Howdy Gooners, y’all alreet?
How arte you feeling on a footballess Saturday? Bored? Finding out that there are other things in life? Enjoying the freedom that the complete failure against Forest in the third round of the FA Cup brings?
Obviously I want Arsenal to win every competition and i’d much prefer we had shot of getting in to the sixth round today, but I must admit there’s part of me that is kind of glad that we get a bit of respite. Mainly because we’ve been so inconsistent all season that it’s only ever felt like we’re within a fortnight of more disappointment, so the fact that we are now almost a full week without the anger and annoyance of having Arsenal off up our midweek/weekend, kind of sits ok with me. With the game on Thursday next week also being at home and against what essentially feels like a collective of Swedish ice farmers, the hope is that we might even be able to go at least one day more than a fortnight without being properly pissed off, with our Cup Final taking place a fortnight and a day after the folding against Tottenham at Wembley.
So this weekend I’m making the most of it. I’m going to spend the weekend with my parents, The Management, brother and sister-in-law, as well as the niece and nephew. I’m going to catch football if it’s convenient, watch a bit of rugby, but generally just spend my time chilling out.
And do you know what? I am hoping that my craving for Arsenal is increased by the time we get to next weekend. We’re in a cup final, I’m going and I bet by the time we get to Saturday I’ll be absolutely desperate for match day. And isn’t that what we all want? To be desperate to see Arsenal play? Arsenal this season have been like my mums iPhone case. It looks all shiny and bejewelled from a distance, but when you get close and uncover the phone, it’s just a battered old 4S that you have to try and navigate around.
I don’t want to feel like Arsenal are my mums battered old iPhone case. I want them to feel like a shiny new case. With a new phone inside too. Note to self – remind mum about getting an upgrade.
As a slight aside, for some reason on the website a page has appeared within the News section, which is just called ‘The Arsenal board‘. It’s almost as if they want to inform us that they are still around and they still hold all the power. Well, the less said about that old boys network the better, because they are the absolute worst thing about Arsenal. An example of a bygone era which simply isn’t fit for purpose, owned by a man who just wants to accumulate his wealth and use Arsenal as some sort of leverage for his next big ranch purchase. I have nothing positive to say about the board and I don’t think I ever will about this current collective of people who insult fans at AGMs, look down on us all, plus don’t seem like they can manage their own PR properly, let alone the transition of mullion-million pound football club into modern day football. They are a cancer on the club and I have this secret desire to find some sort of widget that turns me into an overnight multi-billionaire. I’ve loved the idea of an older version of me from the future – Like Biff Tannen in Back To The Future II – to catch myself now and hand a Sports Almanac of results to me so I could just go on the greatest ever winning streak ever known. I’d accumulate enough money to be worth more than Stan and then I’d test his resolve.
I’d go straight to Stan and make him an offer he cannot refuse. I’d get him out, sack off every single one except those involved in the operating of the club, then I’d replace them with representatives from Arsenal’s past, fans, etc, to form a forum. I’d get football people who know how to run a club. It wouldn’t be a sentimental decision, but I’d make sure people have a voice and I’d also give some of my shares to fans, like the Barcelona model, to avoid any other absolute w*nker like Korenke ever taking over the club again. Even after I’m worm food.
A frivolous and fanciful dream, but a dream I hold nonetheless, but until that happens we’re stuck with these people who don’t represent us, don’t really have the same love we have and at times treat us with disdain.
Other than that there isn’t really a lot going on. Arsenal Fan TV appear to be the latest talking point, with all of those involved in it naturally defending it. From my perspective I never watch it, cannot stand some of the individuals on it, but as a concept I think it is something every team should have. A visual voice of fans is a great idea. It’s just the way that some people use the channel as a medium to create some sort of mini-celebrity status. They go on their for their own sense of self worth and nothing else and if they can profit from it by raising their own profile, then they will. It’s why they don’t really get the average match going fan. They have the same people on every week because they’ve tried to cultivate this fake ‘cult of celebrity’ amongst some of them and quite frankly it’s a bit pathetic. So I liked what Hector said about how some of them are using this for their own gain because for some of them this is invariably true. Having said that I get on with one or two of them and Robbie seems a genuinely nice guy. It’s just that he has unfortunately surrounded himself with a few attention-seeking idiots.
Right, I’m off for a cycle. Catch you all tomorrow.
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