“It should stop. There’s been a focus on fans’ behaviour and the chants towards Arsene Wenger and other managers. It’s ridiculous and I think the police should be doing more. They should be stepping in. Manchester United and their supporters should know very well the chants that have been levelled at us over the years and understand the sensitivity, and the criticism directed at members of the club itself. I don’t agree with it at all and hopefully our fans appreciate it comes to me too. I hope other clubs share the same views I do. There is enough to admire in our game without having to denigrate people.”
These are sensible and fair comments. However some Manchester United fans have spun this around in the most bizarre fashion to try to look away from a problem that a lot of them continue to condone or ignore:
"It’s that time of year again. Manchester United play Arsenal so Sir Alex Ferguson feels the need to try and placate our fans and stop us singing songs about Arsene Wenger being a paedophile by likening them to Munich chants."
Sir Alex is not trying to placate anyone, he is making that simple point that the chants directed against Arsene are completely unacceptable. The statement by the RepublikofMancunia site that these chants shouldn't be compared to the Munich chants are incoherent and nonsensical, it also rather notable that Sir Alex doesn't even mention the Munich chants specifically. Both chants are agreed to be completely unacceptable by the vast majority of fans, they are below the belt and pathetic. Certainly they are not the same, but even if he did bring them both up in the same sentence then it would not be unreasonable, it would simply make the obvious point that they are both out of order, of note he hasn't even mentioned them specifically so this is purely a hypothetical argument anyway. I am not quite sure why the RepublikofMancunia and others are getting so hot under the collar about this, someone dust protest too much I feel
Gunnerblog dismantles the arguments of the RepublikofMancunia and others very calmly and effectively indeed, his article is well worth a read, the RepublikofMancunia should take the time out to read this rational balanced argument that completely annihilates his rather childish rant. I am sure we will still be subjected to more of the same lame responses that point out that no one is whiter than white, of course no set of supporters are perfect, but this is irrelevant to the clear point in question. The point is that ignoring one's own faults by pointing out the faults of others is hardly something that makes one's own faults smaller, it's a rather weak tactic that fools no one with half a grey cell.
By refusing to address an issue that is still a rather big problem at Old Trafford and trying to live in denial a significant proportion of Manchester United fans continue to embarrass both their club and themselves. I will be surprised if the infamous Arsene Wenger chants are not audible on the TV on monday, which points to the fact that it takes more than just a tiny minority to make this kind of volume. These very same Mancunians in denial try to take attention away from their own problems by accusing Arsenal fans of ignoring racist chanting at the Emirates, nothing could be further from the truth, our club has done a hell of a lot to combat this kind of behaviour and has processes in place that are way ahead of many clubs. We should not be complacent, but acknowledging one has a problem is the first step to sorting it out, quite a few Manchester United fans still haven't made this basic first step by the looks of things.
