10 Years Since My Last Post

 OMG!I cannot believe it has actually taken me 10 years to post something again. By now it should be pretty clear this writing thing is not really for me-right? My last post was on 10th Nov 2014.I'm writing this on 16th Mar 2024.10 years. The last time Arsenal won the premier league-2003/2004 season. Current season 2023/2024.20 years. So it will likely have taken Arsenal almost 20years if we win the PL this year. What a coincidence between my writing drought and our beloved team's trophy drought. What coincidence you ask?10 years is not the same as 20 years-clearly but it's double that right?I think this is a shit introduction to my piece but I need your full attention for the next part of the story.Buckle up and lets go on this journey together.

A lot has happened in my personal life in 10 years. In 2014,i was working in my 4th job after graduating from University, in which I ended up staying for the longest time compared to the 3 aforementioned places that were really much shorter employment stints. In football terms, I was on 6 month trials in these places before I finally secured a pro 4 year contract on a bumper salary at a mid-sized football club in the year 2012. My time there was great and I grew in stature, enhanced my experience and gained the much needed confidence to catapult me to the next level.

In 2016,after my contract was coming to an end and I was not offered a renewal, I found myself in the cold briefly before I got snapped up by one of the top 4 'clubs' in the country as a free agent.I was excited and I seized the opportunity, this time seeing my wages doubled and I got to 'play' in the much coveted 'Champions League'. It went well for 2 years but I wasn't getting the satisfaction in my craft that we all yearn for when we wake up everyday to 'go to work' so I terminated my contract with this massive 'club' in mid 2018 and found myself yet again in the cold.During this brief hiatus from the 'game', I took some time to focus on my young family(I had recently gotten married in 2017,and my 2nd born daughter had just been born)I remember flying to the coast and just enjoying spending time with my wife, my first born daughter,my second born daughter(who then was actually the last born)and we had a good time. Travel has a way to excite you until it actually comes to an end and you have to go back to your normal day to day lives.

And that's exactly how it did go, here we were back to reality and I was feeling the need to get back to the 'game' The next few months were spent on searching for a new 'club' but nothing was forthcoming until late that year in 2018 when through a former 'teammate' in my 'mid sized club' I was able to 'sign' with yet another 'giant' club and I was elated, once again earning a bumper raise on my last deal. Just like with the last club before, I would ply my trade here for exactly two more years before getting my contract terminated at the end of 2020 at the height of the Covid 19 pandemic.

Now what about what has happened to Arsenal in the last 20 years? Of course the invincibles left the club one by one and a total rebuild/overhaul of the team happened. There was massive disappointment season after season in the form of failed PL title pushes, lost cup finals, and continued loss of our star players to rival teams. In no particular order, we lost Hleb,Flamini,Nasri,RVP,Cesc,Adebayor,Song,Clichy and so many more at crucial stages of the various seasons.Arsene Wenger,the mighty undisputed GOAT coach in the world got fired from his job! That's right-the man who the whole Arsenal fraternity owe so much to was actually unceremoniously releived of his duties! 

Who would've thought of Arsenal without Wenger?Arsene leaving the club was a big shock-at least to me(one of his most ardent supporters)particularly, the manner in which he left.For his replacement, we were introduced to the 'Good ebening' Spanish coach. His was a short stint as barely 8 months into the job, he also got the sack. Shortly after we began to see the structure of how the club is run changing after the departure of Ivan Gazidis.Initially,we had Sven running things alongside Raul Sanlehi in roles that the club had not experienced before. To replace Unai, another Spaniard -young Arsenal legend, perfect hair Pep Guardiola protégé-Mikel Arteta was hired to take over, initially as the first team coach. He would almost immediately answer his doubters(including me)by lifting silverware in his first season by beating Chelsea in an empty stadium to lift the FA Cup trophy. I guess this guy really proved how good he is to the board to see him eventually upgraded to Arsenal Manager.

