Irony Lost As 'Foreigners' Educate Royals
Nov 13th, 2007 by 'holic
‘Can you tell us more about the atmosphere?’, asked a reader after last weeks clash with United. Given that most of you will now have seen the game at Reading, or at least read a match report, that seems a reasonable angle to discuss.
In fact it is fair to say that for half of the contest last night the atmosphere was the saving grace. I cannot remember a home team in the Premiership approaching a game in such a negative way. While in the South Stand we debated why we had gone with a 4-5-1 formation the home fans must have been asking similar questions about their 8-1-1!
Were it not for the industrious Hunt I don’t think they would have competed at all, happy as they were to pack bodies between ball and ‘keeper. So we sang, and occasionally chided as a pedestrian affair unfolded.
It all changed as Matty Flamini put the finishing touch to the most incisive move of the half. Already the greater contributors to the evening, the travelling Gooners were in full song. ‘We’re on our way’ echoed around the Mad Stad, and we headed for relative warmth under the stand for the interval.
Fortunately the second-half saw an injection of tempo as Arsenal sought to reclaim the top spot. Adebayor, who had hit the post as early as the third minute, doubled the advantage after some wonderful approach play by Rosicky and Fabregas.
A second strike by the giant striker was wrongly called back for offside. ‘Eng-er-land’ chanted the home fans, not for the first time. We were about to discover that irony is wasted in Berkshire.
On the hour the home team brought on Emerse Fae in an attempt to break out of their defensive stupour. The travelling Gooners boomed out ‘You need more foreigners, You need more foreigners’ and a thousand locals turned a bright shade of puse! It was one of the funniest things I have ever witnessed at football.
After Alex Hleb had grabbed a thoroughly deserved third goal it was time for the introduction of Theo Walcott. ‘Eng-er-land’ chanted the temporary occupants of the South Stand, and once again the locals seethed. A lot of villages were missing their idiot in Berkshire last night, although they had a last-gasp goal to cheer as Shorey took advantage of some lax defending.
The final whistle gave a final opportunity to sing the praises of Emmanuel Petit, in the Setanta box behind us, and for him to acknowledge the magnificent travelling support. With a final burst of ‘We are top of the league’ it was back to the coaches, buses, and cars.
It just remains for me to thank ‘you-know-who’ for the ticket. Sorry about the lousy beer mate! Also thanks to all who made the journey last night. I spent the game in particularly knowledgeable and pleasant company, and had an absolute blast.
18 Responses to “Irony Lost As 'Foreigners' Educate Royals”
Do I win something for Flamini’s first goal?
Sorry, wrong game!
Hiya Mr ‘holic… The atmosphere was definitely a great one and like you I got lucky with a ticket last night too… I could have sworn there were 20,000 there instead of 2,000 of us. Their support was pretty much as tame as their gameplan, and you are dead right about the irony lost on them. Reading had one plucky supporter though – halfway up behind the goal – he kept standing up to taunt us across the divide but he was given short shrift by the rampant Gooners.
Our worst performer was probably the inconsistent Eboue, while our man of the match must have been the fearless Hleb. Our boys have earned their position at the top of the league – long may it continue.
Fuck off you arrogant gooner. Fuck off and die.
Wow – What a intelligent and articulate comment there AH. I take it you are a supporter of one of the many clubs we have anhiliated this season?
Buffoon
Hiya all. Down here in the country we think irony comes in a can. We wish we could all be like you sohisticated city boys. Snappy dressers, quick thinkers. Oh and yer one English player comes from round here, he’s been bought up on bacon and beans, not yer meat and potato boys from London or Dakar.
Enjoy it while it lasts, goin out to the still to see if any shine is ready, join me next trip down here.
There is nothing more sad than supporters of the larger clubs such as yourselves patronising the so called lesser clubs who are the bread and butter of football in this country. While you are right to praise your team for playing great football the fact is you have done it by poaching the best young foreign talent around, and that is to the deteriment of the national team, while I agree that English players are generally not good enough part of the reason is the quality of the coaching and as long as clubs such as yourselves have a foreign manager (who are not interested in promoting English talent) that will remain the case. You may be happy now, but I suspect some of you will be complaining when England fail to qualify for Euro 2008. As for the Royal fans not seeing the irony after Coppell’s comments on foreign quotas, I disagree. Of course we have our idiots (some from the villages) but so do you, some of whom were clearly at the game last night. When the Arsenal fans sang “you need more foreigners” most Royals fans laughed and applauded the gunners fans for at least having a sense of humour. I happen to live and work in London and have a few friends who are Gunners, the difference is they have now left school and have grown up, unlike many who post on the internet……..
As long as it’s not Fosters!!!! 🙂 The woman in the wedding dress gave her fair share of stick too, fair play to the girl!
