Dr Headgear - Wannabe viking
06-27-2014, 05:15 PM
Though it pains me to say it, I'm in general agreement tith the ladyboy shagging digital carcinogen.
I'm an Arsenal fan, ergo I want Arsenal to succeed at football.
But I'd still be an Arsenal fan even if they were suddenly **** semi-pros floundering in non league football.
Why?
Because it's not the quality of football that makes me a fan, it's the fact that they represent me. This representation came luckily to me, I happened to grow up within hearing distance of the Highbury roar, I knew the score from my living room, without the need for teletext. Others have other reasons for how they became fans, from their parents (my kids, for example) to liking the kit or just picking a team at random because they were shown on TV. Some will have jumped on a glory hunting bandwaggon as kids and then stuck with them (I know Danish fans that have followed sine the double of 71, which I was too young to remember).
Arsenal are my champions. The concept of champion isn't entirely connected to winning, originally. A champion is a representative, chosen to fight on behalf of others. This is what a champion is in the chivalry of the feudal era. This is the champion embodied in the concept of a knight.
So Arsenal became my champions because they represented my geographical location. The bunting and decorations put up for the three cup finals in 78-80 showed it.
Ironically, I didn't really firm up my own attachment until I left London for university. I wouldn't say I was plastic, but I wouldn't say it was all that important to me. Moving North, meeting loads of non-Londoners, my pride in my city, area and team became more pronounced. There's nothing quite like being introduced to people that are "from London" who answer the question "whereabouts?" with "Guildford" to bring out the snob in me.
Of course, it helped that we were Champions at the time...
In terms of what was happening in football, I took great pride in our team. We were a symbol of integration, young black Britons at the heart of the team, less than a decade after the first Brixton riots, only a few years after Broadwater Farm and at a time when Everton had an all white team. For a politically interested teenager of a left wing leaning that was important.
It was also important that Man Utd were splashing cash like nobodies business. They spent an unprecedented £13 million that summer, including buying Paul Ince. That was silly money, attempting to buy the title.
As an Arsenal fan, I take great pride in things I consider positive about our club, my champions. I always have done. No, there's no financial fair play trophy, there's no beautiful football trophy, but the lack of trophy is irrelevant. It isn't purely about banter with other team's fans (a breeding ground of blinkered hypocrisy - they do it then it's ****, we do it then it's necessary or excusable or good). It's about Arsenal as my representatives in the arena of football.
Yes, we're now a global brand, yes, our players are basically mercenaries (Jenkinson aside), but that's the case for all the big clubs. I don't necessarily like it, but I can still find positives in our philosophy and style.
That's why I understand the sentiment of the fans that left Man Utd to form a new team, that's why I understand the sentiment of those from Wimbledon who did the same. That's why I've always said that if we had a sugar-daddy owner then it would be over for me.
With individual players I have lower expectations. I know it's just romanticism to hope that players form a genuine attachment to the club, rather than just a financial one, and I'm partial to hearing about those that do (TH14's box, for instance).
But more than winning trophies, I want Arsenal to represent me. I want them to be my champions. And there are players and managers out there, no matter how good, that can't do that.
Suarez, no thanks. Di Canio - even if he'd won every trophy there is as a manager, no thanks. Shawcross? f**k off.
I don't expect everyone to feel the same, after all, some of you are thick as fücking pig**** and have opinions that it's not worth pointing out that they've been copied verbatim from some even thicker pissed up ignorant cünt in the pub that should find a new hobby.
The rest of you, I'm sure you basically agree with me.
I'm an Arsenal fan, ergo I want Arsenal to succeed at football.
But I'd still be an Arsenal fan even if they were suddenly **** semi-pros floundering in non league football.
Why?
Because it's not the quality of football that makes me a fan, it's the fact that they represent me. This representation came luckily to me, I happened to grow up within hearing distance of the Highbury roar, I knew the score from my living room, without the need for teletext. Others have other reasons for how they became fans, from their parents (my kids, for example) to liking the kit or just picking a team at random because they were shown on TV. Some will have jumped on a glory hunting bandwaggon as kids and then stuck with them (I know Danish fans that have followed sine the double of 71, which I was too young to remember).
Arsenal are my champions. The concept of champion isn't entirely connected to winning, originally. A champion is a representative, chosen to fight on behalf of others. This is what a champion is in the chivalry of the feudal era. This is the champion embodied in the concept of a knight.
So Arsenal became my champions because they represented my geographical location. The bunting and decorations put up for the three cup finals in 78-80 showed it.
Ironically, I didn't really firm up my own attachment until I left London for university. I wouldn't say I was plastic, but I wouldn't say it was all that important to me. Moving North, meeting loads of non-Londoners, my pride in my city, area and team became more pronounced. There's nothing quite like being introduced to people that are "from London" who answer the question "whereabouts?" with "Guildford" to bring out the snob in me.
Of course, it helped that we were Champions at the time...
In terms of what was happening in football, I took great pride in our team. We were a symbol of integration, young black Britons at the heart of the team, less than a decade after the first Brixton riots, only a few years after Broadwater Farm and at a time when Everton had an all white team. For a politically interested teenager of a left wing leaning that was important.
It was also important that Man Utd were splashing cash like nobodies business. They spent an unprecedented £13 million that summer, including buying Paul Ince. That was silly money, attempting to buy the title.
As an Arsenal fan, I take great pride in things I consider positive about our club, my champions. I always have done. No, there's no financial fair play trophy, there's no beautiful football trophy, but the lack of trophy is irrelevant. It isn't purely about banter with other team's fans (a breeding ground of blinkered hypocrisy - they do it then it's ****, we do it then it's necessary or excusable or good). It's about Arsenal as my representatives in the arena of football.
Yes, we're now a global brand, yes, our players are basically mercenaries (Jenkinson aside), but that's the case for all the big clubs. I don't necessarily like it, but I can still find positives in our philosophy and style.
That's why I understand the sentiment of the fans that left Man Utd to form a new team, that's why I understand the sentiment of those from Wimbledon who did the same. That's why I've always said that if we had a sugar-daddy owner then it would be over for me.
With individual players I have lower expectations. I know it's just romanticism to hope that players form a genuine attachment to the club, rather than just a financial one, and I'm partial to hearing about those that do (TH14's box, for instance).
But more than winning trophies, I want Arsenal to represent me. I want them to be my champions. And there are players and managers out there, no matter how good, that can't do that.
Suarez, no thanks. Di Canio - even if he'd won every trophy there is as a manager, no thanks. Shawcross? f**k off.
I don't expect everyone to feel the same, after all, some of you are thick as fücking pig**** and have opinions that it's not worth pointing out that they've been copied verbatim from some even thicker pissed up ignorant cünt in the pub that should find a new hobby.
The rest of you, I'm sure you basically agree with me.