St Totts

i have been waiting since august last year to say this. but first, let me talk about today. when the whistle was blown, i just felt like collapsing. it is finally over and we have done it. against all odds, we have finished third. when you look at where we were in september, this is massive. it almost feels like winning a trophy. no one gave us a chance; they talked of a power shift ain north london as they gushed about that other team. we were even supposed to be relegated. in the end, we finished ahead of spurs, newcastle, chelsea and liverpool. this season has been a rollercoaster ride, full of ups and downs. i have given everything, as the players have done. when you consider that this was 'the worst arsenal side in 15 years', we still managed to create so many wonderful memories and finish above 'the best spurs side in 15 years', you can only be proud that you are a gooner. i will always remember rushing into the pub in vienna for the second half of that game at blackburn. i was panicking because nothing was opened on a saturday afternoon in vienna. i watched the 8-2 till the bitter end, a day before a major exam. i would like to think that game in milan never happened. i was in my pub for the norwich game. lots of chelsea and liverpool fans were way too early, and a chav was insulting us. i found out the next day they won the fa cup (yes it was that unimportant to me), and i thought to myself: the gods of football actually let that guy win, is there still any hope left in football?it was the longest of walks from königsplatz to the library, where i could use the internet to find out the result of the villa-spud game. as it was, there were 6 minutes of injury time, and soccernet was lagging, so i had to rely on khi hao to tell me via facebook that it was over, and a draw. we were handed a lifeline. a last chance. i would have taken 4th in september, but having come all the way, having done so much to put ourselves in the position we were in, to give away 3rd would have hurt a lot, a lot. the game today had shades of the norwich game in it. i don't think i will ever forget the picture of wenger in pat rice's arms in the 1st minute of injury time. but thankfully, we held on.that was the perfect farewell gift for pat rice. 44 years of service to the club. a true legend. another legend also returned to help our cause. a certain thierry henry. that goal against leeds was a fairy tale. who can forget that night? how about that 5-3 at stamford bridge? who can forget the NLD? and how about arteta's winner against man city, whom we outplayed? and who can forget the return leg against Milan? i really felt gutted that night, because we were very close to creating a miracle. closer than you thought.as koscielny said: everyone is dead but we would go on to cut the Spuds' 10 point lead to nothing and overtake them. i have waited a whole season to say this. forgive me for gloating, but i have had to put up with the abuse and insults over the past months. today doesn't belong to Man City. today belongs to Arsenal Football Club. 'Today shows that Arsenal is alive more than anybody thought before the game' were wenger's words after the NLD. today shows that Arsenal are more alive than ever. we finished higher than last year, with 2 more points, despite losing 2 key players. everyone had already written our orbituary, and some even dared published it. to those, i dare say today: f*ck off you all. Arsenal Football Club deserves more respect than you ever will.