Time to stick away fans in the Gods, Arsenal

I wrote a piece about people leaving our home games early earlier this week, and it looks like I’m not the only one to notice the lack of support shown in the stadium. This week REDaction held a meeting with AFC representatives before the Carling Cup tie versus Manchester City at Emirates.

The questions about safe standing, ticketing, and unreserved seating posed to the club were unfortunately on the whole dodged by the club. More interestingly I thought was the one of the questions posed about player interaction with the fans.

It was put to the club about the an improvement in post-match appreciation by the players would be appreciated, which was met with a reply saying that the fans must also meet them halfway, which includes staying for the full 90 minutes at home games. Obviously I’m not the only one to notice that other fans are leaving early, the players are clearly noticing too.

How frustrating must it be for a player to be entering the final stages of a match and to look up at the stands for encouragement, only to see thousands of people leaving  the stadium rather than cheering the team on? As I stated in my previous piece, we can be the difference between us drawing 1-1 at home to Fulham and beating them 2-1.

It seems though that most of the dodged questions were around the issue of ticketing, such as the location of the away fans and the potential for unreserved seating for Carling Cup games. I feel that if we could get blocks 5-12 put as unreserved seating for Carling Cup ties this would improve the atmosphere no end.

Those who travel regularly to away games will know we have some of the best away support, all standing, all singing and giving their all for the lads. Take a look on youtube and search for arsenal fans at whatever our last away game was, and you might just be surprised to see just how passionate our fans are.

Unfortunately most people who go to away games are then separated at home games, which contributes to the dire atmosphere we currently have to endure. If we could get 2,000 people who want to stand, sing and stay for the full 90 minutes it might, just might make a real difference to a result.

Away fans positioning was another point raised, which whilst I agree with the sentiment, this should have never been an issue in the first place had the club stuck them in the upper tier from when we moved. How much of a lift must it be to away teams knowing that they will be backed by 3,000 (or however many fans they bring) in the lower tier behind the goal? We should do what Newcastle do and stick them up in the upper tier, as far away as possible from the pitch, and charge them the highest prices to boot. The less away fans in our stadium the better if you ask me.

The dire atmosphere at our new home needs drastic improvement, and isn’t being helped by people wasting a ticket by only attending 75% of the match. Perhaps if you can’t commit to attending the game to the end you shouldn’t be there at all.

STUART WATSON