Tag Archives: Arsenal

The Arsenal and Me – Matthew’s Story

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When I was asked to write a blog on my love for Arsenal, the mind straight away goes to past tense quotes and thoughts. I still consider myself an Arsenal man, but what I loved about being a fan of the club is stuck in the past, so I’ll go over a few things which originally got me hooked on the club.

My first match was Arsenal v Everton in the 1985-86 season at the age of eight, and I must confess that I went with a keen eye on the away team who were defending champions and title challengers. I had just got into football and I liked Everton because so many other people supported Liverpool in my school (which was just two miles from Highbury).

Everton won the game 1-0 but I came away an Arsenal fan. Not because of the performance of Don Howe’s average team, because I can only recall one tame shot on goal from Viv Anderson. But I loved Highbury I wanted to go there again. It immediately felt like home.

I loved the red and white kit and that the team badge was a cannon.

In the following years I was lucky enough to be part of the last generation of kids to be able stand on the terraces at top level football. For a child, there was no better terrace than the West Stand lower junior gunners section which stretched from one end of the pitch to the other. Here you could walk from the North Bank side to the Clock end, so whatever half Arsenal were shooting at you’d change your position. It was a sense of freedom which just doesn’t exist anymore in the current era of sitting down and doing what you’re told. To get your spot for big games you had to get in the ground at least an hour early. To the modern fan that might not sound like a good thing to have to do, but it was great. For a London derby the atmosphere would start at 2pm between the home and away supporters. The players would come out to loud ovations for the warm ups.

More than any other part of Highbury I loved the North Bank which was by far the best designed terrace ever. Show me a roof of a stand with as much style as that and I’ll show you a Spurs title win in colour.

If you went into the middle or top side you’d experience a mosh pit reaction to whenever a goal was scored. I recall a goal in 1991 when Limpar scored the winner against Man City. In the wild celebrations, I looked above and there was a guy who had jumped so high he ended up crowd surfing.

I know it sounds weird, but I loved and as well as hated – the away goal celebrations at the other end. Each conceded goal felt like a hammer blow, but the energy in the away end was breathtaking and a sea of people all going ballistic at the same time – it was an incredible sight. Today you don’t get anywhere near the same degree of chaos that greats a goal, either in the home or away end. It’s the lack of those elements that now keep some of us away. Why bother going to a sterile environment for such a high price, when you could watch it in the pub?

People love choice and Arsenal years ago had options; the choice to sit down in a civilised environment, as well as the option to go mental in the Clock End and stick one to the away fans.

I loved the Clock End. When the seats were forced upon us in the 1990s, that was the one part of Highbury which maintained a degree of atmosphere. The North Bank had gone quiet; the East and West stands always were quiet – but even with seats the Clock End remained a place where fans got behind the team.

I loved the history. I studied it; I wanted to know every year we’d won a trophy and was fascinated by the dominance of the 1930s team as well as the exploits during the early and late 1970s. I loved the fact that we’d been in the top flight for decades more than any other team. You’d use facts like that as ammunition against fans of other teams. Does the typical modern fan care about those things? I’m not so sure. They seem to be following a current brand and to quote John Lydon from my book: “They don’t grasp the history and appreciate or understand what it means for a team like Arsenal to have sustained what we have done for so long. Instead it’s all about where they can park their SUV’s, getting a designer lunch, catching a bit of the game and then leaving the ground in enough time to beat the rush.”

As far as the team goes I loved the fact that Arsenal became such a formidable force under George Graham. I was lucky. I started supporting us when we were average, then very shortly George Graham took over and immediately made us contenders. We would now take Everton’s place in challenging Liverpool. Wenger, before he lost the plot, did the same against Manchester United’s total dominance – his Arsenal early teams took them on when nobody else in the Premier League were up for the challenge. I loved the fact both these manager’s achieved success and made our club world class by having a good eye for talent and not having to spend more than anyone else (that’s not an endorsement of Wenger’s current stubbornness and eye for average players). George Graham’s title winning teams were built on bargain buys, team spirit and great youth development. Teams like Manchester United and Spurs spent more on players but were not as good. In the early Wenger years, the likes of Newcastle and Liverpool spent more money, but again were not as good as Arsenal who had a great team as well as great individuals like Bergkamp, Pires and Henry. I loved the fact that we were hated and despised. They hated us because we were good.

