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Arsenal fans are a special bunch.
They've been through a lot.
They've got some... interesting celebrity fans.
Relative dominance in the ‘90s followed by a decade without silverware caused some splinters in the fanbase.
When Arsenal do something, it normally turns out to be top tier entertainment. Which is why all eyes were on the Gunners' new home kit launch on Wednesday morning.
Recruiting club legends Robert Pires and Martin Keown to Kings Cross, London, the new Arsenal home kit features the usual red and white colour scheme with a smart buttoned collar.
So far. so good. But where is The usual Arsenal type cringefest?
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The extra panache that takes regular football into an “Oh no, they’re doing it again?” Where was the “Don’t talk about spend, talk about net spend?”
That would be hiding in The press release.
We're just trying to get our head around The best bit.
The fact that Arsenal fans can't be the hat in a game of Monopoly? The constant misnaming of our family members?
Or is it the folk riding motorcycles with Petr Cech's scrum cap, in flagrant flouncing of motor safety rules.
Oh The Arsenal. They are a special bunch.
Carl Anka is a London-born journalist, former Shortlist contributor, and broadcaster who believes that everything deep down is a wrestling storyline. You Are A Champion, co-written with England International footballer and child food poverty campaigner, Marcus Rashford, is Carl’s debut novel (published by Macmillan Children’s Books, 2021). A follow up, You Can Do It, was released in July 2022. He has written for BBC, the Guardian, VICE, NME, GQ and BuzzFeed among other publications online and in print and specialises in writing about pop culture, video games, films and football. He is currently a reporter for sports media group The Athletic and resides in Manchester.