Gooners: The Anti-Supporters?

Gooners have been criticised for years, often referred to as supporters of the less vocal persuasion. But when all was said and done, we were there every game, full house and on the odd occasion produced a rocking atmosphere.

Arsenal fans in general have always backed the players, management and staff unconditionally, as long as they wore the badge with pride, they had our support.

It has been widely regarded that over the past couple of years the Arsenal team has been a team in transition, a time of change, and so, as it seems, have the ‘fans’.

Now I refuse to tar all supporters with the same brush as it’s evident that many Gooners I come into contact with on a daily basis are red and white to the core and will back all the plays, however it’s plain for all to see that we have more than our fair share of anti-supporters at our games.

Every person in every walk of life is entitled to their own opinion, and with that they entitled to say what they want, but with that freedom of speech comes responsibility, and indeed consequence.

‘I pay for my ticket so I can say what I want’

Fine, but if you behave in a negative manner expect negative consequences. You are more than entitled to storm in your bosses office tomorrow and called him any number of expletives that you think adequately describe him and his manner of management. But don’t expect him to come back to you with a pay rise.

If a player is going through a crisis of confidence, do you honestly believe that if he hears a whole range of abusive comments and boo’s that he’s going to stand up and say ‘right, I’ll show you’, no, he’s going to say ‘f*ck this, I’m off’. A defeatists attitude you may say, but why should a player of clear talent stick around and take the stick just because he’s under performing for a couple of weeks? Even the best players in the world have a dip in form.

More and more each week I see far too many ‘fans’ getting on the backs of people such as Alex Hleb, Julio Baptista & Alex Song (before his loan), to such an extent that I’ve argued with fellow fans on the terraces for booing and groaning when said players name has been announced on the tannoy.

Alex Hleb has suffered at the hands of these anti-supporters in recent weeks. He starts off games brightly, yet when the game isn’t going our way (even with a large portion of the game remaining) the boo boys appear and the life and enthusiasm drains from this quality player. Hleb has on many occasions proved himself to be a first class player more than capable of changing a game, do you believe this guy has lost his gift over night? No. He has had the confidence sucked form him by an increasing number of morons I wish had nothing to do with our club.

I feel increasingly frustrated with so called Gooners who continually treat their fortunate position of being actually able to attend such matches with contempt and arrogance.

It is not our god given right to win every game, we don’t deserve to win a trophy each season, no team does, but what we do have to do is strengthen our resolve as a club and as supporters, we need to come together as a collective and create an atmosphere of which to be proud.

If you are one of these boo boys, then ask yourself this question, if you have no intention of getting behind the team why waste a small fortune on the match day experience? Why not just give up the chase and hand to chance on to someone who will actually have a positive effect on match days?