Do we support the team and not the regime? by anonymous
My cards on the table, I’m in the Wenger out brigade and have been for years. Like others who share this point of view, although I respect Wenger’s achievements, I have become disillusioned by the inevitable repeated pattern that Arsenal’s season consistently took and couldn’t see that there would be any change whilst Wenger was in charge.
Whilst some fans point to the lack of titles as the evidence of failure, my personal frustrations has been from repeated mistakes like the lack of investment in transfers and tactical issues on the pitch, because I strongly believe that no team has the divine right to any trophy just by turning up. I acknowledge that the premier league is one of the most difficult leagues in Europe and is not a level playing field due to some of the resources at some teams’ disposal.
Things last season became a bit of a circus, with the uncertainty of Wenger’s contract at hand, the future of Sanchez and Ozil in doubt and the dismal performances on the pitch, which led to planes in the skies, protests on ground and fights in the stands. Meanwhile, all this negative activity wrote its own headlines in the press, further making our club a laughing stock.
Whilst we did finish the season on a high with the trophy of the FA Cup, ultimately we fell one point short of Champion’s League football.
With the announcement of Wenger being awarded a new two year contract, I am concerned that there is every chance that this self destructive pantomime will continue. The one thing that we should all know about Wenger by now is he is a stubborn man and if he has signed a two year contract then he will be determined to see that through.
So here’s the question, what do fans do for the best? Will it be more planes, banners and fights in the stands? OR should we adopt the mantra “support the team and not the regime” and get behind our club? I for one think that if we have all been patient for so long and have waited for the dawn of a new managerial era then we can be patient for surely what has to be the last term of Arsene Wenger’s tenure. Two years, in the great scheme of things, is not a huge amount of time.
However, the potential for fans to throw their dummies out of the pram at the first sign of a sticky period is exceptionally high with our club. To those who will be easily triggered into acts of anarchy they need to think about the harm their actions will do to our club. Wenger will not leave (and nor will Kroenke) but actions off the field could affect the results on the pitch. We have to realise that we have some personal responsibility when our actions make our club less attractive to our transfer targets whilst our club is in a state of flux.
So to reiterate my main point, if we as fans can’t support the regime we need to get behind the team.
Agreed?
Perfect headline.
Not disrespecting the article but only the headline is required and would also look good on a flag.
I think a good article and shows that whether one is AOB or AKB or simply (as most are !!) an Arsenal fan we can all agree that getting behind the team at the stadium is the only way forward….
I cannot understand any true fan who wants Arsenal to lose any match just because of the manager or owner…
Last couple of seasons we have seen good starts fall away.. however as the author says some of the blame has to be apportioned to the fanz who create a toxic atmosphere… anyone believing that did not cost at least the point we needed for CL is deluded.
Let those who want to make a point do so between matches and outside the stadium… inside lets support our team and win together !
Yes, A Fine Sentiment.
But in Arsenal’s case, it does not hold water.
This team is the Face of the regime.
Don’t forget, Sanchez, Bellerin, Mustaphi, Debuchey and many others have asked to be let go from this team; I suggest because of the regime.
Who would want to play for fans like Arsenal’s? A fickle, spineless lot if you ask me. Fans should see themselves as an extension of the team, as part of the fight, and defend their team through hard times. But what do Arsenal fans do? Turn on their own and each other in spectacular fashion creating depressing media spectacle after depressing media spectacle. Arsenal fans want to lose, and that’s exactly what they deserve. No matter how hard players try, they will have a much tougher time winning when their own fans undermine their morale and at the end of the day, they’ll go play for another club.
What are you talking? Are you new to Arsenal? Just read that, club has not changed, not progressed. We are just as better SoutHampton.
http://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/2896/premier-league/2012/07/04/3220749/van-persies-letter-to-arsenal-fans-in-full
I agree that we need to support the players because these players are a new bunch and has no relation to what happened in past.
But frustration is just creeping to other parts of the club which is not good (but totally understandable).
This is an example for German journalist (100% liars): i translate (in MY words):: whole London loves Özil sooooo much. He is the greatest in london.
You read the same in England.: Özil is the greatest in germany! A lie too, of cause!
Özil is very important player for the German government, that’s all !
http://www.fussballtransfers.com/premier-league/ablosefrei-im-sommer-so-ist-der-stand-bei-ozil_82272
True. During the Iraq war, which I was against, I despised Blair and Bush (still do) but supported our troops. I know it’s not the same thing but I support our players, team and hope they win every match. However, I want Kroenke, Wenger (I do appreciate the 2 PL titles and 7 FA Cups but we need change) and Gazidas OUT asap.
