Monday, April 26th, 2010 « Untold Arsenal: Arsenal News. Supporting the Lord Wenger in all he does
I was chatting with Kevin Perrett of Arsenal Independent Supporters Association before the Man City game at the Toppled Bollard (courtesy of Billy the Dog) discussing this, that, and the rest of infinity, when talk turned to the seemingly growing number of Wenger deniers – the doom mongers, the catatrophists, the gloomy bastards who see disaster in every Arsenal attack.
“Where’s the defence?” they cry, as we get a corner. “They’ll break and score from this!” So it goes.
Kevin called them, the Gooners who Hate Arsenal – and I thought that a really insightful phrase, and it leads me to a consideration of what it is like to be such a person. To be a supporter of the club, and yet to believe that the current operation of the club is hopeless and that disaster is always but a step away.
As Kevin said, you end up beating yourself up all the time. For these people, the slogans at the start of Orwell’s “1984″ are as relevant today as when he wrote it.
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH.
Wenger is not the Messiah. He’s not even a naughty little boy. He is the thing that drags the club down. If only he would go, preferably with the catatrophist himself being asked to take over the hot seat, we would be ok.
They don’t normally call for the board to change, but they do want to change the team, removing six or seven of our prime first teamers, and replacing them with players whom they know (oh yes they really do know) are willing to leave their clubs, the clubs are willing to let them go, and who are willing to sign for us at a cost we can afford.
If it is ever pointed out to these good people that there could be a problem attracting some of the players wanted to replace our zombies and morons then they move into a WAR IS PEACE mode. We have to go out and be bold to survive.
You do not win anything by being timid. We must fight for what we want, and if that means taking risks and making sacrifices then that’s what is needed. This club is in terminal decline, and if action is not forthcoming, we are all doomed.
The fact that we cannot compete with Chelsea and Man C without running the risk of ending up like Liverpool and Man U is ignored. The notion that to beat the financial dopers you need subtle and carefully arranged tactics means nothing. Even saying such things is pointless and shows the imbalanced view of this site. We are free to give our opinions here, and we let others give their opinions, but in doing so we are harming the club. FREEDOM IS SLAVERY.
And just as in the land of Big Brother one would be tortured to death for even suggesting that the whole league might be corrupt, and that we are fighting corruption with honesty, the doom, gloom and catastrophe gang will just snort. That’s Italy, Hungary, Hong Kong, Germany. That’s not here. and if it is, why aren’t we paying bribes too?
And then we get to the coup de gras. These guys have never heard of Winston Smith (the hero of 1984). Winstom Smith worked at the Times. He went through old copies of the paper and re-wrote the news to make it fit what had actually happened. (Incidentally this is why I have so often run the story of of the Times being duped into printing the piece about the non-existent player from Eastern Europe who was going to sign for Arsenal, but who never existed. The real-life Times then copied 1984 and removed the piece from its web site).
Gooners who Hate Arsenal believe what they read in the press. They believe that Arshavin slags off his colleagues, hates Wenger, hates the weather, hates driving, and didn’t know he would pay 50% tax.
They also presumably believe that some miracle happened to stop Cesc leaving last January, last summer, the January before, the summer before…. In fact they must have a hard time of it every August when they go watch the Emirates Cup and find that the players are still there.
But we’ve all laughed at them so often they have changed their tune a little of late, and now start their stories in which they repeat what was in the Mail or the Sun by saying, “I don’t know if this is true – I hope not – but have you read this…” They then go on to quote the story, and then treat it as true, and blame Wenger for the fact that as a result the whole first team has just signed for Andorra. We’re all, once again, doomed.
So we see it. Cesc is going to leave, and of course once he goes Van Persie will decide that it is not worth staying. Arshavin is half way out of the door, and Nasri will certainly follow. Wilshire says he would sooner play in Bolton, Gallas is leaving, Clichy is going to Barca, and on and on. In fact by making these statements, they make it all true.
Being a Gooner who Hates Arsenal is a sad state, leading to depression, hiding under the bed clothes, eating too much chocolate and hiding under the bed clothes and saying things twice (oh bugger).
Should we attack them, make fun of them or ignore them?
Either way, the sun is shining, I thought the use of quotes from “1984″ was quite amusing in this piece, the Women’s team are even further ahead in the league as a result of yesterday’s games, my sixth grandchild was born on Thursday night and is named Percy (after Robin van according to me, but not according to my daughter) and he’s healthy, the youth team won the A league months back with 10 games to spare, we’re in the Champs League next season and Kevin said he’d read my book “Making the Arsenal” twice. But for the catastrophists,
SMILING IS BETRAYAL.
God, it must be tough.
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Tony Attwood lives on the planet Qwirkgn, thinks playing the accordion is cool, and for a pint of beer will recite the poems of Lao Tzu His book “Making the Arsenal” has been described as the “most insightful piece of writing concerning this football club the world has ever seen,” by Tony himself, and by one correspondent on this site as “Historical fiction on Acid.”