Through January, we put out a few messages to say that we were working on something special for the Bayern home game.  Many got back in touch in the run up to the game, to ask what.  As you will have seen last night, the (somewhat disappointing) answer was "not very much".  We wanted to explain why that was.

Let’s start at the beginning.  REDaction collect ideas from fans, for things you think will help improve the atmosphere at games.  For many of these, we rely on AFC’s goodwill and/or help with funding – 60,000 seats is a lot to cover with scarves, flags, cards, or whatever.  Lately, we have not done very much – mostly through lack of opportunities (no title run-ins, cup semi finals or CL runs into April etc).  We did plan to do something big for the AC Milan home leg last season – but the 4-0 defeat in the first leg killed that idea.

So, the week after the CL knockout draw this year, we were quick off the mark.  A home-first draw (so we could not possibly be out of the tie by then) ; and almost 2 months to prepare.  We got in touch with AFC to discuss the possibility of a large scale display before (or even during) the Bayern game.  There were plenty of ideas on the table to choose from.

Early discussions sounded promising – the club even came back with a possibility to have flashing “Coldplay wristbands” in parts of the ground.  That one didn’t work out technically, but it was an encouraging sign that AFC were willing to do something ambitious.

Once that idea was ruled out, it all went downhill.  Two weeks ago, we learned that there would be no card display, no special banners, no wristbands. We were offered ‘beams of light’ and the big flags in each corner. Recycled ideas all round. At least we were able to use the 'WE ARE THE ARSENAL' flag, rather than hunting in the stadium bowels for it 30 minutes before kick off.

We made our disappointment clear, and got a pretty negative response from AFC – the club seemed to be wary of any criticism that we were making too big a deal of a round of 16 match, as if we were expecting to be eliminated.  We were unable to change their minds, so “flags in the corner” it was.  Especially disappointing as we knew there would be no shortage of noise and colour from the away end.

Having previously teased that we were working on big plans, we of course expect some criticism and questions to be asked of REDaction – it goes with the territory.  We just want fellow supporters to know that we had almost no support from the club to do anything for this game.  Drowning in money but unwilling to spend it – where have we heard that one before?

Victory Through Harmony

REDaction