Morning all.
First up it’s a Big Happy Birthday to Robert ‘Sir Bobby’ Pires who is 41 years old today. What a super player he was for us, shame he turned 30 years old during the era in which Arsene Wenger believed that was the retirement age for footballers!
All so very different these days eh, mind you I wish Arsene Wenger would tell a few around that age that their Arsenal days are numbered…
Rumours:
Aymeric Laporte, a 6′ 2″ French central defender is the player being linked to us this morning. He’s 20 years old and plays for Athletic Bilbao. Why we’d be interested in signing him whilst we have Isaac Hayden and Semi Ajayi coming through, both who are a similar age makes no sense. Ok, Laporte has played a lot of matches for Bilbao in La Liga, 53 to be precise but who’s to say he’d suit the Premier League any more than our two?
And for £32 million? No way, not in my opinion.
According to The Sun, our scouts are keeping a very close eye on Seville’s Polish international Grzegorz Krychowiak. He’s 24 years old, 6′ 1″ tall and plays CDM and CH. Valued at just £4 million, this story might just have some legs to it. I’m not fussed about him being valued so low, all what matters is if he’s any good and that’s something I haven’t a clue about, have you?
The player only moved to Seville back in the summer and he’s played just three times which might raise a few alarm bells, although he was in the Polish side which beat Germany 2-0 just a few weeks ago…
Onto today’s post which by the power of email comes all the way from Australia:
“A different matter of perspective “.
That’s become a favourite line of mine over the last few years.
When I first began posting on Highbury house, it was by accident. I came upon it on an Arsenal news aggregator and it caught my eye.
The headline was on the negative side and I basically went to town on all and sundry involved, almost seeing myself as a lone defender of the mighty Arsenal FC, flying in the face of every “alleged” fan who was putting the club down.
My issue at the time was that it seemed every single blog, website and Facebook page related to Arsenal was on the clubs back, and I was sick of it…..
Did people love the club or not????
Well, HH and more accurately, Rico, allowed me to have my say and the regular members respected my opinion, albeit disagreed with me. But they accepting the fact that I saw things differently.
Suffice to say I was right, and they were all wrong. Well, that’s how I saw things and at the time, I was adamant I knew it all. When challenged, I’d respond with my favourite line, ‘I come from a different country and I simply have a different matter of perspective ‘.
Fast forward a few years and through the good grace and character of all things HH, I’ve become a regular contributor and dare I say it, part of the family.
The defining moment was the day I met several of Highbury House royalty over a curry and a few drinks in London. Well, more than a few….
It was then, after meeting some of the most wonderful Gooners alive and sharing a few hours of fantastic banter and discussion that it hit me..
The locals, North London born and bred Gooners had their own angle, their own viewpoint and yes, their own matter of perspective. There’s no right or wrong, just different opinions and all should be accepted and respected.
The one thing we all shared was a love of the Arsenal, and when everything else was broken down, that’s a bond we will share forever.
Great Gooners and even better people.
This weekend, the Arsenal Australia supporters club will be the featured club on Arsenal.com.
Whilst we aren’t all North London born and born and don’t buy season tickets, we do sit up until the most ridiculous of hours every single week to watch games, and, when the stars align, some of us are blessed enough to visit that wonderful part of the world that is home to the most wonderful Football club in the world. Arsenal FC.
Next time you see tourists at the game, just remember how much they go through each week to watch the club play, and how long they’ve been working and saving their dollars to visit for a mere week or two, just to see the boys on the pitch live……
They aren’t all at a game JUST to say they’ve been to one. I wasn’t that’s for sure, I was there because it was my dream to see the club I love and support play live and I was lucky to fulfil that dream.
During my visit, I saw a different love for the club from people born into the life that is Arsenal FC but we overseas fans are no more passionate and certainly no less, but we all have a love for the club.
It’s just that we come from a different place, and because of that we have our own………. Well, you know the rest.
It’s all about the Arsenal!!!
Written by ScottFromOz
New post up now….
Apparently Sanchez say’s that Ozil isn’t contributing much and that he is having to carry the team. Of course there is one fatal flaw to this diatribe. He isn’t playing.
🙂 Scott….
Sanchez and Ozil falling out?
Wonder what language they used.