Even last season protesters were protesting Wenger and Kroenke NOT the players. We have quite a few average players but that’s not their fault. It’s Wenger’s fault for not upgrading enough and playing players in wrong positions and tactics. I support each and every player.
Btw criticism is alright. For example if you think a player is being lazy, not defending enough, then it’s perfectly okay to say so. It doesn’t mean that you don’t support them. For example I support Ozil but sometimes he doesn’t defend as much. He prefers dribbling and passing to other aspects of Football which frustrates the hell out of me.
Well said.
Don’t want to introduce politics here, but I am very much on the fence as to getting Saddam out, other than it not being sanctioned by the UN, as he killed thousands of his own people with chemical weapons, people forget – google marsh arabs – horrific pictures of whole villages gassed to death, but he was holding back the warped ideology we later saw, which was then released by Obama withdrawing the American troops, and funding the removal of Assad, which weakened the forces of law and order in Syria and Iraq and they had nothing to stop them. There maybe a connection between Saddam and AW, in that absolute power corrupts, and is unhealthy for any organisation – when AW was at his height he had to share power and hence had a moderating influence, now what he says goes, and that has been entirely enforced by Kroenke. I’m wondering if Gazidis does move into a director of sport role, whether this will curb Wengers power and benefit the club. Ideally I’d like a new owner who has the club’s interests at heart, but we may have to dice with relegation to achieve that.
For your information Wenger has 3 EPL trophies not 2 as follows: 1998, 2002, 2004 when Arsenal ended a whole season unbeaten.
This is a wind up article by a Wenger for ever fan posing as a Wenger out fan. …throw their dummies out of the pram at the first sign of a sticky period????… The is JemBut speak. Fans that have had enough of Wenger have waited patiently for years, no dummies been thrown out of the pram at the first sign of a sticky period but after years of patience. Why would Wenger deserve more time, nothing is gonna change he has shown that also year after year.
You can not separate the regime from the club. You support Wenger to stay for an other two years which at my age is a long time, and at the same time you bring your money to this regime for an other two years.
I want us to win every game but I am not going to be silenced into a dummie and not speak out about what I see as an injustice done to the club because for me the club starts with the fans and not giving us a fresh start with a hungry manager who understands the modern game after having been patient for eons is wrong.
At every other big club managers are held accountable for results it is time Arsenal join the rest of the footballing world.
Well said , the media will find any excuse they can lay their hands on to plunge Arsenal into further turmoil as we are a rich source of income with their click bait articles . Arsenal have the most fanatical supporters who will gobble up anything Arsenal related .
We need to get behind out team and give them our full support. Despite our difference with the manager and regime , the team spirit must come first .
A very good article and one I agree with. I too would like to see Kroenke/Gadzidis/Wenger out for various reasons (and I really do think they are damaging Arsenal) but I really would like to see us do well on the field and have not seen any evidence that all the Wenger out signs and booing has helped rid us of the regime. It has damaged our team morale.
I thought the abuse Hector received last season against Crystal Palace was dreadful and only succeeded in draining confidence from a loyal and talented young player and made him want to leave us.
So please support the team on the pitch and if you want to see a change stop buying the shirts and the season tickets for it is only the money our club generates that the owner cares about.
“SUPPORT THE TEAM (not the regime)” is a great slogan for a banner but actually very difficult to do in practice. If you go to games and support the team you cannot protest inside the stadium, that is not support. But by going to the match you are transferring some of your hard earned money to AFC and that is all Kroenke is bothered about, he is not concerned about winning things, only making money. Full stadium cheering the team on is interpreted by management that all is well, no change required.
I mentioned on another post that throwing inflatable beach balls on the pitch with a slogan or slogans written on them would make a statement. This can be done at half time where the tv coverage would pick up in this giving the supporters a voice without disrupting the team during the game. The team does need our support and people will still want to go to games to back the team but may also want there voice heard.
Protesting before and after the game and littering the pitch with “protest balls” and banners in the stand will still catch the medias attention and no doubt will filter through to the clubs hierarchy.
Support the team, hate the regime sound like a good slogan and basis for a protest against the club (but not the team).
