Arteta explains the difference between an Arsenal fan and a supporter | OneFootball

This is an interesting discussion which we have had very many times on the pages of justarsenal, where we have on the one side, the ‘fans’ that vilify some of our players even if they play well, and want nothing more than to get Mikel Arteta sacked, without worrying about what will happen afterwards once he is gone.

Then, on the other hand, I have my philosophy that I have explained before on here; that is “In my world Mikel Arteta is the manager chosen by the club, and whether we like it or not they have no intention of sacking him any time soon.

“As long as he is the manager I will support him and hope he brings us success. Once he is gone I will support the next man that is chosen in exactly the same way. In the same vein, any player that takes to the field in an Arsenal shirt should be encouraged in every way I can, until they no longer play for Arsenal.

“I simply want success for Arsenal, and if the Arsenal management think that Arteta is the right man for the job, then who am I to argue.”

Now that the government has allowed crowds back into the stadium, Mikel Arteta has seen at first hand how the crowd have behaved, and tomorrow will be the first time he is in charge of the North London Derby and he is looking forward to it very much, and on Arsenal.com he explains the reasons why: “To be fair, I can’t wait to have that experience. Even right now, after such a long time without them, I have experienced some London derbies but without supporters, and I am saying supporters because I think that is the word to describe the people who are behind our football club. What they have done in the last few weeks has been pretty special, they only want what is best for the club and it is very different to just being a fan.

“A fan and a supporter behave in different ways and what we have experienced in the past two games is pretty unique and is related to our history, its people who respect and want to promote the values that have been instilled in this club by many people who have been in charge here. It is just a privilege to see how they are able to understand, the intelligence they have shown because it comes from the knowledge that they know about our history, they know what we want to do, what we want to achieve and they are fully behind the team.”

Now I know I’m going to be attacked in the comments by some ‘fans’, who will say that they criticise players and want Arteta sacked because they only want the best for the club.

Well, in my opinion, if we SUPPORT the players and the manager from top to bottom, we are much more likely to see success, than we will if they have a constant tirade of insults thrown at them every day, not just from the media pundits, but also from our own “fans”.

Who agrees?