I repeat, Arsenal Football Club are Premier League Champions. Let that sink in. Let that wash over you. I’ll be honest, I’m still not sure if this has actually registered with me.
How did you react?!
After the tension of the last few games and the outpouring of relief and emotion at the full time whistle, I expected a similar reaction to the Bournemouth game last night, but it just never came. I just carried on kneeling there in front of my TV, just quietly trying to take it all in, occasionally singing North London Forever to myself, but in all likelihood actually just slipping into some sort of football coma or denial, where I couldn’t quite believe what I’d just seen. My Wife got our ten year old Son out of bed to join in the moment, something that I hope he will remember forever, before my half-cut Niece and Nephew (both 15 years my junior!) turned up at my door to really kick things off!!
There’s a few reasons why I think maybe I haven’t reacted as expected. Firstly, I took the unprecedented step of going to a night match and then driving back home on Monday night for the Burnley game (totally worth it!!) getting back home at around 330am, which left me someway short of my mandatory 8 hours sleep! As a result, I’m dipping in and out of zombie mode for the past 24 hours plus, so this will obviously have an effect. I also only watched the last 30 minutes of the Bournemouth game and even then I had to do it with the sound off, due to overwhelming nerves, so that might have had an effect on my state of mind come full time.
However, I think the biggest reason why I’m still coming to terms with supporting the current Champions of the greatest league in the entire world is shock. I always hoped we would get to this point and now that we’re actually here, I’m just in shock. 22 long, long years. So many false dawns. So many tough pills to swallow. So many nights going to bed thinking about what might have been. So many jibes from rival fans. Then, nothing. Just silence. We did it, we actually did it. I’m going to have to leave it there and post again later on today. We did it…