Category: Tarot

2013 – The Year Of The Gun [RSS]

Posted on January 2nd, by invinciblog in Barclays Premier League, General, Opinion, Tarot, The Club, The Squad. No Comments

Invinciblog takes an in-depth look at the challenges facing Arsenal.

2013 – Year Of The Gun

Posted on January 2nd, by invinciblog in General, Opinion, Tarot. 5 comments

Invinciblog takes an in-depth look at the challenges facing Arsenal.

State Of The Blog Address – 2013

Posted on January 1st, by invinciblog in General, Opinion, Tarot. No Comments

When I started Invinciblog in mid-August, it was my intention to create an Arsenal blog that was different. Eclectic. Unpredictable. Personal. There are some superb blogs out there – brilliant in their analysis of all aspects of Arsenal: the team, the tactics, the finances, the politics – written by Gooners far more qualified than I in providing insightful commentary on the daily ups-and-downs, ins-and-outs, comings-and-goings (or goings-and-goings) of the Club.

I wanted to present a unique window on the Gunner Experience. Specifically, this Gunner's experience. And, in the interest of freshness, I wanted to explore different ways of presenting the agonies and ecstacies to which Arsenal fans willingly submit themselves by choosing to support this particular club, using different media, satire, parody, divination…

Being a football fan is like subscribing to the world's greatest soap opera. Its plot twists and turns, the characters rise and fall; it is drama, unscripted, relentless. Football is Life made visible. Politics, Economics, Spirituality, Anthropology – they are concepts made tangible, objectified, when viewed through the prism of the Beautiful Game. Allowing yourself to fall under Football's spell means giving yourself over completely to the power of the moment – placing your current well-being in the hands … Read More »

Arsenal and the Holy Grail

Posted on October 9th, by invinciblog in Champions League, General, Opinion, Tarot. 9 comments

The story of Parcival is practically word-for-word the story of our hunky French striker! It’s like History repeating itself! History repeating itself! And here’s the good part…

Ten of Swords (reversed): Arsenal Reborn

Posted on September 17th, by invinciblog in Barclays Premier League, FFP, Opinion, Tarot. 2 comments

It’s like Arsenal, as a snake-entity, has shed its old skin: Pat Rice gone, money-grabbers gone, an attitude of zero-tolerance towards disloyalists, and a group of players remaining that look coolly desperate to convince. It’s a privilege to witness, this rebirth.


The Four Of Cups – “Please, Sir, can I have no more.”

Posted on September 4th, by invinciblog in General, Opinion, Tarot. 2 comments

Four of Cups: Weariness, disgust, aversion, imaginary vexations, as if the wine of this world had caused satiety only; another wine, as if a fairy gift, is now offered the wastrel, but he sees no consolation therein. This is also a card of blended pleasure. Contrarieties.

I'm constantly amazed by the card my iPad Tarot App spits up for me when I finally find the nerve to update this new Arsenal blog of mine. (By the way – in the event that you're a Gunner who has clicked on a link to this post from a trusted Twitter source – don't fret: you haven't accidentally stumbled on some vacuously whimsical Dark Arts weblog!)

Despite a carefully considered warning from the fantastically talented @arse2mouse – I have decided to plough on (rewardless) with the crazy idea of allowing a Tarot deck to dictate my invinciblog subject matter… Like sex, it was slightly daunting at first. But now I'm getting the hang of it, and starting to have fun with the new positions I'm presented. (Perhaps this blog would be more aptly called Crouching Gooner, Hidden Tarot!)

Apparently good sex involves a fair amount of extra-sensory perception. 😉 Knowing when to put this … Read More »

The Nine Of Pentacles – Arsenal Electric

Posted on September 1st, by invinciblog in General, Opinion, Tarot. 6 comments

 

“Prudence, safety, success, accomplishment, certitude, discernment…”

Well, another D-Day comes and goes. The shelling stops and the casualties are counted. After the grief and the licking of the wounds, time to regroup and take stock. The battle is over, but the war has just begun…

Arsenal was under siege on numerous fronts before winter's curtain lifted, and summer's silly season began. The brain confirmed what the heart suspected: we once again had top-ranking double-agents in our midst, turncoats lured to our greatest adversaries by the promise of silver and gold.

