may 17th
Having had time to consider the season past, the football, the refereeing, the support, the little quirks of fate that go into making up a 38 game extravaganza like we’ve had, I’ve come to the conclusion that the neither the players nor the manager deserve all the credit for the success we’ve had.
Last August I grew a Pires Stripe©® and kept it well clipped and maintained throughout the season. As a reward for the this, the beard Gods ensured that we didn’t lose a single game in the Premiership. Had I shaved off my fine whiskers, I’m sure we would have slipped up somewhere, but as I didn’t my brilliant bristles, my stupendous stubble, my fuckin’ excellent fuzz deserves some of the credit. So if anyone with connections to the club is reading this, please ask Mr Wenger to sign my stripe on a long term contract for an undisclosed fee. It’ll be worth it, I swear.
Arsenal had their open top parade (would that the Minogue sisters won the Premiership one of these days) through the streets of Islington yesterday. There were lots of great pics posted on the forums from arsebloggers at the scene. Thanks to Hat for the picture of the very glum and mournful Edu to your right. Living so far away is not so much of a problem in the days of satellite TV and internet radio and those things, but there are times when I wish I could take part in things like this.
Those of you who were there probably don’t realise how lucky you were, but I’m green. With envy, not Mickness.
At the parade Paddy and Terry both pledged their futures to the club, as if there were any doubt. Our captain said “Everyone wants to stay together. There’s not a single player who wants to leave this club.”
While Thierry Henry said “Players often go for two years here and then they leave and go for three years somewhere else and then they leave again. You see them kissing the badge all the time. Fair enough, if something bad happens to you and you have to leave. But that’s just not the way I see things. I just couldn’t walk away after people helped me so much at the start when I wasn’t scoring. I’m not playing in a bad team either, so why should I leave?”
Tonight, of course, sees the end of Martin Keown’s glittering Arsenal career as he gets the testimonial he so richly deserves. There’ll be all kinds of people at Highbury tomorrow night. Beckham, WWW (and it might not be long before we have another one of those at the club), and others as Arsenal take on an England XI. He’s old school is Martin. A growling, beastly centre-half on the field, an intelligent, well spoken man off it. We’ll miss you Martin, thanks for everything and I hope you have a great night tonight.
For those of you not around yesterday, there are a number of Champions wallpapers at the bottom of yesterday’s blog.
“My old man said be a Tottenham fan…”
