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......
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.
Source : Mirror UK
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