Or did Ozil give him the eyes…Just joking
Adam, I thought that went without saying lol
Scott. But I do smother them in Vegemite first. 🙂
🙄
Good to see NewsNow maintaining their high standard of recycled and lifted stories/rumours/fantasy….
Mainstream Press outlets now picking up on last weeks bollox about Sanchez being unhappy and falling out with Ozil… ;roll:
Morning Kev…
Rico, Adam only eats prawn sandwiches 🙂
Hiya Kev.
A la Carte?
What, Piebury Corner Adam? 🙂
Morning Lee, Rico, Fred and All
Afternoon Scott…
🙂 Adam. I bet your sandwiches taste nice though… lol
Rico to get all the food groups in one greasy recycled paper cone, plus a year’s supply of salt is an irresistible culinary delight. I know my arteries will thank me for it one day. 🙂
Lee. I read that one when I am in a heightened state of paranoia. I find it feeds it and I spend the next day looking around corners for lurking referees who may want to harm me.
I’d need to take out a second mortgage to do that Adam.. lol
Morning Fred. My money is on a Cdm/Cb..
Ah yes, those sites too Adam… 😉
That site tickles me Adam…..
Morning All,
We will sign a player/players next window..But.
Will wenger sign what we need to balance this squad out,
would anybody put money on wenger signing a defender
or even a lump for the middle of the park.
I used to laugh when wenger was asked after every game.
“I did not see that”
I now know….He was telling the Truth.
Rico. When dining at the Emirates I usually go a la carte myself.
After the Bleacher Report Rico. Oh and Here Is The City of course.
Morning Brudder. What has tickled your fancy?
No Scott, not yet… Maybe in the summer… lol
Morning Lee, Adam’s favourite site…
Untold Arsenal……………hmmm!
Just some toasted sandwiches.
I was in my own for dinner so I kept it simple.
Have we signed anyone?
You are kidding Adam?
Or £17.25 with fried batter and a dozen chips.
I will try some at the Emirates on Saturday Rico. It’s only £3.80 a cup there. 🙂
Try Tetley’s Adam, builders tea… 😉
Rico. Tbh I only drink it because it makes me look particularly butch. 🙂
They are just for guests Adam, I can’t stand the stuff. ‘Which’ magazine said they were good though… 😉
Just the 8? lol
Looks like we are going to buy about 8 players in January.
There are none finer Rico though I am surprised you allow them in the house. 🙂
I have green tea bags. Aldi’s finest…… 🙂
Done. 🙂 I will bring my own green tea bags.
Morning Scott.
Morning Scott, anything nice? 😉
Adam, the bagels have all gone, made some the other day but they go quite quickly.. lol
Can do the egg and veggie sausage sandwich though, I’ll get the oven on around 9am… 😉
Rico. I would love a couple on some of your home-made bread. Or an egg and onion bagel perhaps. Or even an egg and LM veggie sausage Sarnie.
I’ll be there in 90 minutes. 🙂
Morning everyone.
I just had dinner 🙂
Shame you are not nearer Adam, I have a few spare….
I didn’t watch it Adam. Corrie was far more entertaining… 😉
I would stay home if I had eggs like that Rico. 🙂
No matter how hard the ref tried he just couldn’t get Man City to score. The forearm smash by Mangala was priceless.
Go for it Adam. I’m just waiting to collect mine. Two girls sat in the nesting box helping out…. 😉
Bit of a shock at the Etihad last night…
Yes Rico. I am just debating whether to go out for breakfast.
Morning Adam. Nice one again, very mild…
Morning Rico, Lee and all. I too wondered at the absence of Micko. Good to see him back.
Morning all.
Micko, good to see you back, had a feeling Arsenal were to blame for your absence. Can’t think why… 😉
Emerald Isles…where the fekk are they 🙂
Not sure rocky would agree kev !
That God for Man United this season or we’d have no-one to take the piss out of eh !
Nite matey.
Everyone needs a pussy Mick…
Nice one Scott,
3 years ago everyone was an Arsene Basher,
You threatened to leave HH 177 times and came back 177 times,
Toe-rag was the most offensive word on the planet,
The Emirates was a distant dream 10,000 odd miles away,
The Emerald Isles was a bridge too far !
And pussy was just a kitten !
