So, not all footballers are money grabbing knobends after all. I salute you Gael!

Season Review is coming...

Fans,

My season review is on the way, I assure you. I've received thousands of emails about this, and I apologise for not replying to all of them. I've been horribly busy at work and am only just getting over the disappointment of the end of the Premier League, but my thoughts have been gathered and it is in the process of being written.

I love you all dearly, thanks for your continued support.

Timmy P

Thierry: Please, please don't move to MLS!

I had a dream. I had a dream that Thierry Henry scored a hat-trick against United to knock them out of the Champions League. I had a dream that he twined Wes Brown, kicked Rio Ferdinand in the balls, turned Patrice Evra and smashed the ball into the top right corner of the goal past Van Der Sar. I had a dream that Thierry Henry played against United like we know he can.

Of course, none of this happened. Thierry didn't start the game last night, and although he looked lively when he came on for the final 15 minutes he did not manage to score the goal which would have made me incredibly happy. Still, I have a feeling that he will score at Old Trafford and send shivers down the spines of Arsenal fans once again... Anyway, there has been talk of Thierry being unhappy at Barcelona all season. A combination of injuries, being played out of position, adapting to a new club, missing his daughter and generally being out of form have all played a part in what is being called a terrible season for the legend by the Spanish media. Indeed, in the second leg of Barcelona's Champions League quarter final against Shalke, the Frenchman received the dreaded 'white hanky' treatment (for those of you that do not know, this is the ultimate indication of discontent from the Barca fans, God knows why).

All of these factors and the reaction to him by the Barce fans have led many to believe that Henry might be looking for a transfer away from the Nou Camp this summer. It has been suggested he might go to another Premier League team (highly unlikely, as if he would play against Arsenal) or perhaps another top club in Europe. However, today on Sky Sports News, Graham Hunter suggested that Thierry is considering following David Beckham into the MLS. I nearly dropped my vitamin C drink upon hearing this. It is not news that Henry would like to play in the MLS one day. Indeed, he recently said that he would love to finish his career there, but he also uttered the critical words, 'not yet'. The idea that he might go and play in America from next season feels me with no emotion other than sadness, and there is a good reason for this.

Yesterday, the imaginitively titled 'Thierry Henry: Legend' DVD fell through my post box. Well, not really because our letter box is ridiculously small, so the post man just left it outside my door. What a treat someone would have got had they have stolen it! How unfortunate. Anyway, I watched some of his goals last night; some from the early Henry days, and some from during his last season at the club. I particularly enjoyed his goal against Liverpool in the FA Cup, where he passed the ball to himself, sped away from Jamie Carragher from the centre of midfield, left him for dead on the turf and side footed the ball past Dudek into the Liverpool goal.

All of this after just coming back from injury. The significant point here is that this excellent goal was not scored 5 years ago; it has only been just over 12 months since that moment of magic. Thierry has not lost his brilliance in this short space of time. I believe he would be making a catostrophic era to leave for America at the age of 30 with several very good seasons left in him.

I can understand the draw of the MLS for Henry. He has often spoken of his admiration of the US and the sporting set-up they have over there, and it would give him the opportunity to join David Beckham as one of the European stars attempting to bring football to the mainstream in a country which has typically been uninterested by the sport. However, whereas Beckham a)never had the talent of Henry and b) went there as a 32 year old with no pace and c) has not been a great player for several seasons, Thierry is still only 30 and looks great on the ball when played as a striker. One only needs to look at his fantastic goal against Celtic in the second round of the Champions League to see that his goal-scoring touch is still well and truly there.

I am not opposed to the MLS, nor am I snobby about it. But Thierry Henry is still, despite what people may say, one of the best players in the world. He should be playing on the centre stage of world football, not in a league which is still very much in its infancy. To me, it would taint his legacy somewhat if he were to bail and move to the MLS at this stage of his career. Make no mistake, Thierry Henry will always be an Arsenal legend and perhaps the best player our club has ever seen. But the great man is too good to play in the MLS for now, and I do not want his final few years of top level football to be wasted.

