1. Home
  2. Online Exclusive

Time For Supporters To Support

Is Arsenal’s home support having a negative effect?

10 January, 2011 9:00 20 comments
Time For Supporters To Support

Gooners: Support your team during the game!

SUBSCRIBE TO THE GOONER

They say patience is a virtue, well that virtue was seriously lacking at Ashburton on Saturday. At the Leeds game I started to question if our own fans are helping to make our home form so poor. The game was a minute old when a small group of so called supporters behind me were shouting "wake up" & "sort it out"? Maybe I was watching a different game but I had not seen anything to warrant this after 60 seconds had elapsed.

By the time we'd reached the 20 minute mark the small group had grown in to a large baying mob & I'm sure the players cannot have failed to hear the anger & disapproval emanating from that section. I was very frustrated with the way we were playing but fail to see how this behaviour will help the team to improve or give their all for the club.

Fans pay their money & have the right to complain but isn't it counter productive to get on the players’ backs so early in a game? Several of the players played well below the level I expect to see in our beloved shirts but haranguing Eboue, Bendtner, Arshavin & Denilson every time they touch the ball is not going to install in them the confidence or desire to win for the very people who obviously care so little for them.

Don't get me wrong I would gladly see the quartet making for the exits in the summer but I refuse to undermine the team when they are on the pitch. My only interest at that time is that my team win, individual performances in my opinion should always come second to that & criticism should be reserved for the end of the game. I would not object to booing at full time but directed towards the team, singling out individuals during the game benefits no one.

Leeds' fans were fantastic & were a credit to them. I mentioned to my companion on the day that a combination of our resources with their support would be a potent force. Maybe a replay would not have been necessary if our home support were anywhere near as good as Leeds’ travelling fans (or our own away support for that matter). We all need to pull in the same direction & get behind the team if we are to get the success that we all crave so much.

NEW! Subscribe to our weekly Gooner Fanzine newsletter for all the latest news, views, and videos from the intelligent voice of Arsenal supporters since 1987.

Please note that we will not share your email address with any 3rd parties.

Article Rating

Leave a comment

Sign-in with your Online Gooner forum login to add your comment. If you do not have a login register here.

20
comments

  1. gazleeds

    Jan 10, 2011, 22:48 #748

    to be fair, ive stated this elsewhere, arsenals problem is its fashonable to support them cos of the football you play. Similar to roy keanes prawn sandwich quote, some not all, of your fans, turn up and expect to be entertained as if its the theatre. Thats not the real fans fault, hence the away support, the true fans, been brilliant. Our away support though is immense, not just cos we were playing you, we took 7,000 to coventry a couple of weeks ago and have sold out every away allocation aslong as i can remember despite been in league 1 for three seasons and win, lose or draw, you wouldnt know the difference in the noise we make.

  2. nugs

    Jan 10, 2011, 21:35 #746

    maybe we all should shout the players surnames when the teams announced b4 the game, sing who r yer who r yer at the away support, moan at people who stand up and encourage players who couldnt give a s**t about our club! the emirates is a f*****g embarrasment and its not because of the fans who choose not to back lazy arrogant players who r happy to pck up a fat wage packet

  3. joe

    Jan 10, 2011, 18:37 #740

    our support on saturday was no diffrent from the last few we have been to ask norwich leicester barnsley we have sold our away allocation fully for the last 5 years scunthorpe this week means more to us arsenal was just a piss up dolphin at kings cross for one come to leeds next week you will also see how home suport gets behind a team.however i dont mind you boys as you do play football the right way and wish you all the best for the champions league and the premiership on and on mot

  4. Theopants Superstar

    Jan 10, 2011, 18:26 #738

    Oh yeah, that's right. Denilson can't run or pass the ball forward accurately - Bendtner can't hit a cows arse with a banjo - Squillachi has the pace of a 60yr old Marathon runner, Arshavin puts in as much effort as a 80yr arthritic patient whilst Eboue's only skill is falling over in lieu of contact - yet it's all our fault for not 'supporting' the team loud enough. Feck me, seems like Wenger's not the only one at Arsenal always making up excuses for the poor quality of some players!!

  5. ppp

    Jan 10, 2011, 17:42 #736

    the home fans are annoying and should get behind the team. the arsenal away boys are immense and would embarrass leeds, the mancs and any other pr*cks you care to mention.

  6. Joe Mardon

    Jan 10, 2011, 17:27 #735

    I've said before that our poor home results this year are often just what the equally poor home 'support' deserves.

  7. bunch

    Jan 10, 2011, 15:56 #732

    Our travelling support is every bit as good as theirs, or anybodies. All the big four home support can be very lukewarm when playing inferior opposition. We expect a performance. You all know the atmosphere is different for the visit on ManU, Chelsea, 'Pool and the swamp dwellers from N17. Away support is hardcore, especially for us, 'Pool and the Mancs because it is so difficult to get tickets. As a comparative vignette, on the way back to Arsenal tube a Leeds fan was mouthing off "ee that were a great game o'football, now weren't it lads?" Well no actually it was crap. But it shows the different level of expectation. Yes we're spoilt. But we're Londoners and we are The Arsenal.

  8. Jack

    Jan 10, 2011, 14:14 #728

    Where I sit the biggest moaners appear to be the old skool - season ticket holders, they turn up late and leave early and in between all they do is bitch about so and so. Their negativity is definitely translating onto the pitch, if you continuously tell someone they are bad at this and that then that person starts to lose confidence. The Leeds fan were having a go at AA23 as they could sense that the home supporters had no respect for him, so why should they?

