Brendan : recent posts
Hi Myles,
Reading the recent posts in ANR, I was sympathetic with people expressing their sadness about Arsenal’s state.
However, there are a couple of essential points to be made.
If you want to claim, as some readers do, that AFC is dead, then let me just say that so are all football clubs in the Premier League and many in the Football League – dead in terms of what they used to represent and what they represent now: globalised capital.
The soul/spirit of English football is on life-support but it is a very, very long way from any of these clubs. Arsenal, unfortunately, are very obviously corporatised, but that doesn’t mean Man U, Stoke or any of the rest are any less so in reality.
The difference between AFC and these two (and others) is first of all the fans, who create an atmosphere, and secondly the players, who have fight and “bottle”.
But so what? What are the fans cheering for? What are the players playing for? The fans of Stoke and Newcastle- or Man City – will cheer them no matter what, because they ARE the club, in their minds.
Sophisticated Arsenal fans reflect the club’s French nonchalance and don’t support the team in the same way. So atmosphere is lacking at Arsenal matches. Stoke or Man U players may show “fight” and “bottle” but that’s not because of their “love” of the club. They are professionals in a market. Stoke and Man U fans are deluded if they see this “dedication” as a sign of commitment. None of these football clubs represent their localities.
Fans are all being sold a dream – Chelsea go on about “developing” players- where did all that go? It’s all lies. And so when these clubs play in way which manifests some of those great old football values of commitment and never-say-die attitude, people go all goggle-eyed and forget that it’s all surface, appearance, for nothing.
Even Stoke has a business model… I don’t need to explain it to you.
Mourn AFC if you want, but if you mourn AFC alone, you’re missing the point.
Myles says:
Brendan always talks sense.
Breaking with recent tradition, I will write a preview of the Arsenal-Spurs game.
I’ll post it at 9 a.m. For a bit of culture, please check out our updated Reviews Section.