Tag Archives: She Wore

Arsenal’s European journey set to continue

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Tonight Arsenal could qualify for the Europa League knock out stages after just 4 games. Victory will ensure that a top 2 place is guaranteed. If BATE Borisov fail to beat FC Koln, top place is ensure with 2 games to go.

Now I am not going to celebrate too much, as I understand that the Europa League is the 2nd tier of European football, but to qualify easily, having mainly used a second string and youth, is a positive.

I read yesterday someone saying Arsenal are disrespecting the Europa League by playing youngsters and a 2nd string. I laugh that we have won 3 from 3 whilst playing the second string. We have put out the players needed to win the games.

Meanwhile, the likes of Everton, Athletic Bilbao and Hertha Berlin are heading out of the competition.

Arsenal might not be giving the competition 100% of their focus, but we are doing enough to get through and, like Manchester United last season, will surely increase the strength of the side as the competition progresses.

A lot of people look down on the Europa League, they scoff at it, but it is a competition I would love to win.

An early summer final in Lyon. In the South of France with my mates. The type of people who sit and say I would rather be in the Champions League and not win, than the Europa League and win probably never go to games. They watch on TV.

The same sort of people probably moan that we have only won the FA Cup in recent years. We have won it 3 times actually. 3 times in 4 years.

Spurs beat Real Madrid last night. Oddly a lot of Arsenal fans on Twitter were saying how brilliant they were. How they had shown Arsenal how to play in Europe. That it had shown great progression.

But they forget Spurs have won nothing. Even Mauricio Pochettino said last night that beating Real Madrid means nothing if we win nothing.

It is the odd mentality of the modern football fan that winning a single game, like that against Real Madrid, is deemed as good as winning a trophy.

Last week, Spurs were knocked out of the League Cup by West Ham. They justified their collapse by saying that they had bigger fish to fry. This is a side that have won just two League Cups in 26 years.

Fans have become picky about what trophies they want their club to win. It is like turning down the fat one from Little Mix because you want to shag the blonde one, yet the reality is you have no chance with the blonde one.

Beating Real Madrid might create a great, short term memory, but ultimately it means nothing.

As for Spurs showing Arsenal how to do it in Europe, last I looked, Arsenal had no problems getting through the knockout stages of the Champions League with games to spare. Spurs are not doing anything miraculous, anything unique.

Now if they win it, it is another story, but the reality is there is no difference if they fail to qualify or get knocked out in the semi-final. Bar some trips away (many of which Arsenal fans have already done), you end up with nothing. No trophies. An empty cabinet.

Between 1995/96 and 1996/97 Newcastle United finished 2nd twice, playing a brilliant brand of attacking football under Kevin Keegan. In 1997/98 they beat the mighty Barcelona at home in the Champions League, Faustino Asprilla scoring a hat trick.

Bar a couple of FA Cup semi-finals in the following years, Newcastle won nothing. Their last domestic honour was the 1954–55 FA Cup.

Following on from Newcastle was Leeds United. A brilliant young side filled with English talent.

Leeds went on a brilliant Champions League run in 2001, culminating in a Champions League semi-final appearance. They lost.

The previous year, they made the UEFA Cup semi-final. They also lost.

Both Newcastle and Leeds were relegated in the mid 00’s. They won nothing during their successful periods. Everyone loved them. The odd folk who have second teams cheered them on.

Ultimately, if you fail to win trophies, it does not really matter how many brilliant nights in the San Siro or Wembley you have. These games will just be forgotten into history.

And this is why I want us to win the Europa League.

Last season Manchester United won both the Europa League and League Cup. Some people scoffed at them, laughing at them just winning minor honours. But what did fans of the clubs laughing at them win? Probably nothing.

Yes, they finished 6th, but in winning the Europa League they secured Champions League football.

Give me finishing 6th and winning two trophies over finishing 2nd and winning nothing any day. Some might say but we want to progress in the league, be competitive in the league but there is no trophy for that. No one remembers who finished 2nd.

These same people probably laughed at Arsenal winning the top 4 trophy. And now they laugh that Arsenal did not make the top 4 yet won a real trophy in the Europa League.

