What influenced you to support Arsenal?
I was born and have lived my whole life in deepest Highbury, in a house whose garden is only divided from the old stadium’s grounds by a wall, so supporting Arsenal wasn’t even close to being a choice. My parents both like football and they enabled and encouraged it but they didn’t have much influence on actually making me into a supporter beyond letting me live in this house, which was pretty nice of them. I can’t remember a time when I didn’t support Arsenal and they’re a heavy feature in the vast majority of my early memories. Arsenal being really good in my younger days was probably a big part of it, too, but obviously I can’t say for sure on that one. It was pretty easy to gain an interest in football and a love for the club when they have Dennis Bergkamp and a few trophies to welcome you, that much is certain!
Having been the architect of the modern Arsenal and bringing huge success to the club, Arsène Wenger has recently come under serious scrutiny as a result of 8 trophy-less years. As someone who has experienced Arsenal under Wenger for most of their life, how do you view the manager and is he still the right man for the job?
He’s been Arsenal manager since I was 1 year old and I love him. He’s flawed, yes, but he’s still the best manager for the club. His status doesn’t make him above questions, of course, but he does answer them well almost all the time. I want him to stay forever.
As a young fan, what is your view on the Arsenal board (if any) and do you think it would be beneficial for there to be an injection of fresh, young blood?
What difference would a younger figure make? With the club structured the way it is now, what do the board actually do that needs changing and within that, that someone younger would change? With regard to what goes on at the club, I am happy enough with pretty much everything except the lack of material achievement and the some areas of the ticket pricing – notably Category A games and full season tickets (they’re actually pretty fair for Category B and C matches). The board don’t control the former and on the latter, again, why would someone younger necessarily make any difference?
Are you happy with the way Arsenal do things or would you be in favour of a Manchester City-esque takeover if it all but guaranteed success?
No. All Arsenal’s money is money they have earned. I like that. We’re past the point where this model is restricting us, so why move into ill-gotten gains? Plus City’s and Chelsea’s owners’ means of gaining that wealth have been… somewhat unscrupulous, to say the least. That at Arsenal would leave me uneasy.
On a different level, it’s like as a player cheating to win an important game. It still annoys me that Eboué dived in the Champions League Final in 2006 for the free kick that led to our goal. It levelled out somewhat against the other referring calls that day, but our only ever goal in a Champions League Final was the direct result of cheating, the same way every Chelsea success since 2003 has been thanks to financial doping. Who would want that? Sure, Arsenal would be winning, which would be great, but at what cost? Maybe if it were my job I’d have a more ‘win at all costs’ attitude but it isn’t, it’s the team I support, which – perhaps naïvely – I want to be about something ‘more’. ‘Success’ as an idea is subjective enough; to me, buying something you’ve always wanted with money that isn’t yours doesn’t really cut it. But others may differ.
Are you or would you consider becoming a member of a supporters’ group (e.g. AST) and why/why not?
I was an AST member last year but I was away when it expired and I haven’t got around to renewing it yet. I like the idea that a club’s fans can have an influence on its higher powers and as it is so heavily funded by such a select group (fans as a whole), that group deserves answers about where its funding is going. I don’t know how much change fan groups can really create, but they’re the best chance of making any.
Are you generally optimistic or pessimistic when it comes to Arsenal and why?
To borrow a line from old Twitter hero @TheSquidBoyLike, I’m a ‘long term optimist, short term pessimist’. I’m worried before every game except the home North London Derby, but habitually confident that the season will play out as we hope (long as the squad is actually good enough and all). Arsenal teaches you to take nothing for granted but that it’ll all work itself out eventually… somehow.
Do you feel the Emirates Stadium lacks atmosphere? If so, what would you do to change/improve it?
It definitely lacks atmosphere, but I’m not sure if it can be improved. It does get going quite a bit for many big games but that’s when pretty much every level of the stadium is on the same page with regard to energy going into the game and willingness to show support. But that isn’t nearly as prevalent in smaller games. It’s too big for songs to travel from the louder areas (Blocks 5/6 and thereabouts) to the other end of the ground every time if they’re not being picked up by almost everyone in between. And as much as we have issues with the quietness of the place, so does nearly every club in the league. Any fan of a big club that tells you they have an amazing atmosphere every week is a liar.
Maybe a safe standing area would make a difference. It’d certainly help on the prices front, but prices evidently have little bearing on atmosphere, seeing as the loudest games are almost always the most expensive and the quietest are the cheapest. That kind of area would theoretically create a wider, yet more condensed patch with Block 6’s atmosphere levels. But even with that, most games will fail to foster at atmosphere like the one the Derby gets because they’re not as important.
What are your views on the season so far and do you think this will be the year Arsenal end the ‘trophy drought’?
It’s been a very encouraging start, definitely. Tied in with the end of last season, we know that this team can sustain its form, it can defend brilliantly against heavy pressure and that it doesn’t fear bigger and arguably better teams. A look at the squad in full also does plenty to dispel the idea that we lack depth across the board. There are at least two players for every position except right-sided centre back and centre forward – and even in the latter that’s fairly debatable. Those two are the worries. This side reminds me most of the 2009/10 side. We had a much stronger title challenge than many remember that year but when Vermaelen and Gallas got injured, we had Silvestre and Sol Campbell to take their places. We were within three points of top before the 4-1 loss to Barcelona, by which point we’d lost Cesc, Arshavin, Gallas (Vermaelen followed shortly after) and Van Persie.
Now, the depth is much better and the team is stronger defensively and mentally than then, but I could envisage us struggling through three competitions in mid-March catching up with them badly – the fixture list in March are horrific, though it’s fairly plain sailing for the last 5-6 games. That only becomes worse if Mertesacker or Giroud get injured or suspended for a spell.
This all being said, we do have real strength in depth and the league is weak (as it has been every year since 09/10). City are terrifying but they still have to play almost all the big teams bar Chelsea away, and Chelsea have been phenomenally unimpressive and uninspiring whenever I’ve watched them. We’ve been the most consistently impressive side in the league. Even the United and City away results were skewed by no Mertesacker and the squad illness in the former and Koscielny going off at 1-2 in the latter.
The most likely avenue for success would be the FA Cup, but I could see that being set aside while we hunt for bigger game and then be left with nothing come March’s end. The league isn’t impossible at all but I’m still highly wary of deeming it anything close to ‘likely’. The Champions League is the same, though even more unlikely, especially now we’re playing Bayern. But to actually answer the question, I can’t say whether it will be the year we win something again but it most certainly can be.
If you could change one thing about Arsenal FC, what would it be and why?
The season ticket prices. Because they’re too damn high.
Finally, if you had to spend the rest of your life on a remote island with one Arsenal player who graced the red and white shirt in your lifetime, who would it be and why?
Dennis Bergkamp. The hero we’ll never deserve.
Michael Keshani, 18.
