Against Tottenham in a pre-season friendly, some sections of the Spurs crowd clapped Bukayo Saka onto the pitch.
“Showing their class” was the response on social media.
Nah, not for me. But I will give them the benefit of the doubt as it was a friendly.
Then against Brentford, the Hounslow based club did the same.
Again, I will give them the benefit of the doubt as they are a small club. Basically the Leyton Orient of West London and the majority of fans in the stadium probably did not support Brentford.
During the Manchester United v Leeds United game, it was loud and clear.
“You let your country down” aimed at Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho. And it was glorious.
What differentiates going down the football in comparison to cricket, rugby or any other sport is the rivalry. The edge.
It is like war. You hate your opponent. Boo everything they do whilst cheer your own team.
Their player goes in high on one of yours, you scream for blood. Our player goes in high on one of theirs, he is cheered. A hero.
Without that edge football is no longer enjoyable. You might as well be at the theatre, applauding politely regardless of if the performance is mediocre.
Now there is a fine line when abuse can go too far; but that does not mean there is not space in the game for you to abuse an opponent.
I grew up when David Beckham got dogs abuse for flicking out at Diego Simeone, getting himself sent off and costing us a World Cup.
The abuse he got went too far – with one South London one pub lynching an effigy of him outside.
But we grew from that and a few years later when Wayne Rooney get sent off against Portugal the abuse was not as vicious. Just the booing and “you let your country down”.
Now as I say, there is a line. And Racist and homophobic abuse is clearly the wrong side of the line. As is wishing death on someone, their family or kids. This is appalling behaviour.
But there is certainly space in the game for “you let your country down” and for fans to boo players who missed a penalty or causes us to be knocked out of the World Cup (or in this case the Euros).
Now it might seem odd I am saying this as Saka was one of those who missed a penalty, and would therefore get abuse from opponents.
I just find the clapping of him ludicrous. It is all a bit soft. We do not go to football to hold hands with everyone.
Abuse from opposing fans helps build a player. Makes them mentally stronger. Builds character.
The abuse you get in England is nothing in comparison to what a player receives in Italy or across Eastern Europe. You can not have sports stars wrapped up in cotton wool. They need to be both physically and mentally strong to succeed.
So on Sunday I will raise a smile if Chelsea let Saka know he let the country down. Give him a god boo. But then I will be straight back at them. Backing my player, booing the Chelsea fans booing him. That is football.
It is no real surprise to me that the Chelsea fixture is struggling to sell out.
When categories were bought in by Arsenal over a decade ago, Cat A games use to sell out in no time.
Arsenal we are force to be reckoned with in the league, playing attacking football and there was an air of positivity around the place. But a lot has changed since then and the club have not moved with the times.
Probably the biggest reason these “big games” now struggle to sell out is due to the Ticket Exchange (TX).
The TX was a brilliant innovation by the club; giving season ticket holders the opportunity to sell tickets to games they were unable to attend.
Up until that point, if you were on holiday, at work or ill, you would have to know and trust someone to pass your season ticket on to. With the introduction of the TX you could just stick your ticket online and someone else would buy it.
I have used it a lot over the years, mainly for mid-week European games when work meant I could not go.
The issue with the TX is that it would only “go live” once a game was officially a sell out.
So if I were unable to go to a game, I could only sell my season ticket on the TX once every seat was sold.
In recent years, this has resulted in obtaining Arsenal tickets turning into a game of poker.
With tickets usually selling “cheapest first”, eventually all the club is left with is the most expensive tickets. For Chelsea the majority of the tickets remaining cost £90+.
So someone looking to get a ticket has a choice.
Pay the £90 (up to £95.50 in some areas) to site upper tier in the Gods. OR wait for the game to sell out and potentially end up with a lower tier ticket for £64.
Of course, the risk is you wait and the game does not sell out, and the cheaper tickets that were available are no longer. But the reward is you get a ticket at 30% off of the currently available price once it goes to TX.
The problem is the club have not moved their pricing with the times.
TX was great for students and youths who lived in the local area. Able to pick up a ticket at late notice.
