From Woolwich Arsenal to Ignasi Miquel. Be a partizan, but smile at the same time « Untold Arsenal: Arsenal News, supporting the club, the players and the manager
By “Arsenal Forever” (ok its Tony really, but there’s a point to the name)
I’m currently working on a book with two esteemed Arsenal supporters Andy Kelly and Mark Andrews called WOOLWICH ARSENAL: THE CLUB THAT CHANGED FOOTBALL.
Now don’t run away at this point thinking “its another one of those history things, why doesn’t he talk about Benfica?” because I will come to that. And indeed there’s a link.
Mark has contributed some extraordinary research to the book on the subject of the crowd at Plumstead, and reported on a commentary in a local paper, The Woolwich Gazette, which states, “The neighbourhood is solid for a six thousand gate at once.” In other words, that’s you local committed support. Anything above that are floating occasional football supporters.
In what Mark calls “the halcyon days of 1904-8″ Woolwich Arsenal got much larger crowds than this, and this drew some commentary at the time. “Red Rover” in 1905, stated “Woolwich is essentially a working class population, and the spectators with half a crown or 3s.6d (25p or 35p) to spare for football are few and far between. I grant that London and some of the suburban sports furnish a good number of supporters, but it must be remembered that these folks are not Arsenal supporters in a partisan sense. They go wherever they think the best attraction is.”
Today it is different – you have to be a member to get a ticket, but it is clear from the early 20th century onwards the link with locality is gone. I was brought up two miles from the ground, and my father and grandfather went, so that’s why I’m here. But that’s probably an exception.
I re-read Mark’s work recently while I was trying to think of a name for supporters like me, who support the club no matter what, through thick and thin, and of late Walter, Dogface and I have been having a real bash at trying to find such a name. I suggested the word “partizan” – although my colleagues on the site were far from sure because of its association in more recent times with right wing violent groups. At the moment, for want of anything else, I have got the phrase “Arsenal Forever”, although we have flirted with “Arsenal, Eternal”. But partizan keeps coming back.
But this vision of the club – supporting the club no matter what, is not so popular today among Arsenal supporters, which I think is a shame, but reading the reports of Woolwich Arsenal it is clear that people did lose faith fairly easily in the early days. Support has never been what it used to be.
Reading today’s blogs it seems some got terribly upset over the defeat to Benfica last night. But I must say even as a partizan it is not spoiling my sunday – we’ve got friends and family coming round, and as soon as I have finished typing this, there’s the clearing up to do, the table to be laid, and the like (the meat already being in the oven).
So maybe as a partizan Arsenal supporter I don’t have to worry about losing to Benfica, because I’ve been through it all. I remember one pre-season friendly where we beat Celtic about 6-0 away (early 1980s I would guess). The papers didn’t report it, and I never saw it but it made me expect a great season – which we didn’t get. Friendlies are never good guides.
Likewise the people who are upset today tend not to report that Manchester United lost 8-2 to Marseilles or Hull 3 Liverpool 0. But they happened – and they aren’t guides to the season either.
One report however really made me smile. It was a complaint that Squillaci had been preferred to Miquel, against Benfica.
As far as I recall Squillaci didn’t play at all in the Ems Cup games, so needed a run out. Ignasi Miquel played in the 2011 UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship and has only just come back. In fact he played in every game from the start, and from what we read in reports Mr Wenger will have seen every game and evaluated the player.
Anyway, I made a silly mistake in a very recent article of mine saying that the young lad came from Barca, and suggesting they would try to sign him back later. In fact he was at Barcelona’s La Masia academy. But with that great clarity and insight for which Barca is known they kicked him out and he went to UD Cornella – a team playing in division six in Spain.
He then became Arsenal’s reserve team captain and has been compared to Gerard Pique. He can also fill play left-back apparently.
He almost certainly will be our central defender soon, although I am not too sure when. And for those who believe in the concept of “winning mentality” he certainly must have that, having just won the European Championship.
As an Arsenal Partizan I am thrilled at the development of this youngster, especially in a position deemed to be a problem. What Miquel does not want to see is his way eternally blocked by the buying of endless central defenders – but maybe that is necessary at this point.
What I suppose I really dream of is that Miquel can be a Tony Adams. Tony became a regular in the first team around the time he was 20, and that will do for me. Because although I am a Partizan, I also believe in “Arsenal Forever”, and with that phrase I can wait two years for Miquel to come through.
And who knows, by then, Barce will probably have discovered that Miquel has Catalan DNA in his blood, or wherever else they imagine the DNA is. (It’s in ever cell, and 98% of it is the same as a monkey, guys, but don’t let that trouble you). And they will offer billions for him.
And we might just say no.
Anyway, the sun is shining (at least in the East Midlands where I now live) and I’m going to get the house ready. We lost to Benfica, but I’ll still be at the Ems for every home match this season, and I’ll enjoy it, as I have every year. If you are worried about Arsenal this season, try smiling. Try relaxing. Think of Miquel. You’ll feel better.
(I’ll also be at the Ems on Monday night for the AGM of AISA. If you are there and have read Untold, please do come and say hello.)
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