A few years ago I decided to create a Gooner WhatsApp group with some of my close friends whom also happened to be diehard supporters of the club in red and white. In a weird twist of fates (you know how much of a date guy I am). The group was created on 26th May 2018. (Hold that thought!) Somehow I find myself writing this blog post EXACTLY eight years later. Over time, the group expanded, from initially just former colleagues Paul (MS) and Jon (Gubbo from CA) to other long term family friends, such as James and my good friend from secondary school Steve. This was originally created as a way to exchange tickets in our own minor TicketExchange as we all had access to each other’s membership on the Arsenal ticket portal. It had in the past year or so, morphed to give us all an outlet to enjoy the banter in the build-up and aftermath of games over the course of a season.

With victory over Burnley on Monday night, all eyes turned to the South Coast, hoping Bournemouth could do Arsenal a favour. Usually much later in the evening, after I have had my dinner and watched some trash television I put on earphones and listen to Tony Livesey on BBC Radio 5 Live, while I attack the dishes in the sink and tidy up the lounge before finally going to bed. On this occasion, I was listening to the final stages of the match commentary. It had gone 9pm in the evening on a hot spring evening. It had all been going according to plan with Bournemouth protecting a fragile one nil lead on the South Coast. Junior Kroupi had scored at 39 minutes at 8:09pm in the first half. Then Haaland equalised (at 9:35pm) and we had an extremely nervous final two minutes of injury time. The Norwegian striker had scored five minutes after the ninety-minute mark. It was highly unlikely Manchester City were going to get the victory they needed to take the EPL title race to the final weekend. However, having been through such a rollercoaster ride this season, so I held on, cleaning the dishes while listening out for the referee to blow that final whistle. Finally at 9:37pm, after a twenty two year wait – Arsenal were Champions of England once again. Although those two minutes between the equalizer and the final whistle felt like a lifetime.

While world famous daily super-blogger Diamond Geezer had a rather muted response which he posted two days later. I punched the air in celebration and was running around the kitchen and living room to the bemusement of my long-suffering wife. It was soon onto the WA group and messaging other friends/fans across the world, as far away as Leicester, Bahrain and Malaysia.

It was time to make a plan – while I had multiple options, it was at the suggestion of James to head to N5 on Sunday afternoon to catch the Crystal Palace match at a local pub and then make our way down to the Emirates straight after the trophy presentation.

I am working on two fronts now – I have a mega post in draft status from the start of the season where I have recorded watching some of the key moments from the season. I will need to cross reference with my Twitter feed. Secondly I do need to describe my experience from Sunday in and around Finsbury Park, meeting up with James and his friend Adam. Attempting to meet up with my new colleague Marlon and failing miserably. For now, I will leave you with a photo a dear fan was willing to share on the interweb.

[Image courtesy of reddit user: IboughtMyOwnMic]