Dear Mr Allardyce, I have never written to the manager of a football club before, not even to whomever has been in the manager’s chair at Highbury, but I feel compelled to write to you following your club’s match yesterday versus Arsenal, and a number of incidents which occurred during the game, and your comments afterwards.

I am an Arsenal season ticket holder, and have been for the past 18 years. I first went to Highbury with my late father some 36 years ago, and have followed Arsenal all over the UK & Europe. I have witnessed the highs (3 Doubles, European trophies, Cup Finals galore) and the lows (Walsall, York City, Wrexham & Real Zaragoza). But I have always dealt with them in the words of Kipling, “If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you. If you can dream and not make dreams your master; If you can think and not make thoughts your aim; If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster and treat these two impostors just the same”

However, in all that time, I have never been so angered by an opposition team, by its players and management, as I was yesterday afternoon. I witnessed a display of such cynicism, blatant gamesmanship and timewasting that it is little wonder so many football fans gain greater enjoyment from watching football outside the Premiership. The challenge by Abdoulaye Faye on Jose Antonio Reyes was the catalyst for the undercurrent of nastiness which almost ruined the match. I accept he may well have been attempting to play the ball, and that he caught the ball first. But it was a two-footed lunge, both feet off the floor, which caught the player and left him with a broken leg, putting him out of the game for who knows how long and which means he will miss the World Cup. It was reckless, it was dangerous and whether intentional or not, it was serious foul play and merited a red card. Decision 4 of the International FA Board states “A tackle, which endangers the safety of an opponent, must be sanctioned as serious foul play”. Therefore, why did he not get a red card? Ask Howard Webb, only he knows the answer to that one.

Now, I can see the retort coming. What about Flamini? What about Diaby? I agree that Flamini was equally reckless. He should have got a yellow card at the very least. However, I would disagree with you regarding Diaby. His challenge on Ivan Campo was typical of a lot of challenges nowadays. A player goes in to block a clearance, and the player in possession clears the ball, but in his follow through, kicks the bottom of the defending player’s boot. Campo’s injury is a broken bone in his foot, near his big toe. The only way he could get such a fracture is either (a) by being stamped on, or (b) in the manner as I have described above. I know. I’ve suffered such an injury.

I was angered by Faye’s challenge, and mystified by the referee’s decision to only show a yellow card. But what happened next was enough to make even the meekest & mildest person blow their top. Whilst Reyes was receiving treatment and being placed on a stretcher, a number of comments were aimed at the Bolton bench. Nothing too abusive, the worst was probably “You dirty Northern bastards”. Typical fans’ comments, you would admit. However, the reaction of those not in the Technical Area was astonishing, in particular the antics of El Hadji Diouf. Whilst a fellow professional was being treated for what could be a career ending injury, Mr Diouf (and I use the term “Mr” loosely, for reasons that will become self-evident) could not contain his amusement at events for, when hearing the comments of the Arsenal fans, myself included, turned around and laughed. When he was asked “What’s so funny about a player with a broken leg?” he stuck his tongue out. He was then removed from his seat in the Paddock by a female steward and told to sit in the Technical Area, but that didn’t stop him turning around and continuing to laugh at the situation.

Where I sit, in the East Stand Lower Tier, is populated by fellow season ticket holders; fans that, like me, pay almost £1000 per season to watch the Gunners. We are professional people holding well paid jobs and who are, shall I say, the same side of 30 as you. We’re not hooligans; we’re just normal football fans who’ve followed Arsenal since childhood. However, the atmosphere in that area was like a tinderbox thanks to Mr Diouf. A number of complaints were made at half time to stewards and police concerning his behaviour. This was relayed to the 4th official, who ordered that Mr Diouf should not return to the Technical Area for the 2nd half.

The thing that angers me most is this: How, in the name of all that is holy, can a supposed professional footballer find a potentially career ending injury to a fellow professional so humorous and so worthy of such derision and scorn? It beggars belief that anyone could react in such a manner and think so little of a fellow human being. But then the antics of El Hadji Diouf do not surprise me in the least. You only have to ask the fans of Celtic, Middlesbrough & West Ham United for their opinion of Mr Diouf. However, he’s not the only person who raised my ire yesterday. You did.

The timewasting employed by your players was cynical, and showed a complete contempt for supporters. As Mr Wenger said quite accurately, "When you go to watch football, you want to watch football and not time-wasting". Just as an example (one of many throughout the game), when Matt Jansen was substituted, he decided to do a very passable impersonation of a snail. He was that slow, I thought he’d been caught in some form Star Trek-style time warp. It is cynical, disrespectful to supporters who’ve paid good money to watch a game of football, not someone ambling around without a care in the world, and what’s more, you don’t deny doing it. “We run the clock down like everyone else; we don't do it any differently. They (Arsenal) will do the same if they're winning anywhere away from home and they make a substitution.” Your words, not mine. Well Mr Allardyce, I was at St Andrews last Saturday and there was absolutely no evidence of us “running down the clock”.

You state "There's no rule in the game of football that says you've got to sprint off the pitch, is there?” Well actually, there is. Law 12 says that a player is cautioned and shown a yellow card if he delays the restart of play. By not leaving the field as quickly as possible, Matt Jansen was delaying the restart of play, and by your very utterances, you are condoning your players breaking the laws of the game. As I said at the very beginning of my letter, such cynicism, blatant gamesmanship and timewasting are putting many football fans off Premiership football. Attendances at Coca-Cola League matches are up, but Premiership attendances are decreasing. Your own club is a prime example. The Reebok Stadium was less than half-full for the FA Cup tie between our two clubs a fortnight ago. The attendances at Bolton’s UEFA Cup ties have been just as poor. Why? Because, if how your players behaved yesterday is the norm, who wants to watch that week in week out? No wonder so many fans gain greater enjoyment from watching football outside the Premiership. I have watched Barnet for many years, and it’s a totally different atmosphere to a Premiership game. There’s more friendly banter between opposing fans, between the fans and the players, and the fans feel that they are a part of the club, unlike in the Premiership, where they are treated with contempt and like walking cash machines (and sadly, I include Arsenal in this assessment).

I won’t stop supporting Arsenal – I’ll support them to my dying day, and I’ll continue to follow them “over land and sea”. However, I will think long and hard as to whether I am prepared in future to part with my hard earned cash to go to the Reebok Stadium. Why should I pay to featherbed the egos of people who treat me with contempt, yourself included? Yours, Mr James Wall