To support or not to support, that is the question « Untold Arsenal: Arsenal News, supporting the club, the players and the manager
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By Walter Broeckx
With the start of the new season we are once again facing a lot of problems. But we are not alone in this. But as we focus on Arsenal we don’t really bother the problems other clubs have. Because Cesc and Nasri are not the only ones that are being sold/chased/wanted by other clubs. Does it matter that Cesc has gone and that Samir may go at any moment?
In the bigger scheme of things it probably doesn’t really matter.
What does matters is ARSENAL FC. Players have been coming and going through our history of 125 years. Because this season it is 125 years that we have our club. On 11 December we have the anniversary date of the first game of our club and by some silly coincidence this is also my birth date and I also pass a special date in my life this year. No wonder I had to become an Arsenal supporter.
We live in a complex world in football. The big debt clubs. The sugar daddy clubs. They all make it difficult for the clubs, like Arsenal who have a different approach to the way of doing things. We cannot pay wages like other clubs. For example, I read rumours in my local newspaper that Sneyder is asking £200.000 a week. And thinking that in my country, which isn’t exactly a poor country, there are many people who earn this in about 10 years and have to live with this.
I know Arsenal pay their players also a very high amount of money. Because if they wouldn’t do this the modern mercenaries that football players are would be gone before you can close and open your eyes. No football player would be happy with £20,000 a year. Even £20.000 a week will be not enough for most of them. Now I don’t mind that people earn a good living but I must admit that when I see the daily images of dying people on my TV in East Africa I do get a sour taste in my mouth when I read that a football player wants at least £200,000 a week. I wonder how many people could be saved with that kind of money? But I cannot change the world and would it be any better if I would have that power?
But this is modern football in these days and well we can do nothing about it. Except hoping that the bubble will burst rather sooner than later! But Arsenal has to survive in such an environment and has to go along the same road to some extent.
Now for some time Arsenal has been a club that has gone its own way; the Arsenal way I would say. A totally different approach compared with the clubs loaded with debt or owned by sugar daddies. We try to be self sustainable.
Yes, it makes us somewhat vulnerable for the moment. Because we are out priced when it comes to transfer amounts and wages by those big money spending clubs. Our board is very determined to keep the model of self sustainability working for Arsenal. They are convinced that this is the only way to keep the club in good shape in the future.
We have the luck to have a manager who knows a bit about economics and who has the same ideas. If he is entirely happy with the situation is another question but he has committed himself to this model the club has chosen and is working within this model. With all the handicaps it brings him. Not being able to just buy and pay for the player he really want.
Now the message of Arsenal being a self sustainable club has been made public for years. And the board and the new owner support this vision for the future. This also has been made clear. So for those supporters who are unhappy with this and who are very vocal on the internet it is something to think about.
Nobody is forced to being an Arsenal supporter. No other person is holding a gun against our heads threatening to kill us if we don’t support Arsenal. So it is our own free choice to support the club or not.
Now if you, and this is your right, do not agree with the official point of the board you can do a few things. You can turn your back on Arsenal and just stop supporting them. It is like when you have been a member of a political party and the party changes something in their program and if you don’t like it you can vote for another party.
Or you can still stay but revolt against the way the club is heading. That is also a very valid option. You could write blogs full of arguments on why we should go in to debt. You could write articles full of arguments on why we should look for a real sugar daddy who will buy all he can buy. If this is y6our point of view, I can only respect that. I would not agree with it but I can accept that people have different opinion.
However what you cannot do is go out and insult people and this includes the manager and the players. Because then you stop being supportive. And we have chosen to be supporters so the players and the manager will get my support as long as they are in our club. Once gone they can rot on another hells bench for my part. But I don’t think that any player will play better if we insult them.
I think it is clear, or better said, for me it is clear. We have played the first game of the season, and now is the time to make up your mind. Do you support our football club (even if you don’t agree with the self sustaining model the board has in mind) or do you not support it?
Supporting means accepting that the players are who they are and support them even when they make mistakes. And they will make mistakes as we all make mistakes in our lives and at work. But isn’t being a supporter just about supporting a player when he has a bad time? It is for me. Do I mean we cannot say a player had a bad game? Of course we can say that when a player has a bad game. But is this a reason to throw in insults?
So as the new season starts I am here (be it in another country) ready to support my Gunners. Come good times all the better. Come bad times I will still stay there and try to support you. I have chosen to be a supporter and so I will support. I agree with the board on the self sustaining model so for me this makes it a bit easier to be loyal to the club, the manager and the players. But for the others I really think it is time to make up your mind: do you really support the club no matter what happens? If so then just support it whatever happens. If not, then maybe it is time to think about it and call it a day.
We don’t need support when things are going our way, we then just need to be happy. But when things go difficult, then we need support. Then we don’t need moans. Just support or go away I would say if you are not able to support Arsenal through thick and thin.
Here’s one hoping for a good anniversary year. Long Live The Arsenal! Long Live The Gunners! Wish all you Gooners out there a good and pleasant season. To support or not to support, that is the question.
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