A real bright light in all of this.

[RockyRocastle]

I dont know about you, but in the last year or so I have seriously fallen out of love with football.

This whole Cole saga has really brought it all home. The game is corrupt, players are mercenaries, agents are ****s etc etc.

I've had enough of rapes, roastings, fire extinguishers, page 3 slappers, players falling out of London clubs pissed, dripping in 'bling' worth more than I earn in a year, and generally acting like they are above the law.

Ashley Cole, Rio Ferdinand, Lee Bowyer, Dickov, Savage, Dyer - I could go on and on. And then there is this circus act from west London.

I am starting to ask myself why I work and pay thousands of pounds to travel this country and Europe to watch Arsenal, as are many with more traditional views like myself.

This is made worse, as football fan I am treated like a piece of ****. I am ripped off year after year as clubs know that I wont change and buy another 'brand'.

Well, if things carry on as they are I may just stop buying full stop.

I will always love Arsenal, but not football. I cannot justify paying all this money to watch people that simply dont care.
I miss terraces, I miss standing, I miss swearing, I miss smoking, I miss the atmosphere, I miss Sansom, Rocky, TA, Wrighty and I really just miss the feeling I used to have going to watch football.

But in all of this there are still players who offer a little hope, especially one at Arsenal.

He may not be a cockney, he may not even be English, but he is Arsenal.

Watching him develop this season I have seen a player who cares, who wants to win, who gives 100%, and winning means something to him which he is not affraid to show.

He is first to come over at away matches whilst most of the senior players (Freddie, Pires, Lauren etc) **** off down the tunnel and back to their mansions.

Everything I read about the guy is spot on, he is cleaver and intelligent and most of all very down to earth.

It has been a pleasure watching him this season and if there is ever a ready made future captain of Arsenal it is this guy.

Step forward Phillipe Senderos. If only football had a few more like him.

 

[Allyboy]

Great post mate, could not agree more.

Im not quite sure why but when things are going well for us we never seem to achieve our potential, but whenever we are "in crisis" the team nearly always responds with positive results.

Im not sure what is going to happen with Cole, or indeed our team over the next few years but there are still a lot of good things to take out of being an Arsenal fan. The club will always go on and as long as Wenger is at the club, in whatever form, we will always have fantastic football to enjoy.

It may be getting harder with the footballing world getting murkier and murkier, but we just have to try and keep the faith.

 

[seb_afc]

Excelent post mate. agree 100 per cent

i was thinking that when you said there is one guy in my mind i was thinking senderos. I too am getting fed up of all these greedy footballers who really do think they are above the law and can treat people like ****. I really miss the times when footballers played football for the love of the game not for the money. I will buy next years shirt as it is our last year at highbury but after that, i dont see why i should give my hard earned money to greedy ungratefull ****s.

 

[USArsenal]

I agree with all this sentiment. Senderos, who recently signed a new contract extension, has quietly become our future captain and rightly so. He has shown that at his tender age, he is willing to do what it takes to play his heart out for the club. And it has shown in the last 2 months of the season.

I would like to add a few more names of players who exemplify the Arsenal I know and love:

Theirry Henry
Gilberto Silva
Dennis Bergkamp
even Robin van Persie (more and more each time)

Henry has stated time and again that he loves this club and is not going anywhere. He wants to win, wants to score, and gets all moody when we aren't. We mistake it for him being a prima donna sometimes, but I think he is just demanding of perfection from everyone he plays with.

Bergkamp loves the club so much that he plays for his professional life every year just so he can get another shot at playing here.

Gilberto quietly goes about his business with grit and determination and happily singed a new contract recently.

RvP has fallen in love with this club more and more every day. Wenger has taught him some discipline, taught him how to be a professional and taught him how to be a winner. He will only get better for us.

Here's to all the players that make us still WANT to love this fantastic club we call the Arsenal.


UP THE GUNNERS

 

[seb_afc]

its possible to add toure to that list too.

