I'm glad I didn't write this straight after the game yesterday, because although I'm feeling down this morning, yesterday I was just pure angry.
Not because of the build up to the game, or the football we played. Purely because I felt that looking at the season overall, the decline of recent years has continued.
Yes, the second half of the season has been better, yes this gives me optimism for next season, but overall we're nowhere near where I hoped we'd be.
It was great to be travelling down to the Emirates again, meeting friends I'd not seen for ages in The Woodbine, and talking all the crap that us football fans do. The banter was great and the Guinness was flowing freely.
The walk to the ground took us past our old home, as it always does, and it was nice to look at the old girl and smile again.
We got round to The Emirates, and it immediately started to feel strange, of course it was always going to, with just a small crowd allowed to attend.
Homework had been done by the club and no one was allowed onto the top concourse without a ticket. The area above the Armoury was also securely fenced and cordoned off.
We got into the stadium, and it was great to back inside the place again after so long.
But I immediately knew it was going to be difficult for any protest to be heard, the place is just too vast and the fans were too spread out, for a real impact to be made. Although, having watched the game back on tv, the fans in the stadium did a pretty good job of supporting the team, while at the same time letting Josh and his family know they aren't welcome.
The actual game was, as the old saying goes, definitely a game of two halves. In the first, The Arsenal huffed and puffed but didn't blow any houses down. The second was much better, and two decent goals saw us win the game.
The lap of honour after the final whistle was a bit embarrassing to say the least, and I felt a bit sorry for all the youngsters in the stadium. The players went to the centre circle, waved a bit and then went off again. A proper lap was expected and would have been much more appreciated. This could possibly be put down to the fact that the “Kroenke out” voices were a bit louder after the final whistle and the players felt a bit uncomfortable?
At the end of the day and on reflection, there’s no doubting we are an improving team, and let's hope next season sees the new dawn all us fans desperately want.
Josh Kroenke honoured us with his presence, and to be blatantly honest, seeing him up there looking down on us all made me feel physically sick. We need an owner who loves our great football club. He doesn't, and needs to go.... He won't.
The biggest cause of my anger after the game, was listening to some of the comments made by a few of the other “fans” in attendance. Some were showing pleasure at that lot up the road winning, because it meant we didn't have to play in the new Europa conference league. Some were happy because we wouldn't have to play on Thursday nights...
Everyone is entitled to their opinion, and I respect that. But not wanting your team to finish the season at the highest possible level, play in whatever competitions we qualify for and finish above that lot does make me angry. We should always want our team to do the best it possibly can, with absolutely no exceptions.
As for not playing on Thursdays. We will play whenever the TVs companies say we do, as they control when fixtures are played.
On social media yesterday, I called our great club “The mighty Arsenal”. I took lots of stick about that from opposition teams fans, which is expected and accepted. I also took stick from some Arsenal fans, for using the word mighty.
Let me tell you...... The Arsenal should always be mighty to us Arsenal fans. We are The Arsenal, the one and only Arsenal, and we should never be worried about calling our club mighty. The name is bigger than anyone or anything.
I will miss the European adventures next season, it will hurt seeing other teams playing abroad. But we'll be back, hopefully with the improvements we've seen at the back end of this season carried forward to the new one.
Up The (always) Mighty Arsenal
Hillsy the still proud gooner. 🔴 ⚪ 🔶 🔷
Brilliant, you have a new fan, Trev! 🔴⚪👍