The board this time was a young, new vibrant team headed by Stan Kroenke's son Josh alongside Invincible team member Edu and Chief Executive Vinai. The rebuild thus began. Emiliano Martinez, the goalkeeper who had been one of the longest serving members of this Arsenal team was sold to Aston Villa.Bernd Leno remained the undisputed number 1 and to provide the much needed squad depth/competition we signed Aaron Ramsdale from relegated Bournemouth. It wasn't long before we realised that Aaron was actually coming in as number 1 and Leno was eventually sold to Fulham. One by one, the likes of Aubameyang,Ozil,Pepe,Lacazette,Hector Bellerin, Granit Xhaka and other first team members were moved on. In their places, we saw the arrivals of William Saliba,Gabriel Maghales,Gabriel Jesus,Oleksandr Zinchenko, Gabriel Martinelli, Thomas Partey,Declan Rice,Kai Havertz, David Raya and other first team stars all in different seasons.

And my oh my, how unbelievably good have these new guys been? In the 2022/2023 season, we actually finished runners up to Manchester City after leading the majority of that campaign. Bar for William Saliba's injury in the last remaining games, a guy who had been an absolute rock in our defense all season long, some have suggested that we may have been in with a shout of lifting the title had he remained fit. Fast forward to 2023/2024 season.28 games in, top of the league.20 games won,4 losses and four draws, goal difference +46!Our record since the start of the year-played five won five! In all my years supporting the gunners,i have never seen anything like this. Just earlier this week, for the first time in 14 years, Arsenal qualified for the quarter finals of the champions league. This is all too good to be true. We have been in the abyss for so long, this feels surreal. Are we going to get over the line?Will we beat Bayern over 2 legs to qualify for the Champions league Semi-Final? Will we beat Mancity at the Etihad in our next league game to complete the double over them and get a massive psychological boost in the remaining 9 league fixtures as we look to lift the trophy for the first time in 20years?

What exciting times it is to be a gunner.Whatever happens this season, whether we win silverware or not,the belief is back. Then it's just a matter of when not if. We didn't really have this belief in a long time. But now, things are different. Thanks to the staff, the management, the players and the fans. My belief is back too and I shall keep writing again. I will not stop.All for the love of the game. And its my birthday today. To new beginnings!

This doesn't even deserve a title-We probably don't deserve the Title

11 games in.Just a measly 4 wins.Doesn't even matter that we've only lost 2 games.Against Chelsea & against Swansea.Both away fixtures.Perspective-described in the dictionary as the faculty of seeing all the relevant data in a meaningful relationship.Here's the data.We've played 6 away winning only 2.Played 5 at home winning only 2.There's a saying which goes something like you've got to be averaging 2 points a game if you want to be up there by the end of the season.17 points in 11 games means we're currently doing 1.5 points per game-how's that for perspective.It's poor and below standard that's what.It is also nowhere near title winning form.Forget the fact that we're still not at the halfway point of the league yet,because  that would somehow give a false sense of hope.Things have got to change in the next 8 games if we are even to dare to dream.There's going to be 4 games to be played at home and 4 games away from home.Among those to face will include Manchester United at home and Liverpool away.Others include Southampton at home and Stoke City away.I've selected these as examples because there's the possibility of coming away with nothing from all those games -albeit a small possibility even in our current form.What is for sure-even if things turn around drastically is that we're highly unlikely to come out of these fixtures with the maximum points.However,i hope I'm proven wrong.There are a couple of reasons we could throw around as to why we've been so poor so far.Probably the most debatable would be that we've been unable to play with our best 11 altogether.Debatable,1 because there is no easy answer to the question-what's our best 11 and 2 because there is no easy answer either to another question-shouldn't those who've been deputizing be good enough to make an impact?Purely just to expound a little allow me to answer both(doesn't necessarily mean it's the correct answers)1.Our best 11 of Szczesny,Koscielny,Mertesacker,Debuchy,Gibbs,Arteta,Ramsey,Wilshere,Ozil,Walcott & Sanchez are yet to play together this season.I'm very well aware of the fact that i've left out Welbeck & Giroud but like i said,there is no easy answer to this.2.Have the guys who've been deputizing like Chambers,Monreal,Flamini,Cazorla,Chamberlain & Welbeck not been good enough?Again,not very easy to answer that as well.I know people who would argue that Cazorla & Welbeck should be part of our best 11.Others will ask about Giroud-doesn't he certainly almost automatically qualify as part of our best 11?Anyway-the question still remains,why have we been so underwhelming?This is disregarding who has been picked so far & who hasn't and for whatever reasons.Many people will want to give a very easy answer to this question-the Coach.The guy who's been charge of over 1,100 games for the club.It does make sense to blame him because after all he's responsible for the team's results-good or bad.So is his time up?That's another very difficult question to answer.Because if you're going to ask that he's fired based on current form-then not very many top managers are on better form,available or not-save from the so called special one now turned only one.So what i'm i saying?Nothing really,I'm just thinking out loud.