Howdy rico, still getting my prescribed dose of HH everyday only dear ole Arsene has just about sucked every last ounce of enthusiam outta me !!!
Lee pretty much sums it up for me, quite happy to take a back seat, either the players are too thick to take instructions when they run out onto the pitch or Arsene is a busted flush………taxi for Arsene.
Rico, Stan Kroenke is an investor, in other words, a parasite….
Adam, I think that BT was last seen in Old Compton St… 😉
Steady on Fred, or someone will ‘feel your collar’…
Player he wants
Yep no one should make promises they have no intention in keeping and I have no idea why Wenger would make such a promise.
But many things could of happened or he has to wait for the play he what’s
Why make promises when you have NO intention of keeping them?
After RVP talked with the press and released his opinion about want to leave, Usmanov’s also released his letter to the press about Arsenal selling there best players. He also said in that letter that if he is the owner Arsenal would not sell there best players and would compete.. Arsenal then started buying players during that same T/W and, then went to Germany Training Camp. RVP then changed his mind because he wanted to stay. Of course Arsenal now had new acquisition to the squad. This was his reason for leaving in the first place. So he decided to stay and AW was all for it. Then SK flew to Germany and met with AW. RVP was called aside told he was surplus to requirement. Well, the rest is history.
I know but if it weren’t for injuries Chambers would have been our replacement CB and he probably thinks Hayden can do a job as well.
Joe, he said he’d replace Vermaelen if the guy left.
This is where he annoys people.
Some of those stories may not be true
Newcastle 2-0 up
agag: we have 5 sports channels here
Newcastle now two up and should have had a stone wall penalty
Scott Arsenal tried to buy DM and CB some players in those positions have admitted such I think one off them was the Greek CB who went to Roma.
Now we all know if Wenger looks at a player and even if he fits what’s needed by the team he will not buy them if he thinks a player already at the club can do just as well.
Joe, I think Wenger gets the blame because he is our manager, the face of the club and yes, responsible in part when things go sour.
Also, he cops it when he gets things wrong on the pitch, and rightly so.
The reason I’ve always given him more leniency than other people have is because I maintain Stan is ultimately responsible for the way the club is run.
Another reason is we have always had conflicting reports or comments from the club about the financial restrictions.
Less than 18 months ago, Ivan publicly stated we now have the firepower to compete with the other big clubs when it comes to paying for players.
This flies in the face of everything others at the club had said on the preceding years…well, except for when Wenger stated he must make a profit on transfers each season.
It makes sense.
Since he made that comments, we’ve bought Ozil and Sanchez, amongst others, so it all adds up.
I have no doubt my mind that Wenger was restricted massive but that’s just an opinion.
Still, when we fail to buy a DM and CB in the transfer window there is nobody else to blame.
So why does Wenger get the blame?
Potter, that’s the story I also read.
Night all.
I read that too potter, a phone call did it…
Gone now
I’m off guys, catch you all tomorrow….
Night all….
I read that Kroenke signed the deal off and Wenger then told Ferguson he could have him if he upped the price. That’s why Ferguson said that he wouldn’t want to play poker with Wenger.
I do Scott 🙂
Rico, now you know I hardly sleep lol
Adam, sad isn’t it…..
Rick, I really look forward to that but I respect the fact you are busy. Whenever you write a post, it’ll make a great read. Of that I am sure….
One and the same Adam. Chalk Farm is the main shop but they had a cabin outside the lido on the way to Gospel oak station. That’s where we got the cream and lemon sorbet mix on the way home. Now occasionally when we are in that part of London we go to Chalk Farm and sample the marsala wine Ice cream which is a real diet buster.
Rick. I look forward to reading that.
Rico I will try and write a post for you to share what happened with you.
But as ihave a lot on at the moment please give me time.
Rico. You know. I almost agree with you. 🙂 It’s the changing face of football though.
Newcastle I up on city
Adam, he is and as you know, I blame him much more than I do Arsene Wenger because he is the spineless b+++++d behind everything at Arsenal….
Rick. Thanks for that. Part of the club’s history I guess.
Evening Rick, a good memory to tell….
Rico. Lol. You are probably right. :). He’s all about money I suppose.
