They began on the final whistle against Everton — a smattering of boos around the Emirates as the game finished 0-0.
They were there again on Saturday as Arsenal lost 2-1 to Chelsea. So were the fans who had brought a gigantic P45 with manager Jonas Eidevall’s name on it. By the evening, there was graffiti on Hornsey Road reading, “Jonas Out.” Maybe this is how we know that women’s football has truly arrived.
Eidevall is not the first Women’s Super League (WSL) manager to lose the faith of his fans, but this is the most high-profile instance. Arsenal pride themselves on having the league’s largest and most engaged fanbase. Now they are finding out what that means when results go south.
Across social media and in the ground, you would struggle to find a fan who would tell you that they think Eidevall has done enough to keep his job. Plenty are willing to make their feelings about the situation known. This is uncharted territory for a club as big as Arsenal.
There have been public objections to Marc Skinner’s continued presence at Manchester United, but the perception of it, rightly or wrongly, has been that it is a vocal minority. The FA Cup win in May, their first major trophy, placated casual observers. On the other side of Manchester, Gareth Taylor has also faced his fair share of criticism, but it never seemed to seriously affect his standing with the club.
Skinner and Taylor have enjoyed positive starts to the season, justifying the club’s backing. United made it three wins from three league games with a 3-0 victory over Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday. For City, Khadija ‘Bunny’ Shaw scored a late winner against Liverpool to send them top. No one can say the same for Arsenal, who already find themselves five points behind Manchester City in the league and were humiliated midweek by Bayern Munich, losing 5-2 in the Champions League.
Teams in women’s football tend to be far less trigger-happy. The financial repercussions of not finishing in a certain position are far less pronounced, with the main threat in the WSL being the single relegation place. Contrasting levels of investment have also created a significant talent gap that makes it easier for top sides to be mediocre but still coast along in the top half of the table.
Years where Manchester City finished fourth or Manchester United finished fifth are not unremarked upon but do not seem to generate significant concern among club hierarchies. Rehanne Skinner previously went on a losing run of nine games before Tottenham sacked her in 2023. This reality is part of why Arsenal, still the most successful club in English women’s football, have won only one league title in the past 12 years.
It is a similar situation in the United States’ NWSL, where a team can sneak into a play-off berth without performing particularly well and cover up a season of mediocre displays. The lack of relegation in that league makes underperformance even less of a concern than in England. When the San Diego Wave sacked Casey Stoney after winning only three of their first 14 matches, the reaction was shock and outrage.
Ironically, Stoney was at the Emirates on Saturday with her family to see Arsenal lose and would surely be high on Arsenal’s wish list were they to decide to move on from Eidevall.
The situation is taking its toll on the players at Arsenal. In an interview following the match, Arsenal forward Beth Mead said: “There’s not so many nice things being said about us as a team. It’s not the place or the time to be doing that to us. We need to be picked up.”
The next day she was forced to explain her comments on an Instagram story.
“To clarify my interview after the game yesterday. It is never in regards to the fans at games home or away. A minority online. Apologies to anyone who thought otherwise.”
Mead’s gloss on her original comments makes little sense. There is no meaningful delineation between fans criticising online and those who follow home and away. The truth is that women’s football has reached a point where many people spend significant amounts of money to support their team all across England and Europe. That is an investment which begets an entirely new set of demands and expectations.
Players will inevitably be caught in the crossfire but, generally, the disgruntlement has been fairly placed at the door of Eidevall and Arsenal’s hierarchy. In the past, it has probably been easier for sides to shut out the objections from fans, although Manchester United striker Rachel Williams did ask a supporter to put away a ‘Skinner Out’ sign at Stamford Bridge last season following a 3-1 loss. The growth of the game means that is not going to be feasible for much longer.
Arsenal might have the dubious honour of being a leader in this sense, but they will surely not be the last club to cope with this.
Comments like Mead’s create a sense that this criticism is a net negative. No one wants individuals to be subject to abusive comments online, but it remains a minority that can be called out separately from the general thrust of most objections. It is right for Arsenal fans to be frustrated that their club has made so little progress in four years under Eidevall and have generally stagnated over the past decade.
The notion that this is women’s football becoming more like men’s football creates a sense that this should be shied away from, but fans holding their clubs to account matters because of what they invest in their sides. For too long, WSL sides have got away with that not mattering.
Now it is a case of if Arsenal will continue to be one of them.
(Top photo: Catherine Ivill – AMA/Getty Images)
