Ramblings

Tom, who once sat across from me in the dealing room, was a diehard Arsenal fan. This was during the Gunners’ lean period between trophies in 2005 and 2014, and he was resentful of the two teams who shared most of the honours in those years: Manchester United (whom he termed Manc scum) and Chelsea.

Being London rivals, it was the latter who came in for the (even) harsher treatment, and he would break into the Emirates mantra “Shit club, no history!” at random intervals, sung, as I’m sure every Gooner knows, to the tune of La donna è mobile from Giuseppe Verdi’s Rigoletto.

Even as the Arsenal fans chanted this, they must have known how pathetic it sounded. Arsenal were clinging to history: Chelsea were making it. (Although in fairness, the same fans did show some self-awareness with a chant, to the same tune, of “We ain’t got no silverware.”)

In the words of Rafiki “Ahh, change is good”. And the words of Simba “Yeah, but it’s not easy”. In the 1960s when I started taking an interest in football, I did not imagine that two teams not yet even in the main four divisions would one day win the FA Cup – Wimbledon in 1988 and Wigan Athletic in 2013. Watching these upstarts winning wasn’t easy as my favourite W-team, Watford – runners-up in the old First Division, twice losing FA Cup finalists – have never landed a major trophy.

But competitive sport is popular because despite all the big talk, the bullshit and the shenanigans, in the end there is just one winner. And the winner could be anyone, and sometimes it is: who will forget Leicester City’s astonishing Premiership win in 2015/16? We like to believe that football is meritocratic: also democratic. A team which has spent most of its history as also-rans, like Chelsea or Manchester City – with luck (oh yes, and money) – can become dominant.

It is the changing fortunes of the clubs make the game unpredictable and entertaining. And if it means that Brighton & Hove Albion finish sixth in the Premier League and qualify for European football, then so be it. And it also means that – although I might not live to see it – Watford may have their day.