Why do I support Arsenal? I don’t think I can give you an exact answer to that. It’s a combination of factors: the classy club, the name, the manager and the various players who had played for the club. It’s a little bit of everything and it may not be a satisfying enough answer but what I do know is that I love Arsenal very much. I love Arsenal so much that I couldn’t talk for some time when I was too angry after a defeat. So much that my eyes swell when we win and whenever I watch highlights of a successful match. So much that I schedule my weekends and some weekday nights around it. So much that I tweeted to Arsenal after defeats telling them how I feel (I always believe in letting it all out instead of bottling it inside). And I love Arsenal so much as demonstrated by all the tangible and intangible investment: time, emotional and financial too of course.
When I say I love Arsenal, that is just what I mean. I mean the club, the team, the people behind the scene who manage the club from Ivan to Colin to Stuart (I draw the line at the shareholders) and of course our brilliant professor. By extension, I love the players too, some more than others because I’m partial like that - just like everyone else.
It’s fans like us who religiously follow the club, who defend it and who shout at it in our fit of anger who are loyal to The Arsenal. Players come and players go, managers come and managers go, shareholders invest and they divest but the fans remain steadfastly loyal. We care and we love and sometimes we care and love too much. That would explain why we can be angry when things go wrong, when things don’t go exactly as we plan or hope, when the team goes through a shaky patch and the injury list grows longer. It’s like there is this thick umbilical cord tying us (well, me at least) tight to Arsenal and we don’t let go even though it’s probably wiser for us to do so. We are committed wholly, whole-heartedly, voluntarily and inevitably.
So that the dust has now settled somewhat following Robin’s shitty statement that hit the fan last week. I was angry, hurt, livid and felt betrayed. I felt like my heart broke into smithereens and I tell you, I don’t easily forgive people who break my heart like that. My heart broke and sank but this time (from experience I could well do without), I didn’t cry. Because he is not worthy of my tears.
So Robin said he couldn’t reach an agreement with how the club should move forward? What bollocks. Is he saying that Podolski who’s played 100 matches for Germany has moved backwards by signing with Arsenal? Is he implying that Giroud, Ligue 1’s top striker for champions Montpellier, has made a grave error by choosing to ply his trade for us? Have these two players committed career suicide then when they decided to sign for us, a club which Robin now deems as not matching his ambition in moving forward? Since when is a player able to dictate how the club should move? Sheer nonsense bullshit bollocks.
I can understand if Cesc said that Arsenal were not matching his standards and ambitions because we weren’t. Not when we made him play with the likes of Denilson and Eboue etc. But for Robin (who not too long ago donned a Number 1 Fan jersey) to say that, when he has seen the intent exhibited by signing those two players, is just unacceptable. His statement spoke volumes about the character we suddenly find ourselves discovering and not at all acceptable for a captain of Arsenal.
It was also the way he delivered the statement, stunning the club and fans with disbelief, and the words used in the statement. It was in the timing of the statement: a mere few hours since Podolski put pen to paper and visited Ashburton Grove and a mere few hours before Usmanov decided to make public his dissatisfaction with the board. It was the petty attack on the manager, the club and the Chief Executive that made the whole thing even more deplorable. So please do not insult our intelligence, Robin. The only stupid actions I will now plead guilty to are to have thought you were a great leader and captain for the club; to have believed you would be the one who will help drive us forward; and to have reasoned that for all the prolonged contract talk, you’d stay. Just as we stayed and stood by your side and supported you when you were injured every time in all those years.
Like I said, players come and players go. I’m sorry, I’m not charitable enough to still like and respect you. Once a player decides to leave, well, that’s it for me. Out of sight, out of mind. Titi is slightly different because he still keeps in touch and he came back to play for us, didn’t he. Heck, even Cesc is slowly but surely slipping out of my mind. There, I’ve said it. Hey, don’t blame me. It’s not me who decided to leave this relationship. It’s them who couldn’t wait to go to fresh new pastures and ‘new challenges’. And hey Cesc, whatever are you doing with a wench just a few years younger than your mum? Bad taste, Cesc, bad taste. But then again, I should have known someone who has Pique as best friend would have bad taste. Anyway, I digress.
So shoo off already, Robin, go and fly kite. I don’t care to see you in the red and white if you don’t want or don’t care to be here with us. I don’t want a player who’s unhappy playing for us. I don’t want a player who’s not strong enough to be an Arsenal player and captain. The club is bigger than any one of you anyway and is the only one which will stay. Besides, it’s Arsenal that I love above all individual players. The sun will still shine tomorrow, the club will still be there, the ship will still be sailing.
As you can see, I’m already in Stage 5 of acceptance. Of ‘whatever’. If your intention is to burn your bridge with us fans, then congratulations. You’ve achieved it and more. If you want to leave the greatest team the world has ever seen and be a part of us no more, then get lost already. After all, it’s Arsenal which gave you the opportunity to win those awards you did last season. One injury-free season does not mean you'll continue uninjured and healthy henceforth. If you think so, you're mad.
