Welcome to our Gooner home. (and the Arsenal RESOLVE) by Charles Veritie
Dear Unai.
Welcome to Arsenal. Just as you are happy to be ‘the Chosen One’ by Mr Gazidis to lead us into ‘Football’s Winnerland” So are millions of Arsenal fans believing and hoping you will do just that.
It’s no secret that you have spent your time since you arrived getting to know the players as well as the backroom staff already at the club. You have also started meeting some of the fans. The lucky few who were able to be at the meeting held at the stadium and since then at the public friendlies that have been played.
In England the Arsenal fans come in basically five groups.
1 Long Timers (The oldies’) who in the eyes of many don’t know any thing about football and Arsenal. Some of the Long Timers waited 18 years before winning a trophy and when the club did win a trophy, the media and all but Arsenal said it wasn’t ‘a proper trophy’. It was the then equivalent of the trophy you won three times at Seville. The next season we did the ‘Double’
2 Then there are what might be called the ‘middle timers’. Their start time is around the Berti Mee days and the Terry Neill days. In the Neill days we won a trophy and came close three times but that trophy and ‘coming close’ doesn’t count by those I have referred to above.
3 Our hopes were set on fire with 2 trophies that count plus 4 that don’t count with the proud cry of ‘One nil to the Arsenal’ and ‘What we have we keep.’ Led by George Graham.
Those days brought in more fans
4 Then there are the fans who until you arrived only knew one manager who set in place your new football home
5 Least and loudest are the ‘fickle fans’ these are the most important fans off all (In their eyes, that is.) Their opinion is always ‘We are right’ and everyone else is not only ‘wrong’ but ignorant and stupid.’
Supporting these fickle fans is the English media.
Supporting the media in their campaign against you and Arsenal is the PGML a closed shop organisation led by a Mr Mike Riley. To learn the truth about Mr Mike Riley go to You Tube and watch ‘Man Utd vs Arsenal game 50’. The referee of that game is the same Mr Mike Riley now of the PGML. (You might recognise a former Arsenal player.)
Arsene Wenger could not beat Mr Riley.. Seemingly, Mr Gazidis cannot beat him.
We all hope you will beat Man City aka ‘mancs’ and Chelsea aka ‘chelski’ but what if you don’t ?
As you know England managers in the past have come and gone like dodgem cars in a fair ground. One of these managers told of how when he started the job of England manager he was given 3 envelopes by the manager whose place he took. The 3 envelopes were sealed and marked 1, 2, 3. The instructions were:
‘When you lose your first game open envelope 1.
When you lose your second game, open envelope 2.
When you lose your 3rd game open envelope 3.
We now know the instruction in each envelope could easily have been written by an Arsenal ‘fickle fan’.
Fickle fans stay underground when we win and sprout up like weeds when we lose.
The contents of those three envelopes given to the England manager could easily be given to you from the fickle fans and the instructions to you the same as they were for the new England manager.
When you lose your 1st game and open envelope 1, you read ‘Blame me’ meaning the former manager, In your case Arsene.
When you lose your 2nd game open envelope 2 and you’ll read ‘blame the system, meaning your employers.
When you lose your 3rd game. Write 3 envelopes.
That is a good summary of the mindset of the Arsenal fickle fan.
We non fickle fans understand the enormous task ahead of you, win or lose you have our support. We are here for the long term, you were a winner for others and we believe you can be a winner for our great club.
Ignore the English media (as in Spain) ‘they only shout exaggerated bad news”. The media, like our fickle fans, never ever admit they were wrong.
If we lose our first two league games the fickles and the media will want your blood and that of Mr Gazidis. (Which they have wanted from the day he arrived.)
In all the anger noise of these empty heads, remember not all fans are fickle most of us understand we are not in the world of fantasy football that says ‘click and win’.
Keep the vision you obviously have for Arsenal knowing that we are with you.
All the way,
Everyday and
Every time we play.
Let the defeat strengthen your resolve to win.
In the long history of our great club many, many times we have been down and out and have yet come back to win because that is the measure of the ‘Arsenal Resolve’ to win.
Win or lose, we are Proud to be Gooners. Welcome to our Gooner Home.
Charles Veritie.