Ticket prices 1994 (2)

I loved the ticket prices. I say that with hindsight, because at the time affordable music gigs and sporting events were the norm. Charging lots of money just to watch a game of football was not seen as logical.  Arsenal were the best value team in London and cheaper than Spurs and Chelsea. I still have my Dad’s ticket from that Everton game in 1986. It was £4.50 and that was for a good seat in the East Stand. If you wanted to stand on the terraces, a hard-up adult only needed a few pounds to go to the game and get a release from everyday troubles. Even by 1995 you could get into the Clock End for £10. That’s why it’s so heartbreaking to see a club become expensive and exclusive – it simply doesn’t fit with the overall history and traditional fan base. I can’t love a club that prices out people in the manner in which they have.  I can’t love a club which sues a small shoe shop in Spain because it’s called Arsenale. I can’t love a club of whose stadium is designed primarily to attract rich business. I can’t love a club whose current fan base don’t get behind the team and don’t have any remote interest in the overall history. I can’t love a club who changes their club branding from a regal crest to a cartoon cannon which looks to have been designed by Noddy and Big Ears. I can’t love a club who would rather make profit instead of breaking even and trying to win trophies.

Most clubs now are the same, the problem is widespread and football like Arsenal – I would argue is impossible to love right now.  The reason I shun the modern game is because I love it so much and know it can be so much better than the current culture of greed and control.

Matthew Bazell

Matthew Bazell is the author of Theatre of Silence: The Lost Soul of Football

TOS

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An International Rant

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The Premier League season starts this weekend. Teams are doing their last minute preparation. Practising team specific drills. Who should mark who at set pieces. Who the opponents danger men are. Do they tend to go on the inside are out. What night club the players will visit after the game. And numerous other things that teams discuss before a Premier League match. And it is especially important this week. With it being the first game of the season and all. Getting off to a good start can mean a good season. Likewise a bad start can lead to a bad season. And a bad performance from Arsenal against Aston Villa could set a volatile tone to the next few games. This week is of über (did I just use über?) importance.

That is how I should be starting my first proper post on our new website. However, thanks to FIFA/UEFA or whoever decides on the International calendar, we are interrupted with by a mid week international before the season has even started. Can we even call it an international break?

Those boffins at FIFA (I just looked up that its them who decide) have once again scheduled an international match in August. Yes, it might be England v Scotland. The longest running international footballing rivalry, but frankly, I could not give a shit. I will not be watching. I will just be keeping an ear out for whatever player will get the guaranteed ‘Arsenal Player Injured on International Duty’ award for this break.

It is more frustrating that my manager can not continue talking to the dozens of players he is about to buy. It is frustrating that the team are unable to prepare properly for the forthcoming game. It is frustrating that our players are flying half way around the globe 3 days before the season starts. In summary:

  • Per Mertersacker and Lukas Podolski are in Germany playing a friendly against Paraguay
  • Wojciech Szczesny travel home to Poland squad for a friendly against Denmark
  • Bacary Sagna, Laurent Koscielny and Olivier Giroud are all in the squad for a friendly in Belgium
  • Jack Wilshere, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Theo Walcott make the short trip to Wembley for the Scotland friendly
  • Santi Cazorla travels to Ecuador for a friendly

All games are pointless and mean nothing. And it is that last call up of Santi Cazoirla that highlights the frustration. He has not had a proper pre-season due to his participation in FIFA’s Confederations Cup (A glorified Friendly Tournament). He has not yet played a full (or even major) part in a pre-season friendly, but instead of him being at the club, getting fitness, with perhaps a start away to Fulham being in mind, he is being flown out to Ecuador for a money spinning friendly. How is this right?

Now I full well know that every team is effected by this. And in ‘theory’ that makes it fair. But it still is not correct. How can it be right that a player potential picks up an injury which could see him out for a portion of the season, before he has even played for his club? And what if it is a new signing.

Take Jesus Navas at Manchester City for example. He has also struggled for fitness in pre-season for similar reasons as Cazorla. And he is also on the plane to Ecuador. Now say in that game, he breaks his leg and is out for the season? Manchester City have just spent £14.9m on a player who they are then robbed of by his country. Yes, injuries can happen at any point, but if this happened to an Arsenal player, it would leave a bitter taste in your mouth.

Whilst the Premier League, Serie A and La Liga might not of started, the Bundesliga & Ligue 1 have played its 1st round of games. Whilst the Dutch Eredivisie are already two games. And they all suffer from the same halt to pre (or early) season preparations.

FIFA have at least seen sense. This year is the last of the August International. However, the scrapping of this does not solve the problem of the early international break damaging a teams early preparation. The next round of international fixtures are on the 6th and 20th of September. That means the Premier League would of got in 3 rounds of games between the two international breaks. By the time the final whistle go’s between Ukraine and England, Jack Wilshere (who has barely played in 2013) would of played 3 games for England, and 3 for Arsenal. How is this right?

