Random football stuff

Class that.

Fuck, I love everything about that. Team from the eighth tier when it could have been a team from the third or fourth and they take their good fortune in that manner. Brilliant.

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Goals aside, did you guys enjoy watching Robin Van Persie?

I never liked the way he ran with the ball, infact I don’t think he can run quite well with the ball.
Remember him saying that when he was young, he would dribble by pedestrians but he was just a slow languid dribbler for me

Yeah, a lot. More than any other Arsenal forwards in my life apart from Bergkamp and Henry.

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More than Wright or are you a little too young to remember him?

In short, yeah.

In long, I went to my first Arsenal game in 95 as a 5 year old, but it was only in the 97/98 season that I started watching football regularly and Wrighty was kind of on the wane then and being phased out. Watching more football and being 7 or 8 rather than 5 meant I could then start to form basic evaluations of players, working out who is a good player, starting to form opinions on which players were exciting.

I still appreciated Wrighty a lot, I was there for the game against Bolton where he got our all time scoring record, the Clock End went absolutely mental and I knew just how big a deal it was. My dad and his mates brought me up to appreciate Wrighty, Rocky (deffo before my time) Merse, Adams, the whole back five in fact, so when I made the above post I thought of Wrighty and instinctively wanted to include him, but if I’m honest, I can’t say I enjoyed him more than van Persie for example, because I only have a few vivid memories of seeing him play as he got shipped out after what I consider to be my first full season of fandom. I wish he’d been three to four years younger when Wenger arrived, would have loved to have seen prime Wrighty in a Wenger side and had the chance to appreciate him more.

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Young Jakey would have seen 3 league titles and several FA cups by the time he was 15, you must have thought this football game was easy being a fan ? I know I certainly did :joy:.

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Haha yeah, won the double in my first season when eight, was there for the securing of both trophies. Couple quiet years then saw us beat Chelsea in the FA Cup Final and in the process win the double again at twelve. Went to see us beat Southampton, that was one of my least favourite trips to Cardiff/Wembley. Just a bit duller, the stakes felt lower, but a wins a win and being there for it was some consolation after feeling devastated about not winning the league that season. Then the unbeaten season which was obviously amazing, and then we scummed United out of a trophy on penalties when I was fifteen. Best FA Cup Final ever for me lol.

Throughout all those years my dad and his mates were warning me that it had basically never been this good before, that this fairly sustained period of success couldn’t be taken for granted. I believed them, as a little geek I had read a lot about our history and had seen a fair bit of footage from the seventies etc, so I knew this was a very special period.

But I don’t think I really believed them deep down, I think I thought we’d always be at the very top table. Fifteen years old to the current day (twenty nine years ars old) has been a fairly sobering period :joy:

Still, been to Wembley to watch us win another three FA Cups in the last five to six years, so not all bad :slightly_smiling_face:

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Man I loved that week in 2002 when we beat United at OT when we required a point to win the league and then won the cup on the weekend vs Chelsea.

That week rocking up to high school with a beaming grin was gold, given most of my mates supported United and Liverpool.

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Fucking hell man, bragging at school about your team being the best was fucking everything. I remember going unbeaten and then having literally a whole year where I didn’t have to accept the slightest bit of shit from the plastic Mancs and Scousers populating my East London school.

If we won the league now in one respect I’d appreciate it more, I could go on a two day bender in Islington if I wanted and go absolutely mental celebrating. But in another sense, it could never live up to winning it as a child, when football was absolutely everything to you and your mates. So I try to remember that when I bemoan not winning the big trophies in my adult years, perhaps that was the best time for all that success, when football is your whole world because your balls haven’t fully dropped yet and you have no responsibilities whatsoever to occupy your mind.

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Yeah, I hear you here. The mid 2000s when Milan were embarrassing manutd on the regular was a great time, there were far too many of their fans around where I live and 90% of them absolute cunts. Telling me to fuck off home cos of why I support milan, this that the other.

As per your Wrighty comments, I thought that may be the case! I only caught the tale end of Baresi so while he’s the best cb Milan ever had, the best I’ve seen in my adult life for us was Nesta, and tbh followed not too far by Stam, that was an incredible pairing, so I know where you’re coming from with Van Persie

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What a cunt.

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At Ajax - Feyenoord today. Completely missed Arsenal game. Won the derby 4-0. Placed a €10 bet for 4-0 as well so won €110. Won my ticket back entirely. What a fucking day!!! Buzzing.

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Rightfully banned the cunts. Thou shalt not take Dennis’ name in vain

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Going full Erdogan.

I’ve grown to detest Italian football from so many angles. This just adds to it.
Celtic going to bring it to its knees in a few weeks. Them Bhoys are going to walk. . . It’s fucking on.:four_leaf_clover:

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Kinda hope they do it, too.

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Yeah. Better them than Liverpool or City.

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