Arsenal Loses (I really do NOT like Norwegians)
May 18, 2006

Wednesday May 17. The most important day in my Arsenal Career. An important day for someone who had been supporting the club over a decade. In the early 90's, I discovered English premiership football and I started following it. In those years anyone could win the premiership. Liverpool won the premiership in 90 but I was mighty impressed when Arsenal won a double in 91. Leeds took it in '92. The Scottish manager running Man U was doing revolutions there and I had to accept the man was good as they took the league in ‘93. However he decided to get rid of some of the best players in the side especially kachelskis and the Hughes. I could not support such an unstable team. I chose to choose that magical team that pulled of the feat of the ONLY double I had seen in my lifetime. The club off course was Arsenal.

Puyol begging to be taken out of his misery

In 1996, Arsenal chose a new coach, Arsene Wenger. I was not amused. The guy was at the time coaches some J-League team (Grampus Eight?) and I was like they looked everywhere and only found a J-league reject where all rejects went. Not a good sign. Within two years, the new manager had managed to secure another double. The man had changed the old Arsenal style of play with defenders scoring and everyone playing a highly entertaining game. With the end of 98 there were new challenges. Marc Overmars that idiot decided to go to Barca with Petit to go to achieve well... nothing. Anelka that shamba boy went on to Real Madrid and was lucky to collect a champion's league medal. The Arsenal back four was not the youngest and they were falling off one after the other, Nigel Winterburm, Martin Keown, Lee Dixon and finally Tony Adams called it in.

In spite of this, Arsene was able to pull off some amazing moves signing Spurs Sol Campbell and others. Henry came in to replace Anelka and the man who was warming the Juventus bench came in and changed the whole meaning of the term centre forward. Suddenly Arsenal was a very different matter.

There's this strange habit that Kenyan drivers have. Try to cross the road and they maintain the pace of their driving. Try crossing at a zebra crossing and it all changes. They suddenly start driving fast as if they are trying to prevent you crossing at the lines of death. There is a reason why I never cross the road at a Zebra crossing. I plan on seeing my old age and zebra crossings are like a red cloth to the bull as far as our drivers are concerned.

The same can be said of my Arsenal and the Champions league. Once we start on that road, the other big clubs try and usually succeed in finishing us off. Even as we were kicking ass in the Premiership, we kept being kicked out of the UEFA Champions League at early phases. However, this year it was a very different matter. On may 17 in Paris , the Arsenal was one of the players in the dream final all neutrals had been asking for; Arsenal Vs Barcelona.

The game was great. The boys played their hearts out. However, the ghost of the Norwegians came back to haunt us. This ghost was first seen when that Norway freak John Carew while playing for Valencia kicked us out of the Champions league in '01. In '03 the same clown had an encore performance and out we were again out. I realised the Norwegian conspiracy was alive and well when one of the refs for the big match was seen wearing a Barca shirt and he had to be replaced. Alarm bells started ringing immediately.

And the game at hooters started. Jack M and I were looking at the line up and we were none too pleased. Sol Campbell has been mighty suspect all season and was in the line up. We consoled ourselves with the old adage that... Arsene knows.

The boys were running rings around Puyol and Marquez and only Valdez kept them in the game in the first twenty minutes until... the ghost of Norway arose. Jens Lehman was sent off where the Norwegian ref should have allowed the advantage and the goal. It was just too much for a man to take. Sms started coming in sending condolences for losing Lehman and the game. Guess what? It was "the weakest kink" that rose and scored a mighty goal. 10 men of Arsenal kept the most potent attack Europe until 76 minutes. The Norwegian linesman seeing as the trophy was heading to the Emirates Stadium couldn't have none of this no? He allowed an offside Eto'o score a goal that stood. And with the boys being tired keeping Dinho and co at bay the second goal was a bit harsh for Almunia.

Laugh when you can. Next year ni sisi !

There was mayhem at the Hooters that night as Tony that Chelsea idiot raised his arms in triumph with the second goal. A waiter was slapped, glasses and bottles were broken, tables were broken, phones were nowhere to be seen. I never saw that idiot Puyol raise the champions' league trophy as we all had to take cover. And the smses started streaming in.  I was gutted to say the least. It was all too much to and I took some comfort from a sympathetic shoulder and bosom.

The future however is bright. Henry is staying put so that's nice. New stadium meaning more money for the club meaning we can buy better players though with the young guns on display right now... well the new Arsenal era has just begun. The Champions league final was ours but for those bloody Norwegians...

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