So it seems like there are a few things that need to be set straight.
Firstly, the self-styled Militant Tendency amongst the moaners have got to sit down and be quiet. Now. If they need an outlet for their misguided fury, they should join UKIP, where they can fight it out with harmless others.
Put up, or shut up! … In fact, no, just shut up.
Terrifyingly, some of them even got to speak to Wenger directly this week, clearly an experience he did not enjoy. And why should he? He is the club’s greatest post-war manager, having brought untold success and stability to the club and maintained elite performance despite having bugger-all cash and rotten luck. He shouldn’t have to deal with this sort of shit. Of course he’s made a few mistakes, but that doesn’t give any gibbering idiot with a copy of SuperGoals and a reading age of seven the right to have a go.
Such people are not Arsenal’s affliction alone. You only need to look at the behaviour of the United fans who, on the day that they won the title against one of their bitterest enemies, chose to celebrate by whingeing incessantly about the future of one member of the club’s stellar strikeforce and throwing beer-cans at the front of the stadium. A protest about transfers. On the day they retained the world’s most prestigious championship. From which tree etc…
We need a massive show of support for Wenger this weekend to let him know that Arsenal are not a club supported entirely by psychotic Football Manager fantasists, and that some of us know a good thing when we see it.
Wenger leaving would be a catastrophe. If he were to do so as a result of the people who’re meant to be supporting Arsenal, it would be truly, truly shameful.
Secondly, Guillem Balague (the man vilified by many for this whole Arsene to Madrid thing) is not an idiot, nor is he a bad journalist. He’s a very good and very well-connected one – especially about anything involving Real Madrid or Spaniards in the Premiership. Back in December it was Balague who was first to report the full extent of Fabregas’ injury, when the rest of the press thought they were doom-mongering by putting him down as out for only 3 weeks. He has clearly got a very interesting phonebook.
However, he is Spanish and he is a Madridista. The Spanish style of football journalism, as anyone who read Marca during Henry and Vieira’s various on-off transfers can attest, makes no bones about launching into extensive, detailed speculative accounts of what could happen, given recent news-flow. Balague’s more imaginative claims at the end of his piece on Wenger, where you can pretty much hear 5 being made out of the addition of 2 and 2 between every sentence, is really more of a stylistic flourish than anything to get het up about. You’d be unlikely to find a British journo mapping out a possible course of events with such confidence and precision, but that’s just a cultural preference.
While suspicious of sure-footed prognostication, British hacks certainly do a fine line in bare-arsed, shame-faced fabrication. The Daily Heil, for example, has a proud history of racism, sexism, Nazi-sympathising… and talking complete and utter codshit about Arsenal FC (apologies, James from The Apprentice). This week they tossed in the figure of £13 million and announced that this was to be Arsene’s summer transfer pot. Not 2 days previously, Arsene had told the shareholders meeting (which was right after a board meeting):
We spoke about funds and yes there is money available.
There! Right there! He said there was only £13 million and so he’s going to leave! He said it in front of everyone! Now it’s true!
“Money available” = “£13 million”. Fact of the British Press. Baffled? You wouldn’t be the only one.
Tags: Arsene Wenger, Gibbering, Guillem Balague, Idiots, Real Madrid
May 19th, 2009 at 10:13 am
Let him leave. He is a loser; fact. As an Arsenal fan I have been priced out of the Emirates and the Corporates don’t sing or stay. ALl I get is a losing team. The Wenger project has failed. Bring back George Graham and big, sturdy centre backs.
May 19th, 2009 at 10:17 am
If we lose Le Boss, Who the hell are we going to replace him with?
He is a man with a plan and he’s got my backing 1,000,000%. He even looks like my father (that’s the truth!). I’ve supported Arsenal all my life, same as my father and brother. I’ll support it through the good and the bad, at the moment the club is on the up and we need to give Mr Wenger and players our love and gratitude.
Remember we’re not just supporters……We’re Family.
May 19th, 2009 at 10:19 am
You’re right mate ! They need to shut up ASAP ! GO ARSENAL !