Adam Highbury was being rebuilt after being damaged in the war. All the games we played that year were at the lane
We returned to Highbury at the start of the 1946-1947 season when league football restarted.
Adam, under Kroenke, they’ll always be a but……
Scott, you should still be asleep… Lol
On RVP the seems to be a lot of blame to go around on he’s sale to man utd. Depending on your point of view anyone of the three parties involved should shoulder the lions share of the blame.
Rick. Was that 1945 game because we played at WHL during the war years?
I see Sagna is starting tonight hope he’s enjoying cup football.
Evening Rico and the House.
Well done Scott a agreat post.
Kev your 4.24 My elder brother introduced me to our great club on a foggy night in 1945
It was the night Dynamo Moscow beat us in the game played at the lane.
My first game at Highbury was in 1947( 0-0 pompy)
We lived in the sticks and thought it was great rubbing shoulders with the Cockneys and hearing all the witt.
With 2 of my brothers I consider myself very lucky not only were we champions the first year I watched them we spent years standing on the Northbank allmost in the same spot.
That’s business for you Rico. Maximise your profitability at every opportunity.
But, more to the point perhaps is the fact that the financial shackles were off for this season and the club still blew the transfer window as evidenced by our defensive woes at the moment. Yes, we bought a couple of good players but….
Another reason I hate the Kroenke family being part of our club Adam! What a tit!
Strange though if that is the case, that Arsene Wenger has been blamed… No doubt Kroenke wanted the best price and only Fergie would pay it.
Mind you, RvP said Utd was the side he wanted to go to.
I’d have forced him to stay!
Rico. From what I gather Arsene wanted to keep RVP and let him walk out for free the following season. Kroenke wasn’t having that and ordered his sale. Fair enough. But don’t sell him in this country, to Man Utd FFS.
I’m a mere country gal who doesn’t understand 😉
Adam, what do you mean by Stan pulled the trigger?
Marine Ices, near Chalk Farm station? I loved their lemon ices Potter.
Rico. Not for everyone for sure. It goes back to the early days at the Emirates. RVP pulled us through that last season and at that time symbolised Arsenal. People I know who knew him tell me that he loved the club. He went because he knew the team wasn’t good enough and he wanted to win things before it was too late. He was right about that but did it perhaps in a bad way. Selling him to Man Utd was a massive mistake and Wenger signed off on it. From what I hear it was Stan who pulled the trigger on the deal though.
The Lido Adam ? Outside pool , crowded as hell, Freezing cold, Cleaner than Highgate ponds though. Still marine Ices were good on the way out.
Hi Scott great read as a fan born and lived in north London and then lived in Ireland for a very long time I agree with everything you wrote.
Oh I still live in Ireland
As late as RvP?
Like I said I am not sure on the start date but was it not around 2003 when we signed the ten year contracts with Nike and emirates.
But I am not sure the start date is the issue because I seem to remember we where not spending a lot before 2003 like you pointed out we sold Petit and Overmars.
The problem with their table maybe from 2013 onwards when we starting spending a lot more money.
It’s my understanding the research was carried out by a poster not any of the bloggers on the site and they had to start somewhere.
Potter. I remember Gospel Oak swimming pool.
That was fantastic, just reading the different stories from people.
I loved it so thanks everyone.
When i was back in London , my Sunday team were perennial North bank people . We used to walk back from Highbury stopping off on the way over the heath to Gospel Oak and then onto Hampstead for the evening. They were happy days the football was terrible , Billy McCullogh , Fumbling Jim Furnell, Laurie Brown, Instead of doing Rabona’s the next day we used to practice falling over our own feet like Billy McCullogh .
Whatever happened is in the past. I haven’t heard anyone criticise Wenger for what he did in the past. In fact I would say that the old Arsene and his success has bought him years of extra time and a lot of respect and affection from the fans. There are always the lunatics occupying both extremes. What I will say is that he lost a lot of support after selling RVP to Man It’d and that this really allowed the negative feelings about him to set in. Whether it was the symbolism of the deal that cut deep, I don’t know. I still maintain it was a shockingly poor decision. Yes, the club got a wad of dosh but lost what money cannot buy.
Joe, going on from that, 2000 was the year the club got the go ahead to build The Emirates so no doubt the purse strings were zipped closed which is why I don’t get why 2003 is the year that UA started their research into points v signings….