We struck preëmptively, and secured potential deputies. We put ourselves in advanced positions for vital reinforcements and acquisitions. We seemed to have the ammunition and desire to reverse our misfortune – but ultimately, for reasons beyond our control, the opportunities came and went, and we had to remain content to merely hold our lines, and trust that we had enough firepower to get us through the rapidly approaching hostilities.

“Prudence, safety, discernment…”

Once again, we have a fanbase up in arms about our transfer window (in)activity. Despite the overt criticism of last year's panicky deadline day shopping spree, the Goonerverse clamoured for purchases which, in the light of a new day, … Read More »

On contracts…

Posted on August 26th, by invinciblog in General, Opinion, Tarot. 2 comments

“When is a door not a door? When it is ajar…”
“When is a contract not a contract..?”

It bothered me during the Great Cescape – when our club captain, with four years remaining on his contract, was allowed to throw the world’s longest, sulkiest hissy-fit – making himself useless to the Club, and forcing a move back to Barcelona.

It bothered me this week, when Alex “Blingalicious” Song slouched off to follow Fabregas to basque in golder pastures. (Our Top Deck midfielder was supposedly unhappy with his mere £55 000-per-week salary – hence the insolence? – and before you could say “WTF..?” he was gone). This despite two, maybe three years remaining on his contract.

Penis Over Brain had us bent over a barrel for nigh on a year – before he practically took a dump in it with his July 4th Declaration of Independence: the footballing equivalent of a ‘Dear John’ letter – and turned what should have been a routine contract extension into a drawn-out, messy divorce. (A divorce that left us with the house and the memories: he got to marry the home-breaking slut; and keep the kid. (Kid was a Man Utd supporter anyway, so, no loss there…)

Even as … Read More »

THE TOWER

Posted on August 20th, by invinciblog in General, Opinion, Tarot. 2 comments

“Misery, distress, indigence, adversity, calamity, disgrace, deception, ruin.
It is a card in particular of unforeseen catastrophe.”

Hmmm. Maybe I need to find a more optimistic Tarot deck. It’s behaving rather like a black-bag-Gooner at present… The urge to ‘cheat’ and draw another card was almost irresistible, but I guess there is an Arsenal-appropriate lesson to be learned by accepting the hand I’ve been dealt, and making the most of it.

“Misery, disgrace, deception”

Do I wish that our traitorous captain hadn’t issued his foolish and ill-advised Independence Day statement? Yup. Do I regret that he backed his Manager, his Club, into a corner – forcing them to sell him to the only club that showed interest? Yes, sirree. And most of all: do I regret that that club was our sworn enemy? Of course I do.

I would have loved to have seen him be true to his many words, and only win trophies with his beloved childhood club. For a gray-haired, glass-ankled donkey, he sure had a great last season – “dragging us over the finish line” (with a little help from his friends…) But the donkey has joined the Dark Side and gone off to join Shrek at you-know-where. Too … Read More »

VI * THE LOVERS (reversed)

Posted on August 14th, by invinciblog in General, Opinion, Tarot. 3 comments

“Failure, foolish designs”

***

Aaah. That magical number, 49… The number of games the Invincibles went unbeaten. A number that is unlikely to be breached in the near future, unless the Man City Oilers or the Chelsea Mobsters, or some other hideously wealthy club decides to buy every top player available and benches all but their Chosen XI, thereby eliminating the competition entirely.

Could happen.

There are a few top division clubs who could field two perfectly competitive First Teams from their 25-man squads, their benches are that ‘deep’. Then again – there’s depth, and then there’s d e p t h…

Looking in from the outside, (as I am), it seems a little skeezy. A bit like having a spare jet. You know: overkill. What with the insurance, maintenance and finding a spare parking spot at the airport… But this new breed of ultra-wealthy superclub seems to subscribe to the “Waste, want.” school of thought, rather than the “Waste not, want not” ideal that binds those of us more financially …um …retarded.

To them it makes sense. Nothing but the best. Actually, that’s not entirely true. Nothing but a few of the best, more like.

Anyhow. I digress. Where was I? Oh yes: 49. That magical … Read More »