Adams06: A parasite

The late Jeremy Beadle has inspired me to do some great pranks in my time. Who can forget the time I allowed my friend to shit his pants because I wouldn't tell him where the toilet was? Or the infamous Local B who spammed message boards across the country? They were really cool, inventive moments of inspired creativity. You should have seen my friends face as he shat himself, priceless.

When I started this blog, I decided to include a comment box just for the odd bit of banter and analysis. I was foolish and naive to think that there wouldn't be someone who would exploit the box and every single god damn thing it stands for. The man who did it? A guy who likes his friends to call him 'G-Child'. His alter ego? The uninspiring Adams 06. I have the misfortune of being a friend of this man.

You might have noticed that every now and then, Adams06 would write something like 'we're going to Wembley' or 'I like Hleb'. According to G-Child, these are absolutely hilarious comments. Apparently, people find them 'really funny' and he assures me that 'there are a lot of people who find Adams06 absolutely brilliant'. Well G-Child, I'm afraid the below emails are just a tiny proportion of the thousands of hate messages that I have been sent about you:

'Who is this Adams06 wanker? His comments aren't remotely funny and he is taking up all the C-Box'

'Adams 06 should suck my balls, he's a parasite on this wonderful page'

'Tell Adams 06 to get out of my face or I'll get my mate Lenny to knock his head off'

A lot of people don't like Adams06. But the main reason for this is that he isn't a very funny creation, and people are therefore offended by his presence. G-Child, in the future you must work harder to invent characters of substance and amusement. It sometimes takes time and thought to come up with a good prank.

For the future, if Adams06 writes a message, feel free to attack the G-Child. His work email address will be provided upon request.

The Injustice of it all

Theo got the ball on the edge of our area. He started to run, and he didn't stop until he had put through an inch perfect pass to Ade to score the goal which should have taken us through to the Champions League semi finals. My wonderful friend James and I went nuts. In a pub full of Liverpool fans (God knows why), we made a ridiculous amount of noise as we jumped up and down celebrating the emergence of a superstar and, more importantly, the fact that we were 6 minutes away from the semi finals of the most prestigious cup competition in the world. It was a fantastic feeling, and I was certain that the memory of that goal would stay with me untainted for a very long time. This was not to be the case.

We had literally only just sat down from the madness of the previous two minutes when Liverpool were awarded a ridiculously soft penalty which was duly dispatched by the otherwise anonymous Steven Gerrard. I do not want to get into debate about whether or not Liverpool should have been awarded the penalty (of course they should not). No, I want to look at the inconsistency in refereeing that we saw over the two legs. After all, it does not really matter if Ryan Babel was actually fouled by Kolo Toure or not. The fact is that if he was deemed to have been fouled, then it is very difficult to accept that the 'tackle' by Dirk Kuyt on Alex Hleb last week was legal. These two decisions have cost Arsenal a place in the last four of the Champions League.

People might say that it is too easy to look at the referee's decisions and ignore the flaws in the Arsenal team which contributed to our failure to proceed in the tournament, so I will acknowledge them now:

Firstly, without Rosicky, the team does not have a natural right winger in Emmanuel Eboue. I disagree with the majority of Arsenal fans who consistently moan about the Ivorian, but I recognise the fact that his contribution to the side is not necessarily as strong as it should be. Perhaps Theo Walcott should have started in his place, but we'll never know whether this would have made a difference.Secondly, playing Toure at right back and putting Senderos in the centre simply highlighted the fact that the squad is very short on central defenders, an issue which must be dealt with over the summer.

I will not go overboard criticising the side, because we have played well all season and it would be incredibly harsh to dismiss our plays over the last year as a failure when the team has vastly improved over the since finishing 4th in 2006/2007. Many of the negative, moaning Arsenal fans will come out with loads of absolute rubbish now; ignore them. We have a very talented bunch of players who will provide trophies in the years to come. I truly believe that. With a bit more luck with injuries and a couple of signings this team can be great.

