When Arsene Wenger quietly arrived on these shores in 1996 he did so as an unknown; a man keen on implementing a series of ambitious changes to England’s traditional ‘Bank of England’ club. Anybody who has followed the Premier League since his arrival will know that the Frenchman has been nothing short of a revolutionary, responsible for a widespread shift in attitudes towards the traditional beautiful game which has left no club untouched. In short the English game is all the better for Wenger’s loyalty to Arsenal and for his unwavering belief that it should be at the vanguard of European football.
Granted, his reputation as a sore loser, his adamant backing of his squad no matter what the charges, and his selective vision haven’t always endeared him to rival fans, managers and players. Add to this the considerable success which he has brought to the red half of north London in his thirteen years and the recipe for envy, anger and vitriol which stadium atmosphere’s provide and it is natural that Wenger be the target from the stands when his side play away from home. Isn’t it so with most coaches and management teams when they venture from the comforts of their respective home dugouts?
That being said, the abuse such as that which rained down on the Frenchman at Old Trafford at the weekend, and which has been ever-present at White Hart Lane and several other Premier League arenas since his arrival, has been and always will be thoroughly vile and unacceptable.
The chant, which relates itself to slanderous media allegations made in 1996, is well-known and certainly not worth repeating. It is a chant no worse than the racist and homophobic battle-cries which the FA’s Kick It Out campaign has worked so hard to wean from terraces over the last decade. And yet, it persists. It persists without the police or the game’s governing body paying it any lip service at all; it is a chant which is sung by individuals who feel that collectively they are untouchable. A chant which sullies the reputation of the fans who sing it, in the same way that public jovial reminders of the Munich air disaster or the Holocaust smear the status of other numb-skulled rival football factions.
At its heart, the singing of such disgraceful lyrics serves to provoke. And it does exactly that, but only amongst Arsenal fans keen on protecting the honour of their manager. The one gentleman who you never see respond to the cat-calls from the seats behind him, is the one man who is being singled out. Not even last Saturday, having been banished to the stands, with his arms outstretched and surrounded on three sides by a crowd baying for blood as if in Rome’s Coliseum, did Arsene Wenger react. What does that tell you about the man? It tells you the man has dignity and a level of self-respect that remains unbowed, despite obvious pressure and natural desire to hit back.
Given their public profile you would think that more would be done to protect individuals in the football world from foul-mouthed and slanderous abuse. It doesn’t matter that they earn huge sums of money, it doesn’t matter that they drive around in flash cars…the excuse that it is all part of the game does not stand up any more in a British society which prides itself on being one of the most multi-cultural and open-minded in the world.
Did English fans not look on in disgust as Spanish fans howled monkey-chants at black England players in an international ‘friendly’ in 2004? Are these not the same fans who now bait each other and their respective clubs week in, week out? Is it not time to stand up in the face of such disgusting behaviour and focus on football and the playing of the game?
Sol Campbell, Ashley Cole, David Beckham, Frank Lampard and Emmanuel Adebayor are but a few who have suffered at the hands of vile chants in recent years. Campbell to his credit has been particularly vocal on justice being meted out by the requisite authorities. As such he is also the only one who has seen perpetrators identified, arrested en masse and convicted. Better stewarding, more vigilant policing and the courage for individual fans to stand up and say no when all around them are acting like morons are the key for change. It won’t be easy, it never has been, but the minority should never find themselves galvanised by the silence of the majority.
The Premier League has changed football and yes, some of those changes have come at the expense of time-honored traditions. However, with hooliganism on the wane, racist chants wholeheartedly scorned and supporters groups attempting to better relations between rival fans, there has never been a better time to stamp down on the elements of the game which continue to shame us all.