I think some perspective in terms of your reaction to football results comes with experience, and a long time of watching football. Don't get me wrong, for a decent time after full time on Sunday you'd have thought there had been a death in my family from my appearance. I'm in my 40s, but an older friend of mine was following Arsenal in 1980, when we lost two cup finals in four days, and then our best player, Liam Brady left us immediately afterwards on a free transfer.
Personally, in my time of laying my heart open for this club to break, I saw us lose a European Final to a goal in the last seconds, from the half way line, (from a bloody ex Spurs player of all people) in 1995. I saw us flirt with relegation that same season, we finished 6 points above the relegation zone, (including a spell in the 'run in' of six defeats in seven). Things were so dire that we were actually excited that during the 3-1 home defeat to QPR that John Jensen scored a goal, his only one in 132 games for Arsenal. (It WAS a good goal though to be fair, and lord knows we didn't have much to cheer about). I've seen us lose a final in Europe on penalties, I've seen us score only 40 goals in an entire 42 game league season. I've seen us lose to bloody Birmingham in a domestic final with the kind of defensive error my 10 year old son would be embarrassed by. I saw one of the biggest 'robberies' in a major final when we somehow lost to Liverpool in 2001 despite having dominated for most of the game and missed more than one open goal. I've seen players in our shirts carried off having had bones broken and careers curtailed by thuggery from opposition players. I watched, in rage, as our unbeaten run was ended at Old Trafford in the most controversial of circumstances. I've seen us lose in the FA cup to the side bottom of the entire football league the season (League 2 these days) before. I've seen managers and players, loved and loathed, come and go, and you know what, I'm still here, loving this club, being devastated and overjoyed by this club. For as long as I'm breathing, I'm here.
I've seen my team loathed in the press and among opposing fans for being boring, for being too aggressive and lacking discipline, for being 'too foreign'-There was a time in the 80s when we were distinct in the league for the amount of black players in our side, which drew plenty of 'reaction' from certain sections of opposition crowds. It's well known that during the rise of the National Front (a Racist organisation) in the 1980s Arsenal was one of the football fanbases where they never found a foothold, because how could you hold those disgusting views and love the likes of David Rocastle, or Paul Davis, or Michael Thomas like we did. In my time following the club people have mocked us for being too soft, for acting like playing good football is morally superior, and for being boring again. And now, for bottling a league in which our main rivals can just drop 200 million in January on three elite players because it's small change to them. Bring it on.
Does this current run of results hurt? You bet it does, but this is the danger of actually challenging for things, having your heart broken when things don't go your way. Ask a Fulham fan, or any of the other perpetual mid-tablers if they'd like to actually be in danger of being disappointed because their team falls just short of glory, I think the answer might surprise some people. This is where life is. This is living, putting your heart and soul into something, and maybe it doesn't work out. I know plenty of younger fans will be furious at this suggestion, but you know what, it means that when it DOES go your way you appreciate it so much more. Also, a little disappointment in life is good for you, it builds character. Show me someone who has never had their heart broken (in any sense), or for whom everything has always gone their way, and I'll show you someone who has never put themselves out there. That's a life half lived.
And you know what. For every heartbreak, the team has given me an equal amount of joy. I'm ludicrously fortunate in that I got to see some of the best players to ever wear the shirt as I entered my 20s. As a youngster I saw my team written off and go to Anfield and win 2-0 and seal the league (Newspaper headline that morning 'You haven't got a prayer Arsenal'). I've watched us go away in Europe under George Graham and get some incredible results against far more talented sides than us (that Parma frontline we beat in the Cup Winners Cup in 1994 was peak Brolin, Asprilla and Zola). Two days after a death in my close family I wept cathartic tears alone in my bedroom next to a radio as Arsenal beat Newcastle 2-0 in a fantastic, fiery, tempestuous League Cup quarter final that I am sure most fans of either club have long since forgotten. I've watched us win the league at Old Trafford, and at White Hart Lane as well as at Anfield. There have been thousands of moments of joy in my time watching this team, and I hope to see many more, and you know what, I earned them for being there for all the less good moments.
If Arsenal break my heart again this year, I'm going to wear it, I'm going to be devastated, and then by next season I'm going to be ready to do it all again.
by go_get_the_guitar
38 Comments
Well said!
Well bloody said. COYG!
Finally, an Arsenal fan.
COYG
Great perspective and thanks for sharing. I am a 30yo fan since 2004. Definitely loving the feeling of being a top 2 team and winning most games – only a couple of places up on the table but the current position the club is in is a massive jump from competing for 4th place.
Fully behind us winning the double this year but if we fall short will enjoy the moment and look forward to the next season.
Absolutely
Had that shirt and the away as kid remember John Jensen he got 1 goal in 98 league games. I forgot all about him.
Fair enough. I think all of us regardless of how we feel about certain players, the manager, or the ownership, deep down we are all there.
