At the recent Hull game I was obviously not happy to see three points going down the bog, however my enjoyment of the game was certainly reduced by a rather annoying minority of fans who seemed to be rather keen to get on the back of certain Arsenal players rather than supporting the team. Goodplaya spoke of his similar feelings at the Porto game:
"The team were not helped by a significant minority of the crowd who seemed to almost revel in groaning audibly at every stray pass and mistake. If they sung half as loud, the Emirates would be a far better place."
Firstly I don't expect people not to groan when silly careless mistakes are made, however it is the fact that some people seem to revel in this whinging that is so nauseating. As Goodplaya says if some of this negativity could be tapped and turned into support for the team, then the Emirates would indeed be a far better place, and the team might do a bit better with that extra support.
We have had a fair amount of success over recent years and the lovely football that we have the privilege of watching is pretty hard to find elsewhere, if not impossible. I know some of our players have their weaknesses, as does our manager, but there are ways of going about expressing this in an adult and productive fashion. I have to say the vast majority of Gooners are not guilty of behaving like spoilt brats, however I am sure many of you have noticed that our increased success has led to an increase in the size of this annoying minority.
There are ways of doing things and this is perfectly demonstrated in the blogosphere by those who can eloquently express their dissatisfaction without resorting to petulant child like rants. Some people would do well to observe the behaviour of certain loyal fans who support lesser premiership sides or teams in much lower leagues, they get behind their sides through thick and thin, and they show that enjoying football is not all about winning.
The human rights act does not empower us to demand footballing success or else, we should not expect success and then whinge if it does not arrive, we should be a little more humble and appreciate what we've got. It may have been acceptable when you were three to have a whinge that you didn't get that Transformer that you so desperately craved, however it doesn't mean you should continue to behave like this as an adult. I'm sure we've all listened to that annoying generic glory supporting Manu fan who loves to ring up the football phone-ins to slag off the players and manager after each dropped point, I just hope our fans can better avoid the trappings of success. Maybe a few defeats is good for the soul, oh how I love to stir up a bit of controversy.