The moral of the story is simple, nothing matters until you win a trophy.

As for the Europa League, there could be some interesting sides dropping into the Europa League: CSKA Moscow, Celtic, Atlético Madrid, Sporting Lisbon, Spartak Moscow, Napoli, RB Leipzig & Borussia Dortmund currently occupy 3rd place in their groups.

I have no qualms about playing any of these.

Because we are the Arsenal and we are the best. We are the Arsenal so f**k all the rest.

Enjoy the game tonight.

Keenos

Idiot Spurs fans get what they deserve

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I have blogged before about how fans are doing the Old Bill’s job by constantly videoing everything that happens on the concourse of stadiums and in pubs around ground. That fans are inadvertently grassing each other up by posting these videos on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, etc, and that these videos are being used by the police to ban and convict fans.

Even if the police do not push for a conviction for the fans, if the video go’s viral on social media, and they can clearly be identified, those fans involved will soon find themselves hauled in before their manager and warned about their future behaviour, or worse, fired.

The LAD bible Banter Boys who record everything for a few likes or RTs, or in the hope they become famous for 20 seconds and their video go’s viral are basically walking CCTV cameras doing the Old Bill’s job.

I look back at the Chelsea incident in Paris. For me, the fans did little wrong. They refused to let an away supporter on a train, then when accused of being racist (I am still of the opinion it was because he was a PSG they refuse to let him on, not his skin colour) they chanted we are racist, we are racist ironically.

This sort of behaviour, and worse, happens up and down the country, over land and sea, and is usually just harmless fun. No malice intended. In the context of the game day, it is just normal, acceptable behaviour. Rugby fans are just as bad, or perhaps even worse. Everyone remembers the dwarf tossing incident.

90% of the behaviour of fans, mainly travelling fans, go’s unreported. Whether that bit a little bit of handbags, a chant with questionable language, a flare going off on a train. It is not recorded, it is ignored, and we all get on with the day.

But the 10% which is caught on camera always ends up going viral, and, like with the Chelsea fans, can result in bans, convictions and job losses.

Why fans both film other fans, and allow themselves to be filmed is beyond me. Last season at West Ham, I had the Arsenal Fan TV cameraman in front of me (the only one not in it for fame and fortune). He started to record the fans around him and I politely asked him to not film me (and that if he does, his camera will end up on the pitch)(. Fair play to him, he ensured he did not film me or my mates during the game.

Whilst I think fans who record themselves and others at games for a little bit of fame are idiots, and will only end up grassing up other fans with their footage, I did laugh at this weeks incident involving Spurs and West Ham.

Video footage circulated on social media following the game of one person urinating into a plastic cup before handing to another to throw towards the visiting rival fans at Wembley Stadium.

Spurs investigated the incident and, after identifying the individuals concerned, have now issued lifetime bans to both men.

Now whilst this type of incident is disgusting, it is not unusual. Both Liverpool and Everton have been known to use the urine-throwing technique at games previously. Although in Liverpool’s case, it was never their fault.

It is a key reason why Arsenal do not let away fans sit above home fans – to protect those underneath from object thrown, whether that be coins, urine, pies and people spitting.

Normally I would think unlucky lads. That they have been grassed up by someone catching their behaviour on camera and posting it to social media. That they have been grassed by fellow fans.

But in this case, I have zero sympathy.

It seems the two fans involved, who received the bans, videoed the incident themselves, put it up on their own social media, and basically grassed themselves up.

They deserve everything they get for their own stupidity.

I wonder if their life time bans are worth the thousands of hits, likes and RTs they got. I wonder if next time they go for a job interview and the company Google’s their names, seeing what they did, will result in a job offer being pulled. But it was worth it for the 30 seconds of fame hey lads?

The new generation of fans are idiots. It is not about going to games, getting up to whathever you get up to, and talking about it in the boozer with like minded fans. It is about recording everything, for that little bit of fame.

