Left Wanting More – Your Arsenal in Context

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I had no intention of posting this or any personal poem on here to be honest but circumstances have prompted me to do so.

I am well aware that since losing my son, Arsenal and my support of them, has an entirely different context. I am also aware that is only me, and virtually everyone else is still kicking every ball, living every mistake on the pitch and each new defeat.

It is hard to be an Arsenal fan right now and I do get it and I know, as I say, that my harsh personal and family reality is not yours. However, when you scream at the TV screen, attack our manager and players on social media and demand sackings, please try and retain some context, as thousands genuinely suffer at this time of year.

Similarly if you face a lockdown or restricted movement and cannot see those you love for a few weeks or months, remember those you know who will never see those they love again…..

We love football, we love and want the best for Arsenal, but we won a trophy a few months back and we will win them again in the future. And however much you love it, it IS still a game and merely the most important of the unimportant things in life.

I have written many poems and thoughts on grief, my son and some, not surprisingly overlap our shared love of Arsenal.

This one perhaps reflects my mood and I hope helps (or perhaps it will anger.)

Left wanting more

I still love The Arsenal, always will do, for sure

But Arsenal without you, I am left wanting more.

I still love matchdays, jump up when they score

But celebrating without you, I am left wanting more.

Whether they played well, or even if they were poor

The post-match banter is not the same now, I am left wanting more.

Although watching alongside you on occasions was tough to endure

I now miss your exasperation and moaning; I am left wanting more.

Even our best days, whilst gratifying, don’t have quite the allure

Not being able to share the joy with you, I am left wanting more.

A part of my footballing life is missing, that I can’t ignore

It will always be, so I am forever to be left, still wanting more.

One day, this coach or perhaps the next, our fortunes to restore

But even then, winning trophies without you, I will be left wanting more.

It was Liam, Arsenal and me, but that was before…

If the above resonates at all and you wish to support the work of a charity supporting young men, perhaps less fortunate than you then please donate to Future Men via Liam’s Fund here..

Dave Seager

Passionate fifty-something Arsenal supporter who has been making the journey to N5 regularly since the early 1980s – although his first game was in 1976. Always passionate when talking about The Arsenal, Dave decided to send a guest blog to Gunnersphere in the summer of 2011 and has not stopped writing about the Gunners since.

He set up his own site – 1 Nil Down 2 One Up – in February 2012, which he moved on in 2016 to concentrate on freelance writing and building Gunners Town, which he launched with Paul in 2014.

The objective of GT was to be new and fresh and to give a platform for likeminded passionate Arsenal fans wishing to write about their team. Dave still of course, writes for the site himself and advises the ever-changing writing crew.