Football conversations usually reveal three kinds of people: those who argue for fun, those who disagree in good faith, and those who speak loudly without ever going deeper than the surface.
The first group will twist whatever you say because mischief is the point. The second group may not share your view, belief or faith in a team — and that is perfectly fine. Different opinions are part of what makes football the beautiful game.
The third group is different: quick with one-liners, slow with analysis, and often unable to explain a position once the conversation moves beyond banter.
But beyond the noise, anyone who has followed football long enough understands one thing: the game moves in cycles.
At the heart of this argument is a simple point: football’s dominant teams are rarely permanent. Power shifts when timing, recruitment, management and belief come together — and Arsenal now look closer than at any point in years to being the next club ready to take that turn.
There was a time when Liverpool dominated English football. Then came Sir Alex Ferguson, who was mocked when he declared that Manchester United would knock Liverpool “off their perch.” He eventually did.
Then Roman Abramovich arrived at Chelsea with his billions and transformed the landscape, ending the club’s 50-year wait for a league title.
After that came Manchester City and another level of financial power. Several managers won trophies there, but eventually they went for arguably the finest manager of his generation: Pep Guardiola.
Arsenal chose a completely different path. They handed the keys to a young manager who had never managed a football team before.
Mikel Arteta had to learn on the job, make mistakes, rebuild the squad and reshape the culture of the club. And while doing all that, he repeatedly found himself going up against the Guardiola juggernaut. He was ridiculed. Mocked. Called every name imaginable. Some confidently declared that he would NEVER win anything.
Well, that jinx has been broken.
Arteta has now climbed one of the hardest mountains in modern English football: beating Pep’s Manchester City with a young, outstanding team built to compete for years, not just one season.
And here is the part some people still struggle to comprehend Arsenal have not stood still. They have strengthened an already excellent team and added serious depth to the squad.
Some will naturally refuse to see what is being built because rivalry makes objectivity difficult. Others will be more cautious: “Okay, let’s see what happens.”
Fair enough.
But some people believed from the start — the ones who looked at a young Mikel Arteta years ago, saw where the project was heading, and said he would eventually win the league because it was always going to work – they decided to Trust The Process.
This is my position: Arsenal are not merely enjoying a good run or benefiting from a temporary surge of form. They now have the age profile, tactical identity, squad depth and emotional edge of a team built to compete at the top for years. That does not guarantee every trophy immediately, but it does mean this project has moved beyond promise; it has become a serious, sustainable challenge for dominance.
For the avoidance of doubt, this was my post immediately after Arsenal lost the Champions League final in Budapest:
Lift up your heads, Gooners.
From Budapest to the streets of London, you have shown the world what Arsenal Over Land and Sea truly means. Through every mile travelled, every song sung, and every moment shared, you stood behind the club with unwavering pride.
As for the haters whose own clubs no longer bring them joy, I’ve got some bad news: this isn’t a moment, it’s the beginning of an era under Mikel Arteta.
The more they complain, the more they mock, the more they obsess over Arsenal, the clearer the truth becomes:
Their hate isn’t resistance. It’s recognition.
Welcome to the era of Arsenal dominance.
The story is not finished, and that is what makes this moment so exciting. Arsenal are no longer asking to be taken seriously; they are forcing the conversation. The squad is young, the manager has grown, the culture has changed, and the belief around the club is no longer built on nostalgia but on evidence. Rivals can laugh, doubt, dismiss or delay their acceptance, but football history has always rewarded the teams that built before the world fully understand what is happening.
The cycle is turning — and this time, it is turning red and white.
Bimboh Adekoya is a widely travelled football fan (@Bimboh5 on X)
