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THE PROLIFERATION OF THE ARSENAL TROLL – A Modern Phenomenon?

troll_football_image_9b8f3cda368c74f1352fc66f9a20be26

Okay so some might have qualms with my choice of word used to describe the increase in the number of Arsenal trolls around but hey, they are as dangerous as the word it’s normally used to describe; Nuclear Weapons.

In this day and age, the advent of social media has had astounding effects on the way and life of almost everyone, including us Gunners.  Social media has created an opportunity for persons including those you would normally not bat an eyelid towards in your whole life, to propagate and incite vile, bitter reactions from fans of particular football clubs.

Arsenal as we all know is one of the clubs with the largest fan bases in world football, especially online, where Arsenal has the largest Twitter following in the U.K. This makes it open season for attacks from individuals looking to earn likes or follows on social media, and also those who seek to increase the amount of visits and clicks on ‘accurate stories’ on their sites (Shout-out to Daily Mail. Mirror and Metro).

Extreme Headlines the norm?

The large number of people who dislike and pick on Arsenal is also caused by the values held by the club, led by the professorial visionary, Arsène Wenger. The gaffer prides himself on ensuring the players pay back the fans who spend colossal amounts to watch the team, by playing football fit only for an audience of gods. This way does not always work but when it does no matter the side of the divide you stand on, you can do nothing but marvel. This makes Arsenal the neutral’s favorite and attractive to even fans of other teams. As a result, we also gain the envy of many-a-team who do not place value on entertaining their fans. (Yes, I’m talking to every Chelsea fan). Thus, the only way they can feel good about themselves when their teams continuously play insulting, unattractive football, is by trolling Arsenal fans with the aim of eliciting foul, abusive comments just so they can label our fans ‘vile’.

Metro headlines for clicks – Use our popularity

As bad as it may seem to even fathom, most of this generation relates success with popularity on social media sites such as Twitter, and as a result will spew any nonsense as long as it gains them a huge following. The large number of Arsenal fans online who are opinionated and put forth their views online attract the ire of certain fans of different clubs. As a result, mockery is made of our chances to attain any goal as a football club. Many on the ‘Anti-Arsenal’ bandwagon also take advantage of the fact that The Arsenal has not been in the mix for the Championship for years without considering facts such as the building of The Emirates, the mysterious injuries that beset the team EVERY year (I believe a Shaman has placed a curse on our team to be honest) and the most important, but low on the index of many, the loss of transfer padrone, David Dein from the board. But you really do not expect one who spends his time trolling strangers on the internet to have enough sense to articulate these facts, can you.

Ashton seems to enjoy Arsenal bashing

Arsenal fans might on some days, especially during home matches at the prepossessing Emirates Stadium really act like rich, spoilt brats forced to be in a library when they would rather be watching a popular television series in their cozy homes, but this does not take away from the fact that we are a passionate, loyal group of fans, (unlike ‘fans from childhood’ Robin Van Pursestrings and Cesspool Fabregas) who will always stand for the red and white and go on as our motto says, “Victoria Concordia Crescit.” This is evident in the amount of polls our fans online are able to swing our way. It may not be the elusive Champions League trophy, which we will surely annex soon, but it’s a darn good way to show to those who seek to tear us away from the Royal Arsenal, that they may try with their skewed facts, (I see you Gary Neville, Neil Ashton, Adrian Durham) but we shall always stand together through the thick of it all.

This is a call to all Gunners worldwide to veer away from giving credence to the works of these internet trolls and focus on supporting our team on what aims to be a long, interesting and ultimately triumphant journey this season. Writer Christopher Baloga’s words encapsulates my message emphatically, “Never allow carping critics to deter you from success. Instead, silence them with it.”

Welcome Faisal to GT and you can follow him @faidollar on Twitter.

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One Response to THE PROLIFERATION OF THE ARSENAL TROLL – A Modern Phenomenon?

  1. Andrew Foy August 31, 2015 at 6:07 pm #

    Beautifully worded article Faisal. All so true!

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