May 19th, 2009 at 10:21 am
We need to show our support to Wenger now, I don’t know how annoyed he has been by all these whinging idiots, but in any case we need to let him know that Arsenal fans are behind him and, most importantly, respect him. He’s the greatest manager in the clubs history FFS! By staying at Arsenal and building the new stadium where we clearly dont have a lot of money at the moment, he has clearly sacrificed a lot of personal glory for himself and put the club before himself time and time again. He could easily have gone to Madrid, Milan, Bayern Munich or other many, many times before. You should start a post where people can leave messages of support to Wenger, and then actually send it to him. The man deserves so much more respect than he is getting now
May 19th, 2009 at 12:02 pm
Ok “Honest”, lets say you get your way and Wenger leaves…
Then what?
I’ll tell you what, Cesc will be out the door, followed by RvP, Nasri, Clichy, Arshavin and probably more.
And who on earth would you have as our new manager?
Who is going to keep us competitive on a limited budget?
Who is going to attract brilliant young players?
Who is going to attract brilliant old players for that matter?
You idiots calling for him to go are just showing how short sighted and stupid you really are!
You’ll al be eating your words and singing his name next season when we win the League!!
May 19th, 2009 at 12:13 pm
He’s not going anywhere. Moaners like Honest can bleat all they like.
I expect three new signings in the summer – 1 CB, 1 DM and 1 mystery AW surprise – and bring it on for 2009/10.
We are The Arsenal.
May 19th, 2009 at 1:58 pm
Please Arsenal Board leave our Arsene alone,he is given to us by God.Long Live Arsene Long Live Arsenal.
May 19th, 2009 at 2:15 pm
If AW leaves…. Arsenal will fall ’til 10th? just will match Tottenham? or even worse? 15th? ’til Newcastle or Boro?…
And the “new great manager”? Who is he?
May 19th, 2009 at 3:25 pm
i think youre wrong to say arsenal would fall by the wayside if arsene left, we are a club full of internationals with a 60000 stadium and would no doubt bring in another top manager.
However, there is no doubt that arsene is the best thing to happen to our football club since gunnersaurus took a blow to the groin. The man deserves immense respect and not fools asking him stupid questions. The recent negativity could in fact work wonders as its shown the board and manager that crap wont be taken forever-however now that the point has been made and changes have been hinted at its definitely time to stop the whining and to get fully on board.
I hope to the high heavens the emirates is buzzing on the weekend, finishing the season on a high note will make the summer much happier
May 19th, 2009 at 3:26 pm
also-im surprised more hasnt been made of rosickys return. I know he has a way to go to be fully match ready but they seem pretty sure the injury itself is behind him-that lad could offer us a hell of a lot over the next couple of years
bring it on
May 20th, 2009 at 9:47 am
Firstly, those who want wenger to go should just stop supporting our great “trophyless” club and go support another one. Some other club exists which cheats its way to victories and has half empty home stadiums in london. Those who want wenger out can go to that club and support them. We have too big a waiting line in season ticket demands,etc and some core and older fans would then get into the stadium which would be great for the club.
Secondly, Guillem Balague is a complete idiot, tool and a smelly smiling c*nt. He is pro madrid and pro liverpool but the biggest problem with him is that he is green with Jealousy over the fact for the last decade arsenal and barca have been playing the most beautiful football which has ten times better than madrid and liverpool. He cant stand it and watch his views on the two clubs, he nevers misses speaking in negative terms for the two. I understand him hyping up the chance of real getting wenger but for u blogs to actually give him some credit !! Have you listened to him on the times podcast on the episode after the 1-1 draw with liverpool at home in the champions league last season (the one with the penalty that wasnt given against kuyt on hleb) u will get all the proof there.
May 20th, 2009 at 12:29 pm
There’s a generation of Arsenal fans who don’t seem to realise that there was not always a “Big Four” and the only reason we are in it is because of Wenger, whatever his faults.
Our average league finish in the 4 years before Wenger arrived was something like 8th. We had no God-given right to finish higher in the league than the likes of say Leeds, Newcastle or even Spurs – Wenger has taken a club with a 38,000 seater stadium and has got it into the Champions League for 12 years in a row. To put that in context, Leeds got virtually that number in to watch a play-off semi-final in League One this season.
