The Black Scarf Mmovement - Where has our Arsenal gone

[sabastiane]

like it! And no danger of it mimicking what those Mancs are doing with green and gold scarfs, as even their plastic fans start buying them to make themselves feel like hardcore life long fans.

Brilliant reads both articles. If more people contributed with passionate tales of their Arsenal support and memories, the higher powers may realise what they are doing to the club. Actually no, they won't. Not till it's too late.

It was a downward spiral since we changed to that crap badge. I miss the old Arsenal writing

You might even say it was a downward spiral since the bond scheme in the earl nineties

[QuartzGooner]

My main agreement with this would be the ideas about having a more atmosphere in the stadium, and something I feel strongly about which is the importance of keeping the team first and second kits as red and white and yellow and blue respectively.

I am not clear on ideas about The Board. Seems to say it was prefered when they kept a low profile, but surely as much openness as possible is the best way, as long as it does not harm our ability to compete in the transfer market?
Also I do not think there are any "Celebrity" board members trying to hog the media limelight.

I do not have any problem with day tripping tourist fans, reckon it is great that people from round the world want to visit. I just do not see them attending in numbers that provide a "threat" to local fans more steeped in traditional culture.
The blunt truth is that even when tickets were relatively cheap, there were always those from local support who went to nearly every game, and those who cherry picked big games.

Call me unrealistic but the thing I would love to see is some sort of loyalty scheme for fans where they get a discount the longer they have been going to games.
Maybe incremental discounts, or perhaps a free season ticket after 35 years of regularly going to games?

[northbankbren]

£10 for the scarf

[OneBardGooner]

It seems to be kosha and saying the right things, have signed up and will do what I can to support the aims and intentions - ie: To Get OUR Arsenal back - and indeed that will (probably) be a very long road indeed, also hats off to those who have put their time, energy, money etc into this...


Glad to see the Cannon facing the right way all we need do now is get those rich lazy wankers on the board to open their ears and face the right way AND Listen and Learn (oh! yes, and Spend)


UP THE ARSENAL!

[USMartin]

Quartz I am speculating here but having read the information as well my guess is the want the Board to be more like a referee - you know they are doing their job when you don't notice them at all or don't have to debate their performance and its impact,.

I think that is very true. When the Board was focused on supply ing the manager with the funds he needed from 1998-2005 they were hardly visible save for David Dein because of his role as Director of Football and his work in the FA, and Peter Hill-Wood whose buffoonery in his public pronouncements was almost an entertaining diversion.

Once the whole new stadium project began and then the Highbury re-development project and all the actions the Board undertook to make sure their over-borrowing did not fail and them flirting with potential new owners have made them less Pierluigi Collina and much more like oh Good Lord Rob Styles or Dear God help me Steve Bennett in how they have performed their duties. And all the dubious if not dulicitous comment haven't helped their image one bit.

They I think want to do their job they way they used to do it which is they way it should always be done. Its also, coincidentally enough, the way they have achieved the most success doing it.

[USMartin]

Call me unrealistic but the thing I would love to see is some sort of loyalty scheme for fans where they get a discount the longer they have been going to games.
Maybe incremental discounts, or perhaps a free season ticket after 35 years of regularly going to games?

I think that is a wonderful idea really but I doubt this Board would put it into practice at this point if at all.

But another problem emerges hwo do we select the candidates. What about supporters who attended Highbury without fail and season tickets there for decades but simply couldn't afford the STs at Ashburton Grove if there are such people which I suspect is the case based on all the stories in that direction. We need to make sure those supporters are rewarded as much as any and they are encouraged to step up for that reward.

Otherwise that is a really nice idea and one well worth considering making an official policy oof Arsenal Football Club.

[charliegeorgewhocanhitem]

Nice one, signed up. Maybe you have to be "of a certain age" to feel as alienated as I feel at the club I've loved since I was 9 years old right now. Not sure it can ever be the same for me, it kind of ended the day we left Highbury for the pile of concrete we now have to call "home" but it would be good to know that the tossers who now run the club get to know how a large section of the support feels about the way things are going. Not that I think they'll give a flying fuck as long as we manage to scrape into the champions league on a shoestring budget every season

[BournemouthRED]

Arsenal for better or worse have always been innovators. Its not the first time weve changed our badge, colours, name or location either for that matter.

I think the main thing is the matchday experience tho, this is problem shared by all the top clubs sadly.

[USMartin]

It seems there are two very genuine issues.

The first is more emotional and relates to the the Club leaving Highbury - the stadium I mean - and all that issue alone entails. Many Gooners who grew up supporting Arsenal and standing and later sitting at Highbury and supporting the Arsenal sides they watched play there have a very difficult time with leaving Highbury at all, as well as other changes toward a more modern less "classical" Arsenal.

Then there are supporters who are less bothered by that alone but by the mentality behind it which seems to have reduced Arsenal to a corporate entity existing simply to reward its investors financially rather than its supporters love and loyalty.

While I sympathize with many Gooners of the former group, and I really do(I never wanted us to leave Highbury either, but came to see that it was unfortunately necessary) I'm not sure we can ever get that first Arsenal back really.

