These days I don't write as often as I'd like. If I do, it's on my matchday blog Day At The Football. Maybe that's because blogs don't hold the same appeal they once did in the 2000s. The written word has taken a back seat to the likes of YouTube, TikTok, and the neverending stream of content we can't escape on our phones.
And yet, I find myself pulled here today, less than 24 hours after Arsenal were confirmed as the champions of England for the first time in 22 years.
It's been a long wait, so long I began to even wonder if it would ever happen again, especially when the modern game is seeing more clubs evolve into state-funded monstrosities who flout the rules.
Despite some bumps in the road, our patience was ultimately rewarded: Arsenal are the champions. As I type that, I still feel that tingle of joy and relief I experienced when the final whistle was blown in Bournemouth. I feel the pride this level of success brings after years of coming oh-so-close but not close enough.
1998. 2002. 2004.
Those are the Premier League titles Arsenal secured in my conscious lifetime (I was a toddler in 1989 and 1991).
1998 was glorious. I was 9-years-old and Arsenal-obsessed. I wore my home shirt everywhere and winning the league and the FA Cup that season was a defining memory of my childhood. David Seaman was everything to me. Dennis Bergkamp was practically a saint in our house. I wanted to physically become Ian Wright.
League titles followed in 2002 and 2004 (the Invincibles no less!) but I was still a child. Okay, I was a teenager by then, but totally naive to how challenging it really was for a football team to win major trophies. I definitely took all of that success for granted. We were spoilt then; Arsenal won things regularly and that was just how it was.
That's why this title feels different. That's why this one is special. We were made to wait, to endure, to sweat and worry. Now we've come through it all, I can say it was worth waiting 22 years for.
The 2025/26 campaign has been a tough watch more often than not; it hasn't always been pretty, but Mikel Arteta made us hard to beat, no longer a soft touch for opponents to roll over. Now Arsenal fight back, they dig in, they pay homage to their roots of “1-0 to the Arsenal.”
Most importantly, they are winners. They are champions.
On Saturday 30 May, it could get even better. Arsenal could be crowned European champions for the first time in their history. They have to play a PSG squad who will start the match as favourites but football loves an upset, it loves an underdog. Arsenal have more than a chance to capture the trophy that European clubs cherish most and the one that has remained elusive from the Gunner's trophy cabinet so far.
Whatever happens in Budapest, nothing can diminish this moment right now, these celebrations we've witnessed in North London and across the world.
Arsenal FC are the Premier League Champions once again. Soak it in.
