Mark King
Last week I listened to a podcast debate between @GeoffArsenal and Moh from ArsenalFanTV and creator of the #YouSpendWeSpend campaign. I like Geoff; he comes from a similar generation as myself and seems a nice guy, although I do struggle with his continued unwavering belief in Arsene and the club. As to Moh, not really heard much of his previous rhetoric, but I have to say that during the first few minutes of the debate he did come across as quite condescending. However, by the end of it, once I got over the sniping and repetition, I gave the decision to Moh on points.
The interesting thing was the reaction to the debate on Twitter, which has led me to this article. To me it seems Gooners are falling in to the following categories:
1. Those who want Wenger gone, regardless of how much responsibility he actually holds for some of the mistakes Arsenal has made. The worrying thing about this group is that they have chosen to disregard what he has done for our club to the extent where they will abuse him.
2. Those who believe that change is needed; that Wenger should have bowed out at the end of last season as a winner, leaving his legacy intact. A new 3 year contract was not merited for winning a trophy, when in reality we were 8 minutes from defeat in the semi by Wigan, eventually winning the penalty lotto and then 2 nil down to Hull within 8 minutes of the final starting.
3. Those really not sure, unconvinced by the last few years, but willing to let him have 1 last try at getting it right now the financial handcuffs are off. But they’re not many bad results away from wanting change sooner rather than facing 3 more years of on field failure seemingly offset by financial success.
4. Those who feel that Wenger is the right man for the job, mainly because of their favourite mantra; "If he goes, who's available & good enough to take over?" There may be a fear of change and the damage it could do behind their reluctance.
5. Those who are right behind him, who feel that he is a victim of bad luck with injuries, the filthy rich chavs and mancs and that any mistakes that have been made are the fault of someone other than AW. All that is required is patience, because Wenger, self-sustainability and FFP will lead us to the land of milk & honey.
These are five pretty broad categories, there may even be more. I feel the majority of our support find themselves flitting between the three middle grounds, mainly based on results and performances. Quite a few have already nailed their colours to 1 or 5 and won’t be shifted come what may. By the final whistle v Chelsea there could be more defectors from 3 to 2 and 2 to 1 if we don’t show any improvement on last year’s visit. I’m not suggesting we are odds on to lose, but I’m also not willing to accept that any possible defeat by less than six goals can really be considered progress.
So with so much angst and anger amongst the fans what can be done? Well one thing I think we need to see is a combined effort from the supporter groups to communicate with the club on certain subjects. At the moment, we as fans are spending all our time and energy fighting with each other, whilst the club gets a free ride from being brought to account; talk about divide & conquer!
Now, we have our share of bell ends as fans, I’m pretty sure there will be quite a few supporters who will suggest I am one just for writing this. However, I firmly believe that the ratio of idiots against total fans is a lot lower at Arsenal than it is at other clubs, particularly the likes of Chelsea, where the club is led in the boardroom, the dugout and on the pitch by three of the most loathsome individuals you could ever have the misfortune to deal with on one continent, let alone all at the same football club.
I reckon that as a fan base we have some really great people following our club. Some of them are hilariously funny, making me laugh on a daily basis. Others are very astute about the game, providing analysis of players, systems and tactics far beyond that of a lot of the so-called media experts. Many are brilliant at debating an issue, using facts and logic and not resorting to childish behaviour. Then there are the economists, some of whom break down the complexities of modern football finances into simple terms, so that simple fans like myself can understand.
I’ve seen a lot of criticism of the financial discussions lately and yes, some of it is repetitive and becomes tedious, especially in 140 characters. A lot of the criticism is based around the ‘why should we care about the figures?’ argument, which I struggle with. Should such matters be beyond the sort of mindless ‘consumers’ who plough their hard earned cash into following their team? Would you allow any other provider of a service or product to take the p*** out of you the way the club do? No, because you’d switch to another product or company. Not an option for us junkies is it!
Geoff on the debate was quite dismissive about the 3% increase and for once I don’t need @SwissRamble to tell me that an increase of just over £30 on my £1k season ticket is actually less than a quid a week. You know what, Geoff is right, that quid a week isn’t going to bankrupt me or mean my kids will go without shoes or be downgraded from butter to dripping. However, that’s not the point, because what is pertinent is that the rise was completely unnecessary. I would rather have given the £30 to the NSPCC or Macmillan than to the club, especially when you learn that by complete coincidence, the total raised by the 3% was roughly equal to the ‘advisory fees’ charged by Silent Stan.
Anyway, see what I did there? I allowed my passion for the club and my own opinion to spill over in to my writing and I so wanted to avoid that because of what is coming next! I want to set a challenge and I’m going to ask the Arsenal supporters’ groups, fanzines, bloggers and tweeters to take it on.
There is one common denominator amongst all of us, across the whole fan base and certainly this should be the case for those who set out to represent us in a greater way than being a single voice; the simple fact that we all love Arsenal.
Each & every one of us is addicted. We are Arsenal junkies and the owners know they have the only supply of what we need. We live & breathe for AFC. Outside of my wife & kids, the most important thing in my life is Arsenal and it has been that way for over 40 years. The same can be said for others, some will have 60 years, others will be newer to the habit, but every fan, regardless of their opinion on how things are right now, only wants one thing and that is for Arsenal to succeed on the pitch.
