A very subjective look into AWFC

What I’m about to say might not be nice and I know this is really hard to hear. My assumption is that for a lot of people I will sound rather harsh and for those who agree with me, please have a seat. If you don’t see it how I do, I totally understand. Bottom line is that the club is changing, forever, and we need to appreciate the players we have this season.

Things have changed, a lot. I don’t even know where to begin and how to express all my thoughts but what I will say is that it has nothing to do with tactics, “the arsenal way” or anything like that. It’s more about the squad and the smoke and mirrors from the board.

What I see as the most glaring mistake by the club is the transfer policy basically. Specifically in the way they have sold us this idea, not just merch, that the players we’re getting are better than who we had. The club have used the unconditional love from the biggest fan base in women’s football history, to settle for something that just isn’t as good. They have exploited the idea that some players that are “one of our own” are better than they are, and we have sent the wrong players on loan. Obviously this is just my opinion.

My reality is that the club hasn’t been the same since DvD left. If you add to that Jill, Jen, Jordan and Viv just to name few, it’s normal to see how a club changes. We have been told via social media and marketing that Kim Little and Lia Walti were replaceable by players who on their best day couldn’t come close to them on their worst.

The shiny object of youth is making people blind and even “experts” are doubting Beth Mead, one of the best players ever who has more vision and quality than most players on planet earth. She’s the closest thing to a 10 we have, aside from Kim and Mariona who are playing deeper than Lia Walti ever did lol. Pelova is not a 10 and neither is Frida and even if they were, Beth is better… at everything.

She’s a better defender than Lotte Wubben Moy, can do anything Emily Fox does, better too. What the fuck is wrong with people? And I don’t care if it’s Renee who doesn’t see it… it’s clear as day. Let that woman be free but also extend her contract if you are a serious club.

My point is we fucked up with DVD, Viv, Jordan, Jill… if we’re not getting Alexia, Bonmati and players of that caliber we’re gonna be left behind. Oh wait… we’re already behind. Look at the WSL ffs … spurs might finish above us.

We need to keep Steph, Katie and Beth at all costs but we need players around them near their level, not with potential. I’ve said this for years…

I gotta go abruptly and I’m sorry but to be continued….

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d

So we all know that the club released a documentary about the Champions League run and win. You’d think I’d be all over it but I gotta tell you… those things are hard to watch for me. The one and only reason is because of the intensity of my emotions during that whole time and the whole season.

I can literally feel the pain on my leg from the tattoo I got shortly after they won… those things are literally engraved in me but that doesn’t come nowhere near what they feel every time they think about that run. That’s so powerful!!!!!

Just watching the little clip I saw was so triggering, in the best of ways, that I honestly don’t know how I’m going to get through the whole thing. Similar to the one about Beth and Viv which was also something that I had a bit of a hard time watching.

I do have to say that the clip I saw where Renee talks about suffering is interesting in that it pretty much goes against a lot of what I see/think/feel regarding success, happiness and art but alas football, as much as I compare to music and art, is a competition at the end of the day and as a fan, I need indeed my coach and team to do whatever they have to do and go through whatever they need to overcome, in order to become winners and make unforgettable memories.

I wonder what you all think about it… documentaries like these tend to reveal many things as far as people, processes and such while also allowing us to check our own assumptions and expectations.

Lastly and randomly, can we just talk about how good Steph Catley has been for us since she joined our club. Like WTF?? She’s been such a solid player day in and day out and she’s gonna go down as one of the most important players for our club, ever and also for Australia, no doubt in my mind.

Random but accurate.

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d

I had mentioned to you, my friends, that I was eventually going to write about Smilla, the posts AWFC made and. the disgusting things that were posted on instagram and X. Between my decision to write a post about it, my friend Albert (fellow AWFC fan and my co-host of the women’s show on The Highbury Squad on YouTube) sent me an article that explains everything and shares some insight in a much better way that I could ever do.

The article was written by Max Radwan, someone I don’t know and I have never read his work, or anything on Versus.uk.com before but I sure as hell will now. It is absolutely terrible that the article had to be written, honestly. It’s nauseating and if it sucks for me, and for you when you read it, just imagine how women feel, daily. Just to be clear… the article is super well written, I meant that I hate that he had to write it.

