May 17, 2014: Arsenal End the Trophy Drought

Aaron Ramsey, doing his best "Charlie George"

May 17, 2014, 10 years ago: The Football Association Cup Final is held at the new Wembley Stadium in London. For one team, Hull City Association Football Club of Hull, East Yorkshire, England, it starts out looking like "The Magic of the Cup." For the other team, Arsenal Football Club of North London, it starts out looking like the latest in a series of disasters in their attempt to win a trophy.

The Arsenal -- their fans like to call them that, Capital T, Capital A -- had won the FA Cup in 1930, 1936, 1950, 1971, 1979, 1993, 1998, 2002, 2003 and 2005. They had also lost in the Final in 1932, 1952, 1972, 1978, 1980 and 2001. They had won the old Football League Division One in 1931, 1933, 1934, 1935, 1938, 1948, 1953, 1971, 1989 and 1991. They had won its replacement, the Premier League, in 1998, 2002 and, with an unbeaten season within the League, 2004. They had won both the League and the Cup, for "The Double," in 1971, 1998 and 2002.

They had not won the main European trophy, the UEFA Champions League, formerly the European Cup; but had won secondary European trophies in 1970 and 1994. And they had won English soccer's secondary cup tournament, the Football League Cup, in 1987 and 1993. By winning both domestic cups in 1993, they were the 1st team ever to win a "Cup Double."

The trophies won from 1998 to 2005 were under Arsène Wenger. In 1998, the Frenchman became the 1st manager from outside the British Isles to win the League, and the 1st such manager to win the Cup. He would be followed by others. And he brought in players from all over the world: Europe, Africa, even Asia. By the date of this game, he'd even played, however briefly, 3 players from the United States.

Arsenal, known as the Gunners because of the cannon on their badge, and whose fans are known as the Gooners, were the first team that many English fans "loved to hate." From their beginning in 1886, they had a "foreign" presence, as some of the players on their original team were not English, but Scottish. For most of their history, they had relied on Scottish players, and the occasional Welsh player. Their 1979 FA Cup winners were known as "The Irish Connection," as several players were either from the Republic of Ireland or Northern Ireland, and even their manager, Terry Neill, was from Northern Ireland.

Their 1971 Double team was Captained by Frank McLintock, and also included among its key players George Graham. Both were Scots. Graham became the Arsenal manager in 1986, winning 6 trophies. That same year, another Scotsman, Alex Ferguson, became the manager of Manchester United. By this point, a Scottish manager was no big deal: United had previously had Matt Busby, while Liverpool had had Bill Shankly and now Kenny Dalglish. In 1999, West London team Chelsea fielded an entire starting XI with no players from the British Isles. Yet Arsenal were still "the foreign team" in the eyes of English fans and the English media.

But the 2005 FA Cup win was, coming into this game, their most recent trophy win. Since then, Arsenal reached the Champions League Final one, the Semifinals one other time, and the Quarterfinal one other time. They'd reached the FA Cup Semifinals once, and 2 League Cup Finals, but didn't win any of them. And, in that time, they did not finish higher than 3rd in the League.

The vast sums of money spent by Manchester United, Chelsea starting in 2003, and Manchester City starting in 2010 had not been matched by Wenger, and as the number of "years since Arsenal won a trophy" mounted, some fans demanded that Wenger "Spend some fucking money!" Or that the club fire him -- "Wenger Out" -- and hire a manager who would spend the money.

In January 2014, Arsenal were in 1st place. But, as seemed to happen every season since the 2006 CL run, an injury crisis struck, and knocked them out of the lead, and they ended up finishing 4th in the League again. Good enough to qualify for the next season's CL, but not good enough to satisfy the few thousand fans with the entitlement complex, the people who thought Wenger owed them a trophy.