 

[sabret00the]

Even i have to say good post, so filled with blubber good post, btw knew who you were talking about as soon as you said he came over after every match, he's a ****ing legend to me for doing that.

 

[AlexH]

Good post!

Senderos is Swiss, he is our new Tony Adams, which as far as I'm concerned means his nickname must henceforth be Swiss Toni.
All together now...playing for Arsenal is very much like making love to a beautiful woman...

 

[brianfrance]

My mother told me that his father talked to her, a long time ago, when I was still in my father's balls, about money in the sport. He said sport is rotten by the money. It's obvious, the human become rotten by the money, and sports is human. He was right. All this Cole saga, or the vieira's, or the chelski emergence, the real madrid strange founds, should not exist, and would not exist in an amateur sport.
I still really enjoy Football, love it, but as a neutral I prefer to watch a world cup or euro final than 10CL finals! Countries have kept things football clubs have lost, the love for the badge, the honour to give 110%, and the respect for the fans, and there's no transfer possible from the england national team to the italian's (!!)
The worst is still to come!

 

[Jkreffer]

It is true though that fans are not getting the same feeling they once did when TA, Dixon and co were there. I don't know why this is but I am sure it isn't just me who feels this. It isn't a dig at Arsenal just something hasn't felt right for a while. Am I alone in my sentiments?

 

[Mark]

I've been thinking about it too recently and it is really bothering me too.

To be honest it's been like this for a long time now. It's just easier to ignore because the quality of football is so good these days. But when stuff like this Cole saga happens it brings the harsh truth behind modern football into the light and it really has ruined the sport.

I agree about Senderos too. I've read so many articles about him and he really sounds like a great guy, and his performances speak for themselves. He does have a real air of authority about him and seems to get on well with the rest of the team. Definetly a future captain.

 

[RocktheCasbah]

Well put Rocky. Great to have something positive to read about one of our youngsters.

 

[Karlos2]

Great post, I have been pretty much thinking the same thing recently, the sport is getting worser and worser each year.

 

[KingReyes]

Top post. Pretty much agree with everything you said mate especially regarding football and how its getting worser.

 

[IBL]

Good article. Thing is, there's no football for a while now to sooth our pains and ills and help us put all this ugliness behind us. We can only imagine what all this has done to affect our performance on the pitch.

 

[Anonymous]

I dont know about you, but in the last year or so I have seriously fallen out of love with football.

This whole Cole saga has really brought it all home. The game is corrupt, players are mercenaries, agents are ****s etc etc.

I've had enough of rapes, roastings, fire extinguishers, page 3 slappers, players falling out of London clubs pissed, dripping in 'bling' worth more than I earn in a year, and generally acting like they are above the law.

Ashley Cole, Rio Ferdinand, Lee Bowyer, Dickov, Savage, Dyer - I could go on and on. And then there is this circus act from west London.

I am starting to ask myself why I work and pay thousands of pounds to travel this country and Europe to watch Arsenal, as are many with more traditional views like myself.

This is made worse, as football fan I am treated like a piece of s**t. I am ripped off year after year as clubs know that I wont change and buy another 'brand'.

Well, if things carry on as they are I may just stop buying full stop.

I will always love Arsenal, but not football. I cannot justify paying all this money to watch people that simply dont care.
I miss terraces, I miss standing, I miss swearing, I miss smoking, I miss the atmosphere, I miss Sansom, Rocky, TA, Wrighty and I really just miss the feeling I used to have going to watch football.

But in all of this there are still players who offer a little hope, especially one at Arsenal.

He may not be a cockney, he may not even be English, but he is Arsenal.

Watching him develop this season I have seen a player who cares, who wants to win, who gives 100%, and winning means something to him which he is not affraid to show.

He is first to come over at away matches whilst most of the senior players (Freddie, Pires, Lauren etc) f**k off down the tunnel and back to their mansions.

