Arsenal Fans: It’s Time to Talk About the Undeniable, Not So Under the Radar Pull

When Raul Sanllehi was still at the club he once notoriously stated that Arsenal have a “different knock”.

What I and many others took this as, was that our great club was so sizeable to the world’s game that players oftentimes found the prospect of pulling the red and white of Arsenal over their shoulders as irresistible.

However, the all too undeniable reality of Sanllehi’s statement was, and is, that the Arsenal fans have the best pull out of any other fanbase in football – and I would even say sport in its entirety. Arsenal do have a different knock; one similar to a hoard of zombies trying to bang down the door.

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Sadly, Arsenal as an organization, and this hurts to say but franchise, isn’t the most attractive destination at the moment. In recent years our massive team has been underperforming woefully and has had some pretty excruciating transitioning pains since the departure of the long-serving Arsene Wenger.

It’s now obvious that Wenger was the glue that held this foundation together and since the removal of him, our then stagnant and only somewhat downward trajectory turned into one of full free fall.

Unai Emery was the wrong appointment all around and the mess that Ivan Gazidis left us with has just now been cleaned up completely since the departure of Sanllehi, who also didn’t work out. The club was and is still in a state of financial disarray and has an owner who refuses to alleviate the predicament with his bottomless reservoir of wealth.

Despite all of this, our support remains loyal, passionate and hopeful for the future. Mikel Arteta has looked promising since being hired and has even been awarded the role of “manager” rather than the one of “head coach”, which Gazidis was also responsible for introducing.

Arsenal fans are a different breed and the turbulence we’ve endured in recent years is far worse than most supporters of traditionally big teams have. Arsenal fans still have an unwavering love for the club that they showcase to the whole world with their finger tips. There is no debate that Gooners have the loudest voice on social media.

Because of said blaring voice, this mess of a club still looks a succulently tasty prospect for players. Individuals like Willian and Gabriel Magalhaes joined because of the ambition of Arteta but the latter also stated that the Arsenal fans had everything to do with him choosing London over Naples. And even though Willian has ties to Chelsea, I have no doubt in my mind that Arsenal fans will treat him like family, even if his profile picture on Twitter is still him in a Chelsea top…

Our fans have a good reputation for wearing their heart on their sleeves and caring deeply about our club. That is hugely significant to players because it can cause a raucous atmosphere in home games that can lead to success.

The presence of Arsenal fans on social media is almost unbearable, even for an Arsenal fan. If there’s ever a poll to be won or a vote to be made, our fanatic supporters will be sure it goes their way. Recently, there was a tournament held by Bleacher Report on Twitter to see which team had the best kits. Gooners annihilated every shirt that came into their mercilessly choppy wake and emphatically won the completely irrelevant competition. Why? Because we could.

Even more hilariously, recently GFFN posted a tweet regarding the fact that Arsenal are close to the signing of Icelandic and Dijon keeper, Runar Alex Runarson and they turned off the replies to all whom they do not follow. This was surely to avoid the onslaught of Arsenal fan replies.

This presence may seem annoying on the surface of things, however players surely find the social media dominance quite enticing. At the end of the day the likes of Thomas Partey and Houssem Aouar are human and want to feel wanted. The fact that Arsenal fans literally never shut up about either of them surely makes them feel so and could be the makeweight that’s lures them to the Emirates rather than to the doors of another club.

Of course, Champions league football and trophies are probably a more prevalent desire to be a part of for most players, but the family feel of Arsenal through its staunch support is so powerful that it may even be close to just as heavy of a makeweight.

Since I’ve been supporting Arsenal, I have always held the same belief about our fans. Though we are one of the biggest teams is world sport, we have the passion of supporters of a smaller club. There are few fans as avid as Arsenal’s in football or any other sport, that is why the pull we have must never be understated.

Whether or not the pull will be strong enough to bring in A-List signings like Aouar or Partey in a COVID-19 market is still to be determined in the next few weeks or so, but with both players reportedly keen, it looks as if it is down to our board to get it across the line.

So, to the Arsenal hierarchy, the ball is in your court. The Gooners across the world through the avenue of various social media platforms have pitched to proposition of joining and the effort seems to have made an impression on both players. Now you have to secure their services.