Emblematic of this was the 3rd Round of the FA Cup, on January 4. Arsenal were paired with their nearby arch-rivals, Tottenham Hotspur. "Spurs" had last won a trophy in 2008. The last time before that, 1999. Both times, it was the League Cup. This is the difference between the teams and their fans: If Arsenal were to win the League Cup, it would be nice, we'd celebrate that day, then, the next day, we'd move on to seeking the next trophy; but when Spurs won, their fans never let us hear the end of it, treating it as if they'd won the League. They hadn't won the League since 1961; the FA Cup, since 1991, not even making the Finals since, including losing 3 Semifinals to Arsenal.

But, at this point, they had still won a trophy 3 years more recently than Arsenal. Still, nobody joked about how long their trophy drought was -- because it wasn't funny. When Manchester United went 26 years without a League title, 1967 to 1993, it was funny. Same as Liverpool going 30 years, 1990 to 2020. Same as Manchester City going 35 years without winning any trophy, 1976 to 2011. Because those are big clubs. Tottenham fans only think their team is a "big club."

Arsenal won this Cup tie, 2-0, with Theo Walcott scoring the 2nd goal. But, with Arsenal having made all 3 substitutions then allowed, Walcott was hacked down by Danny Rose (still "nicking a living" based on a goal he'd scored against Arsenal nearly 4 years earlier), wrecking his knee. Did Rose get a straight red card? No, not even a booking. Although going down to 10 men didn't hurt Arsenal in this game, losing Walcott for the 2nd half of the season cost them some League games.

Meanwhile, he was getting stretchered off, right in front of the visiting Tottenham fans. They threw things at him, including coins. That was how Tottenham responded to a problem that season: They threw money at it, and got little in return. What they got in return was Walcott holding up 2 fingers in his right hand, and making an O with his left, to signal the 2-0 score. Spurs fans were furious, and wanted him suspended and fined. He wasn't.

The chant was, "Theo! What's the score? Theo, Theo, what's the score?"

In the 4th Round, on January 24, Arsenal hosted Midlands team Coventry City at the Emirates Stadium. Coventry had famously upset Tottenham in the 1987 Final, but were now in League One, the 3rd Division of English soccer. Lukas Podolski scored 2 goals in the 1st half-hour, and Arsenal coasted to a 4-0 win.

Arsenal then knocked off both of the Liverpool teams. A week before taking on Liverpool FC at the Emirates in the 5th round, Liverpool had embarrassed Arsenal at Anfield, 4-1. This time, on February 16, Arsenal controlled the game from first whistle to last, and won, 2-1. On March 8, Arsenal hosted Everton in the Quarterfinal, and won, 4-1, thanks to a pair of late goals by Olivier Giroud.

The Semifinal, at Wembley, on April 12, would be tougher. Arsenal were a perennial at the old Wembley, having played their 1st game there in 1927 and their last not long before it closed in 2000. But since the new one opened in 2007, they were 0-3 there, having lost a 2009 FA Cup Semifinal, and the League Cup Final in 2007 and, in embarrassing fashion in the closing minutes, in 2011.

The opponent was Wigan Athletic, from the Manchester area, who had pulled off a miracle in the previous year's Final, defeating Manchester City in stoppage time. They were on the verge of relegation, and were looking to salvage something. And, for a while, it looked like they might achieve another major upset.

Arsenal blew a lot of chances in the 1st half. In the 2nd half, in the 63rd minute, Per Mertesacker -- the 6-foot-6 centreback affectionately known to Arsenal fans as "the Big Fucking German" -- made a critical mistake, tripping Wigan's Callum McManaman in the penalty area, and Wigan were rightly granted a penalty shot, which Jordi Gomez converted.

Wigan led 1-0, and on Twitter, the invective against Wenger by those who wanted him out was matched by the sadness of those who wanted him to stay, but figured now, with another trophyless year, he'd want to leave, so as not to have to put up with that kind of crap anymore.

The Wenger Outers acted as though some other manager brought the 2 Doubles, the "Invincibles" League title, the other trophies, and the new Emirates Stadium whose 60,000 seats allowed Arsenal to compete much better than beloved old Highbury with its 38,000 seats.

