Adrian Wagenaar
About this time last year, I posted a rant about how we needed to sign some players for the push towards the title. Of course, it never happened, and we collapsed to fourth in a two-horse race. I received some pretty heavy abuse and, of course, quite a few FODTLs (F***-Off-Down-the-Laners) made it clear I was a traitor and, in their opinion, no longer welcome at Arsenal. We then crashed out of four competitions within a few weeks and I, like thousands of other Gooners, were so pleased when the season did finally end.
For me, I had to make some kind of statement, even if it meant punishing myself, so I did what the FODTLs told me. I f***ed off, not "down the Lane", but rather to the Weston Homes Community Stadium, home of my local club, Colchester Utd.
At my first game, and armed with my £25 ticket, I took my seat in the West stand next to a young guy in his Colchester replica shirt. All the way through the first half, he spent half the time encouraging the Us and the other half staring at his iPad. I said to him during the game "you seem more interested in your iPad than the game". His reply was "I am a Gooner, but my club don't want me, so I come here for my football fix". I told him I had been an Arsenal fan for over 50 years, and he then introduced me to his brother sitting next to him who, up to last season, had been a season-ticket holder.
The brother then cited his reason for also giving up watching: "the club don't want fans like us, who go to the pub before the game, skip the programme, and give the overpriced food a miss. The board want fans who will arrive early at the ground and spend their day's money inside The Em*rates. They want to turn Arsenal into a kind of London Eye for those with a mild interest in football." He told me that he would return when the club wanted to win things again and when he had enough spare cash to justify the cost. The brother also added that there were other Gooners there at the U's ground that day purely because they couldn’t afford to take themselves and their kids to watch Arsenal. We then spent most of the second half staring at the small screen on his iPad as Arsenal hung on to a 1-0 win against Swansea.
Of course, watching another team is not like watching Arsenal, but when it costs a third of the price to go to the game, and you are back home in 20 minutes, and you are under no illusions as to the difference in the standard of football, it is a good day out. I have been three or four times since, and have enjoyed the live action. Although winning or losing does not register with me like it does with Arsenal, Colchester need my twenty-odd quid a lot more than Arsenal need my £50 plus overheads.
The football served up is good and bad in parts, but, if you asked me whether I would prefer Chamakh or the U's striker, Kayode Odejayi, to lead the Arsenal line, then it would be the big Nigerian every time! (I must add that I went to the Carling Cup v Citeh, but that was only to boo Nasri, and it only cost £20)
It is my little act of defiance against the board and management of AFC, who, having created one of the finest club sides ever in English football, then chose to destroy it with blatant lies about securing our future. All the last five years have been about is maximizing profits, conning the gullible and fleecing loyal Gooners!
So all those ready to throw abuse at me, think, please: a year on, and we are out of the top four, Sunday football beckons and we are the third-highest team in London….
…and Mr Wenger has said again that he will not spend!