We do support the team, but that’s no reason to be happy about playing badly and cheerful regardless of results.
and who says Wenger will not sign another contract after two years.
we need to force him out.
Wenger out#
If the team loose (a bunch of highly paid footballers wearin a red and white shirt) as a result of protest then if it creates change removing either Kroenke and /or Wenger it would have been worth it.
De boer looses 4 matches and is moved on by palace (a little harsh) but Wenger is still here after 13 premier seasons having nothing to show (yes the FA cups..) and over 20 years with no success in Europe…says a lot about the lack of vision and ambition at this club.
Protests will happen.
Really? Arsenal have been stagnating the last ten/fifteen years under the fm.
The same flaws and humiliating defeats are exposed time after time and still
the fm shows no sign of changing is game plan.
A defeat by Cologne will really reverberate around ES followed by another loss to Chelsea
will really see fireworks.
You are judged on results not on good football.
We may also need to consider other angles as well.
Kroenke and gang are holding us ransom. Things just won’t change unless they get out from the club. They only wanted money from the fans and they are not responding to the need of the.club. One sided relationship doesn’t last, that’s for sure.
Fans’ support is not the only thing that transfer target look out for. At the moment, they can’t even come through that door because Kroenke and gang are not investing in players.
All the transfer speculations MOSTLY ended in defeat.
It’s next season I worry about, what players will be left. If as expected Sanchez, Ozil and others leave on a free, what type of player can we attract then.
Oh I forgot we don’t need to attract players as we are working on the Leicester model.
Perhaps those of us who live in Africa, Asia and Latin America can understand this slogan better. A time comes when there is a dictator ruling your country. You may even flee into exile but you still continue to love your country. You don’t hate it because of the bad ruler. If you are a true Arsenal supporter it doesn’t matter whether or not you like the manager or the owner or even some players you will still support the team. I would like to know how many people would be demanding Wenger’s head if we won EPL. Some few delusional ones like Piers Morgan would still hate him but the overwhelming majority would be greatly pleased. Those delusional ones would then turn and say but he has never won Champions League. There are 20 teams in EPL and out of those the only ones which have ever won the EPL trophy are: Man U is it 7 times?, Chelsea 4 times, Arsenal 3,times, Man City 2 times, Blackburn and Leicester. Have the fans of those other teams stopped supporting them? Have they stopped watching their games or buying the merchandise? It is very unrealistic to imagine that a certain team has a divine right to win trophies. Who in their right mind would have expected Leicester to win it? Let us forget the disgruntled elements and support our team. When it is our time everything will fall in place and we shall win it. None of us can determine that. Let us remember the words of the great British Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill “Let us strive we shall conquer.”
How do you rate our chance to win the league this season?
Only if the top teams got into massive brawl and deducted 20 points each at least.
Correction:I think Man U is 11 times.
I like the team. I think a team that wins 3/4 of their last competitive encounters with the Champions can win the league as it is now. I for one will support the team fiercely because I believe no team wins a cup without the support of fans; fans that see themselves as part of the team and part of the fight.
The negative fans think they are going to prove some kind of point by creating a toxic atmosphere and impacting results. I have seen another post on this blog where the negative fans label this ability to be disruptive as “power” which they want to hold over all of our heads like a sword.
All they will prove is that when fans don’t support the team, the team don’t perform as well. In fact, they already proved it. Last year, the protests were at their loudest. The result? Our worst league standing in 2 decades. That’s cause and effect.
This year, these few hundred or thousand losers want us to come in in the bottom half and ruin the season for millions of fans worldwide. They think that somehow, magically, such a result will motivate stars to stay and create conditions for a winning team the very next year. They are deluded. It will trigger an implosion in the team, an exodus of stars, a fall in revenue and with Arsenal “fans” reputation it will be far more difficult to attract new talent. Arsenal could as easily be consigned to a decade of bottom 10 as they could become champions. That is one hell of a gamble.
It’s not in my nature to lose heart. So I will cheer Arsenal fiercely for the whole season, beginning to end, no matter what. I will let the players know I support them and believe in them and not to pay attention to the jackanapes trying to bring them down. Call me crazy, but I think that attitude will motivate players to win more than what negative fans are doing.
Kroenke will love you more if only you pay more.
Maybe all that will be left behind after this season, will only be youngsters plus all the deadwood.
Ooh my goodness! Are u able to support ur country when wat the leaders are doing is contrary to wat the citizens believe in,?,, just becoz its ur country come on guys.