An Arsenal season ticket holder and fan for the last 24 years Charlie
Kenward, has penned a heartfelt letter explaining why he has sold his
season tickets and how it hurts watching Arsenal either draw or lose.
Read the letter after the cut...
I've been a season-ticket holder at Arsenal for 24 years and I've never
felt so low about the club I love.
Every year I pay a fortune to watch matches at the Emirates but I just
don't get value for money anymore - and it's been like that for too
long.
After Arsene Wenger joined the club in 1996, us fans were spoiled with
top players, attractive, attacking football, and titles and trophies
galore.
It's gone downhill since that day.
I went to the Crystal Palace game at the weekend and it's got so bad for
fans like me that you can now even buy match tickets on the day of the
game.
The last time I can remember that happening is when I was a boy - I'm 29
now.
I couldn't bring myself to go to the West Brom game last night: I sold
my tickets BACK to the club. I'm sick of going to watch Arsenal knowing
we're going to lose or draw.
My dad has been a season ticket holder all his life and now even he is
talking about getting rid of it. He's been watching Arsenal for 55 years
and just can't take it anymore.
Instead of going to the Emirates I watched the West Brom match at home
with some friends. As the match progressed I found myself getting more
and more frustrated.
My friend turned to me and said: "You're the only football fan I've ever
seen who is still going mental when you're 2-0 up".
I'm sure I'm not alone among Arsenal fans.
But how did we get to the point where loyal, die hard fans are simply
giving up on the club?
Simple: we're in this mess because because of our manager and the board.
In American billionaire Stan Kroenke, we've got a chairman who doesn't
appear to be a football supporter.
And I'm sorry to say that Arsene Wenger's time is up. I love him, and he
gave fans some incredible memories with the Invincibles season, three
Premier League titles and six FA Cup wins, but he's had his time.
He can't tell players off when they need to be told they're not
performing. He hasn't bought a world class striker since Thierry Henry.
None of The Invincibles have ever been replaced.
His press conferences after each game always seem to consist of him
moaning the team was hard done by. In reality, that's just not true.
They just haven't been good enough.
It's clear to the fans that Arsenal is no longer really a football club,
it's a business.
The owner seems happy with a Champions League place each year - and
that's it. It doesn't seem to matter to him whether we actually win
anything, as long as that top four spot is secure.
Arsenal fans are simply not being rewarded with trophies for the amount
of money we have to spend to watch our team.
The time has come for wholesale changes at the top of the club: we now
need a new management team and a new owner to get us moving forward
again, and to finally deliver the title that the fans crave - and know
the club is capable of delivering under the right leadership.
Jose Mourinho once said that Wenger was a "specialist in failure". I
didn't agree with him at the time but now it saddens me to say that he
was right. If Wenger stays I won't be going next season.
No comments:
Post a Comment