Editor
29 September 2008 - 14:11
by Nigel Brown
The one thing that hurts more than my beloved Arsenal being beaten by Hull City at home is the arrogance, pomp and snobbery that has infiltrated the terraces at the Emirates. Why do Arsenal fans now assume that they have a divine right to win football matches?
The answer is simple: Arsenal fans have become spoilt. I now find myself in an us and them dilemma as I don't want to be associated with these spoilt wide assed bratz that now sit in the comfy wide load leather seats of the Emirates. I mean sit, they never stand, let alone sing, oh please don't be silly they demand entertainment...
Worse than prawn sandwich fans
To sit through ninety minutes of football with gooners spluttering and gesturing at the sight of one misplaced pass by Cesc Fabregas made me feel sick to the pit of my stomach. Have gooners forgotten the role of the fan? The scarfer is there to aid the team through vocal support, harbouring the roller-coaster of emotions throughout the season. But instead gooners sneer and shout as though they are watching a mediocre Conference side. Wenger said it was a commitment issue against Hull and I would have to agree with him. Not only the players commitment, but also the fans.
I confronted one unsuspecting hybrid of gooner last season on why he wasn't chanting, he responded by saying that you don't talk in a gallery because you are there to see art, you observe.
Spoilt bratz
What Arsene Wenger has created at Arsenal is his vision of how a football club should be run from the breed of football down to the youth policy and finances of the club. Arsenal have benefited greatly as a club from Wenger's vision but unfortunately the fans have forgotten that inevitably in following a football club there will good days and bad days. The losses to the likes of Hull make you appreciate the good days and remind you why we all love football. But no matter what you get behind the lads until the final second of injury time has ticked on for good – you play to the whistle.
I remember McGoldrick
An arrogance has seeped into the fans psyche and along with this a library tag line and a new breed of £7.50 burger munching fans that have never seen an Arsenal side finish outside the top four. They only know the likes of Pires, Henry, Wiltord, Kanu and Adams. They were not brought up on the Morrow, Campbell, Smith, Selley and McGoldrick breed of stoical football which we all knew and loved. An appreciation of the pre-Wenger era is thread bare on match days – even the 'Rocky' Rocastle chants are few and far between.
From the outset on Saturday you could smell a defeat in the air of North London as the 60 000 marched into Ashburton Grove laughing and joking expecting to be entertained by another feast of Arsenal goals. It was a wake up call that many Arsenal fans needed and I just hope that the new breed of Emirates fans take this on the chin and get behind their army on Tuesday night. Your club needs you gentlemen!