Divisions

Growing up, I don’t recall there being any visible division in the Arsenal fanbase. Now, it’s extremely likely that the lack of social media in my formative years contributed to that. You can easily imagine Twitter, knowing how it is today, exploding at the thought of Arsenal bringing in an unknown manager from Japan to run the club in 96! However, since the later Wenger years there has been a clear division amongst Arsenal fans, and it shows no sign of healing. If anything, it is only getting worse.

It seems that absolutely anything at the moment starts of a new Twitter war amongst the fans. Take Wednesday, for example. We played AFC Wimbledon in the league cup, won comfortably 3-0 by all accounts, and moved on to the next round. Now, this game was not was not shown on tv and was available to stream anywhere (save for one hero who livestreamed the game from inside the stadium). So aside from those who were inside the ground to actually watch the game live, you would think it impossible that people could form a balanced, sensible view of how the game went and Arsenal’s performance. 

Well, you would be half right. Both during and post-game, there was anger from people not watching the game about how we had performed. Stats charts were posted regularly complaining that we hadn’t had enough shots on target. That we weren’t dominant enough. And where’s Patino??? Call me old fashioned, but if I haven’t watched something, I don’t judge it. It’s why I didn’t criticise any of or new signings and it’s why I haven’t bothered to review Wednesday’s game. 

You can tell a lot by stats, don’t get me wrong. But so much more can be said about a performance by whether or not it passes the “eye test”. Did it look good to you without looking at the numbers? If so, great. Did it look rubbish, but the numbers suggest otherwise? Probably better off trusting your judgement. 

Depending on which narrative you want to suit, you can cherry pick the stats you use. The ongoing debate on William Saliba v Ben White is a prime example, with Saliba advocates sharing numerous statistics which show that he is a much better ball player than White, and that if the Englishman was bought in for his ball playing abilities then we wasted £50m as we have someone better already out on loan. Coincidentally, the ones I have seen propagate this argument the most are invariably “Arteta out”, and rather than using the statistics solely to slam the signing of White, it is more of a stick to beat the manager with. “Sending Saliba out on loan just shows he can’t identify talent and doesn’t know what he’s doing” being the key message.

Those on the other side of the argument state that, quite fairly, although the stats aren’t in dispute, there is reason to not consider them comparable. Saliba is playing on the right of a back three in a weaker league, whereas white is playing in a back four in what is in the toughest league in the world. Yet should this be offered as mitigation, it is just “grasping at straws”.

The biggest lightning rod of division, however, is Mikel Arteta. At this stage, for the interest of transparency, I will set out where I stand on the manger. I’m not convinced he was the right appointment at the time, or that he is the solution. With that said, he is manager of Arsenal Football Club and has my support whilst he is in charge. I can’t hope we lose games on the off chance that the board will sack him straight after and bring in a world class manager. Ultimately, if Arteta wins, Arsenal win. If Arsenal win, we should all be happy. Yet after each of our handful victories this season there are fans moaning “great, at least one more week of Mikel” or “it was only Norwich/Burnley/Wimbledon”. Ironic considering the standard of opposition isn’t a legitimate argument in the Ben White debate, but hey ho.

I don’t believe that an angry mob on Twitter will drive the board to do such a thing, especially after the financial backing he has been given. Quite frankly, nor should they. I would be really worried if Josh Kroenke came out one day and said he’d decided to sack Arteta because @Artetaout234725 had mocked up a picture of him as a terrorist and said he was destroying the club. Professional businessmen, because whatever you think of them that is what they are, just don’t operate that way. They operate on results.

Now, here I can see the view of those who want a change. Two consecutive 8th placed finishes and no European football does take an awful lot of the gloss off of the FA cup that was won in Mikel’s first 6 months. It is not unreasonable to want and expect better. 

What frustrates me though is the split in the fanbase that this causes. Those who want Arteta out see themselves as guardians of the club, wanting the club back to its former glories at all costs and seemingly ignorant of the situation that the club is in after years of mismanagement. They chuck around labels such as “Artetasexuals” or the ironically used “top Gooners” and such should you dare to back the club or celebrate a win. I’ve even seen praise for Unai Emery from some who were begging for him to be sacked, just because it suits their agenda. 

Those on the other side (which I don’t even see as an “Arteta in” side by the way, just a “support Arsenal” side) find themselves having to defend themselves against all manner of abuse, simply for supporting the club in their way.

The irony of it all is that ultimately everyone wants the same thing. We all want the club to be back at the top table, competing for top trophies. As far as I can tell, the only difference is an awareness of where the club currently is at. The “Arteta out” side seem convinced that any manager but Arteta would have us competing again immediately and are seemingly convinced that Antonio Conte is ready to step in as soon as the manager is sacked. Those on the other side seem to recognise how the club has drifted over the last several years, and unless some multi billionaire buys the club and pumps infinite funds in a la Chelsea and Manchester City, it is going to be a gradual rebuild. The type which we are in the midst of already.

I came across the quote at the top of this ramble whilst scrolling though my timeline earlier and it seemed so apt for this club and this fanbase. Whether we like it or not we are in an ongoing rebuild process that we all hope leads to the same destination. The unfortunate reality is that, as with most things in life, some people want the reward but don’t want to endure the work. In an ideal world there would be a quick fix and we would be back on top right away. But this isn’t an ideal world. It’s going to take work. It’s going to take time. Hopefully we can all reap the rewards and divisions can heal.