All-Time Arsenal XI Draft, Courtesy of Arsenal America

Managed by Arsene Wenger with substitutes John Jensen, Pascal Cygan, and Steve Morrow.

Arsenal America's cure for the Summer doldrums between the end of the season and the opening of the transfer window was to stage an all-time Arsenal XI snake draft among twelve supporters groups. We were honored to participate; here's a rundown of how our team was assembled.

Having the 8th pick in round one meant that the likes of Henry, Bergkamp, Vieira, etc. were clearly going to be out of reach for Charsenal. As a result, our strategy consisted of building a solid foundation. History shows us that an essential element to every effective squad is leadership. Even if you have a great squad, ineffective leadership can severely limit a player’s full potential and morale. That’s why Charsenal’s first pick was manager Arsenal Wenger. He has a proven track record for bringing out the best in players, spotting a diamond in the rough, and identifying weaknesses in the opposition.

With a strong leader at the helm, ‘Mad’ Jens Lehmann in-between the posts was our next pick. One of the original ‘Invincibles,’ there are very few keepers who a team would rather have (in goal and covering their backs) than an in-form Lehmann. Charsenal continued the draft by focusing on the spine of our XI. Players like Steve Bould and Per Mertesacker were brought in to dominate the penalty area during set-pieces and corners, Michael Arteta would be our mid-field enforcer (with his cheeky toe pokes, sweet hair, and perfectly manicured eyebrows), while Santi Cazorla would be our maestro, free-kick specialist, and occasionally have a go at 30 yards.

Rounding out our mid-field is the pacey Theo Walcott and Brian Marwood, whose sublime crosses helped Arsenal to win their first Premier League title (88-89) since 1971. Down on the defensive left we went with Wilf Copping, who made 35 appearances in each of his first four seasons with the club and was voted man of the match during the ‘Battle at Highbury’ in 1934. On the right, Alf Baker, a 1930 FA Cup winner and member of the 300 club (351 Arsenal caps).

Up top, Charsenal went with 17-minute hat-trick hero at Stanford Bridge, Nwankwo Kanu. He’s tall, aggressive, and knows how to put a head on goal. Kanu’s more clinical partner is none other than Kelly Smith. It may be a men’s league in real life, but who wouldn’t want to see Kelly go at it with the likes of the rest of this squad?  Sometimes you have to think outside the box. This is exactly what Charsenal did when we brought Kelly in during round 12. Kelly’s vitae includes: 1 UEFA Cup, 4 Premier League Titles, 3 FA Cups, 3 Premier League Cups, and 4 Community Shields with Arsenal. She is also England’s at time leading goal scorer.

All 12 starting XIs have been posted to Arsenal America at http://www.arsenalamerica.com/2013/06/29/arsenal-americas-solution-to-a-football-less-summer-an-all-time-arsenal-xi-draft/ 

Please take a minute to head over there and vote for our team! 

Madra Rua Irish Pub Fantasy Premier League Champion

Congrats to Stan, who today claimed his prize for topping Madra Rua Irish Pub's 2012/13 Fantasy Premier League competition: an Arsenal home shirt!

Thanks very much to Jenny Lee and everyone at Madra Rua for organizing the league and for the generosity!

Testify

Over the better part of my life as a Gooner (some 12-odd years by now) I celebrated victories and mourned defeats in a very personal, private way. My best friend and I would share in the joy or commiserate in the collapse. My wife supported me through emotional fluctuations and tolerated me when I was inconsolable. The effects of my devotion rarely extended beyond that small and dedicated circle, though. Whereas in Europe being a supporter means a vastly shared common experience, being a soccer (née football) fan in America has been mostly solitary for me.

Looking back, this solitude was by equal parts convenient and necessary. I could not justify the expenditure to get cable and all the various sports tiers required for unlocking Fox Soccer Channel, so my connection with the club began very abstractly with minimal monetary investment. For a few years after reading "Fever Pitch" I was glued to the gamecasts on ESPN Soccernet, rejoiced when our little dots put one past their little dots, and followed up by reading match reports on Arsenal.com.

Not exactly a tantalizing proposition to entice any other friends to the red and white, eh? Further along, I would download match recordings from the seedy underbelly of the Internet. That was quickly replaced by my Red Membership and the related perk of Arsenal TV (now Arsenal Player) access. Investing in the club and adding video as a vector for following the team made the interaction more personal but no less individual.

My personality tends toward the addictive, which ends up meaning Arsenal results are tremendously serious business. This bit is certainly not unique among Gooners or indeed serious supporters of anything, but it curtailed my desire to seek out public match viewings. For the most part I just wanted to suffer alone for 90 minutes plus stoppage time, comfortable knowing that I could exhibit whatever positive and negative emotions necessary to survive the fixture. Acting a fool in public never seemed necessary, even if I could be someplace among the like-minded.

Thankfully this season brought with it a change for the better in my status quo.

For the last few years I have worn my company ID on an Arsenal lanyard around my neck. More often than not it was a bullseye for bandwagoning Manchester United, Chelsea, and Liverpool fans to target their gibes at; grade school lunch boxes all over again. As a meeting was winding down last summer, a colleague pointed to my lanyard and I braced myself for the latest crack about our million-year trophy drought (does anybody ever talk about how long it's been since Everton has won something? No?). What he said instead was something along the lines of, "So, you like Arsenal? There's a guy I know in this building who is a fanatic. I'll get him to email you."

It turns out that guy was one of the organizers of Charsenal. We traded fairly extensive emails throughout the summer and I started feeling comfortable with the notion of sharing my fandom beyond my small circle come the start of the 12/13 campaign.

Knowing that I would be a tightly wound bundle of raw nerves made me not quite ready to venture out when the season opener against Sunderland rolled around. For our next match at Stoke, though, I felt that if the Gunners could brave the gates of Mordor then I could go out to the pub and get some beers in. Good thing I did.

What's blatantly obvious in retrospect is sharing support within a group has magnetic comfort. I am drawn to my fellow fans now when match days approach and cannot imagine experiencing a game any other way again. They are every bit as outwardly passionate as I am, in some cases more so, and this passion is encouraged. We can debate the starting XI, marvel at the latest transfer rumors, agonize over the latest spate of injuries (seriously, how comfortable is that training table? Do the physios serve bottomless ice cream?), and scream at the television to celebrate and castigate. Coming out to watch a match with Charsenal has expanded and enhanced what it means for me to be a Gooner.

Will you be joining us next season?