AFTV have took another battering from the media this week after saying that Arsenal could become the next Leeds. The man who runs the channel, Robbie, has come out fighting, putting on the PR spin that they give fans the chance to have their voices heard, unlike on the mainstream media.
Of course he’s going to say that. Like any business, his priority is to make as much money as possible, not to do what’s best for his fellow gooners. He can’t do anything else but try to portray himself as the man of the people. In reality, he knows no one is arguing that supporters shouldn’t be allowed to share their opinions
Whether it’s Gary Neville, John Cross or most recently Simon Jordan, their argument has never been individuals speaking their mind, it’s how the message is being portrayed. They are trying to explain that you can express feelings without having to swear, verbally abuse people, disrespect legends and just be negative to suit your own agenda.
They recognise that with the club on its knees, the platform is doing nothing to help the situation. It just adds to the toxic atmosphere at the Emirates, doesn’t help players fragile confidence, and worse wrongly educates the next generation that this is how you behave on a match-day.
Robbie knows this but it’s better for him to play the underdog instead of questioning that at times are they going too far. He wants to compare himself to journalists and institutions like Sky, adding the only difference is he pays for his seat. Yet in reality, what would happen on live TV/ radio, if a pundit spoke how the majority of his guests did?
Andy Gray was one of the greatest analysts of all time and he explained the game without having to shout, scream and be abusive.
You can’t have it both ways. Either you want to compete with these media giants as an alternative, or you want to say and do what you want with zero boundaries. You can’t just pick and choose when you want to be treated like professionals, or like it’s an episode of the Football Factory.
Don’t tell me you can’t have a debate without having to use bad language. If that’s the case, then don’t be offended if people then question your IQ, which happened on Talk Sport (the irony!).
There are a lot more important things going on in the world, there are people under a lot more pressure than your team not winning a football match, who manage to get by while showing respect for their fellow human being.
A classic example is this week many of the talking heads, who get the majority of views on AFTV, have led the talk that Arsenal could become the next Leeds and get relegated. Do you actually believe that’s what they think?
How many of them do you think walked into the bookies this week and put a bet down on us finishing in the bottom three? I can find you odds as big as 100/1 by the way. So surely these men, so sure of themselves would at least throw a tenner at that price. Those returns certainly would soften the blow of being in the championship.
I mean if that’s truly your prediction, isn’t it financially irresponsible to your family not to be all over that?
How many of you haven’t even considered parting with a pound even though the reward is 100 pounds plus your pound back?
Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not boasting because I believe there might at least be three worse teams then us. It’s embarrassing that we have fallen so low that I even have to argue that our status in this league is safe.
I know who I blame. The Kroenke family; who seem to have given up on the promise that at this stage in their tenure we would be competing with the likes of Bayern Munich.
Don’t think I’m defending anyone. I’m as unhappy as anyone that we left Highbury for this mess. Anyone regular to this site will know I can be as critical as anyone else, especially to our American owners. Yet you have to find a balance. You can’t put doom and gloom on everyone else all the time. There is an element of accepting that in sport you can win or lose.
We are in a bad moment, but my job as a supporter is to support. The quicker the majority do that, the more likely our squad will find some self-belief.
The more a manager might actually want to take the job and who knows, one day maybe a Billionaire might see us as a smart investment.
Please remember AFTV make a lot of money by trying to get you riled up. Do you think what they say is truly what’s good for the club or their pockets, even to the point where some have now been able to give up work? This is the same channel who patted themselves on the back for forcing out the greatest manager in our history.
Were they right? Have we gone forward or backwards since Mr Wenger left?
Now they want to rewrite history by teaching their audience, especially those young enough not to remember, that Arsenal could become the next Leeds United and end up in the Championship.
That’s correct, a fan who has earned so many subscribers and has been given his own sponsorship deals, etc for talking about football, was shown up this week for knowing very little. He wanted to scare you by using Leeds as the example that no team is too good to go down. As he listed the names they had and talked about how they had gone from Champions League to relegation I wonder why not one person, the host, other regulars on there didn’t correct him?
Why didn’t they remind him that Bowyer, Fowler, Keane and Dacourt were all sold because they were in financial peril? That Terry Venables then threatened to walk away when he was forced to sell Woodgate?
That this led to a famous press conference where Peter Ridsdale, under no illusions, spelt out to everyone that the club was losing money. Why did no one point out that a squad with Kewell, Viduka and Smith survived relegation with one game to spare before selling Kewell that summer.
Why did no one challenge Robbie on the notion that the world knew about the Yorkshire outfit’s financial issues to such an extent that at the start of the 2003/4 campaign they were one of the favourites to be relegated?
Again, we are 100-1, no side has gone down with those odds. It would be the biggest shock in the history of football if Arsenal could become the next Leeds, even more then Leicester winning the Premier League.
Please tell me why none of the facts I have just given were not brought up? Do they know something we don’t?
Is there about to be a fire sale?
Is Silent Stan about to declare bankruptcy?
Are Adidas now not paying us our most lucrative kit deal in our history?
Do we not make more matchday revenue them most of the other 19 clubs?
So why have they been allowed to compare our situation with Leeds and not be challenged?
Either they don’t know, so hence maybe those on TV and radio are more qualified to give an opinion after all?
Or they benefit from scaring you, being negative, putting the fear into you. They want you to swear at Xhaka and verbally abuse Ozil. They want to bring banners to matches and see empty seats. So will tell you false information…
Arsenal could become the next Leeds?
Either you’re being lied too, or they don’t know their history. It can’t be both.
Dan Smith