I have had to put up with a lot since that first game at Highbury made me a red and white Gooner to the core, but this one hurts more than most. Hey, I am not saying that being an Arsenal fan is all bad, because we have had some fantastic times and amazing teams and players and about 99 percent of football clubs in the world would kill for our success and status. But the last decade has been pretty frustrating.
And when you see the report in the Daily Mail that reveals how Arsenal were close to signing not just Cesc Fabregas from the Barcelona academy back in 2003, but the magician and goal machine that is Lionel Messi, you cannot help but wonder what might have been.
The report claims that the Argentina international was keen on the move but numerous complications involving his work permit and other details meant that it never happened. I am not kidding myself that we would have been able to keep Messi any more than we could stop the likes of Ashley Cole, Robin van Persie and Fabregas himself from leaving, but you cannot help wondering whether the Gunners would have their name on a few more trophies, including the elusive Champions League, if Wenger had been able to play Messi for a few years.
So that is Cristiano Ronaldo, Zlatan Ibrahimovich and Lionel Messi that we nearly had. Oh well, at least we had the Best Striker in the World, Lord Bendtner, for a while.