I encourage you to read the whole thing HERE

One of the takeaways is when he writes: “Women’s football does not need validation from those who reduce it to aesthetics”

Also, I just checked to read other articles and he has one about how he can’t look at Arsenal the same way after Thomas Partey, and I cannot wait to read that one either.

I wish I had answers, and suggestions but mine would be to turn off all comments all the time and to have the club quit X altogether because it is disgusting. I left that hellhole and it was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made for my mental health.

Of course, I can appreciate why certain people would feel like disabling comments wouldn’t be good, but honestly I don’t think they are that meaningful anyway… do we really need to see 187 comments wishing a player happy birthday? Do we though? Or people asking for a player’s contract renewal? Like, what do the comments actually do other than make the people who make them feel like they have some control or say?

Sounds like I’m being mean but at the end of the day I would assume that the people that look at stats and such see the numbers and engagement more than the content itself BUT to that point, they need to have someone monitor and be an active mod so that every single comment gets reviewed and deleted if needed and if someone gets mad then so be it.

Just overall the reality is that toxicity is brought up in droves, mostly by men and you can see that it is not just on the women’s game. The current arsenal fanbase has an insane agenda against Victor Gyokeres that has people going on podcasts and YouTube shows calling him fat, and that’s probably the nicest things they’ve been saying lately.

All of this just makes me gag. There are many reasons why I can’t stand the song “North London Forever”… I think it is beyond cringe but not because of the lyrics (they are fantastic and better than anything I would ever write), or because I feel that it was forced to us in an effort to have our very own “You’ll Never Walk Alone” but because I knew that some people singing it would be full of shit. Whatever the weather? Really?

If this abuse comes from within, we’re absolutely cooked as a club and fanbase.

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d

Just joking……………………………………? lol

I stand by what I said about the emotional / relational aspect of her of getting an extension but perhaps it is a situation where the board want to force and portray some sort of stability. Not a lot of people actually know what Clare does, and not a lot of people know what JT will do but we shall see.

The match today showed me a few things and I’m curious to see if you agree, but probably not haha.

First of all, the most important thing is that we all love KCC and we send her love and healing and all the things that we can possibly send to someone dealing with a family tragedy. My heart breaks for her and I hope she’s as ok as she can be. We know and SHE knows she is not alone but things like these are so tough. I like to think she has the best people possible for that: our squad.

It feels absurd talking about football now but I shall.

A very clear thing to me is that Dom Janssen is an absolute beast who gives ZERO f*cks about who she plays against. She had the whole team in her pocket. Goddman I love her and so wish she was at Arsenal. To think people saw her as “past it”

I think a lot of fans and content creators, etc need to show a little more respect to veteran players. Kim Little is still a monster, we’re just expecting so much… and that brings me to another thing I keep seeing and feeling and thinking… at least NOT in the WSL, if Kim and Mariona play so deep we’re absolutely fucked. There’s virtually zero threat in areas where they should control and dominate and do whatever they want. That has to change and obviously we don’t have Lia but now without KCC this is something that needs to be addressed.

Again, sending in LWM with such little time left makes no sense to me. Mind you, this isn’t about LWM because she could maybe get us a header or deflect a shot or send in one of her badass passes… it’s ZERO about her, again, I get it but also I just don’t ever like, EVER, when managers do this. We did it with Louise Quinn a few times and Ireland too. It just smells of desperation and to me it shows the opposition we are desperate.

I’ll keep this short but I’m also proven time and time again that Beth Mead is a baller. She was all over the pitch and was one of the only players that got me glued to the TV.

Lastly, and I’ll get into the whole horrendous situation re social media at a different time, Smilla Holmberg is gonna be GOOD. Looks like a great acquisition already.

Chelsea next… oddly optimistic still!!!!

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d

Waking up to the news that Renee had signed a contract extension was fantastic and these January days are always filled with anxiety and excitement to see who we bring in, who we move on from and anything/everything in between.

It is an overwhelming positive thing that we have this manager for the long term. She’s absolutely incredible and has brought us all more joy than we can ever comprehend and express, or at least that’s my truth. Also I have a fucking tattoo of the champions league trophy and this wouldn’t have happened without her leadership and miraculous work.

