MERRY CHRISTMAS x

READING LE GROVE ON CHRISTMAS DAY... SO PROUD

If you're here right now, that's because you're a sicko, hiding away from your family, trying to get a little something-something on the Arsenal front on Christmas Day.

Don't feel bad though... it's your Christmas as well, do as you please.

I never really know what to write on the 25th. We can't be hitting up spicy takes on a day that I know you're going to be slamming your first beer before 10. It's too risky. I'm not into trigger warnings on blog posts. Can’t be getting sued for ruining the vibe at Christmas dinner.

So my chat today is about the journey.

Football feels like it's been a very serious affair for the last 20 years of my life. Do or die kind of stuff. I'm smack bang at middle age and Arsenal still has the ability to shape my life, ruin my day, and make me hate people at work.

Am I about to tell you that's wrong? No fucking way. Ball is life, as the kids say.

What I am asking you to consider is whether you might want to reshape how you experience the journey.

The worst part about the Wenger years was navigating your feelings when the destination was nowhere-ville. I remember sitting down behind a keypad wondering what the point was. At times, it genuinely felt like we'd be stuck with him forever, getting ripped through the middle, losing every away day to a top 6 team. It’s hard to find joy, even with cup wins, when you know it's not laddering towards anything profound or meaningful.

That's why I'm less prone to exploding during this current project. If you take the emotion of this season out of it and look at what we have objectively, it's hard to imagine a world without Champions Leagues and Premier League titles in it over the next 5 years.

Arsenal are better positioned than any club over the short and midterm. We have a young group of players, the best manager, and the best system. Can't be having the counterpoint that Liverpool is the best team in England. The most blessed? Sure. A team that has come back from the edge for one last dance? Maybe. But objectively, Arsenal are the best team in the league and will categorically be proclaimed the best team in the world inside the next 3 years.

That belief gives me more strength to accept the ups and downs that we can't control. If you can't enjoy this journey we're on, God help you when we arrive, because protecting the promised land once you dock is way harder. Once you've experienced heaven, everything else is shite, ask the City fans calling for his head after living in paradise for the last 8 years.

So my Christmas message to you today is try to enjoy the journey, it won't be much longer before we arrive, then it's a different world we'll be in.

But rest assured, we'll arrive very soon, and it'll be glorious.

So, have the goodest of times this holiday season. Sending big love to all the readers and listeners who have spent time with us this season. Sending extra love to anyone who is experiencing a Christmas without loved ones. Have a late-goal-against-a-dirty-deep-block kind of day, say something outrageous at the Christmas table, and do NOT post a picture of your Christmas meal... no one cares.

Ok, big love. x