Graham Perry
For many of us old’ uns the win against Anderlecht in April 1970 ranks as the Highbury Highlight – the greatest moment at the stadium of many memories. Cast your mind back to that night and you will recall that the third goal in our 3-0 win was scored by Jon Sammels. He smashed the loose ball into the back of the net and joyously celebrated what we all knew was victory.
There is a link between that night, that goal and that player and events at Arsenal today. Sammels was home grown – an Arsenal loyalist, a red shirt man through and through. He always tried his best. He made it to the England Under 23 level but fell short of a full cap. His trademark was a long shot and all of us who remember that pre-Double period will recall games against Liverpool and Man U when a Sammels long shot became a goal.
Things went wrong for Sammels – a drop in form and he became the focus of the boo-boys. His confidence fell away and with the arrival of Charlie George opportunities to shine were limited. He played in 15 matches in the 1970-71 Double season, scoring just one goal. He loved Arsenal but he and manager Bertie Mee recognised that his future lay away from Highbury. He moved to Leicester City and on retirement became a driving instructor. I believe he still watches the League Champions.
A few years back in 2002 I chanced to meet Sammels. With a good friend, Roger Winfield, I attended the funeral of Bertie Mee. We saw Sammels and approached him after the ceremony. He had heard of Bertie’s death only the night before and drove down from Leicester that morning to attend the funeral. We talked about his time at Highbury and recalled the highs – the goals and the celebrations. He smiled and in turn, sadly, recalled the lows and in particular the boos. It was a warm exchange. We were pleased to meet him and he was pleased to be remembered. It was clear Arsenal FC remained his home and his first love. A good man – Jon Sammels.
But the boo boys got to him. Chortled at his mistakes, mocked at his misses. He fell away. He had to leave.
We have a parallel today – the Ox. Similarly hard-working – committed to Arsenal – a team player but a player struggling with a loss of form. Some of the crowd are beginning to focus on him and we are a step away from boos and derision and humiliation. Supposing it was one of our children who was falling short – failing at school, getting into scrapes. You know he/she is a good kid but one who is struggling to get things right. You don’t laugh at them or mock them or humiliate them. You contain your frustration because you know a good shout rarely works. You put an arm around the shoulder, give them a hug and support them until they come out the other side.
So with the Ox we have two choices – join the boo boys and help to destroy his frail self-confidence or give him full support and help him and the team and AFC.
How to do it – shout his name – applaud him if he comes on as a substitute – sing his praise. Let him know we care – we support him and we love him because we love AFC and he in a red shirt is AFC.
Helping someone when they are down is the mark of maturity and our outlook on life and helping an Arsenal player is an expression of our love for Arsenal.
So let’s resolve to help the Ox. Adopt him, support him, encourage him, embrace him. The alternative is too ugly to contemplate.
Come on the Ox – you can do it. Dig deep. Use your goal last night as the springboard for future success. We are shouting for you.
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