Fellow middle age gooner here. Followed us since early 90s. Used to tuck my collar like my hero Wrighty. Quality post 👏
I’m same age. First memory was the glorious European final in 1994. I remember a year later crying in primary school after Nayim.
I think like the vast majority of us, I’m just so tired with it all. I’ve been saying for months now – even when we were 1/20 with the bookies – that we’d blow it. It doesn’t make me happy to be proven right, I feel sick.
All the moments – the Welbeck goal vs Leicester, Nelson goal v Bournemouth etc etc etc – they mean absolutely nothing on the grand scheme of things. I watch them and I feel upset. They should signify a ‘that’s the moment we won it’.
Thank you for these wise words 🫡
This is what it is to support a football club.
Needs to be read by this entire sub.
Love this mate, great post.
People are very quick to forget the context when they lose control of their emotions, and it’s a shame that social media is a vessel for retaining and building on those reckless emotion driven narrative.
Arsenal have done a monumental job keeping up with city, who are the most illicit and powerful club this country has ever seen. Sure it’s been tough falling short but the momentum the club has now is incredible and if we don’t pull it all down due to the emotional outbursts things can only get better
Damn pin this. It’s great. You’re right, big goals sometimes equals big failures but it’s better than being mid.
Thanks fellow Gooner! This is a great read for any fan to put things into perspective. As an older fan now, I’ve seen us in stasis and even decline during the later Wenger years and that felt unusually comfortable.. Now that success is close, it feels so painful due to the increased amount of emotional investment. I know where I’d rather be.
Right on! COYG!
The middle-aged fan base understands just how high and just how low things can go. We do it for the love of the club, the history, the heritage, the badge. This is Arsenal Football Club! COYG!
I am a 27 year old who started following Arsenal since 2006., so I am still sadly waiting for some bigger joy because the best years just ended before. This last game floored me and distanced me a bit from football because of the whole expectations of this years league results until now. FA Cups were basically my highlight, but a lot of disappointed years in my years of following sadly, and it means so much… I watch every minute of every game basically. Visited the Emirates for a stadium tour for the first time in last October so that was nice at least.
Im a couple years younger, and this guy gets it. In an age where rage bait is the biggest currency in football punditry, remind yourselves why you support this team. Air your grievances, shout away the pain, scribe your indifferences with decisions; whatever it takes, we move. This club is special and the piece of prose above does a very good job at expressing my exact feelings lately.
Up the Arsenal.
💪🏼🔴⚪️
Been a foreign fan since 1998. Back when the only way I could follow up with games was to catch the few late night broadcasts and newspapers about the results. To put things in perspective, there isn’t that many clubs that have won the premier league.
6 clubs out of a league of 20.
We’ve always been there or thereabouts which is an achievement in itself.
And this season is not done yet.
It’s like you described me as a Arsenal fan ! Well said , still bloody hurts though, there is another dimension where we beat Bournemouth n city n the league is over
I’m so with you. As frustrating as it is, and it really is, the amount of ‘I’m so done with this team’ nonsense on here has been utterly pathetic. God help them if they had to watch the Bruce Rioch season, or even the later flat track bully then lose every big game 5-0 wenger years. Literally doesn’t matter what happens, I’ll still be here, I can’t imagine it any other way
I also used the term flirted with relegation to describe 94/95 but it was never really on the cards.
We were reason good tge year before and the year after. Seaman missed too many games and was it Bartem or Miller they weren’t up to it. Adams missed a rake of games as well.
I was twitchy at times but we had quality im there once Merson was back with Swarch, Wright and Hartson scoring big goals for us.
Agree with everything else and remember the league getting league cup against Newcastle well. Rioch beat up the Newcastle assistant manager and Ginola and Dixon kicked lumps out of each other. The semi final was heart ache as well that year losing to villa on away goals.
At this moment I hate arsenal but I also love the club with all my heart.
You didn’t mention spurs semi final in 91
that was worse than Wrexham for me.
Bolton and Millwall in cups, 5-0 Chelsea in league cup, 6-2 man utd league cup, 5-1 spurs in league cup no one can say anyone old enough to have seen all that hasn’t suffered for it
You sir, have a way with words. Thank you for this.
The loss to Birmigham in the Carling Cup final was the biggest bottle job imo. They went down that year & we lost to them in the final. I couldn’t go on any forum for a week. That’s how much we were ridiculed.
Listen, I’m crestfallen that we have bottled the league and it’s fair for everyone to lose their shit. As fans, everyone needs time to process this loss. It’s ok to be mad imo.
You’re lucky you got to see them win trophies and be successful. You can atleast reminisce and live the glory days.
Us younger fans haven’t seen jack shit. It’s just one failure after another. There’s no reason to support a team that doesn’t give us a reason to.
