To boo or not to boo- That’s the question

Well, a late, late article on the United game. And no I am not going to talk about the shambolic performance. I am not going to talk about us being unable to compete with probably the worst United team that I have ever seen in my 13 years of watching football.

I thought I would talk on the big ‘boo’ that has successfully deflected attention from our inability to compete in the big games. The ‘boo’ has been questioned a lot. It took my memory back to a Freakonomics podcast I had heard recently. (A wonderful episode for all Sporting fans! Take your time out and hear it out!). There was a wonderful comment from Levitt which is referenced in the article page as well

I’ve never been booed, but I think that’s a bad thing, because I think in order to get booed, people actually have to have high expectations about you.  

And that’s the key to me, for why it is wrong to people question getting booed. That is the reason why I feel offended when Arsene tells us that he has made 50,000 substitutions and is not answerable. According to Deloitte, we are amongst the top 5 clubs in the world in terms of revenue.  Forbes put us at 3^rd in the world. Only Manchester United is above us amongst the English clubs. Add to it, that we hardly make any non ticket revenue as compared to the clubs above us, WE ARE CERTAINLY THE COSTLIEST TICKET IN THE WORLD. If the club thinks that we have such pricing power, then we have to perform that way. With great (pricing) power comes great responsibility. There has been too much of a bottled anger amongst us. A win against a top side has been a rarity. In the entire of the last calendar year, I can only remember a victory over United after it was all over and a win over Chelsea in a goal scoring madness. Is that honestly good enough? Is such a record comparable to any of the other top four clubs of the world, Real Madrid, Manchester United, Bayern Munich and Barcelona. Are we honestly competing at a level that the other four clubs are competing at?

It is easy to close one’s eyes and talk about getting back behind the team. If anything, I have always felt us, Arsenal fans have afforded the most leeway to players and the manager. We have put up with players that Sunderland and Sao Paulo don’t find good enough. We have put up with players who have not given anything for the club, turn up for half a season and then monetize with a move away. We have put up with six years of a Project comfortably turning up as bridesmaids, when we missed out on the wedding due to that single date we messed up. How long has it been since we keep saying that our team is just a couple of players away from greatness. And yet, we have not addressed them. Every year, a new blindspot. Most Arsenal fans, including I, still love Arsene and hold him dearer than any footballing reference. But it is worthwhile listening to us criticize. You may have done more substitutions than us. But honestly, we are the football club, the true owners of the institution. Without us, the club is a piece of green ground surrounded by beautiful buildings. We are the true owners of the club, you know. 


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