Andrey "Arsha-ssin" Arshavin

Today, I write my first post on the Gooner Manifesto. I wanted my blog to begin the day we knew for sure whether or not the Andrei Arshavin transfer would be successful.

It is a historic day for Arsenal Football Club. Whether we followed the rumours and news at work or school in the midday or at nighttime during dinner or before sleep, us fans pushed F5 in jittery anticipation. There was a vast difference between signing and not signing Arshavin in the fate our beloved Arsenal F.C. would experience not just this season but next season as well (top 4?). This coupled with the fact that the outcome of this transfer was to be decided in the matter of hours and from several different factors (bizarrely including the weather!) made work, school, family and obligations distractions to the day. Major forums such as Arsenal-mania.com went down because of high traffic, leaving us to push refresh on Arsenal.com with the expectation that the next click would bring forth the confirmation. We slept feeling Arshavin’s transfer would be complete and authenticated soon, but the perturbing possibility of some sort of a collapse loomed above our heads as we dreamt of the future Arsenal squad with Arshavin in it.

Being at the crossroads of the club’s future the transfer of Arshavin will prove to be one of Wenger’s most important in the context of the club’s current. This steal (much less than what Zenit valued him after Euro 2008) will prove to be the equivalent of the captures that were Viera, Henry, Bergkamp, and Nasri (you’ll see ;-) ).

Zenit, in the end, was disgracefully greedy and malicious with this transfer and unfortunately did not respect the wishes of an icon of the club who had put ten years of world class service. No matter. Arshavin ended up at the end of all this where he wants to be with his own desire for world class, free-flowing football costing him a pay cut and an agonizing, 34 day transfer saga. Wenger’s patience and persistence with a club stubborn enough to ward off the likes of Barcelona is to be praised and this can be the turning point of the season.

Finally we can look to the future with proper lenses and put all this behind us. We can look to taking ourselves as far as we could in the Champions League (without Arshavin, as he is cup-tied). We can look to the possibility of going to the Wembley for the F.A. Cup final. Most importantly, us Gunners can look to keeping our top 4 spot.

First, we must fix our eyes onto our match at White Hart Lane and hold optimism in the whimsical possibility that Arshavin will debut and maybe, just maybe, even score and cement himself into the future of Arsenal F.C. Ooh to, Ooh to be, Ooh to be a...