Whilst I am happy to accept that Arsenal are by no means the finished article, ultimately two refereeing decisions were extremely costly and they have cost the side dearly. People constantly say that, when something happens in football which should not, 'this kind of thing happens in football' and 'referees are only human'. Yes, they are. But this does not excuse the ridiculous level of inconsistency that takes place in the officiating of the sport. It must be a bloody difficult job to referee a game, and you are never going to please everyone. But as a fan, all I want to know is that should my team lose the match, it has happened because we have been beaten by a better side or that we have gone down to a wonderful 30 yard strike. As it is, I have an extremely bitter taste in my mouth today due to inconsistent refereeing, as well as the gone off Tropicana I had this morning.

It is so rare these days that a game passes without there having been a contentious refereeing decision. A lot of this is due to that fact that football gets such an incredible amount of media coverage that every little decision can be analysed. But all one needs to do is look at a couple of the ridiculous, farcical decisions that Arsenal have had to deal with over the last couple of months in order to illustrate the point that there are too many incosistencies in top level officiating:

• Adebayor has a goal ruled out for offside against 'Boro when the ball has been played off the opposition
• The penalty conceded against Birmingham when Clichy won the ball, and the penalty not given to Arsenal when Ade was hauled down in the box
• Dirk Kuyt attempting to rip Alex Hleb's arm off not being given as a penalty, yet Babel being tapped on the back being deemed a foul

It is not just Arsenal who suffer from these decisions, but since I only follow the Gunners I cannot comment on other teams. The question is what can be done to stamp out the refereeing inconsistencies which are costing so many teams dearly? It is a very difficult to find an answer to this. But the fact of the matter is that something has to happen. With so much at stake, matters should be decided by footballers, not referees. There are always going to be winners and losers in sport. Nobody is ever going to be entirely happy with what has taken place on the pitch. But more and more often, a lot of the talk is about a little man in a black uniform who interprets the game in his own way and is solely responsible for making decisions which affect many people. If only their decisions were not so inconsistent, perhaps I would not have felt like jumping off a bridge this morning.

The injustice of it all.

How Not to Support a Team

There are some things in life which will never change. The weather in Britain will always be unpredictable, Sam Allardyce will always be a twat and Sky Sports News will always be breaking news about Ricky Hatton calling Floyd Mayweather a knobhead. Of course, I and many other people do not care about these forseeable events taking place. There is one predicable aspect of life I would change; the fans of Arsenal FC being miserable pricks at every home game at the Emirates Stadium.

Every time I attend an Arsenal match, I hope against hope that things will have changed. I pray that the fans won't get on the back of the players if the team is not winning within 5 minutes, people won't groan and shout obscenities because of a misplaced pass, people won't shout 'shoooooooot' when Phillippe Senderos is 35 yards out with 3 defenders in front of him... the list is endless. As I approached the stadium last night for the most important game of the club's season, I was relatively optimistic that the fans might be able to create a positive atmosphere with a little bit of noise for once. Looking back on those hopes, I was being incredibly naiive.

As I sat in my seat last night, I was unfortunate enough to be sitting next to the most miserable git I have ever had the displeasure of listening to. He did not stop moaning and criticising the team the entire way through the match. He did not join in songs, or clap the team, he simply stood there and complained about every single aspect of Arsenal's play for the entire match. Of course, none of this was constructive or informed, his comments were simply the ramblings of an enormous twat. Unfortunately, there are many Arsenal fans of this build, and this was particularly evident during the match against Liverpool.

I am not suggesting that watching a football team is never frustrating. Of course it is. We want the team we support to win, and sometimes this urge can be so strong that we act irrationally. However, I have no excuse for the Arsenal fans who 'support' the team in this manner every single game. Who do our fans believe that it is helpful to moan and groan for pretty much the entire 90 minutes? If they (or 'we) believe this is helpful, then they really need to rethink what they think the affect this has on the team. When Hleb misplaces a pass, does shouting 'oh for fuck's sake Hleb, you're shit' spur him on to perform? When the team walk off at half time having tried their bollocks off to play well and nobody claps, do the Arsenal fans think this will inspire the team to come back and play better in the second half? Well, it doesn't. It is counter productive, and does nothing but spread a feeling of negativity amongst the players.