But whichever side of this you are on including this campaign, Arsenal Football Club itself is bigger than all of it and we should remember that. That whatever comes next for club football and particularly English club football Arsenal Football Club will be there and a playing an important part - as long as WE are there. We are every bit as essential a part of Arsenal as Arsenal is of each of us and our lives. Maybe the Board don't think so or have simply forgotten but we can remind them of this now and should.

[Bring Back Pires]

It does seem odd to me that by attempting to develop the notion of 'The Arsenal Family' you start off by wearing a black and white scarf. I can't think of anything that would make me feel less part of 'The Arsenal Family'.

I'm generally in agreement with the project though. However, isn't the work of AISA/RedAction, and the consequent 'Arsenalisation' already trying to address many of these areas?

From an outsider's perspective, it may be best if all of these action groups teamed up for one common goal. The club probably has enough on its plate with the aforementioned groups, so convincing them to listen to yet another one may prove challenging.

[USMartin]

May I inquire what is up with the whole "official channels" philosophy some of you seem to embrace?

Some posters here seem utterly infuriated not by questioning the Board but by not doing it the proper way through the proper channels? Is this people just to used to Fnglish bureaucracy gone mad or is it just another cynical dodge to avoid admitting discomfort with anyone criticizing the Board.

I have wondered about this awhile really...imagine that...

[LDB]

The problem i have with things like this is that many of the issues raised stem not from anything unique to AFC but are instead indicative of wider trends in English football. There seems to be a lot of nostalgia floating around and an unreasonable charge that the change in matchday experience is a concerted tactic of the club. Im afraid to say that the terrace culture of the 70s and 80s was ruined not by the arsenal board but by a vicious minority of neanderthal support from across the country taking it too far, the scousers being the final catalyst.

As for the "spiritual home" issue... i thought highbury was a piece of architectral perfection but it is incredibly selfish to want to bind the club to a stadium no bigger then the shithole just because you dont like things changing. Now you can argue to death the success/failure of the club since the move, i wont bother furthering that here but what i will say is that without a sugar daddy you will not cement yourself as an elite club in the long term with a 35,000 capacity stadium in the modern game.

There are more points to be addressed here but I'm too tired, I'll check back in the morning

[USMartin]

The problem i have with things like this is that many of the issues raised stem not from anything unique to AFC but are instead indicative of wider trends in English football. There seems to be a lot of nostalgia floating around and an unreasonable charge that the change in matchday experience is a concerted tactic of the club. Im afraid to say that the terrace culture of the 70s and 80s was ruined not by the arsenal board but by a vicious minority of neanderthal support from across the country taking it too far, the scousers being the final catalyst.

As for the "spiritual home" issue... i thought highbury was a piece of architectral perfection but it is incredibly selfish to want to bind the club to a stadium no bigger then the shithole just because you dont like things changing. Now you can argue to death the success/failure of the club since the move, i wont bother furthering that here but what i will say is that without a sugar daddy you will not cement yourself as an elite club in the long term with a 35,000 capacity stadium in the modern game.

There are more points to be addressed here but I'm too tired, I'll check back in the morning

I think this is a pretty good and quite accurate post.

I think you're right about the terrace culture and the factors that led to its demise in England. Its easy to be nostalgic especially when the future seems so uncertain both in life and in football.

Admittedly I never was at Arsenel matched during this era and can see why some aspects of it appeal to that nostalgic urge. But its really be careful what you wish for territory as if we suddenly found that culture prevalent again what would be worse - having to avoid getting a kicking or worse every match, or not having to to avoid one because you look too much like their hoolies's dads or grand-dads for them to set into you? I am no expert on this so feel free to dismiss this but think its a bit valid.

On the stadium itself - I hate that we left Highbury but again the question is could we continue to remain a top club on the pitch at Highbury indefinitely? And the answer sadly is no - at least under the self-sustaining business model. I also think we are remarkably fortunate to have re-located within a two or three minute walk of Highbury itself and that can't be ignored at this point. I will as LDB did avoid the issue of how we have done since moving although I'll say this - the new stadium is not the reason we have performed as we have since.

[flash gunner]

Good website it will be interesting to see how the movement goes

[marcengels]

The problem i have with things like this is that many of the issues raised stem not from anything unique to AFC but are instead indicative of wider trends in English football. There seems to be a lot of nostalgia floating around and an unreasonable charge that the change in matchday experience is a concerted tactic of the club. Im afraid to say that the terrace culture of the 70s and 80s was ruined not by the arsenal board but by a vicious minority of neanderthal support from across the country taking it too far, the scousers being the final catalyst.

As for the "spiritual home" issue... i thought highbury was a piece of architectral perfection but it is incredibly selfish to want to bind the club to a stadium no bigger then the shithole just because you dont like things changing. Now you can argue to death the success/failure of the club since the move, i wont bother furthering that here but what i will say is that without a sugar daddy you will not cement yourself as an elite club in the long term with a 35,000 capacity stadium in the modern game.

There are more points to be addressed here but I'm too tired, I'll check back in the morning

Fair points, but the highlighted bit I think perhaps says alot. I think many people grew up without the need that we had to be described as an "Elite" club. It was more about the club itself, the feeling of connection and being involved.