Of course if you go to another club outside the Premier League, I will not hate you as much. So if you ever felt any emotion to Arsenal or us the fans, go anywhere as long as it’s not to another Premier League club. Otherwise, you’ll just prove you’re no different to Petite Pute when it comes to earning a shit-load of money.
At the end of the day, I still have my Arsenal. The greatest team the world has ever seen. Greater, bigger and better than any one individual player.
When I say I love Arsenal, that is just what I mean. I mean the club, the team, the people behind the scene who manage the club from Ivan to Colin to Stuart (I draw the line at the shareholders) and of course our brilliant professor. By extension, I love the players too, some more than others because I’m partial like that - just like everyone else.
It’s fans like us who religiously follow the club, who defend it and who shout at it in our fit of anger who are loyal to The Arsenal. Players come and players go, managers come and managers go, shareholders invest and they divest but the fans remain steadfastly loyal. We care and we love and sometimes we care and love too much. That would explain why we can be angry when things go wrong, when things don’t go exactly as we plan or hope, when the team goes through a shaky patch and the injury list grows longer. It’s like there is this thick umbilical cord tying us (well, me at least) tight to Arsenal and we don’t let go even though it’s probably wiser for us to do so. We are committed wholly, whole-heartedly, voluntarily and inevitably.
So that the dust has now settled somewhat following Robin’s shitty statement that hit the fan last week. I was angry, hurt, livid and felt betrayed. I felt like my heart broke into smithereens and I tell you, I don’t easily forgive people who break my heart like that. My heart broke and sank but this time (from experience I could well do without), I didn’t cry. Because he is not worthy of my tears.
So Robin said he couldn’t reach an agreement with how the club should move forward? What bollocks. Is he saying that Podolski who’s played 100 matches for Germany has moved backwards by signing with Arsenal? Is he implying that Giroud, Ligue 1’s top striker for champions Montpellier, has made a grave error by choosing to ply his trade for us? Have these two players committed career suicide then when they decided to sign for us, a club which Robin now deems as not matching his ambition in moving forward? Since when is a player able to dictate how the club should move? Sheer nonsense bullshit bollocks.
I can understand if Cesc said that Arsenal were not matching his standards and ambitions because we weren’t. Not when we made him play with the likes of Denilson and Eboue etc. But for Robin (who not too long ago donned a Number 1 Fan jersey) to say that, when he has seen the intent exhibited by signing those two players, is just unacceptable. His statement spoke volumes about the character we suddenly find ourselves discovering and not at all acceptable for a captain of Arsenal.
It was also the way he delivered the statement, stunning the club and fans with disbelief, and the words used in the statement. It was in the timing of the statement: a mere few hours since Podolski put pen to paper and visited Ashburton Grove and a mere few hours before Usmanov decided to make public his dissatisfaction with the board. It was the petty attack on the manager, the club and the Chief Executive that made the whole thing even more deplorable. So please do not insult our intelligence, Robin. The only stupid actions I will now plead guilty to are to have thought you were a great leader and captain for the club; to have believed you would be the one who will help drive us forward; and to have reasoned that for all the prolonged contract talk, you’d stay. Just as we stayed and stood by your side and supported you when you were injured every time in all those years.
Like I said, players come and players go. I’m sorry, I’m not charitable enough to still like and respect you. Once a player decides to leave, well, that’s it for me. Out of sight, out of mind. Titi is slightly different because he still keeps in touch and he came back to play for us, didn’t he. Heck, even Cesc is slowly but surely slipping out of my mind. There, I’ve said it. Hey, don’t blame me. It’s not me who decided to leave this relationship. It’s them who couldn’t wait to go to fresh new pastures and ‘new challenges’. And hey Cesc, whatever are you doing with a wench just a few years younger than your mum? Bad taste, Cesc, bad taste. But then again, I should have known someone who has Pique as best friend would have bad taste. Anyway, I digress.
So shoo off already, Robin, go and fly kite. I don’t care to see you in the red and white if you don’t want or don’t care to be here with us. I don’t want a player who’s unhappy playing for us. I don’t want a player who’s not strong enough to be an Arsenal player and captain. The club is bigger than any one of you anyway and is the only one which will stay. Besides, it’s Arsenal that I love above all individual players. The sun will still shine tomorrow, the club will still be there, the ship will still be sailing.
As you can see, I’m already in Stage 5 of acceptance. Of ‘whatever’. If your intention is to burn your bridge with us fans, then congratulations. You’ve achieved it and more. If you want to leave the greatest team the world has ever seen and be a part of us no more, then get lost already. After all, it’s Arsenal which gave you the opportunity to win those awards you did last season. One injury-free season does not mean you'll continue uninjured and healthy henceforth. If you think so, you're mad.
Of course if you go to another club outside the Premier League, I will not hate you as much. So if you ever felt any emotion to Arsenal or us the fans, go anywhere as long as it’s not to another Premier League club. Otherwise, you’ll just prove you’re no different to Petite Pute when it comes to earning a shit-load of money.
At the end of the day, I still have my Arsenal. The greatest team the world has ever seen. Greater, bigger and better than any one individual player.
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