Talking About A Revolution
105 comments July 6th, 2012
I’m not going to call this a blog. I’m going to call it a statement. I’m not going to publish it, I’m going to release it. This, it seems, is the new vogue. Less than 24 hours after Robin van Persie rocked the boat with his public declaration, Alisher Usmanov’s Red & White sought to tip it over with a few words of their own. As I said on Twitter: Robin turned on the fan; Usmanov’s arrival on the scene was the shit. Cue mess.
The statement, which arrived in the form of a public (or at the very least deliberately leaked letter) to Arsenal’s board members, can be read in its entirety here. If you haven’t yet, I suggest you give it a once over. At first glance, it’s stirring stuff: a vision of a debt-free club, able to compete for the most talented players and the most prestigious trophies. It’s a rallying cry to a disenfranchised fanbase to rise up, and put the sword to their indulgent, swan-eating stadium-building Etonian oppressors. But before you pick up your pitchfork and find a set of stocks perfectly sized to encase the round head of Ivan Gazidis, stay a while, for in my mind echoes the nasal voice of my GCSE History teacher, Mr. Kinder. He taught us about some of history’s greatest movements: the English civil War; the French Revolution; the American uprising. Whatever the setting, his mantra remained the same: “When assessing evidence, always consider the sourceâ€.
Now Mr. Kinder was a strange man. Very slightly built, and seemingly demure, but with the capacity for astonishing outbursts of anger. Imagine if Martin O’Neill was anaemic, and a teacher. But he did know a thing or too about history. Admittedly he knew almost nothing about football, but that’s not relevant in this instance.
He did know that when people say something they’ll often do so with a motive. And there was a word for that, I seem to remember. It was called ‘propaganda’. Propaganda, for those who did not have the benefit of Mr. Kinder’s guidance, is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of community toward some cause or position. And that’s exactly what Alisher Usmanov is trying to do.
I have to credit his PR people. They’ve managed to turn many fans’ opinions of him around entirely, from a predatory villain in to a red and white knight, say bestride what must an incredibly strong horse. He’s cleverly turning the debate from ‘Why not to support Usmanov’ to ‘Why should we support Kroenke?’, and it’s working in his favour.
I don’t quite buy it, though. My primary objection is this: Red & White state in their letter they “will never do anything that would destabilize or “create conflict” at the Clubâ€. And yet at this very moment in time that is exactly what they, like Robin, are doing.
Wherever you stand on Red & White and the current board, I’m sure we all agree that this kind of public bickering is altogether unseemly. Unfortunately I don’t expect it to end any time soon.
Here’s a quick run down of what else is happening in the Arsenalsphere:
_ The club have cancelled a planned trip to Nigeria this summer. It’s a big shame for our fans over there, who must rightly feel a little jealous of that fact we’re going to Asia for a second consecutive summer, but I’m sure the club will make sure we recognise our huge African fanbase sooner rather than later.
_ Terry Burton has been appointed as Reserve Team Manager and Head Development Coach, essentially taking on some of the duties previously belonging to Steve Bould and Neil Banfield. The guy is Arsenal through and through and everyone around the club tells he he’s perfect for the job. Here’s a nice story about how he helped Aaron Ramsey to turn down Manchester United and sign for us.
_ Denilson has extended his loan spell with Sao Paolo for a further twelve months. Nice guy though he is, it tells you a lot about the disproportionate amount of money he was being paid that an Arsenal that we’ve had such trouble moving him on. At the end of this loan spell, his contract will be just a year from expiry – it wouldn’t surprise me if we never receive any true transfer fee for him at all.
_ Finally for today, have a read of this from Robin van Persie in 2008. How things change.