Evening Adam. I don’t know re Bt, think he popped on yesterday afternoon briefly..
Joe, my own thought is that back in 2000 we became a selling club and perhaps that coincided with the plan to move. We sold Petit and Overmars to name two and that was the start of it……
1997 the club started looking for a new ground but the local council got in their way. Apparently…
Rico only from my club source the Internet 🙂
Evening Rico. Interesting stuff from the supporters today I think.
Where is BT lately?
Evening Fred, love all the nostalgic comments….
Do you know that for sure Joe?
Evening All..Sounds like a copper.
Enjoyed all the stuff on here,the cross section of how fans see The Arsenal,
We had a big group from the stepney area and meet a lot of gooners on the away trips,we got up to all kinds of mischief back in them days,later in life we took our kids to games always on a saturday afternoon 3pm KO…and meet up after the game for the debate.Those are the days I miss more,we never cared that much about 4th place,it was being a gooner that mattered then.
Rico your right but the money was starting to be hoarded big time from 2003 .
Joe, I’d imagine the club were preparing to build The Emirates long before 2003 bearing in mind we moved there in 2006.
1997 was the year that the club started looking for a new ground I read…..
Roderbij
Hope you enjoyed the Untold Arsenal posting on how many points Arsenal gained for money spent between 2003 – 2013 on players
I see Potter questioned why Untold chose the period 2003-2013 which is a good question. I can’t be sure but this time period was the time Arsenal where getting ready to build the stadium signing long term contracts with emirates and Nike. Which have come to an end in the last couple of years and have been replaced with much better ones in last couple of years.
He’s been awesome, love him…..
Alexis has been fantastic, so far. Whatta player.
It’s not been too good on the eye Agag…
Thanks JM for your view on the Frenchman. 32 million is hideous….
rico, haha, fair enough. I’ve been spared some heartache, I guess.
JM, how many leagues do you watch?? 😀
rog, great comment @ 2:29!
Kev, it all comes in cycles, we’ll be winning again soon. (Or not.) 😀
Laporte is a good defender but not good with the ball for start or build the game. He is ana international french under-21. He plays in Bilbau because is basque (born in France Basque nation). I usually watch him every weekend. But the price is very high!
I don’t know this Sevilha player. I must watch him next weekend.
I ask myself why we didn’t buy José Fonte (Southampton) two years ago…
Perhaps that’s not a bad thing Agag 😉
Haha, so true Kev, we drink up any glory we can. Ive got Aaron Ramsey holding the FA cup as my desktop image. No racy girls. Nope. Aaron Ramsey. Which reminds me… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PE3zeB-h3NA
I’m pleased I am earning again, too, rico. Loool 😛 Work leaves me so little time to be an Arsenal fan these days. I’ve already missed more games this season than I did the whole of last year. Eeeek.
Pleased you are back earning Agag but miss you on here….
All good here thanks….
Tricky, rico. And tricky and treaty, soon. 😀
How are you? I’ve missed posting… 🙁 Hopefully, my workload eases up soon.
Evening all..
Agag, long time, how’s tricks?
Scott, that’s it. I’m booking my flight to London!!! A really great read. As an overseas fan myself, this resonates with me. Love everyone’s stories about supporting the Arsenal!
Some interesting posts on here today, from all parts of the globe…
I suppose that we all have one-thing in common, both us Cockney Gooners and those who have developed their passion for ‘our’ club, from afar….
Nobody could accuse us of being Glory Hunters…
2 FACup wins in 10 years, hardly constitutes glory…
So their has to be something intangible that draws us to ‘our’ club…
For me it was a family thing, my Father and his Brothers.
I grew up listening to tales of them all cycling over to Highbury in the late 1940’s/1950’s and standing in huge crowds of 70,000 at Arsenal stadium.
Watching the Whittaker teams of Lewis, Logie, Compton brothers, Mercer, Rooke, Barnes, Scott, Holton, Cox, Smith, Lishman, Roper, McCauley, McPherson, Dr O’Flangan, Milton, the names are indelible in my memory…
The Arsenal I began watching, was coming off of a 17 year trophy drought, from 1952-53 until that famous night in 1970 when Anderlecht were beaten in the Fairs Cup Final…
I grew up in Tottenham from schooldays and all my mates were Spuds, and they never missed an opportunity of reminding me about Tottenhams 1960-61 Double, FACup win of 1962, Cup Winners Cup of 1963 and FACup of 1967….
