Yasir Matloub
‘There used to be a football club over there.’ How right was Keith Burkenshaw, the ex- Tottenham manager when he resigned from Spurs having led the club to UEFA Cup glory. I remember with great nostalgia going to see matches in the early 1970 on the tube and having to pay less than £2 to stand on the glorious North Bank. I also remember when we waited outside until half-time and we were able to see the second half free. I remember seeing players using public transport to go and train at Highbury. I remember some of them joining us at different pubs when the weekly salary was £250 week.
Then when Terry Neill wrote his book ‘Revelations of a Football Manager’ he described the impact of David Dein becoming the most powerful man at Arsenal when he bought the majority of the Peter Hill-Wood’s shares at less than £10 each in 1982/83. It was the start of a change at Arsenal into commercialisation and mega money. Like cancer it was spread slowly but progressively and match ticket prices were rising more than the rise of the average Joe Bloggs supporter’s income. Slowly Gooners (most without realizing) began to be replaced by new glory hunter affluent supporters.
When Arsene arrived in 1996, commercialisation was still in its infancy but shares were changing hands at £400 each. Then after some great success, we were sold the mirage and false dream of a new ‘home’ where Arsenal can only get better and titles and cup glories will continue - and we Gooners were ‘fooled’ by such an idea. In my book the only people who benefited from the move from our spiritual home of ‘Highbury’, are the directors who sold their shares to the silent American or to the Russian.
The final insult to injury was when in 2009, I decided not to renew my very expensive season ticket to look after my ailing mother (I asked for a one year reprieve) and one of the box office staff rang me to say ‘Mr. Matloub, you have until 4pm to make a decision’ reminding me that there were more than 30,000 on the waiting list..
I realised that Arsenal FC has changed and it was not the same football club that I used to love and support and only the name remains the same. I saw and know many fans who simply could not afford paying for the most expensive season tickets. And that’s apart from rising transport costs (if like me you live in Cardiff) and food and drink, not mention taking one’s kids so they’ll can be the future Gooners.
I realise and acknowledge that other Premier League clubs followed and copied Arsenal’s methods and real hardcore fans suffered at the hand of the new prawn sandwich brigade. This why I am thinking of supporting a community based club like Portsmouth whose fans control the club’s affair or a similar one like Newport County where fans still have a say in the club, something that will never happen at the club that once I loved and adored.
