Simon Bonner
Ed’s note – for those of you who don’t know – James Randi is a debunker of those who claim to possess paranormal powers, such as Uri Geller, and stage magicians.
I was wondering about the current mental strength of the Arsenal fan base? It seems to me that as a group we have far less than the team.
Often when you're watching a football match you can see a goal coming. It doesn't happen every time, but most avid fans who watch the game can spot when something is about to happen. I think that the crowd at a game can play a big part in events such as these, they get excited and all but the most tunnel-visioned player would notice. The crowd are revved up by something a player does and in turn the player feeds on the confidence boost the excitement provides.
So where am I going with this? Well I think many Arsenal fans are creating an atmosphere that, although seems justified by the frustration felt, also conspires to perpetuate events that add to the frustration. When Chucky McLongarms or Hoofy Von Clogfoot send a ball randomly into the Arsenal box, the collective mental "oh bum" thought by a large section of fans must surely have the same effect.
It happens on a micro scale for individual events in a game and it happens on a macro scale for Arsenal too. The fans expect the "inevitable" February collapse and so it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. You only need to look at the Liverpool revival last season after Kenny was appointed to see that blind faith instead of negativity may have had something to do with it. A few of my Liverpool supporting friends thought that Kenny could get them into the top 4 last season and they think he'll even do better than top 4 this year... not based on any real facts but just that "Kenny is a legend".
Arsenal aren't about to sack Wenger, so what can they do? Arsenal just signed a young talented footballer who seems like he's very excited about playing for Arsenal, but a lot of blogs and comments were at the best a bit meh, and at worst descending in to rants about him not being an overpriced, slightly better than average, English center half. When fans can't see a positive in the club signing a player (even though he's not a defender) after we've been calling for transfers for the last few windows, it appears that Wenger and the board can't win with us. So when (and i do think when, not if) Arsenal sign a defender I predict that there will be a small happy minority, and a clamouring mass of fan spewing the virtues of the ones we didn't sign and vitriol at Wenger and his new recruit.
Of course bringing Kenny back to Liverpool changed the mind-set of their fans but it doesn't have to be this way round. The Arsenal fans could pay a little more attention to some of the positives and have a little more patience as the transfer window is still open. I'm not saying that people shouldn't have their opinions or that there aren't things that Wenger needs to address, but some Arsenal supporters need to be reminded that they should also "support" the club. The team don't need a Hoddlesque hippy guru to realign their chakras, but some fans need a swift kick in the pants for doing counterproductive things like booing a friendly which is no better than going down the park and booing some kids. The booing was pointless and frankly a bit embarrassing. You don't invite guests round for coffee and then boo your wife for replacing the gold top with semi-skimmed.
I'm as guilty of negative thoughts as the next fan. I've called Fabianski Flapihandski, I've felt the sinking feeling when a ball drifts in the box at an easily clearable head height, and I've groaned when the ball is walked to the edge of the opposition box and no shot happens. This season I'll be thinking of the good things about Arsenal; Wilshere is already excellent but will be called world-class before Christmas, RvP is lethal in front of goal, Ryo and Walcott are too quick for defenders to handle, Vermaelen will play a lot more games, Scezney will keep 20 clean sheets, Gervinho's mighty forehead will score 5 of his 15 goals this season... I could go on and I will in private. It may be delusional but there isn't a Liverpool, Manc, Chavski, Citeh or Spud fan who doesn't carry a belief, however large or small, that their team will win the league and I'd encourage all gooners to do the same... only more so as we are the ones who will win the league. Hoorah!
Ed’s note – Just a note to let those of you that partake in the Gooner Gambling Scheme that we will have a bet for the weekend which we will be running tomorrow morning (Friday)
