Well, the Everton game wasn’t what I would call ‘total football’ – we beat Everton, but Everton were being nice, they only need 1 point to get into the UEFA cup and they played for the draw with the attitude: “if we get it then we get it otherwise we’ll get it in our last game against Newcastle” – Wenger put out a reserve type squad (to get them ready for next season I imagine) – nobody tried that hard... except Bentner – he tried too hard - but he got the goal, good lad!
I went to the match with PieFace and we met up with the Arsenal Intelligentsia FaceGroup hardcore in the Rocket for beers beforehand. They really are real people, not just computer text sprites as I suspected... thanks guys - we'll do it again next season!
The sun was shining and we sat in the beer garden... we had a laugh and drank strong lager from 4 pint plastic pitchers - the sun was also shining at the match. I got sunstroke. I nearly died. I am a pussy when it comes to sunshine. I should have worn a hat.
That night I lay in a puddle of sweat, my mind felt like a bag of pencils, broken thoughts jolting and clacking off each other, never connecting totally. Claire came up and asked me if I was alright – I didn’t understand her as the language centres had switched off… but at least I had stopped sweating – I said yes.
I had strange hallucinations that night – there was one about football that kept coming and going like the lapping tide of a land locked sea… it was important and very funny in some ways... tragic in others. Wenger was involved as was the stadium – but I can’t quite piece it all together now my mind is back in one piece.
I woke up with horrendous diarrhoea and Claire made me drink water that I didn’t want... I kept drinking and drinking but it never filled me or sloshed in my belly – halfway through the 5th pint I started to sweat again. It felt good.
My 2 y/o daughter, Sophia, came and sat with me and put Claire’s old stethoscope on my chest and listened to my heart beat for hours while Claire went to Hamleys to get a scooter and a penguin for her 3rd birhtday. She stroked my brow while she watched cbeebies and said that daddy was her best friend.
From: DogFace
Sent: 07 May 2008 12:57
To: PieFace
Subject: RE: Emirates Cup - Booking Confirmation
:-D
With regards to your email – not having a ‘rubbish’ team makes it less obvious... but that’s about it – the older players at the bridge are fully aware of what is going on, if not then they have not been very perceptive in their careers.
All I can say is Chelsea have effectively been given a 20 point advantage at the start of the season to reach second place – that’s how good a team they are!
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From: PieFace
Sent: 07 May 2008 12:05
To: DogFace
Subject: RE: Emirates Cup - Booking Confirmation
I'm suitably impressed - obviously I know that I'm not such a clever c*nt and therefore if I don't insert the asterisk this message won't get through.
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From: DogFace
Sent: 07 May 2008 11:52
To: PieFace
Subject: RE: Emirates Cup - Booking Confirmation
Basically – your email filter is thick as ѕhit and I’m a clever сunt.
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From: PieFace
Sent: 07 May 2008 11:49
To: DogFace
Subject: RE: Emirates Cup - Booking Confirmation
How this email got through our email filters with the unedited use of the f word, I do not know!
I'd say that you do need to have a good team and a good manager to begin with, and the cash bribes are the thing that gives you the edge over other similarly or better-talented rivals. If QPR don't improve their team next year, they haven't got a prayer of getting promoted to the Prem, even if all the match officials were paid off with the assistance of billionaire backers - fact. So saying that Chelsea are not a good team, that their players are talentless, and don't deserve to be in the CL final at all, is probably going to put you in the "conspiracy theorist nutter who doesn't know much about football" category.
Plus - it's not the players cheating their way to the titles - it is darker forces at work serving their own selfish interests - you can't give the pawns the credit for winning the chess match ... you can only criticise them if they have clearly decided to 'throw' matches and I haven't seen any evidence of that. Yet.
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From: DogFace
Sent: 07 May 2008 11:21
To: PieFace
Subject: FW: Emirates Cup - Booking Confirmation
The trouble is that pointing out to a football fan that his or her team is corrupt to the core and cheat their way to titles is likely to arouse some animosity... it’s like trying to convince the pope that there is no god even if you turned up at the Vatican with empirical proof, an alien, the resurrection of Bertrand Russell and a signed letter from god saying ‘I do not exist’. He would still say:
“Nahhh, don’t belive it mate – you’re a nutter... let’s just stick with this ‘Catholicism’ thing – after all, it seems to be working out ok for me, now fuсk off you atheist – you’re going to hell when you die, ha ha ha. Champions! Champions!”
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From: PieFace
Sent: 07 May 2008 11:00
To: DogFace; Chelsea Brian
Subject: RE: Emirates Cup - Booking Confirmation
Bro - there is nothing wrong with lively debate and I am sure that you relish the chance to expound your views.
*ding ding, seconds out, round one*
;-)
PieFace
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From: DogFace
Sent: 07 May 2008 10:56
To: PieFace; Chelsea Brian
Subject: RE: Emirates Cup - Booking Confirmation
OK – PieFace, Chelsea Brian - don’t get me started on the football otherwise we will fall out – our opinions are diametrically opposed and I will have no respect whatsoever for whomever wins the CL or the EPL as it all comes down to how much $$$ you have – nothing to do with football whatsoever...
...corruption in football is a subject of great concern to me and one that I feel very strongly about – I’m sure that you have been exposed to my mothers streak of ‘stubborn determination’ combined with ‘utter conviction’ when if came to matters or causes that she adopted (and, above all, knew she was right about) – well I have inherited that streak from her so you will know what to expect if you try and convince me otherwise, label or belittle my views.
So stop stirring it up PieFace!
:-)
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From: PieFace
Sent: 07 May 2008 10:23
To: Chelsea Brian; DogFace
Subject: RE: Emirates Cup - Booking Confirmation
Chelsea Brian - no doubt we will have a good chance to mull over the season and DogFace can dazzle you with his well-informed conspiracy theories when we see you! You can't say that Grant hasn't done a good job, even if he did promise champagne football and when that didn't work, quite sensible reverted to the effective winning football style that Mourinho integrated. You can't get as close as he has done to the Prem and CL titles without being a good manager. The fans should pay him respect where it is due.
PieFace
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From: Chelsea Brian
Sent: 06 May 2008 21:13
To: PieFace; DogFace
Subject: Re: Emirates Cup - Booking Confirmation
Hi lads
I can make and am really looking forward to meeting up on these days; I really enjoyed my pre-season visit to the Emirates last year and the fixtures for Day 2 this year promise to be just as entertaining. Thanks so very much fro including me in this.
Well - down to the wire on the Premiership - though I think for about the last 2 weeks most punters [Chelsea anyway] have been expecting it to finish level points with Man U edging it on goal difference. Fair Play to them - their football has been better overall than ours - although I do note that they have been beaten by more teams than we have and if the title is about supremacy over the competition...? Too old/jaded/parsimonious to go to Moscow for the Euro Final, although I think one of my sons is going. As a one-off I think we could well take that - particularly as I think for quite a few Chelsea players (Drogba, Lampard included) it will be their swansong and they will be up for it. Can't make out Grant - he looks so uninspiring and has made so many bad tactical/substitution changes, but I think he is improving and is starting to have the guts to for a result (pity he didn't do it with the Wigan and Tottenham league games - we could have been walking away with the title now). Still think it's the players leading though, which is never good, but then you look at the line-up and it's not really a surprise.
Look forward to seeing you soon.
Chelsea Brian
