Arsenal Fans Today

[franksinatra]

248 and 232 miles respectively. What next? Capital cities, pop music or famous people?

So the original posters comment of supporting your local team doesn't affect a City fan. I understand people move away and still follow their club or family history affects who you support and not where you live, why can't he!

I am a bit disappointed by the comments on here, always thought the real City fans to be quite original with their chants etc and appreciate good support. I thought the banter between opposing fans is what makes football, yet our attempt at a poznan(home and away) and vocally supporting our team is derided - some of the songs we and ALL clubs sing are cringeworthy, but you cant win Highbury library or Loudmouthed Twats?. Originality in songs is not always best...The sky commentator in the box will submit to that!

We all have the same newbie support that has diluted our clubs in the sky era but some of us still exist. In 1987 we played you lot at your spiritual home we were 0-3 down but you were facing relegation, the banter(and even a conga on the platt lane benches) are the sorts of things that stick in the memory for me. The piss taking of our support by the section next to us on the north stand despite being 4-0 up (shall we sing a song for you Arsenal in the "cockney accent" etc - you had to be there) was fucking annoying but still funny!

Don't knock the banter between fans,in days of ridiculous prices,little relation to current players who show no loyalty to their clubs or fans. There isn't much left!

I'll leave you to slag off the cockney newbie with too much to say as I still have a prawn sarnie to eat.

Regards & Respect

Don't worry. The irony was not lost on me. I saw your questions and decided to run with it anyway. Quite childish I know. The points you make are valid and I largely agree with them. I think the relationsip between our clubs has become strained due to the amount of players we have purchased from you. I also blame Piers Morgan who is an utterly vile indivdual. I used to have a lot of time for Arsenal, playing some of the best football I've ever seen in this country and also knocking United off their perch. I now breath in the stench of bitterness that comes from their direction. Good luck for the season anyway; you talk a lot of sense.

Just for the record AFC I have only moved down to the Southend/Colchester area a couple of months ago I am still a season ticket holder and left at 4am from Manchester to make work this morning. And incidentally my family have supported City for many years with the last three generations seeing victory in cup finals 34/56/68/11 respectively.

Your right there is nothing wrong with banter at a football match, it is part of the experience and makes the game much more enjoyable. However my reflections on Arsenal fans are based on personal experiences and differ significantly from my experiences 5 or 10 years ago when City were at the bottom rung of the laddder and clubs like Arsenal were lauding over us. Furthermore I enjoyed the Poznan although like many city attempts it was pretty manic with pockets of fans jumping up all over the place.

My comments about not supporting your local club were not well explained. Ive had the bandwagon accusation thrown at me since being down here and was you a City fans when they were rubbish comments.. Which personally I find ironic when many of the Arsenal walk around here wearing the shirt but have little knowledge or interest in the club.

 

[jrb]

Apart from a brand new stadium, the most expensive season tikcets/seats in the PL, and affordable housing at Highbury Square(arf!), what else have Arsenal FC done for their fans and the local community?

Contrast and compare to what Arsenal could have done for their fans and local community, to what Mansour and City are doing.

When and if Arsenal ever do something similar, the Arsenal board, Mr Winger, sorry Mr Wenger, and Arsenal's fans in general, might, just might, have some legitimate points to make.

 

[LongsightM13]

In contrast to previous years where the spirit between the two sets of fans on match day has been good, there was a definite air of tension as well walked back to Piccadilly Station. There were two many silly teenagers and early twenty somethings from London and the Home Counties posturing and trying to provoke a reaction. At one point younger, gobby Arsenal fans in their garish red and white shirts were standing less than a couple of yards from some posturing City lads, before both lots decided they were all talk.

