The BSM walk: thanks for taking part
3 December 2012
After a lot of talk and plenty of debate, our walk took place on Saturday before the game with Swansea.
In the build up we'd had a ton of requests from the media for interviews and as a result you may have seen or heard us on TalkSport, podcasts, in the papers, on the web and Saturday morning, on Sky Sports News. Top marks to our man David O'Leary for his sign-off in that interview... "thanks for taking an interest in our affairs".
On Saturday we had a few final arrangements to take care of so I arrived early and as I walked up Blackstock Road at 11.30am, there were already people around sporting black scarves and BSM pin badges. It was great to see, and a sign that maybe we'd get a decent number of people join us.
Cannons on Blackstock Road was the meeting point and it's amazing how quickly the crowd started to grow from 1pm. The police were there to monitor the walk and they actually asked us to get it moving 10 minutes ahead of schedule because it was getting impossible to contain everyone. Off we went, up Elwood Street towards Avenell Road.
I stopped at one point to look back towards Cannons and it seemed as if the length of Elwood Street was filled with singing Arsenal fans. As one, the crowd sang in praise of Arsenal, and everyone seemed in high spirits. Despite the comments (and somewhat warped wishes) of some people online that it would be an anti-Wenger protest and that it would turn into one no matter what, it was very satisfying early on in the walk that not one person voiced a negative chant towards our manager.
Before the day, we'd put extensive work in with the press and through our positoning online, to state that the manager was nothing to do with our campaign. Despite that, the naysayers wouldn't let up; here's how the conversations went back and forth:
Them: “Nobody will turn up”
Us: “Yes they will”
Them: “It’s a Wenger Out protest”
Us: “No it’s not”
Them: “Me and my mates are turning up to smash you in” (that one word for word)
Us: “Okay!”
Them: “…. well it will turn into a Wenger Out protest”
Us: “No it won’t”
Them: “People will hijack it”
Us: “No they won’t”
Them: “... but the press will report it as a Wenger out protest”
Us: "Not the press we've spoken to"
I was therefore pleased that in proper Arsenal style, everyone was staying on point; it was pro-Arsenal, anti Kroenke and anti-Board. The walk turned into Avenell Road and past the famous East Stand of Highbury. A few chants of "We want our Highbury back" went up at that point and it was an emotional moment for many old school Arsenal fans walking past our spiritual home.
At the top of Avenell Road I thought I'd make my way back down the line to speak to some of the people there. Turning around it was a glorious sight; all the way back past the Marble Halls and coming out of Elwood Street, the road was packed with people on the walk. That sight was positive confirmation that there are many people who feel the same way. Still the pro-Arsenal songs came from supporters who clearly love the club.
I took one picture on the day - the one over there on the right. This was halfway along the line of people walking, and you'll see that the back markers are just coming past the Marble Halls.
Into Aubert Park we went, and down the hill towards Emirates Stadium. Still a huge amount of noise came from the crowd and one man said to me "I wish they could get this lot together in there every home game". Season tickets on the Clock End, Arsenal? We put that suggestion in for this very reason - getting like-minded fans together to generate a great atmosphere. As with a lot of other points, the ball is still in the club's court.
The walk turned into Drayton Park and another 'fear' of some was that the away fans in the Drayton Arms would come to cause trouble. What those people didn't know was that we'd spoken with Swansea fans before the day to let them know what was happening. Out they came from the pub, the Swansea fans, but did they look for trouble? No, they stood and applauded us because they support our cause.
Coming towards the end of the walk, the crowd packed out the south bridge and a wall of noise approached the stadium and on reaching Bear Roundabout outside The Armoury, fans either stuck around to continue the singing or they made their way into the ground to support the team.
I'd been asked by the Evening Standard a few days beforehand, as to how many we expected to turn up for the walk. My answer was "It's hard to say. We did our first walk 18 months ago and we had a few hundred people there; so if we get 1,000 for this one we'll be happy, but that's not the be all and end all. We're approaching 3,000 official members now, over 13,000 following us on Twitter and it's obvious that there are a lot of fans unhappy with how the Board is mistreating the club's core support. This walk is about raising awareness".
How many did turn up? You'll see different figures being thrown around, some strangely from people who'd been by The Armoury to see the remnants of the walk after it had finished! I'm no expert in counting crowd numbers so I'll go with what the Metropolitan Police told us; at 1.20pm they estimated 500 people outside Cannons and The Gunners. By 1.45 that number had doubled to trebled, and that's why they got us to start early. With people joining in after the walk had set off, coming out of both pubs at the starting point, that apparently swelled numbers to what the Police estimated at 2,500. My personal view looking down Avenell Road to see people still turning out of Elwood Street, that confirmed to me that we had (what someone described to me) "a very decent turnout indeed".
So at the end of the day, it's safe to say that the walk achieved its aim and it was great to see such a range of fans; men, women, young, old, black, white - it was all about coming together as Arsenal. The Arsenal way. From all of all of us at the BSM, a huge thank you to all who came along. We hope you enjoyed it and we'll continue to speak to our members with regard to next steps.
Finally, we've had requests from people wanting to see photos and video footage from Saturday. We'll get as many as we can find and put them in one place, as soon as we can.
