I love the Charity Shield as I always have and always will call it. If it not for the fact that a some point between May 19th and 31st I managed to crack two vertebrae in my back and I’m currently semi bed ridden, I would by now be in Cardiff fully into the swing of a very long and jolly weekend’
Is it a real trophy?
The very simple answer is yes and no! If you win it, then you feel like you’ve won something significant, if you lose then you really don’t give a monkey’s! Anyone who was in the Wembley crowd on that long hot day in August 2023 will surely agree that when Leo’s equaliser somehow went in and the resultant oddly tension free penalty shoot went easily our way, it was fantastic! Maybe it was because it was against City or maybe because of the wonderful day that I ‘d had beforehand with my kids (surf and turf in Mayfair, anyone!), who cares! It felt like a trophy that day for sure!
The early days
With no apologies for making use of Dr Google, our first victory was in 1930 when as FA Cup holders we beat Sheffield Wednesday 2-1 (sound familiar!?) and including that game we won a total of seven Shields between then and 1953. Now whilst I may be of a certain vintage, I have no knowledge of any of those matches although the 4-3 victory against the red side of Manchester in 1948 does seem to be the highlight. I shall check with my two Sunday lunch time drinking pals, Stadler and Waldorf, tomorrow to see if they can remember – if they can even remember what day it is!!!!
The (mostly) losing years
I have no idea why the FA decided that the 1971 edition should feature Leicester City against Liverpool (Division 2 Champions against Cup runners up) whilst in 1961 the Spuds got to play an FA Select XI, but that bizarre decision meant that I had to wait until 1979 to watch us in the season’s curtain raiser for the first time. I wish that I hadn’t bothered! We were battered 3-1 by the conquering Liverpool side of that era and it could have been 10 – enough said. My first Wembley trip was also to end in disappointment against the same opponents in 1989 when a much closer match was settled by single wonder goal from Peter Beardsley. The drab 0-0 draw against the Spuds was the last time the Shield was shared and then we lost to Manchester United in first penalty shoot out two years later. There was an unbelievable Wrighty goal to cheer, but that was about all you can say about that match.
The Wenger Years – things can only get better
Things got decidedly better in the Wenger Years and despite a couple of losses we racked up an impressive seven victories. I went to many of those matches and my personal favourite was undoubtedly the 3-0 drubbing of Fergie’s team of arrogant arseholes. It gave me total believe that we would retain the title that season – that turned out well! Throw in the fact that we had multiple, always enjoyable, victories over Liverpool. Chelsea, City and United whilst consistently over turning the trend of the Cup winners losing to the Champions, then these were good year. As a footnote the 2017 victory over West London’s nouveau riche was Le Boss’s final silverware for our club.
Enjoy the day, don’t worry about the result
Following on from the ghost match against Liverpool and the afore mentioned City game in 2023, tomorrow is a chance for Mikel to complete a Charity Shield hattrick, which would be nice. Does it matter? Again the answer is simple; if we win, it’s the first trophy of the season, if we lose, who cares!?