Forget the Guard of Honour, Blame the Board

Details: Written by Sam Steele; Published: Friday, 26 April 2013 13:20

This Sunday every Arsenal fans worst nightmare is happening. When Van Persie left and joined Man United in the Summer, there was always the possibility that he would win the league. Now he returns to the Emirates for the first time as a League Champion, and the Arsenal players will be giving the United team a guard of Honour.

As much as every Arsenal fan would love to vent their anger at Van Persie and jeer the Guard of Honour, the fans should instead change their attention to the board.

All the boards fault

Every year Arsenal fans have become accustomed to losing their best players during the summer, from Fabregas to Nasri to Van Persie last summer. These players leave and the board takes in all the money, without spending it on quality replacements. It is for this reason why the players are leaving.

When our best players are continually sold and not replaced, while ticket prices increase, it shows how our board lack ambition and are only after profit, so why would any player want to stay and play in a mediocre team when they could be off winning titles.

As much as Gunners may be in uproar with players decisions to leave, most notably Van Persie and Samir Nasri, you have to ask the question, can you really blame them? Since they left the Gunners they have both vindicated their decision to leave by winning the league (with Nasri looking set to add an FA Cup), whilst Arsenal have stagnated.

Don’t disrespect the guard of honour

Many Arsenal fans will be looking at Sunday’s game for a chance to take aim at Van Persie, and disrespect the Guard of Honour. I would suggest not to do this.

Arsenal is a club built on strong traditions and class, and to disrespect Van Persie or the Guard of Honour, would show a complete lack of class, diminishing what Arsenal stand for.

Instead Arsenal fans should turn their attention to the board, whose sole intent appears to be to increase their wealth, while Arsenal fall further behind the other clubs in the league, as we currently sit 21 points behind united. This simply is not good enough.

If Arsenal want to compete again in the near future then things need to change at board level, and we need to keep our best players, as well as spending the ‘warchest’ which we a promised each transfer window.

The board need a kick start to get them spending, so it is up to Arsenal fans to show the board what they think.

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Comments

#11 benson jones 2013-04-28 10:26

they will continue to sell good players and get money.money for the gunners mean silverware or trophy ,they are master of money.

#10 Bongomin 2013-04-27 19:38

Arsenal board is the most disgusting group of people. They are just after money yet football is a game of passion. Otherwise how many cups has MANU since 2004 and what has Arsenal won since then? With this kind of arrangement i beg all season ticket holders to buy tickets unless the board agrees to buy 5-6 world beaters comes this transfer window and the following players are off loaded away, Ashavin, Diaby, Giroud, Squilacci, Vermalean and Sagna.

#9 thomas 2013-04-27 18:05

totally 100% we have got to give Utd it, they'd do it for us, its tradition & for us not to would be a massive embarrassment to our club, we are Arsenal FC not a team of petulant amateurs!!!

#8 The Cabbie 2013-04-27 14:40

So we dont buy season tickets next year and then when we want them back ,no chance ,bad idea .If the board carry on the way they are going then a match where we boycott might shake them

+1 #7 kemjika 2013-04-27 14:25

No hard feelings. You cannot eat your cake and have it. The Board took a decision that has strengthened the club 's financial base in the long term. The Emirate stadium is no mean feat to achieve. Arsenal is now entitled to carry the tag of a "big club". It is a trade-off, very normal. The fans should be grateful this board worked very hard to achieve this goal. Going forward, from here, I see Arsenal being a real force again in EPL

+2 #6 Amly Dave 2013-04-27 12:18

This piece is just perfect. Exactly my thought about Arsenal. Once upon a time, we were the proud fans who are envied all over but today we and Arsenal have become objects of ridicule all because of Wenger's policies and a certain greedy board. It pains to see all the players who left justifying their exodus by winning trophies. Is Wenger not ashamed to see them go elsewhere and become successful? Isn't that enough to make him see reason not to be a good seller but a good buyer/spender? So painful !!!

#5 Abnet, Ethiopia 2013-04-26 19:24

Everything is in the hands of the fans. It is better for the fans to show their oneness by protesting against the board who are only after money. I hope even they are forgetting the heritage our club. I ask the fans to do two things, first, the coming Sunday the fans should respect the guard of honour and on the contrary, show dis respect to the boards. Secondly, the next season any fan shouldn't buy a ticket unless the board react against this greediness policy.

+3 #4 zayd_gunner 2013-04-26 16:08

I agree with this article 100%. A tradition is a tradition, and for a club as conservative as us, we should respect the guard of honour. I'm really amazed at how we still take all this from the board. We need change and we need it now. Kroenke Out, Gazidis Out. We need Alisher Usmanov as our new owner, along with the Arabian's who want to take over. Once that happens we'll be back to the way we once were. The board is the root of all our problems.

+2 #3 chops 2013-04-26 14:38

great article and bang on. we will look like ***s if we do not respecta long standing tradition. vent your anger at the board

-2 #2 The Noise 2013-04-26 14:16

NEWSFLASH!! You can add the manager to that list too, seeing as he himself has already admitted he helped flog Cesc & is involved in every single aspect of new players signing & contract negotiations! The board are scum... But in my eyes, Wenger IS part of the board! His shares in the club back that up!

+1 #1 Bt62 Gooner 2013-04-26 14:16

With you 100% on this,as much as it gauls me to see Manure get a guard of honour.It would be a total classless act to disrespect them and their success.Rvp left,he didn't leave kick and screaming and as far as i'm concerned nobody made that much of an effort to keep him.Look at the effort made to keep the overrated Theo a terrible footballer imo.We as fans should direct all our anger at board and those responsible for implementing their feeble policies.Arsenal as a team and a squad is filled with many second rate players and free loaders all signed by one man and the board.In my opinon our anger should be directed at these people alone,the money wasted on players wages would hardly be accepted anywhere else, but Arsenal.At Arsenal the manager is rewarded well for wasting club money on a totally flawed wage structure.Making the CL probably covers the money wasted on players nobody wants to buy.Saddly we as a club have been turned into a laughing stock by these people,vent you're anger at them, not Manure who have ambitions and are rewarded for it.Arsenal get the reward our ambitions deserve,a yearly battle for fourth,that's not Manure fault it's the Board and Managers fault at Arsenal!!

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