How did the ancient Egyptians build the pyramids? Where did the massive plinths of Stonehenge come from? What happened to Arsenal FC in the second half of the 2002-2003 season? Yes, these are the great mysteries of our time. It?s a bit hard to recall now, but back in September it wasn?t unreasonable for an Arsenal fan to wonder if we?d lose at all this year or who our opponent would be in the Champions League final. Fast forward seven months and things have changed quite dramatically. Now as I write this we are still mathematically alive for the Double and are in a position 18 other teams would kill to be in. But yet, it seems like the glass in half empty.
Date: April 2003
It could be worse. We could be Barcelona.
There are certain things in life that are inevitable. It will rain in London in April and Arsenal will not win the League every year. I have just come back from London from a short ‘wish you better visit’ to dear Mother. It was raining when I arrived and when I left, and the title race is all but over. I will not concede the title until it is an impossibility but the noise of Man U fans against Scum singing “we’ve got our title back,” was quite frankly a little sickening.
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Even The Ladies Are Struggling
From Football Unlimited (football.guardian.co.uk)…
A miserable month for Arsenal was completed when they suffered Uefa Cup humiliation at the hands of Fortuna Hjorring, whose 5-1 victory at Barnet in the second leg of their semi-final took the Danish champions through 8-2 on aggregate.
The Gunners have not only gone out of Europe but also lost an FA Cup semi-final, the League Cup final and seen their Premier League crown whisked away by Fulham.
“We’ve given it our best shot in every competition,” said their manager Vic Akers, “but unfortunately we’ve come up short in all of them and that’s a major disappointment.”
Akers’s team will end the season bereft of silverware for the first time since 1996.