Mark Halfpenny on behalf of Wenger Out Protest Group
Dear Arsenal Fan,
Peaceful fan protest – Saturday 3rd February 2018
We would like you to join us in a peaceful protest before our home game against Everton in the Premier League.
Date: Saturday 3rd February 2018
Time: 16:00 onwards (Kick off is at 17:30)
Meeting point: Outside the old Marble Halls, Avenell Road, N5 1DP
Our objective is for Arsenal fans to come together and march from Highbury to the new stadium, to express our deep dissatisfaction at the steady and worrying decline that we are witnessing from our great Club. We have gone from being a club that competed for the biggest trophies, to an inconsistent club that embarrasses itself, both on and off the pitch, on a regular basis.
Last season saw us win the FA Cup but suffer utter humiliation at the hands of Bayern Munich. Last season also saw us finish a distant 5th in the Premier League, 18 points behind the champions. Our record against the Top 4 was P8 W1 D2 L5, that’s 5 points from a possible 24.
This season has seen us dumped out of the FA Cup by managerless Nottm Forest, look far from convincing in the Europa League and, perhaps most worryingly, sit in 6th place 23 points behind the league leaders. And - once again this season, we have witnessed numerous defensive horror shows, as the first four photographs on the right prove.
Unsurprisingly, all of those led to a goal. At times, our defending (throughout the entire team) would shame a Sunday morning pub team. What does Wenger work on in training? We have gone from having the best back four in living memory, to having no back four at all. And these total aberrations are nothing new. They have littered our play for years, cost us numerous matches and they demonstrate a club that totally lacks leadership and discipline. No other top team behaves in this way. The only direction we are heading is backwards
It is truly horrible to watch the current Arsenal squad. We have declined to the point where no other team fears playing us. In April 2017, Sam Allardyce (then at Crystal Palace) stated “Arsenal are weak defensively – they leave the centre backs exposed”. He stated that, in a BBC interview after we had lost 3-0 to Palace, so our all too obvious failings have been public knowledge for a long time. But, we have seen only decline, as the bottom two photographs demonstrate.
All of these pictures confirm exactly what Allardyce said. Defensively, Arsenal are a total shambles.
Our woes continue off the pitch. Our three best players are all in the last year of their contracts and not one of them has committed their future to Arsenal so, once again, confusion reigns. Our best player, Alexis Sanchez seems determined to leave, thereby joining a list that contains Thierry Henry, Cesc Fabregas, Robin van Persie and others. All of those top class players have decided that they are not going to fulfil their ambitions at Arsenal, under Arsene Wenger’s mismanagement.
When asked about Sanchez, Wenger stated “I don’t master the rhythm of it, but it could happen today, tomorrow or not at all. He (Sanchez) is being vague at the moment. Even I don’t know which way it will go”
Those are not the words of a manager in full control, or even partial control. Those are the words of somebody that knows his house of cards is tumbling down all around him. He should have left years ago. The whole point of our protests last season, was to ensure that we didn’t continue declining into this awful mess.
Moving to the boardroom, we see more disarray. At the recent Annual General Meeting, we witnessed yet another shambles. Ivan Gazidis claimed laughably that “objective metrics” show that Arsenal are outperforming our rivals. The league table shows otherwise, but fair play to Ivan for having such bare faced cheek.
Gazidis tried also to claim that any supporter unrest was being driven by the media, through inaccurate reporting and driving agendas. Ivan – you are 100% incorrect! Please credit supporters with at least a modicum of mental agility. We have based our discontent on what we witness on the pitch.
Also at the AGM, Gazidis acted as straight man to the comedy turn that was Sir Chips Keswick. I thought it would be impossible to find a character more arrogant, more out of touch, more obnoxious than previous Chairman Peter Hill-Wood but Keswick proved me wrong. What a performer!
Arsenal Football Club used to exude class from every pore. Now it resembles a once elegant ocean going liner, quietly rusting in a breaker’s yard. The Captain and Officers still stride the deck, oblivious to their inadequacies, but the halcyon days – the days when everybody admired and respected her beauty – are long gone. A complete overhaul is needed and, unless that overhaul happens immediately, those halcyon days may never be rediscovered.
Whether you believe that the root cause of our problems lies with Wenger, with Kroenke, with the Board of Directors or even the players, please join us and make your feelings known.
Football fans (especially Arsenal fans) pay an exorbitant sum to watch their team these days. There has been far too much passive acceptance at Arsenal; far too much defeatism. We have a very powerful tool at our disposal – if only we would use it. We need to make our feelings known so please come and join us on 3rd February 2018 and make your voice heard.
#wengerout #kroenkeout #gazidisout #timeforchange
