17th of Aug, 2019. A month prior, I had bought the Arsenal Red Membership with no hope of ever getting a chance to watch a match. It didn’t arrive for 2 weeks. I reached out to Arsenal support and they sent a copy of the membership card; it came with an Arsenal book, a red and white Arsenal muffler, and a woven winter cap. I was delighted after receiving the package and next thing was to try and get a ticket somehow.
Searched through reddit about how to get one, realised it’s almost impossible to get a ticket on Red Membership but I can buy one from the ticket exchange. So, I did exactly that. I didn’t realise how big the stadium is, at that time… and booked the cheapest one which was at the top.
And, the biggest mistake was, reaching 2 hours before the game. It was sort of empty outside, with mostly families lining up for pictures for their kids. No queues, and not much people once I went IN. An hour later, stadium was packed with 60k+ fans, players warming up. It was ecstatic.
It was the game against Burnley, under Unai Emery. Dani Ceballos started his first game for us on loan, we had David Luiz too starting his first game in Red and White after a move from Chelsea. We went ahead in 13th minute from a Lacazette’s goal, assisted by Dani boy. Happiness didn’t last long when Burnley scored one just before the half time. It was in the 64th minute when Auba scored the winning goal for us, stadium was buzzing, people were singing and I was on my arse for the rest of the game.
Wonderful experience. Brilliant atmosphere. Dream to watch Arsenal at Emirates was done. I managed to watch few more games before returning from UK, but the first game was special, even though I couldn’t see the players’ faces from up top.
The featured image on this post was the first pic I took of Emirates.
In this 4 years, my love and passion towards AFC has increased – so yeah, it affects my mood even more now. This love made me start a blog, which has 168 articles, 7,599 approved and genuine comments, and 91,500 unique readers. Things have gotten better, both at the club level where we are competing with Man City for the title, having one of the youngest and best group of players playing for us; and for LiR where the traffic is increasing as day passes.
Thank you, for all your support. LiR wouldn’t be anything without the readers.
Cheers.
Leaks being made in the press about Timber’s injury along the lines of “he felt fine” yada yada and he was walking the day after which doesn’t happen with ACL’s.
Bullshit – he was in a lot of pain when he went down and only managed a few minutes in the second half before going down in obvious pain again.
Someone screwed up in a big way and Arteta’s doing his usual of ducking responsibility.
Marc
“Can anyone remember a case of a player being assessed and being sent back out after half time who had an ACL? ”
A Pedro Rock Bottom argued listing all tests Timber was subjected too at half time and naively deduced that the fantasy medical team are absolved because their inept testing didn’t reveal anything amiss.( saw the 2 geriatrics apparently with bad knees themselves who arrived when Timber collapsed? )
Thanks, fellas. I’ve been reading LiR for a while (really enjoy the satire pieces as well as the overall posts/conversations), and even commented a couple of times here and there some time ago. I’m not a regular though like most of you here.
KP
Re: Bills/Arsenal in October – yes, it will be a tough sell, and I don’t think she’ll go for it even though one of her best childhood friends lives in London, and I told her that we could do a day trip to Paris (which she loved when we were there in summer of 2019). Unfortunately, it looks like London will have to wait 🙁 .
Re: “I think the term ‘upstate’ largely refers to the state of NY anywhere north of NYC right? Are you actually in the Buffalo area?” – you’re correct, sir. I’m in Rochester, NY area which is about an hour away from Buffalo. Been here since 1991 so it’s the place I call home.
Re: Cardiff/Runnarson – good luck! 🙂
Hoopah
Its just perverse – players get injured its bad but it happens. Arteta’s got form for this remember him pushing Partey back onto the pitch?
Can you imagine what Pedro would be saying if the same thing had happened under Emery? Still at least the fanboys have their ready made excuse for the season.
One has to only listen to DeZerbi’s comments today to understand why our first priority signing should have been Caicedo…considering all the grief surrounding the player since the winter window, his former manager could have easily sewered the player or simply declined making any commentary whatsoever, instead he waxed lyrically about his “unique” importance to the club, going so far as to suggest that he would have to make significant tactical adjustments as a result of his exodus…just saying
Vieira
Good point. In other words, De Zerbi knows how to keep his bosses happy by protecting and enhancing the value of his players. Bloom, and to a slightly lesser extent the fans, must love him.
I fear Arteta would have put Caicedo on the naughty step and ostracised him thus making it easier and ultimately cheaper for the buying club. Yes, I still bear the scars from the Guendouzi farrago and will never forgive Arteta for ruining the kid’s career.
R-r-r-r-runnarson looks set for South Wales. I can’t escape the guy. Iceland’s answer to Manuel Almunia. Talking of whom……
Upstate – keep persisting mate. That double-header sounds too good to miss. Are you expecting the Bills to have another good season?
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2023/aug/18/ange-postecoglou-warns-tottenham-fans-that-happiness-will-come-from-pain
‘joy comes through suffering’ according to spud manager Ange Postecoglu. Sounds almost confucian doesn’t it, although my personal favourite from the world of pessimistic mysticism is…
The only time to spit in a man’s face is when his beard is on fire.
I don’t think Ange’s message is going to resonate with the cro-magnon denizens of N17 is it? Relative to the hordes of other spud managers over the past 30 years, I think I quite like Ange (at least because of his oeuvre at Celtic). He’s an honest guy who is already as depressed as fuck about managing Spurs. Brilliant, and hardly the harbinger of football artistry and entertainment. Just imagine such philosophical candour from Arteta.
