Have you ever been so disillusioned ?

[SteveO 35]

Reading the reaction to today's AGM, last night's and Saturday's performances, comments about the manager, the board etc., there is now more negative sentiment on here than ever before. Even those that have put a brave face on it for some time and been more reluctant to criticise are now more forthcoming with their feelings.

Now I don't kid myself for a minute that this feeling is widespread - we are a small percentage of the total fan base here and a clear minority (as anyone that visits the Bowl regularly will confirm)

So the question is aimed purely at the disillusioned on here - have you ever felt this bad about the club before ?

We forget sometimes that there have been some dire teams in the past - the end of GG's reign, the pre-Graham sides of the early and mid-80s - when we criticise a performance. But I look now at the board, the manager, the players and the whole disconnect between club and supporters and can not remember ever feeling like this.

Its not about crappy one off defeats - I've been supporting long enough to have experienced the Luton, Walsall, York's of this world, and I'm sure others remember Swindon and other debacles from the 60s and 70s. Its about the whole Arsenal package

In the mid-90s under GG, I was dillusioned with the boring, one dimensional football and refusal to spend money (sound familiar) and when GG was caught with his fingers in the till it was depressing and embarrassing. But those that run the club moved swiftly, dealt with it and we moved on. This present shower we are stuck with leave me feeling in an absolutely hopeless situation where I fall further and further out of love with the club with every passing day

[flash gunner]

I think you've hit the nail on the head mate. There has been worse managers, teams, performances, one off defeats and hammerings but i have never felt such disillusionment about almost every aspect of my club at the same time and i have never felt so helpless as to be able to change things.

Ive always had a love hate relationship with football loving the times we've won titles and cups stuffed sp*rs or won at old trafford hating the times like European Cup final of 2006 or being at the Parc de Princes in '95 but these days its becoming a hate hate relationship

[dPmunky]

I cant say I was around in the 80's or early 90's but I will say I am one of the more "patient" fans. Maybe being here in the states where real football is not a topic of everyday conversation helps with that BUT I will say that I can feel the tension mounting. I'm tired of having to look back at the early 2000's for feelings of fulfillment from my team. Every year I feel like we are less and less competitive, ever so slowly falling out of the top ranks of the table.

also, it also seems of late that this -> <- is the most used smiley on the forum when discussing Arsenal football...I think that says it all

[northbank123]

The most disappointing thing about the current state of affairs is not necessarily that we aren't as good as Chelsea, United or City and haven't got a hope of winning the CL or PL, it's that we should be good enough. It's the fact that the fans are pumping so much money into the club and it's just being stored, and that through sheer stubbornness and lack of investment we've let our best players go and refused to invest in quality replacements.

Imagine we'd invested some money in quality defenders and keeper in particular, and not wasted all of our 'wage budget' on fucking dreadful greedy no-hopers. We were a good side in 2008 that just couldn't last the pace through injuries and a lack of depth, with a decent bit of investment we would have been potential champions in 2009 certainly. Instead we let Flamini go (*word censored* or not) and have never replaced him, and bring in Mikael Silvestre and Amaury Bischoff.

[tel]

Yes, I recall feeling exactly the same time this time last year. I was around in the late 70's/early 80's and have witnessed worse teams and managers than we have now. The difference was back then it cost bugger all to get in but you felt the players cared even though they weren't particularly good. I have no affinity with any of the current side and to them it's just a job. Part of me hopes for a defeat on Saturday as it will hopefully push many over the tipping point. A former spurs manager said there used to be a football club over there after he was sacked. Those same words are rather apt for us these days.

[REB]

been going since 1980 and have seen a lot of bad arsenal teams but it never stopped me from attending, maybe because at the time we werent expected to win things, now its different because we stepped up as a club and were competing for a good few years of which we owe wenger a lot of thanks, but its the last 3-4 seasons when you see our best player been sold every summer , ticket prices the highest in england and the club hoarding money in the bank and not spending then its really got to me this season, i will always be a gooner and very proud to call myself one but apathy has set in big time with me now and ive got to a stage when i find myself caring less for the pricks we have playing for us and feel a real haterd towards those that are running our club down while increasing propfits making there own shareholding worth a fortune.
wont be renewing my membership next season and cant see myself going to the grove anytime soon as they are getting no more of my hard earned money.

[highburyJD]

end of GG's reign and under Stewart Houston we were much worse
the darkest hour is just before dawn - I'm still hoping Kroenke sees we simply have to do something

[augie]

I totally agree with you steve o and it isnt the feeling of how the club is being run now that concerns me as much as the worry that it wont change anytime soon either

I too have lived through some bad results over the last few decades and some were indeed embarassing but this disconnect between the players and the fans nowadays and the impression that most of the players dont give a flying fcuk is hardest to stomach. The day that GG left the club was a sad day for me given that we had been very successful under him and he had brought back the old Arsenal spirit and pride to the club The sad part was the fact that they sacked him - I agree that things were gone stale and a change was probably necessary but for me, given all he had done for the club, he should have been offered a chance to resign and if he refused then they could sack him. We now have a manager whose vice grip control of the club makes communist china seem carefree in comparison and even if he was offered to chance to resign he would refuse to do so such is his ego Is there any other person, who claims to love the club he is working for, that would continue to oversee that club decline season after season after season and not step down to allow somebody else to improve the situation ?

Of course the owner/board are the biggest problem - we are now being run by a man solely motivated by profits, who doesnt attend matches and appears content to allow the team to decline as long as the profits keep rolling in We are seeing a board surround him that have zero shares in the club having cashed out their chips (for a major windfall ) and in all likelihood they lack the motivation and ambition to see us becoming a trophy winning team again given that they will gain nothing from that success.


