So, at the same time it is being speculated that Noni Madueke is about to become a Gunner, one person (or more) has reacted by spray painting murals outside the Emirates.
It could be a direct protest against the signing. It could be anger over other decisions made by the club.
Personally, I think of all the things our owners have or have not done since gaining power at Arsenal, buying a 23-year-old would not be high on the list of my grievances.
Yet nothing would ever drive me to break the law.
If you want to sign an online petition, while I morally disagree with that action and think it lacks class, at least it is legal.
Pointless, based on the fact that no one in power is taking seriously a few thousand signatures, but nonetheless legal.
What Drives This Kind of Behaviour?
What, though, makes someone so angry with what is happening to their football team that they resort to physically going to the stadium to commit vandalism?
I would love to assume this is the act of a child or teenagers.
Yet we have seen grown adults greet the PSG coach by making racial gestures, a man was charged for attempting to confront Roy Keane, and members of our squad past and present have stressed the level of online abuse they and their families have been subjected to.
It is all part of an increasing issue that exists in the UK, people believing, within the confines of their football bubble, that they can behave however they wish.
Sport is supposed to be fun, comforting, an escape. I cannot fathom how something so trivial could lead someone to commit a crime.
Yet I am educated.
Let us pretend for a moment this is how society functions. What is the best this moron thinks he or she will achieve?
Mikel Arteta and the Kroenke family are never taking a stroll through that tunnel to read what has been written.
Our manager will travel past it on matchday, but that is when security, police and thousands of people will block him from ever seeing the abuse.
Stan Kroenke did not become a billionaire without having thick skin.
He will only care that every home fixture is sold out, there is a waiting list for season tickets that lasts decades, and that broadcasters continue to pay over the odds to televise his brand worldwide.
That equation, against a criminal, will simply lead him to think you are a moron. And he would not be wrong.
Equally, the petition is more a reflection on those participating.
So, the only person this imbecile is hurting is some artist who has had their proud body of work ruined. Ironically, most likely a fellow Gooner, someone harmed more by your actions than Arteta or the Kroenke family.
The Majority of Gooners Don’t Condone This
An imbecile so foolish they fail to see the irony that they will be the first to celebrate a Madueke goal or chant Arteta’s name if he lifts a trophy.
As usual, my hope is that the police find the culprit and hand out the harshest punishment possible.
A strict enough sentence does not exist, but at the very least let us name and shame them so their employers, friends and family can see what kind of person they are associated with.
Legend has it that the iconic Herbert Chapman once paid out of his own money for the Highbury halls to be painted marble red.
He wanted anyone who visited to know this was a club that acted with class and did things the right way.
In 2025, if you walk to the Emirates, you see graffiti of our boss called words I will not repeat.
Mr Wenger warned in his final years that a section of our fanbase were in danger of jeopardising the principles he helped promote.
I think he has been proven right.
Which is why the likes of myself must point it out, and stress that the majority of Gooners do not condone this.
Your thoughts appreciated in the comments.
Dan Smith
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Pathetic is what it is. As are the one who abused Madueke online just because they didn’t want him to sign. You can vent, abuse, scream about him to your friends IRL or on a forum all you want, is it childish yes but harmless but never attack them personally.
I dislike it when the media focuses on the bottom 5% of the fan base. Their disrespect always gets them heard
People doing these things have weired ways of expressing their objections. They call themselves fans, yet their conduct is that of criminals. It’s really strange that they held back on their actions on past signings, some of whom held no promise of adding much to the team, albeit at a hefty cost. Madueke is going to lay their stupidity out in the open.
I hate when Rio Ferdinand says Arsenal supporters should be ashamed of themselves over something like this let’s get it straight it’s more like 1% or less that behave this way. And he paints a picture that it’s us all.
At the same time he can’t stop cheating on his dying wife while using a platform to paint us as imbeciles.
Welcome to Arsenal Mandueke he looks a top class right hand sided back up for Saka.
@Redsy I agree with you on Ferdinand, blokes a total hypocrite and alongside his mate Lineker paints himself as some sort of sage, absolute wallies! 🙄
@Dan Smith
An excellent post – I read it on the way home to NW London. I agree with every sentiment expressed. Unfounfornately an section of the fan base (ours) have no class whatsoever and this includes some You-Tubers. I’m 100% with you on this write up – bravo! Well said.
I haven’t kept up with this story particularly – I was a bit against the signing but only because I didn’t understand it from a positional perspective, he looks a fine player to me and I’ve nothing against him at all.
I hope and somewhat expect the abuse to lead most fans to become bigger supporters of his and willing for him to do well – that’s how I feel about it.
On the vandalism – what can you say. Just stupidity.
Yes we need to give him a really warm welcome when he first comes on. He’s ours now.
Such a small minority, all it takes is one silly kid to make a whole fan base ashamed though? The online petition I find worse. There’s been lots of transfers many of us have disagreed on and I’m not sure why Madueke is getting this reaction. Honestly I think internet behavior has just gotten worse and worse over the years being the reason and it’s leaking into the real world a bit. No doubt though the match going fans will cheer on Madueke and come up with a nice song for him and restore some faith
Also my opinion is he’s a decent player just the price tag is wrong. It’s not like we are getting a bad player though
Well, although it’s in a different category from what’s happened outside The Emirates, I’ve read posts here about Madueke’s likely signing, based solely on the club he’s at, that haven’t been very pleasant. Likewise, some people made their feelings pretty clear about Nwaneri and his alleged contract demands.
Unfortunately, you do get the more blatant kind of reaction from a tiny, tiny minority. Dealing with it calmly and quickly and restricting the “oxygen of publicity”, as the phrase has it, is probably the best way of combatting this because it’s attention that is being sought.