We’ve all heard other fans and some Blues who have chanted “I wanna go home, <insert place name>’s s***hole, I wanna go home”. Eve before the game Piccadilly Station was awash with vile little oiks in red and white chanting this nonsense.
Personally I hate this chant with a passion, whether it is other fans or Blues chanting it. It lacks charm and wit, and if someone hates a town so much, what are they doing there, (at great expense)? I find myself thinking “go home then, and think of a better chant!”

Alarmingly on the walk back I heard some young Arsenal goon arrogantly ranting to his two mates: “They shouldn’t even be talking to az,. the c***s.” His mate tried to calm him down saying “We’re outnumbered here”. The goon blustered back “I’ll stab em with my keys. I’ve had enough”. His mates tried to calm him down. This was overheard by a rather tough looking lad wearing no colours, whom I presume was a City fan, and he muttered in no uncertain terms to the Arsenal fans that they should keep their mouths shut. The goon who boasted about stabbing hid behind his mates. Ok, he was all talk, or I’d like to think so, but the very thought of stabbing someone really is shocking.


What is it with so many Arsenal fans? As one Blue put it last week, they think they are footballing royalty. Their childish hatred of City for daring to buy their best players is truly pathetic. Their lack of self awareness matches that. Do they realise that they buy players form smaller clubs than them. Do they seriously think that Southampton are as bothered about Arsenal, as Gooners are about City? That’s the way football has always gone. It is time that they grew up and realised that.

It wasn’t so long ago that they were shouting and chanting "Spend some f***ing money!"
Their profit making club sell their best players every year. If hey were strong enough they could say no when we or anyone else go in with a bid!

They should be asking questions of their own board and manager rather than being so bitter about City.

I don't know if it was the same people but I saw one group of Arsenal fans getting a bit of a shoeing in the middle of that industrial estate-like road on the way back to Piccadilly, where all the brasses hang out, and another one getting a slap near the Mitchell Arms. There was definitely a bit more of an atmosphere this year.

 

[gooner6729]

There are disadvantages to being in London as well. Loads of immigrants from around the UK and the rest of the world. These people support the clubs they grew up with. Building a stadium like ours cost 360 million quid. The Milennium in Cardiff cost 100.

And how much do you think you would have been able to get for Highbury if it had been located in Wigan?

we would have turned it into a nightclub called Roxys frequented by birds with large tits and blokes in Kappa leisurewear.

Highbury generated 50 million, so in no way compensated for the extra cost associated with building a ground in London

 

[Zabbasbeard]

-- Mon Sep 24, 2012 12:43 pm --

Sadly i can't help but feel they've got a right to be a bit self-righteous. They are one of few clubs who are run as it used to be, where success was dependent not on who had the richest owner but on the people running the club day in day out. Objectively that's a far more moral way for a sport to run.

I'm not sure if you're reference to Arsenal fans being hypocritical is about their chairman's investment those years ago but i've seen it on here so i'll talk about it anyway. In their defense the Fiszman £50m is hardly similar to the situation these days and really isn't being hypocritical.

The Arsenal fans stick by the club being run as a business and what Fiszman did was in keeping with that. There were still intentions to make profits, not posting continual losses like with the modern sugar daddies, the spending was not continual but an injection to hold club assets and to improve revenue through competition. Companies in every industry do, have done and will continue to do what Arsenal did with Fiszman however i can't think of an instance in which a business is run similar to you or Chelsea. So tbh it isn't being hypocritical at all.

Of course it's hypocritical. It's no different to what City are doing now - relying on investment from a rich benefactor to further the ambitions of the club - and you're showing a total ignorance of the medium/long-term strategy of our club which was always to invest heavily initially with the intention of growing the club and it's revenues to the point that we'll eventually be self-funding and not reliant on our owner.

Why do you think we've appointed Soriano? One of his tasks over the next few years will be to use his contacts to considerably increase the club's revenue through ever more lucrative sponsorship deals. Why do you think our owner is investing over £100 million in a new state-of-the-art training ground and academy complex? Do you seriously believe that these plans (with more to come) are those of someone who only believes in the short-term view of chucking money at numerous players while totally disregarding investment in the long-term well-being of the club?

