Your Vision
Your Vision - Arsenal fans, A massive disappointment
24 Mar 2010PLEASE NOTE THAT YOUR VISION ARTICLES ARE SENT IN BY READERS AND ARE NOT WRITTEN BY ARSENAL VISION WRITERS.
By Matt Manners
I am a Gooner and have been since I can remember and this season I have lost a hell of a lot of respect in my fellow Gooners.
Whether they are new fans or old, far too many have jumped on the media bandwagon when things weren't going as planned throughout the season.
'We must buy!' 'That player is sh*t' and 'Wenger has to go!!!!'
Complete insanity!
Not once did any of these complete w*nkers take a moment, a deep breath and have a look around them.
Since Wenger came to the club we have gone from mid-table mediocrity, done two doubles, an invincible season, moved from a crumbling stadium that gave us less revenue than Sunderland and a host of others clubs, moved into a world class stadium and stayed in the champions league for a decade straight! Oh and we get to watch the best 'footballing' team in the world.
But wait a minute I hear you cry. We haven't won anything in 5 years, these weak arsenal fans regurgitating that media drivel we hear everywhere from arsenal haters. Again take a moment, another deep breath.
We were 3 points in front, at the summit, at the top of the pile in 2008 when Eduardo's sock kept his leg from spinning out of St.Andrews - we were right in there fighting. Adebayor went walkabout and we drew the next nine after that and still only finished 3 points off the top! Not exactly a sh*t team.
We made the Champions League Final in 2006, the first time ever and were 18 minutes from glory and 7 from extra time with 10 men for the majority of the game.
Whilst all the Man united and Liverpool fans are protesting as their clubs are in danger of going bust, into administration unless they find a billionaire owner, ours is safe and secure. We don't go to bed at night sweating like City and Chelsea thinking, what if Roman or Khaldoon get bored and want to get their money back? Something the Chavs must really be sweating on after Tuesday night and another Champs League failure. What then?
We have a great club, a manager that any team would pay Arsenal multi-millions for, an amazing stadium and a team that is growing in stature and oozing class! Class that even Messi recognises! We have done all this with no money.
So why don't we start acting like the supporters the club deserves!!! Get behind the team through thick and thin. We have no god given right to win the league each year but because of Wenger we think should. We should be happy that we are allowed such high expectations every season!!
We have eight games to go in the Prem, let's support them hard and loud every minute of every game. Win or Lose! and trust me Europe will be worried about us in the Champs League.
A GOONER FOREVER. Are you?
Mean Lean's Response
Nice post mate and I certainly look at our club through the same vision as yourself. It has become quite apparent that a large divide has been slashed down the middle of Arsenal fanatics around the country and indeed the world.
The negativity seems to have vanished into a puff of smoke in the last few weeks. Through sections of the season I have been reading how Wenger's policy has failed and he should either spend or leave. All of a sudden it has gone all quiet on that front.
I think the problem is that many seem to forget why they support the Arsenal in the first place. Supporting Arsenal isn't just about winning trophies, it isn't just about bragging to your Manchester United friends about how many trophies we have won. You cannot (well you can, but you should be shot if you did) just swap teams if Arsenal haven't won a trophy in 6 years. Winning trophies is nothing more than a bonus. A very nice bonus at that but just because we are Arsenal, it doesn't mean that we should automatically pick up the trophies every season.
Don't get me wrong when I say this, I want Arsenal to win the league more than I ever have done in the past, but if Manchester United do not drop anymore points does that mean that we have failed? If we miss out by a point will that mean that Wenger should go? And if we win on goal difference then is Wenger suddenly a hero?
If we had sold all our top players and then spent ridiculous amounts of money on an aging expensive squad then I would understand some of the frustration a little more. That is just not the case.
I along with many Arsenal fans have looked at the bigger picture, it is quite a clear picture to me and I have difficultly with those who find it difficult to see that picture.
We have had to rebuild in a massive way, we have had to change our policy due to the constraints put on the manager and the club. We have had to speculate to accumulate. Building a new state of the art stadium in the way we have isn't something that can be done willy nilly. It has taken plenty of work and cut backs were made. We had to trim our wage bill, had to make money by selling players who were not going to improve and start again from scratch.
I can forgive lazy hacks who want to spin this into Arsenal have failed to win in x amount of years, totally ignoring the lack of silverware from Liverpool, Aston Villa, Sunderland etc who have all spent more money than we have. But it shouldn't really be happening from Arsenal supporters.
As you have already said, we have already been close in the last few years so we know that success is not far away, regardless of the outcome of this season.
I believe that Wenger is doing the right thing by resigning our players on long term contracts, keeping our squad is much more important than buying shiny new players. We are on our way to something very special with this squad and we should all be thanking our lucky stars that we have Arsene Wenger at the helm doing what he does best.
