If you're a fan of any given football club for long enough, there will come a point where things will change, and you will have to accept those changes.
In the 13 years I've been an Arsenal fan, I've seen: a solid back four; a club almost as good as Manchester United; an invincible team who plays the most scintillating football the Premier League has ever seen and probably ever will see; a promising team full of young talent, and a frustrating team who just can't quite do it. Now I'm seeing the result of a gradual realisation that football itself is not what it once was. It is not possible to compete at the highest level without the funds of Chelsea and Manchester City, or the debt of Manchester United. You can create a good team with a combination of young talent and foreign players plucked from relative obscurity, but you cannot create maturity, leadership or loyalty from these two things - and that is, essentially, what is required to compete at the top, top level.
So Cesc Fabregas leaves Arsenal, and as huge a fan I was (is?) of his, I'm glad. Nasri completes the season of his career (so far) and he starts heading for the exit door on the argument that we refuse to pay him enough (yeah, I earn £8 an hour - shove it, Samir). Again, I'm glad. Because as much as it pains me to admit it, even if we'd kept Fabregas and Nasri decided to stay, I still don't believe we'd win anything this year. I don't think we're good enough to win the Premier League and Champions League, and I don't think we pay enough respect to the FA Cup or Carling Cup to win either of those, even though both are within our capabilities. So if we're going to win nothing, as far as I'm concerned, we may as well win nothing with some players of integrity, and maybe those players will soon grow into men with experience: men who can deliver trophies. It may take a few years, but if the alternative is to surrender my beloved club to some rich billionaire American moustache-encrusted bastard, then I know which one I'd rather.
The club needs to start being honest with the fans, and this needs to be reflected in what are currently over-inflated ticket and merchandise prices; the media needs to stop putting such heavy emphasis on Arsenal's trophy drought, but most importantly, we the fans needs to stop comparing ourselves to Chelsea, Manchester City and Manchester United. Because quite frankly, though we might suck sometimes, we're still by far the greatest team the world has ever seen.
Maybe some more emphasis on AFC as a whole. There might be a drought amongst the men but let's celebrate the success of the women's team.
ReplyDeleteSisters are doing it for themselves - again!