Up The Gunners
'Highbury Harold'
After a lot of talk and plenty of debate, our walk took place on Saturday before the game with Swansea.
In the build up we'd had a ton of requests from the media for interviews and as a result you may have seen or heard us on TalkSport, podcasts, in the papers, on the web and Saturday morning, on Sky Sports News. Top marks to our man David O'Leary for his sign-off in that interview... "thanks for taking an interest in our affairs".
On Saturday we had a few final arrangements to take care of so I arrived early and as I walked up Blackstock Road at 11.30am, there were already people around sporting black scarves and BSM pin badges. It was great to see, and a sign that maybe we'd get a decent number of people join us.
Cannons on Blackstock Road was the meeting point and it's amazing how quickly the crowd started to grow from 1pm. The police were there to monitor the walk and they actually asked us to get it moving 10 minutes ahead of schedule because it was getting impossible to contain everyone. Off we went, up Elwood Street towards Avenell Road.
I stopped at one point to look back towards Cannons and it seemed as if the length of Elwood Street was filled with singing Arsenal fans. As one, the crowd sang in praise of Arsenal, and everyone seemed in high spirits. Despite the comments (and somewhat warped wishes) of some people online that it would be an anti-Wenger protest and that it would turn into one no matter what, it was very satisfying early on in the walk that not one person voiced a negative chant towards our manager.
Before the day, we'd put extensive work in with the press and through our positoning online, to state that the manager was nothing to do with our campaign. Despite that, the naysayers wouldn't let up; here's how the conversations went back and forth:
Them: “Nobody will turn up”
Us: “Yes they will”
Them: “It’s a Wenger Out protest”
Us: “No it’s not”
Them: “Me and my mates are turning up to smash you in” (that one word for word)
Us: “Okay!”
Them: “…. well it will turn into a Wenger Out protest”
Us: “No it won’t”
Them: “People will hijack it”
Us: “No they won’t”
Them: “... but the press will report it as a Wenger out protest”
Us: "Not the press we've spoken to"
I was therefore pleased that in proper Arsenal style, everyone was staying on point; it was pro-Arsenal, anti Kroenke and anti-Board. The walk turned into Avenell Road and past the famous East Stand of Highbury. A few chants of "We want our Highbury back" went up at that point and it was an emotional moment for many old school Arsenal fans walking past our spiritual home.
At the top of Avenell Road I thought I'd make my way back down the line to speak to some of the people there. Turning around it was a glorious sight; all the way back past the Marble Halls and coming out of Elwood Street, the road was packed with people on the walk. That sight was positive confirmation that there are many people who feel the same way. Still the pro-Arsenal songs came from supporters who clearly love the club.
I took one picture on the day - the one over there on the right. This was halfway along the line of people walking, and you'll see that the back markers are just coming past the Marble Halls.
Into Aubert Park we went, and down the hill towards Emirates Stadium. Still a huge amount of noise came from the crowd and one man said to me "I wish they could get this lot together in there every home game". Season tickets on the Clock End, Arsenal? We put that suggestion in for this very reason - getting like-minded fans together to generate a great atmosphere. As with a lot of other points, the ball is still in the club's court.
The walk turned into Drayton Park and another 'fear' of some was that the away fans in the Drayton Arms would come to cause trouble. What those people didn't know was that we'd spoken with Swansea fans before the day to let them know what was happening. Out they came from the pub, the Swansea fans, but did they look for trouble? No, they stood and applauded us because they support our cause.
Coming towards the end of the walk, the crowd packed out the south bridge and a wall of noise approached the stadium and on reaching Bear Roundabout outside The Armoury, fans either stuck around to continue the singing or they made their way into the ground to support the team.
I'd been asked by the Evening Standard a few days beforehand, as to how many we expected to turn up for the walk. My answer was "It's hard to say. We did our first walk 18 months ago and we had a few hundred people there; so if we get 1,000 for this one we'll be happy, but that's not the be all and end all. We're approaching 3,000 official members now, over 13,000 following us on Twitter and it's obvious that there are a lot of fans unhappy with how the Board is mistreating the club's core support. This walk is about raising awareness".
How many did turn up? You'll see different figures being thrown around, some strangely from people who'd been by The Armoury to see the remnants of the walk after it had finished! I'm no expert in counting crowd numbers so I'll go with what the Metropolitan Police told us; at 1.20pm they estimated 500 people outside Cannons and The Gunners. By 1.45 that number had doubled to trebled, and that's why they got us to start early. With people joining in after the walk had set off, coming out of both pubs at the starting point, that apparently swelled numbers to what the Police estimated at 2,500. My personal view looking down Avenell Road to see people still turning out of Elwood Street, that confirmed to me that we had (what someone described to me) "a very decent turnout indeed".
So at the end of the day, it's safe to say that the walk achieved its aim and it was great to see such a range of fans; men, women, young, old, black, white - it was all about coming together as Arsenal. The Arsenal way. From all of all of us at the BSM, a huge thank you to all who came along. We hope you enjoyed it and we'll continue to speak to our members with regard to next steps.
Finally, we've had requests from people wanting to see photos and video footage from Saturday. We'll get as many as we can find and put them in one place, as soon as we can.
Up The Gunners
'Highbury Harold'
