"You Only Sing When You're Winning!"

[1886]

Yesterday's fixture was being dubbed as the mother of all parties beforehand, a time for all Gooners to rejoice and marvel at the sides wonderful achievements this season. Yet inspite of such a billing it still seemed folk were far more interested in their travel and art supplements from yesterdays broadsheets or perhaps indulging in the latest bestseller from Hamnicks, then there were the more vociferous that instead decided to get on players backs due to us not being 3 or 4 up within the first half hour. Anyone would've thought we were on the brink of relegation not champions who have gone unbeaten thus far.

I know we have all become accustomed to Wengers style of play, and should rightfully have high expectations but that doesn't mean to say we dont get behind the boys. Yesterday was a complete farce, appalling and embarrassing. What must the players think deep down? I dread to think! Persih the thought infact!

I departed from Highbury accompannied by a Ram who continually quizzed me over the lack of atmosphere throughout our journey to Pride Park for their evening fixture against Millwall. To cut a long story short after seeing his side stave off relegation to the Nationwide 2 which was met by a pitch invasion that was more to do with the relief and exuberance than anythingelse, and after their continued support throughout the game and over the course of the season (so im told,)
its not hard to then see why he subjected me to all the questioning from Highbury to PP!

Get it together Arsenal!

 

[Anonymous]

Our fans are ****, we have known this for ages. Highbury is full of old gits who have been goin for ages and a new bunch of supporters complete with digital cameras who would struggle to tell you who George Graham was.

Hopfully when we move things will be different, and the more younger, passionate fans will be able to get in. I doubt it some how, I can see even more prawn sarnies being eaten.

At least our away following is still decent, although that had gone downhill this season.

 

[Anonymous]

Both of you speak exactly what i am feeling, sadly there seems not to be many of our belief left at Arsenal. seems like you both believe we should always support Arsenal and get atmospheres going, well so do i, and it is appaling the way Arsenal is going. infact, quite embarressing.
Dont know if you went to the Arsenal vs Pompey game at highbury at the beginning of the season ? Well i think that was our lowest support ever, and i dont meen capacity i mean our lowest point in terms of singing. I didnt hear one song, the Pompey fans embarressed us all day singing "shall we sing a song for you" etc etc. i left that match about 30 minutes from the end because i just couldnt stand it. About 15-20 of us just walked out and went to watch the rest of it in the local boozer.
Once again saturday we showed that same form, fans were awful.

Anyone would've thought we were on the brink of relegation not champions who have gone unbeaten thus far.

Nah mate, even the relegation bound teams seem to sing more than us :| , heard some good songs from leeds yesterday "we're going down in a minute", "we're going down, we'll be back", "we're leeds and we're proud" it was great to hear. Thats what half prompted me to post the post earlier about "most admirable thing", and i seriously do not think Arsenal fans would give that sort of support if we are going down !! what do you think ? if our fans cant be arsed singing when we win the league, what will they be like if we are getting relegated ? back to our old 20,000 crowd me thinks. Thats about it really, Arsenal have 20-30,000 genuine till death fans in England. Just look at our crowds in 1995 when we finished 12th. Was only about 20,000 fans.Noone else was interested in us. But now we are winning we suddenly get an estimated 60,000 eager fans wanting tickets. If you didnt bother going in the mid 90's, then you shouldnt be allowed season tickets now because it is just another glory hunter taking a ticket away from a genuine fan !! Thats how i feel anyway. Then again this is another one of my drunken rambles :mrgreen:

 

[Aussie]

It should have been a real party and i rekon some fans expect too much. If we aint 5 goals up inside half an hour that get a bloody book out and start reading. Birmingham are a fairly good side that set out for a point and they got one. It was never going to be a cracker but but thats no excuse cause if people didnt know we just won the league last game.

 

[Anonymous]

I think our support reached its lowest point in the semi and Villa Park. Now that reallys was embarrassing.

 

[1886]

Sol- i did start to have reservations about our travelling support at various times this season but fortunately the trips to st james and the lane quashed them. Unfortunately im working nights this week so will be unable to attend the Pompey game tomorrow but will be at Loftus Rd come sunday so hopefully this will be the appreciative send off and thanksgiving the players deserve.

