Fans Protest. Are They Justified?

Top of the Morning to y’all

We lost another 2 points on Wednesday night and as much as most fans rue the host of chance that we missed, there are actually positives to be taken from the game. At least we have stopped the run of three defeats in a row albeit with a draw which brings our total to a whopping 1 point from an available 12 and the team slipping to 7^th on the league table. Such is the predicament that we have found ourselves in recent weeks.

To be unconcerned will be a total show of a lack of affection and care for the club and fans are already letting their feelings known. The Mirror this morning that fans are planning "a thrash bag protest" in the Emirates to highlight the growing increase in the number of empty seats in the stadium.

All my life as an Arsenal fan, I have never heard of such a protest against the club. Arsenal fans are among the most loyal and patient in Europe. As a top club that is expected to challenge for all the major honours every season, fans have endured a lengthy trophy drought spanning six seasons and an astonishing 24 trophies up for grabs in that period and how many have we won? NOTHING. Despite this, the fans have continued to show support for the manager and the team even in the face of criticism from the media outside the Arsenal family.

After the Bolton game Arsene said:

“For us, every game in the championship is a cup final now”

That means the team has used up its entire error margin for the season in January. Never before as an Arsenal fan has the team been so out of the title race in January and this development is definitely going to spark some sort of reactions from fans who are concerned about the club. After all it’s the fans that pay for season tickets and fill the stadium at every home game.

What I consider the most frustrating is the continued reluctance of the club not to strengthen the team in areas that are most glaring. Wenger said in December that he would definitely sign a left back as it would be stupid to loose points because we don’t have one. We have played four league games since the turn of the year and had only one draw and three losses. Am not saying we lost or did not win because we don’t have a left back but it must have had some bearing on those games if we had a specialist left back and had the full complement of Vermaelen and Koscielny in center back of Vermaelen and Mertasacker in centre back and Koz playing right back instead of Djourou.

Robin has been the only striker for us this season while the other strikers have just failed to perform. Park signed in the summer and has played just one league game since then. What if Robin gets injured before the rest of the season? God forbid. We all know his injury record though.

Wenger was hoping Wilshere will be available by February but guess what? He might be out for the rest of the season. Now we are stuck with Ramsey for the season whose performances have been average at best so far.  

I am tired of hearing all that crap about how we don’t have enough money. Arsenal has about the third highest wage bill in the league behind the two Manchester clubs and one begins to wonder how. Well the answer lies in having lots of in-efficient players on the wage bill. Players such as Denilson, Bendtner, Vela, Squillazy, Diaby, Park, Chamakh, Arshavin, Almunia,  all earn wages in the region of 65000 to 70000 for being absolute dead wood in the team. They are so much they can form another team on their own. Maybe we would call them Arsenal flops FC. And yet we pride ourselves in having strong financial reports at the end of the year while the profits are not invested into the squad. A thorough assessment of each player and his contribution to the team and offering contracts in accordance is necessary and flushing out the dead wood would definitely free the wage bill and allow for serious and efficient players to be signed. We don’t have to sign one player for 50 million unlike our foolish London neighbours to be contenders in the title race.

A finish outside the top four this season may be more catastrophic than we realise. Apart from not playing in the champions league, we stand to lose about 30million in television money, probably loose Van Persie and top players might shun our club because we would not be competing with Europe’s elite clubs in the champions league.

I do feel the fans are justified for their protest because they love the club and they need to voice out their opinion for the current path of the club is one that would certainly lead to catastrophe.

God bless the Arsenal Iree o