£95.50 is just too much for the majority of fans who go on an ad-hoc. At that price they would likely decide to stay at home. Watch on the TV. And I fully agree why.
So Arsenal are pricing out a lot of fans who are unable to pay the highest prices and are sitting around waiting for the game to sell our before snapping up a brief off the TX.
You through this in with the negativity around the club both on and off the pitch and Arsenal is just not attractable, enjoyable.
Why spend £95.50 for something that is not enjoyable at the moment?
Yes, you can argue that you should be backing the club through thick and thin, but the club the size of Arsenal has lots of different fans.
You have the fans who will go week in week out no matter what is happening – and these fans usually end up with season tickets.
The ad-hoc fans, students, etc are more casual followers. Going down The Arsenal might be a one or two time a season thing. Why go if you are not going to enjoy yourself?
Arsenal would argue that ticket prices have barely risen in the 15 years we have been at the Emirates so us fans have benefited from a “real term price cut” during that time; hence why they are not reducing ticket prices.
But if the season roles on as is, with so much unhappiness and we end up outside the top 6 again the club might have no choice but to drop ticket prices to attract more fans.
The flip side is how much would they need to drop prices to attract fans?
Back of the fag pack maths, the club will earn around £4.125m with 55,000 fans turning up (paying an average of £75) for Chelsea.
Were they to knock £10 off the cost of a ticket and sell out 60,000, the club would only generate £3.9m. And would £10 off a £95.50 ticket really be enough to bring the fans back in?
And whilst it is uncomfortable to discuss that the club is maximising profit even if it means less fans through the door, that is where football is right now – and it is not just Arsenal.
Maybe the scenario is just scrap Cat A (and Cat C) games and return to just one category?
Yes, this will mean more expensive “cheap tickets” when we player smaller clubs like Aston Villa or Leeds United; but at the end of the day we only go to see The Arsenal.Keenos
“There are some non-negotiables. The demands we put on the team, the commitment, the energy we put in, that dominance” – Mikel Arteta, December 2019.
“We need a team with 100 per cent of people involved in what we do. The most important thing they should have is respect, the second is commitment and the third one is passion. Those three ingredients are non-negotiable” – Mikel Arteta, August 2021.
Since becoming manager of the club, Arteta has spoken a few times about how important commitment to the club is for him. But it is a lack of commitment from both players and the club which could derail our season before it gets into Autumn and ultimately end up costing Arteta his job.
But I have never known an Arsenal squad to be less committed to the club than the one we have, or the club less committed to its players.
The majority of the players at the club either want to leave, have been told they can leave if an offer comes in, or have previously been cast aside.
Starting in goal; it is well known that Bernd Leno will not sign a new contract and wants to end his career in Germany. He still has two years left on that deal.
After being backed by Arteta in the battle for number ones with Emi Martinez, to then refuse to discuss a new deal is really disappointing.
So we end up with a number one who has an eye on leaving in the next 12 months.
Runar Alex Runarsson will go down as one of the clubs worst signings. So out of his depth. Not his fault. He just is not good enough.
The door is open for him to leave, whether on loan or permanent, but there are no takers.
Hector Bellerin’s time at Arsenal has clearly run its course. He needs a new challenge and Arsenal need a new right back.
It is beneficial for both parties that Bellerin leaves this summer and it is clear both he can the club have been looking for suitors. But none have materialised.
How many times over the years have we tried to sell Calum Chambers?
We have seen him go out on loan to Fulham and Middlesbrough both nearly joining Crystal Palace. We could have made it much clearer over the last 5 years that he is not wanted out the club. Yet there he was, starting the first game of the season.
Rob Holding nearly joined Newcastle last summer.
It was only a last minute u-turn by Arteta that saw him not only stay at the club but also sign a new deal. From being on the verge of exiting one week to wearing the captains armband not too long after. Not the only time it has happened.
As for Saed Kolasinac; most are probably surprised he is still here.
Told he wasn’t wanted last summer; the Bosnian ended up putting his feet up for 6 months before leaving to Schalke on loan.