Sorry Tony
I didn’t see that Richard III spoof you were talking about earlier. I did however see a serious 50s/60s version with ‘Larry’ Olivier in the eponymous role a few years ago. Terrible ham acting and some properly mad medieval barnets on display which provided some tragi-comic moments in one of Shakespeare’s greatest historical plays. It did help cure my insomnia at the time.
I doubt I’ll have time to investigate on my trip but Leicester is now the Richard III world capital after they found his body buried under a car park…
“He’s an honest guy who is already as depressed as fuck about managing Spurs.”
He’s only been there 5 minutes – I keep getting flashbacks of the scene from Shawshank where they’re betting on which new inmate will be the first to lose it.
Ambarish,
A belated congrats on the milestones reached. A tremendous job the way you’ve grown the blog. Let’s hope this is just the beginning. Your genuine love for the club shines through,as does your humble nature.best of luck to you.
I found the Runnarson to Cardiff story funny I have to say,sorry KP. He’s hardly going straight into the first team is he? It’s gas the way it’s yet another loan,the end of which will see him out of contract. We make del boy and Rodney look like smooth professionals.
Gutted about Timber,he really did look to have something about him. But we’re not alone on the injury front,players dropping like flies. This is what having a big squad is all about,drive on regardless. City need another attacker,interesting to see where they go now that the Paquetta deal seems to be off. Delighted Olise didn’t sign for Chelsea, getting ridiculous what was going on there. It also means we might still get him in another season or so.
Lots of good matches to look forward to over the weekend. I wonder what we’ll see from Newcastle at City. Last year they were very defensive in the big games. Will Howe be a little bit more adventurous this year? Will utd be as bad against spuds as they were against Wolves? Are Chelsea the real deal under Poch? It’s a real treat of a weekend.
Thank you, everyone for encouragement and support here at LiR.
KP, Upstate,
Loved to hear your experiences. It’s refreshing to hear what other fans feel all over the world. Different people, different expectations and way of handling football and Arsenal.. but we are all Red and White army.
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Football is back, spuds v manure and city v Newcastle will be the two games to look out for today. I will pray for a city loss.
I have a dodgy stick at home (I know,I know). I watch almost every type of sport and football everywhere but for some reason I’ve never watched the French League and as a result I haven’t a clue whether Balagon is the next coming of Henry or Chamak. So I can’t really comment on the players quality with any authority. What I will say is that I don’t think he can be a step down from Nketiah and I do think we really need a top class striker. If Chelsea are after him then do not sell to them under any circumstances. If he fails there it will matter nothing to them whereas if he succeeds it will break our hearts. My instinct is to keep him and give him games however it seems that Arteta does not want to. Why this is God only knows. One might suspect that Balagon does not have the submissive nature that Arteta requires. At the risk of sounding like a broken record if Saka gets injured we are in big trouble offensively.
Upstate,
Enjoyed your story,I thought you were about to write a little piece of fiction when you started with the ‘dimly lit bar’! Bergkamp was a hero to us all I think,imagine what the modern ‘systems’ would have tried to do to him……
Liverpool one down,could easily have been 2 and Allison a lucky boy not to have seen red. Regardless of the end result Liverpool have shown all the vulnerability of last season again. Combine this with utd’s abysmal performance last Monday and it seems,albeit very early days,that the premiership badly needs a competitive Arsenal again if there is to be a genuine race.
Did any of you see Mitoma’s goal v wolves? Holy shit he is some player. Another Brighton superstar. And they still have Ferguson.
Tremendous equalizer by Diaz in fairness. I don’t understand why Klopp didn’t go all out for Gvardiol,they are desperately short of quality cb’s and he would have sorted them for a decade,especially learning alongside VVD. There’s obviously issues financially there.
Almunia
I can’t say I’ve watched any of the French League but Balo got 21 goals Lacazette got 27.
Now I know there’s all sorts of other variables but its not a great sign for how many goals he’d get for us.
KP good to see you pulled a goal back. Fingers crossed for the 2nd half. Pool and Bournemouth is a good game. Spuds v Manure a comedy of errors one hopes.
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Hope the mood is good with all.
Marc,
True for you and if we had a striker in form no-one would blink an eye at balo’s departure. But given Jesus’ injury record and Eddie’s performances (decent but he’s not top drawer and never will be imo) I don’t see why he hasn’t been given a run. If he belonged to another club he’d be exactly the profile we’d be looking at. I have to conclude it’s a personality thing. I don’t buy the ‘wanting to start’ argument. Every pro,virtually, wants to start but knows at the top level there are no guarantees. Just look at liverpool’s bench today.
All good here Tony,enjoying the afternoon. Hope all good your end. Estupian just put Brighton 2 up,he’s another good one. I noted Aaron Ramsey scoring for Cardiff also,keep KP happy for his ht cuppa.
Liverpool are so poor defensively it’s ridiculous, beginning to remind me of Arsenal’06-’11, fantastic attack crying out for defensive support.
3 nil to Brighton. Solly March. Even Welbeck looks good!
Good to hear Almunia was going to write a post after the pool game to you.
.
My views on Dezerbi and Bloom are always admiring of all they do. No way that dynamic duo are parting company company for some time to come, such is their perfect combination. I wish we had Bloom as an owner because he understands.
.
Sadly no one on our board or owners have his foresight or drive. Hats off to him!!!
.
Hope all well with you and your family.🙏😊🙏
Szoboszlai is showing his class today. Pool look more dangerous with 10 men.