Being a man of Anglo-West Indian stock, it wouldn't surprise any of you to know that I was brought up on the music of Marley and his reggae peers as a kid in the East End (this will come as a shock to most of my mates who think that I was brought up on the likes of Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, Van Halen and Iron Maiden given the sort of music that I tend to prefer listening to these days).
All the same, there are so many of Marley's records that stick in my mind to this very day and I'm sure there are a fair few Gooners out there that have got down and sometimes dirty to quite a few of them. But at this particular moment in time whilst writing this piece, there's one that stands out. It's a song called "Get Up, Stand Up".
As the title suggests, it's a song that is, ultimately, all about standing up for what you believe in but there's one line in the song that will also strike a chord with any rational person anywhere in the world – you can fool some people sometimes, but you can't fool all of the people all of the time.
Now (bearing in mind that I haven't talked to you all since our trip to Stamford Bridge the other day) if I was to put those words into context as an Arsenal fan, then it would go a long way to explaining, for example, my views as far as the Phoney Russian Franchise (aka Chelsea) are concerned.
After all, the press and the media in this country would have you believe the romantic notion that there is something magical and wondrous going on at Stamford Bridge when in reality, taking the overall history of the English game into account and the fact that the genuinely recognised big clubs like ourselves, Liverpool, Manchester United et al have never at any stage had a leg up from a multi-billionaire to propel them to glory, well, what is now going on down in SW6 reeks of an odour that doesn't inspire jealousy or even bitterness in my mind but sheer contempt and disdain.
Those feelings of disdain and contempt certainly have not gone away even though we were beaten down at the Bridge the other day and I'll tell you why. The press, the media (to say nothing of the bookies) had the PRF down as cast iron certainties not only to beat us but to also give us a bit of a going over. They had three subs that day that cost more than the entire team Wenger had put out for God's sake. Surely, the match was a foregone conclusion with the Arsenal thrashed out of sight even before they stepped off the coach. It didn't quite turn out that way, did it?
Yes, the Arsenal lost in the end but every Gooner knows how it happened. It took 14-carat fluke for the financially doped footballing equivalent of the Harlem Globetrotters/NBA All Stars to beat us (for the first time in 10 years) in their own back yard.
Still, you can always rely on the press to fail miserably to apply a sense of perspective. Oliver Holt of the Daily Mirror for example predictably wrote a piece themed around the fact that it was Arsene's 500th. game in charge of the Arsenal and gloating, given the result, that he could cry if wanted to at his own party.
Holt then went on to assert the notion that the PRF, whilst not playing well but still winning, had more to come out of their locker over the course of the season than the Arsenal have.
Okay, you can argue that it's just Holt's opinion but when it is a reflection of what most people outside of Highbury are generally thinking then it becomes altogether a different matter. Or does it?
In football, as in life, the fact is that popular opinion, regardless of the forces that drive it, isn't always the right opinion. For example, if you look back to Euro 2004, who on earth (outside of Athens) would have thought that Greece would have won that tournament? Who would have thought that Liverpool would not only make the Champions League final but come back from 3-0 down against a top class Italian side full of people with supposed defensive know-how, packed with just about the most experienced players in the entire tournament (man for man) and go on to win the damn thing? And, for the life of me, who would have thought that Northern Ireland would turn England over the other night in Belfast, for the first time in no less than 78 years and without even conceding a goal?
It just goes to show that success in football doesn't always come down to what a team looks like on paper. It has been that way virtually since the game of football was invented and if some of the recent events I have mentioned are anything to go by that will never, EVER change.
Indeed I have to say the legions of Arsenal fans out there that have recently been going around moaning and groaning over their current lot (particularly the ones who can vividly remember the bad old days of the early to mid 1980's for example like I do) should really know that better than anyone else.
For example, they should remember back to when George Graham took over at the helm at Arsenal and led us to the final of what was then as the Littlewoods Cup in 1987 against Liverpool (I was there that day by the way). Were we favourites to win? No, we were underdogs and given a slim chance of winning the cup- but win we did.
When we went to Anfield back in 1989, having had a great season, the fact of the matter was the Arsenal were given no chance of going there and getting a 2-0 win to secure the title. But, of course, we did.
When we played what was an outstanding Parma side in the 1994 Cup Winners Cup final, we were considered to be out of our depth with no chance of beating a side boasting the likes of Brolin, Asprilla and Zola in their prime. But of course, we did.
