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.