Written by Mean Lean on Thursday, 07 July 2011 13:56
I am bored, have had just about enough of it now. It is time to clear my head, take a step back and breathe in and remember what it is that made me follow this great club in the first place.
It started last night in fact, scrolling through many wonderful people on Twitter in between doing a bit of work from home. I was conversing and responding to messages about Limpar Assist's very good piece yesterday, the transfer window amongst other things. But it was when I was checking the training pictures of the players on Arsenal.com that I suddenly had an epiphany.
I have had enough of letting the negativity surrounding the club get to me, I have had enough of worrying about life without Cesc Fabregas. Fed up of wondering about who will make the through passes in his absence when one day he leaves the club. Whether that be this summer, next summer of at 34 years of age when he retires.
I have had enough of thinking about Samir Nasri leaving after half a good season. Fed up of wondering where he might end up. I cannot be Arsenaled anymore.
Quoting the wonderful Tim Stillman, It's about half past I don't give a shit time. If Nasri wants to stay at Arsenal and develop under one of the best managers around at improving young players then I will virtually shake him by the hand and hope he knuckles down, works hard on his game. Starts making more of an effort to use his pace and beat players and make off the ball runs instead of always being sucked in towards the ball. He needs to expand that patch of top form over the course of a whole season and bingo, we have a superstar. If his agent or he himself is not convinced with either our wage increase then 'Tadda luv!' close the door behind you and we will move on.
Samir Nasri is well within his rights to run his contract down and do as he pleases. Not very nice for us supporters and certainly not nice for our manager who had brought the player here for big money, worked hard to improve his game and hand him the platform to showcase his potential but that is football. 'Do what cha gotta do Sami'
I supported Arsenal when we were at Highbury, I watched *a big bald bloke wearing the number 5 at the back. We had a *bulky striker with the number 7 playing out wide. We lofted long punts down the pitch for Alan Smith to win flick on's so we could feed on the knock downs. It was life as an Arsenal fan. I bought into the club, I went weekly. The names Bergkamp, Vieira, Cesc, Nasri and so on did not exist to me.
I knew of the players we had, but more importantly they all played for a club called Arsenal FC. That name was on my Arsenal shirt that had JVC plastered across the middle. All these things change apart from the name of the club.
As the years speed past, the players vanish. They either start to turn crap and then are sold off, or they become great and get targeted by other clubs and lastly they spend their career at the club and retire (thank you Dennis) Either way, players come and go but the club remains.
From the glory seeking Gooner that I was in 1989 to the obsessive Gooner in 2011, everything has changed. The stadium has changed, the manager has changed, the players have changed many, many times over so in ten years time I expect most of the players as well as the manager to have changed but I won't. Apart from a larger gut due to one burger too many.
Having had debated my views on the club via the comments with posters who have very different views, it struck me. It struck me that the enjoyment of supporting a team is slowly being sucked out of certain fans. There is a picture being painted of our club and people are walking past the picture every day and are frowning about how ugly it looks. That person tells other people about how awful the picture is and it spreads. When we have so many different platforms to express how ugly this picture is then it can spread at an alarming rate.
I have stopped, flipped the picture upside down and realised just how lovely this picture actually is. If in ten years time we are languishing in midtable, I will still think very highly about the people who pull on the shirt just as I did under Graham when we finished in midtable. It was still my team who turned into a cup team at the time.
It seems as if people do not want other people to love Arsenal anymore but that isn't possible, at least not for me.
Going back to the official website, I was looking through the training pictures and thought of the individuals we have at the club. Jack Wilshere, Aaron Ramsey, Ryo Miyachi, Emmanuel Frimpong, Carl Jenkinson, Kieran Gibbs and many more. All youngsters who have bought into the Arsenal way. All players looking to improve their game. We have Thomas Vermaelen, Alex Song, Theo Walcott and Bacary Sagna. All internationals for their countries, all hoping to improve their performances from last season. They may not all be Lionel Messi but they are our players.
