Wenger Out protest thread

[xisstential]

Until last night I thought the protests would be continuing until the fraud made his announcement, and if we didn’t like it they would continue until he had gone. I was there before the Lincoln and Man City games and really thought we had something going but after last night I felt that it had suffered a sudden death. I missed the pub to go to the old ground but because nothing was happening there it meant I was in the bowl about 35 mins early. That was a bit too long for me to add on another 13 minutes and because of what I had or maybe it should be had not seen earlier, I went to my seat when the players came out. Disappointing is an understatement. I feel we have lost and if he is still there next season I won’t be.

Do you know how difficult it is to try keep the momentum going on this??? There must be about 20 hardcore guys who'll move heaven & earth the others just come & go. Trying to get something going with the other organisers at the moment & my argument is that if we don't spoon feed the protesters and arm them with the tools, NOTHING will happen.

People are just totally apathetic and TBH Arsenal "fans" deserve Wenger. If he signs for another extension, next year we will spend the season hovering down between 6 & 8th place. And he'll spin it out until he convinces his devoted slaves that, under the circumstances, it's actually more than we should be hoping for. And of course that he needs more time to get us back into Top 4...and people will buy it.

[Graham71]

The real protest is when ST holders get that renewal form. If you want another two years of the same renew.If not boycott.Its that simple.No one puts a gun to your head.Its alright saying you want Wenger out but if you renew your ST you are voting with your £1500 for him to stay

I gave up my ST in 2010.Not one day since have i regreted it

[northbank123]

Rob's posts sum up exactly the problem and why Wenger has been allowed to carry on as long as he has without discontent being voiced.

Going to the Emirates is a completely sanitised experience largely devoid of passion and for most people is comparable to a day at the theatre. So many people are more interested in talking about work, their kids, other games, their bets or fucking about on their phone.

And when was the last time that we had a shot at the title at the business end of the season? I remember what it was like in the last few months of 1998 and 2002 when the pressure was on and every win was absolutely monumental, every second of every game mattered. We just haven't had that excitement for so long and coupled with the demographic changes to the matchday going 'fan' the place just has no passion.

[northbank123]

Rob's posts sum up exactly the problem and why Wenger has been allowed to carry on as long as he has without discontent being voiced.

Going to the Emirates is a completely sanitised experience largely devoid of passion and for most people is comparable to a day at the theatre. So many people are more interested in talking about work, their kids, other games, their bets or fucking about on their phone.

And when was the last time that we had a shot at the title at the business end of the season? I remember what it was like in the last few months of 1998 and 2002 when the pressure was on and every win was absolutely monumental, every second of every game mattered. We just haven't had that excitement for so long and coupled with the demographic changes to the matchday going 'fan' the place just has no passion.

[NickF]

The real protest is when ST holders get that renewal form. If you want another two years of the same renew.If not boycott.Its that simple.No one puts a gun to your head.Its alright saying you want Wenger out but if you renew your ST you are voting with your £1500 for him to stay

I gave up my ST in 2010.Not one day since have i regreted it

This argument has been done to death, it make no difference if a season ticket holder renews or not. They will just fill your seat with a tourist and the fansbase becomes even more dilluted.

[Gunner Rob]

The real protest is when ST holders get that renewal form. If you want another two years of the same renew.If not boycott.Its that simple.No one puts a gun to your head.Its alright saying you want Wenger out but if you renew your ST you are voting with your £1500 for him to stay

I gave up my ST in 2010.Not one day since have i regreted it

This argument has been done to death, it make no difference if a season ticket holder renews or not. They will just fill your seat with a tourist and the fansbase becomes even more dilluted.

I can see the argument from both sides for this but I would really question anyone's sanity if they want to put up for years more of this (by the way it is not 2 years, Wenger effectively has a rolling contract)

It is not as if it is hard to get a ticket these days and once we drop down to Europa League level I imagine there will be a bit of a drop off in interest from tourists and so it will be like last night for every match ie sit where you like

[Brady's left peg]

It is time for a white hanky protest?

It's easy for people to take into the ground, it's visual, everyone knows what it means. It is a lot more impersonal too, people feel less attached to it than something like carrying a 'Wenger Out' banner. AND it can be done at any match, home or away, with little organisation.

You're still not getting it, people in the Emirates are not interested in protesting. They do not care either way...

It's 'kin disheartening isn't it? This whole 'respect for Wenger' thing is preventing most from voicing their feelings whilst watching the club descend into mid table mediocrity.

At which point all the fucking tourists and JCL's will fuck off to another club IE: One that is more fashionable, successful etc!
And we'll be left to pick up the pieces of a once great club.

