Premier League Nonsense

Chelsea’s impatient supporters and apparently the players in the dressing room have got what they want. Andre Villas Boas was sacked following the Blues 1-0 defeat away to West Bromwich Albion, the latest in a string of results that have left the fans, used to a feast of trophies from the Jose Mourinho years, demanding his ouster and owner, Roman Avramovich, giving them what they want.

The turn of the decade was the most successful era in the club’s history and it has brought with it a new breed of fan who has known nothing but John Terry, Didier Drogba and competing for the title. Lacking the perspective of the fans who have been round a lot longer and have experienced more lows than highs, they made their feelings known and Roman was only to keen to respond.

The appointment of the 33 year old Portuguese seemed at the time nothing more than an attempt by Abramovic to recreate the Mourinho years using Villas Boas as some kind of Frankenstein imbued with the best of the Mourinho gene pool. A young coach who had brought success to Porto, had studied under Sir Bobby Robson at Barcelona as well as Jose, AVB was always going to be seen as a Jose Lite until he could prove himself.’

Unfortunately for him, he was given nine months. Comments made during the final days of his rule showed his dissatisfaction with a number of areas at the club. He claimed that Chelsea could never compete with the likes of Manchester City. He compared Fernando Torres to Andrei Schevchenko and Metjaza Kezman, a pair of high profile strikers who flopped at the Bridge.

Much has been made of the Arsenal support in recent weeks and how fickle they have been in their treatment of their manager, Arsene Wenger. But Arsenal fans, more used to periods of success throughout their history and with perhaps a greater awareness of the club’s history have been remarkably patient with Wenger, crediting him with the good times and the overall change of perception with which the club is viewed while at the same time scratching their heads at some of the players he has signed and some of his stranger quotes,

It took defeat against Birmingham City in the last minute of last year’s Carling Cup Final, poor league form in the wake of that disaster and the summer of discontent, selling Samir Nasri and Cesc Fabregas right at the end of the transfer window leaving little time to find replacements to really prod the Emirates support into questioning Wenger in any numbers those dreadful days in February away to AC Milan and Sunderland increased the volume the board and a large section of the support were still happy to go along with the Frenchman who had been so successful during his first few years at the club.

This season though is the seventh year the club will have gone without a trophy. That there is no open revolt is a credit to the club and the fans understanding of the club. When talk first appeared of placing black bin bags over empty seats at home games then the support united, those who had tired of Wenger and those still behind him, at the obscene nature of the protest.

Plenty of boos and jeers, yes while message boards and blogs were filled with bile and venom aimed at the club and the manager but the idea of such a visible revolt, in full view of the players they were supposed to be cheering to victory, was shouted down in an outpouring of common sense.

Football fans complain. It’s what we do best. Most of us are frustrated players anyway, annoyed that our talents on the playing fields of our comprehensive were not picked up by the roving eye of talent scouts for district and club. But we love our club. When we lose it hurts. Social media may grab the headlines because of its public nature but it’s just a less expletive filled version of the discussions that take place in pubs, bars, cars and trains following any game on any given weekend.

The lows are depressing; especially when coupled with a lackluster performance. Most fans know they can’t win a trophy every season, but we do expect to see the players give 100% every minute of every game and when they don’t then the bile and venom fly. The badge rarely evokes the same feelings in players as it does in fans but for the fan who gives everything going to games the minimum they expect from the players is the same.

As an Arsenal fan, Sunderland away was dreadful. The fact that the team were well out of sorts made things worse. There are times when you have to hold up your hands and say you were beaten by the better team. Had Liverpool, based in their first half performance at the weekend, gone on to beat Arsenal then I don’t think many of the away support would have had much to complain about. They wanted it more first half.

I recall a UEFA Cup tie back in the early 1980s between Arsenal and Spartak Moscow at Highbury. The team from the former Soviet Union gave a master class performance that evening and won 5-2. I am proud to say I and much of the Arsenal support that evening applauded the Moscow team off the field. In the days before extensive coverage of the game on satellite TV we knew we had seen something special. A similar thing when West Ham United played Dinamo Tblisi during the same era. Tblisis won 5-1 at Upton Park but were cheered off the field. Perhaps Chelsea fans would have booed and walked out long before the final whistle

There is a fickle element to being a football fan. There has to be, it’s a results driven industry. You’re up when you win, you’re down when you lose. Chelsea Football Club institutionally and their fans emotionally have lost the ability to accept defeat, any defeat and that is not the way to build a successful club.

# posted by Me @ 4:37 PM