Imagine in 15 years, when these fans have their own kids;

Daddy can we go football
No Son
Why Daddy?
Because Daddy is an idiot who videoed himself peeing into a cup before throwing it at West Ham fans. Daddy is banned from football for life
Daddy, you’re a twat
I know son, I know

These fans are now not only grassing up fellow fans, leading to bans, they are now grassing up themselves.

I bet both Spurs fans, handed the life time bans, feel a little bit silly now. All for a little bit of attention.

Think before you post.

Keenos

Why are Arsenal away tickets selling out so quickly?

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When the Gay Gooners discriminated against older fans of Arsenal Football Club in their misguided tweet about the away scheme needing scrapping because every fan on it was old, didn’t go anymore, and was a tout, it glossed over what was a valid point.

The valid point is not that the away scheme is the problem, or older fans, but the issue with the way Arsenal currently allocate credits for away games, meaning games very rarely go down to 10 credits anymore, let alone general sale.

Recently, friends of mine who site between 30-35 credits missed out on Burnley away. The game was sold out at 35+ credits. A crazy amount for a Sunday fixtures with horrid trains to a horrid town to play a horrid team.

The discussion with my mates then turned to Why did Burnley sell out so quickly? And soon included the comments by the Gay Gooners.

We quickly disregarded the Gay Gooners point, as it is not down to away scheme members as there numbers are capped and have been unchanged for years. They are unable to return tickets to the club, meaning that they do not affect what games sell out at.

Whilst the rubbish they tweeted was disregarded, it did lead to the discussion.

So why did Burnley sell out so quickly?

A lack of crap away days

The key reason for games now selling out so quickly is the lack of crap aways these days.

Back 5 years ago, you used to have half a dozen games go down to 0 credits. The likes of Wigan, Blackburn, Sunderland and Bolton. All these 4 have since gone down. You then had the likes of Stoke City and Swansea City.

All 6 of these sides were in the Premier League in the 2011/12 season.

This meant not only where there games that people with more credits decided not to go too, there were also more games that people with lesser credits could go too.

Let me paint a scenario:

I have 10 apples, 10 people want an apple. Everyone gets one.

Next week, I only have 5 apples. 10 people still want an apple. 5 people leave unhappy.

This week I have 1 apple. 10 people want an apple. 9 leave unhappy.

That is the situation we are now in. There are less tickets coming available due to less crap games being played. Therefore there are less tickets filtering down the chain to those with less credits, meaning less of an opportunity to build the credits up.

Let’s go back to 2011/12 and compare the league to this season. 11 sides are still in the Premier League: Arsenal, Chelsea, Everton, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Newcastle United, Stoke City, Swansea City, Tottenham Hotspur & West Bromwich Albion.

The 11 teams to have dropped out are: Aston Villa, Blackburn Rovers, Bolton Wanderers, Fulham, Norwich City, Queens Park Rangers, Sunderland, Wigan Athletic & Wolverhampton Wanderers.

These have been replaced by: AFC Bournemouth, Brighton & Hove Albion, Burnley, Crystal Palace, Huddersfield Town, Leicester City, Southampton, Watford, West Ham United.

Now let us do a bit more analysis on these. You can pair the following clubs as being similar in terms of journey:

Aston Villa / Leicester City
Fulham / Watford
Queens Park Rangers / West Ham
Wigan Athletic / Burnley

We have then lost and gained the following:

So we have lost 5 sides with rubbish journeys and replaced them with a London game, 3 South-Coast games and a new ground.

The likes of Brighton, Huddersfield, Crystal Palace and Southampton, the majority of fans with plenty of credits will go too. The likes of Bolton, Blackburn, Sunderland and Wolves, they would probably turn down.

What this then means is the likes of Burnley away, more fans are interested because more fans have missed out on other games.

Then you have the actual allocation for these games.

Whilst Burnley and Wigan are fairly similar to travel too, Arsenal used to get 4,800 for Wigan. Burnley meanwhile give Arsenal 2,400. 50%. That is 2,400 fans who could have gone to Wigan away will not go to Burnley away.

Another one is Fulham. They infamously have a neutral area next to the away fans in the Putney End. When Arsenal visit, we get the entire stand. This is around 7,200 seats. For Watford it is just 2,200.

