Like all – all – football clubs the supporters are just so many cash cows to the board. they will disagree and protest but we are just part of the balance sheet

By Ian Morgan

Fistly i have been privileged to support the great afc for about 50 years through thick and occasionally very thin so i feel i have earned the right to air a few grievances. but first a few positives.

The wonder of seeing the player ever, ok since 1958, to wear an afc shirt- the mighty Dennis.

The joy of seeing so many youngsters play football as it should be played.

My personal conviction that i pay my money to be entertained – and by god i am. if we dont win a trophy at the end then i am not over concerned as i have enjoyed the journey so much.

Arsene!

So what are the moans.

Like all – all – football clubs the supporters are just so many cash cows to the board. they will disagree and protest but we are just part of the balance sheet.

Pc ideas from an ageing board, such a banning all flags in the stadium because of a daft dispute between greek and turkish cypriot supporters.

When will the club support the fan clubs a bit more – how good would it be to see some massive flags, such as those on the kop, for the fans to move around pre game over their heads. surely emirates would sponsor this if it was allowed by the board.

Why has the old highbury distinction between the north bank and clock end gone – i used to love the “we are the north bank highbury” “we are the clock end highbury” chants. the identit should have never been lost when we moved and efforts should be made to reestablish it.

Of course the truth is that, at our worst we are poxy supporters, espicially at home. you can hear a pin drop sometimes and that is awful – i absolutely detest the library chats from away fans as they are often so correct. the noise and emotion are so much of the match day experience as the football. away our fans are so good as the rest, espicially following the kids in the carling to places like blackburn – excelent – so what is wrong at home?
60000+ every game – rubbish and we all know it. 60000+ seats and season tickets may have been sold but there is rarely 60000+ bums on seats. and there are definitely not 60000+ 5 minutes before the end of the game – of course we have ten’s of thousands true supporters, but there are far too many corporate and no commited visitors in the ground. red members next year will only be guarranteed 1500 each game. that is a diabolically small amount for people who are often the most ardent fans but cant get a season ticket.

There are so many good things about the arsenal i could never not support them but it could be better for supporters wth a bit of help from the club and a bit more commitment from the fans.

For ever afc