View from the Armchair is back ahead of Arsenal vs Leicester - and he absolutely loves the insight from All or Nothing.
Read on for his take as he says it's like the best Big Brother Show - but will people you love.
It’s the eve of a new season and expectations are high, rightly so, this is Arsenal.
I find myself up late at night and I’m watching the first episode of the new Documentary that has dropped, Arsenal All or Nothing.
What a captivating watch, I’m only 10 minutes in and I can’t quite believe what I’m seeing, never before have we had a glimpse behind the curtain of this magnificent club in such a fashion.
Aaron Ramsdale is displaying the mental strength in his first interview that he carried on all the way through the season, and the fans have already disgraced themselves with the display of vile tweets aimed at him.
KSI, a YouTuber has had a microphone put under his nose and he’s mumbling and grumbling cos he has been reared on a diet of Champions League football and Champions League football alone, a 2-0 defeat away to Brentford, closely followed by a home defeat against Chelsea and somehow we are all privvy to what’s going on In the dressing room at half time.
By the time the full time whistle has gone the boo’s are ringing out and the abuse is following Arteta down the Holloway Road.
I hope the Arsenal fans watching this, the ones so ready to jump up and down and get irate and angry are having a moment to contemplate, to take time out and pause for thought, obviously we are all watching this incredible documentary with the benefit of hindsight.
I’m into the third game of the season a 5-0 hiding at the hands of Manchester City, Arsenal sit bottom of the league and the wave of opinions has become a tsunami of abuse, and yet somehow those within the club remain strong.
Surprisingly to me at least Josh Kroenke is showing himself to be a pillar of support for Mikel Arteta and I know our fortunes are about to change with the safe hands of Ramsdale being given the responsibility of keeping the ball out of our net.
I have to say I was most surprised when I discovered Arsenal were going to allow the cameras in behind the scenes, I felt it would be a mistake, I didn’t see how it was ever going to be of benefit to the club, but watching it now, still amazed at what I am seeing, I’m hoping that some lessons can be learned for all.
There is no denying the passion that the fans bring to the club, and yes obviously we all want to see the same thing happen, wins, goals and passion from the players.
Norwich are coming to the Emirates, Ramsdale has the number one shirt and I already know this game is won and in the bag and we are about to go on a run. A run that will unite both the support and the players together, a run that will see us climb back up the table where this club belongs. A clean sheet against Norwich and a sneaky 1-0 win and we are on our way, this is a good moment.
Episode One has ended and the next episode awaits, I’ve seen the snippets on Twitter already where our club photographer takes over the team talk for the Spurs game, the North London Derby the big one, I’m still in disbelief that we are seeing access all areas, even on the team bus on the way up to Burnley, you only ever used to get this kind of coverage if you made it to the cup final, all eyes are on Aubameyangs haircut, it’s very snazzy it has stars on it, and probably costs more than what the average Arsenal fan earns in a week, Auba is already coming out of this documentary with some credit to my eyes and I know what’s coming up ahead which is a fall from grace, I have a lot,of time for Auba, I feel he has carried himself with a lot of dignity with the way he departed the club, it was far from ideal for all parties concerned, but he has resisted the opportunity to have a nibble back.
It will be interesting to see where he ends up if as expected he is to depart from Barcelona, I’m hoping it’s not back in the Premier League.
Emile Smith Rowe makes his first appearance in the documentary wearing the No10, no pressure there then. The mental strength these kids are showing is incredible, the attention to detail is something to behold as he is pulled to one side and given some one to one information on how to improve and what is expected of him, this is like watching the best ever series of Big Brother with a group of celebrities you’ve grown up to love.
I think the fans are the ones who can learn the most from this documentary, as the eye of the storm increases and gets wilder and ever more fierce you need a calm head, you need to be able to see the wood in amongst the trees, I’m not entirely happy seeing Thierry Henry seemingly cranking up the pressure, knowing he is in the corner of Spotify whose agenda is a lot darker to my mind than merely robbing all of the musicians of all of their wealth so it can be funnelled into a sponsorship deal with Barcelona.
Stuart McFarlane the Arsenal Club photographer writes himself into the fabric of the history of this club with a team talk that would have sent you over the top in trenches of World War One with a smile on your face and fire in your belly, it’s smiles all around as the third goal goes in against Spurs, but as we know sadly they had their revenge at the end of last season.
Its highs, its lows - and its an absolute rollercoaster being an Arsenal fan never been any different in my time of watching them, whether that be on the terraces or as now watching from afar.
Take a bow Stuart, that was some seriously inspiring business, the unison between the fans and the club is only growing stronger and despite the credits rolling on episode two showing us that the highs of the Spurs win are soon to be followed by the lows of defeats away to Liverpool and Everton, there’s lessons to be learned for all.
This fly on the wall documentary was an extremely risky thing to do in my opinion, but I’m already hooked, I just hope the fans can take some lessons from it and remain calm and cool headed as we head into the new season.
A new season of high hopes, the team has been given a boost across all areas on the field, it’s down to you to play your part on the terraces, stay strong, stay with them and embrace that football is not all about being invincible, it’s about so much more, you can see it on the faces of the parents of Ramsdale when he made his debut, you can feel it when you hear Bukayo talk about seeing the business card that was given to his parents as an eight-year-old and his mind was made up.
I’m moving on up into Episode 3 and I wish all of you match going punters this best of luck for the season ahead on your travels.
You have your part to play in the success of this club, do it with the pride and class that goes along with supporting Arsenal Football Club.
COYG!!