Bad credit? No credit? No problem!

As one contemplates the "modern" history of the Arsenal Football Club, one cannot help but look at the period of 1971-1989 as a sort of wandering in the wilderness, punctuated by the losses to Ipswich Town in 1978 and West Ham United in 1980 in FA Cup finals, the victory in the "Five Minute Final" over Manchester United in 1979, and the supposed boost of the league cup victory in 1987 over Liverpool. That's how I look at it, anyway.

Arsenal were drifting during that 18 year period. The first division became dominated by Liverpool before George Graham arrived at Arsenal. David O'Leary went from a schoolboy to having over 500 appearances for the club. He played with some of the heroes of '71 all the way through to Rocky and Thomas and then Ian Wright. Arsenal apparently couldn't win the league so they became cup specialists of a sort.

I've learned that saying a club are "cup specialists" is about as complimentary as saying someone is a "Sunday player."  Arsenal right now don't seem much like they want to expend the resources necessary to win the league, so if you look at their record over the past 9 seasons, they might have become "cup specialists" again. FA Cup winners 2005, Champions League final 2006, League Cup final 2007, League Cup final 2011, FA Cup winners 2014. No real sniff of the league title in that time. 

So it's not to say that Arsenal have been dismal during the past 9 seasons.  There have been 2 FA Cups in that time, and the chance at 3 more trophies. Maybe it does remind me of that 71-79 period. But if that's the case, does that mean 9 more years (or more) before Arsenal can claim to be the best in the league again? Are we really back to wandering in the wilderness?

I was prompted to write this because of the celebrations of Arsenal supporters after yesterday's FA Cup final victory over Hull City. So many people I know outside of England have only been following or supporting Arsenal for a few years. I asked my Yank friends on Friday, "Have any of you ever seen Arsenal lift a trophy?" Of a group of 20 or so, only 2 besides myself could make that claim, and one of them said it was the 2005 FA Cup.  They have come to Arsenal after Wenger's glorious early years when one could take it for granted that being a supporter meant crowns of glory. For them, this trophy means something. They have adopted "she wore a yellow ribbon" and chants about "Wemberley" as though they grew up in Islington. I understand their feelings about yesterday's victory.

But what about those folk I saw on telly back in Blighty who were going mad at the final whistle? The red and white shirted supporters who lined the parade route?

I believe it was a colossal "Eff you!" to everyone who blathered on about "years without a trophy." It wasn't that we think that the FA Cup is a substitute for winning the league or winning Europe, because it isn't. And it wasn't just relief, exhaling, a release of tension. No, I sincerely think it was a giant middle finger to everyone who has felt it necessary to use NOT winning as a cudgel with which to beat Arsenal about the face and skull.

You must write a new narrative, scribes, about the Arsenal Football Club. Perhaps now you can reshape it to say "Arsenal have not won the league in more than a decade" if you like. That would be more damning than "trophyless" because it puts Arsenal in the same company as those people from the other end of Seven Sisters Road and as Jack Wilshere can tell you, there's nothing worse than that.

Arsenal have won the FA Cup 11 times, on par with Manchester United. Wenger sides have won the trophy 5 times, on par with Sir Alex Ferguson. So give him--and the players--credit, please. It wasn't perfect, but it answered so many of Arsenal's and the manager's critics. Arsenal won away from the the Grove on a big occasion. Arsenal overcame a poor start. Arsenal won a trophy. Is this a story worth commemorating with a book, or even a short story? I say no. But for those who have made "not winning anything" a means by which they can flog the manager and the players, surely this is enough?

Credit where it's due--to Santi Cazorla's brilliant strike, to the ever-ready Laurent Koscielny for his typically grubby falling-down goal, to Kieran Gibbs' heart-stopping intervention, and to the combination of the always frustrating Olivier Giroud and the sent-from-heaven Aaron Ramsey for that priceless winner. Credit to Yaya Sanogo for what is becoming a habit of running on and opening up the game like a proper striker.

And credit most of all to Arsene Wenger, who did in fact lead Arsenal to a winning performance at Wembley in a cup final. You forget that he did manage it in 1998, and in Cardiff on 3 other occasions. Or perhaps you didn't forget it because you'd never seen him win anything in your time as an Arsenal supporter. I don't care how churlish I feel on the inside, I was overjoyed to see the man hoist a trophy again, to smile, to be tossed in the air and doused with champagne. He has been a frustrating, at times infuriating figure at the club but only the hardest of hearts would begrudge him yesterday.

I will be back to perform a proper autopsy on the season and this cup final, but for now, let us just give credit where it is due. Arsenal told all the critics in the world to get stuffed, and I couldn't ask for anything more.

By My Troth!

