With the 2012/13 season done and dusted, there will be a flurry of articles in your daily Arsenal digest ranging from lessons learned in the course of the season, look back sessions, season reviews and of course, transfer speculation.
However, there will be a guest post in today’s blog from a Gooner from Mars, @Femi4Arsenal, and he claims that when he dies, he wants his headstone to have the inscription – ‘He was once a Gooner’.
Sit back and enjoy as this Gooner shares his perspective about the joys of supporting Arsenal football club.
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It all started in a conference room – silence, understandably, dominated the horizon with the only sound emanating from the ceiling fan above our heads and we sat patiently, waiting for the manager of the company to give his speech.
I sat in my allocated seat, alongside the other trainees and we just stared at each other because in my honest opinion, there was nothing to talk about. After all, we haven’t seen each other before but a part of me hoped for someone to break this deadlock with a conversation of any kind.
I certainly wasn’t going to be that person though.
Surprisingly, like a flash, the guy sitting close to me looked disgruntled with his eyes firmly fixed on his mobile phone and he made an awkward sound, much to my bewilderment. But hey, I still had to mind my business. Then, he spilled the beans aloud, and his quotes made me smile like a kid that just received some gifts from his parents,
“Damn! Robin van Persie is stupid! Can you imagine the ingrate tagging Sir Alex Ferguson as the best coach he has ever worked with?”
In a strange twist of fate, I was sitting in this room for over an hour waiting patiently for the manager with absolutely nothing to do but listen to the swirling sound the fan above me was making and little did I know that a fellow Gooner was seating close to me.
C’mon, who else will want to call Robin van Persie stupid? It has to be someone that has been hurt by the actions of the Flying Dutchman. A supporter of the Pride of London, a supporter of the club that has gone without any silverware of any sort for eight years, a supporter that believes in victory through harmony – a supporter of Arsenal Football Club.
Before I could air my opinions on van Persie to my fellow Gooner, three other gentlemen that played the silent game like me an hour ago already did. After brief introductions, we dwelt on the issue of Robin van Persie, opening healed wounds, reminisced on the past, the current situation at Arsenal and the bright foreseeable future.
Its moments like these that make me love the beautiful game. That is football, it brings harmony, it’s more than just a game. Sometimes, I wish they could rename it to Li-football, the Li stands for Life (I don’t know if that makes sense though).
In my opinion, the less passionate fans would always want to remind you that football is just a game. Tell that to Arsene Wenger that danced on the touchline when Nicklas Bendtner scored that 94th minute header against Wolves. Tell that the 60,000 plus at the Emirates went into raptures when Andrey Arshavin scored the match winner against Barcelona.
A friend once shared a tale of how his parents sacrificed a lot to provide him with a sound education and now he’s been rewarded with a dream job. You’d bet I smiled and paid tribute to his parents. I call that dedication.
But, back then in college too, my best friend would always save his lunch money so he could go to match viewing centers to see his Arsenal win, lose or draw. In fairness, that is dedication too, forget about the amount of money involved.
Moving over to current affairs with endless tales of North Korea planning to attack the United States and the media frenzy on the situation makes me perplexed, talking about how it’s going to be doomsday if both countries go to war. I’m pretty sure that they haven’t heard about the North London derby.
A game that brings the northern part of London to a standstill, a game that has seen heroes and villains rise from the fold, a game that has seen all sorts of unbelievable drama, thrillers, suspense and most importantly, goals.
I believe keeping a set of Tottenham and Arsenal fans of the same number in a room could erupt a force that would knock the Earth out of space. Down the years, the rivalry between Arsenal and Tottenham has risen to astronomical levels and the balance has shifted with the White Half of North London edging closer and closer to trying to usurp their illustrious neighbors in the league.
After they got a taste of Champions League football, their cravings increased and they have pushed Arsene Wenger’s team to the edge and have breathed hard down the Gunners neck. This season, Arsenal qualified for the Champions League with a win against Newcastle and the players celebrated it like they had won a trophy, but the enemies have made mockery of them for their antics.
As Ifreke Inyang rightly stated, Arsenal celebrated fourth place like a trophy, so what?
In my honest opinion, since 1995, there is something that has been more certain than death, taxes and England losing on penalty kicks – St. Totteringham’s Day.
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