Tonight sees us at St James’ Park in the fourth round of the Carling Cup against Toon. I’m looking forward to the game. I only wish we’d been drawn at home. The atmosphere is always cracking at home Carling Cup games, aside from the advantage of playing in our house. The crowd is younger and more disposed to pump up the volume. Not too many old fat bastards like me. It’s also more local and at the same time more diverse.
Not that I’ve got anything against Gooners who travel long distances to get to home games. I used to be one of them when I worked outside London, travelling down from the north of England, Wales and Scotland for home matches. A Gooner is a Gooner in my book. I don’t care whether you live at the other end of our planet or just round the corner from the ground as I have been lucky enough to for the last fourteen years since returning to the Big Smoke and God’s Own Borough – Islington (as opposed to God’s Own Country. Where, you ask. Wales of course!) A Gooner is a Gooner.
The fact that so many season ticket holding Gold members take the night off for the Carling Cup and ticket prices descend from their usual sky-high level to something far more realistic for all pockets means lots of people who love the club a) can afford to go and b) can easily get their hands on tickets. Long may the club continue this enlightened policy.
It would appear that Arsčne might have got the message expressed frequently by supporters in his presence and that of chief executive Ivan Gazidis about the domestic cup competitions. The side we selected at Spurs in the last round this season was more experienced than usual. I hope he continues to select the same sort of side in this competition in future. Likewise I’d like to see our strongest side selected in the FA Cup, a competition I absolutely love to bits.
The thing I love about the FA Cup is its democratic nature. Anybody can get to rub shoulders with the giants of the game, as long as they can battle their way through the earlier rounds. Coming out of the hat against Manchester United at Old Trafford in 2005 was a large part of why Exeter City is still around today. Not only did they sweep a big payday but the icing on the cake was getting a draw there and taking United back to the south-west for a replay. Exeter City, taken over by its fans via their supporters’ trust, got the cash injection they needed to stabilise the club after its previous owners had run it into the ground, committing criminal fraud in the process.
Exeter City is still one hundred percent owned by its supporters today. It will be joined in the first round of the FA Cup by two other fan-owned clubs, AFC Wimbledon and FC United of Manchester. If we ever meet any of them in either of the domestic cups (AFC Wimbledon is one step away from the Football League and leads the Conference at the moment. FC United is three steps away in the top division of the Northern Premier League) then of course I hope we win and win well. I always want Arsenal to win. Absent that, I wish all three clubs and their supporters well.
On that note, FC United has just launched an innovative Community Share Scheme for supporters and other well-wishers to raise £1.5 million towards their proposed new ground at Newton Heath in Manchester.
Back to things Arsenal. The “Romford Pelé” himself Ray Parlour, a man not given to the sort of ultra-bland, coma-inducing Alan Shearer type of football punditry, was full of praise for our performance at Eastlands on Sunday. He’s right in his praise I believe. I’m a cautious, pessimistic sort by nature. I do think there was much to encourage us about Sunday’s performance, despite my continued reservations about our team defending when we don’t have possession. If we can concede a goal a game less than we did last season we can be a contender. That’s just as important as the sumptuous football we often play when we’ve got the ball.
Now we need to kick on to the next level and mount an assault on the game’s commanding heights. We’ve been stuck on a plateau looking at the peak for a little too long now. I don’t think winning trophies is all that the club should be about. Far from it. A winning team should be our principle objective however, without blotting out the values and traditions (one of which is constant cutting edge innovation) which make us The Arsenal.
Keep the faith!
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