Monday, April 14, 2014

Losing My Religion

I used to be very invested in Arsenal, so much so my mood would swing to mirror the result. I used to be very affected and would get depressed for days following a loss. If, on the other hand, we enjoyed a run of wins, I’d be happy and would peruse the online articles tirelessly. Mummy used to tease me by asking what was in it for me whatever result Arsenal posted. And yes, she had a point, for win, lose or draw, I don’t get anything from it. Not a penny from the club or the players for the time I invested watching them. Anyway, I don’t expect anything out of my support. A run of wins is enough for me and of course I would so love it if they could finally get the monkey off their back and kill it once and for all.

I have, over time, learnt to handle the defeats. I still don’t find them acceptable but I no longer sulk or be in the doldrums for days as I used to. And I can understand that there are days when the team plays badly because we are all affected by moods and other factors (confidence or lack of, opportunities, fit players etc).

But my. March 2014 was a horrible month. We kicked off with a defeat to the despicable Orcs and it didn’t improve save for the win over Everton in the FA Cup quarter-final and over our bitter rivals, and draws against Bayern Munich, Swansea and Citeh. But the pasting we received was enough to make me feel utterly numb. So numb that I wonder how much further we have to fall (how many goals we have to lose by) and I was slowly losing my religion. And April didn’t start any better either with the away defeat to Everton.

And as only Arsenal are capable of being, we played poorly against Wigan. But at least we rallied and worked hard to press for an equaliser. And as we know, we are now going to Wem-ber-ley!

♪♫ ♫ Que sera sera
Whatever will be, will be
We’re going to Wem-ber-ley
Que sera sera
What will be, will be ♪♫ ♫





*Losing My Religion, as you may well know, is a hit song for R.E.M. It is about someone who pines for another. It’s unrequited love, what have you. Just like my unrequited love for Arsenal so I think the title of this post is rather apt.