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We have a genius of a man at the helm of our club who has achieved so, so much more than can be judged by the number of trophies won over a period of time. He has created a new ethos and heralded a new dynasty: Our style, our stadium, our youth, our standing in Europe....etc etc
As for the fans who come in 10 minutes late and leave 10 minutes early....even when we are about to go top, having played with 10 men, still requiring a goal to ensure the 3 points....just unbelievable. Heres an idea..how about any of those fans who are ST holders be initially suspended then banned and have their STs revoked. There are more than enough proper gooners worthy of being given those STs.
Come on you Gunners!!!
Post Chelsea defeat at the Emirates
http://www.arsenalvision.co.uk/reviews.php?articleid=1435
"I refuse to rule out the league in November. Chelsea, as good as they look will lose games. They have many difficult places to go to before the season is over but it means now that we have to go on a long winning streak and solve our defensive failings. An extremely difficult job to do from the boss.
It wasn't our day, but we will live to fight another day. On 29th November 2009 we were not ready, the breaks did not go our way but this squad is too talented for our fortunes not to change at some point. "
Post Chelsea defeat at Stamford Bridge
http://www.arsenalvision.co.uk/reviews.php?articleid=1520
"I am confident that we can go on a winning run because of the performance we gave. Going to Stamford Bridge is statistically the most difficult match of the league campaign over the last 5 years or so.
Hopefully the team can put the others under some pressure with a third victory of the season against Liverpool on Wednesday. "
It is a case of respect. Respecting your players, respecting your manager who has done so much and is clearly trying to put the club ahead of his own personal gain.
He turned down the chance to earn at least double his wages at Real Madrid with endless amounts of money to spend to stay at Arsenal and give the club a great future.
If supporting him is blind following then where do I sign up?
Just one thing I would pull you up on. When Eduardo's leg was broken against the Brums in 2008, we were within 2 minutes of going 8 points clear at the top. Oh Clichy! What were you thinking?!?!?!?
Mean Lean I am a little unsure as to whether your passion is for Arsenal or for what Arsenal has become under the visionary Arsene Wenger. I remember back to the dark days of the mid 80's they were not pretty. George Graham before he got sticky fingers was very succesful (he still has a better record than Arsene when it comes to European competion) though never fashionable. My point is we have been here a lot longer than Arsene and will be here long after he has gone. I am really playing devils advocate here I have no real issues with the way the club is run on the playing side. What i don't like is being taken for granted. When the manager says pre season he is looking to sign a striker to replace adeybarndoor i expect him to make a decent stab at it when he says the same thing in January I again expect something to hapen. If we have no money then fine come out and say that. I personally don't think thats the case I just believe we are clearing debt quicker than originally forecast. That will benefit the owners but not necessarily the supporters in respect of team investment. I will never blindly follow my club. I care about my club. If you were a pompey supporter would you blindly follow as they begin there descent into hell, I dont mean the colours but the way the club has been mismanaged for the last 5 years. I follow the Arsenal but I reserve the right to question its current custodians. As far as respecting our players why?just because they pull on the shirt. Ashley Cole wore the shirt, Adebarndoor, Hleb. I respect the players that show pride in wearing our shirt and playing for our great club. nothing more nothing less. Your final point regarding Real Madrid Wenger would have nowhere near the same level of control over that club as he does at Arsenal. I could'nt think of a worse club for Wenger to manage i dont think he ever seriously cotemplated a move it was just a gentle dig at the dissenting voices at last years AGM.
Anyway, AW is in a bit of a pickle concerning sol this weekend. the league is probably our best chance of a trophy, but we need sol in there against barca and he wont play both games. i would prefer song to play DM instead of CD against barca because i dont think denilson is good enough for DM. Denilson has definitely got talent and taking nothing away from saturdays performance but he just doesnt fit in this team for me. his laziness in the united game was very apparent and really cost us and if he were to do that against barca, we might get mauled.
We are so close to this premier league we can almost touch it. the away games to birmingham and spurs & blackburn and the home game to city are all i can think about. i think we are those 4 games away from what would be the sweetest title for me in 25 years as a gooner. i'm praying. come on arsenal
players need to show pride in wearing the shirt and behave like they represent the club.
and yes there is nothing wrong in my eyes with raising doubts about how the club is being run. at the end of the day we all want arsenal at the the top,, for good.
but "fans" starting online petitions to sack AW. that was disgusting
I wrote this now as a point to all the 'suddenly quiet' fans that can't find anything to complain about. I could have written this in the summer when all the 'experts' had us battling for 4th place, ruled us completely out of the title race and 'some fans' were screaming for additions to the squad.
Even now, if we win the league, no-one will praise us. They have already started the Chelsea and Man United have given us the league.
True fans will remember we have not had RvP for 6 months, Nasri for 3, Djourou all season, Ramsey for 3 months, Gibbs 7 months, Fabregas 3 months all up, Walcott for 70% of season etc etc etc and yet we are still in there.
If we win it, we will have won it because we were the best and not because we were gifted it. Hence why every manager and player wants the league before a knock-out cup.
If we don't win it, I'll be excited about pre-season and next years chances with JET, Eastmond and Wilshere all coming through.