And even in more recent times, who would have thought that an unassuming, innocuous, initially bespectacled and unknown Frenchman would come into Arsenal and lead us to the Double in his first full season in 1998 thus breaking ManUre's hold over the rest of the Premiership on a relatively minimal budget?
I know I'm talking about relatively old history. But, it's memories such as those that make us the great club we are in my opinion – because everything we have achieved we have had to do it the hard way. We have had to put up with the unique, in-built sense of foreboding that exists in the press and large sections of the media, a foreboding that quite simply makes it impossible for Arsenal Football Club to ever command the same level of unconditional respect that other clubs in this country (like United and now Chelsea) seem to get as a mandatory rule.
So much of ManUre's success in the nineties was not so much down to the players they had but the constant hype ABOUT those players. And the way things are going these days, that particular trend is threatening to be repeated down at Stamford Bridge.
But, it was the Arsenal that challenged ManUre's dominance over the Premiership and (yes, that's right, you guessed it, against all the odds) ultimately broke their hold over it. And just because we do not have a team that is awash with "world class" players costing £20-30 million apiece right now, why should I as an Arsenal fan (given our proven record as a club for being able to succeed in spite of the constant sniping by the press off the pitch and at the expense of supposedly superior opponents on it down the years) sit here and believe that we cannot still be successful this year and in years to come? Sorry folks, but I refuse to do anything of the sort.
When you look back to Arsenal's last Premiership game against Fulham, it was very much business as usual as far as I could see. Ljungberg, Campbell and of course Vieira were nowhere to be seen on the pitch at any stage of the game but it still didn't stop us creating lots of chances (as usual) or scoring goals (as usual) and winning the game. Can any Arsenal fan ask for much more than that? I don't think so.
The doom and gloom merchants will no doubt still bang on about the strength of our squad, question the true state of the clubs finances (which do not appear to be that bad at all if this weeks news is anything to go by) or the fact that Wenger didn't keep his alleged vow to bring in a raft of world class players.
But I'm not really the type of bloke that goes around looking for negative scenarios that do not necessarily exist and I think that it's time we Gooners started to show some fortitude and back Wenger in what he looking to do right now.
It's the very least we all can do for him in this current time and if anyone who reads this really needs to ask why then they are either not very bright or hamstrung with a very short memory indeed.
Anyway, it's time to look forward to Saturday's trip to the Riverside where we will take on Middlesbrough.
The last ten days or so will not be ones that Steve MacLaren will remember to fondly. Having seen his own Boro side thumped by Charlton in their own back yard last Sunday week I bet that he couldn't wait to team up with the England party for the two recent internationals. Mind you if he knew in advance how disastrously things would pan out with England he would have stayed at home somewhere on Teeside.
As I said, things have not exactly been plain sailing for his Boro side either. They drew with Liverpool at home, thrashed Birmingham away but were beaten by the Tiny Totts in between. Not quite what the doctor ordered.
Part of the problem could be the unpredictability of their current front men. Mark Viduka is a real class act on his day but a mixture of injuries and flaws in his attitude to the game means that he can perform more often than not like a waste of space. The same could be said of Yakubu. I think that it was Tim Sherwood that summed this guy up the best when he was guest on Sky for a Portsmouth game when he said that the Nigerian can look like Thierry Henry one day and Lenny Henry the next.
Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink has always had a proven goalscoring record (particularly against the Arsenal) but there are signs of age and wear and tear catching up with him.
Some would also say that the Boro side is ageing a little bit on the old side. Ehiogu, Boateng, Southgate, Hasselbaink and Viduka are all the wrong side of 30 and all of them are key players in key areas of the pitch. However they do have one or two promising youngsters. Stewart Downing is the obvious name that springs to mind but it would worth our while watching out for Tony Morrison. The boy can play anywhere down the right hand side and he has generally impressed me whenever I have seen him play. I think he could be knocking on the door at international level within the next two years certainly as a right back.
I think that the Arsenal are in for a decent test at the Riverside on Saturday night. MacLaren will be looking for a response from his team after the embarrassing thumping they got from Charlton and he will have his team well fired up for the game.
From the Arsenal's point of view we are back in a no-win situation. If we win up at the Riverside people will say "ah well, it's only Middlesbrough and you still haven't proved that you can do it in the so-called big games ". Still, I don't care. What is important for us is that we keep focussed on doing a job against the slightly lesser lights. If we can continue to do that on a regular basis, then the so-called bigger games will look after themselves.
There's a lot of value in being able to keep your head when others are losing theirs around you. If we can do that we will not go far wrong this season. The Riverside is a perfect place for us to begin trying to put this all into practice.