I'll also point out that Arsenal were somewhat fortunate in that Fiszman's investment came at a time when the playing field was a damn sight more level than it is now and therefore his money went a lot further back then than an equivalent amount would today. Not only that, but they're also fortunate in that their London location allows them to get away with charging extortionate prices for season tickets (the most expensive season tickets in world football - yeah, that's really doing things the "right way" eh?) and corporate hospitality that numerous companies in the capital will be more than happy to pay - the kind of prices that they would have no chance of getting away with charging if they were located anywhere north of Watford. This in turn helps them balance the books a lot better than many decent sized northern clubs. There's no denying that they're a well-run club financially but they're hugely advantaged by their geographical location, something that often gets overlooked.

If it was that easy to run a club in London why is it that only Arsenal and Spurs are genuinely big clubs while there are 8-10 clubs like that in the north? Both of those clubs come from traditionally working class areas. Tottenham is as much of a slum as Moss Side.West Ham probably have the third biggest traditional fanbase in London. They come from one of the poorest boroughs in the country.

The clubs from wealthy areas like Chelsea,Fulham or Wimbledon have much smaller grassroots fanbases because football traditionally doesn't live in those areas.

There are disadvantages to being in London as well. Loads of immigrants from around the UK and the rest of the world. These people support the clubs they grew up with. Building a stadium like ours cost 360 million quid. The Milennium in Cardiff cost 100.

It also makes me laugh when other fans have the brass neck to slag our fans for paying the highest prices in the world. What else are we going to do? The options are pay up or stop going. Plenty have had to stop going.

To an extent whats happened with Abramovich and Mansour has put pressure on our prices as they have inflated player wages. Yes, our owner is a money grabbing yank ****, but it amazes me some of you can't see why we have an issue with you and Chelsea.

For what its worth, Fiszman was a proper Arsenal fan. Nevertheless he didn't gift money to the club.He invested money in a team that had won a lot of trophies in recent years and needed a shot in the arm to stay at the top.

I'm not having a go at City. Just trying to point out that its all about perspective.

I have more time for you than I do for 40,000 people, who hadn't been to a football ground prior to 2004 , waving plastic flags at Stamford Bridge, but it does grate to hear that Gooners are shit fans because they:

a) make no noise at home
b) are gobby arrogant ***** away from home
c) pay high ticket prices to follow their team

This week I'm taking my kids to Arsenal v Coventry in the League Cup. £10 a ticket in the lower tier. On Saturday v Chelski the cheapest ticket in the ground costs £62. Can't afford to drag kids along for that. Both games will be 60,000 sell-outs though. Not bad for a trophyless feeder club on its way down supported by shit fans :-)

As the son of an immigrant (who worked here until his mid 70s, the year before his death) how can immigrants be a "disadvantage"? Are you racist? Are yiou just xenophobic? Did you enjoy such immigrants as Bergkamp, Henry and Vieira playing for your club?

If you are being racist then clear off and don't come back on here again. Your hypocrisy I can live with (it's a joke), but I won't live with racism.

 

[gooner6729]

Of course it's hypocritical. It's no different to what City are doing now - relying on investment from a rich benefactor to further the ambitions of the club - and you're showing a total ignorance of the medium/long-term strategy of our club which was always to invest heavily initially with the intention of growing the club and it's revenues to the point that we'll eventually be self-funding and not reliant on our owner.

Why do you think we've appointed Soriano? One of his tasks over the next few years will be to use his contacts to considerably increase the club's revenue through ever more lucrative sponsorship deals. Why do you think our owner is investing over £100 million in a new state-of-the-art training ground and academy complex? Do you seriously believe that these plans (with more to come) are those of someone who only believes in the short-term view of chucking money at numerous players while totally disregarding investment in the long-term well-being of the club?