Fuck off and die. How un foreigne. Very UTD style.
Mate, “have you ever seen England play like this?” Suggests we couldn’t give a stuff about whether England qualify or not. Get the picture.
And you Red Neck. Enjoy it while it lasts. Are you enjoyinganything at all.
Wenger’s job, like any manager’s, is to get the best players for HIS team, within his budget. If there are better, cheaper players abroad, then so be it. Arsenal have bought English players, who didn’t work out (Jeffers, Wright) and have developed young players, including Sidwell, Pennant, Upson,
and Bentley. They weren’t as good as the others on the squad so they moved. Ashley Cole of course was also developed by Arsene.
Part of the problem with players from English teams is they are overpriced, so Wenger has gone for younger foreign talent…and it seems to work out OK! If an English player is good enough he’ll get on a premiership team, but no manager should be obligated to buy British, to the detriment of his club.
Aye ‘holic, nice one.
Thanks for that thoroughly enjoyable report. It was one of the best I have read in a while. Thanks for bringing me inside the stadium like that. More of that please.
I could hear the Gooners very well on television. Lively discussion today, although “Fuck off and die” is a harsh sentiment, but points for directness.
I’m sometimes guilty of being an arrogant Gooner. I begrudged the home side their consolation goal right after it went in. The Arsenal had the run of the park for almost 90 minutes and had scored 4 goals (with one disallowed), but I was bent out of shape that they let one in. It suddenly dawned on me that the home supporters had just gone through the same thing three times, and I had to admit that I was a bit of a prick for begrudging them a consolation goal at home in the dying minutes.
Uurrzzzz, your well made point warrants a response. Speaking as someone who used to cheer on Reading from the South Bank at Elm Park (when Arsenal weren’t playing, obviously!) I accept there was a time when clubs like them were the ‘bread and butter of football in this country’. Those days are gone however, and through no fault of the smaller clubs or their supporters. Sadly that is the point that the clowns in the East Stand are missing. Steve Coppell is quoted (misquoted I hope!) jumping on the jingoistic bandwagon, and yet with the likes of Sidwell, Harper, Halls, and Stack propping up the Royals’ charge to the Premiership he has benefitted more than most from the Gunners production line. That’s the point you are missing. We continue to produce quality at a rate that no other club can match in recent seasons, but would you play Bentley or Pennant ahead of Hleb? Sidwell ahead of Cesc? Thought not. Sorry if you thought me arrogant, that was not the intention, but I would point out you are in a place where the reporting is bound to come from an Arsenal viewpoint, n’est-ce pas?
long may these en-ger-land comments continue because they jus galvanize our team and that can only be good for Arsenal,which i am most concerned about.
DAY ONE:persecute Le Boss for bringing in foreign players and ruining our national team what a total waste he is for not bettering our national team by training or recruiting more brittish lads he is killing the english national team he jus thinks of his team and himself idiot.
DAY TWO:Mr Wenger could you please lead our national team so they can start to play the kind of brand of football that is your philosophy and help make us great again,well like we were OVER 40 YEARS AGO…
how said does that sound???
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Great Article G’olic,
I think two things firstly, Reading won me over playing attacking football last season – despite their financial clout they refused to ‘do a Bolton’. Reading would supporters would probably like to see their club play some footie, even if they lost – next season they could be relegated and then their supporters never get to see them really play the big sides… it is really defeatist.
Secondly, and this is to ‘Arse hater & UURRZZ’, If you look at the contribution Arsenal have made to English players such as those Reading have benefited from then how is it Arsene’s fault if they fail to make the grade??? What is he to somehow wave his magic hat and turn a Harper into Fabregas? Biatch Please! Arsenal fans are pissed at the Redtop press for bitchin’ about our squad, when their real issue is their clear xenophobia and racism. It wouldn’t be a problem if our team were full of foreigners and in the relegation zone as the clearly though would happen but their issue is seeing foreigners earning lots of MONEY and getting the plaudits of the football purists.
So forgive us if we take the micky out of knobjockies like Ferguson & and his cronies Coppell & Hughes.
My two pesos worth.
If i love bananas, and at the grocer’s there are local (read english) half-ripe bananas @ 20p (why this is so i cant tell, yet they being local are readily available, cheap transport, storage (accomodation?) etc) and spanish ripe for 10p, what would i do, i wonder? develop a taste for expensive half-ripe bananas?
Question i ask myself, how many english players play in league 1? La liga? Serie A? Then compare the reverse with other eu countries.
I don’t think it is lack of talent or inferior coaching… if the bananas, sorry, players were cheaper (read priced apropriately), it would imrove the english game/team in less than 10 years (england have the facilities, talent, heart, etc).
Look at Nigeria for example, all talent no delivery, now a good manager would do wonders here!