Boring Boring Arsenal by Mark King.

Boring Boring Arsenal!

Feature by Mark King
Updated Wednesday, 28th November 2012

As a Club, I think we are in big trouble here. Let's take 2 things as set in stone...

1) Stan is not going anywhere, not for at least another 2 seasons anyway. Then he can sell and make a huge profit for an investment he could afford and very little work on his part. Some would say he may stay even longer given his record with other teams, but I think they may be forgetting 2 things, this is England not the US and we are talking proper football with ingrained die hard fans. So whilst he may consider himself safe in Denver, will he really want all the bad publicity that those fans can bring to his portfolio.

2) Mainly for the reasons above, AW will not be leaving unless he walks at the end of his contract in 2014 and let's face it, I can easily see an extension to that being offered this season if we pick up a little bit, as he is doing the job that Stan wants i.e. top 4 with minimal investment (total).

So if we accept the above, what happens now? Well, if we continue to win a game, lose a game, draw a game as we are at present, then come January and with all the money available we must buy 2 players. I would take Henry back as a squad player, ONLY AS LONG AS we also buy a top quality CF and by that I mean one of Cavani, JKH, Llorente or Lopez. If another player of that quality became available they would also be acceptable. Do players of this standard move in January? Not often. Do we pay the money they cost? Rarely!

The other player needs to be something different for our midfield, so I would like Santa to bring either Capoue or Fellaini as we need a power player who will drive forward with the ball to complement our tiny ballers. Diaby could have been that player, but I think that the resurrection of Lazarus has now been cast aside as the latest offering from Derren Brown. Ideally I think we also need an experienced back up keeper and Leighton Baines, but I think I am pushing my luck now!

Problem is, January is the worst time to buy. No-one wants to sell their better players as they know it is difficult to replace them. Everyone also knows we are desperate, so the prices will go up and AW is already tighter than a duck's chuff as it is! Added to which, some of these players will be cup tied from Europe and possibly domestic and if they come from abroad there will obviously be a settling in period and you can never guarantee that works at all!

I feel that yet again we are in for Groundhog Season, which has actually become Groundhog Matchday for me. I travel to Arsenal for matches now with a distinctly 'meh' attitude. This is mainly because I have given up trying to predict which team will turn up; West Ham away or Norwich away, because I have never seen a top 4 team that could appears so different from one match to the other as we currently do! I think that finally the repetition of what we see has now ground down a lot of my willingness to hope!

But I will still keep going, mainly because I am not sure if I can ever stop. I mean I didn't in the mid 70's when we were 50 shades of **** compared to now and just a kid enjoying the experience of being able to go. Even the period of Terry Neill and then Don Howe early to mid 80's wasn't enough to knock the monkey off my back. But am I still going now through habit rather than hope? Is it more social now than sporting, a chance to have a few beers with my mates and my nephew, who I don't see other than at THOF.

Yet again they gave us hope v the scum that they had realised what the problems were and had taken the necessary action to correct them. They built up our expectations, and like mugs we fell for it, got suckered in to reinvesting in the dream, only to find it was a Sinclair C5 and not an iPod! In the cold light of day and with an independent head on we should know that it was Ade who was the hero for us that day and not some renaissance! It is this constant raising and dashing of hopes that makes our support some of the tetchiest around. I can only imagine how much virtual blood gets spilled on the blog dancefloors during and post matches after performances like yesterday. I have no desire to join in with the carnage anymore.

Arsenal fan set against Arsenal fan. AKB v AWOB. Even that has got distinctly boring as it has become the EPL version of Housewives of NYC, everyone just shouting over each other, thinking that he who shouts loudest must be right and giving up any opportunity for reasoned debate.

Everyone used to sing "Boring Boring Arsenal" at us when George had the team drilled for the 1-0 wins. Did we care? Not while he was bringing home the bacon of which we had been so starved of. At least not until about 93/94 when we became purely a cup team and then in 95 when the football itself was pretty sub-standard. Then along came DB10 and then AW to show us the light, a light which never burned so brightly as in 04 with the greatest Arsenal team most of us will probably ever see.

Now though, I'm afraid we are back to the mid 70's and early 80's, some like Brian (no offence mate) may think it is heading towards the infamous bonfires on the terraces v Leeds, protesting at Billy Wright's tenure. Not because of the football, which at times can still be simply beautiful to watch, but because the whole situation around our club has become stale. The inconsistency of the team, the injury hit players, Arsene's tired post match comments, selling our best players, Stan & Ivan's contribution but most of all the bickering between the fans.

Congratulations one and all. We have got our Boring Boring Arsenal back at last!

Mark