Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Them There Quiet Fans
Football as an industry is the envy of the business world. People chop and change banks depending on better interest rates or their latest TV commercial but football fans are less fickle. It’s one club for life. Period. Mostly.
So while banks and airlines can only dream of such brand loyalty they would never dream of criticizing their customers. The headlines would probably cause a run on their shares and the value of the company would nosedive in the wake of such crass, insensitive comments.
Not so in football. Arsene Wenger recently took the opportunity at the Annual General Meeting to have a pop at the Arsenal support saying they were too quiet. Yes, Arsenal fans are quiet. Many of these new, soulless stadiums are on the quiet side these days. The passion and intensity of the terraces have long gone to be replaced by corporates and tourists.
Just what the clubs wanted.
When Arsenal’s new stadium was being designed fans weren’t involved in the process. Instead some highly paid architects and consultants were told to do their thing. And look what they ended up with. An artificial stadium with an artificial atmosphere looking down on players who salaries are in no way artificial.
Look at the great English stadiums and fans had a corner that was their very own. At Arsenal we had the North Bank and the Clock End. Aston Villa had the Holte End and Chelsea had the Shed. These were the parts of the ground where the young, passionate support gathered and it was from here the noise was generated.
New all seater stadiums, 1000 pound season tickets and those corporates and tourists have changed all that.
I used to follow the Arsenal home and away with a group of mates. We’d turn up rain or shine and sit together, stand together, make a racket with thousands of like minded souls.
Now to purchase seats is a lottery. Where you sit depends on what’s available and how quickly you can book on line. It’s like buying tickets to see a movie. If I were to go to a game with my mates now there is little guarantee we’d be sat together. Indeed, we’d be spread round the stadium and instead of being surrounded by our own we’d be sat among camera totting Malaysian tourists who have no conception of the Paddy song.
This is your bed Mr Wenger. It’s what you and the board wanted. At the design stage the club could have insisted on a dedicated end for the home support behind one of the goals but they didn’t. Instead they saw pound signs as they realized people would pay more to sit behind the goals plus the tourists would spend a small fortune in the club shops. Who needs the atmosphere anyway?
Welcome to the new Arsenal. An Arsenal where flags are banned as a health risk, where stewards tell people to sit down and where fans can sms for a steward if they see someone acting in an offensive manner. And for this the fans pay the highest prices in the country.
An Arsenal where the traditional working class support has been priced out, where the post Euro ’96 breed have come into the stadiums, called the game footy and yell the word scum threateningly. Arsenal’s support today is reminiscent of the west end theatres. You sit politely, clap politely, queue politely for the expensive refreshments and leave early to avoid the traffic.
This is the Premier League in the 21st century and it’s exactly what the money men that run the game wanted. For Wenger to shift the blame on the fans is disingenuous. The fans that made the noise are long gone and with ticket prices between 30 and 40 pound a game the next generation just can’t afford to go to games.
So while banks and airlines can only dream of such brand loyalty they would never dream of criticizing their customers. The headlines would probably cause a run on their shares and the value of the company would nosedive in the wake of such crass, insensitive comments.
Not so in football. Arsene Wenger recently took the opportunity at the Annual General Meeting to have a pop at the Arsenal support saying they were too quiet. Yes, Arsenal fans are quiet. Many of these new, soulless stadiums are on the quiet side these days. The passion and intensity of the terraces have long gone to be replaced by corporates and tourists.
Just what the clubs wanted.
When Arsenal’s new stadium was being designed fans weren’t involved in the process. Instead some highly paid architects and consultants were told to do their thing. And look what they ended up with. An artificial stadium with an artificial atmosphere looking down on players who salaries are in no way artificial.
Look at the great English stadiums and fans had a corner that was their very own. At Arsenal we had the North Bank and the Clock End. Aston Villa had the Holte End and Chelsea had the Shed. These were the parts of the ground where the young, passionate support gathered and it was from here the noise was generated.
New all seater stadiums, 1000 pound season tickets and those corporates and tourists have changed all that.
I used to follow the Arsenal home and away with a group of mates. We’d turn up rain or shine and sit together, stand together, make a racket with thousands of like minded souls.
Now to purchase seats is a lottery. Where you sit depends on what’s available and how quickly you can book on line. It’s like buying tickets to see a movie. If I were to go to a game with my mates now there is little guarantee we’d be sat together. Indeed, we’d be spread round the stadium and instead of being surrounded by our own we’d be sat among camera totting Malaysian tourists who have no conception of the Paddy song.
This is your bed Mr Wenger. It’s what you and the board wanted. At the design stage the club could have insisted on a dedicated end for the home support behind one of the goals but they didn’t. Instead they saw pound signs as they realized people would pay more to sit behind the goals plus the tourists would spend a small fortune in the club shops. Who needs the atmosphere anyway?
Welcome to the new Arsenal. An Arsenal where flags are banned as a health risk, where stewards tell people to sit down and where fans can sms for a steward if they see someone acting in an offensive manner. And for this the fans pay the highest prices in the country.
An Arsenal where the traditional working class support has been priced out, where the post Euro ’96 breed have come into the stadiums, called the game footy and yell the word scum threateningly. Arsenal’s support today is reminiscent of the west end theatres. You sit politely, clap politely, queue politely for the expensive refreshments and leave early to avoid the traffic.
This is the Premier League in the 21st century and it’s exactly what the money men that run the game wanted. For Wenger to shift the blame on the fans is disingenuous. The fans that made the noise are long gone and with ticket prices between 30 and 40 pound a game the next generation just can’t afford to go to games.
# posted by Me @ 8:14 AM 
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