Mark Halfpenny
Watching Barcelona on Wednesday took me through a range of emotions. As they went 3-0 up I admired their skill, determination and teamwork. When PSG scored it reminded me of our “heroic failures” over the last 10 years, but as those last five minutes progressed and they completed the most amazing comeback, I felt only despair.
Despair that as Arsenal fan, with Arsene Wenger at the helm, we would never see our team play anything like that. That despair wasn’t borne solely out of the dreadful collapse that we witnessed from Wenger’s team the night before, it was borne out of his stubborn refusal to accept that he is so unbelievably far behind the top European teams and managers. Top manager?? In 30 years he still hasn’t won a European trophy and judging by Tuesday’s debacle – he never will!
Even after the whole world had witnessed the most awful collapse and defeat to Bayern Munich, Wenger went into full Comical Ali mode, blaming everything and everyone but himself. There was no introspection, no humility, no acceptance of what the whole world can see – just “What are you saying? There are no tanks in Baghdad!”
For Wenger to do this yet again beggars belief. Trying to blame the referee for a 10-2 aggregate defeat demonstrates just how out of touch with reality he is. I wonder what kind of daily life he must lead, what kind of people surround him, if he can refuse to look in the mirror after everybody has just seen how incompetent he is.
Sadly, Wenger’s continued “Bunker Mentality” in the face of all reason, means that our protests must continue. There will be another peaceful and respectful gathering before the Lincoln match tomorrow, Saturday 11th March.
We are starting once again from Highbury’s beautiful old Marble Halls where we will gather from 4.15. We intend to leave at 4.30 and walk together to the new stadium where we will call for Wenger to leave once again.
Our intention is not to cause trouble; not to spoil anyone’s day out; not to be disrespectful – it is to leave Arsene Wenger and our Board of Directors in no doubt that a large section of the fanbase wants him to go.
And for anybody that is contemplating joining us but is worried about what might happen, let me just say this. During our protest against Wenger before the Bayern Munich match, I was surprised at two things:-
1. The passion of the Gooners that joined us. Not aggression; not abuse; just passion for our great Club. I spoke to several fans that had travelled from hundreds of miles away. Fans had come from Ireland, from Devon, from Yorkshire just to make their feelings known, such is their frustration with Arsene Wenger.
2. The total lack of dissent shown to us by other supporters. We had only one1 person say anything against us during the entire protest and that was just a single shout of “Support the Team”. Every other fan either applauded us, filmed us or went about their own business. Surely this lays bare the myth that everyone is behind Wenger?
Oh and if anybody tells me this time to “Be careful what you wish for” my answer will be simple. “I wish not to get beaten 10-2 by Bayern Munich; or 5-1 by Barcelona; or 6-0 by Chelsea; or 8-2 by Manchester United; or 2-1 by Birmingham etc. etc. etc”.
If fans who want Wenger to leave and can't make game/protest/are overseas etc they are requested to do their bit and tweet the below text at kick off and at half time. Even if you are in or at the ground you can still do this.
@Arsenal @PUMA @emirates @Betfair @GatoradeUK @CitroenUK @CooperTire @Europcar @IndesitUK @Vitality_UK #NoNewContract #WengerOut
Or post the hashtags on the AFC Facebook page if you don't use Twitter.
If you want Arsene Wenger to leave, here's your chance to do something direct.
Ed’s note - The Gooner is an open platform for the views of supporters across the Arsenal spectrum. We print what is submitted to us. We welcome debate. Football is all about opinions after all. So if you have an issue with the content on the site or in the fanzine, please submit something. The truth is that we rarely receive positive articles about the club these days unless they are nostalgic in nature, but are open to running any that we do receive.