FIFA needs to go further. As well as scrapping the August International, they should also scrap the September International. How can teams get any early season momentum up if by the time they have played 3 games, they get 2 weeks off? And how frustrating is this for the fans? After 9 weeks without football, with Arsenal, fans get 3 weekends of it, until it stops for 2 weeks. And lets be honest, who really cares for international football?

The entire calender needs to be reviewed. Less friendlies. Less pointless qualifiers (what is the point of playing San Marino, Luxemburg, Scotland or Andorra?). International football needs to evaluate it position within the football calender. Club football is now king. And other then the World Cup and Continental Championships, very few are interested. The Premier League, The Champions League, this is what has become important.

International football is dying and rather then it trying to still act like it is important, it needs to learn its place.

No more international breaks before October.

That is the solution.

Keenos

Lack of Spending Putting Fans in a Negative Mindset?

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I don’t know about you, but once the pre-season friendlies are over and we have less than a week until the kick off of a new season, I get the warm glow of anticipation. It’s usually nervous anticipation, granted, but it’s there all the same. This year feels different though. I wouldn’t say it is apathy as I have done my usual check of the fixture list, carefully trying to work out how many points we will pick up in the first five games. I’m sure most of you have a similar ritual? I think the transfer sagas are taking their toll on me!!

Perhaps it all stems from the complete lack of spending. Don’t get me wrong, I would love to see a big name star arrive and I guess it could still happen, but it isn’t just that. It is deeper, I am concerned that unless we bring in some reinforcements that we could find ourselves in real trouble with only a couple of injures in key positions. Our first team squad, according to our official website, says we have twenty five players. Of those, Chamakh has left yesterday, Bendtner, it can safely be assumed, will never play for us again, Park similarly. That leaves twenty two players. Our midfield includes Frimpong and Ryo Miyaichi who are unproven plus Rosicky and Diaby, who with Frimpong have spent more time injured whilst on our books than playing. We have seven defenders, four full backs and three centre backs. We start the season with Vermaelen injured and we all know that an Arsenal six weeks is often code for six months. Our goal keeping situation has also got a similar thin edge to it with just the two options. I am glad we shipped out some of the deadwood but you can not expect to improve by making the squad lighter. As it stands, a couple of injuries and suspensions, especially in central defence, would be disastrous and we all know that Wenger does not panic buy well.

Maybe it is the feeling of being strung along by the club that is tempering my anticipation? Those early days of the transfer window where we were assured that funds were available and led to believe that some top players were coming in to help us push on. The big names mentioned just before season ticket renewal deadline day were so blatantly planted in the media by a PR company it’s a wonder there hasn’t been more uproar. We have been fed years of nonsense from the big stadium – big revenue lie to the current favourite of, I am happy to go into the new season with our existing squad. Along the way we have been assured that certain players wont be sold, that big teams don’t sell their best players and the old classic, when FFP kicks in we will be in a good position.

I read lots of articles on various internet outlets and talk to lots of fellow Arsenal fans in person. Opinions on the manager and board vary, some see all the Champions League qualifications as a success worthy of celebration but most just look at the last eight years and see it as failure. I know some readers will suggest that Wenger has had his hands tied and perhaps to a certain extent he has, but, that doesn’t excuse being knocked out of domestic cups by lower league opposition? I suggest even the most devoted Wenger fans take a step back and ask themselves a few questions. Are you happy with finishing fourth place in the league and barely making an impression in any of the cup competitions or would you prefer to see us challenging for everything we enter? Are you happy for our manager to sanction the sale of our top stars to rivals who go on to win the title? Most importantly, are you happy to watch us slide backwards every year?

The hierarchical nature of football dictates that clubs at the top take players from below – eg – Arsenal will always take from Everton and Everton will in turn take from the next level, perhaps Sunderland or Stoke. If we are now happy to sell to United and City it tells me that the club is resigning itself to the second tier rather than investing to cement a place at the top table. This is shameful and completely undermines the legacy created by Herbert Chapman, who was in fact our greatest ever manager. His vision saw us at the top in terms of football, finance and general standing within the game. We were, and have been until recently, the snobs of football. We were a rich club with a rich history. We had a grand stadium and an aloof attitude that would have precluded selling our biggest star to a rival unless it was felt it was in our best interests. Everything was done on our terms. Other clubs didn’t bully us. We wanted players who wanted us and although we were welcoming, we called the shots. It is time we got back to some of these common values and put ourselves back where we belong. We have the money, the stadium, which although it may a monstrosity, is certainly imposing and we have passionate fans. The longer we let ourselves rot in mediocrity, the further we will fall. I, for one hope I never see us fall in the way Liverpool or heaven forbid Leeds have.

Darren Malone