If that title hasn’t put you off, and
you are still reading, allow me to explain exactly what it is I want to do with
this.
Ok, so I
guess you could say we are technically more in “close season” than actual
pre-season proper, but let’s not split hairs, it pretty much amounts to the
same thing – a lack of actual football to concentrate on.
“Silly season” is well and truly upon us now, and I thought it would be fun to
diarise the rollercoaster of emotions that we go through at this time every
year, from the early optimism and excitement of who we might sign etc, to the
blind panic when we haven’t signed anyone yet – which strangely seems to begin
before the transfer window has even officially opened – right through to the
final couple of weeks before the season begins, where we are all pretty much at
the “Ok, we didn’t sign so and so, I wish
we had signed such and such, but give me some bloody football already!”
stage.
The close
season does strange things to people, and it is a strange time in that, for me
personally anyway, the period itself and how people act and react during it
manage to bore, frustrate, annoy and fascinate me in equal measure.
I’m not going to be just copying and pasting quotes and snippets from what has
been happening each week, no point just going over something you have already
read, I will just be giving you my own thoughts, feelings and views on things, hopefully
some of which you will relate to. Anyone that read my first-ever blog on 1 Nil
Down 2 One Up recently will probably have gathered I am a glass half full kind
of person when it comes to Arsenal, so no doubt you will find me trying to be
as positive as possible about whatever may or may not happen this year.
Right, now
you know what this is all about, allow me to begin this journey with a little
summing up of the week with something I like to call…
Week One – Welcome
to Silly Season
Now we’ve pretty much come to the end of season analysis,
inquests etc, this brings with it the sudden realisation that there is a very
long time from now until the beginning of next season. The players are on a
beach somewhere, winding down and enjoying a break from football, leaving us
fans behind to spend the summer worrying about who we are going to buy, who we
haven’t bought yet, who everyone else is
going to buy, and all the madness, excitement and pant wetting that goes with
such speculation. The inconsiderate bastards.
Welcome, my friends, to Silly Season.
Personally I’m feeling pretty good about the summer ahead.
There seems a real genuine buzz about what we are going to do in the transfer
market this summer, and we are being linked with players such as Gonzalo Higuain
and Marouane Fellaini this week, as well as Wayne Rooney, and the talk of Cesc Fabregas
returning is still there. Ok, we have been here before, and what truth there is
in any of it we can only speculate (unless you are ITK!) but it is still nice for things to start off with us being
linked with buying players, rather than selling them.
The last couple of summers have been pretty torturous, and sadly predictable,
but let us not forget last summer we did sign Santi Cazorla, Lukas Podolski and
Olivier Giroud, all of which were overshadowed by the little boy inside a grey
haired Dutchman.
So, no surprise that the media made a big deal over some quotes from Laurent
Koscielny this week. I’m not going to go over exactly what he said, but in my
mind he simply said he is happy at Arsenal, and he wants to win things. How
dare he! Would you rather he said “Sod it, I’m happy here, fourth place is like
a trophy anyway, as long as I get paid every week I couldn’t give a shit”?
The thing about Silly Season though, is you can take anything anyone says and
hear it however you want, regardless of what someone actually says!
There were actually Arsenal fans on my Twitter timeline suggesting Kos had done
exactly what Robin van Persie did last year! Come on, you guys, please don’t insult my intelligence.
Stewart Robson –
*insert insult here*
Speaking of insults and intelligence, or rather lack of it,
I was cleaning out my cat’s litter tray this morning, and one particularly
annoying turd reminded me to mention Stewart Robson, who has once again had
something to say about Arsene Wenger this past week. I refuse to dignify the
ramblings of a bitter, twisted, bordering on insane pillock’s comments by
repeating them, or by giving him any more of your time or mine. To continue the cat poo analogy though – we
use this cat litter that can be flushed down the toilet, never to be seen
again, which is exactly the best way to deal with a cretin like “former Arsenal
favourite” Stewart Robson.
I shall leave it here for this week, there is a long way to
go yet. Just under 10 weeks in fact.
Until next week then, when I will be giving you my views on
what it means for Giroud, now that we’ve signed both Rooney and Higuain. Or not.
Darren Berry
Islington born and bred, Arsenal through and through.
Published author.
Is Yours Gold? The Arsenal Invincibles Twentieth Anniversary – available now,
Over Land and Sea (and Lockdown), Arsenal 20/21 – The Corona Diaires – released 2021.
Clickbait: Life as a Modern Football Fan – released 2019
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