Football has changed immeasurably since Abramovich, and Ferguson and Manchester United are the only ones to have adapted successfully. We simply don’t have the finances of United, but Wenger’s ensured we have a stadium which will eventually allow us to compete (or at least hang on United’s coat-tails) financially. There will be some short term pain as with any investment. Deal with it. Some clubs have gone 40 years without a trophy, let alone 4.
I love Arsenal and I hate it when we lose and I share the frustration of fellow supporters with certain decisions that Wenger makes. But it is not Wenger’s fault that to ENSURE you will win the league RIGHT NOW you need a first team made up of £20-30 million players and a bench stuffed with £10-30 million ones. Our finances mean we can’t do that, and instead have to create our own £30 million pound players ala Fabregas. Of course guys like Nasri are not the finished article yet – if they were we’d not be able to afford them.
All this means we require monumental luck with injuries to seriously compete, as we simply cannot afford the benches of the other clubs. Ivanovic is Chelsea’s 4th choice centre-back and we lost to them missing Almunia, Gallas, Clichy, Rosicky, Eduardo, and Arshavin. We simply haven’t had the luck we need since January 2008. I can’t believe how much people get on Bendtner’s back for one. He is a fine squad players who have been forced to play beyond the amount that is reasonable for his development because of our rotten luck with injuries. Bendtner is our 4th choice striker – can you even name Chelsea and Liverpool’s 3rd choice? He has had to play more games than anyone would have liked and responded pretty well in my opinion. Who knows what he could do if he didn’t hear his “supporters” groaning everytime it’s announced he’s going to come on.
Furthermore, the attention Wenger’s paid to the youth set-up, and the way everyone performs throughout the club, rather than just the first team, means that on Friday the first generation of young players who’ve only ever been schooled under Wenger will be playing the first leg of the FA Youth Cup final, having won the Academy league last week. I don’t pretend that all these players will be Champions League winners in 2 years time, but it points to a club going in the right direction, rather than one in crisis as some hysterical sections of the Arsenal support would believe.
Sorry for the essay, but the amount of negativity surrounding this season has really got to me. I hope we can get a couple of good additions to the squad this summer – real leaders, regardless of age or nationality – that Rosicky and Eduardo will be back to their best, that we get a full season out of a fully-fit and rested Arshavin and Fabregas, and that players like Song, Bendtner, Gibbs and Walcott can continue to develop the way they have this season. If we as supporters play our own role as the 12th man as well then there is no reason why we can’t have another decent season, despite the fact that we’re effectively playing with our hands tied behind our backs.
May 20th, 2009 at 12:45 pm
Very, very well said.
May 20th, 2009 at 1:04 pm
@ HONEST nosh on this:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/a/arsenal/8058981.stm
May 20th, 2009 at 3:28 pm
Seconded. Hear hear that man.
Henry Winter put it neatly suggesting that anyone suggesting Arsene should go ought to watch a video of The Houston-Rioch Years…
May 20th, 2009 at 3:58 pm
I’m impressed that you understood Winter’s article. Normally his massively extended mixed metaphors are too much for me and I give up after the second paragraph.
May 21st, 2009 at 11:48 am
Mac knows.
Maybe he should be the next boss?
May 22nd, 2009 at 3:23 pm
Thank you very much for your support Mr McKean. Perhaps you would like to be my Pat Rice and accompany me on what would no doubt be a glorious trip to the Blue Square conference.
Good luck to Bouldy and the boys in the first leg tonight. Hoping for a 1989 re-run – “To Emmanuel-Thomas, charging through the midifeld! Emmanuel-Thomas, it’s up for grabs nowwwwww!!!! Emmanuel-Thomas: right at the end!” Given the extra syllables he would obviously have to charge through the midfield slightly slower than Mickey.
May 25th, 2009 at 1:38 pm
every body …have u seen eden hazard??
check him out on you tube
he looks to be a real star in the making… hopefully we buy him now and not come out ,after many years, saying we were interested(ronaldo)..!!
May 28th, 2009 at 5:25 pm
Very, very well said.