It is interesting how people discuss holding the second leg at home in a Champions League tie being a massive advantage. For some clubs it might well be. Liverpool, for example, have excellent home support, and there is little doubt that their supporter's vociferous nature and never-say-die attitude gives the players an extra spring in their step and desire to perform for the thousands of people who are behind the team. However, it is never an advantage for the second leg to be played at the Emirates. All one needs to do is look at the match against PSV last season. Again, I turned up at the stadium praying that the fans would get behind the team and show some appreciation for their efforts, but all I got was the usual silence pierced only by the moaning of people who do not realise how fortunate they are to enjoy such excellent football on a very frequent basis.

Arsenal supporters need to take a long, hard look at themselves and think about why they support the club and the manner with which they get behind the team. If they find they really care about the team, perhaps they will spend more time cheering on the players, singing and giving their full support to the players who are representing the club. You never know, perhaps they might even enjoy smiling and the positivity of it all? And pigs might fly...

Justice will take Arsenal through

The whole 'entertainment Vs results' debate is an interesting one. Some people do not care if they see dross football as long as their team wins, and a smaller amount of fans want to see good results and flair on the pitch. Unfortunately, the latter is very difficult to find in the Premier League.

This topic reared its ugly head for me this weekend, as I settled down to watch Chelsea Vs 'Boro. The match was absolutely appalling, genuinely some of the worst and most boring football I have ever seen played. The cost of a ticket to Chelsea is approximately 50 quid. Now, I cannot honestly believe that people were happy to leave Stamford Bridge because they had seen a Chelsea victory. The 'entertainment' on offer was of such a poor standard that you could have heard a pin drop in the stadium. There was nothing to shout about, nothing to get excited about, nothing decent on the field, no: there were simply 22 people running around a football pitch, and one of them happened to score a goal. It was mind numbing.

When I go to football matches, I want to be entertained. I am spending the money I have earned to watch good sport. Yes, I support Arsenal and yes, I want to see them winning football matches. But I would rather see a thrilling display of football and get a positive result the majority of the time than continually see drab 1-0 wins like the Chelski faithful have to sit through. I did not always think this way though. For a long time, I agreed with the principle that victory was to be taken over entertainment at all costs. It took me far too much time to realise that both winning and enjoying the football on show are possible, and for that I must thank Arsene Wenger, and to a MUCH lesser extent, Alex Ferguson.

It has got to the point now where I will never understand the mindset of people who do not care how the football is played, as long as victory is secured. After all, do we not support football teams to be entertained and take enjoyment from the sport rather than watch uninspiring rubbish? It is true that once you have started to support a team, you are linked with them for the rest of your life and there is little you can do about it. I am not suggesting that one should stop supporting a team because they play terrible football. But the problem is that so many teams put results above playing good football that there is barely any excitement in many Premier League matches any more. A lot of teams will score a goal then not bother trying to score another, and play defensively for the rest of the match.

Unfortunately, our opponents tomorrow are a team built of this ilk which is perhaps why they have been so successful in the Champions League. Liverpool score a goal, then put 11 men behind the ball to essentially stop teams from playing the game, which is how teams play European football. I can understand this method, but I do not respect it. Indeed, Liverpool have lost the reputation of the 70s and 80s where they were known to play champagne football, and in their desperation to return to the elite of the game they now play for results rather than for the love of the game. It is a sorry state of affairs for such an important football club.

I believe Arsenal will win this Champions League tie. Wenger will set out the side to win the game, and will not sit back on a 1-0 lead like so many other teams would. To be honest though, as much as I would love Arsenal to go through (and I really would), I only want that to happen the Arsenal way- win, and win with style. Indeed, thankfully Wenger thinks the same way. And if there is any justice in football, his attacking mentality will take Arsenal through to the Champions League semi finals.