Luckily I had the last laugh after Arsenals Faies Cup of 1970 and Double of 1970-71…,
I enjoyed reminding them of that before I left school…..
Great piece Scott. And as a born Kiwi I know about those late nights waking up in the middle of the night to watch games. I remember one horrid night about 2003 I think. Woke up at 3am to watch us playing Leeds in one of the last games of the season and a must win – we choked and lost. My dad a ManUtd supporter calmly smiled on as they overtook us for the title. Try going back to sleep after that.
And now Im in Amsterdam. Ive been to Highbury only once and felt like I met Jesus when I saw Henry on the pitch. I was at the Emirates last year vs Norwich to see THAT team goal finished off by Jack. And I travel around Africa for work all the time, and rarely miss a game. In the villages someone will often have a satellite dish, and everyone pays 50c to watch in homemade wooden stands packed with Arsenal fans. I met fans in Gaza in the sheesha cafes… and for them getting to the Emirates is like visiting Mecca (without the obvious religious connotation).
So I love your story Scott about a pilgrimage to the great stadiums and love and dedication for a team, and to be sometimes sheltered from UK tabloid spam about a team… I was kicking a ball around in Addis Ababa in the park with the local boys and scored a flashy goal and ran round yelling Alexis Sancheeez!! and the poorest kids know exactly who he is.,. there are more Arsenal fans than those who ‘like’ the facebook page or whatever… there are those who strike gold rummaging in the clothing bin, and those that put Arsenal mudflaps on their truck, and I can attest there are still plenty of buses with the back windscreen painted ‘In Arsene we Trust’.
Catch up later….
Hopefully he’ll write a few more Andrew… 😉
Thought provoking post Scott, nice!
I will Potter… lol
I’ll be found in the Cava isle at the Hypermarket….
Me too Kev..
Afternoon to you, Bob and Potter – how rude of me… 😉
I’m up for a football related booze cruise… 😀
Nice post Scott
Its always hard to define what a true supporter is. There really isn’t a right or wrong answer and you definitely get a different perspective watching the game live. Television coverage being as biased as it is will always seek to show us in a bad light. You only have to see how many of our players have been hung out to dry through Sky Sports News agitating for retrospective action over the years whilst ignoring others to know that. I must admit I used to have quite a few arguments with people who would be telling me how we were playing and which players were cr@p, etc, but never went to games. These are the people who tend to believe what is in the press or listen to Talkshite! My biggest bugbear with so called supporters are the ones who just continuously moan for no good reason but can’t offer anything constructive. Its ironic that a lot of them probably only support Arsenal because of Arsene Wenger but are now the most vitriolic against him!
5 people in a car £ 26. return = £ 5.20 per head. Ibis type formula 1 hotel , 49 euros for 1 night inc breakfast, two rooms 98 divided by 5= 20 euros per head approx £ 17.00 . meal and drinks £25 .00 total = £ 47 to £ 50 each . Nice day out buy 800 fags flog 600 get your money back , and jobs a good un. See you lot for a HH trip in the new year. Who is organising it ?
Nice one Travis… Welcome
Not cheaper, I meant a similar price….
It’s staggering to think that it’s cheaper to go to France, watch the game, stay the night and return is a similar price to a ticket into The Emirates…
Beggars belief. The club really don’t care much for the fans do they… But then that’s not something new…..
🙂 Adam…
Welcome Travis, nice to hear from another Aussie on here, we have two in Scott and Ozgunner…
Morning Scott , nice letter and one that raises a few questions ?
When I was a kid late teens , I was already deeply into The Arsenal but had the fortune to spend two years in Spain as the Franco affect wore off. I still followed my club’s results either in the Catalan papers in a 2″ paragraph headed resultas Ingles , or by stealing a look at a tourist’s Daily Mirror as I passed them by working on the beach. Yes I was a beach bum , all day on the beach a little sleep and all night in the bars. Playing football for a local Spanish team .However I digress.