The Dying Embers of the Game

Hi I'm back.I know- I've been on self-exile long enough-again.For this-i apologize. Well i guess I've been about,learning the ropes-kicking it!Arsenal,the object of our affection-us gunners.I think I'm going to talk about her in a novel manner this time round.For the first time,since i could remember,I'm discussing Arsenal from well not so changed circumstances.After Mesut Ozil's ambitious 42.5 Million Pounds purchase,we followed it up with the acquisition of 35 Million Pounds star man Alexis Sanchez.We all agree to love this new Arsenal,that can splash around +70 Million Pounds on two players.Crazy?Maybe.The ever exciting season has kicked off and so far we've only made it 1 win out of 4 games-so maybe things haven't really changed have they?Against Crystal Palace,we fought back well coming from behind to win in the dying embers of the game.Then we traveled to the blue half of Merseyside and got slaughtered early on in the first half before recouping in the second half to salvage a point thanks to goals from Aaron Ramsey and none other than Olivier French boy Giroud.We would go on to lose the latter to a serious ankle injury again in the dying embers of that game that's going to keep him out of action for more than 3 months.So that's 1 win and 1 draw for the first 2 games and we would still have reason to be optimistic for a turn of fortunes.Except we would go on to draw again after surrendering a 1-0 goal advantage albeit this time not in the dying embers of the game though with the equalizing goal coming just two minutes after Alexis new boy Sanchez had scrambled through his first goal in the BPL for Arsenal.Optimism now beginning to slowly wane away until an unexpected lift of fortunes saw Danny Welbeck switch colors from Red Nike to Red and White Puma on transfer deadline day.He would quickly announce his arrival with a subtle swipe at his former employers by declaring that he always saw himself playing for Arsenal during his first official club interview.He almost totally won over the hearts of all Arsenal fans when during his home debut against the reigning champions he chipped Joe Effing Hart once a glorious opportunity presented itself but watched agonizingly as the ball hit the outside of the post and rolled comfortably back into Joe Hart's arms!However,Alexis the man Sanchez would go on to give a man of the match display which culminated into his first goal at the Emirates - a sweet volley from another contender of man of the match Jack Wilshere's cleverly executed headed pass that sent the gunners into a well deserved 2-1 lead against the reigning Champions.But then again the dying embers of the game would have the last laugh as we went on to surrender our lead to the undisputed kings of Manchester and had to settle for a disappointing point.To make matters worse we lost yet another first team star Mathieu Debuchy to another serious ankle injury that will yet keep him on the sidelines for another 4 months just like his fellow compatriot.In summation there you have it 2 draws in the next 2 games to make a total of 4 games played 1 win,3 draws.Title winning form?Far from it.The gaffer insists our attacking frailties have been well addressed and where we've been lacking defensively after conceding  a couple of goals from set pieces in the games played so far will be addressed too.Believable?For sure debatable.Anyway just like our beloved Arsenal,i know I'm still not at my best with this piece.There is certainly room for improvement...

