Peter Le Beau
The first day of the season used to be one of my favourite days of the year. Football was here again after the three or so barren months after the close of the previous season. For a football lover they seemed interminable.
That situation altered years ago and now the football season never ends. The Under-21 tournament is followed on by the Copa America and we can’t even remember which season is which. So in recent seasons the anticipation of the beginning of the new season depends on how good you expect it to be for your side.
It always helped if your side had brought in some exciting new players in the close season. Arsenal rarely do this (although history proves that when they do it is usually the precursor for a successful season). But remember the 1995/6 season when we signed Bergkamp and Platt – how exciting was that? I still remember as a kid in 1962 the excitement around the signing of Joe Baker and in 1997/8 the buzz around the new side that Wenger had assembled with Overmars and Petit and lots of exotic new reserves we thought might be great.
I am writing this some weeks before the season opening but I can’t ever remember being less excited about the first game. As I write we still have no idea about what will be happening with Fabregas and Nasri and Wenger has completely failed to deal with ANY of the problems that bedevilled us last year. Hopefully this piece will be overtaken by events and even if the two wantaway stars depart maybe Cahill, Jagielka, Mata and Benzema will have joined us but I write much more in hope than expectation.
Often the first game of the campaign is a barometer of how well you will do in the coming season. Our two titles under George Graham followed thumping wins at Wimbledon (in the days of Plough Lane) on the opening day. A very mediocre season in the early 80s was ushered in by a 1-0 defeat at home to Stoke (I think Lee Chapman scored for them). On another occasion in the days of the mural we were cruising 2-0 up against Norwich and thoroughly justifying our position as favourites for the title. I think many of us remember with horror the eventual 4-2 capitulation in the second half. (Don’t let anyone tell you the great back five never had nightmares!) Even worse was the day we proudly opened the North Bank Stand only to see Mickey Quinn nab a hat-trick for Coventry to condemn us to a 3-0 defeat ! (Another Back Five nightmare!) We went on to have (what was then classified) as a decent season but that sort of defeat takes a bit of getting over although stuffing Spurs at White Hart Lane in the last minute two days later helped us rather a lot!
When you become as old as I am first games blend into one another but some stand out. My first game as an Arsenal fan was in 1958 and we lost 2-1 at Preston. I remember that Tommy Docherty played for Preston that day and joined us immediately afterwards (no transfer window then). I also recall us playing Tottenham in the late sixties at White Hart Lane on the opening day. We beat them 2-1 and it heralded in a new era of progress and excitement at the club. I remember us thrashing Chelsea 3-0 at Highbury in the season after the double and I still remember Ray Kennedy scoring against Manchester United after two minutes as we went on to beat them 3-0 at Highbury in 1973. That’s a great way to start the season but as I recall it went on to be a lousy one. So first games can be misleading.
For me the increasing hype around football is actually stripping the game of its appeal. Football is such a big ticket item now it has lost a large part of its charm and that incredible excitement that I used to feel at this time of the year. It’s not just a function of age - I really wonder if the unceasing focus on money has not stripped the game of its wonder. All the close season is about now is ridiculous transfer rumours, bloated contracts and diminishing player loyalty. The internet is a wonderful thing in so many ways but it has spawned an industry that functions without logic or reason and which seems to an Arsenal fan to be always bringing bad news.
So am I right to be pessimistic or will Arsene and his men surprise us all again? At this distance I cannot really be sure but my faith in Wenger has diminished because I see no real sign that he is learning from the past and his great obsession with fielding a team of brilliantly creative pre-pubescent midgets shows no sign of abating.
But maybe we ought to make a resolution to try to enjoy our football more this year and shed the angst we’ve been storing up during the summer. The reason I say this is because thinking back to those early days when the beginning of the season felt like Christmas Day it was enough just to be able to watch my team again. In reality for a very long time they had much less chance of finishing close to the top than they do this season but somehow that didn’t seem to matter. Arsenal, my Arsenal were starting out on a new season and I wanted to be with them. I was certain that things had to get better if we began badly and that this was THE season if we began well. Those days have gone in the Premier League/Sky hyped/success is everything days but we still have a great club to support and maybe this year it is more important than ever that we make the powers that be at Arsenal realise that at the end of the day the essence of a football club is its fans and the love they have for their club. May Messrs Wenger, Gazidis, Kroenke and the whole of the team ensure that our love is reciprocated this year!
This season’s first issue of The Gooner went on sale at the weekend and can be bought online here.
