20 Mar 2017 22:16:47
I'll be 42 this year and have been supporting Arsenal since I was 18. Unlike most of you who have had your fanships passed down through your families, I'm not British and my dad never really cared much for any kind of sports.
I'm from a tiny island in the Middle East (Bahrain) and trained and played for Al Ahli Club when I was a teen. One of the best teams on the island but by any measure we were still rather poor when compared to the quality of football being played in Europe.
The only European football we ever saw on telly was the EPL and my first taste of it was when I went to visit a cousin who was much older than me and apparently a Man United fan (no idea why) . Anyway, it was a Man Utd v Arsenal game and I was watching this for the first time, realising how totally rubbish the club I played for was and in awe of how good Arsenal were. Arsenal lost that day but their brand of football turned me into an Arsenal fan and I'm bloody proud of it.
Why am I telling you this? Simply because, if I, as an adopted fan, can find it within myself to back this great club no matter what, then the rest of you can too. We're not just fans when we're winning things. We're not just fans when the going is good. We are Arsenal fans, and that means something! It means something to me and it should mean something to you.
I get that many of you are disgruntled with our manager and I appreciate the many arguments I've heard on why he should go. There are however some arguments that border on the inane. Remember, this is a man who has given 21 years of his life to Arsenal Football Club. You don't do that without forming a deep sense of loyalty; maybe even love. And I truly believe that the man loves this club of ours just as much as we do. Maybe he is past it, maybe he is a dinosaur, but show him some respect because he has bloody well earned it.
{Ed002's Note - This gets post of the day. Well done.}
20 Mar 2017 22:31:04
Good post Sharpy.
Could have swore you were from Dagenham though? .
Hey ho, Dagenham/ Bahrain, what's the difference.
20 Mar 2017 22:38:13
Well said, top post.
20 Mar 2017 23:12:10
Well said - he has also won the league more times than Spurs 😉.
20 Mar 2017 23:16:13
Agee top post and remember guys tomorrow when you wake up you can still smile and thank our omnipotent lord you're a Gooner and not a Spud - not just tomorrow but the rest of your lives COYG!
21 Mar 2017 00:02:29
Awesome post.
21 Mar 2017 02:19:29
Post of the day
lol
you must have just pipped me there mate.
Well said.
Respect to you mate.
21 Mar 2017 09:37:43
Nice post but our football ain't as good as that anymore.
21 Mar 2017 10:11:44
So that was 24 years ago that you became an Arsenal fan Sharpie and by my calculations that means George was still manager and it was his brand of football made you follow the Arsenal?
You really did need to get out more in those days mate :-)
21 Mar 2017 10:12:44
Good post. It goes without saying every one on here respects the job he has done. The amount of respect and the depth of respect will depend on what happens over the next couple of months. Football management comes with its plusses but it comes with its negatives, the big secret is knowing when your time is up and when it isnt. Football demands success and when it isn't forth coming it is brutal. More so now than ever before. Big money is paid by all to watch this sport and money breeds greed and that's a fact.
21 Mar 2017 10:13:11
Great post sharpie. Your English is perfect. Well said ðŸ‘ðŸ».
21 Mar 2017 10:57:15
@G62 - No mate, that's how bad we were at the club I played at. When Arsene came about, it made it even more exciting viewing and a lot more fun being a Gunner.
@SBL, not hard when I have to compete with Welshie mate. I have his wife on speed dial so she can translate whatever he writes :)
21 Mar 2017 10:56:18
Great post mate and it genuinely makes me feel gutted that I think his time is up, I've so wanted him to come good and even now still do.
You cannot argue that Wenger hasn't done a massive amount for this club but right now he sadly looks like he may do us and himself more harm than good and that is not something that can be put on the shoulders of any fan no matter how disgruntled.
I can't tell you how much I want his time with us to end on a high but I cannot tell you how much I fear it won't. That makes me truly sad.
21 Mar 2017 10:57:14
Great post. I think his love for the club is now his biggest down fall and he can't see the errors. The players also need a change of direction and a kick up the arse. he's a great man and I hope he takes the psg job and gets his mojo back. I think with there team he can do great things.
21 Mar 2017 12:19:43
Christ
Sharpie seems to have united the room. I think he has said what I have been saying for months, but he has put his barhian style on it, lol
Sharpie I think we had the same English teacher.
21 Mar 2017 12:38:07
excellent post at the top Sharpie 😋
and, Welsh - ''seems to have united the room'', super comment too.
regardless what we all feel, think and say, we are all arsenal fans in the end 😋
loved reading this trail of posts 😋 thanks everyone, made me smile
COYG andi.
21 Mar 2017 13:01:51
That's what I think great post in Wenger we trust.
21 Mar 2017 14:01:20
Andi,
Well our football is not going to make any of us smile. Still we have the spuds collapse to look forward to. True Andi, we are all gooners.
21 Mar 2017 14:02:03
Love it sharpie 😂.
21 Mar 2017 14:04:11
Top man Sharpie mate, you are of course 100% right Arsene gave us a brand of football the whole country if not the world fell in love with.
Super sexy fast flowing both breathe taking and devastating in equal measure, let's face it in those first 7 years he set the bar so high it was impossible to stay there forever.
Whatever we each individually feel about the last few seasons or what's best for the future of Arsenal football club now the standard Arsene set at the start of his Arsenal career will never be matched no matter how many more managers we have over the next 100 or even a 1000 years.
what separates us from most is we were very very fortunate to have it once and to ask anyone to repeat that level of brilliance would be asking too much from them whoever they were.
Arsene's achievements in 7 amazing first seasons are what separates him from all others no question.
21 Mar 2017 13:12:22
Sanogo
He spelt insane wrong,
lol
Do I need to correct every thing.
Sharpie 26 years ago you had sky, you rich boy, I bet your the prince of barhain.
26 years ago we only just got eclectic in wales.
{Ed033's Note - By "eclectic", do you mean stringing 2 sentences together? 😋
21 Mar 2017 14:40:11
Very funny. An epic fail there welshy! The last bit was inane lol 😂😂😂.
21 Mar 2017 16:45:57
Had to scroll a long way to get to the reply button, great post.
I'm a Wenger out guy, but god do I respect what he's done. Absolutely agree with you here mate.
21 Mar 2017 17:48:58
Top post from a top man
Well done mate.