Yes, self-sustainability is great. Yes, the support of Gay Gooners and leading the fight to kick all forms of discrimination out of football is brilliant. Undoubtedly our players having the humility to take the p*** out of themselves on social media for certain causes is terrific. But you know what, at the end of the day supporting the club is about those 90 minutes. It’s about doing everything you can to produce a team that will win when they cross that white line. That comes down to the owner, the board, the manager, the coaches, the scouts, the medical team (!) and the players. We as fans will do our utmost to help them and when you look at our brilliant away support, who have had some pretty horrendous experiences over the last few seasons, I think we stick to our side of the bargain.
So, we have some smart people involved in following the club. Plus we all love the Arsenal and want them to do everything within their power to build a team that wins as often as it can. So here’s the challenge.
I would like all those who carry weight of fan support behind them to get together. I want them to first of all agree that there is a need for us to show some unity. They may all have different priorities and certainly differing opinions on particular topics, but as I have said above, they should all have one common goal. Then, agree on an agenda and on a few subjects to discuss. Then get together in a room and behave like professional people, who are smart enough to debate sensibly and who all want Arsenal to succeed. Yes, there will be heated discussion and some will need to suggest concessions and others will need to accept them. Reach an agreement on what is the best way to present your communication and finally on what you are asking of the club.
I can suggest a few things below:
• What is the correlation between the 3% rise on season tickets and the advisory fee taken from the club by KSE?
• Why does a leading English Premier League football club, in existence for 128 years, who sat at the top table of European football long before the interest from KSE, require ‘advisory services’?
• After a very successful start to the transfer window, why was there a huge period of inactivity until the late deadline day purchase of a striker and would that purchase have still been made if our regular first choice had not suffered an injury the previous week meaning a lengthy spell out injured?
• Why, given the stature of our club, the finances available and the breadth of our scouting network could we not have found a player to supplement the protection in front of our back four, an area which was identified as a key weakness during the previous season?
• Why was our club captain and first choice as back up for centre half allowed to leave, without an adequate replacement being brought in?
• Based on what has happened at Man Utd thus far and last season, which shows the difficulties in replacing a long term successful manager, is the club actively involved in succession planning so that we are prepared for a structured handover during 2017?
• With the fact that we have very few problems at Emirates Stadium with crowd behaviour, why does it appear that the stadium management make it difficult for fans and fan groups to try and improve the match day atmosphere and experience?
There you go, there’s seven off the cuff. I’m certain that some of the above may have to be reworded to avoid any offence being caused or omitted completely, but the framework is there. I’m sure that people in the supporters’ groups, fanzines & blogs, who already commit far more of their time to the club than I do can come up with some additions and improvements. If they can find agreement on say five questions to ask the club, they could present an open letter to the board in advance of the AGM. It could show that these groups who represent the fans are prepared to come together and take a united stance on certain points of interest. Surely the board would have to take note of their combined audience and the power of their opinions amongst the wider fan base, especially with Arsenal’s huge presence on social media.
There are those who will claim that producing such an open letter is just negativity, giving the media another stick to beat us with. They’ll say we need to get behind the players we have and support the team. My response would be that when we are needed, on match day when it really matters, we are 100% behind whichever players are wearing the cannon on their chest. I would never suggest doing something that harmed the team’s chances on the pitch, but asking a few specific, non-personal questions, either as a paying customer of a business or as a supporter of the club, is not disloyal. Remember, Arsenal should exist for the fans, not for the owner or the TV companies.
Then there will be some who will say what’s the point. The club don’t have to respond, which in itself would speak volumes. They could respond and they pay shedloads of money to people far smarter than me to provide smoke, mirrors and general obfuscation as a response if they so desire. But really, to do nothing? Is the best path one where we simply roll over and let Stan tickle our tummy? Is that what supporting Arsenal is about? Not for me it isn’t. I’d suggest that Peter Storey’s penalty in 71, Rocky’s goal at the Lane in 87, Michael Thomas at Anfield or Thierry v Liverpool in 04 is actually what supporting this club is about.
So, this is my challenge to the AISA, AST, RedAction and the BSM. I throw it out also to the Gooner fanzine and those who have huge followings on the web & social media such as ArseBlog, LeGrove, SheWore, Bergkamp Wonderland, ArsenalFanTV and any others with similar audiences. I’m not asking you to become mates, hell you don’t even have to like each other (probably a good thing!), you just need to be ‘man’ enough (excuse the sexism) to put any differences, personal or otherwise to one side, for the good of the club we all follow. I am aware that in the past year, an attempt was made to do something similar, which failed to gain accord from all the groups involved. I think it’s worth another try surely?
Can you come together? Can you forego personal agendas, point scoring and sniping. Are you able to decide on some common areas of discussion, talk through them rationally, show flexibility and a bit of give and take for the greater good? Finally, to agree on a communication to the club that shows we will not be steamrollered by the businessmen in charge. Show them that even if they can take the p*** out of us financially, at least we won’t let them do it without putting up some kind of fight; making them work for it and publicly justify their actions.
