I never realised Arsenal fans were such a reactionary lot. The latest hysteria doing the rounds about the prospect of having Premier League fixture played in foreign fields is just a bit over the top. It seems every ‘working class hero’ worth his salt is almost quivering with righteous indignation. Why exactly? These seem to be the general arguments.

The first one is this Little Englander attitude that Arsenal Football Club somehow begins and ends in N5. Demonstrably untrue. There are Arsenal fans all over the world. Literally. I wouldn’t mind betting, you could pick almost any corner of the globe and find a huddle of blokes in replica shirts sitting round a TV at some ungodly hour getting more than a bit excited about watching THEIR team playing. The argument seems to go that unless you were born within gobbing distance of the Holloway Road, then you don’t actually count, or at least don’t count as much. I’ve been watching Arsenal from the vantage point of SE10 for almost 50 years. Presumably I don’t count either. We are an international club with an international manager and international players. If that bothers you and you yearn for the days of Bovril and meat pies, then go and follow Barnet. You’ll have a whale of a time.

The second point is that Premier League football is getting greedy. Getting greedy? Of course they’re getting greedy. It’s been that way for years! Where have you been? Quite recently, Keith Edelman announced quite impressive end of year figures. Weren’t you even slightly pleased about that? Of course you were, you hypocrites! I bet you went straight into work the next day armed with all the relevant financial information and rubbed it right in the noses of that Spurs fan who sits opposite. At the end of the day, you have to decide. You either want the club to make money, or you don’t. If you want to see the best players, you might just have to pay top wages. Make your bloody mind up. You can’t have it both ways.

The third argument is quite a good one, basically that the fixture list is crowded enough as it is, so how can we justify even more games. A fair point. The solution is embarrassingly simple. Do away with international football as we know it. That would free up more than enough time. Come on, put your hand on your heart, do you really enjoy watching Rooney, Ferdinand and Cole running around and being made to look decidedly average by a load of amateurs from some country you need to find on Google? Also how do you feel when Van Persie and Flamini come back exhausted and crocked from playing some meaningless friendly for their national side, who you couldn’t care less about? If players are going to knacker themselves, let them at least do it wearing an Arsenal shirt. International football is dying a death and the Premier League will just knock the final nail in. Wenger knows that, and I’m sure the FA does as well. I wouldn’t be particularly surprised if that is what all this is about. Well Sir Brooking, here’s a solution for international football. Every four years all the countries in the world decamp in the summer to some country that can manage the numbers (Germany would get my vote) and have a competition. Purely knockout. No boring friendlies or qualifiers. They can seed the teams, a bit like Wimbledon tennis. You’re allowed a couple of weeks preparation, then off you go. You never know it might even be exciting. A real festival of football. Wouldn’t that be something to look forward to?

Of course the idea of playing Premiership games abroad is fraught with logistical problems. It might turn out to be completely unworkable, on the other hand it might not. Why not keep an open mind? It could create an interesting focus for the season. If it encourages people around the world to join the Arsenal family, then I’m all for that. How can that not be a good thing, whichever way you look at it?

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