Yesterday was about joy. It was about the feeling. What it meant after so long. We did a ‘vibes’ pod on the Same Old Arsenal after work that leaned into that. I got some literal ‘receipts’ from my drawers to illustrate a point about all of those rival fans and pundits that called us bottlers (work expenses I haven’t bothered to throw away finally came in handy). James was much more magnanimous. Me less so.

And in yesterday’s blog I did say there would be a time to bust out the ‘receipts’ for all of those fans.

Today needs to be a bit of that I think. Not least because I was looking at Sky Sports this morning as I was getting changed and saw a video of this bottle wanker talking outside of the City ground. I have never heard such revisionist bullshit in my entire life. You could see he intended to do this video as a “fair kop, I’ve done meself up a kipper here” to start off with, but then he waffled on about being ‘rent free’ in everyone associated with Arsenal’s heads. Like it ius some kind of consolation. Some kind of small victory he can take.

“Rent free”. You can have space in my head my friend. I am literally happy to give it to you. I don’t care. You wanted to make a name for yourself, you thought you were hilarious, then when it has backfired, you’re now rowing back with this faux “it was only banter” nonsense, which also included saying “I never said tears”. Technically, I guess you are right, you didn’t “say” anything of the sort. You just decided that your moment of fame needed to be doubled down on after you beat us by filming yourself pretending to cry tears into an Arsenal bottle.

You have reaped what you have sown, my friend. Now don’t try to dial it back because your actions have backfired so spectacularly.

Rent free.

Yep – you have a special place in this season and this summer’s ‘banter’ logs. You are welcome to it.

He’s just the culmination of what I talked about yesterday, though; the ‘weaponized banter’ age brought about in the main by social media and the ability for anybody to go ‘viral’. And if you’re going to go viral, if you’re going to be part of that scene, you need to be able to laugh it off and hold your hands up. I think he tried in that video yesterday, I really do, but ultimately he couldn’t help himself. He had to ‘yeah but’ like everyone else who plays in that arena. And it’s because of that ‘Yeah but-ary’ that I’m even talking about him this morning. He is a twat who can’t just hold his hands up.

As for me, well, I’m still celebrating. I’m off to a conference today, which, if I’m honest, I could really do without. The management and I shared a bottle of Veuve Cliquot, two bottles of primitivo, as well as a Chinon, before we finally hit the hay, such was the jubilation. I’ve booked myself somewhere for lunch on the parade day, as the wife and I will be making our way towards Islington Town Hall to celebrate the title win. And hey, who knows, maybe there will be a second trophy on display too? That’d be nice.

On the Champions League, I still find it so weird that I’ve barely registered it or thought about it since the Atletico game. All my energy, mental faculties, focus, and will have gone into the Premier League. That was the one I wanted. I craved. And now it is done, I am still just so happy. And yet if you are one of those Arsenal players, having partied yesterday and enjoyed the celebrations, now you find yourself having to get your game face on for what is the biggest domestic club game in the footballing world.

We are in the Champions League Final, and I’ve spent the build-up to it not even registering that in my mind. It’s just so bizarre. But nice, actually, because I feel like whatever happens in nine days, this Arsenal team is already a winner. How on earth is the Champions League a ‘nice to have’???

Maybe as we build up to it I will feel different. Maybe I’ll start to have the nerves kick in this time next week. But for right now, where I sit, it just feels so amazing to be in a position where I don’t have the stress of football weighing me down. Only joy.

I’ll probably try to compile some pre-Palace thoughts tomorrow, as we build up to what is thankfully now a meaningless game, but for today, I think I will leave it there and let you go about your day, enjoying being a supporter of the Champions of England.

Feels good to say that.

Catch you all tomorrow.