An Introduction

Hello,

My name is Richard and I am a miserable twat.

There I've said it.

Now nothing makes me more miserable than that wonderful sport we all know as football. 

In common society I am known as a football 'fan' but I use that term very loosely as it is almost impossible to be a fan of football and not constantly find something to moan about. 

What makes my predicament even worse is that for my sins I am an Arsenal fan. Yes I know...

It all began for me back in the late 1970s. My mother, born in Burma but living to the UK since the late 40s, was brought up in Green Lanes, London N5, just a stones throw away from Highbury. 

I can still vividly recall that summers day back in 1978 when she took me from our suburban Essex home to see where her old house used to be. Of course it was now flats but none of that mattered to me anyway because as soon as I saw the magnificent main entrance to The Arsenal Stadium that was it. I was hooked.

When I got home I spent the rest of the summer holidays researching the history of the club. No Google back then so it was the library for me. I soon discovered that they were actually one of the biggest and most successful clubs in the history of English football. Bonus.

Back then of course the 10 year old me was quite happy with my choice of team. The new season, which kicked off just a few weeks later, would end with Arsenal winning the FA Cup, beating Manchester United 3-2 in the final, a 5th success for us in that particular competition according to my book.

I only watched that dramatic match on TV as I was not from a football family. Although living so close to Highbury my mother was not an Arsenal fan, although she had gone to one match in the late 1950s. My father, on the other hand, was from South of the river, Beckenham in fact, and while not being a fan as such, Crystal Palace was his team of choice.

With no brothers or any other family members living local, and an older sister who decided to support West Ham, probably out of spite after they beat us 1-0 in the 1980 FA Cup final, I was very much on my own.

So after two years of constant nagging I was finally able to get my parents to agree to let me go to a match. Clearly they were not up to date with the hooliganism issue which was blighting English football at the time or I doubt they'd ever have let me go.

Saturday 17th October 1981 was the big day. Arsenal v Manchester City. Not the big game it is today but for me it was more important that the European Cup final. I stood on the North Bank, slightly to the right of the goal about halfway up, with my silk Arsenal scarf tied abound my wrist, and went absolutely ballistic when Raphael Meade, on his debut, scored the only goal of the game midway through the second half. 

It was not a great season for the club, we finished 5th and suffered early exits in the cups, but for me it was start of what would become my life and, alas, my downfall.

Since that day nearly 39 years ago, I have been to over 800 matches home and away and been lucky enough to see my club win many trophies. 5 league titles, 8 FA Cups, 2 League Cups and a European Cup Winners Cup. I know I have been fortunate. But if you think that means I have nothing to moan about then think again.

This new blog is an opportunity for me to share with you all the things that annoy me about modern football. I will covering everything from modern fans, modern players, ticket prices, transfer fees, transfer windows, TV coverage, referees, VAR, parking at away games, missing a goal because the queue at the loo was too long, and anything else to happens to annoy me at the time.

Come on, you can't wait can you...