A summer later and we are in exactly the same position with him. He doesn’t want to be here, we don’t want him here, but no one wants him.
If you think the Rob Holding u-turn was big, the Granit Xhaka one was huge.
Xhaka has abused the fans, thrown the captains arm band on the ground, demanded to leave. And yet on the first day of the season he is still at Arsenal. Wearing the captains armband and signed a new deal.
Now I like Xhaka as a player. I think he gets an unfair press. But how can you be so close to leaving the club, and then be rewarded with a new deal and captaincy? It sums the club up.
Mohamed Elneny is another who went from “no longer required” to “important squad member” in a blink of an eye.
He spent he spent 2019/20 on loan at Besiktas as no one wanted to sign him, having started just 5 Premier League games the campaign before.
Then last season he started 17 Premier League games.
Another who has gone from not wanted to regular player despite still not really being wanted.
Ainsley Maitland-Niles was on the cusp of joining Wolves last summer. A last minute change of mind by Arteta (is indecisiveness a trait of his?) saw him stay. He then started just 5 games.
In January we turned down a bid from Leicester City as we “did not want to sell to a rival” and he ended the season on loan at WBA.
He is still at the club. He still doesn’t want to be here. Arteta still doesn’t want him.
The door is open for Willian to leave.
He has reportedly been told that if he can agree a deal with another club, we will terminate his contract with no liability to either side. Yet no other club has come in for him due to his wages being so high. He has been at the club for a year.
Arse aka re also open to selling youngsters Eddie Nketiah and Reiss Nelson if the right offer comes in.
Both have never really had a chance under Arteta, and when they have played probably showed they are not of the level we require moving forward. Another 2 that are not part of the managers plans, but we have yet to move on.
Nicolas Pepe is another who would be open to leave if the right offer came in.
The club record signing has never really reached the heights we had all hoped and reports were last summer the club were looking to recoup some money on him and that if an offer in the region of £40million came in he would be gone.
And then we come to the big two. Alex Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
With one year left on his contract, Arsenal would jump at the opportunity to cash in on Lacazette if an offer came in. But like with so many of our players – no offers are coming in for him.
And the Aubameyang new contract is looking like a bad a decision as the Mesut Ozil one.
He looks disinterested, lacks sharpness and focus. He either is not mentally right or at 32 is on the decline. Maybe it is both.
But one year into his 3 year deal, Arsenal are open to selling him and he is open to leaving the club. But like Lacazette, there is not exactly a queue of clubs chasing him.
So Arteta talks about commitment to the cause. But the majority of the squad are either not committed to us or we are not committed to them. And this is shown on the pitch with a lack of hunger and desire.
Arthur Okonkwo, Cedric Soares, Ben White, Gabriel, Pablo Mari, Kieran Tierney, Nuno Taveras, Thomas Partey, Albert Sambi Lokonga, Emile Smith Rowe, Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli and Florian Balogun are the only first team squad players that have not been linked with moves away in the last 12 months.
That is just 13 players; 3 of whom are new signings and 2 are recently promoted youth team products.
You take those 5 away and we have just 8 players from last season that you could say are still “100% committed to the club”. And you see on the pitch the different levels in performance of those against everyone else.
The worry is when over half the squad is not committed, that is could run like poison through those players who are committed.
This all started with Mesut Ozil, Shkodran Mustsfi, Saed Kolasinac and Sokratis a year or more ago.
They were told they were not needed by the club but we struggled to move them on. They ended up remaining at the club despite no being wanted, not even being registered to play.
Arteta is not blameless in all of this.
He has a tendency to cast players aside very quickly, and an indecisiveness which has led to u-turns on sales.
Being indecisive and alienating staff members is poor management regardless of industry. This usually creates issues within the work force which spreads. And that is where Arsenal are at now.
We have a squad of players who lack commitment to us and we lack commitment to them.
The problem is that due to the financial crisis across European football, we are unable to sell the majority of these players so Arteta is going to have to find a way to work with them, get the best out of them. I am just not sure he has the man management skills to get the squad back on side and giving 100% for the season.
