Written by Paul Williams on Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Okay, so it wasn't so much an email exchange as I sent an email, Phil Townsend very quickly replied to it. But he didn't reply to my reply, perhaps he felt that he didn't need to and that he can only do so much, I don't know. I do think that United could do more to, if not prevent, than limit the vile abuse directed towards Arsène Wenger. It seems that the response I got and fair play to Manchester United for responding quickly and honestly, is somewhat generic (see the Online Gooner if you don't know what I mean). You can judge for yourselves, though:

Hi Phil,

Thanks very much for the rapid response.

Far be it for me to comment on how to handle the situation, but it seems to me that in communicating these appeals through the supporters groups, programme and mutv, you are perhaps limited in the number of people you can logically expect to reach? When I go to Arsenal (yes I am an Arsenal supporter, if you hadn't guessed), I rarely buy a programme, I haven't been to many supporters group meetings, though I have just joined our AISA and I'm sure you've heard about Arsenal TV!

My point is, surely if Sir Alex was to voice his concern for a fellow professional and someone I believe he has belatedly built something of a rapport with, through the mainstream media, Sky Sports News, or the press, a) more of your support would hear the message and b) they might think twice about giving voice to such vile abuse. You will be aware of the esteem Arsène is held in by those of us of a red and white persuasion and the respect he commands from us, I can only imagine that Sir Alex, with his ten extra years (and extra trophies) at Manchester United is similarly regarded. I'm not saying I believe it is up to him to end the abuse, but it wouldn't hurt him, or the club, to make a public statement, would it?

Thanks again for your time.

Paul

Subject: Re: Manchester United v Arsenal
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 2009 14:01:19 +0100
From: Phil Townsend
To: Paul Williams

Hi Paul,

On the contrary, we have gone on the record - several times - about that disgusting chant. We don't condone it and have appealed to fans several times in the past - through supporters' groups, the programme and MUTV, but to no avail. It will be discussed at the first Fans' Forum meeting of the season to appeal for ideas as to how to curb it. There are many chants that opposing fans find objectionable, and this is certainly one of them that all decent supporters should object to.

Best wishes

Philip Townsend
Director of Communications
Manchester United
--------------------------
Sent from my BlackBerry Wireless Handheld

From: Paul Williams
To: Townsend Philip
Sent: Tue Sep 01 13:56:00 2009
Subject: Manchester United v Arsenal

Dear Philip,

I am a writer for football blogs Arsenal Mania and OleOle and am very interested to know whether Manchester United Football Club have a view on the disgraceful abuse suffered by the Arsenal manager by a large section of the crowd on Saturday evening.

It is a shame that in the years this song has been sung, nobody from your football club has explicitly come out and said that this is unacceptable behaviour. As a match goer myself, I understand that it is difficult to identify trouble makers. But when Sir Alex Ferguson is afforded extra protection at Arsenal due to the actions of those behind the dug outs- by very definition, a small minority, surely it is not beyond those who are in charge at Manchester United to take action over the kind of abuse nobody should have to suffer?

I thank you for your time and look forward to your response.

Regards,

Paul Williams

It seems to me now that perhaps United will do something about this. I hope so.

Moving on to the hot topic of the day... the transfer window. It seems there are a few of you out there who feel let down by the lack of activity at Arsenal over the summer. I say to you, rather than crying about it on the internet, why do not do something more productive like.... getting behind your team? That'd be good to see, wouldn't it?

Yes, I would have liked a goalkeeper capable of displacing Manuel Almunia from the first team, yes I would have liked a defensive midfielder to cover for (or even challenge) Alex Song and perhaps a new centre back would have been nice, although on reflection we have five who are part of the first team set up, not including Song and not including players like Kyle Bartley - not that I expect to see Master Bartley in the first team at any point this season. The point is, the numbers are there.

Am I going to get all moany about it now, when the team have had such a good start to the season? No. Will I moan about it when injuries take their inevitable heavy toll? Probably. But the man who matters has backed this squad, he has asked us to back his judgement and do return the verdict on that judgement at the end of the season.

I do not expect us to struggle to finish in the top four this season, I do not expect us to look so out of our depth the next time we take on Chelsea - we have already proved that the gap between ourselves and United is not as large as the Champions League Semi Final suggested, we should take heart from that. We may not win the league and, honestly with players like Almunia and Eboue likely to feature prominently, I do not expect us to. But how should we be expecting to win anything in this ultra competitive climate? The football world has moved on since 2004, it's moved on since last season in fact. Crying about it will not help.

And I don't think crying about it will help us in the case of Eduardo. UEFA have decided that Eduardo is guilty of diving, basically calling him a cheat and banning him for two European games. Arsenal have reacted accordingly. I don't imagine they will get anywhere, but as certain aspects of the media talk about Arsenal taking one on the chin for the greater good of the game, I think we're all entitled to ask "Why Eduardo?" Why not Rooney, why not Ronaldo or Owen, or Gerrard or any of the myriad footballers indulging in the Dark Arts every Saturday afternoon?

User Comments

Writer Profile

User Comments

• Got something to say?
• Read comments