Arsenal News » 2010 » February » 28

Many of us have been outraged beyond endurance by the assault on Ramsey on 27th February.   24 hours later I am still frustrated an annoyed in a way that is not a normal part of my nature.

If I may speak for once for Walter (who is of course more than able to speak for himself), I believe he too was devastated by what happened, and by the history.  Three major assaults in the last five years, and not a sign of action by the authorities.

I expressed my feelings in my piece immediately after the game on saturday night, and in response I’ve had emails from a handful of readers saying that this was not what they come to Untold for – and some saying they won’t be coming back.

I’m sorry about that – our ability to debate and discuss even when holding different views is an essential element of this site, which would be nothing without its huge readership (which is regularly now approaching 10,000 readers a day).

But football is both about the logic of economics as it is about the passion of the game.  I might manage to knock out the occasional analysis of how the EPL is on the edge of ruin, but I can also have a rant and shout about the mistakes of the ref and the misdemeanors of the opposition from my seat in the Ems along with the 60,000 other supporters in the ground.

Debate and balanced judgment is good, but professional football is not worth watching if it doesn’t also generate the passion, drive and enthusiasm.

That’s what the broadcasters have never learned, despite having had over 75 years to get hold of the lesson.  Their attempt to sound dispassionate and balanced leaves most of us unmoved and frustrated.  They end up sounding uninformed and dull, while all around them are people expressing their emotions, leaving their dreams, descending into hell.

Broadcast football has become a mindless tedium that fails to satisfy anyone, and, in my personal opinion, it is up to us, the regular supporters, to try and do something about this.  To highlight, for example, the appalling way in which football is being run, and the way our players are being targeted.

It is because I hold thoughts such as these, that I have watched with much interest the attempt by Manchester United supporters to fight back against the club’s owners who are involved in an obvious plot to rape the club of its riches and its heritage.

The idea of using the original colours of the club as a symbol of resistance is a good one, and I had a feeling it could work.  (I perhaps should add a historical note – a branch of my family came from Guernsey, an island which was invaded by Germany in the 2nd world war.    The islanders had nothing with which to resist save symbols, and at one stage in the occupation did write the letter V on walls.  It was a simple rallying cry across the island, each person telling the next that there was still hope – and it had some effect.)

It was therefore sad to see how little impact the colour protest had at Wembley in the little cup final on Feb 28th.  There were people there with the new scarves, but the red of Manchester dominated.  It was a protest that could easily be ignored by the owners and seemed piecemeal on the part of the supporters.

A second protest calls on supporters of the club to start boycotting matches, in order to reduce income and force the owners to their knees.  A third line of attack suggests that Manchester United might even join with their enemies in Liverpool and design a united front.

I’m watching with much interest, but not much anticipation of success, for the Glazer’s now have the prize, and they know they will walk out with huge profits whatever happens.  And if the supporters can’t get the colour protest to work I think they will have a tougher time elsewhere.

Where my admiration is focused is on the people who left Old Trafford and formed FC United of Manchester.  Derided and rejected by Sir Alex F Word the club has gone from nowhere to the Prem Division of the Unibond League, which if I understand matters correctly, is one below Conference North.  Not bad for a new start-up.

Where the people who stayed behind with Manchester United went wrong, in my opinion, is in sitting and watching and waiting, and not acting at once.

And at this point I would like to say what I think we should do about the assaults that our players face week by week because of the “Arsenal don’t like it up em” campaign of the media.

But I am not sure.   I have started emailing the sports channels I listen to and watch, pointing out to them that they have a responsibilty, and I intend to do that from now on every time some nutter says “you have to get the early tackles in against Arsenal otherwise they will run all over you.”   And of course I intend to keep writing about the issue here.

Is this enough?  Of course not.  It is just that I am not sure what else to do.  Hopefully you can tell me.

Tony Attwood

Elsewhere…

The media’s encouragement of lesser players to kick more skillful players – a historical review.

The days when football journalists could write, entertain and make us laugh (a true newspaper report about Arsenal in the 1930s)

Predictions for the rest of the season: see how we are doing so far as we approach the start of the new golden era.

The Untold commentary immediately after the end of the Stoke game

“Making the Arsenal” – the novel.  The story and the writings of a football journalist covering Arsenal in 1910.  Available from Amazon.co.uk and from the publishers direct.

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Why did Arsenal move to Highbury, and not somewhere else? Almunia: are we being unfair. By ex-keeper now referee, Walter Broeckx

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EPL owes more money than the rest of Euro football combined.