Arsenal say sorry with ticket offer

Arsenal have announced that they will offer to buy another away ticket for those fans who travelled to Old Trafford on Sunday to see their team humiliated 8-2 by Manchester United.

Around 3,000 fans are thought to have made the 400-mile round trip to Manchester, only to see their team lose in the most excruciating manner. Manager Arsene Wenger and his inexperienced team were widely criticised for their showing on the pitch, but the travelling support gained widespread praise for backing their team throughout.

The embarrassed north London club confirmed yesterday that they would be offering to compensate the supporters who made the trip by paying for a ticket for another away game.

“Arsenal Football Club has announced it will be writing to fans who travelled to Old Trafford on Sunday with an offer to cover the cost of a match ticket at a future Barclays Premier League away game,” a club statement read. “Sunday’s result was obviously disappointing for everyone connected with the club. Our travelling fans were magnificent throughout and we want to recognise their fantastic support. We will be writing to them shortly with the details.”

All fans who bought a ticket for the Manchester United match will be contacted over the next couple of days and offered the chance to see another away game this season for free.

The club are not offering to pay for the travel costs for the away game of their choice.

This is not the first time a football club have taken such action following a hammering.

Wigan’s players clubbed together to refund the costs of every away fan who travelled to Tottenham to see their team humbled 9-1 at White Hart Lane two years ago. German side Energie Cottbus refunded 600 fans the cost of their trip to Schalke after seeing their team lose 4-0 in what the club described as a “pitiful performance”.

Wenger has also apologised to the Arsenal supporters for the calamity at Old Trafford.

It was the first time the London side have conceded eight goals since 1896 and it was a result that prompted extreme criticism on TV from Alan Hansen and Gary Neville, in addition to former Arsenal players Lee Dixon and Paul Merson, who all accused Wenger’s team of lacking even the most basic defensive cohesion.

Wenger has insisted he will not walk away from what is clearly a massive job to rebuild the confidence of a club who are still to find replacements for Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri, and have collected just a single point from their three Premier League games so far.

The Arsenal boss has pledged to try and find some new players ahead of the transfer window closing on Wednesday night.

However, for now, the best he can do is say sorry. “The fans do not want to see their team like that,” Wenger told Arsenal World. “We can only apologise and come back in our strength and desire in the next game. Big scores are humiliating and difficult to swallow but I don’t think they have a special meaning. They are always under special circumstances.”

For Wenger, those special circumstances were a lengthy injury list, which robbed him of the services of Jack Wilshere, Thomas Vermaelen and Bacary Sagna amongst others, plus the suspensions of Alex Song, Gervinho and Alex Frimpong.

Yet others see that as window dressing. Indeed, some see the scale of Arsenal’s defeat yesterday as a positive because it will force the club’s hierarchy to take a long, hard look at the future direction of a club who have gone six years without a trophy and already seem incapable of mounting a championship challenge this term.

Confirmation that South Korean forward Park Chu-young will arrive from Monaco in a £10million deal did not do much to lessen the anger around the Emirates Stadium.

Supporters remain mystified as to why Arsenal did not make an attempt to sign Scott Parker, who is bound for Tottenham, and are questioning the amount of money being made available by the club’s owners given the much-needed acquisition of Gary Cahill floundered on Friday following a bid claimed to be around £6 million, which Bolton regarded as an insult.

Even with injured players returning – and it could be a month at least before Wilshere is back in action if Fabio Capello’s assessment is accurate – Arsenal urgently require reinforcements, otherwise the Champions League campaign they set up by winning at Udinese on Wednesday could be their last for a while.