Kevin Whitcher
Ed’s note - My thanks to Charlie Ashmore for doing the write-up on last night’s game, which I only saw sections of on a questionable stream
And so to the penultimate episode of The Wenger years season 22 (and final). Another away match and another defeat. Ain’t nobody able to say we don’t deliver consistency eh?
And what fun it was. The sort of thing that makes you give up going to live football. The match? No not at all. Meaningless end of season fixture and quite entertaining in its own way. What I am referring to is the moronic narrative being spouted by the ignorant prick we had the misfortune to be sat (sorry, stood) in front of all evening (well all evening until the third goal anyway at which point the energy it must take to be as angry as him ran out and he declared to the universal relief of those around him that he wasn’t going to stick around to abuse the team at the end). He was alone for the first half which to be honest didn’t surprise any of us as who would choose to have their evening ruined by a man whose opinions he feels are sufficiently important that they bear repeating ad nauseam loud enough for all around him to hear but of course never reaching the players and manager who they purport to be aimed at.
Here are some of the highlights:
“Maitland-Niles you useless c***. Never good enough to play for Arsenal. How many chances is that c*** going to give you?” The fact that he was one of our better players and did brilliantly to set up the goal not enough to give pause for breath nor even any apparent understanding that he has had about one chance in the position he believes is his best.
“Xhaka… £32m…my f****** arse. You’re f****** sh*t you useless c***. Have been ever since you joined.”
(Contrast with “Mikhitaryan… come on Micky you’re f****** better than that” as he gets the benefit of the doubt not afforded to others of a misplaced pass).
The defence… “stop marking space you useless c****. The c*** is going you don’t need to listen to him anymore. This sh*t wouldn’t have happened under George Graham” (ignoring the fact that under George Graham the defence that won us the title a few years later under Wenger nearly got us relegated in Graham’s last season).
“Wenger…. what the f*** are you doing?! We are 1-0 down and you bring another f****** defender on when we are chasing the game. No wonder you got the f****** sack you useless c***”. This of course after the sending off of Mavropanos when if we hadn’t brought on another centre half we would have been playing with one centre half for 80 odd minutes (and our fourth choice at that).
“Iwobi you useless c*** how the f*** can you stay on the pitch instead of Welbeck. How can you be better than Welbeck. You’re f****** rubbish.” (I am reasonably confident that had Welbeck stayed on, he too would have received the same dog’s abuse from our friend so he was perhaps lucky to be spared it. Unlike us.
Young players generally. “It’s a f****** joke. They are not f****** good enough for Arsenal. How many f****** chances do we have to give these c****. We are the Arsenal not a f****** academy.” The fact that many of our best sides in history have been stuffed full of players who came through the ranks obviously not relevant. They of course will never have made a mistake as they set out in first team football.
The team generally. “you useless c****” Make no f****** mistake most of you are out on your ear when the new man comes in and we get our Arsenal back. Only one more game of having to watch you f****** w******”.
And so on (with most of the above being repeated many times in the unrelenting verbal barrage). Imagine putting up with 90 minutes (no, sorry, 80 minutes) of this constant aural battery (even if you agree with some or all of the sentiments) delivered in an increasingly irritating whiney voice and you begin to understand how enjoyable the experience would have been for those of us who experienced it.
For what it’s worth, I enjoyed the game. I don’t think we deserved to lose 3-1 if at all. I thought the sending off was harsh as to me Rob Holding looked to be covering but those around me didn’t (our friend and I were in agreement that it shouldn’t have been a red but his “argument” seemed to be based on Mavropanas’ youth rather than merit). The penalty was down the other end but also looked harsh and this seemed to be supported by the way the referee appeared to pause before giving it.
We started well. Their goal came from nothing. That combined with the sending off changed the flow of the game. They had some chances as they dominated the rest of the half. Cech made some good saves. We started the second half well and started creating chances. At 1-1 (great work by Maitland-Niles) we looked the more likely winners until they took the lead again with a dodgy penalty – immediately after Mkhitaryan had inexplicably chosen to pass instead of shooting as it opened up for him. Credit to him for racing back to be the man in defence against whom the penalty was harshly (have I mentioned it was harsh?) given. We had a couple more breaks when we should have done better and then they scored again to kill the game off.
The majority of the fans took the game for what it was. An end of season kickabout in which we had played reasonably well (for about 60 minutes in total) and deserved a better result. Some knockabout banter with the home fans which is always in evidence at Leicester where the atmosphere is usually pretty good (“How sh*t must you be we’re drawing away” being responded to by “how sh*t must you be we’re drawing at home” was a particularly good exchange) and the whole ground sang “there’s only one Arsene Wenger” just before the end (which would probably have given our friend a heart attack had he not already left to beat the traffic).
Look, I get the fact that the whole Wenger thing has generated anger in many quarters (including one or two of those whose comments will appear below) and that’s fine. Nothing wrong with a bit of passion and I get the anger) but it is done now. Can we not all relax for a bit and just have a bit of fun before it all starts getting serious again? It used to be fun you know watching football and we used to be able to enjoy matches that meant nothing by taking them on their own merits. (Anyone remember going up to Everton in the late 80s after a torrid run and singing ‘We’ll score again don’t know where don’t know when’? Or going to Maine Road and losing 3-0 against a doomed to relegation City but doing the conga through the benches in the away end while singing “30 pound a week, thirty pound a week division 2 is calling you – 30 pound a week?”. It would be nice for it to start being fun again.
Huddersfield next for the damp squib finale. Here’s hoping for some entertainment and who knows maybe an away point or three to celebrate in 2018. Somehow the historical connection with Huddersfield makes it as appropriate an away venue with which to end an era.
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