High times and low lives

 

“Ego-maniac traitor, you never did understand
you fell in love with your ego, it did not fit into plan”

-Low life: Public Image Limited

It would be easy to pour derision and bile on Robin Van Persie; yet another captain to desert us. It would be easy enough to feel angered by the manoeuvring that made staying untenable. We Arsenal supporters are a long suffering bunch and we have an annual hate figure, or at least an annual figure to feel disappointed by.

Truth is that these situations go hand in hand with egomaniacal footballers who view success not just in terms of trophies but in how far they can take their saleability; their value as a commodity if you will.

Since 2005 we have lost five Captains Vieira, Henry, Gallas, Fabregas and Van Persie (in that same period Liverpool have had one captain) and that tells a story far more tangible than the convoluted and secretive reasons behind our assets being stripped. It tells the story of a club whose appointed leaders both on and off the field don’t have what it takes.

It’s tiresome that the Emirates has become the go to stadium for the home support to boo opposition players who we once supported. It’s not only tiresome but slightly embarrassing that so much energy is spent on bitterness as opposed to using that energy to get behind our team as we did against Sp*rs and Milan last season.

Its easy to forget that the good times of being a supporter are very good and that there is a lot to be said for bouncing back from adversity. The negativity towards all those ex-Gunners, can be counter productive

Of course I won’t be there next season so I suppose I’m due for some criticism, but I have never, in the decades I have been going to the Arsenal given less that my full energy to positively supporting our own players.

Having said that I can't escape the feeling that this departure is a bad one; an act of treachery.

So the vitriolic lyrics quoted above are not so much about feeling any sense of outrage about the machinations of the modern football world more a way of stating a supporters feeling about Van Persie, but moving on from it. I would say that on a personal note, as a supporter I feel that Van Persie is an egomaniac traitor but, much in the same way that I felt about Fabregas. They no longer play for Arsenal so I don’t care what they get up to.

Basically; fuck him.