A lifelong fans alternative view on the harm that constant negativity does to our club by Jon fox
Hello fellow Gooners,
I am keen to explain why I have no time at all for relentless negativity, as “promoted” by some fans on JA. Football and all of us are about PASSION. As our own passionate manager has been constantly emphasising to our team in those revealing Amazon Prime episodes, PASSION and excitement are vital tools in successful football. To passion and excitement, I would add BELIEF too, or if you prefer, “OPTIMISM”.
Without passion and belief, I see little point in any elite professional sport at all. That is my lifelong held PASSIONATE opinion and I stand for passion and belief, or else I stand for nothing at all.
Without a belief in our team, we would never bother supporting or attending or watching games. As evidence for the power of belief, look at what happens when a team has clearly lost a game, say by being three goals down with fifteen minutes to go, especially away from home. What happens is that fans who have lost belief stream out from ground and leave themselves and the team even more demoralised than before.
This is negativity in action, and it is an unprepossessing sight. Pessimists or “wet blankets” as we older fans call them, lose friends, lose hope, lose belief and IMO lose the right to call themself a supporter, even though they remain a fan.
A supporter is far more than just a fan; a fan may love the club, but a supporter actually supports, not only by attending but also by sticking by club they love, through thick and thin. A supporter is there when times are bad and yes, he/she may well moan and bitch, but they stay true and also look forward to better times, starting with the very next game, whether or not the team wins.
We Gooners are incredibly lucky to support such a great and historic club. Imagine if you supported say Hartlepool, Chester or Walsall, etc!! THEIR supporters know that they are never going to win honours. but they stay true. And why? Because they are REAL optimists and have belief, even though they know, deep down, that they are lowly clubs. But to those supporters their club means everything. THEY would be thrilled to come fifth and not moan about it and cry “woe is me” simply because their own often petulant demands for success were not met there and then.
You see, I have no time for the philosophy of doom and certain failure. And those many of us who have watched the exciting Prime episodes will have seen beyond doubt, that Arteta is the arch positive and passionate manager. The passion and belief he instils into our players has to be seen to be believed and IMO these Amazon Prime episodes, taken overall, show just what a top class and a demanding manager we now have running our club. There are no coasters, troublemakers and lazy players now and none will be tolerated either, as they all know, every man jack of them!
There would be no point in being a fan, if we had no belief, no passion. Indeed, without passion and hope that we can win things, why would anyone ever bother attending or watching matches at all. I say football without passion and positive belief is worthless. Bur being positive does NOT mean that instant success and trophies are bound to happen every season, nor even in most of them.
We are all entitled to our own views, and I emphasise that in a free society, all have the right to be negative if they wish – though they must realise that by so doing there will be many others who also have the same right to call out their relentless negativity.
Indeed, in one well known and regular writers’ case on JA, many HAVE called out that writer and challenged his constant and dismally negative articles and his replies to those posts that call him out, so now you have the opportunity to do the same to me.
In short, my fellow Gooners, like almost all fans at times we can moan and complain we would hardly hardly be human, if we did not. But in my firm view there is a whole world of difference between seeing both the good AND bad things we think are happening within our team and our club, while ON THE OTHER HAND, seeing nothing at all save NEGATIVITY AND GLOOM!
To me, those are the minds of troubled and relentlessly discontented and unhappy souls.
I would love to read YOUR thoughts on positivity versus negativity!
COYG
Jon Fox
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