Things are different now , My club has reached out across the world and as communication is so easy now , English football has become truly international.Which In itself that is not a problem however there is a suspicion that our club is by affiliation chasing the £ signs throughout the world and is ignoring the position of the local fan . Gazidis openly stated at the AGM that demand outstrips the capacity of the stadium and anyone that is a regular knows just how many of those seats are sold abroad. I have a number of Norwegian friends that are attending the Burnley match whilst their wives take a trip around the London shops for their Christmas shopping. There are 26 of them , who will all occupy seats that might have remained empty. Whilst this is happening the local supporters groups are being priced out and frankly the club don’t care . Olaf’s £ 100.00 jaunt is worth more to the club than Joe Soap’s £ 50. Olaf spends cash in the Armoury whilst Soapy has got what he wants and probably only gets a programme if that. Frankly many fans now see the club from a similar situation as you . When the game is televised in a pub or the front room , but when it isn’t ,you actually get a better service as because of F.A rules we can only see games on a dodgy stream whereas abroad the matches are legally televised. I know one group of ex attendees that take a ferry to France and watch Canal plus , get their fags and booze and drive back the next day for a similar price than they would have to pay the club to go in. You see we may be called little Englanders but there is a concern that just how committed are the fans in Hong Kong , Singapore ,or anywhere else and when they switch allegiance to the next Shiny – Shiny. How many locals will have turned their backs on the club that they once loved.
That’s their knuckles scraping against the hardboard Rico.
Chelsea always sounds very loud on the television though… 😉
I tend to agree Rico but Chelsea ST holders often complain about the poor atmosphere too. Perhaps if Roman paid them they might shout a bit. 🙂
As an arsenal fan from Australia I would just like to say thank you.
It’s hard being a fan of a club from so far away, late nights,countless hours online checkin news and watching highlights and so on.
To be honest Australia as a football nation is very young and interns of the English game there are I’d say 85% you have no clue what they are on about, but as a fan of football and a lover of arsenal I am over the moon we get our tern on the website. Arsenal blood runs world wide!!
Adam. My own thought is that the way the club is stewarded plays it’s part. Fans are told to sit down and behave like they are children. Perhaps if the leash was taken of fans, the stadium would be a lot more vocal.
After all, places like Anfield, Stamford Bridge, Etihad etc etc and even our neighbours are far more noises places than our own ground.
And some of those clubs don’t get anywhere near the top of the table and don’t always play particularly attractive football but the fans are very loud and proud regardless..
Yet the atmosphere at The Emirates is awful….
The money in football and the wages paid out is just ridiculous, and as much as I detest what players and managers earn, I keep it separate from the real world.
I think all sport stinks when it comes to money!
Rico. It’s a fair point and it certainly contributes to the lack of atmosphere I imagine but then this also happens at lots of other clubs. Like Chelsea we have picked up our fair share of glory hunters over recent years but they spend money and football clubs need to be fed vast quantities of the stuff to satisfy today’s players. One might even imagine the whole financial merry-go-round as a chemical reaction that will grow exponentially until it implodes. Look at Formula 1 to see how this plays out to the detriment of the sport itself. That is, if F1 can be considered a sport.
I imagine that Arsene finds the whole thing somewhat distasteful in an ideological way but, as a man who earns more in a week than 4 McMillan nurses do in a year he probably just buys into the madness like the rest of us do.
Adam, that’s just what I was trying to say earlier. Far too many people get into The Emirates who couldn’t give a toss about what happens on the day.
No doubt several pints before the game and a prawn sandwich are more exciting for them than supporting the team in red and white…
Thanks John, slip up on my keyboard..
Rico. I think I understand what you say. I watch the clientele change and there are many day trippers these days so yes, I will inevitably feel differently about the club to them. From what I gather from them, watching Arsenal is a kind of sightseeing trip. Good luck to them. They have usually been ripped off big time for the ticket. These days, as Kev said to me the other night, the club don’t really care who is in the ground, as long as they pay. He made the point that the occasional supporter is more likely to spend on merchandise, food etc. so perhaps they are a more valuable commodity than I am.
Purely in spend-per-supporter terms. It’s hard to believe that Kroenke and Co have any other considerations.
Phew Nickie…. lol
Pires is 41, not 49!
