Mick Hartley

So, it’s over. Beaten in the Carling Cup final, knocked out of the FA Cup, and now out of the Champions League. All in a week and a half. And with no chance of winning the Premiership.

There are many positives to take away from this. In fact, deep down, I’m glad. Yes, glad! Since life is, essentially, a war where we inevitably end up defeated by nature, there’s something powerfully appropriate and, indeed, life-affirming in the business of losing. It’s real, it’s the way things are. You learn from the knocks, not from the easy victories. So yes, I feel lucky to have been given this opportunity to develop as a mature individual, to see things as they are, not as I’d like them to be. No cheap and shoddy illusions of omnipotence and triumph for me – that’s for kiddies. All that pathetic cheering and euphoria – spare me! You wake up the next morning and what’s changed? Nothing! Nothing’s changed! It’s still the same lousy world out there; you still have to crawl to work to try and earn a crust – only this time you’ve got a hangover! How d’you feel now, Mr Bigshot Winner?? It’s illusion, a fake: the broken-hearted alcoholic putting on a clown’s painted face; the cheers of the crowd drowning out the screams of despair; the grinning death-mask hiding the rotting and putrid corpse beneath; the cheap perfume masking the foetid stench of disease and decay…..

Anyway, there’s always next season.

Update: Arsene agrees with me:

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger reflected on an “horrendous” spell after their 2-1 aggregate defeat to PSV Eindhoven put them out of the Champions League.

In the space of 11 days Arsenal have lost the Carling Cup final, exited the FA Cup and been knocked out of Europe – ending their hopes of silverware.

He said: “There are a lot of positives….