Finding myself on my uppers and trying to claw my way out of a protracted period of poor health, I’ve taken to earning a few quid by going out to work. A wildly radical idea which, like Arsenal’s season, has yielded mixed results.
Lately I’ve been working for an organisation which provides support for adults with disabilities and learning difficulties. It is an area of employment which offers wildly varying emotional rewards and extraordinarily poor financial ones. No one employed there is in it to get rich but there are some highly motivated and above all decent people both giving and receiving support. As you can readily imagine in such exalted company I stand out like a blind cobbler’s thumb.
One of the people I’ve spent some time with is an Arsenal supporter and other than that I shall respect his privacy and tell you nothing of his circumstances. I can tell you he has been in a ferment this past week because today he’s travelling up from the West Country to the Big Smoke in order to watch his favourite team play in the FA Cup. Yes it would have been cool to have seen that particular shift pop up on my rota, no it did not.
What is wonderfully refreshing about being around this particular Arsenal supporter is his undaunted passion for the game. Regardless of the results and the negative commentary he listens to from the pundits he always seems happy to be a fan. What he singularly fails to do, and this really sets him apart from you and I, is to follow the team online.
What a joy to be around someone who doesn’t indulge their disappointment beyond a quick conversation with me or one of the other staff members but instead gets on with looking forward to the next game. It has been an invigorating, affirming and wholly positive experience. It of course throws into sharp contrast the verbal war zone of Twitter and the poisoned pond of the comments beneath the variously negative or sarcastic Arsenal blogs. I trust he will be allowed to enjoy his match day experience without the ridiculous, ruinous masochism of the disenchanted infecting the atmosphere. A fun filled carnival of football followers or a malignant miasma – only his fellow fans can decide.
Personally I shan’t be watching as I have landed a photography job at a gig being organised to celebrate the birthday of a well known local musician. Should be a good blend of light hearted portraits and band shots, not to mention every photographer’s nightmare; capturing the ‘fun’ of a party in a darkened hall. Moving subjects, poor lighting. Say no more.
Those of you who will be watching the game ought to be in for a treat. If the wonderful football we saw before the plug was pulled on Tuesday evening is anything to go by then Lincoln City are in for a torrid time. At stake, a semi final in our only remaining cup competition. Having won this venerable trophy in two of the last three years we all know what a wonderful end to the season such a prize can provide.
It is a simple and obvious fact that from now until that fateful day in May we have so much to play for. The battle for a top four finish is as fierce this season as it has ever been. Spurs, no doubt stung by the final day debacle of 2016, will be doubly determined to end their dreadful record of finishing below us year after year, and of course we are only a couple games away from the potential of a Wembley final.
Given that little list, anyone, whether they come from a pro or anti standpoint, who wastes their time and emotional energy getting excited about anything beyond the games themselves, surely deserves to have their bumps felt. Forget what may or may not be going on in the changing room or the boardroom. Spare no thought on the manager or players’ future plans. Don’t bang your head against the impenetrable wall of poor decisions and woeful commentary. Seriously, give it all up, nothing will change, nothing you do, think or say will make a scrap of difference. So why not just enjoy the game, revel in the tension and excitement of the run in and take the summer off until we go again in the Autumn?
I know one young man who will be doing just that and I’ll tell you something for nothing, he’ll be a whole lot happier than you or anyone else who gets themselves sucked into the morass of pointless argument, opinion and debate. Why not try it for just one game? Watch, enjoy, then just get on with your life until the next fixture comes around. Who knows, you might actually start enjoying football again.
Positively Arsenal 
good god, taylor has booked a lincoln player, I hope he is alright.
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gibbs misses a sitter
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Ramsey well off his best today
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Wengerball at its best – Girouddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd 2-0
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the good thing about Chris Sutton on commentary is listening to the sadness in his voice when Arsenal score
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Master of the one touch finish. 2-0
He makes it look easy.
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almost a wonder goal by bellerin
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3-0 after more wengerball its an og
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I think the big boys have turned up
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coquelin on for xhaka
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Declan Taylor @DeclanTaylor87 3m3 minutes ago
If you see a low cross come in from Kieran Gibbs don’t go chasing, Waterfall.
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xhaka would have been sent off for that, lincoln lad booked for very late foul on gibbs
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Positively Arsenal @Blackburngeorge 3m3 minutes ago
Arsene subbing Xhaka, he has seen Taylor’s intentions.
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65 minutes – Giroud off, Lucas on
what, what, what, all 3 subs on before the 65th minute
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ozil with a poor header
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eduardo792
March 11, 2017 at 6:55 pm
Declan Taylor @DeclanTaylor87 3m3 minutes ago
If you see a low cross come in from Kieran Gibbs don’t go chasing, Waterfall.
The French commentator said the same thing very funny in a thick French accent.
But he added it’s not type of football your used to.
Tre drole
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where is the “he got the ball” when its an Arsenal player, no its “should have been a card”
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je voulais dire
Tres drole
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alexissssssssssssssssssssssssssss 4-0, from 35 yards out
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Bradley Wood = Salope
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Ramsey makes it 5-0, after great work by alexis
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There was contact!
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replays shows lucas clipped, but sutton and the commentator say it was a clear dive
awful foul on ozil, then alexis hits the bar with the freekick
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disgracefully no time added
FT: Arsenal 5-0 Lincoln
poor first half,
very good second half, much better tempo, and team up for goals.
another fa cup semi final, think that is the 11th under wenger, wonder how many he could have got to if he had not disrespected the cup.