Night Scott, thanks again for the post…
haha, nooo!! It’s when my mate comes, he has never seen Arsenal win at the emirates. He’s been to some proper stinkers and games we should have easily won. When me and the missus go alone it’s a different story, haven’t seen anything but a win 🙂
Adam, and there is the ‘no difference’ between fans regardless of what their childhood introduced to them. ‘Pissed off when we lose or play badly’..
The club these days has and continues to be ruined by an owner who couldn’t give a toss about the fans, the team or how we play. As long as his stock continues to rise and he doesn’t have to dip into his pocket, he’s happy to let it exist as is does…
On that note, good day all.
Customers……..sad, but true, Adam.
Well said……but again, sad.
Ha ha Nickie… You are usually a jinx on the team aren’t you?
It is different for sure but then so is the crowd these days. As someone born almost within the shadow of Highbury and who played football and cricket tournaments at schoolboy level on the Highbury Fields artificial pitch and every day of the holidays on the grass on the Fields, it really was 18-20 a side with jumpers for goalposts. A few of us were picked up and went for trials with Arsenal and a couple of my mates went on to play for West Ham or Leyton Orient and one went all the way and captained Chelsea when they were still a club. They had a dog track round the outside of their pitch and the whole place was a complete shite-hole. Proving that money can buy you players and titles, but not class.
I ask myself what has changed apart from the inevitable growing older and I imagine that the money involved in the game has distanced the players and the club from the ordinary working ma. Most of my mates, for whom no Saturday afternoon was quite right without meeting up and going over the Arsenal don’t go any more. Arsenal was social as well as sporting. If you were born where I was it was part of your whole birthright and social scene. Season ticket? Don’t make me laugh. We all went out with our girlfriends on Saturday night together and were less happy if we lost but, in those days we never won anything anyway really. I have walked home through the Fields in January many times when we were already out of every competition. By the time I started playing in bands I Iost contact with quite a few Arsenal people and my support had lost its ‘edge’ as I became more and more immersed in music.
Overall though what has changed is the romance. Everybody comes to the Arsenal in a different way and with their own perspective and everyone sees what is happening in a personal way. But, we are Season Ticket holders now, customers in fact. It will never be the same for me but I still go to every home game and get pissed off if we lose or play badly. Arsenal fans know the meaning of the word frustration. That much has never changed.
Hahaha Nickie, there will always be true fans there mate…..
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2811752/MARTIN-SAMUEL-Arsenal-Arsene-Wenger-upstairs-really-want-Jurgen-Klopp-manager.html
Luckily i’ve got top quality seats for this weekend 🙂 so you can guarantee there’s at least 2 proper fans there
I bet it does.
Yep.
Money makes the world go around, I guess.
It also make Stan smile.
Too many Scott and the club don’t seem to care but I guess more money in their back pocket…
That’s true, Rico…….plenty go to a game because they can.
🙂 Scott…
I’d still say there are many fans inside the Emirates each week who are there just because they could get a ticket that was no doubt going free. And don’t get me started on these big companies who own boxes etc etc and just give a client an afternoon out in attempt to seal big business deals…
Not everyone travels thousands of miles with only one thing in mind….
Cheers, Lee.
Rico, that’s it in a nutshell.
You could have just posted that and saved my embarrassment 🙂
Morning again all..
Really good Scott, I enjoyed reading that although it’s better now… 😉
In some ways, your situation is no different to mine. I wasn’t born and bred in London and I didn’t start supporting the club until 1971 but is my support more or less than those who were born into the club? I’d say no, but it’s different.
The one thing which is different between you and I is the distant to The Emirates…
Good read Scott!
Liar, Adam, though a true gentleman 🙂
I never even noticed that mistake Scott. 🙂
Hahaha…..it just didn’t seem quite right all the while I was writing it!
Thanks again Nickie, and thank you for fixing it, Rico 🙂
I didn’t like to say anything Scott… 😉
Bloody phone………not PERCEPTION!!
Nickie, all the way through it didn’t seem right……..should be perspective and NOT exception hahahaha.
Rico, can you edit it please?.??
Lovely piece Scott. I won’t look at tourist gunners in the same way now. A great perspective.
Morning all,
That polish guy has only played 3 games?? is that due to injury? if so he’s being signed on jan 30th