good at City is the fans. They love you. Arsenal have a lot of fans who are not fans. Arsenal have fans from America and Jamaica. Today they are Arsenal fans, tomorrow they will be Liverpool fans, after tomorrow they will be Manchester United fans.”

The defeat up at the Middle Eastlands against Citeh last month came with a lot of fallout following things that were said off field, and the actions on field, of a certain ex-forward of ours. What punishment the FA saw fit for his actions has since been set out but what this ex-player (I’m struggling to stay diplomatic when referring to ‘him’) said regarding us as Arsenal fans has stuck with me. Certain things were said in the quote above about where fans come from blah blah blah (as you can guess I’m giving this football mercenary as few words as possible).

It’s made me think about we who follow the Arsenal and consider... what makes an Arsenal ‘fan’?

Like most, I wasn’t fortunate enough to be born and raised in Islington but that doesn’t make me any less of a fan just like anyone else as far as I see. A child of the 80’s, born in Kent but raised in Essex watching football in 90’s could have made me a glory hunting Man U fan but I wanted a proper club. I’m now fortunate enough to now live on Drayton Park just to the east of the ground (to the dismay of non-Gooner friends and the approval of other Gooners), even more fortunate to make every game I can due to my family being blessed with silver memberships after getting involved with the old TRS scheme back at Highbury. I got off a 16 hour flight to London from Singapore the morning of the last game at Highbury just so I could say ‘I was there’.

I still look forward to games now like I did as a 9 year old when my dad took me to my first game (v Leicester City in the North Bank, you don’t forget things like that). Dad bought him, my two brothers and I season tickets soon after (West Lower, row 4...you could almost touch the hallowed turf). I was there for the ecstasy versus Leicester City in 2004 when we completed the unbeaten season, saw Wrighty break Cliff Bastin’s record then Theirry after that too. I was there for the pain of Liverpool’s FA cup final comeback against us in Cardiff, the defeat to Peter Reid’s Leeds United at home in 2003 costing us the title as well as last season’s Champions League semi final 2nd leg (I stayed until the end to remember how it felt) followed soon after by Chelsea at home.

I’m waiting for my name to hit the top of the season ticket waiting list (7 years and counting) and I’ll follow this club till my own final whistle blows (and not for a while I hope!). I count myself as a proper Arsenal fan but this club has a lot of proper fans, and not just in London. This is why Adebayor’s comments about Arsenal fans, and international fans specifically, stuck with me... and p***ed me off to be honest. But what do I know... I’m not from near Arsenal originally so according to Mr Adebayor I can’t be a proper fan. I might start supporting Man U now...

For Wigan and West Brom at home, as well as Fulham away, I found myself visiting friends in New York with two other Gooners. We were going to show a friend the city as well as watch a few games with mutual friends who make up what’s simply known as the NYC Arsenal Supporters Club. Mixed in with a few ‘Bay Area Gooners’ from San Francisco I bought a beer and at 10am NY time for the Wigan match kick off found myself in a pub packed with other fans (Nevada Smith’s on 3rd Ave between 11th and 12th St – their motto is ‘where football is religion’ and they don’t lie). The pub was, and always is for the Arsenal, standing room only. We chanted, we shouted and we cheered throughout the 90 mins. For the last five minutes of the match there was a nonstop round of ‘Arsene Wenger’s red and white army’ orchestrated by Mark Defrancis wearing his homemade Bacary Sagna wig!

The group in New York are filled with proper fans but two really typify what it means to be a Gooner. They are Kurt and Brett. Kurt messages the group on facebook before every game to get as many regulars as possible to the televised games. He’s giving the fans in New York a massive identity through all his emails and recent creation of the NYC Gooners website (www.arsenal-nyc.com) also recognised by Arsenal America (www.arsenalamerica.com/branch-offices/new-york). He’s also recently designed and created a number of brilliant different t-shirt designs for the fans to wear with pride on game day. He’s in the crowd of fans for televised games, front and centre without fail. When on the US west coast in LA he’s up at 4.45am for our 12.45 kick offs too.

Brett is like Kurt, born and bred American but must have been a Gooner in a past life. Brett lives way out of the city in New Jersey but come game day he’s there, normally chanting before the game even starts meaning he’s lost his voice by halftime but that doesn’t stop him in the second half. Brett will be on a bus at 6am on a Saturday or Sunday morning in order to make 7.45am NY time kick off (our 12.45 games). It’s amazing how many 2.45 or 3pm NY time doctor’s appointments he has on Tuesdays and Wednesdays during the season that strangely coincide with us playing in the Champions League/League Cup at that very same time. Then there’s his weekly Arsenal blog at www.themoderngooner.blogspot.com.

They can’t be proper fans though, it’s not like they both flew to London for ironically the Citeh home game last season in April. It’s not like Kurt is coming back to London in December and is spending just one day in London on Boxing Day so he can go to the Villa home game. It’s not like Brett is working out how to get over in January for a game as well as demanding a ticket for Citeh at home this season so he can let Mr Adebayor know his thoughts following the game in September.

I could add more about Ashley who also flew over for Citeh at home last season and the Emirates Cup pre-season weekend just gone, or her brother Patrick who came for the Youth Cup first leg game v Liverpool then Stoke on final day of last season... there’s many more names.

They all can’t be proper Arsenal fans according to Mr Adebayor, they’re American. I’ve moved onto being a Liverpool fan now...

Arsenal is a different football club now to the one I first saw as a 9 year old at Highbury. The club has evolved and moved forward to become an international entity made up of a number of nationalities that only the UN probably can beat. Le Boss always said he doesn’t look at a player’s passport when he considers a signing. The fans don’t either, you’re an Arsenal player if you play for the team, the manager and us the fans.

Arsenal Football Club is supported by many hundreds of thousands of proper fans, many with stories and experiences linked to the club like Kurt, Brett and I. Our experiences make us fans. We support our players that respect us and they understand what this proper club is about. We feed off our players, their efforts making us follow the club year after year.

I invite you, Mr Adebayor, to visit my friends in New York at Nevada Smith’s. You go and see what an Arsenal really fan is, and in America of all places which should surprise you and only you.

Then, if you make it out alive, we’ll be seeing you in April next year at Ashburton Grove. Kurt, Brett, me, now back to being an Arsenal fan, with 60,000 other Arsenal fans will be giving you a welcome you won’t forget in a hurry...