Wenger and Kroenke (Wankers) for short out!

[Sidney]

.

[xisstential]

Until last night I thought the protests would be continuing until the fraud made his announcement, and if we didn’t like it they would continue until he had gone. I was there before the Lincoln and Man City games and really thought we had something going but after last night I felt that it had suffered a sudden death. I missed the pub to go to the old ground but because nothing was happening there it meant I was in the bowl about 35 mins early. That was a bit too long for me to add on another 13 minutes and because of what I had or maybe it should be had not seen earlier, I went to my seat when the players came out. Disappointing is an understatement. I feel we have lost and if he is still there next season I won’t be.

Do you know how difficult it is to try keep the momentum going on this??? There must be about 20 hardcore guys who'll move heaven & earth the others just come & go. Trying to get something going with the other organisers at the moment & my argument is that if we don't spoon feed the protesters and arm them with the tools, NOTHING will happen.

People are just totally apathetic and TBH Arsenal "fans" deserve Wenger. If he signs for another extension, next year we will spend the season hovering down between 6 & 8th place. And he'll spin it out until he convinces his devoted slaves that, under the circumstances, it's actually more than we should be hoping for. And of course that he needs more time to get us back into Top 4...and people will buy it.

But where were the organisers last night? I don't know any of them personally but I know them by face and not a single one of them was at the old stadium entrance. If at least one had been then I would have been able to speak to them but I just thought in the end that they'd been in touch with each other about calling the whole thing off. I got to the old stadium at 18:40 and there was hardly anyone around and when it hadn't improved by 19:00 I gave up and went to where we all met on Sunday but there was no sign of any protest there either.

You wanna take over?? Mark, Kevin & Matt were there. Pete, Mark & myself weren't...... It's not our fault if nobody turns up. People are largely apathetic. If we hadn't got this started sweet FA would be happening. It's time consuming and difficult, especially because we haven't got 100's & 100's of dedicated, die hard WoB's on board.

[General]

I felt that the protest march part hadnt been promoted and publicised quite as strongly on social media as the previous marches.

Perhaps considering last nights protest was a two-fold effort, ie:- the march and not entering until 13th min. the march part was somehow overshadowed?

I may be wrong but thats what I feel happened and possibly contributing to why numbers were down for the march.
Also perhaps some may feel they've done the marching thing already? Posdibly people could be thinking time for something new maybe? Its difficult to keep people engaged if they're not as commited as us.
Coupled that with a mid-week game with nothing really to play for and numbers are bound to fall.

But I defo think the march part of the protest wasnt pushed as hard as the others.

Agreed mate. You and I and I'm sure others promote the protests heavily on social media etc and things quietened down a bit yesterday. I couldn't get on it much because of work and when I did I found out the 13th minute protet was seen as the main event which as you say might not have helped. However, it was still publicised by the media so the momentum hasn't suddenly been lost because we didn't march.

The battle has always been getting those who want Le fraud out but won't protest to join one of the initiatives. I saw plenty of them at clock end yesterday which was easily the most vocal end of the entire stadium. I've got into a habit of speaking to people about the protests and why they won't join and it's mostly down to a lack of enthusiasm as I've always suspected. We have to try and change this mindset and things like the stickers etc are a step in the right direction. Sustaining the march was always going to be a tough ask. We have to time them to coincide with negative results (and do other things in between) and this is why the Bayern protest drew out such a vocal support.

If the prick signs, protesting will just become a way of life, whether it's marching or doing other creative things to keep the pressure on.

[Pete on the beach]

Until last night I thought the protests would be continuing until the fraud made his announcement, and if we didn’t like it they would continue until he had gone. I was there before the Lincoln and Man City games and really thought we had something going but after last night I felt that it had suffered a sudden death. I missed the pub to go to the old ground but because nothing was happening there it meant I was in the bowl about 35 mins early. That was a bit too long for me to add on another 13 minutes and because of what I had or maybe it should be had not seen earlier, I went to my seat when the players came out. Disappointing is an understatement. I feel we have lost and if he is still there next season I won’t be.

Do you know how difficult it is to try keep the momentum going on this??? There must be about 20 hardcore guys who'll move heaven & earth the others just come & go. Trying to get something going with the other organisers at the moment & my argument is that if we don't spoon feed the protesters and arm them with the tools, NOTHING will happen.

People are just totally apathetic and TBH Arsenal "fans" deserve Wenger. If he signs for another extension, next year we will spend the season hovering down between 6 & 8th place. And he'll spin it out until he convinces his devoted slaves that, under the circumstances, it's actually more than we should be hoping for. And of course that he needs more time to get us back into Top 4...and people will buy it.