Everything I read about the guy is spot on, he is cleaver and intelligent and most of all very down to earth.

It has been a pleasure watching him this season and if there is ever a ready made future captain of Arsenal it is this guy.

Step forward Phillipe Senderos. If only football had a few more like him.

well said, i completly agree the guy is a legend in the making.

 

[HalliGoalie]

I agree (i know it´s a short answer but i couldn´t come up with more)

 

[leongsh]

Everything I read about the guy is spot on, he is cleaver and intelligent and most of all very down to earth.

It has been a pleasure watching him this season and if there is ever a ready made future captain of Arsenal it is this guy.

Step forward Phillipe Senderos. If only football had a few more like him.

If only but unfortunately these are few and far between. Best thing about it is that he is at Arsenal. As much as Phillipe Senderos tries to downplay the talk about him, I think most of us see him as the real heir to Arsenal jersey no. 6 and eventually the armband that has been worn and encapsulated so definitively by the previous wearer of that said Arsenal jersey.

 

[famous no 10]

Great post, totally agree with you with big Phil.

 

[Canuck]

I have to agree with most that professional football as a whole is full of rot. From the Cole saga in England to the dopping in Italy to the match fixing in Germany.
Even someone like myself, who doesn't have a life long affiliation with the club, can feel that the players now do not live up to the feelings that past Arsenal teams have brought out in fans. I can imagine that this feeling must be all the stronger for those fans who faithfully fill their seat week in and week out. Watching the spectacle that is Arsenal FC.
Though the future does look bright IMO. We have young players that Arsène has brought us who may well epitomize football. Phil, Cesc, Robin... These kids love to play and play to win. Perhaps this new crop of youth will be the ones who bring the Glory back to Arsenal and the love back to the fans.

This bit stuck in my head for a long time after reading it. It's from an old article that was posted. A comparision of lifestyles between our young prodigy and a certain shrek-esque prodigy in the north. Article

WAYNE ROONEY
Education
Went to De La Salle in school in Croxteth. Speaks English. Badly.
Breakthrough
Everton debut in 2002. Became Premiership's youngest scorer.
Family
Dad Wayne is a labourer; mum Jeanette a dinner lady.
House
In swanky Alderley Edge but having £3.5m home built nearby.
Drives
Just bought seven motors, including two BMWs and a Merc.
Wage
Pulls in £50,000 a week from Manchester United alone.
Lifestyle
Enjoys the high life ... and has enjoyed ladies of the night.

CESC FABREGAS
Education
Took just three months to learn English. Now learning French.
Breakthrough
Player of the Tournament at 2003 Under-17 World Championship.
Family
Father a decent player and still lives in Spain with Cesc's mum.
House
Lives in Barnet with Philippe Senderos and their landlady.
Drives
Not yet. Gets lifts to work with Senderos or the Tube.
Wage
About £4,000 a week - much more than when he arrived.
Lifestyle
Didn't celebrate his 18th as it was too close to a game.

Now there is only one of them who I think will truly realize his full potential as a footballer...

 

[Taozhe]

Senderos and Cesc has been doing well for Arsenal. However guys, I am honest now. I always thought Arsenal was different and our homegrown players won't leave us. I see the likes of Rooney, Scott Parker and others deserting their clubs for greener pastures and more money, and I always thought, thank god Ashley cole would never do that to us.

Now it has happened. I am less than optimistic. I hope Senderos will become a legend and take Arsenal to more silverware as an Arsenal captain and Cesc to become the next Zidane or Guardiola for Arsenal, or even surpassing the two.

In reality, Arsenal's board is very cautious and conservative, Dein has lost his main power in the board and Wenger doesn't have full support nowadays. I am worried for the day Arsène stepped down as manager because of the board and Arsenal going downhill.

Arsène is the man to give me hope on the future of Arsenal and even his contract will expire soon. I hope he signs on and lead Arsenal to more glory. I can't imagine anyone else who could take his place.