What is that je ne sais quois? Something cultural? Something to identify with being from a certain background or location? That isn't unique to football and the alienation from grassroots isn't unique to football as well. It's been a long time since West Ham players were local steel-workers; does the club still represent the local industry and culture? No I don't think any club does (outside a few exceptions, but they aren't the rule), but the fans do. All that matters is how the fans feel; if the fans feel like Arsenal represents an idea, an abstract of concept of what it means to be an Arsenal supporter then I suppose it still exists in it's purity. American sports fans still feel that way as well, particularly for the older teams, the Cubs represent the north of Chicago, the middle-class and the more WASP neighbourhoods. Their cross-town rivals are the working-class, the poorer people and African-Americans. Their is a reason why New York and LA are viscous rivals, because they represent to polarising cultures from the two biggest cities in America on opposite coasts. There are reasons to why Chicago and Detroit are rivals, the economic rivalries of Lake Michigan and Lake Eerie, etc.