In the 50’s, 60’s, 70’s and 80’s. How did the fans air their views? « Untold Arsenal: Arsenal News, supporting the club, the players and the manager
The internet gives fans the chance to instantly vent.
By Cameron Wolfe.
I well aware of the irony of writing on a blog and talking about not being able too. In my own defence it came from reading so many negative comments. Even here on UA. It crossed my mind that we’re very lucky that we can and what did fans do before the internet was up and running.
Imagine you were an Arsenal fan between 1953 – 1971 (18 years) or one between 1971 – 1989 (18 years) both times eighteen years without a league title. Although they did win the F.A cup in 1979. The Littlewoods Challenge Cup in 1987 (The league cup), the Southern Professional Floodlit Cup (no idea) and in 1958 and the Mercantile Credit Centenary Trophy in 1988 (100 years of the football league celebration trophy).
Now if you were an Arsenal supporter through those two periods of no league titles would the other trophies have sufficed? Or would there still have been disgruntled fans calling for the Manager and the Board to be sacked? Buy better players etc.
If you did want this how would you go about doing so? Mass protests at the ground? A black scarf movement to show your disapproval? Boycott the games? Write to the Evening Standard asking for your Arsenal back? Possibly all four.
Today it’s so much easier to voice your discontent of the team. You can phone talksport and vent in person on the radio or you can come to a place like UA and write a comment on how you feel. It’s so much easier to vent these days. Is that all it is though? Venting about how you feel? After watching an under par performance of YOUR team. You’re unhappy and want to express your opinion on how bad the team/manager/board are. Jump on the bandwagon and follow all the other disgruntled supporters and voice your disapproval in a public domain. It’s easy. You write it and in seconds it appears their in print for everyone to see. We live in such a great technological age. Hell I’m writing this from Canada? No snail mail these days. I just press send and it travels invisibly through cyberspace and arrives in Tony’s email inbox in secs. Even Nano seconds.
Seriously though. How must’ve those Arsenal fans felt in those two long periods of not competing for the top honours? Fed up? Disillusioned? I’m sure that a lot of fans drifted off and followed another team. Maybe they just went a long to the game in the hope that the team would play better? In the hope that the manager would get the tactics right and they would start winning every game? Maybe they stood on the terraces and hurled abuse at the whole team and the manager? Who knows. Some of the people who comment on UA have been around that long. They do remember those dark times. But they did get better and we went on to win the league. Win doubles. Be in the CL final.
See I can’t help it. Regardless of the result. I always look to the next game and hope that we do turn up. That we do put in a great performance and ultimately we win. Preferably in style.
Last year we were written off before we had kicked a ball. This year seems like we have only just begun and yet the writings on the wall. We’ll be lucky to finish in the top half never mind the top four. Let’s forget that we’re on 16points and ther’e’s still 81 to play for.That’s 94 points all in. We’re still in all four competitions and with some luck and better performances. We could still ultimately push the others hard for the title. Why not?
I got slated recently for sounding patronising? I shouldn’t be telling supporters how to support Arsenal? I’m not.I wasn’t I’m just giving my own opinion of how I feel at this current time being an Arsenal fan. As optimistic as when the first day kicked off.
Come the end of the season there’ll be almost twenty teams not in the same position as us and some will be envious of where we finish. Some not. The worst case senario as far as I’m concerned would be. Being relegated. Not being in the CL next year. Falling at the first round of the FA cup. Being beaten in the Capital one cup from lower opposition. See if none of those things occur then I’ll still be as happy as when the season started. Anything else that we get is a bonus. There’s only four trophies to play for and there are twenty teams all trying to win them. In football just like in life itself anything could happen but again being an optimist I think we’ll still surprise the pundits come May.
I just can’t think any other way.
Bring on those Spuds.