Guest Blogger's Juice - Nick

For those of you who don't know me or aren't acquainted with me as many of you aren't. I'm Scottish Nick who sometimes comment on Arseblog in the tagbox, I am currently in Singapore for the summer but I spent a greater part of my year (8 months to be exact) languishing in cold Scotland studying at the University of Saint Andrews doing a course in Economics and International Relations. Now I haven't met SgGooner in person but I have traded a few emails and he has graced my blog with his lovely online presence.

Now my views on being a Gooner.

Like my predecessor before me, I shall talk about my being a Gooner in my school (Uni of St Andrews), guess what! I am not alone! I find common brethren in a faraway Scotland, I am for once not surrounded by massive pink / red hordes exhorting the virtues of Gerard or Cristiano Ronaldo or why Man Utd is doing so well and Arsenal are faring poorly. No, believe it or not, I am actually surrounded by people who support a variety of clubs from Reading, Portsmouth, Bournemouth, Queens Park Rangers and even those c*nts up the street from us... Yes, I'm referring to Sp*rs.

Somebody once told me that supporting Arsenal was a bit like a masochistic pleasure, you see them play beautiful football around the opposing goal mouth, always threatening to score, there's always a back heel gone awry and losing the ball to the opposition who manages to gain possession and now threaten our goal. Why can't we just bloody stick the bloody ball in after the 20 gazillion passes we do around the opposing penalty box and just get in there? For the love of me and Ashburton Grove (holla out to good old Highbury) I don't know why... but it's still and will always be a pleasure to watch Arsenal play the beautiful game, albeit a masochistic one.

Being a TCK (Third Culture Kid), I grew up in Singapore, Switzerland and now I'm living in Scotland and everywhere I go, I somehow find people who support Arsenal and we all have one common consensus; Arsene ALWAYS know. It doesn't matter if we didn't win the FA cup or we didn't get the title, just as long as we hold on to Arsene, I know everything will be hunky dory and I am sure you will agree with me on that one.

I'm not all too good with memorising any particular game but I remembered there was one time in Switzerland when I was in an English pub watching a FA Cup match between Arsenal and Man Utd and the crowd in the pub was pretty much split down the line with Red Devils and Gooners. The tension in there I swore was the most intimidating experience ever. You could sense that if either team went out, there would be some sort of mini riot in the bar, thank goodness it was a draw and I swore to watch the replay from the comforts of SKY at home or at least more partisan in Arsenal favour.

Now, I know SgGooner introduced me as having 'juice' to spill, but I'm ashamed to say that's it nothing much. All I simply told him was that one of my high school friend in Switzerland actually dated an Arsenal player! I won't reveal names otherwise I know my friend would kill me, but all I'm going to say that's he's French and he's touted as a 'promising' player (albeit for a few years now). And to keep you guys guessing... let's say he's still at the club... hehehehe. I mean how often can you boast a friend who's dated an Arsenal first teamer (of sorts).

And I guess, with every guest blogger, I would have to do my bit and say a little bit about my favourite Arsenal player. I started supporting Arsenal because I was attracted to the way Arsene was bringing elements of the Ajax team such as Marc Overmars and Bergkamp over to augment a team which already boasted Ian Wright and a formidable defence. I was initially drawn to how fast Overmars would run past defenders and those tantalising dribbles and passes from Bergkamp but suddenly it seemed I have a new idol. Enter, Tony Adams... I remembered one match where the opposition had no opportunity at utilising corner kicks because good ol'Adams would be the first one to head the ball away CLEAR from any danger (something the current Arsenal defenders should all learn to do... *grumbles*). The Tony Adams days together with a back four that included Martin Keown, Nigel Winterburn, Lee Dixon and Steven Segall (*oops... I meant David Seaman), never fails to bring a smile to my face reminding me of the old days that whatever happened, the Arsenal back line would stand firm except for that particularly disastrous time where we allowed that c*nt Robbie Fowler to score what I would believe would be the world's fastest hat-trick.

So that's my piece, I would like to thank SgGooner for letting me say my piece of fellow Gooners here in Singapore seeing as how I keep missing out on live matches at the Liz. So take care and have fun speculating.