Morning all from Dubrovnik airport.

I used the lack of midweek Arsenal to disappear for a few days. Dubrovnik is an interesting “city”.

Dubrovnik has been known my list for a while, and plenty of people recommend it to me. But personally I get a little let down.

Staying in the Old Town, the place has felt like an excursion from a cruise ship rather than a city break.

The walled city has fabulous stories to tell, incredible architecture and lots to do. But locals do not really live in it and the place is 95% day trippers, coming in off a cruise ship or local resort, 5% service staff. It has not really felt like a proper city break.

Having been to Oslo, Copenhagen, Athens and Cairo in the last 12 months, Dubrovnik is probably my least favourite due to the lack of locals.

I loved Athens as, like London, there was history round every corner and people just getting on with their normal lives. The bars were lively of evening with a mixture of locals and tourists. The Medina in Marrakech similar.

Dubrovnik was like the Medina, but with no locals. Or like Rome if the Vatican, Colosseum, Ruins and Trevi Fountain were all part of the same complex, surrounded by a wall and no locals.

And as the Old Town of Dubrovnik is basically one big tourist trap, it is also very expensive.

I would recommend Dubrovnik to everyone. But I think the city is best visited as a day trip from elsewhere, or a stop off destination when island hopping, rather than flying to Croatia to specifically walk the walls.

Up next will be Riga and Ljubljana in June.

But this is not a travel blog. It an Arsenal blog. And tomorrow we face Manchester United.

By the time I land, we will know the result of Fulham v Manchester City.

Fulham have had a decent season, and we played them at their peak. But their players are clearly already on the beach, flying kites at the training ground. I can not see anything else other than a Man City win. And that will leave us needing to beat Man U to ensure we take the title race to the last weekend of the season.

We have come in for a bit of mockery of planning a parade despite not yet being guaranteed the title.

Those mocking clearly do not know the time and effort it takes to close many roads in London for a title parade. We can not just rock up Monday afternoon with a bus.

Closing roads takes coordination with local councils, utility companies who may be working in the road and the police. For an example, Remembrance Day parades usually have their applications in for road closures in September, 2 months ahead of 11/11.

Arsenal and Manchester City will both have submitted their application to the council, and the respective councils would have coordinated with the relevant parties and raised a Traffic Management Order to close the road. It is easier to cancel a TMO at late notice than raise one.

Madrid would have done the same, as would Dortmund and Man U. Any club in a major city competing for honours will be preparing to host a parade.

Clubs organising parades is not new. We would have done it ahead of time in 2004 and 2002 and 1998. The only difference now is social media and journalists with column inches to fill.

Of course, in this world where “banter” trumps the truth, we will get mocked by the usual suspect (Paddy Power, TalkSport) who are more interested in clicks than telling the actual story.

That is all from me. As always on these breaks I have burnt the candle at both end. I now look forward to getting home, having a shower, a shit in my own toilet, a curry and getting some sleep.

And who knows, Fulham might give me a nice surprise on landing.

UTA

Keenos