Take out two of three of last season and we still have a strong foundation, a foundation that the boss is trying to strengthen. He is trying to correct the wrongs and turn the side into winners.
But believe in Arsene Wenger or don't believe in him, that is your prerogative. The question is, what are you going to do in the meantime? worry? complain? mock others for supporting the club they love?
What exactly does that achieve? How does it help? When you go to a restaurant and you don't enjoy the food, do you go around to other tables and pour mud in other people's dinner and mock them for enjoying the taste of their food? I do not understand what the gain is from trying to destroy other fans enjoyment and I have come to the realisation that I no longer care anymore.
What I do care about is watching Jack Wilshere scuttle past two central midfielders with a driving run and then a slipped past through to Walcott.
I care about watching Thomas Vermaelen thundering in with a tackle, get up and ping a floated pass into the feet of the driving Sagna.
I am looking forward to watching Van Persie shape to shoot on his left foot, leave the defender on the floor and check back on his right to cross to the back post and the defender knocks it out for a corner while the Arsenal fans already standing up have oooh'd and applaud the skilful play from the Dutch magician.
I am looking forward to watch Aaron Ramsey back to his pre injury best, driving into the final third after exchanging passes with Wilshere and driving a daisy cutter into the far post beyond the dive of Brad Friedel at the Lane.
I am looking forward to the Emirates faithful chanting 'We got Gervinho.. We got Gervinho.. We got Gervinho!!!' when he scores his first home goal for the club.
I have read that being happy with what we have lacks ambition of some sort. I do not quite understand that one myself. I was under the impression that it was the people employed by Arsenal that make the difference and not supporters. Therefore moaning about everything to do with the club does not improve the ambition of the club equally, enjoying the club you love does not lessen the ambition of Stan Kroenke, Ivan Gazidis and Arsene Wenger. They are the professionals who are employed to make the difference. My role is to support my club. To me, it sounds like a free pass to continue to moan and complain. This does not mean that everything is perfect at the club because it is not. Ticket prices are sky high, so much so that I am priced out of many Emirates games but that will not change how I feel about the club.
I used to love Ian Wright as a player. Worshipped the guy more than I did Thierry Henry. Probably an age thing. Those memories will never leave me but Ian Wright the pundit? Jeez. Someone tape up his mouth. The same applies to Paul Merson. I think they have been reading one too many tabloids.
Moving on to the news that really Mata's. Sorry.
I was watching Graham Hunter on Sky Sports this morning and he sounded very sure of himself that Arsenal have met the players (Mata) buy out clause (which I thought was only for Spanish clubs but never mind) and that the Emirates would be his most likely destination. Sky Sports swept that under the carpet and instead chose to continue with the John O'Shea is heading to Sunderland ticker. Yet, Chelsea enquiring about Samir Nasri was massive news yesterday. Interesting. No need to throw a spanner in the works of Arsenal in crisis I guess. Not that I care any longer you see.
I don't know what to make of this story really. Valencia have said that Mata is not leaving this year and I guess it cannot be a bargaining move as he already has a release clause, so I guess they would be powerless if the player actually wants to leave.
Karim Benzema is back on his way to Arsenal once again for £27m or something. I'm not quite sure who I would prefer at Arsenal though, Benzema or Kevin Doyle? *scratches head for a moment* Probably best to go with the Premier League player who is used to it up em or something. I kid, I kid.
It came from the Daily Mail so make of that story what you will. Having said that, Benzema is actually the type of player that would flourish under the love and guidance of Arsene Wenger. With Carlos Tevez wanting to find sunshine closer to home, I wouldn't rule out a move to Real of the Madrid. But then even if Benzema was surplus to requirements, he would have plenty of interested parties with deeper pockets than we have.
Right, I am off.
Back again tomorrow.
* Steve Bould & Kevin Campbell were the players described for the newer Gooner.
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