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highlight of the game – finally seen Arsenal actually walk the ball into the net, – Ramsey’s goal. For years I’ve been hearing pundits, commentators and journo say it, but today was the first time we actually done it.
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Jonny @JonnyOneill 1m1 minute ago
I’ve seen Arsenal go unbeaten but nothing will top Chris Sutton’s anger at Ozil shoulder barging a Lincoln player today.
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GoonerGordo @GoonerGordo 8m8 minutes ago
Sutton is still furious at Arsenal for beating him in the previous round.
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It’s so cool hearing an English man speak pretty much perfect French with a French accent and say the English names with a perfect English accent.
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quote of the day goes to arseblog
“The win made BT Sport and Anthony Taylor and Piers Morgan sad
ps – We had to listen to Chris Sutton for 90 minutes. This man is a pillock. Just wanted to share that.”
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I usually watch the games in Spanish on Benin the lad who supports Newcastle speaks Spanish with a strong English accent ,which can be a bit annoying sometimes ,this guy was really funny and interesting.
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Chris Sutton is too much for me,if I could find the games with just the crowd atmosphere I would be happy.
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I would like to be able to switch off the commentary and have arsenal player commentary, but can never get it to match up, either one or the other is always a bit off.
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@Mandy Dodd England Rugby has arguably has never been as beautiful to watch, combination of English Rugby league skill/mentality and Australian imagination.
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Ackers out!
That photo is amazing…..the WOB are surely inspired by Monty Python. Surely the tea lady has to go as well?
Comfortable enough win in the end, but as many have said, the commentary was pathetic…..every goal they let in was unfortunate …..Sutton is a grade A listed tool
Why are these fools given employment?
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I disagree that the first half was poor Eduardo. Lincoln were well up for it and were being given every advantage going. I thought we played it smart first half, looking for opportunities but not going gung ho until we got a feel of the opposition having never played them before. Ox was clearly out of sorts early on, probably another victim of the Arsenal virus doing the rounds, so I was not surprised to see him depart. Second half with a rejuvenated Ozil on the pitch we turned the screws and wore them down with our superior technique and fitness.
I know the usual suspects will be banging on about the fact that it was only Lincoln, but we treated them with the respect they earned having got this far in the competition and it was a good, confidence enhancing victory. Good for Aaron to get a goal given his poor shooting during the game. He seems low in confidence in front of goal at the moment, so that will do him no harm
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a wenger out protest flying this
they don’t know what they are protesting
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A consummate victory against game opponents. Unfortunately for Lincoln pashmina n and dashing about will only take you so far. A good atmosphere throughout.
The rumour was the Ox was sick on the pitch and had, allegedly, a large brown stain on his shorts as he scampered off straight down the tunnel. Did the camera catch the moment of embarrassment ?
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Pashmina ?
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Bandog @Bandoguk 23m23 minutes ago
3 semi’s in 4 years yet they want their Arsenal back. I would have killed for that as a kid supporting Arsenal.
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the commentators said ox had a hamstring injury
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so give up the ticket! it is not compulsory to be a season ticket holder and am sure the team will not miss such a fair weather fan! likely be snapped up! these people are boring and I trust AW does not think they are representative of fans cos they are not… AW should continue the work of building he is doing! we will get there despite the odds…
was that not a pen today for Lucas? imagine if we were in need of goals at that point?!
well done to the lads… was expecting 3 more and we were capable of getting it but for some luck and good goalkeeping so in all a good outing…
.
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Alexis (21), Walcott (17) and Giroud (12) have scored 50 goals between them for us so far this season in all competitions.
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anicoll5 I don’t know but Pashmina seemed to fit.
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looked like tens of thousands of empty seats today, some reports say that no tickets available on ticket exchange, so its great that so many of our fan base are rich enough to be able to afford to not put the ticket up for use, and its not so good that they are so selfish that they do not give fans who can rarely get tickets a chance to go to a game.
it seems the Wenger out protest was a case of “what you got”, as they protested every thing from kroenke, to the kit man and all things inbetween. and they wonder why their protests are laughed at by true gooners.
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Arsenal now with 3 games to re-arrange, Leicester (H), Southampton (A) and Sunderland (H)
we play spurs the week after the fa cup semi final, if they get through tomorrow, we might very well have back to back north london derbies
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by end of the season arsenal will not have played a saturday 3pm kick off game in 2017, I hope there was a banner for that today,
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I thought I heard a chorus of ‘one Arsene Wenger’ during the second half? I bet no one in our balanced media reports on that.
As for AFTV, do they actually watch the games? I don’t understand how they manage to set up outside the stadium so quickly after the match and surely the club wouldn’t let all that equipment through security?
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Wwwb, England rugby team certainly are a bit special, records tumbling.
Ireland , St Pats Day, possible Grand Slam should be incredible.
Jones has really turned them around from,the World Cup showing, he’s made them a bit nasty as well!
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passenal one thing I found odd about AFTV, was how so many of them got tickets for the Sutton game, with AFC only getting around 500 or 700 tickets, how was it that they all managed to get tickets. No one is that lucky.
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FA taking the piss, Arsenal have been allocated ball number 4 in the FA Cup draw.
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