I remember getting into Arsenal in 91 or 92 because of my grandad who passed away in 1994, my first Arsenal game after him was at Gillingham a centenary match at Priestfield. Remember my old man saying you won’t see the proper players playing. Shook Ian Wrights that day who also scored and Kevin Campbell scored twice, such a great day if not emotional for me. I’ve been to matches where we’ve put teams away and matches we struggled and suffered in. Same as you I’ve been through every emotion with Arsenal ever since and have never seen highlights or the CL final of 2006 again since that day. I feel like I’m constantly trying to argue your point with ‘fans’ on reddit mainly on the Arsenal sub not this one. I’d rather us be here competing like we are now that should be the bare minimum of any top team. It’s better to me than roll the dice for something that could backfire. It’s the entitlement of some fans that get me like we’re supposed to be this team that steamrolls over every team in every match we’re in and a draw is the end of the season.
We all have the same thing in common on these subs and it’s that we all support Arsenal
As a 46 year old Arsenal fan this could be me and echoes my thoughts exactly. In fact I had to pause for a moment and try to recall if I’d suffered a family bereavement close to a league cup quarter final with Newcastle and this was actually me somehow posting from another account such is the accuracy with which it mimics my memories and my feelings.
It’s not done yet. Come on you Gunners.
A fabulous post, one of the best I’ve read on this sub.
I became a fan in 1997 when I was 8, so I missed the George Graham era. I just can’t relate to the headlosses and extreme takes from the younger fan base.
Also, I’m so glad you referenced the racism. It was horrendous in the early 00s as well. I distinctly remember the awful reaction from the media and fans of other teams when we fielded a majority black team away to Leeds in 03.
We’re still in a fantastic position and I strongly fancy us to finally win the CL. Even if that doesn’t happen, I’ll be there next season and until I pass.
I was there when JJ scored ❤️
I must be a similar age. Love this.
Great post!
I think people are just emotionally drained at this point, and it’s a combination of a few things. For one, as you said, our main rivals are a side that can easily spend a few hundred million in every transfer window without the league doing anything about it – it hurts to know that you’d be winning the league if it weren’t for financial doping.
Secondly, it’s annoying to see some of their players (Haaland predominantly, although he’s not the only one) become so smug and full of themselves for winning, when the only reason they’re winning is because they’re allowed to cheat.
Thirdly, and this is what I think people hate the most, it’s become tiring to listen to everyone else wanting us to lose. Years ago I happily supported Liverpool in their title run because I’d rather have a rival win it than a dirty oil club do it. However, it seems that morals in football have become so corrupt and people have become so accustomed to financial doping that they’d rather see City win it simply because Arsenal fans are “unlikeable” (and when they say this, most rival fans quote AFTV, which is just insane to me). It’s become incredibly difficult to deal with rival fans, most of whom are supporting woefully underperforming clubs (looking at you Chelsea, Liverpool, and Tottenham) throw rocks from their glass castles just to make themselves feel better about their own clubs’ shortcomings.
These three things combined make being a Gooner a really tough choice at the moment.
We can still win it, though, and if we somehow get it over the line at the end of the season, I will actually become the type of unbearable Gooner that rival fans fantasize about in their hate fetishes.
I still have the T-shirt saying I was there when Jensen scored. Great speech by the way mate. Without the bitter, the sweet isn’t as sweet.
And our premier league win (whenever it is) will be so sweet for so many of us!
I think we wear the same hat. I’ve been Arsenal since 1982, and I’ve seen us be the “Bank of England” club to a laughing stock, with everything in between. Watched us lose to Barca in the CL. Watched us lose to Villarreal while on holiday. Watched us lose to Birmingham. Watched us lose 8-2 to United on my child’s birthday while we had a BBQ. I’ve also watched Tony Adams score against Everton, while sitting in a Spurs pub, and the landlord gave us a free pint and a cigar. I’ve done it all.
You know what? I wouldn’t change a thing. That’s what makes us football fans. It’s not about the moment, it’s about the moments. Just live it. It might not happen again, whatever the outcome.
Excellent post. Thanks. I experienced 90% of these moments, including the John Jensen goal (it WAS worth the wait!), the incredible victory over Parma, and most of the harder-to-stomach moments, too. Still here. Still believing. Nothing will change that. COYG.
51 y/o here and this is one of the best posts this sub has seen. Live the highs and the lows and keep your chin up, because there will always be more of both on the way.
Amen. I’d like to think a lot of the fanbase feels the same, and maybe it’s not online as much since we know to avoid toxic places like a reddit live match thread. Up the Arsenal!
Good perspective
As a Dane, it hurts that John Faxe is a symbol of mediocrity. But it’s also a but funny.
30 years, and counting, I feel them like happened yesterday starting from the European final penalty lost, jumping infront of the screen watching Campbell scored after the red card, Henry failed to score the one on one, and we lost the final… watching the team playing like standing cones and allowed opponents to shoot over 20 over shots… those pains, have stayed with me the longest time… somehow, trust me, I fail to remember most of the winning moments, other than Cazorla free kick… maybe feeling entitled…
I’m disappointed, but will never give up until the team fulfills my dream, to win a European cup…
It is not done yet!