Upon completing his move to the footballing mecca of the Northern Hemisphere, the Etihad Stadium, (does anyone else appreciate the irony that Etihad reportedly means United?), Samir Nasri has tried to ingratiate himself with his new supporters by insulting his previous paymasters.
The 24-year-old Frenchman stated:
‘I can see they are really passionate and it reminds me a little bit of Marseille. Arsenal have good fans, but not that passionate since they moved from Highbury to the Emirates. I remember when we played against City, when we lost 3-0, the crowd was amazing. That is what I want. When you play football it is for a good atmosphere.’
Apparently, us Gooners aren’t as passionate as our Mancunian friends. Also, it seems that Nasri likes his men with lots of tattoos;
‘They’ve got tattoos, the fans, of Man City. That’s what I like.’
Each to their own, Samir, each to their own.
You can’t blame him for trying to win over the new support by telling them how much he likes their tattoos, or that there is nothing sweeter than the sound of 40,000 drunk Mancs singing Blue Moon whilst stroking the aforementioned tattoos and winking seductively at the players.
But did he need to stick the knife into the backs of his old supporters?
For a start, Nasri never even kicked a ball at Highbury – why he even had to bring that up I’ll never know. And as for atmosphere, someone needs to point out to the snivelling little brown-nose that last season, in an independent study, Arsenal fans are (on average) a whole 6 decibels louder than their counterparts in Manchester. Here’s the proof – (click here)
I don’t know about you, but I’d have much more respect for the man if he just ‘fessed up and said; ‘you know what? City have tripled my wages. I like to go home after a hard days training and rub used £50 notes over my body as I dream about big hairy Northerners with lovely tattoos. That’s why I’ve moved.’
Instead he’s dressed it up as something completely different. He’s tried to make it sound like this transfer is purely about sporting reasons. Well, Samir, it’s quite clearly not.
Considering all this has led me to think long and hard about what it must be like to be a supporter or player for a super-rich club.
At what point do you say; ‘it’s all about the money for me’, turn your back on your team-mates and go off in search of that big pay day? And how can you justify it? Why not come clean and be honest with us; after all, most of us aren’t stupid.
And, if you’re a supporter, at what point does the team you’re following stop being your team? We’ll see the City fans gleefully crowing about their achievements, much in the way we’ve seen Chelski do over the last decade. But when does the act of winning become more important than earning your win through graft and determination?
I don’t care what City go on and do over the coming years. I’m sure they’ll do pretty well. After all, they are paying top dollar for their success. But after the initial buzz of winning wears off, will it feel as sweet? Sadly the answer to that, judging by Chelski fans, is probably yes. But we know, and they know, that they haven’t really earned it. It’s like buying all the tickets to the raffle and then jumping around the room when, surprise surprise, you win all the prizes.
When, eventually, we get back on the trophy podium, we can be proud of what we win. Why? Because we’re earning our success. We know when we look at our team that we helped to build it. They are an extension of us and our support. All the money in the world can’t replicate that.
Enjoy your success at City, Samir. You really, really haven’t earned it.
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So sadly it appears that Nasri’s partin shot was necessary, we could take these words on board and listen to him, next time you’re at the Emirates remember what he said and use that as a reason to embrace real supporters who are at least trying to lift our team. Sing along with them, learn songs and when your standing there for 90 mins singing and doing your part can you even think of criticising any of our squad!
Well Steve, I can’t agree with you on this one. He wasn’t trying to be helpful, he was be ungracious.
However, if we had more supporters like you then surely the atmosphere at the Emirates would be better. Keep on singing.
Mike, that’s not support. Sitting there quietly is not supporting your team, it’s watching your team.
I’ll put it to you this way. Your Mom starts crying because your granny, her mother, dies and you just sit there quietly looking at her, is that support? No it’s not. You’d get up and give her a big hug and tell her everything’s going to be okay, you’d make her tea, listen to her and do your best to let her she’s loved and not alone in her grief. That’s what support is you see. You can’t exactly call sitting there doing nothing “support”.
When our team is losing, sitting there quietly watching them lose confidence is not the act of a true supporter or sitting there booing them is not useful at all, that would be like telling your mother shut up that her crying is annoying or to just get over it. I was at the Emirates for the Blackpool match last season and even after 6 nil they were still singing, they were singing that they were score 7, that’s what support is.
Arsenal fans may not have lost their passion but they have lost their voice and it’s not the fault of the stadium either, you go to nou camp or old trafford and they sing their hearts out constantly.
bongo, it’s not for you to say what constitutes support and what doesn’t. There’s vocal support, which you’re talking about. There is financial support which is completely different, which comes from buying shirts and tickets. Just because someone doesn’t like to sing doesn’t make them any less a supporter, it just means they don’t like to sing. The end.
For what it’s worth, yes, the atmosphere at home games can be a little flat from time to time. And as I mentioned to Steve, I hope you sing your hearts out at every game because I think it makes a difference, but don’t question peoples loyalty because you like to sing and they don’t.
One last note and then i’m done. Check out the link in the post, you’ll see that our much maligned supporters aren’t as quiet as you suppose. Relatively speaking at least.
great post, couldnt agree more, we will give him a nice reception when he comes to the ems.
Mike, I agree with you in most respects but I have seen our team fall to pieces last season in the emirates and the supporters did nothing to lift their heads. Sometimes they need us to lift them, sometimes they need to hear us and lift the stadium with our voices of support. Again I go back to Barca game. I have absolutely no doubt in my mind from being there that it was our voices, our loud support that carried them through that match. We were one nil down and while our players could have caved they fought on with us behind them 100% in a way I’ve rarely seen at the emirates. We were being hammered by Barca and we stood up and were counted.
All I’m saying is you may not be a singer, you may prefer to sit in silence and absorb the game but when the team is in trouble, when they’re heads are down and you know that by raising your voice in support that you can help them win the game, then why not do it? Why not be the 12th man instead of a spectator? I’m not saying you have to sing to be a true supporter, in fact I know Arsenal fans that have never been to an Arsenal match yet they buy every kit, scarves, hats etc.
All I’m saying is this, if the fans in the Emirates were as vocal, if the atmosphere in the Emirates was the same as it was for the Barca match in every game then we’d be a fortress. Teams would fear Arsenal at home and our players would feel invincible but instead we put more pressure on them by booing, we slag off our own players while they sit on the bench or we sit there quietly watching as our team gets slaughtered.
Bongo, on the whole I agree with you too. There are times when we could get behind the team better. But at the end of the day Nasri citing this as a reason for leaving is rubbish. He just wanted out and now he’s using us as an excuse.
If you need any more proof of what I’ve been saying. Fabregas came out in an interview and said he misses Highbury too. He’s only the latest in a long line of players that have played in both stadiums that have said they missed the passion in Highbury.
Fabregas isn’t going to ever come out and say that directly but we know what he’s talking about.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2011/aug/25/fabregas-nasri-emirates-atmosphere
Oh yeah of course Nasri is full of crap. He left for the money and no one doubts that. In fact I have a felling he used Arsenal to further his career as a stepping stone. But in all honesty I don’t think we helped matters at all when we openly attacked him and turned against him as soon as the media started reporting that he may be leaving at the start of the summer. I have no doubt if we all got behind him and we showed him we wanted him to stay he may well have signed a new contract and remained with us for a couple of years more just like fabregas. We begged him to stay and he did, even though his heart has been gone and his head turned for at least 2 seasons.
No Arsenal fan can deny that we basically pushed him out the door.
Great post mate, i was fucking cracking up! Up the Gunners EIE!! RIP the Bear