When I first decided to follow the Arsenal Football Club, it was September 1996 and they were 8th in the table. A friend of mine from Atlanta, upon breaking up with his long-time girlfriend and being a member of the leisure class, had spent the spring in London shagging a Pakistani girl and going to West Ham matches whilst eating some delicious curry and listening to dub and reggae. I envied him most for the West Ham matches.

It's very difficult to recall what the planet was like in 1996. The interwebs had barely become a place where people sought information at that time, and really that's a demarcation line for me.  I was a research associate for a consulting firm and was tasked with figuring out just what this thing was where you could fire up a computer and read things from other parts of the world.

Atlanta and the Olympics--my friend and I had gone to Orlando (his home town) to watch 2 matches from the Olympic football tournament. France vs. Spain and Japan vs. Nigeria. Crikey, I saw some great players. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Football_at_the_1996_Summer_Olympics_%E2%80%93_Men%27s_team_squads if you want to see who was there. Raul, of course, and a few players from France you might have heard of who in two years time would go on to win the World Cup, plus Nakata from Japan and a bloke named Kanu from Nigeria. The official record says that Kanu was 19--"You're having a larf!"

I told my friend as he regaled me with stories of his time going to matches in London that I needed to find a club to support. The Atlanta newspaper published the Premier League table once per week and it was from there that I "chose" the Arsenal. I said "That's a cool name," found out they were in London, and that, as they say, was that.

This was so far in the past that phrases such as "trophy drought," "war chest," "dry powder," or even "Le Professeur" had yet to be associated with the Arsenal. I really liked Dutch football at the time and the eventual combination of Dennis Bergkamp and (my favourite player at the time) Marc Overmars made me love the team (love, as opposed to like). I followed the the French national side intensely at the 1998 World Cup finals and when they returned as World Champions, I was sure that Arsenal would follow on with more greatness, only to see United win the treble (well, I didn't actually see it as televising club football hadn't made inroads into the USA yet).

I've said many times that the first live Arsenal match I ever saw on television was the 2000 Uefa Cup final versus Galatasaray--failure! Yes, that conditioned me to be an Arsenal supporter. "Tough break for your boys," my West Ham-loving friend remarked. He didn't mean it, but that's enough of that.

The next season matches began to be broadcast live on Fox Soccer Channel. The FA Cup semifinal vs. Spuds is burned into my memory. David Rocastle had just passed on, Hod the Sod was in charge of that lot, Graham had just been sacked--that match had subplots on top of subplots and included a come-from-behind victory fueled by goals from PV4 and Dreamy Bob. That's my first FA Cup memory. It's not very old for a man of my advanced years, but for a Yank with no access to the coverage that's available today, I think it makes me auncient.

Of course Arsenal would go on to lose to the McPoyles (trust me, it's an obscure yet appropriate reference) in a stolen final in Cardiff, where I christened one of their players "Stephanie Handjob." More heartbreak. Finishing second to United in the league again was nothing compared to the pain of that final, a referee who couldn't see things that appeared so obvious. It was that day that I started hating Liverpool. Most of my Yank friends who follow the Arsenal didn't understand why Liverpool are the club I despise above all others. Well, it started that day in 2001. It only becomes more intense after every conversation I have with Scousers who feel the need to remind me that their club invented the game. I'll leave discussions of Herbert Chapman for another time.

In the early 2000s, it seemed that playing in the FA Cup final was an Arsenal birthright. In 2002 I was back in Blighty for the "It's only Ray Parlour" final (but Freddie's goal in that match is also one of my favourite Arsenal goals of all time). I watched the agonising victory over Southampton and the penalty shootout victory over MUFC in seasons where Arsenal didn't win the league and lifting the grand old trophy meant the season wasn't a total loss.

But much like everything else regarding Arsenal in the last 10 years, winning the FA Cup seemed to stop mattering to the manager and the club. The League Cup loss to Birmingham City hurt but I've never cared much for the Milk Cup and was able to take that in stride. I'm one of those romantic old fools that still feels that winning the FA Cup means something, because winning it is tied so deeply to my first Arsenal memories. It stands for vanquishing old foes, allowing your players to march up the steps and your captain to lift a trophy, singing songs about Wemberly (as opposed to Cardiff, which was never very romantic at all) and yellow ribbons--for me, recalling goals by Overmars and Anelka that are adopted memories but I've seen them so often that it feels as though I was there. Remembering Tony Adams demanding that Vieira help lift the Cup in 2002. Remembering Vieira's last kick of the ball for the Arsenal. Tell us, Freddie, what's it like to win the FA Cup?

I'm charmed to see my Yank friends "up for the Cup." It's a reminder of another era, a bit less cynical, a bit old fashioned, really. So let's have a lovely day out at Wembley. COME ON YOU GUNNERS!

For your viewing pleasure:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnPaOi6F4wc A bit of "Hot Stuff" 1998
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WP_8O05dSgc A Day in the Sun 2002
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTI8E-tBNu0  A Penalty Shootout 2005