Should the Gunners and Tavern watch out?

[Reg Niseth]

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/foot ... 10390.html

BSM get a mention as well.

[REB]

football is finished as we used to know it, and the top clubs are just going to be money making machines in which the fan will become less of a factor.

[Dan_85]

It wouldn't surprise me in the slightest to see the club go after local pubs given that a Spanish hat lady is apparently fair game...

[SammyDroppedHisShorts]

Alienation at the excesses excused by football's gentrification is beginning to be expressed by such protest groups as Arsenal's Black Scarf movement, who complain of "extortionate" costs and "repressive" stewarding. Instead of addressing such concerns, Ivan Gazidis, Arsenal's chief executive, uses the easy excuse of blaming disaffection on players' wages.

Bollocks

I have never once repressed a fan at the Grove

[StuartL]

It wouldn't surprise me in the slightest to see the club go after local pubs given that a Spanish hat lady is apparently fair game...

Whatever next... little kids stopped from putting flags out of their windows or posters on their walls.... pathetic.

Don't the clubs lawyers realise that drinking in an Arsenal (or any other team themed pub) is all part of the "match day experience" that they are so keen to promote.

Surely, the word Arsenal can't be copyrighted as it was in existance before the club, therefore as long as the new crest isn't displayed then they can't be accused of trying to pretend to be an official club endorsed establishment.

If the club charged more realistic prices perhaps fans would be keener to sample beer inside the stadium ??

[Dan_85]

Don't the clubs lawyers realise that drinking in an Arsenal (or any other team themed pub) is all part of the "match day experience" that they are so keen to promote.

It ain't part of the match day experience if it doesn't make the club money don't ya know!

[DB10GOONER]

football is finished as we used to know it, and the top clubs are just going to be money making machines in which the fan will become less of a factor.

This. Nail. On. Bastard. Head.

We the supporters mean absolutely nothing to the clubs now. They think they can replace every single one of us with a JCL that wants that whole corporate day out. And in the short to mid term they are right. They can. But in the long term they are forgetting who keeps these clubs alive when the bubble bursts and there isn't as much money coming through the turnstiles and club shops or from TV and sponsors. They forget the real supporters that will (previously anyway) turn up to watch a shit team struggle to mid table mediocrity season after season because that is their team and that is their day out with their mates.

What the clubs are risking with shit like this is that long term (if/when the bubble bursts) the JCL's will move onto the next "in" sport and the clubs will have so alienated their traditional fanbases they will struggle to get them all back.

The shortsighted vision of the modern clubs in a way reminds me so much of the housing boom in Oireland. Just keep pushing it, don't think long term, just get the short term money in, just keep expanding, keep spending in the wrong areas, right up until it all goes tits up.

[Bradywasking]

I wouldn't imagine the club have any rights over the words "Arsenal" or "Gunners" so in that sense there should be no issue. If there was would there be a case against London Underground using the name "Arsenal " in the tube station., despite the historical reason for the original name change.
It's wrong to think that a Sunderland supporting landlord cannot put up a few flags in his pub to add to the match-day atmosphere , what has football come to, reminds me of the shop owner who bought 5 hula-hoops to make a window display when the Olympic Torch was passing. Trading Standards told her to take it down as she was not an official sponsor.
If a club makes those demands on pubs etc then fans should boycott the bars in the stadiums as an act of solidarity. If football continues to slip away from football people there will be nobody left when it goes bang. DB10 Gooner may remember the pathetic scenes when Ireland lost a World Cup qualifier in 1993 at home to Spain. Ireland were 3-0 down after 30 minutes or so and there was a mass exodus from the Stadium of the "new fans" that the FAI wanted at a cost of excluding the traditional support. If football continues on this "match-day experience, branding " path they will face the same outcome.

[hugh jardon]

Wouldnt be surprised if Arsenal PLC follow suit as they would prefer the fans to spend their money in their ground rather than elsewhere outside it. However having a pint in the ground where the bars stock the poorest selection of drinks but sell them at the most expensive prices, and having to queue up for 15 mins or so for the "pleasure" is not an attractive option.

[QuartzGooner]

The club should open an official pub; open seven days a week, near the ground.
Could serve wider range of beer than in the ground, and could be decked out really well, photos from through the years and signed shirts on the walls etc.
Maybe once a month does a charity night, former players help out with a raffle etc.

[SteveO 35]

Lots of anger towards modern football club owners again I see, and a degree of inevitability that football is slipping further and further out of thf fans' grasp.

And yet the same angry folk will continue to line Kroenke's pockets no matter how much the ticket prices go up, and no matter how heavy handed the club is towards independent traders.

Never ceases to emaze me....

[flash gunner]

Do you ever go to games SteveO? or hold any membership?

and im not saying this as a 'superfan' im genuinely interested

[I Hate Hleb]

Do you ever go to games SteveO? or hold any membership?

and im not saying this as a 'superfan' im genuinely interested

Just as I thought - you obviously haven't been reading (or at least paying attention to) other people's posts!! Perhaps you should take drugs to enhance your concentration skills.

[flash gunner]

I remember SteveO saying he uses his dads season ticket but if he pays for tickets or has any membership then he is as guilty of lining Kroenkes pockets as any season ticket holder. For the record im a silver member so im guilty too

[I Hate Hleb]

Yes you are, aren't you - naughty boy!!