Guvnor- Yes, i was at that Pompey home fixture earlier this season and remember it clearly, scorching hot day, full house, beginning of a new campaign (think it was our third home game,) you'd have thought everyone would've been revved up for it.....were they f@ck! Getting taunted by Pompey "do you ever sing at home," "shall we sing a song for you?" its no surpise you chose to leave the ground early doors, i cant really knock you for that mate. Yeah, i was flicking between channels y'da whilst the leeds game was ongoing and everytime i stopped on prem plus all i could hearwas arm in arm, we're leeds and we're proud of it, etc even the commentary team were forever commending Leeds' support- unfortunately mate that level of support will never be mirrored at Highbury- well not in the forseeeable future anyhow!

The bottom line at Highbury is as Sol says alot of grumpy old lumps (most prominantly in the Eat Lower) who have been going forever....can we really knock them though cos after all theyve had to endure some pretty glum times in comparison to today? Then theres the new age Jonny come latelys that think raiding the club shop and turning up head to toe in colours makes them loyal supporters to the cause. What about all the women and kids? This is becoming increasingly evident on aways as well. Maybe im being a little harsh on the kids cos at the end of the day who could really begrudge a kid wanting to see the kind of masteclass we have have on show and im sure we all remember going to games as nippers. But all these women turning up that think it fashionable to go to fottball dont half get my ****in goat....how are they contributing to the atmosphere? Its time to root all thses tarquins and jaspers along with these birds out of Highbury once for all, im sick of being the butt of all work jokes - ie best side, worst fanbase and i dont intend on taking it much longer. I urge all working class Gooners to make an absolute fackin racket the next time youre home or away just so as to tell some of these smug c*nts they will not drag our beloved clubs name through the mud.

EIE

 

[rachael-8]

if i ever went to highbury id make a right noise,ive been waiting for years to go,still aint been.my dads on the trs waiting list,seems like he's been waiting forever. it really annoys me when i watch the games on tv,and some fans just sit as if nothings happening. ffs get behind your team and bloody sing.or if your just going to sit there like a lemon,let someone else who actually wants to sing and get behind the team go. i would do anything to go to highbury
the away games ive been to , the atmosphere was great,we was all singing,it was brill.
and what else annoys me,how many spare seats there sometimes are yet it says on arsenal.com the games sold out,unbelievable. dont bother buying a ticket if you aint gonna go.
my rant of the day ;D

 

[Anonymous]

Well said Rach. As to 1886 and Sol. Agree totally to what you are all chatting about. Aussie also i agree with.
Our fan base is poor, end of. The majority of genuine fans who would greatly add to the atmosphere are sadly unable to get tickets or just plainly cant afford it. Next year i have to take out a mortgage to afford the ever growing season ticket prices, but i am refusing to give in and let the prawn sarnie brigade take over highbury. I fought for years on the highbury north bank and then clock end defending our club, and now, looks like our own supporters are beating us ops:
Its a plain embarressment. Pompey was a disgrace, and the semis also horrible. Like 1886 said i thought we had turned the corner due to newcastle match and WHL, we will just have to wait and see what it is like at Pompey.
Rachael, i understand exactly what you are saying, its the same in my family, my family are all fanatics, in fact my uncle is the greatest footballing knowledge i have ever met. seriously he can answer anything. dont know if anyone has read the arsenal quiz book, well, we did it for xmas and my uncle answered 98/100 questions, one he got wrong was name hte arsenal 1933 regular starting XI. but the point i am getting to is he is the most fantical fan i know, yet he has been priced out of getting tickets. and been taken over by this yuppie who wants to take his business clients and impress them. This story is all to common in football these days, but even more so Arsenal. We need to reserve places for the younger fans and stop pricing out our major fan base.
rant over

 

[namliam]

hmm agree that the fans at Arsenal matches are never very vociferous in getting behinfd their fans..but not to sure about what you said Sol..