I'll also point out that Arsenal were somewhat fortunate in that Fiszman's investment came at a time when the playing field was a damn sight more level than it is now and therefore his money went a lot further back then than an equivalent amount would today. Not only that, but they're also fortunate in that their London location allows them to get away with charging extortionate prices for season tickets (the most expensive season tickets in world football - yeah, that's really doing things the "right way" eh?) and corporate hospitality that numerous companies in the capital will be more than happy to pay - the kind of prices that they would have no chance of getting away with charging if they were located anywhere north of Watford. This in turn helps them balance the books a lot better than many decent sized northern clubs. There's no denying that they're a well-run club financially but they're hugely advantaged by their geographical location, something that often gets overlooked.

If it was that easy to run a club in London why is it that only Arsenal and Spurs are genuinely big clubs while there are 8-10 clubs like that in the north? Both of those clubs come from traditionally working class areas. Tottenham is as much of a slum as Moss Side.West Ham probably have the third biggest traditional fanbase in London. They come from one of the poorest boroughs in the country.

The clubs from wealthy areas like Chelsea,Fulham or Wimbledon have much smaller grassroots fanbases because football traditionally doesn't live in those areas.

There are disadvantages to being in London as well. Loads of immigrants from around the UK and the rest of the world. These people support the clubs they grew up with. Building a stadium like ours cost 360 million quid. The Milennium in Cardiff cost 100.

It also makes me laugh when other fans have the brass neck to slag our fans for paying the highest prices in the world. What else are we going to do? The options are pay up or stop going. Plenty have had to stop going.

To an extent whats happened with Abramovich and Mansour has put pressure on our prices as they have inflated player wages. Yes, our owner is a money grabbing yank ****, but it amazes me some of you can't see why we have an issue with you and Chelsea.

For what its worth, Fiszman was a proper Arsenal fan. Nevertheless he didn't gift money to the club.He invested money in a team that had won a lot of trophies in recent years and needed a shot in the arm to stay at the top.

I'm not having a go at City. Just trying to point out that its all about perspective.

I have more time for you than I do for 40,000 people, who hadn't been to a football ground prior to 2004 , waving plastic flags at Stamford Bridge, but it does grate to hear that Gooners are shit fans because they:

a) make no noise at home
b) are gobby arrogant ***** away from home
c) pay high ticket prices to follow their team

This week I'm taking my kids to Arsenal v Coventry in the League Cup. £10 a ticket in the lower tier. On Saturday v Chelski the cheapest ticket in the ground costs £62. Can't afford to drag kids along for that. Both games will be 60,000 sell-outs though. Not bad for a trophyless feeder club on its way down supported by shit fans :-)

Just to clarify, I never said it was easy to run any club in London - just that a big London club has a huge advantage over a big Northern or Midlands club due to the fact that they can generate far more cash through the gate and corporate hospitality. The proof is in the prices that yourselves and Tottenham charge. Christ, Tottenham's ground only holds 36,000 but their match day revenue is streets ahead of the likes of Villa, Everton, Sunderland, and Newcastle despite the fact that those club's average gates are either the same or higher.

Correct me if I'm wrong but I've been to Arsenal - both Highbury and the Emirates - plenty of times but it doesn't strike me as a predominantly working class or poor area; Tottenham yes, but not Arsenal. Either way, both clubs draw much of their support from the affluent areas otherwise how else can you explain them being able to afford to pay those ticket prices?

As for the ticket prices themselves, it's misguided to blame any of that on Mansour (or even Abramovich) IMO because ever since you moved into the new ground they've been astronomically high and my guess is that that was the intention in order to pay off the stadium debt. And as it happens, I take no great pleasure in pointing out that you have to pay such high prices - we're all football fans at the end of the day - but I and many other City fans don't take too kindly to being lectured by fans that claim their club does everything "the right way". How can having the world's highest season ticket prices be deemed doing things "the right way", particularly when your club hasn't won a trophy for 7 years?