The last time Arsenal won a trophy- the danger words

Its been a while since i wrote anything.Then that's something all writers have in common right?
Anyway it's been a while since Arsenal won anything,that must be something football clubs have in common too right?So trophy droughts are to clubs what writing droughts are to writers.Except trophy droughts are subject to more scrutiny from the public eye.Particularly when speaking about a big football club like Arsenal.For instance you don't need to look further than the infamous Twitter to see for yourself just how much scrutiny Arsenal has attracted for the club's trophy drought."The last time Arsenal won a trophy..."is how most of these blogs written and posted on twitter everyday by frustrated Arsenal fans will begin.Well the last time Arsenal won a trophy,i had just graduated from high school.Now I've been through years of college-graduated,university-graduated,and I'm now on my third job since graduating from University.That should explain the exact period of time we're looking at when we talk about Arsenal's trophy drought.However,my intention is not to follow a similar path as the aforementioned twitter blogs(although it's easy to see just how quickly one can get carried away when starting a story with the 'danger words')Very 'dangerous words' indeed.Quite frankly,as a writer,I'm jealous of all the attention Arsenal has been receiving,negative or not.Why-because writers crave for this attention,they want people to read their work-isn't that the point of writing in the first place?So I'm sitting here thinking how i cannot go a day without reading about Arsenal's trophy drought somewhere yet no one cares that i haven't written in a week,in a month,hell in a year!Not a fair comparison?Maybe.Of course Arsenal is a world renown brand and I'm just some writer no one's ever heard of.The truth is i always enjoyed writing.At first i did it to impress my friends(i wrote very good compositions in primary school,stories in high school,articles in university for which i always scored very high marks-this always earned me plaudits amongst my peers)I reveled in the attention,adulation,adoration.My English teachers and lecturers would make me read out my work to the rest of the class and everyone was just told bluntly to write like me.I was the benchmark for excellent writing.Up until i lost my audience.After graduating,i realized there was no longer anyone to read my work.Well i guess i have the 'danger words' to thank for giving me new found self drive and the urge to get back to writing ways.I'm on a search of my long lost glory.I sometimes imagine what it would be like to log into twitter and read hundreds of blogs condemning and bashing my writing drought.Questioning the superiority of my writing art.Claiming it's time for me to hang up my boots,that I'm just not as good as i used to be.Alleging that i have refused to change with the times,that my ways are of eons and eons of old age.Challenging my authority and mastery of the craft.Calling for my high profile departure from the writing industry,disregarding what i have done for the art,unappreciative of all the joy and pride i have given hundreds through my work in the past.Disrespectful of my once lauded articulate ways of expressing my work.Don't you see the impact of the 'danger words'?Don't you see how they threaten my very mere existence?Can you not see that their intention is to do me more harm than good?Isn't it crystal clear that they're very short-term looking?Don't they border more on the emotional front instead of really looking at things in greater perspective?Don't all good things come with time?Doesn't good wine mature with time?Did Moses not eventually pat the water with the cane?Did it not take him ages to lead the children of Israel out of bondage and slavery?I wonder how long it took Hemingway to write the Old man and the sea,Shakespeare to complete the story of Hamlet and Sophocles to come up with Antigone.Is a 7yr drought the worst thing you can bear with yet what will come out of it at the end is a masterclass,a masterpiece?I mean did it not take me this long to do my second piece and wasn't it worth the wait?

Only Time Will Tell

They say Time Heals All.Well that's exactly what all Arsenal fans will be reminded of given their stop-start, Topsy-turvy season so far.Last evening, after a much successful trip to the blue half of Liverpool,where the gunners emerged 1 nil winners over Everton and ensured their assent to 3rd position in the Barclays Premier League table this all but confirmed the aforementioned saying. The humiliating 8-2 result against Manchester United is now well forgotten. Then there was that January collapse as well that saw them lose three on the trot which will also have been long banished from the memories of most if not all gooners.Not to forget the biggest European defeat suffered at the hands of Zlatan led and inspired AC Milan which was quickly followed by the FA Cup exit at the hands of Sunderland. The greatest pain though perhaps that made life very much worse than it already was for Arsenal was the fact that their bitter-most rivals, Tottenham Hotspur had commanded an unassailable 10 point lead over them in the table at some point in the season. Arsenal were subsequently not only in danger of losing out on the top four slots in the EPL table available for Champions League qualification but also set to finish below Spurs for the 1st time in 17 years.However,time now seems to have healed all the doubts surrounding the clubs future,at least temporarily, halted much of the stick directed towards arguably the Premier League's best ever gaffer by his own supporters, and restored the club's status as first and foremost the best club in London, England's Jewel city and capital. It feels very good and although the season is still a few games away from completion and nothing is decided yet, the future does look bright indeed. The other two London's best club pretenders Spurs and Chelsea lock horns in this weekend’s high profile North-London Derby which will certainly see either one or both of them drop points further while the gunners will entertain Aston Villa at the Magnificent Emirates stadium a venue where Arsenal have only lost two Premier League games this season. As it stands now, its Arsenal in 3rd place,1point ahead of Spurs and six ahead of fifth placed Chelsea. Not so bad for a side so badly written off so many a times already, wouldn’t you agree?