Usmanov is the way to go - I dont give a flying fcuk if he has a spotless record or not and dont give a flying fcuk what he gets up to away from the club as long as he runs the club like a proper football club. I woukld hope that he would be a ruthless b*****d too that would hold people accountable for their failures and who would leave every employee working for him in no doubt what standards and targets need to be met

[flash gunner]

end of GG's reign and under Stewart Houston we were much worse
the darkest hour is just before dawn - I'm still hoping Kroenke sees we simply have to do something

On the pitch it was youre right there but you still had the feeling the club knew what was the right thing to do and also you felt the players ie. Wright, Adams, Bould, Winterburn, Dixon, Merson etc we one of us something totally devoid of todays bunch

[northbank123]

end of GG's reign and under Stewart Houston we were much worse
the darkest hour is just before dawn - I'm still hoping Kroenke sees we simply have to do something

On the pitch it was youre right there but you still had the feeling the club knew what was the right thing to do and also you felt the players ie. Wright, Adams, Bould, Winterburn, Dixon, Merson etc we one of us something totally devoid of todays bunch

Exactly, even our longest-serving players have shown they're happy enough to jump ship without thinking twice and our squad is cluttered with greedy wankers only in it for the money. There's not the same desire and commitment to AFC to turn it round on the pitch.

[flash gunner]

The day that GG left the club was a sad day for me given that we had been very successful under him and he had brought back the old Arsenal spirit and pride to the club The sad part was the fact that they sacked him - I agree that things were gone stale and a change was probably necessary but for me, given all he had done for the club, he should have been offered a chance to resign and if he refused then they could sack him

Lets not forget augie Graham was sacked for effectively stealing from the club which he was then found guilty of by the FA, it had nothing to do with footballing reasons. The rest of your post i agree with 100%

[richpye]

I wonder how the mood would have been at the AGM and on here had we beaten both Norwich and Schalke? I honestly think there would have been a difference to a number of people's opinions on here.

I make no where near the financial commitment that others do to this Football Club, and I can fully understand their views being more relevant than mine, but I still agree that my defence of the club and it's regime is becoming harder and harder to justify.

I understand the 2014 comments by Gazidis, and I also understand the comments made re Chelsea and Man City's effect on the game in this country. Where I fall down is the comments made by PHW today that really belittle the fans and minority shareholders. Whilst we may be a plc, we are still a club and that has to be one that benefits all it's members be it Majority/Minority Shareholder, Diamond Club Member, Season Ticket Holder, Red Member (not that Red Member) or even casual fan and to be so dismissive is incredulous

[SteveO 35]

I totally agree with you steve o and it isnt the feeling of how the club is being run now that concerns me as much as the worry that it wont change anytime soon either

I think that is the key difference this time round mate. Highbury JD is right in what he says about the end of GG's reign and the brief Stewart Houston period. But the key difference then is that we all knew Houston was simply a caretaker manager, following on from a club legend, and we were anticipating the next 'big name' manager before Rioch was appointed.

Now we are in a situation where a guy who can barely offer a sentence of explanation at an AGM controls the majority of the share capital and hence makes all the decisions at the club. That guy is perfectly happy presiding over things the way they are done right now and there is an inevitability that Wenger and Gazidis will remain in position as long as he stays the owner. Its the feeling of helplessness and a lack of seeing the light at the end of the tunnel that makes me feel much worse about it all

[REB]

The day that GG left the club was a sad day for me given that we had been very successful under him and he had brought back the old Arsenal spirit and pride to the club The sad part was the fact that they sacked him - I agree that things were gone stale and a change was probably necessary but for me, given all he had done for the club, he should have been offered a chance to resign and if he refused then they could sack him

Lets not forget augie Graham was sacked for effectively stealing from the club which he was then found guilty of by the FA, it had nothing to do with footballing reasons

fair enough flash he was but also gave the board at the time the excuse to get rid of him. graham had got too much control at the club and felt he was arsenal , now dont get me wrong here and i loved gg a lot , won us titles i thought i would never see and gave the club back our pride and back to been londons number one club.but 92-93 he had lost it .

[Bradywasking]

I can remember the mid seventies as the double team broke up in the final years of Bertie Mee's reign. I remember losing at Loftus Road on Easter Monday 1976 and being convinced that we were relegated. The last months of the Terry Neill reign were similarly depressing. The defeat against Walsall in the League Cup being particularly hard to take. Then the dying days of the George Graham era, the club was in freefall and blighted by controversy over Merson and Graham's actions.
Yet at all those depressing times I believed the Club would take decisive action to remedy the malaise. And each time they did and we were the better for it. Now sadly I believe that there isn't the will within the club to address this issue. Arsenal have become accustomed to failure, we are accepting that a top four finish is more important than trophies. We want to qualify for a Champions League but don't want to win it . We have players on our books that should never have played for this Club. What is worse is the board and the manager are comfortable with that. We watch press conferences after the likes of Norwich on Saturday or last night and we are offered no hope at all because the club and the manager are comfortable with their idea of achievement. On the days like City or Liverpool away or Southampton at home we as football fans naturally grab the positives but it's after these positives that the reality hurts more. We sell our best players to our main rivals home or abroad , our Chairman tuts at this or other awkward issues being raised by fans. We look at hundreds of empty seats and the club tells us it's a sellout.
In 1976 and in 1983 and in 1995 the Club reacted and we went forward , now the club are not reacting. The only hope is the number of Champions League places being cut or Arsenal missing out on qualification.