Beyond any sort of tactical nous or visionary qualities she might posses, the only thing I want and care about is for her and the players to be happy, safe, heard, respected and supported. I don’t care about wins or losses. All I would like is to know that Steph Catley, Chole Kelly, Leah, Beth and every single player in the squad and academy are SEEN and are given the peace and calm and drama free environment they deserve and that they thrive personally and not just professionally.

Renee seems like a very kind, empathetic and solid human being and I am proud of her and proud to see her as our manager. But make no mistake, we are the arsenal and at the end of the day we need to win trophies and win by playing a certain way, at that.

I don’t know much about what she wants to do squad wise, my football view isn’t that acute and I have such massive biases and strong opinions that it’s not really fair of me to criticize her for things like not playing with a 6, why she let Lia Walti go, why we haven’t bought a CB or why would ever take off Beth Mead, ever. Things like that, haha.

Overall I’m just chuffed because I know how highly she is rated not just by players but people at the club. Only good things can come from all of this as far as I’m concerned.

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d

One of my favorite people in women’s football is the one and only Shebahn Aherne and her sister Ruesha is not far behind. They’re both amazing and funny and they drop some truth bombs every time they post something and their latest show, specially when they talk about Beth is worth a listen…

By the way, I haven’t wanted to address some things about the amount of hate I got on an instagram post and DMs about me simply typing “justice for Ruesha” after her 5 game suspension was announced. Absolute madness.

I will at some point but in the meantime, check it out…

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d

Happy 2026!

Absolutely surreal typing this, innit? But alas, the reality is that we have started a new year and I truly hope this is the best year of your life. If you’re going through a tough time I hope things get better soon. If you’re having a great time please value in and cherish it. If you’re somewhere in the middle, be present and feel whatever it is you’re feeling.

My wish to you is that you try to do the following, not because I have done it or currently do it (I’ll explain) but precisely because I didn’t do it as much as I should and that, my friends, is journaling. I don’t mean documenting your life on social media because that is a whole different thing and very fine line to walk as a musican/artist and (yuck) content creator… btw that’s not a dig against content creators on other spaces. I meant that as musicians we should be striving to be something different, but that’s another topic for another day.

If there is one thing that I regret in my life, specially as a touring musician is that I didn’t journal as much as I should’ve. I did it for my first big tour all over Europe in 2009, playing drums with Richie Kotzen . The first few shows were in Lithuania, Lativa and Estonia. Talk about a beatiful experience… Incredible venues, the crowd and I love that I can read those entries and feel close to what I felt those days.

But I didn’t do it again. Not really really. And this is a major regret and I truly wish that you don’t experience this. Not saying that it’s “bad” but my memories could be much more vivid and “real” had I kept journaling up.

And this is NOT about having cool experiences. I regret not journaling during my toughest times, during the pandemic, my house burning, tours not happening, deaths of family members and so many things.

One of the most surreal experiences of my life was attending the Euros last summer, specifically the Oranjeleeuwinnen vs Lionesses match. Not only was it insane because of the result, how close to the pitch I was, my friends that were there but also because of who was on the pitch itself. I got to see basically all of my favorites. I sat next to Malin Gut and Beth England and England played a stellar match, whereas the Dutch, MY DUTCH, well… quite the opposite. So there I was, having to celebrate 5-0 or 4-0, whatever it was, from a team I love against MY TEAM and THE team Iove, love.

It was insane. And I truly wish I would’ve written it all down. I saw so many people from the online woso world. And honestly this is probably what you all feel like if you go to match days. I envy that in the most beautiful, pure and positive of ways. I love that for you. I love that this is your normal. I only get to do it once a couple of years.

So, please, go buy a cool notebook and pen… And just start…. it doesn’t have to be an amazing experience or a tragic one. Whatever it is you’re doing, feeling or wanting to do, or feel, etc etc etc. Idk, make it football related.

As a matter of fact, a lot of the journaling I have done prior to re catching the physical journaling bug, was football journaling which is this essentially… with the difference that my entries are not secret at all BUT I do have to thank you for reading because without you I wouldn’t have started this and I wouldn’t be currently journaling.

If I say “journaling” once again you’re gonna not do it just because I piss you off, so I’m just gonna go say goodbye for now.

Much love

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d