GOOD GRIEF GUNNERS

Being a supporter of the Arsenal this season was like being a character from Charles Schulz's seminal Peanuts. There's Schroeder, die hard about his passion: he brooks no criticism of his beloved Wolfgang Amadeus. Snoopy who is sanguine and philosophical while those around him rail against the unfairness of their position in the world. Linus, whose experience does not go back as far as those around him resulting in his naïveté and need for a literal security blanket. But above all there is Charlie Brown, optimistic about the possibility of Lucy not pulling away that pig skin, trusting that a positive outcome must surely arrive in regards to the little red headed girl and believing each year in the arrival of The Great Pumpkin.

Inevitably Lucy Van Pelt represents Arsenal Football Club. Her temptation of Charlie Brown is offset by her spurious reassurances from her Psychiatric booth. Lucy is the nearest there is to an adult in Schulz’s universe and her manipulations of gullibility and trust mark out her cynical nature: as long as she’s okay who cares?

Every transfer window there is Lucy holding that Pigskin, every new season there is Lucy in her booth dishing out psychological claptrap.

How many times does Charlie Brown put his trust in events that are out of his control finally turning out right? An infinite number of times: that’s his nature. In this he personifies the current situation (I was going to say plight but when all is considered that’s far too dramatic) of the Arsenal fan. Changing times were reflected in Peanuts with the introduction of new characters such as Woodstock, Franklin and Jose (and there are turbulent times ahead next season with a managerial merry go round) yet Charlie brown remains true, despite the influence of new minds,to his faith in things turning out alright.

We have faith because faith, misplaced or otherwise, is all you can ever have when you are a supporter, faith that Lucy will deliver advice that turns out right, faith that the Little Red haired girl will notice us, faith that The Great Pumpkin will turn out to be more than a myth: an empty promise and faith that eventually Lucy will not pull the ball away and we'll kick that ball and it will sail gloriously through the air.

Charlie in his 91/93 Arsenal Away Kit

Images copyright United Features Syndicate

Comments

Reasons to be cheerful?

So November arrives with cold weather and grey skies. Arsenal sit in 2 nd place with a great chance to make progress in the Carling Cup with a home draw against wigan Athletic. Poised to win our Champions league group and with six months of the season left have 3 of our five tougher away fixtures out of the way, having taken a respectable 4 from 9. I say respectable as, the Man City away trip aside the draw at Anfield on the occasion of Hodgson’s first game was a good result and the Chelsea game I don’t think anyone can really speak of any injustice. That leaves away games at Old Trafford and Sp*rs (who as we know raise their game for this fixture). With injured players gradually returning and the Polish goalkeepers showing signs of optimism, we’re in relatively good shape. Or so you’d think. Yesterday at the Emirates West Ham were put to the sword late on after some stout defending, a good performance from Robert Green and a couple of missed opportunities. The level of indign...

There's something rotten in the state of Denmark

A number of blogs are pointing out what was evident to me yesterday; as a season ticket holder and Silver member i like thousands of others made plans to purchase an additional ticket for the Barcelona game using the frustrating and irritating online service, but guess what? no joy, just lots of waiting finger tapping and watching the dreaded 'loading' bar (to make matters worse I had asked my missus to do this as I was doing training). But no one got these additional tickets, that is no supporters judging by the general feedback! It seems to me that the additional seats will have probably gone to customers of a corporate nature. Ultimately for such a marquee (to use an American commercialism term) game I suspect that the club where never going to sell to supporters of the club, there is clearly a undercurrent at the Emirates that the club wants to have the stadium full of customers ie; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ognvWIwjKTQ The Emirates of the future? It will be interesti...

PERSONALITY TEST

Played 23, 10 defeats, 4 draws and 9 victories; that's the factual bit out of the way. What does that tell us? I guess it is a set of statistics that reasonably reflect a mid table team. How we got here is something that countless column inches and hours of debate have gone into. How we move forward is the bigger question. Naturally, learning from past mistakes is a key element to moving forward but have Arsenal Football Club done that? Have Arsenal Football Club realised that a clear vision and plan is needed? When you look at the current squad its relatively easy to see where the strenghts are, and the weaknesses. The manager too, has strengths and weaknesses but one thing that is intangible is the personality of the club. Not so much "where are we" as "what are we?" To know what the club is is to know what the upper echelons think, what their plan and philosophy is and how the manager processes that information. We can assume that the club decision makers wa...

ARSENALISM©

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