Arsene Wenger has become the first Premier League manager to do a live Facebook chat ahead of a game and he was rewarded by being interviewed by a total knob.
I’m not entirely sure who the guy interviewing him is, although he looks familiar, but his exasperation at Arsene not following his instructions to give ‘one word’ answers towards the end of the interview (when he wasn’t asking questions that you could give one word answers to) was only outdone by him actually chastising the boss the first time he gave a lengthy answer.
At the end of the interview, Wenger was asked to give a message to the fans and he thanked them for their support, admitting how ‘touching’ it is when they travel all over the world. He then added, “We’ve tried to make them proud to support us, believe in us, get behind this team, this team need the fans more than you think.”
On the face of it, it is the old ‘chicken and egg’ question – do the fans raise the players or do the players raise the fans?
But the answer to this one is a lot simpler when you actually stop to think about it. It’s both, and a healthy club has fans and players who are attuned to each other and know when they need to step up to raise the other.
It really is that simple.
When the team are struggling, don’t grumble and moan, get louder and support them more.
Would you scream abuse at your child if s/he blew their lines in a school play? Do you think that is likely to make them perform better or put so much pressure on them that they will make more mistakes?
This isn’t rocket science.