If I did have the ear of Wenger though and was allowed one suggestion, I would ask him to strongly considering buying Buffon, Lloris etc etc in the summer.
Arsenal forever.
Go back upstairs and finish your homework.
A Wenger :- close but no cigar.
SolsaGooner you obviously dont get the distinction between winning and competing. Go boil your head you plank!!
These same fans also think that booing a player will somehow improve their confidence and make them play better. Sometimes I think we've been infiltrated by a bunch of spurs fans.
The media are fascinating. Week in week out now they bemoan Pompey busting themselves, then slate Arsene for not sending us the same way. Utterly ridiculous.
away fans apart they are proper fans through & through.
P.S ML, Pls pardon my lang but pricks like this liquordrinker makes me want to bang my head.
I also remember the darker ages of the Graham years. I was too young to remember pre Graham years or even pre Graham success but I do remember when things started going wrong for him. So I certainly know how life was before Mr Wenger.
I do not see any proof to suggest that Wenger is taking Arsenal for granted. Just because he said he wanted to buy a striker in the summer and then didn't manage to get one doesn't mean that he didn't try.
We do not know how many attempts he made or tried to make during the summer.
liquorice sure striked a nerve and your response made me chuckle. Whilst i don't agree with what he said, i see him has somebody that is objective. At least he is better than the so called fans and still stands by his point even when things are rossy.
Great article Matt and lovely response ML, like i always say you are a fresh of breath air.
ML You could've written this.
I know I could of and probably should have written it.
nor did we win anything in the 60's those were dark years, but we all still supported the Arse.
Those fans (still alive) are naturally still fans today. Massive fans all of AW! by the way. I know because although we don't all see each other all the time, every now and then in some far flung place like the stadium of light, we'll run into each other.
(kids who didn't have money but wanted to see their team could bunk into the NB easily back in those days as no doubt other old gooners will remember) : D
We, the supporters didn't support our team because we were the most successful, how could we? We lived on storey's told to us by our fathers, grandfathers, uncles or whoever went to the games. We lived in hope given by ancient dog eared programmes that told of passed glories! No internet back then.
ML those were dark years because we didn't play good football and we weren't capable of competing for the league, and we needed massive amounts of luck if we went on a cup run.
Until one night in 1970 when our team wrote history that we expirenced for ourselves. If my old memory serves me right we got into the inter city fairs cup by vertue of losing in the league cup final 68-69. That win coming from behind (total under dogs) sums up the Arse. It leads me to proudly make this statement. Despite not wining anything in 5 years............
..................................We've never had it so good!
The only point you raise thats really worthy is one I've made before. I don't believe AW would ever go to madrid, he's got too much class for them. I've been a Gooner all my life and I've followed AW since he started at Monaco. He developes players, he has never been a buyer of "stars".
He hasn't changed his development style since he started to manage. Despite wanting to buy a striker (I know he made offers) as soon as we were saddled with our injury crisis he won't pay over the odds. I like that stance! I like the fact that we have a wage structure. I like his style of managing our club.
Not everyone wants to play for the Arse, but ask players across Europe and you'll often hear players say that if they weren't happy at their current clubs they'd love to play for AW because of the type of football he plays. Amen to that!!
I'm a Gooner now! I was in the 60s-70s-80s & 90s so yes I was here before Arsene and if I live, I'll be here after Arsene.
I don't mind Gooners constructively criticizing but only "if " they offer credible alternatives, if not then to me they aren't credible.
I agree GG is technically more successful than AW in Europe.
Just like I state AW is our most successful manager ever as he's won more than any previous manager.
It is interesting to note that they are as passionate about Arsenal as we are here, comments are well thought out and intellignt most of the time. But just like support over here you have the two camps one viewpoint understands what Arsene has done for the club and the other camp talk about 5 years some of them saying saying some really disrespectful stuff about our great manager. However those that are most disrespectful are those who have only started supporting Arsenal in the Wenger era or do not appreciate the history of our club.
I think Matt is spot on when he says that it is media influence that inspires them in their madness. But despite my backing of my manager whether right or wrong (I do not have the expertise to judge him anyway) I can understand their frustrations with Arsene always covering for his players consistently backing players who APPEAR to be underperforming and general unwillingness to spend that bit extra. I have doubted the youth policy for long time in my belief that it is a risky policy, but have the gratitude to back my manager even though I believe he is making mistakes. However I do not hate other fans for having a different opinion just get naughty when they start disrespecting our own even Eboue and Adebayor when he was with us.
Liquorice gave his opinion in a respectful manner, I don't agree with them but I repect him for swimming against the tide and giving his opinion. Bazhead14 you are both out of order and disgusting, it is because of people like you that sites have moderators and people like me don't frequent AV as much as I should. It is easy to to run off you mouth on a keyboard where no one is going to fist you in your face for your cheek. IMO you are just as cowardly and disgraceful as the Arsenal fans who are cowardly enough to sing about Adebayors mum while they stand in a crowd with no chance of retribution.