The idea of people going to football matches simply to moan and complain about their team’s players may seem odd but, it is something that has been around for at least 80 years – and possibly since the start of organised football.

Indeed there are comments made in the press and in football books of the era, about how, after Arsenal under Herbert Chapman were beaten by lowly Walsall, every mistake by an Arsenal player was roundly booed and jeered by “supporters” who became known at the time as the “boo-boys”. And this was with a team that won three championships in a row!

So I guess we shouldn’t be surprised to find people complaining about Arsenal today, even with Arsenal top of the league.

You cannot have helped but notice that in the first part of this season Arsenal were dismissed as serious challengers because “they hadn’t played any big teams yet”. Victories against Liverpool and Dortmund, adding to the earlier victory over Tottenham, quietened that debate a little, but still the complaints continue.

But behind all the muttering, I’ve started to hear another story – and it is one that I find so amusing that I really felt the need to share it with you. It goes like this:

Arsenal have only started doing well this season, because of the complaints made by the 21st century version of the boo-boys.

This point of view goes something like this. Arsene Wenger had no intention of signing Ozil or anyone else like him this summer, but was forced into making the purchase by the constant complaints of those who feel that he should be relieved of all duties and summarily ejected from the club.

A further point to this argument is that the defence has improved dramatically because the “fact” that Wenger did not coach the defence was exposed by the anti-Wenger bloggers, and again the directors of the club were forced to act once this had been made public.

Ramsey has emerged as a great player because Wenger has been forced by the nay-sayers to stop playing him out of position, and has now played him where he should have been played all along.

I must admit to something of a wry chuckle on hearing all this. After all I remember reading many articles by apparent experts in tactics and player selection who complained not that Ramsey was played out of position but that he was simply no good at all, and should have been removed from the club at least a year before.

Such suddenly changes of opinion are amusing, but there’s also a deeper and more sinister point here.

All of these reports are stated as a set of facts – often one after the other after the other, without any sense of having to provide evidence. It is as if the mere presenting of the statement that Wenger never coaches the defence is enough to make it so.

When I have had the temerity to challenge anyone who has put forward this point of view, I have been told in no uncertain terms that “everyone knows it”, and that “it’s on every blog”.

But the point is that merely because something is reported over and over again as a “fact” that does not make it a “fact”. I have a pal who told me in no uncertain terms that Koscielny simply wasn’t good enough for the Arsenal team. Now he has the intelligence to admit that he was quite wrong, and that the player was simply taking a year to get used to the English game. The same might be said of Mertersacker.

We can all make mistakes – but trying to suggest that we were right when we were so patently wrong is a sure sign that the problem is not with the player or the manager, but inside the head of the supporter.

The simple point is that a story as large as the one that Wenger doesn’t coach the defence, or was only persuaded to buy Ozil because of the pressure from the blogs, needs some sort of supporting evidence for it to be taken seriously.
Of course that means that the same is true for the contrary view. If one believes that Wenger will spend money when his professional judgement feels it is right so to do, then one also needs evidence to support that.

And that evidence is available, for we can look to the purchase of the utterly brilliant Santi Cazorla as an example that when Wenger sees the man he wants, he will go and get him. Or if we want to go back in time we can look to the purchase of Henry and Pires and all the other players that were brought ultimately to create the Invincibles.
Sadly we live in an age in which if something is said often enough it becomes seen as the truth, no matter how preposterous it is. This happens because many of the malcontents among the Arsenal fan base are people who have come to believe that Arsenal is the one club that is run badly by stupid people who don’t understand how the game is played. Every other club is well run, so the logic goes.

But the truth is that if they then went and read the blogs of Tottenham, Manchester United, Chelsea or any other large team, they will find similar complaints being made.

The arguments of the boo-boys are as stupid today as they were during the Chapman era. If there is no evidence in favour of the argument, and there is contrary evidence, then quite possibly the allegation isn’t true and saying it over and over doesn’t make it true.

Leopards find it hard to change their spots. Those people who complain and complain will continue to complain no matter how Arsenal does this season because that’s what they do. Even if we were to win the league, they would focus on the fact that it was a lucky break, and that next season will be a disaster unless the manager follows their particular approach.

So it goes.