Just cuz you are a new supporter that doesent really know about George Graham dosent mean you're just a glory hunter who dosent know anything..I started supporting Arsenal about 5 years ago, so I dont know anything about the Graham era except what I read off books and stuff, but I'm no glory hunter...just didnt even watch soccer till I was about 13 (am 18 now) cuz i lived in another nation where soccer wasnt such a big deal.

Just pointing out that even 'new' fans can just be as passionate about Arsenal like I am

 

[Allyboy]

Every game is someones first Arsenal game, I think it is important to remember that and you cannot really hold that against them.

Also the loudest games I went to this season where the Carling Cup games, loads of "new fans" there and the atmospheres were great, the penalty shoot out against Rotherham was especially fantastic!

 

[1886]

Allyboy- i was at the Rotherham game and the atmosphere was f@ckin pony mate, i sat in the West lower cos of reduced ticket prices and was surrounded by these "new skool" Gooners who instead of singing were coming out with muggy hip hop slogans when attempting to get behind the players, it was all very embarrassing especially as we were getting outsung by a bunch of yorkshire lads clobbered up in burberry sunhats during the winter season!

Best atmosphere in the worthless was West Brom away without a shadow of a doubt, i travelled also to Boro as i thought it'd be a double dosage of what went on at the hawthornes but to be honest it didnt even come close.

Guvnor- i can relate to everything youre saying regarding your uncle fella, the harsh reality at footy these days is that the "man on the street" is being priced out by those who earn 90k+ salries who bring their families for day outs just so as to get to know their mrs n kids better!

 

[Reyes the Wonderkid]

I agree totally the support on Saturday was as embarassing as I have ever encountered!! I've been to all the home games this season (except Pompey and Liverpool) and I was really angry that no one would join in the singing, after all were ONLY bloody Champions of England. I'd start a chourus of 'CHAMPIONS' or 'Vieira..' and people just looked at me like I was disturbing the game! The problem is (as Man Utd have found out) as the price of a ticket increases and the crediabilty of the Premiership and Arsenal in particular rises you find hundreds of twits turning up who don't know any of are songs and probaly don't know the names of half our squad. Its frustating because the atmosphere against Leeds a couple of weeks ago was fantastic, this was probaably helped by the dazzingly display by the team and being a warm Friday evening loads of people were pretty pi**ed.
I hope things will improve but can't see how that will happen, the new Stadium will probaly have the same problems but I think the fact that Highbury is four seperate stands may make it harder for the noise to filter and Ashburton Grove being a complete structure may help?? but I feel sorry for the Arsenal players who after such an amazing season deserve much much better!!

 

[Anonymous]

Ally is correct in saying everyone has a first game, and i dont hold it against any new gooners. Especially not younger lads like namliam. What annoys me is the adult yuppies who have only began to follow arsenal because we are getting famous and they decide to take their business clients there to impress them. the old days it was wimbledon tennis or a round of golf, now it seems if you want to strike a business deal then you take a man to the north bank. i noticed this a while back when i sat and looked around. In front were 2 asian tourists who couldnt speak english and were joking with each other and reading their london tour guide, they didnt even stand up when we scored. Next to them were 3 young lads and their parents. the kids must of been 6-7 and spent the whole time turning round on their seats and looking at the ceiling. they didnt know what was happening. the mum was dolled up like a tart and thought it was a fashion parade. behind me were 3 yuppies, the type i previously explained. one was reading the newspaper of all things and the other two right behind me were chatting about their upcoming business meeting. and what pushed me over the edge was when parlour was stupidly booked and i stood up and shouted "**** off ref you blind ****" and the yuppied leant forward and told me to shut up because "descent folk are here to enjoy the game, and we dont need hooligans like yourself ruining ones game" well, lets just say i never sat in the north bank again. Sadly this is a plague taking over arsenal and wont be stopped. arsenal directors are business men, they dont care about atmospheres. they pretend to by setting up flag days and song days, but really they know the truth, lower prices to a respectable level and soon the atmosphere will be bubbling. they are business men and only want money. i will laugh one day when football totally collapses as there is no money left.
rant over
regards EIE

 

[Anonymous]

Sol- i did start to have reservations about our travelling support at various times this season but fortunately the trips to st james and the lane quashed them. Unfortunately im working nights this week so will be unable to attend the Pompey game tomorrow but will be at Loftus Rd come sunday so hopefully this will be the appreciative send off and thanksgiving the players deserve.