  9. Johnny B Goode

    Jan 10, 2011, 14:06 #727

    I think what we epected was to see a tam perform like a team, not give the ball away every second pass. But there I stop blaming the players and blame the manager. Arsene Wenger must take his share of critisism because he left our effective midfield befeft of anyone able to pass the ball like Fabregas, Nasri or Wilshere. As for our fans, we have never been a vocal crowd except when baiting the Sp*rs, possible because we have lost any identity that we ever had when we moved to Ashburton Grove. What we nedd is a proper "Arsenal" anthem, not some overcrooned Elvis ballad, something with a bit of life in it and I think that has got to come from the AST and the fans in the North Bank

  10. Harry Barracuda

    Jan 10, 2011, 13:58 #726

    SPOT ON! These perpetual whingers do nothing for the club.

  11. Valentine

    Jan 10, 2011, 13:55 #724

    Yes i coiuld not agree more with what u wrote cos i am disgusted by the behaviour of those fans and i have always said it that they are free to go and support Spuds if they wish cos a house divided against eachother cannot stand. Gunners for Life

  12. nugs

    Jan 10, 2011, 13:55 #723

    mate getting behind the likes of the above mentioned players would make no difference if your s**t your s**t end of, at the end of the day their mugging the paying fans off with their lacklustre peformances and deserve to be told how we feel! i personally feel some of the adoration eboue recieves is scandalous if he had an open goal 3 yards out and someone farted near him he would go down and sit there for 10 minutes with his arms in the air! there have been far better players than these who have recieved abuse down the years rightly or wrongly

  13. Alex

    Jan 10, 2011, 13:55 #722

    Although I agree with the sentiment I don't think your comparison with the Leeds support is valid. We have fantastic away support. I was watching the Birmingham game and they were all I could hear. Do you really think Leeds home support is as vociferous when they are putting in a sub-par performance against some battlers they should beat? I doubt it. However I do agree that whining from the first whistle is pathetic. I do think letting Arshavin know that miscontrolling simple passes inside the box when we need to score isn't exactly what we expect from him is fine.

  14. HollowayHarry

    Jan 10, 2011, 13:46 #721

    You can add Rosicky on that list of useless rubbish that need to go.

  15. Ed

    Jan 10, 2011, 13:44 #720

    Couldn't agree more. Our home support needs to start being proactive rather than reactive. We should be trying to lift the players rather than waiting for them to do something to lift us.

  16. chris dee

    Jan 10, 2011, 13:40 #718

    The reason the fans get annoyed and angry? Just as things start to get better and we start to dream the team repeatedly kicks us in the crutch with a size 10 hobnail boot.

  17. GoonerRon

    Jan 10, 2011, 13:27 #716

    Couldn't agree more, Mick. To an extent the club made a rod for their own back in terms of the general atmosphere by milking The Emirates for as much corporte income as possible. However, irrespective of that I fail to see how moaning and groaning is going to improve a player's performance? I've sat next to people and seriously, they seem to revel in players not doing well and barely celebrate a goal or positive peace of play. I'm not sure of the answer, but should fans get the team going or should the team get the fans going? Either way, we need the atmosphere sorting as we are a laughing stock. Fortunately, our away fans are up there with the very best.

  18. Chris

    Jan 10, 2011, 13:17 #715

    I agree, the Leeds away fans were excellent, really making themselves heard, but I'm sure our away fans are great too, and this was a huge game for Leeds. I can't say I heard any booing of the players you mention, but there was certainly some exasperation at the way Arsenal were giving away the ball cheaply time and time again. If we all behaved like the away fans at home, we'd have a very intimidating stadium to come to, but this harks back to the old problem of the kinds of supporters who come to the Emirates (of whom I count myself as one) can only get tickets occasionally, and aren't very vocal except in the higher octane moments!

  19. GoonerC

    Jan 10, 2011, 13:16 #713

    Mick - I think it's a bit silly to judge Leeds' support based on 6000 of them at an absolutely massive game. I was at Barcelona away last season (similar underdogs story) and our away support was brilliant. In-fact, it has been at all the away games I've been to, including the six I've managed to get to this season. I've been saying this for AGES but no one seems to listen. If you actually go to away matches you will see that home support is absolutely awful all over the country. Places like Everton, Sunderland, Liverpool, which all have fantastic reputations for atmousphere are easily as quiet as the Emirates. It's just the way that football is going at the moment, rather than a specific Arsenal issue. I personally think we have too many season ticket holders. I'm one myself and I know that there are tons of us who support the club vocally during matches, but a large portion don't turn up to many of the games (hence the empty seats). I think if we had more people who didn't come every week then they would be more excited and up for the games, creating a better atmousphere. Obviously the club would never do this because they get so much cash from the season ticket sales. To be honest I've not got a big problem with the atmousphere, but I definitely agree that the constant moaners are ridiculous. There is a guy who sits infront of me (he's got a season ticket) and he literally sits crossed armed for the entire game, grunting and moaning whenever we give the ball away, but never applauding the good stuff. It's infuriating!

  20. Jan 10, 2011, 13:11 #712

    Echo your views on the support, where I was sitting for the Leeds game was infuriating. Stuck with moaners and whingers all around telling Bendtner how to head the ball, telling Arshavin to run faster and calling Chamakh a morroccan c*nt. I am not having a go at them all but there were 7 or 8 fans around me that quite frankly can get out of my stadium and support someone else. If I were a player, I wouldnt want to play for them.