Inside a club “in crisis”

FourFourTwo Magazine sent Sam Delaney to have a snoop around at Arsenal to find out what makes the Gunners tick. Here, he describes his month peeking behind the curtain at the Emirates Stadium...

The editor explained my mission: I was to travel deep inside the heart of one of the biggest, most talked about and often strangest football clubs in the world: Arsenal. Sometimes they call themselves ‘The Arsenal’, which is just one of the things that makes them so strange. And, to some, a bit annoying too. But they’ve never bothered me that much. I’m a West Ham supporter and we’ve always reserved most of our animosity for other London clubs.

In fact, I’ve always found Arsenal fascinating. I suppose it’s because, in a game governed almost entirely by knee-jerk decisions and irrational behaviour, Arsenal take a different path. They have always seemed a bit more considered. Irritatingly, they don’t bend to the will of fans or the media and make the sort of brilliantly exciting, ludicrously rash decisions that keep the wheels of this preposterous game of ours turning. Instead, the powers that be at the Emirates seem more concerned with what’s best for the club. They’re all clever and grown-up. See what I mean? Annoying.