Exactly. Idiots playing out are not unique to Arsenal or Chelsea. And they’re not behaving this way because of football alone, they have other “issues”.
Of course it might not even be Arsenal fans that have done this.
One way of bringing our club into disrepute, is for rival fan(s) to spray paint obscene rubbish outside our ground and let the media pick up on it and so it starts.
There’s spray paint in nearly every street, in most towns and in every country around the world.
Dan might be right in saying it’s our own fans, but I remember how Liverpool fans were wrongly accused at the Hillsborough disaster and the CL final in Paris.
I have no idea how the police or our club would be able to find the culprit(s) in this instance, but one would assume The Arsenal have cameras all around the outside of the Emirates.
When one considers the damage that could be inflicted on the murals etc they would be daft not to!!
I get frustrated at the length of time it takes to identify these morons and cite the home and away games against PSG as an example.
Dan says there is video evidence of the violence outside the Emirates and a perfectly clear picture of the alleged Arsenal fan shouting abuse during the away game and yet here we are, weeks later, with no arrests and identification as to who these morons actually are.
Worse one I read was the Arsenal fan attacked by other Arsenal fans
Had complained more then once about the racial chanting he received and eventually was attacked outside the Emirates toilets , got his Turban knocked off
So it’s important we don’t pretend Arsenal fans don’t have morons and cowards in our fanbase
Ken, seeing as the graffitied murals are not on the land owned by The Arsenal, I would imagine the installation of any CCTV cameras would be down to the local council.
Let’s hope they have then HD.
But the scope of cameras on the land owned by our club could, possibly, help identify the culprit(s) I suggest?
Ken, I very much doubt that any cameras the club have will be able to see into the tunnel to the right of the Amoury shop where the damage to the murals are.
Like you, I hope there are some on the road by the tunnel.
I wish it was that simple, that it was rival fans, but expect Dan is right. The timing seems too obvious. Now, whether they are truly committed fans, or just a few young idiots acting out of boredom or whatever to impress their friends, is another question.
I just wonder how we can avoid it getting any worse.
One word “braindead”
I’m with ken1945 on this as it might not be Arsenal ‘fans(?)’ who have done this and I’d hope it was perhaps a spurs fan, perhaps unlikely as they would perhaps want him to stay, as I wanted Postecoglu to stay with them. Having said that it’s likely a so called f@n of ours but who knows? Happily the club arranged for the graffiti to be cleaned off very quickly so as to leave no trace now. Really hope they find the idiot who did it, whoever he/she is!
Just been reading about a manure fan who slapped Grealish after the Manchester derby.
He admitted his guilt, was fined a paltry £140 plus, banned from all football grounds for three years and had his season ticket taken away.
It was all recorded by the club, as it was inside the ground and, apart from that negligible fine, he got what he deserved!!
All because there was actual PROOF, not just accusations and speculation.
Of course no one believes we haven’t got morons and cowards in our own fanbase, but before we go out and accuse them of any wrong doing, we need proof.
You think the Sikh fans was making it up ?
He had clearly been attacked ?
We have video images of the Arsenal fans making money gestures at the PSG coach
We had video footage of fan confronting Roy Keane
Arsenal fan admitting guilt over racially abusing Partey online
( Let me guess , it could be people pretending to be Arsenal fans ?)
What about the racial / homophobic songs that get sung over the years at ex players ?
It’s no different to parents believing their offspring are holier than thou as we are generally predisposed to thinking the best of them and the worst of everyone else
But you would want evidence before you believed they had done anything wrong I suggest SueP?
Of course
I was perhaps using a dodgy analogy
Dan, where have I denied any of the five examples you’ve given?
1. Never denied it.
2. As I said, why haven’t they been prosecuted?
3. Never denied it.
4. Never denied it.
5. Sung by fans throughout the world of football.
You’ve certainly made the assumption that it was an Arsenal fan(s) who daubed the
obscene words without any proof whatsoever and all I’m asking is where is the actual proof?
You see to think that I haven’t lived through the violence, the hatred and the racial discrimination while watching football and life in general, because I don’t accept your knee jerk reaction to blaming others without proof.
We’re still waiting to hear from the authorities who actually attacked the PSG coach.
We’re still waiting to hear from the authorities the identity of the individual who was filmed singing in the away end in the second leg.
We’re still waiting to hear from the authorities if they can possibly identify the culprit(s) who spray painted the rubbish this article is about.
Now, you have decided to blame Arsenal fans, just as you blamed Liverpool fans in the CL situation during the CL final.
It turned out you were 100% wrong, as the French officials later admitted – and all I am saying to you, is, perhaps, you should learn from jumping the gun to early.
Nothing more and nothing less.
What the f**k is going on ? Twice in a couple of days I actually agree with an article written by DS 😲. Am I in a parallel universe 🤷.
I definitely think it was a so called fan of ours that did it going on what was graffitied, Arteta Out and c**t on a mural of Arteta 😡. This all happened just after the news broke about us signing Madueke.
Delightful 🙄
Right Herr Drier that doe’s it, I’m calling in the shrinks.
You need help, don’t worry help is on its way. 😂🤣👍
Much appreciated Derek, I await a knock on the door 😁👍
Herr Drier,
Anytime. 😂👍
I never said mate you did
Was just clarifying there were examples .
Your correct I don’t 100 percent know it was an Arsenal fan who damaged the murals hence why I’m pointing out the other examples do have evidence of being Arsenal fans
So we agree on this one and let’s hope the evidence comes out on this and the teo PSG games.
Oh the PSG situations I have seen the evidence
But no charges? Why Dan?