Change is the only certainty in life... things mutate, grow, blossom and prolapse. I remember a time when lemonade never used to contain aspartame – sometime before that; it even used to have lemons in it. These days... nup – you can't get lemonade anywhere, I've looked – even Waitrose don't sell it.
Coca Cola used to be the real thing... but what is it now? New, improved and even better than the real thing?
...I dunno...
And as for football... well – don't get me started on that one!
The game on Saturday was something of a revelation to me – there was something in the air and, it seemed, that this was not a local phenomenon... let me explain – for the first time at Arsenal I felt real anger in the crowd – it came second half, it came as a surprise and it must have came as a bit of a shock to all concerned... the elephant stirred.
The frustration will be linked no doubt to the collapse of the global economy – although this was merely a catalyst and an example of why the working classes (i.e. the bottom rung taxpayers) should not have any faith or trust in a system that actively sets out to fail them at every turn.
Arrogance must now explain itself in triplicate.
So, some miles away from N5 at Villa park a 'piece of silver' flies from the family section and smacks its way into the side of a linesman's head. This was a direct and ironic statement of the obvious fucking facts of this grubby game by a football fan, taking the only course of action left open to him to express his utter disgust of what his sport has become... why did this happen? Tell y'what – instead of looking into the frustration that led to the incident - we'll breeze over it with a 'straight faced' Redknapp sound bite:
"They are a disgrace to the game, It was probably thrown at me in all honesty but whoever does such things is a coward and a moron. Hopefully the culprit will be banned from football for life. There is no place in our marvellous game for that." – Harry Redknapp
Context is everything... and in the right context Redknapp has nailed it – I mean, these are the words we want to hear – but they resonate so very hollow in a mirror world where left is right and right is wrong...
"You want to rob me? Well here's my fuckin' cash you cunt!" – A fan.
We are informed that thankfully the linesman was "not injured badly and no stitches were needed"... I would have said that this was obvious – it was a 50p coin that was thrown with a hand not fired from a gun – were we to be concerned for the lino's long term health? Should we send him for a scan?
Maybe he should get his eyes tested though... just in case.
As an aside - If the cash had been aimed at Redknapp then I imagine that he would have caught it in his teeth and spat it in his pocket – after all, it is the 'credit crunch' and every little helps!
Getting back to the Arsenal match – the first half was a disgrace, again – and the ref with the linesmen were again making some shocking decisions. The pitch was tilted. MOTD missed out everything of any importance other than the Everton goal... and decided to base the post match blah about 'Theo Walcott' being England's new hope - but strangely missed showing the moment where he got smacked in the face and was helped off the floor to the crystal clear chants of: "You're not fit to referee" from 50,000 fans. Neither was the two footed challenge by Hibbert on Denilson covered... nor the subsequent violent reaction from Hibbert which earned Clichy a yellow. Neither was the repeated and cynical shit-kickery from Fellaini examined in detail, nor were any questions asked as to the standard of the linesmen and their clear bias in decision making with regards to what is and isn't considered offside.
The Specials once said that people were getting angry – but that was a response to Thatcher's Britain and mass unemployment – but listening to the song again it's hitting me hard as to just how right they were – we are still dealing with Thatcher's Britain, it's imploding under its own bloated obscenity and it's shittier now than it ever was... I used to wish that the old witch would hurry up and die – but now I am happy she is seeing the world that she and Regan created fall around her ears – the finger of blame will hopefully find its way back to her while she's still mentally 'with it' enough to discern Tuesday form a fried egg.
At N5, right before half time, people were indeed getting angry... the atmosphere changed and the lower tiers were giving the officials every ounce of their bile – the Everton fans politely and sarcasticly clapped every bad decision... shocking – considering the shit they get from the self same bunch of officials every other weekend. I think that this wound us up even more. I shouted myself horse at my lino – and it seemed from the bristling wave of obscene gestures and waving fists, that followed him up and down the touchline, that everyone else was doing their bit too.
When Nasri scored it only fuelled the fire... you could feel it; not today – today we were going to win. The atmosphere was electric and vicious and the fans it seemed had finally had enough of all the shit we get week in week out from this league. The team responded and RvP got the goal that put the game to bed. The crowed responded again – bloodthirsty and cruel; things were thrown at the Everton fans at the away end – nothing as bad as coins, just paper cups, flob and match programs... which was surprising as up until then we had largely ignored them and responded very little to the usual baiting and banter that you get between the home and away end. A number of the Everton fans swung their handbags a bit but didn't get through the line of stewards and police... good thing too – for them.
It had struck me at the half time (and a few of my fellow conspiracy theorists - I know because a got several identical txt's from them) that Wigan going up 1-2 against Liverpool just before the break would have helped our case and given us a more level field of play in the second half (in terms of scuppering the Big 4 multiple bet)... this may or may not have had an effect – but if it did then they fucked up royally by undeservedly sending off Valencia thus allowing Liverpool get 2 back in the last 15 minutes... we all suspected Liverpool might not win before the match as they were fairly conspicuous in the bookmakers windows and offered as part of featured multiples on various gambling websites... like I said – the EPL is a complex beast and unless you have very reliable inside info – you'll never beat the bookie!
Theo got the last goal – right in front of me, he coolly nut-megged the keeper and had the good grace not to celebrate like a cunt but take it as the richly deserved result from a spell of engrossing and determined play... give the crowd what they want - proper football.
And as for Walcott being the future of England... they may have a point after all.
