The Crow - The empty stands said it all
Published: 19 May, 2011
ARSENAL
THE “lap of appreciation” at Ashburton Grove for Arsene Wenger must have been tortuous to the wise old puffin.
The banks of empty red seats will have spoken volumes to a man who, regardless of dustbowl years, remains the greatest manager in the club’s history. The expectations – or maybe the patience – of the home support may no longer be aligned with his, but this had to hurt. It hurt to watch him hurting.
“How does it make me feel? It doesn’t matter what I think about it,” he said in the press conference afterwards, his face a picture of ripped disappointment. His endless hours of homework and meticulous planning had come to nought again. Endless spending at Chelsea had come to nought too, but that is no consolation.
Understandably, the players made the tour of the turf brief. Robin van Persie and Alex Song tried to fizz up the celebratory mood by bringing the kids onto the pitch, but it was over in a limp. There have been other fruitless campaigns, but no season under Wenger has ended so glumly.
The Arsenal season ticket holders expect better than closing the campaign by losing to Aston Villa and stumbling over the finishing line for a place in the top four.
Maybe that’s because so many of those who can afford to go week in, week out, are comparatively recent converts to the club, signing up in droves as Wenger rejuvenated it in the late 1990s. It’s been largely forgotten to the history books that for nearly two decades in the 1970s and 1980s, Arsenal were effectively a cup team. From the double in 1971 to Michael Thomas in 1989, what happened this season is what happened every season.
By winning so much in his initial years at Arsenal, Wenger raised the expectation level, but the fact is the Gunners have never been a team that wins the league every year. In fact, you have to go back to the 1930s for a time when they retained the big prize.
The flipside of this, however, is that while Arsenal fans could learn to accept that every season won’t be a title winner, that’s harder and harder to do when the season ticket price jerks upwards. “Six percent, you’re having a laugh,” sang supporters on Sunday.
Arsenal more or less could name their price when a season ticket handed you entry to see Henry, Pires, Bergkamp and Vieira in the those golden years, but it’s a different demand for the current crop. This season, a season ticket guaranteed entry to a famous night in Arsenal’s history: beating Barcelona in the Champions League. But there have been few other rewards. It’s allowed fans to BE THERE to see Arsenal capitulate against Spurs, get doofed by West Brom and those dreary draws against Sunderland and Blackburn Rovers. Not quite the return they would have expected for the four figure outlay.
So, what can Wenger do? One idea might be simple: break the rules about age and cost and go out and sign a proven goalscorer, a selfish goalhanger.
The Gunners also need a far more resilient rearguard. For a few bob more, the club could have kept that moody-bum William Gallas, who although he is a moody-bum would have been better than Squillaci.
Finally, the dead wood which hasn’t fulfilled potential should be cleared out. Denilson, Abou Diaby, Clichy, Eboue: all should be in the prime of their careers but seem like they are wasting their best years.
RICHARD OSLEY
Always a price for booing foes
TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR
I’VE got good friends who are Liverpool supporters but with their team’s recent form, some have become a pain in the gluteus maximus!
So it was with great pleasure that I watched my beloved disarm them on Sunday with a 2-0 win.
Tottenham’s comprehensive display left the Anfield faithful partially traumatised and Spurs fans delighted that an 18-year-old ghost had been undisputedly exorcised!
At empty, cost-a-billion Emirates, Arsenal fans were treated to a 2-1 loss courtesy of a Darren Bent double that might just see Manchester City beat them to third place: and with the cost of tickets going up 6 per cent they’re not happy!
That’s why I don’t like booing foes returning with other teams, because they’re liable to upset you even more. Admittedly I might have smiled at the sight of grown men crying, and I know West Ham’s relegation will have pleased some.
But not me.
I’m a romantic and one of my earliest memories of a live game was standing on the terraces watching Clyde Best warm up.
He was the first black player I’d seen in the flesh.
Also, who can forget Bobby Moore in his claret and blue strip?
He remains an icon for people of all generations and is the only England captain to lift the World Cup.
I know of the bitter rivalry between the two clubs, but the players they’ve produced through their academy have fed many a Premier League club and that should not be forgotten.
TONY DALLAS