Just two games looked at an Arsenal already get 7,400 less tickets. That has a kick on affect that other games become more in demand.

So how many away tickets less are Arsenal due to get this season in comparison to 2011/12?

My calculations are that we have 10,000 less away tickets now than 5 years ago.

Even if these figures are a little bit out, that is still a big difference between available tickets now, and available tickets 5 years ago.

The primary reason tickets for all games sell out these days is there are less crap away games and less away tickets available, therefore increasing the demand for what is left.

Cup Games

When it came to the cups, the increase allocation for away fans would mean that the Champios League, FA Cup and League Cup were ideal opportunities to go to an away game and increase your credits.

For those that do not know, your credits are built over the last 2 season and the current season.

So if you want to 5 games in 2015/16, 3 in 2016/17 and 1 this year, you will have 9 credits. Cup games over the last 2 seasons are a brilliant opportunity to jump up a level or two. With 10+ domestic cup ties a season, over the 2 previous seasons, you can easily jump up a couple of bands by doing the cup games.

As long as Arsenal are drawn away.

And that is the problem in recent years, we have not been drawn away that often.

In the last 2 seasons, plus this season, we have played 15 domestic cup games (excluding visits to Wembley).

9 of those cup games have been at home.

Of the 6 away, One was at Sutton where we got just 700 tickets, one at Spurs which is, well Spurs. That leaves Hull City, Nottingham Forest, Preston North End, Southampton and Sheffield Wednesday as realistic opportunities for people under 20 credits to gain more credits in cup games.

Just 5 games…

It makes a big difference.

Credit Hoarding

The increased demand causing tickets to sell out at higher credit levels then causes people to hoard credits. To buy tickets for games they have no intention of going to, to gain the credit for future games.

Games such as Burnley, I know people who have bought at 35+, just to ensure that they maintain their current credit level for the games that sell out at 40+. The likes of Spurs, West Ham, Crystal Palace and Watford.

I know people with 35+ who missed out on Watford. Missing out on this fixture has made them worried. Made them buy tickets to Burnley just to increase their own credit count.

Now whilst this is not correct, or fair, it is cause and affect.

The higher credits tickets sell out at, the more credits people need, the more they buy tickets for games just for the credit. It all snowballs.

£26 games

This leads to the £26 ticket.

I was very disappointed that after all the fighting the Football Supporters Federation and many supporters clubs have done with Twenty’s Plenty, that the Gay Gooners solution to the current ticketing crisis was to increase tickets prices to decrease demand. No wonder so many dislike them.

But the £26 ticket price is a problem. If Burnley away was £50, it is unlikely people would buy tickets in the hope of selling on, as they would not want to be stuck with them.

At half that price, they are not only more comfortable taking a hit but know a lot more fans are more likely to buy off them.

The £26 tickets have made things better for fans that go to games, but also increased the demand for tickets.

Prices should not increase, but cheaper tickets are part of the problem.

Twitter

These leads me on to the last reason tickets are selling out quicker. Twitter, Facebook, Social Media in general.

Back 10 years ago, you would not dream of buying a ticket for the credit to sell on (unless we got a horrible Eastern European side away where ticket prices were 50p).

The increased demand for credits, and the cheaper tickets means more people than ever are buying to sell on. And it has never been easier to do this with social media.

Back in the day, if you could not go to a game, you would have to hope to sell to a mate, or a mate of a mate, or someone at work.

These days, you put a post up on Twitter or Facebook, and you will have a buyer within 10 minutes. There is little to no risk in buying a ticket to then sell on.

This then filters back up the chain as more and more people are buying £26 tickets, to hoard credits, enabling themselves to go to better games that require a higher volume of credits.

There is a clear problem in the distribution of tickets for away games. I have merely highlighted what, in my opinion, has created the problem.

Not all the issues are due to fans buying credits to sell. In fact the biggest issue is that there are less away tickets on sale, and less crap games that people do not want to go too.

There is no clear solution, as whatever the solution will put someone out. That is perhaps a blog for another day.

Keenos