And they acted though, after the '06 Final, that aforementioned wonderful manager left, and then this cheap, stubborn old Frenchman came in and brought Arsenal to "mediocrity." Finishing no worse than 4th for 8 straight seasons, reaching a Champions League Semifinal and 2 other Quarterfinals, and reaching 2 League Cup Finals is hardly "mediocrity," or even "decline."

They also failed to take into account all the injuries, bad officiating decisions, and disloyalty shown to him by certain players, some of whom went on to win trophies with other teams. And they thought that spending truckloads of money was the answer. For Chelsea, Liverpool and the Manchester teams, it was. For Tottenham and Newcastle United, it wasn't. For Leeds United and Portsmouth, it meant financial disaster, relegation, and nearly going out of business. Clearly, simply spending a lot of money on hyped players is not the answer.

But in the 82nd minute, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain fired a shot, and Wigan goalkeeper Scott Carson, who'd been playing very well, could only deflect it, and Mertesacker redeemed himself by heading in a tying goal. Suddenly, all the despairing Arsenal fans seemed to believe again. The Wenger Outers, however, remained unconvinced. 

Despite 5 minutes of 2nd-half stoppage time, such a late winner did not come for either side. And, through the pair of 15-minute halves of extra time, neither side seriously threatened to score. Both teams played with a lot of guts -- and when a team with more talent than guts doesn't get the job done, a team with more guts than talent, like Wigan, can surprise. So 120 minutes gone -- 128 minutes, if you count stoppage time -- and no winner could be found.

Penalty kicks. Every fan's least favorite way of settling a soccer game -- unless you're playing the national team of either England or the Netherlands, both notorious for missing penalties in knockout games. Packed to the gills at the Blind Pig in New York's Greenwich Village, then the main bar of the New York Gooners, I yelled, "Gentlemen, start your coronaries!"

Lukasz Fabianski, a much-maglined backup the last few years, first to Manuel Almunia, and now to fellow Pole Wojciech Szczesny, had started every FA Cup game for Arsenal the season. Arsenal's chances rested not just on the feet of up to 5 attackers, but in the hands of a keeper most Arsenal fans (including yours truly, also of Polish descent) would, not that long ago, not have trusted at all.

Wigan won the toss, and elected to kick first. Gary Caldwell fired, and Fabianski stopped it. Arsenal fans were elated, thinking that, now, they had a chance... if no Arsenal players missed. Spanish midfielder Mikel Arteta stepped up, and sent it home. It was "One-Nil to The Arsenal!" Jack Collison stepped up for Wigan... and Fabianski stopped him, too. Kim Kallstrom, the only signing Wenger made in the January transfer window (and that, a loan), who'd barely played since the transfer was made, partly due to injury, stepped up, and hit it.

Jean Beausejour was next for Wigan, and he converted. 2-1 Arsenal. Giroud made it 3-1 Arsenal. James McArthur scored to make it 3-2.  It was now all up to Spanish midfielder Santi Cazorla, who'd been so good the season before, his 1st for Arsenal, but not so good this season. He made it. 4-2 Arsenal, and the game. Arsenal were through to the Final on May 17 at Wembley.

For millions of Arsenal fans all over the world, jubilation. For many, myself included, more like relief. All the trauma of the last few weeks faded away. All those calling for Wenger to be fired, for Giroud to be sold, shut up for the rest of the day.

*

The Final would also be at Wembley. In other words, Arsenal did not have to leave London for the entire Cup run. One more thing about which the Arsenal-haters could whine.

Hull City, known as the Tigers for their black and yellow stripes, were managed by Steve Bruce, who had been a centerback on Manchester United's 1990s title-winners. His son, Alex Bruce, was a centerback for this team. One of their midfielders was familiar to Arsenal fans: Former Tottenham player Tom Huddlestone.

They had reached the Final by beating Middlesbrough of Yorkshire in the 3rd Round, Southend United of Essex in the 4th Round, Brighton & Hove Albion of Sussex in the 5th Round, Sunderland of the North-East in the Quarterfinal, and Sheffield United of South Yorkshire in the Semifinal. They had reached the Quarterfinal 5 times before, and the Semifinal in 1930; but this was their 1st trip to the Final.

