We’ve done it. They’ve done it. Mikel Arteta and his Arsenal team/staff have delivered. They asked us to ‘Trust the process.” Now they can rightfully say, “this is why”.
I didn’t watch the game last night. I am an irrational football fan, and I believe in football karma. I believe I have some kind of cosmic sway over a football match happening miles away, with nothing to do with my team, and if I had watched it then it would have all gone wrong. So The Management said to me, “Come on, we’re going for a walk”. And we did. No phones. Over the fields in Uxbridge to avoid the possibility of coming across a house showing the game and me seeing the score. We walked, we talked, about anything other than football. She knew my mind was on that game on the South Coast, but she kept me busy and did an amazing job of stopping me from going to the next level of stress.
It worked. I said to her as we got home that it was the right thing to do. We left it until 9.25 pm before she said, “Do you want to check on your phone?
I went to my phone. I fired up the Sky Sports app, to the most glorious of things – a yellow ‘Breaking News’ ticker that simply said: “ARSENAL ARE PREMIER LEAGUE CHAMPIONS.”
I turned the phone over and put my hands on my head. I stood motionless in the kitchen.
She said, “What?”
“They’ve done it. Bournemouth has got a draw. We’re champions. It’s over.
I started receiving WhatsApps. From family. From friends. From other Arsenal fans. The outpouring of love was amazing. It meant so much. I thank everyone who has taken the time to send a message on whatever platform. I couldn’t properly type back. I was shaking. I shed a bit of a tear. She said “Do you want to cry?” – I laughed. I sort of did.
We went to bed at 11pm. It took me over an hour to get to sleep. I woke up at 4.53am. I tried to go back to sleep, but at 6am I realised that it was folly to think I could.
Arsenal are Champions again.
For pretty much the whole of 2026 I’ve been on edge. A coiled spring. There have been great highs, of course, that release the tension (4-1 away at The Scum springs immediately to mind). But until you get over the line, until we ACTUALLY did it, in the back of my mind, I could never fully celebrate. The ‘rival’ fan weaponised ‘banter’ these days means you always fear being too loud when you celebrate victories, however small. That is the sad part of modern-day football. But conversely to that, the upside is that as soon as that was confirmed last night, a community of Arsenal supporters all over the world was united in ecstasy. My screen time on my phone at the end of this week will show that I have spent an inordinate amount of time on social media platforms. I drank everything in from the second it was confirmed. I have watched countless videos. I’ve seen Arsenal fans gathering outside the Emirates. I’ve watched the players at London Colney celebrating. I’ve tuned in to everything. I have a TV in my office at home – it is going on and staying on all day.
I wish we lived in Islington right now. It looked jumping last night. I’ve had video messages from people who went up there. It looked to be rocking. The cat would’ve hated it if we lived in Islington, with all the honking of horns going on, which will no doubt continue throughout today. And will be extended right into the weekend too, I’ll bet. That part of North London will have an extended party period going well into this weekend. I’m going to place a flag I got from one of the cup finals in my front window. It is a great day to be an Arsenal fan. A proud day.
I am a white-collar office worker. But I’ll be wearing an Arsenal kit today. I don’t care about dress codes. Today calls for it.
Football moves so quickly. In just three months, we will still be champions, but a whole new season will be kicking off. And so at times like this, you do need to take stock, let the emotions take control, just ‘live’.
I’m going to write a piece about the doubters. I’m going to get out all of the receipts. But not today. I want to savour only the joy. I want to drink it all in. Listen to all the podcasts. Watch all the videos. Read all the blogs, articles and ‘thinkpieces’.
There might be a podcast later – I’m not sure – I’m a bit all over the place at the moment. But I don’t care.
Champions. We’ve done it.
I couldn’t be happier.
Catch you all tomorrow, as the celebrations will continue.
Enjoy the day, people. It will be a glorious one.
I’m a family man, well into middle age. But I stood outside my Islington house in my jammies, smoking a cigar, and listened to the joy.
It was, is, brilliant.
I’ve enjoyed reading your blog every day, it has been a pleasure being on this mad journey with you all.
Superb article and resonates with so many of us
What a feeling – the anxiety over the season and then the pure relief and joy I experienced last night when we got over the line. 22 years is a very long time! Of course every rival will downplay our success but I don’t give a monkeys – we will be celebrating for the whole summer now and imagine if we do the unthinkable in Budapest – we really will be on cloud 9 and that parade on 31st will be the icing on the cake – COYG!