O Captain! My Captain!

He was supposed to be the new Patrick Vieira. He was supposed to be the Vieira with the passing range of Emmanuel Petit. He was supposed to be the spine, the character Arsenal lacked. Three years and 107 appearances later, Granit Xhaka has one foot out of the Emirates after being stripped of the captaincy. Arsenal have done it again. They have lost yet another captain.

“My ideal future is to watch Xhaka playing again and every supporter supporting him,” Emery said after Xhaka was boo-ed off at the Emirates. Now, that’s never going to happen again. Arsenal, the new ‘ruthless’ Arsenal, have acted. They wanted Xhaka to issue an apology. He shouldn’t have. He didn’t. Instead, the Swiss demanded ‘respect’ and hit back with a statement that laid bare the ugly face of the modern Arsenal fans.

Xhaka, by no means, is the best player on the roster. He’s clumsy in his challenges and gives the ball away easily but never backed down from a fight. He is also the first one to step up to face the media after a defeat. He takes on Patrice Evra, calls out the experts’ ‘bullshit’. Then again, he also cupped his ears to the jeering Emirates and shouted ‘fuck off’ to a bunch of disgraceful fans.

Isn’t that what the Arsenal fans wanted all along? Didn’t they want someone who would stand up to the bullies?

“I decided he’s not one of the captains in our group and I decided that and I told him this morning…” – Unai Emery declared in a press conference. On that very day, Arsenal’s twitter handle shared an image of Tony Adams in front of his famous – “Play for the name on the front of the shirt….” – quote. They captioned it as Mr Arsenal.

The search for Mr Arsenal has been on since Patrick Vieira scored the penalty in the 2005 FA Cup final. After that, the Arsenal captaincy became a poisoned chalice — whoever took it on, left soon after. Thierry Henry preferred the lure of the Champions League more than the armband. It was too much for William Gallas and the best of the lot, Cesc Fabregas, gave it up after the ecstasy of a World Cup. The Vermaelens, Van Persies, Mertesackers and Artetas all gave it a shot but none of them could become the next Mr Arsenal. Not even Laurent Koscielny. After spending nine years at the club, the Frenchman went on a strike before swapping his red and white for the Bordeaux blues.

‘Be excited’ – said Josh Kroenke at the beginning of the season. He followed it up by splashing 72 million pounds (okay! In installments) on Nicolas Pepe. Then the club released their best kits in a long time. But here we are again in November and the capitulation is already in motion. The team’s at its fragile worst, the defence is in disarray and the ‘Emery Out’ banners are in full display. The euphoria of the transfer season has given away to the toxic atmosphere that lingered during the final Arsene Wenger years.

The fans wanted change. They got change. However, they forgot to change themselves. Maybe they don’t want to change. Maybe…They have had enough, and nothing is good enough for them anymore. The continuous venom spewing garners more YouTube views anyway. The hate keeps them going, the rants makes them famous. The dismissal of Xhaka only reinstates their faith in that hate.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is now the official captain but even after 50 goals in 78 games, he was slated publicly. The majority though still loves him and we hope that the Gabonese striker sticks around long enough to become the next Mr Arsenal. He’s in prime form and most importantly, he’s got the backing of the Robbie brigade. At least, for now. But how long before they hunt down the Black Panther and leave him fallen cold and dead? Well…As Barney Ronay correctly tweeted – To be fair, no one should have to be Arsenal captain.