Arsenal’s vanishing fans the thin end of the wedge
The empty banks of seats at Wembley are a worrying sign for the north London club, writes Jim White
I was brought up with the insistence that you stay to the bitter end, even if you’re losing 5-0
Afew years ago, I went to a Lazio match at Rome’s Stadio Olimpico. As often happens at Italian games ahead of kick-off, the home end put on a visual display. Wearing coloured bibs, they turned themselves into a huge mosaic of the club’s name, which remained in place for the first half.
But it turned out the purpose of the show was not to demonstrate support. What was on the minds of the supporters was protest.
Angry at results, or mismanagement or some combination of the two, at an appointed time midway through the second half, the entire letter Z vacated the premises, leaving the club name for the rest of the match looking like an eight-year-old’s smile.
Had they been wearing similar name-checking bibs at Wembley on Sunday, with 15 minutes remaining of the Carabao Cup final, never mind missing one letter, the Arsenal end would have been without a whole “A---”. The overwhelming majority of Gooners – like the fourth official who asked Arsene Wenger why on earth he wanted any added time – had seen enough long before the end. They wanted out, leaving the building to the triumphant Manchester City followers.
And, while there was nothing choreographed about the early departure, as a visual critique of the club’s direction it could not have been more pointed. Because, for many a fan, leaving a match before the end goes against a central article of faith.
It is not simply irritation at those who engage in the “4.35-excuse-me”, a disdain for those who start shuffling for the exits, blocking the view of those behind them as they make their way home with 10 minutes to go. No, for most, leaving early is anathema.
Beating the traffic can never be the point of going to the game, even if the car park attendants at most Premier League clubs will tell you they see people routinely heading off up to half an hour before full time.
For the true fan, being there when the result is decided is surely the point of turning out in the first place.
I count myself among the refuseniks. I was brought up with the insistence that you stay to the bitter end, whether your team are winning 5-0, losing 5-0 or engaged in a turgid 0-0 stalemate unlikely to be broken if the game went on for another three days.
If your manager is incompetent, your centre-forward an idle gold-digger and your chairman a crook, still you stay. If nothing else, if you are already beating the traffic, how can you loudly voice your dismay at the final whistle?
So, for those Arsenal fans to leave early, not least from a game requiring the kind of financial commitment of a Wembley final, must have been painful indeed.
But what should have alarmed those in charge is that this appears to be becoming a habit when the team appear at the national stadium. Against Tottenham in the recent north London derby, if not quite as desolate a wasteland as on Sunday, the away section had sprung a leak long before the end. And that was in a match when the team they supported might, despite all appearances, have scraped a goal.
Yet still the fans went against all instinct and voted with their feet. When you are losing the faithful, the ones who bother to watch in the flesh rather than sit at home passing comment on social media, then you need to worry. For once, those in charge at the Emirates must have hoped the ever erudite contributors to Arsenal Fan TV were still there to pass judgment at the end.
Because the moment they head home early will be the football equivalent of the canary dying in the coal mine.