But where were the organisers last night? I don't know any of them personally but I know them by face and not a single one of them was at the old stadium entrance. If at least one had been then I would have been able to speak to them but I just thought in the end that they'd been in touch with each other about calling the whole thing off. I got to the old stadium at 18:40 and there was hardly anyone around and when it hadn't improved by 19:00 I gave up and went to where we all met on Sunday but there was no sign of any protest there either.

You wanna take over?? Mark, Kevin & Matt were there. Pete, Mark & myself weren't...... It's not our fault if nobody turns up. People are largely apathetic. If we hadn't got this started sweet FA would be happening. It's time consuming and difficult, especially because we haven't got 100's & 100's of dedicated, die hard WoB's on board.

Chris lives 140 odd miles from London, I live over 50, mark is outside too had planned to come but sudden issues at work meant he couldn't . I'm perfectly happy to let Sidney take my place as an organiser ? Especially as I have a big art project to prepare for in may , which involves lots of free time I have

What we need is some of you guys to get organised too and work with us in liaison , off the main forum of course ?

[xisstential]

Can anybody who is going to the Palace game please PM me.

[Sidney]

.

[Retro Gunner]

well the reality of the situation certainly hit home last night..

got to the "protest march" about 5 minutes late, - i looked up Avenell Road towards the East Stand, didnt look like there was anyone there and so thought I must have missed it. Went into Gillespie Road but could only see the regular match going "zombies" walking towards the stadium. Spoke to some guy selling copies of the Gooner and he told me that he thought that the march had been cancelled.

continued on to the stadium, got a beer in just before kick off and wondered how many people would not go in...then it hits you that most people are totally oblivious to any protest. there are of course the usual latecomers, but they were just heading straight to their seat.
watched the first 10 minutes on the TV, I certainly didnt appear to be missing much! then headed to my seat. the guy next to me was taking a selfie

easy 3-0 win (once we had scored the first goal) but West Ham offered so little it wasnt a proper contest. They could well get relegated.

basically the vast majority of the Emirates crowd are happy the way things are, it matters very little to them where we are in the league.
yes we might well get top 4 again, but really that is no longer a big deal I dont think. For those who dont go to games now you have to realise that like the manager they are not bothered about winning things anymore - going to the Arsenal in 2017 is about the day out, the experience, the buying of over priced crap food, the buying of plastic tat from the club stores. If Arsenal score 1 or 2 goals it is just a bonus.

I can't see an end in sight.

Sadly, I'm afraid it's ^^^^ this. I think most of us think / know that he'll sign a new contract and regardless of what the rest of the season has in store (out of the Cup, 5th or 6th in the league), there'll be no more anti Wenger sentiment from the morons than we're seeing now. God knows, the diehards have tried hard with our protests, but very few new recruits are on board.

There's one thing that needs pointing out and that's the misguided belief that the apathy and acceptance is as a result of jcl's and tourists. What's a jcl anyway ?? Is it just a supporter from a younger generation that wasn't around in the 60's, 70's and 80's ? Hardly their fault that they're only 30 or younger and it doesn't make them any less a supporter than we older guys. I accept that they obviously have less of a grasp on pre Wenger Arsenal, but there are young guys on here who are anti Wenger (I've met and seen many at the protests) and it's unfair to foist a disparaging label on a generation. As for 40 and 50 year olds that only started going 10 or 15 years ago, are there really many of them?

Tourists ? I don't really know. No doubt about lots of selfies and people kitted out in crap from the Armoury, but I've no idea what percentage of them are tourists and day trippers.

No, the apathy issue runs far deeper than "jcl's" and tourits. Bear in mind that there's what, 40 - 45,000 season tickets at the bowl. That's a lot of non-tourists and if 10% had joined the protests, then we'd probably be home and dry. As much as we might not want to admit it, it's these proper gooners that are the problem. We all know diehard, old school supporters who still support Il Duce, or are at least unwilling to campaign for his removal (there have been a number of posts on here over the last couple of days detailing mates who won't protest and want to give him time etc) and it's been eye opening on the marches. On Sunday, the biggest detractors and / or nuisances trying to disrupt the march, were old boys in their 60's. Four clearly spring to mind, a couple maybe even the wrong side of 70. Take it from me, they weren't jcl's or tourists.

Like it or not, the real problem is brain dead gooners.....FACT .

[NickF]

there'll be no more anti Wenger sentiment from the morons than we're seeing now.