Islington,Holloway and Finsbury Park are traditionally working class areas. Pockets of it have been regenerated and yuppified since the 1980s. A lot of the fans you see following Arsenal away would have their family roots in those areas, but now relocated to places like Hertfordshire. Same for Spurs. Same for many of your fans living in places like Cheshire.

I haven't lectured anyone here. You are also seriously mistaken if you believe the bulk of our support loves our American majority shareholder. Most of them aren't much keener on the second largest shareholder. His name is Usmanov. He is the richest man in Russia, and he probably would open his chequebook if he could find a way of buying the Yank out.

The way we are treated isn't the ''right way'', but neither are Abramovich/Mansour a good thing for the game.

Bottom line is that football hasn't been ''right'' since the early 90s. Prior to that clubs that did things the ''right'' way flourished. Derby,Forest,West Ham and Ipswich all had successful eras. Thats gone forever and the game is poorer for it.

 

[mancityvstoke]

I lived in Stamford Hill for a short while.

It is a shit hole

 

[gordondaviesmoustache]

Bottom line is that football hasn't been ''right'' since the early 90s. Prior to that clubs that did things the ''right'' way flourished. Derby,Forest,West Ham and Ipswich all had successful eras. Thats gone forever and the game is poorer for it.

Didn't hear many Arsenal fans saying this when their place at the top table was guaranteed, nor for that matter when they were at the vanguard of creating the modern world that English football inhabits today when they decided to carve the TV money up for themselves at other clubs' expense.

Arsenal, as much as any club, created the monster we see today, it is a little late in the day to decry it now, just because everything isn't going your way anymore.

 

[1_barry_conlon]

We went round the lower divisions singing 'you're only here coz its city', 'small town in blackburn', ' shit ground no fans' . 'who the fucking hell are you' and all that to all and sundry. Yet you're all getting uppity because some fans had the cheek to sing songs about us?

Get some perspective. That's what football fans do, take the piss. We've been doing it for years.

Take it as a compliment and get used to it because it means we've arrived. And to classify an entire fan base based on a few songs is idiotic. Arsenals away support probably isn't dissimilar to ours in its makeup: a bunch of pissed up blokes having a laugh.

Personally, it's less about that and more about the fact that I don't know a single Arsenal fan who isn't a completely self-righteous ****.

They believe that they are "better" than us, not on the pitch, but as a club because Wenger has unsuccessfully brought through youth, and they blame us for "ruining the game" in the most hypocritical way possible.

Say what you want about City fans, but in my experience at least, we do not feel that we are "above" other clubs.

Sadly i can't help but feel they've got a right to be a bit self-righteous. They are one of few clubs who are run as it used to be, where success was dependent not on who had the richest owner but on the people running the club day in day out. Objectively that's a far more moral way for a sport to run.

I'm not sure if you're reference to Arsenal fans being hypocritical is about their chairman's investment those years ago but i've seen it on here so i'll talk about it anyway. In their defense the Fiszman £50m is hardly similar to the situation these days and really isn't being hypocritical.

The Arsenal fans stick by the club being run as a business and what Fiszman did was in keeping with that. There were still intentions to make profits, not posting continual losses like with the modern sugar daddies, the spending was not continual but an injection to hold club assets and to improve revenue through competition. Companies in every industry do, have done and will continue to do what Arsenal did with Fiszman however i can't think of an instance in which a business is run similar to you or Chelsea. So tbh it isn't being hypocritical at all.

Bolton fan my fucking arse! And to think some of the suckers on here believed you?

 

[ifiwasarichfan]

I find this deteriorating relationship between us and Arsenal very sad personally. I have always preferred my venom to be directed at Spurs and Everton as well as the Mickeys and the Rags.

When Arsene was regularly winning Trophy's and previously to him gorgeous George and really getting on Taggerts tits - I took the view that the enemy of my enemy is my friend.