Unai Emery

[algy]

As far as I know, I've only met one Arsenal fan in the wild. He was a bit of a character, I quite liked him but not sure he'd be to everyone's taste.

The Arsenal TV stuff is nauseating, at least the small sample I've seen of it.

I love Ian Wright. Doesn't everyone? He comes across as a good sort.

[Sexual Ealing]

Ian Wright's a fucking hero.

[RamboandBruno]

I know one Arsenal fan, a Brummie from work, younger lad probably in his mid to late twenties, so in the mould Rory describes, but to be honest is a sound lad, knows his football and is complimentary about Villa. I met a London Arsenal fan at a Conference i was working at in Glasgow over the Easter weekend, he was ok as well.

I genuinely don’t mind Arsenal compared to most of the other London clubs, give me them any day over Spurs, West Ham and Chelsea. They’ve got history and a good home shirt and its good to go for a beer round by the ground.

I know all the stuff about the privileged fans, who know nothing about football, couldn’t even be bothered to wait to see them lift the cup when they beat us in 2015 etc, but maybe that is an unfortunate downside of pretty much constant success for 10-15 years in this premier league era, from the late 90s onwards. It feels worse with Man City to be honest, and it was such recent history when Paul Dickov and Sean Goater were dragging then out of the third division and they seem to have forgotten it all.

I hope Emery builds something special at Villa and even if we end up disappointed and finish 9th this season rather than 6th, the future is very bright. I just hope we don’t turn into twats or gather them up on the way.

[Nev]

I used to have a modicum of respect for Arsenal. I remember watching them on TV as the coach travelled to Wembley for the Cup Final in '79 and due to their strong Irish contingent there were suitable songs being played which went down well in our house. Highbury was a great place to go to, steeped in history like our own ground (and featured in one of our most notable days of recent years). It was grand and imposing and told you so much about the club before you even stepped inside.

The they moved, just over the road but it might as well have been a million miles away, to a soulless bowl of a place that appeared to strip them of that aura so obvious at Highbury. They might've kept some gravitas if they hadn't taken the oil dollar and kept the original, and rather marvelous name, of Ashburton Grove. The place was so unremarkable and without feature they thought that bunging a timepiece up at one end and calling it after the Clock End at their former ground would give the place character but merely drew attention to the fact that the place was as dull as any new indentikit stadium. Spurs obviously made note of that.

And now, the place appears full of tourists and day trippers, glory hunters and "fans of the PL". In a desperate attempt to create some sort of identity they have adopted a dreadful, sub-Sheeran dirge of a thing as their club song whose lyrics ignore a significant part of their history. So you have your Nick Hornby's from Reading or some other desperate place bellowing our North London Forever as though they were born in spitting distance of Archway. Fuck Arsenal.

Having said all that, I hope they beat Stockport City to the league title.

[Monty]

I've never had an issue with Arsenal. I think of them as the big club of the south, and far, far more tolerable than Chelsea or Spurs.

[Duncan Shaw]

I know it's conflicting, but I find myself agreeing with much of Nev's post above, but also Monty's as well!

[ROBBO]

My ex golfing mate is an arsenal fan even though as I constantly remind him he was born and lived nowhere near London, he is enough of a supporter to look for their results but cannot rationalise me getting up in the middle of the night to watch Villa. There are fans and devotees I suppose.

[pablo_picasso]

I really don’t mind Arsenal, I never have done and since the days of Wenger they have been great to watch. I’ve only got one mate who supports them, since his Uni days so he did adopt them and he’s a really good friend. He’s not the usual arrogant Man U/Liverpool type fan like most of my other mates. So I guess because of that I’ve never had any problems with them as a team.

Almost every Arsenal fan that I have ever come in contact with has been a monumental bellend. Whether lauding it during the Wenger years, or lauding it because of the Wenger years, I have never met one who hasn't been a giant cockend.

My word you're on one tonight pablo.  Do you need a hug?

Yes...

[Simon Page]

I lived in Islington for a few yeas so knew and liked loads of them. Went to a few games every season. It was before the Premier League so apparently doesn't count as quantifiable sport, but adds weight to the argument that it's not Club X fans that are arseholes, but Premier League fans most certainly are.

[dave shelley]

Of all the London grounds I've visited, Highbury was the one I visited most.  As mentioned above, the place reeked of history.  I only ever saw us lose there once!

[paul_e]

My issue with Arsenal fans is that they refuse to acknowledge what they were before Wenger. If you took their word for it they've always played 'the right way' and were the club that introduced modern football to the premier league. We all know fans who like to claim moral victories but in my experience Arsenal fans are the worst for it, certainly on social media, youtube, etc.

I know 3 of them pretty well, the Norwegian guy is decent and mostly supports them because he hates all the Liverpool and Man U fans over there, the 2 Londoners are top of the list of people I avoid talking to about football, as far as they're both concerned I don't like football because I change the subject (to rugby or cricket) every time they get started. The closest I got to engaging with them was a conversation where they were moaning about how Saka gets targeted for fouls and needs more protection from refs, after a game where he'd been given a yellow card for one of the most blatant dives I've seen in years. They were trying really hard to justify him diving as him avoiding injuries and making sure refs were aware of how he was being treated, it was really difficult to just nod along.

[Risso]

Leaving right on the final whistle in 2015 and making a dash for the tube, to find there was thousands of Arsenal fans already queuing up at the station. Never mind them not waiting to see the cup presented, thousands must have left before the game had even ended.

[Simon Page]

That's Premier League sense of entitlement for you. Lack of self-awareness is another trend they've embraced.

Until Wenger stopped winning leagues, Arsenal fans and their club were far and away the acceptable face of London football. Self-deprecating, appreciative of the game and other clubs, knowledgeable, funny, proud, typical football supporters. Then they started complaining about only finishing top 4, moaning about out-dated management, dismissing trophy wins and starting their own TV streams. The rest is (a stain on their) history.

[pablo_picasso]

My issue with Arsenal fans is that they refuse to acknowledge what they were before Wenger. If you took their word for it they've always played 'the right way' and were the club that introduced modern football to the premier league. We all know fans who like to claim moral victories but in my experience Arsenal fans are the worst for it, certainly on social media, youtube, etc.

I know 3 of them pretty well, the Norwegian guy is decent and mostly supports them because he hates all the Liverpool and Man U fans over there, the 2 Londoners are top of the list of people I avoid talking to about football, as far as they're both concerned I don't like football because I change the subject (to rugby or cricket) every time they get started. The closest I got to engaging with them was a conversation where they were moaning about how Saka gets targeted for fouls and needs more protection from refs, after a game where he'd been given a yellow card for one of the most blatant dives I've seen in years. They were trying really hard to justify him diving as him avoiding injuries and making sure refs were aware of how he was being treated, it was really difficult to just nod along.

Plus they are unaware, or in denial, about the fact that they cheated their way into the top division in 1919...

[pauliewalnuts]

My issue with Arsenal fans is that they refuse to acknowledge what they were before Wenger. If you took their word for it they've always played 'the right way' and were the club that introduced modern football to the premier league. We all know fans who like to claim moral victories but in my experience Arsenal fans are the worst for it, certainly on social media, youtube, etc.

I don't like Arsenal fans, but I don't think that's fair, Paul.

Isn't the song "1-0 to the Arsenal" basically a celebration of dour narrow victories scratched out by George Graham's successful yet grimly functional side?