Where does Passion Cross the line?

I’m certain even the most hard core fans must have wanted to have a chance to shout something at the under fire manager this weekend after yet another appalling, disappointing and infuriating display up north against Stoke.

However one fan took it upon themselves to actually go to the next level and tell Arsene in no uncertain terms exactly how he felt. If you haven’t seen the clip yet, here it is

*WARNING* Contains strong language

 

 

Apologies for the poor quality but that is the video that most fans have related to when commenting on this.

Suggestions are vast as to the repercussions surrounding this video. The fan shouting to Joel Campbell that he should get out while he can is also appearing to be the same fan shouting extreme comments at Arsene Wenger. While I am not calling for Wenger to remain in charge another minute more than he should, this is simply unacceptable and we as fans should be moving to condone this thuggish and hooligan like behaviour.

The video has come though after an exceptionally poor start to the season despite a summer transfer window that promised a bit a delivered more disappointment than anything else. Wenger has to ask himself who is really to blame when it comes to a fan backlash like this? Only he can take the responsibility like he wants to be responsible for everything else at the club.

The majority of fans who would like to see Wenger leave would like it to be done in the right way and to see him either leave of his own accord or to remain so long that he falls upon his sword. Ulitmatley, in a recent poll prior to the Manchester United defeat, as many as 62% of fans in a poll on Ladbrookes.com wanted Wenger to leave the club. I can now only imagine that this figure is getting higher and higher by the game.

With what would appear to be a completely dead game against Galatasary approaching, fans were not impressed when Wenger was quoted as saying he chose not to leave the dugout on Saturday at The Brittania because he doesn’t like the abuse being hurled at him from the fans.

To sit behind enemy lines and effectively surrender your team to the slaughter?

How very French of you Arsene…

Ultimately though the main talking point has now come to how much longer he can really carry on. What doesn’t help is the upper class bowl fillers who occupy several thousand seats at the Emirates and contribute nothing to the atmosphere or the match other than lining the pockets of the executives who run our club. The ever so wonderful and evasive Stan Kroenke and the amazingly invisible Sir Chips Keswick.

The club is run from the top down in a shambolic fashion with what would appear to be key words coming at the AGM instigating that Arsene is actually the man with the most power at the club. That’s right, the manager who is meant to be focussing on the pitch, actually has more fingers in more pies than Greggs bake sausage rolls and clearly it is affecting his ability to do his job correctly.

I have been watching on Twitter as over the last 5 months, the tide has turned, almost to a Tsunami, no not Newcastle, but a very large wave of emotional outpouring. Fans once united only 7 months ago as we clinched the FA Cup now stand totally divided arguing over when the clubs greatest manager will eventually leave with what little legacy he has intact.

One fan in recent weeks tried to convince me that Wenger was the right man for the job as he had been at the club since 1996. No other substance to the argument, just that he was there for 18 years. When @ozil_facts tweeted that Arsenal had won 9 major trophies in 18 years, I even started to question if that was actually big enough for a club with a 60,000+ seater stadium.

My own answer was no, it really really isn’t. But as fans we have always been a simple bunch. Keep us either in contention, fighting for the title till the last, keep us fighting in the cups till we can fight no more and even if it is possible, just win a bit of silverware every now and then.

One fan has written an open letter detailing what I genuinely believe most fans actually feel, that we just need to be competitive, not to win everything and buy our way to titles like Chelsea and City. We aren’t that type of club and I hope we never fall into that category. However a line was crossed on Saturday in Stoke, this is where the main issue lays.

Evidently, Wenger has not done right by this club for 90% of the last 10 years. He has guided us to a new stadium and remained loyal when other clubs came knocking. We are not disputing this and we as fans are more than understanding when we see our best players sold. How much does it now hurt to see Fabregas playing for Chelsea when we had no reason not to sign him? Look how he is performing for Chelsea whilst we struggle to score more than 2 in some games this season?

The line was crossed when Wenger said our defence looked inexperienced.

This was the same man that sold Vermaelen, let Sagna go and brought in Debuchy and Chambers. At this point we still needed the necessary cover for a Centre Back and despite all the calls for a defensive midfielder, we as fans were monumentally let down again in the transfer window.

For some it was too much and that can only be taken so far, some took it too far. But whether Wenger was crying on the train home from Stoke or not only he knows. Hopefully he now gets the feeling of fear, that actually the fans aren’t all on his side as we once were and that maybe, just maybe, he needs to pull his finger out and fight for his job now.

If he remains after this season, it will only be because he has done what has been needed and not what he has scraped by on. We as fans need to make our voices heard in the right way, booing the manager in the stadium, as the club won’t let us take in our banners and protests, another sign that this once democratic club, has turned into a dictatorship from the man who many still revere as the man to take the club into the next season and beyond. This has to change, and now.