True the support at Newcastle and the lane was great, on our day we can outsung most, but I can see it being crap again tomorrow.

The WBA game in the cup summed up our support I felt. The few who where there were the hardcore support, and we sung our hearts out all game.

But there had to be less than 1,000 Gooners there. That was a joke to me. In the previous round the mancs sold out their three thousand allocation.
Where were all these people who moan about not being able to get a ticket?
It isnt exactly a long or hard drive up to Brum, as you could say about Boro, where there must have been less than 300 people, and we call ourselves a big club!

 

[Anonymous]

hmm agree that the fans at Arsenal matches are never very vociferous in getting behinfd their fans..but not to sure about what you said Sol..

Just cuz you are a new supporter that doesent really know about George Graham dosent mean you're just a glory hunter who dosent know anything..I started supporting Arsenal about 5 years ago, so I dont know anything about the Graham era except what I read off books and stuff, but I'm no glory hunter...just didnt even watch soccer till I was about 13 (am 18 now) cuz i lived in another nation where soccer wasnt such a big deal.

Just pointing out that even 'new' fans can just be as passionate about Arsenal like I am

I think you misunderstood what I meant.

You obviously know about GG which is good, I was being stereotypical when I said that these new supporters dont know who he is, althought I would put money on some not knowing.

 

[Anonymous]

One thing that Ally said that i disagree with was the carling cup games. maybe a few were ok. but generally i find them to be the worst. they are full of tourists and kids, that wouldnt know the words to the arsenal anthem let alone any other song. from my experiences carling cups are worse than league matches and full of even more yuppies. spoke to my cousin the other week who went to the boro home carling cup match and sat in the clock end and told me it was the worst atmosphere he'd been in, i have since forgone any carling matches.

 

[Anonymous]

I can remember back in the day travelling to places like Millwall, Swansea, Cardiff, back then you knew who the die hard fans were. I remember travelling to Reading in the 80's and we had no more than 40 fans in the away end, bloudy funny but that proved who really were the die hard fans of the time. Sadly these days you cannot go even if you want to. And back in the 90's when we were crap no yuppies want to know and we couldnt sell out our 39,000 seater stadium, now suddenly we have fans because of success and proper fans miss out. I dread to think of going through a lean patch once we get our new stadium, it will only be quarter filled. As sol correctly said, "we call ourselves a big club" but we couldnt sell out any smaller games this year, many away games went on general sale as our 'season ticket holders' couldnt be arsed leaving their luxury mansions in the country. its alrite for them to take our seats in highbury but they wont show any loyalty or care for the smaller matches. this was shown against west brom as sol said, and also the charity shield and a few others. We still only have a relatively small die hard fan base. if we go throw another lean patch this will be exposed seriously.

 

[1886]

hypothetically speaking and ive been through this with a good few of my pals before, but would a baron spell really be a bad thing? think it would separate the men from the boys and we'd then find out who exactly is who! at present we're paying the heavy price of success and boy are we feeling it.

fack em all
fack em all
united, west ham, liverpool
we are The Arsenal and we are tyhe best
we are The Arsenal so fack all the rest

cmon Gooners we've got to start rallying behind the troops starting from now! Your club needs you!

 

[Anonymous]

Well said. That was a discussion on the herd forum for a while, whether another lean spell would do us more good than harm. Depends on how you view football really. I would love the crowds atmosphere to improve and i would love all yuppies to sod off there be space for any fans wanting to come to games. But then again im quite enjoying the current success !
EIE

 

[quattro]

you guys are actually contemplating that you would rather have arsenal lose and become mediocre so as to lose some crappy fans that you shouldn't even really care about?

im sure the club would love to know that its "hardcore" support cares for it so much. :roll: