Sibling Rivalry and the Carling Cup Final

Here is an article by Rich, known as BornBlueNosed on the forum. Rich was sat with us on Sunday.

Like many families in Birmingham our football club allegiances differ, despite having to avid bluenoses as parents I have a nephew who has gone over to the dark side and is a villain. Whilst this is understandable from a school peer pressure point of view what is even more baffling is my eldest brother who despite being a born and bred Brummie supports Arsenal. How did this come about? Well, now try not to laugh, he claims that his reason for supporting the Gunners is that is the sixties when he picked the team he was going to support they had the best kit (the fact they were extremely successful had nothing to do with it of course) even worse his son, my nephew has followed in his foot steps. So when we beat West Ham and booked our place in the final the scene was set for some friendly sibling rivalry.

As one would expect the banter started almost instantly with him pointing out their long history of silverware and how they would need to get another trophy cabinet to hold yet another cup. I of course reminded him of the fact that despite their great history they still failed to beat us on numerous occasions. He of course came back with his usual taunt of us being an Arsenal training ground for their youth and dumping ground for their rejects referring to the Bendtner, Larson and Muamba days and so it continued. He invited me, my bluenose brother and nephew over to watch Arsenal beat us in the final on his projector and was surprised when I declined asking where I was going to watch it, at a pub, I responded no, at a friends, I responded no, at home, again no then where? I took great delight in saying at Wembley. So for the next few days the banter continued.

Over the following days the press wrote us off, Arsenal bloggers everywhere were talking about how they would kick on after they had won the cup and the Arsenal players where deciding whether Cesc Fabregas should still lift the cup although ruled out of the final although ruled out of the final through injury and whether he and Theo Walcott should still get winners medals.

The day of the final arrived and I met up with an old school friend (lets call him Russ because after all that’s his name) at New Street for the trip to Wembley. Whilst both of us tend towards optimism and so thought there was a chance we might win we really expected it to be more of an occasion with us putting up a good fight before most likely ultimately succumbing to their superior team and the inevitable stick from my brother. Just before kick off I sent both my brothers and picture of the view from our seats at Wembley at the top tier behind the blues goal to which my Gunner brother quipped it would be the best spot to see all the action from. As the game proceeded we played really well and then much to my delight Nikola Zigic scored we were ahead and I quickly shot a text to him with the response looks like the Arsenal goal is the place where all the action is occurring. Kev of J&S fame then stated that at least if we now lose we have proven to everyone that we are here to compete and not just make up the numbers. The game continued they equalised we had our chances and it looked like extra time was looming at one point I joked that it looks like we will have to settle for a ninetieth minute winner and then in the last minute Obafemi Martins struck, the crowd went wild and for the next couple of minutes I was so busy celebrating that I hardly noticed the start of injury time. For a couple of minutes I was just willing the whistle to go and then it happened the game was over we had won the League Cup and the party really started. Simultaneously 31000 odd Arsenal fans realised that they had left the gas on and had to rush home at that instant and couldn’t even wait for their players to receive their runners-up medals whilst the internet in Fleet Street blacked out as all of the London media had to google the name of the other team in the final as despite their constant stream of Arsenal cup final news over the previous weeks, Arsenal hadn’t won.

As we walked back to the station from the Wembley Stadium Russ and I discussed how fantastic it all was, the feeling that after thirty six years as a bluenose we had finally seen us win a major trophy and that the kids probably didn’t realise the significance of witnessing this occasion. Also it slowly sank in, we were now going to be playing in Europe. The streets of Wembley were awash with bluenoses singing, smiling and laughing it was truly a day to remember.

When I got back to New Street and Russ and I went our separate ways I found myself at the bus stop making small talk to a young lady who had also got off a train but not from the final who must have thought I was demented as I had an uncontrollable big grin on my face. It is now twenty-four hours later, my brother still hasn’t called yet but he knows that when he does both he and my nephew will get a lot of stick as I did when they beat us this year in the league. As the old saying goes what goes around, comes around.

Keep Right On,

BornBlueNosed