I did not end up watching the FA Cup final yesterday.

Harlow Garden Centre was too sunny, too peaceful. By the time I had done a bit of shopping, grabbed meself some fresh lemonade and a slice of cake and got home it was already half time. At that point all I wanted to do was sit in my garden and relax.

Manchester United won which robs us of an August trip to Wembley.

Whilst I do not consider the Community Shield as a relevant trophy, it is still nice to have a semi-serious pre-season game at Wembley where we can all meet up, shake off the cobwebs and get ready for the next 9 months in the sunshine.

With Man U winning it, it raises the question of whether they (and Liverpool) have a better season than us.

I remember back in 2020 when we finished 8th and failed to win a trophy, those outside of the club continued with the narrative that we had a bad season. Meanwhile us fans did not care. We had a day out and lifted a trophy.

And imagine it is the same for Man u fans today.

They will not care one bit that they finished 8th, 31 points off their local rivals. All that matters is they won the FA Cup. And the record books only ever remember the winners.

So whilst we might sit there and mock Man U’s poor season, ultimately they won a trophy and we did not.

Whilst I am delighted about the progress on and off the pitch we have made from Mikel Arteta – I do not think some of our critics realise how bad the situation the club was in prior to his and Edu’s arrival – we have finished trophyless for the 4th successive season.

I am not going to jump on Arteta’s back, just like I did not jump on Arsene Wenger’s. But there is a slight concern that we might follow the route of Tottenham in those mid-late 2010s.

Tottenham finished 2nd, 3rd, 2nd, made 3 semi-finals and got to the Champions LEague final from 2016 to 2021, but they ultimately won nothing. All the progress we shown in the last 24 months will mean nothing if we do not start picking up trophies.

Now I am not saying I would rather finish 8th and win an FA Cup. What we need to do is start picking up cups whilst maintaining a title challenge. That way even if we finish 2nd, we still finish the season with some sort of glory.

I am sure the silverware will come. And as we continue to raise the ceiling and floor of the squad, we should be in a better position to compete on 4 fronts.

The consequence of Man U winning the FA Cup means that Chelsea only qualify for the Europa Conference (they will probably win it), and Newcastle have no European football. That could leave couple of their stars to looking elsewhere for European football. Could it open a door for Arsenal to sign a Bruno or Isak? Who knows.

We did brilliantly this season. But now we need to compete in the league whilst winning trophies.

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The She Wore Shop is 10 years old today! Dunno where the time has gone….

 For those who don’t know, the shop was started 3 weeks after I had lost my job in 2014 with the last £50 we had left in the overdraft by buying 50 badgepins and putting some yellow ribbon behind it for the 2014 FA Cup final.

They sold in minutes, so we ordered more and more…

A lot has changed in 10 years. Items that were impossible to be made in the UK can now be made same day. Our clothing is still made to order and can take longer.

We are still nowhere near Amazon levels of speed – and also rely on Royal Mail rather than have a fleet of our own drivers!

I still use the same clothing supplier who made our very 1st polo shirts and he has become a close mate. In the last few years we have both been through some very dark times, but we built a great friendship and supported each other.

The shop has never made us fortunes. The car is 9 years old, we still count the pennies at the end of each month and the kids have never had an overseas holiday. The mortgage is paid on time and the kids do their sports clubs, play way to much Playstation and are happy. And that is what is important.

None of this would have been possible without the support and backing of you. We have all seen the meme about shopping local, and how you are paying for someones children’s ballet class, karate and school uniform. That is exactly what you are all doing when you buy something from our shop.

I am grateful to every single one of you. Whether you have bought once or are a regular buyer. Even just a RT, Like or Share means the world to me.

As a thank you, everything on the shop is 10% off for today and tomorrow. No code needed, the discount is automatically applied at check out: She Wore Shop

Have a great Bank Holiday weekend! And thanks again.

Gav

Got more towel sizes up on the shop now…small to XL….https://t.co/PKv2tzvj8u pic.twitter.com/KzTlkFliyl

— 🎗 ///SHE WORE/// 🎗 (@SheWore) May 21, 2024