You know I keep harping on about the British and Irish Lions and the 2nd Test in Pretoria? Well, for a long while, I couldn't bring myself to embrace the fact that it was the greatest test match I have ever seen because of the heartache that went with it.
I will shamelessly admit that I will never forget it and the memories, both good and bad will live with me forever. The same applies to last Saturday night.
I should have been absolutely euphoric. I thought beating Villa at The Grove was a particularly massive result but the result the Arsenal got at the Britannia left that standing. It was Arsenal best victory of the season bar none - no doubt about it. Yet here I am, days on from Saturday and I cannot bring myself to celebrate it or enthuse over it.
The injury to Aaron Ramsey is responsible for that and the pure notion that the young man will not wear an Arsenal shirt (or a Wales shirt) for a considerable length of time chills me to the bone. He was destined to be Wales's next big thing and even if he does make a full recovery, we will have to get used to the idea that he will never be quite the same again. I don't really want to talk about Shawcross and his part in proceedings. My anger and contempt for the boy is such, that if I start to talk about him I don't think I will be able to stop.
What really made me mad (apart from Shawcross) was pundits (and I use the term very loosely) like Stan Collymore. I have got to admit that the Cockroach from Cannock certainly knows how to create shock and awe - I was shocked at his at his piece in his weekly column, disgusted even. More than that, I was really awestruck by the fact that Collymore is a rare breed in that he is actually TWICE as thick as he looks, let alone sounds.
His xenophobic, knuckle dragging, boneheaded musing was stuff of legend. The first thought I had was "All you need are some steel capped Doc Martins, a tattoo of a bulldog, a green bomber jacket and some braces to go along with your skinhead and you're there, mate". My second thought was that I had fingernails bigger than his IQ - and I have bitten them down to nothing.
Just like two years ago, the massed legions of arsehole ignoramuses that are on the outside looking in, have met our anger and resentment with their pathetically obtuse rubbish. Somehow, Wenger is the one guilty of a heinous crime. Sorry but, excuse me?
Having seen the THIRD Arsenal player in four years dismembered and carried off stricken on a stretcher, just how was he supposed to react? Was he meant to just shrug it off and say "Ces't la vie?" Do me a favour. He might as well have sought out Shawcross and said "You broke Aaron's leg. Bravo! Let's go down to Le Gavroche, I'll book a table and you can have dinner and all the champagne you can drink on me!"
Maybe that would have gone down a little better with the roadkill that exists outside of Arsenal. But then, stupid is as stupid does is the phrase which springs to mind as far as the pure pond life outside of Arsenal are concerned.
Wenger has been accused of over-reacting and being paranoid. I see, so just how many Arsenal players need to be put in traction by opponents working on the pretence that they need to get stuck in, let 'em know you're there and fuelled by the idea Arsenal don't like it up 'em, for him to get paranoid? I have been watching the game for well over 25 years and I certainly can't remember such a casualty count at one Club. No one is going to tell that three serious injuries induced by over zealous opponents at one club in the space of just fours years hasn't been fuelled by that kind of agenda against the club. Am I looking for something that isn't there? I don't think so. The fact is the legions of shitwits outside of the club haven't got the guts to admit it and seek to hide behind a series of obtuse arguments.
When Eduardo was injured two years ago, everybody went about dealing with his loss the wrong way. I know for a fact that his injury plagued my thoughts for months afterwards. The injury affected Arsenal too and the mental fallout from Eduardo's injury went a long way to costing us the title.
Two years on my view is slightly different. We have got a score to settle with just about everyone in as much as we must make sure that young Aaron didn't get injured for nothing and we go on to try and lift the title. Collymore talked about Wenger having a bitter nasty streak. Well, you now what? I've got no convictions and I like to think I'm a good lad. Why don't I take a sledgehammer and smash your leg to pieces accidentally on purpose thus depriving you of the chance say to play football with your kids?
Better still, I would love to see us lift the Premier League trophy, something that Collymore doesn't think we would deserve. Let's see how bitter he and all the other shitwits get about that. For once, the amount of bile and bullshit that will come our way will be like music to my ears I can tell you.
This season has not just become about Arsenal proving everybody wrong. This season is about Arsenal saying "fuck you" to everyone that considers us as a club to be fair game for a beat down on the pitch and ridiculed and discredited all round off it.
Normally I would turn my attention towards our upcoming game. But fuck that. I don't give a shit about Burnley. The one thing that keeps me going is seeing Ramsey getting the medal he deserves and Arsenal lifting the trophy with their middle fingers high in the air.
Saturday's game is the first in a ten game mission. The memories of how we threw the title away two year ago are still very fresh. Let's make one step towards making the rest of this country feeling bitter and resentful. And come May, let's hope that we Gooners will be saying to the rest of the world "Fuck you all".
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