Strange letter?
Emotional letter
I think he is a very old Gooner
Nice
Great article as always, Charles Veritie. I agree that most fickle fans can get easily incited by the media, in blaming the ex-Gunners that join other clubs or the manager
I personally only believe what I see in the field, not the bad news from the media
The current manager and players have this whole season to prove themselves. In the end we are all Gooners, fickle fans or not
This letter is an insult to some of us who change mind because we are not fools,if changing affection is fickle then fine.You insist that even when we are losing games the manager should not be questioned because he’s not Wenger who was your hate figure. If the manager is not winning games there is a due process to remove him it happens to all the clubs.If you marry a woman who happens to be barren will you f#ck her everyday to conceive!you solve the problem or move on.We want good results without excuses. And I believe Emery is keen to do that already from what I have seen there is premafacae evidence he will do fine
Councel, your arrogance knows no bounds.
You make love to your wife because she is someone you SHOULD respect and cherish.
What an absolute crass remark!
I can’t imagine anyone of the fairer sex wanting to have your child anyway.
If anyone is barren, it’s you…. barren of common sense, proper upbringing, code of conduct and totally void of human decency.
Just hope that’s not what your father’s view was as he tried to spawn you.
Please don’t let anyone come on here quoting that it’s only terrace talk either.
This has nothing to do with football, just an idiot trying to be bigger than his pea sized brain.
Ken, this “person” is not worth wasting your time on. No point casting your pearls of wisdom before swine, as the apt saying goes.
ADMIN COMMENT – This is your last warning. No personal abuse allowed. You got away with swearing once now… you are treading dangerous waters….
Look ken insulted me by calling an idiot and having pea shaped brain, Jon is referring to as person in quotes as if me being is debatable, have you protected me @ admin! whoever wants equity must do equity
That’s a serious offence, impersonating the law, 300.00 dollar fine payable to Mesut Ozil inc.
never seen such a classless remark! please conduct yourself with the dignity of an arsenal fan and more importantly as a human. its a sincere request.
I hope we have a good start and take advantage of the incomplete squad available to mancity and chelsea at the start of the season. Away match at cardiff and the westham match could prove tough but I think we can scale through as well.
We haven’t had a very good record of starting with a bang, let’s see if we can get 10 pts from the 1st 4 games.
COYG!
Why is my honest opinion about this letter being moderated,its was a qualified statement and if it will not be posted please @admin this will be my last post on this site goodbye all in advance
Excuse me! The reason it was moderated (and SHOULD have been sent to the bin) is because you used a swearword and a very bad analogy!
If you want to swear go to another website, as I will publish what I see fit, not what you decide okay??
I stand guided Mr.admin
????
Hypocrite!
Why don’t you moderate comments from the likes of Jon fox, Phil and Sue when they come out abusing Iwobi?
Oh I forgot, that’s their opinion and therefore it’s right. Smh ?♂️
Bread do you really think that post has a place in an Arsenal debating forum?
Would you want your mother, sister, daughter to be thought of in that way?
Would you let them read it and not feel ashamed that a man would talk / think about a woman like that?
He’s supposed to be a legal brain, more like a pea brain!
Ken my friend! Jon Fox put it perfectly earlier. Anyone that finds similarities between that horrific post and Gooners saying Iwobi isn’t up to scratch will never understand.
You have always been fair, decent, respectful, and a valued contributor. Don’t fall for the implied Racism that has recently appeared here. Quite disgusting, unacceptable, and outright offensive to true Racism that exists.
Funny how they only defend one player to that extreme, why is that?
Where are they with Ozil and true racism? Or does that not fit their agenda and Iwobi? Sad really, subjective outrage i guess
Durand I cannot believe that anyone could think like that.
Not sure if it’s racism or a cultural thing, but with two daughters and a wife of over fifty years, this kind of comment makes me despair of the so called alpha male.
He then complains that I called him pea brained.
Such a fragile macho man.
Enough said I think….. still don’t trust Gazidis by the way!!
Ha neither you or I trust Ivan Gazidis!
People questioning his love of club when he’s supported since 80’s and Highbury even attended was a bit much.
People criticize no problem, but not when so many willfully ignore or deny truth is all.
