What the hell am I doing…?
Hello, and welcome to the “Talking Out of My Arsenal” blog – the internet’s newest and least-official Arsenal FC opinion space, catering to the thoughts of a generally, semi-sober Irishman.
Again, I say welcome – and thank you for reading even this far. For me, that is a success in its own right.
Let me start by giving you some background…
Ultimately, I have set up this blog up as a hobby and nothing more. A forum where I can put out my thoughts and emotions as they relate to the club I love. A space for me to share my opinions, my match views and reviews, and player analysis. My thoughts on transfer activity (or lack-there-of), and my general musings on the goings-on of the giants of North London. I am not here to sell you anything, and I am certainly not sponsored. Visting this site will cost you nothing more than a small fraction of your valuable time. I am doing this simply to try my hand at something new, and something that is in keeping with two passions of mine.
My qualifications? Zero. Squat. Jack-shit. I have no journalistic experience, or for that matter any professional writing credentials, let alone sports writing. I do not own a Season Ticket, and in fact, to my endless frustration, I have only ever been to one match in The Emirates Stadium.
With that said, I rarely if ever miss a game, and I am an avid consumer of football reporting, books, and lately in particular, podcasts. I spend so much of my free time thinking about Arsenal that I figured, why not try and create something of my own?
Put it out there.
See what comes back.
So, I repeat, this is a hobby. I have been writing creatively as a pastime since I was a child, and I enjoy it immensely.
I know what you’re thinking, and the answer is yes, I was an extremely popular child…
One thing I love about football and about supporting a team is that I find no two viewpoints are ever the exact same. Even if two people agree as to a performance being good, there are always nuances that will differ, and it is those difference and the level of debate they generate that I find intriguing.
What is so special about football and football fans, is that there is no other sport or event or activity I can think of that seems to bring out such a volatile level of emotion and debate on the widest of spectrums. Everyone seems willing to express their views. Just look at Twitter / X. As that old saying goes:
Opinions are like arseholes. Everyone’s got one.
I love that, and it is part of the reason I have chosen to venture down this path. I want to hear viewpoints and opinions, feedback and criticism (constructive is preferred, but if you just want to tell me I’m shite, go ahead and do that too).
I don’t believe that anyone, not former professionals, journalists, sponsors, or anyone else is more qualified than the other to hold an opinion on the sport we love. Football is for the fans. Always has been, and hopefully always will be.
In the case of this blog, I want you to know, good reader, that I recognise that, and openly accept and welcome it.
When all is said and done, the only real difference between me and you, is that I’ve built a forum to publicize my opinions in long-form text.
So please, if you feel like this might be something for you, I encourage you to engage, and if you wish, subscribe. A subscription will initially be just a notification of new posts, and hopefully I can grow the content types as we go forwards.
I repeat – you won’t be asked to spend a penny on the blog, and you won’t find me hawking some shitty energy drink.
My aim, initially, is to post at minimum once per week. I would like to post more regularly but given that all of this is new to me and I’m learning how to build a website and work the socials in tandem, I won’t overcommit and under deliver. I will start off with the written word, with the intention to add an audio file of the blog sooner rather than later, and finally maybe try to develop to a YouTube channel where I will go live with other fans. Then we will really see the engagement kick off.
Thanks for your time, and if you think I’m just talking out of my arse, let me know!
See you on July 1st.
TL;DR – an Arsenal fans’ new opinion blog. I actively encourage engagement, debate, and thank you for taking the time to visit this site.
Still TL;DR – new blog.