From sweetscience N5
Hi Myles,
How was the Hockney exhibition?
Craig Burley’s assertion that Arsenal fans are “Spineless” is mere click bait, the stuff of radio phone ins. It is also not correct.
What forms could fan protest take?
Economic?
Essentially a boycott of season ticket renewals and merchandise.
Kroenke’s not bothered by these, there are thousands on the season ticket waiting list, plus your oft-touted model of occasional “tourists” and corporate box jollies makes up a significant amount of revenue.
Pacifist protest?
We have had this. The AST, AISA, Red Action, Black Scarf Movement, etc have had protest gatherings, marches, held up banners, posted on internet forums, phoned-in to talk radio shows.
The there is Arsenal Fan TV. Claude gets exasperated, the “You get me” man works himself up into a stupour, and Ty keeps wearing the blinkers. Arsenal branded blinkers.
Violent protest?
There have been fights in the stands. Achieved nothing except bruises.
Burn the stadium?
The repair costs would diminish our transfer kitty. Daft. Bit like the 2011 riots when the pound shops were smashed up. Cutting one’s nose off to spite one’s face.
Peter Hill-Wood had to be smuggled out of Highbury post match in the 1980’s when fans were unhappy about Don Howe’s sacking (if I remember correctly?).
But Kroenke is hardly even at games.
Attack Wenger?
Enjoy your porridge.
The bottom line is the owner is Stan Kroenke.
Lives in the USA. BIllionaire. Surrounded by private security staff.
Runs the club to make a profit, trophies are regarded as nice but non-essential bonuses.
Does what he wants, even to the extent of relocating an NFL “franchise.”
Franchise, what a ghastly word.
Probably the best course of action is persuasion.
Ivan Gazidis meets with a selection of fans on a monthly basis. Why should he listen to them though, surely he can pay lip service to these meetings as a PR stunt?
Well he might just be a reasonable man who enjoys football and actually, in spite of his elite education, can relate to the man in the street more than the owner.
If a northbound Jubilee Line train is delayed on the way home from a game, yourself and Gazidis may just be on it. Kroenke won’t be.
Myles says:
I haven’t seen Ivan on the Jubilee line for years.
One night he got on at St Johns Wood with a woman and couple of friends. It was summer and he wasn’t wearing a jacket and it looked like four people going out to dinner and I didn’t think this was an appropriate moment to introduce myself. They got off at Baker Street.
Any time I want to talk to Ivan, I can give him a call.
He hasn’t been expecting my call, but he will now.
David Hockney 60 Years of Work was 35% stunning.
He is a wise man and a funny one too.
The recent Yorkshire stuff still astounds me and the films of the 4 seasons, zooming slowly into the forested road, are so compelling, irresistible.
Paintings you’ve seen before can still be ravishing, still be extraordinarily beautiful.
I’ve always liked Mr & Mrs Ossie Clark with the Percy,the white cat.
But Christopher Isherwood and Don Bachardy 1968 is a better painting.
Jan’s been mad about the boy since she was a teenager. She adored The Rake’s Progress at the Whitworth Gallery, after I left Manchester
In the Members Cafe we got talking to a photographer who said she wants to take my photo.We exchanged phone numbers, as you do.