A very strange post indeed and what on earth was all that stuff about 3 envelopes? It would help if the writer got his history right as well.
There a difference between criticism and insulting. Saying a player Is not good enough or mediocre or below average is criticism. Saying player is crap, a donkey or a loser etc is an insult.
Also it is NOT fickle to praise Wenger from 1998-2005 then criticise heavily after 2010-2018 because from 2005-2018 Wenger managed Arsenal in a way that never made us a real threat for the title. For 13 years we saw City, United, Chelsea even Leicester win the Premier League. We saw United, Chelsea Liverpool win Champions League.
Many of us are indeed fickle. Many are insulting to players.
For years Giroud was called Donkey even when he had his first 16 PL goal season, then respected.
We insulted Koscielny early on. Current players are insulted on a daily basis
Liverpool fans seem to be the best really. They could be could be losing 6-0 but still be in the stands singing.
Nice, articulate and an honest article, i came in the wenger era tho, stood by the coach and the club. Wenger is gone now but i still gotta give support to the new man. Nigerian fans understand what i say when i say “una enemy”, that’s what i say to other club fans when the ask me who my coach is
Lol ? ?
Bad guy
@Chucky, I feel you. I am a Nigerian blood and bones.
And for the benefit of non-Nigerian on this site, ”Una Enemy” means ”someone that will make you uncomfortable” or simply put ”your enemy”.
Now, imagine telling Chelsea or Man Utd fans that the name of my (Arsenal) manager is ”Una Enemy”. EPL rivalry is always on, every minutes, here in Nigeria.
The follower-ship that this site enjoy from Nigeria is second to none. From the display names alone, they are always in dozens and scores. We love this site.
Keep it up @Admin
If mustafi and Xhaka can improve then we should definitely make top 4 this season. Mustafi was our best centre back in his first season so there is definitely a good player in their somewhere. He’s had plenty of time to train in preseason and A cleanslate and different system, accompanied by some mentoring from lichtsteiner and sokratis the world cup winner may be able to turn it around. Xhaka again was decent for his country and is definitely another player who could turn it around this season. He has the stature to play the Matic role and I think our attacking options speak for themselves.
My lineup for Mancity
Leno
Bellerin mustafi/monreal sokratis kolsinac
Torreira Ramsey/Elneny
Ozil mykhi
Laca PEA
this letter for me is too bias… Barca and madrid called for the heads of enrique and ancellotti after they had won the ucl respectively.. Even emery left psg cos he wasnt up to standards for dier chase for ucl even though he won the league tittle.. Are we gonna be d only club that accepts mediocrity and below average performances just to please d players and manager…in football ruthlesnes is involved n thats what every player and manager should know n try to improve themselves on.. I stil dont see y we re stalling over some players who we can easily replace with better ones… What is welbeck still doing at arsenal…
The Arsenal has a history of being faithful to its managers. Unlike other clubs, Arsenal cannot be a revolving door to managers and then throw money at buying players for the new manager to overcome the perceived failings of the previous manager they sacked.
Therefore Unai Emery and the nee regime deserve the loyalty and patience of fans, while they try to make Arsenal successful within Kroenke’s constraints.
Well said Oz
Charles, an optimistic, interesting if somewhat odd article(I refer to the “three letters” which rather spoiled the whole, I thought.) The whole Mike Riley diatribe lost me , frankly. I agree he was a rank bad ref and a bad ref chief but what has that to do with our future? I see no true connection. However, you do have style but speaking as a writer and drama critic, I would advise you, if I may, to stick to the main theme and use arguments and stats to back up your case. Do not introduce irrelevent “ramble.” Do not be put off by my comments ,as you clearly have your own individual style and should keep writing. Good luck Charles.
I got bored and didn’t bother finishing it.
@ LEO is back
Great article, you would describe me as a Middle Timer and i believe most fans can be a little fickle at times especially when our team is not performing well. Fortunately the only opinion that matters is that of the manager and i will be behind Unai and the lads for the short term future at least, hopefully longer, he has to be given time to imprint his mark on the squad which won’t happen over night but the PL is a lot harder than a friendly v PSG kids. I look forward to the start of the season with caution and hope that belief will come later on in the season.