From their founding in 1904 until that 2014 FA Cup Final, Hull had won... not much. They had won trophies for winning the Football League Division Three North in 1933, 1949 and 1966. They had been promoted from the 4th division to the 3rd in 1983 and 2004. They had been promoted from the 3rd to the 2nd, without a trophy, in 1959, 1985 and 2005. They had been promoted from the 2nd to the 1st, without a trophy, in 2008 and 2013. And in 1984, they had won the League Cup. In 110 years, that was their only trophy.

In other words, beating Arsenal would have been nearly as big a Final upset, a bit of "The Magic of the Cup," as Wigan beating Man City the year before; or Portsmouth and Cardiff City both advancing to the 2008 Final, with Portsmouth winning; or Wimbledon beating Liverpool in 1988; or Coventry beating Spurs in 1987.

It almost happened. James Chester scored in the 4th minute, and Hull Captain Curtis Davies in the 8th. Arsenal were already down 2-0, and it looked like it was over early. But Cazorla pulled one back in the 17th, to make it 2-1 Hull. As the old saying goes, "It's the hope that kills ya." But there was more hope in the 71st, thanks to a goal off a corner from Laurent Koscielny. The game went to extra time.

In the 1971 Final against Liverpool, Charlie George hit a screamer in the 111th minute, and celebrated by lying on the ground at the old Wembley. It became one of the iconic images of English football. This time, in the 109th minute, Giroud made a cheeky backheel pass to Aaron Ramsey, Arsenal's oft-injured Welsh midfielder who had come through so many times that season, and he put it in the net.

The goal wasn't much on style, but it was huge on significance. Ramsey ran around the corner where the Arsenal fans had been placed, to celebrate, and then slid on the grass, flat on his back, like George before him, before his teammates pounced on him.

But it wasn't over. Counting stoppage time, there were 12 minutes to go. And Fabianski nearly blew it in the 115th minute, rushing forward for an unsuccessful steal, with only left back Kieran Gibbs clearing the ball just in front of the net saving him from the most ignominious goalkeeping "howler" in FA Cup Final history. (In some minds, that title is held by an Arsenal man: Dan Lewis, against Cardiff City in 1927.)

When referee Lee Probert blew the final whistle, tremendous cheers went up -- inside Wembley, in North London, and wherever Arsenal fans gathered. I can vouch for East 14th Street in Manhattan, where there were 3 bars within a one-block stretch showing the game, known as Gooner Alley. Champagne flowed inside the Blind Pig.

Arteta, serving as Captain for this Final, and the injured Belgian centerback Thomas Vermaelen, the usual Captain, received the Cup from Prince William, head of the FA, on behalf of the royal family. The "years since Arsenal won a trophy" counter reverted to 0.

Wenger at the 2014 FA Cup celebration

Wenger led Arsenal to win the Cup again in 2015, beating Aston Villa in the Final; and 2017, beating Chelsea. A funny thing happened, though. Two funny things, really. Actually, neither of them were funny in the least.

First of all, the Wenger Outers, who kept saying that trophies matter, and "4th place is not a trophy," suddenly decided that the FA Cup didn't matter any more: It was winning the Premier League and the Champions League that mattered. To borrow a phrase from American football, they moved the goalposts.

And along the same lines, the English media, and fans of every other team, took the same tack, saying, "The FA Cup has been devalued." Except they didn't say that when it was won by Man United in 2016, Chelsea in 2018, Man City in 2019, Leicester City in 2021, or Liverpool in 2022. Certainly, they didn't say it the year before, when Wigan pulled off the major upset. Those times, it was "The Magic of the Cup."

In 2018, the small but loud minority finally convinced Arsenal team owner Stan Kroenke to give Wenger his "retirement." Unai Emery was hired, and his 1st season was worse than the "mediocrity" of the preceding years. He was fired early the next season, and replaced by Arteta, a "Wenger man," and he led Arsenal to win the FA Cup in 2020, another Final win over Chelsea.