On Friday I like many others got a message from RedAction, the Arsenal supporters group whose main remit is atmosphere inside the bowl, to ask if I could take my flag to the ground Sunday and do I know any others with Arsenal flags. The plan was to get as many flags together so they could put on some kind of display before the game.

I like the old fashioned flags I think they add character to football grounds and even if they only seem to pop at away games its a tradition that should not be lost. There are 100’s of decent Arsenal flags out there, some St George Crosses, some with the old cannon or 30s crest on them, some with names of area’, pubs etc, so much better than 90% of the sterile banners the club used in the arsenalisation of the bowl.

Sadly on Saturday afternoon RedAction sent a message out that its been cancelled due to the ground management saying there’s “unforeseen complexities”. I feel really sorry that a decent idea by RedAction to put on a bit of a show, try to make the bowl look intimidating and create a good atmosphere has been prevented due to a lack of effort by the club to get over the complex idea of a few flags, just how hard can it be ?

I will admit in the past I haven’t been a big fan of RedAction and always wondered, a bit like I do with Ivan Gazidis “what the F*** do you do”. But after a few chats over the last few years I now know what a hard job they have trying to persuade the club to help us help the team. So to RedAction, sorry to hear the hard work you did came to nothing and to the bowls management team SHAME ON YOU.

GC