128 days Arsenal led in the Premier League, yet still they came nowhere near to winning it. They had the perfect chance as well. Chelsea, Manchester City and, of course, Manchester United, changed their managers, while Liverpool finished the season before in 7th place, 12 points behind the Gunners and 28 points off top.
Chelsea spent the entire season without a world-class striker and sold Juan Mata, their player of the years for the past two years, in January. City took four points from their first five away matches and were eighth after the first 11 games of the season.
United, well, there is nothing to say there that hasn't been pointed out all season.
Arsene Wenger had as long as he wanted to plan for this season. He didn't come in during the summer and have to find his feet under the table. He knew which players were good enough, which were not, and where he needed to strengthen. He did not have a new chief executive to work with.
Yet, while Manchester City moved quickly to secure their targets and have a settled squad, he waited until after an opening day defeat at home to Aston Villa to make his move and buy Mesut Ozil. For whatever reason (supposedly Real Madrid raising the cost) Arsenal did not sign Gonzalo Higuain and they did not follow through on trying to sign Luis Suarez, a world class player with Premier League pedigree who sounded unsettled at his club.
Ozil did, however, boost the side and lifted them to the top of the table. Going into the New Year, every team had played half their fixtures and Arsenal were top. Admittedly, they were only one point above City and two above Chelsea, but they were there and ready for a title challenge.
But that charge never came. It was common knowledge that they had a horror run of fixtures coming up in February, with Bayern Munich in the Champions League, Liverpool in the FA Cup and several top six sides in the Premier League.
I know everyone thinks they could manage a football side, but there was a reason Wenger was urged to spend some money. He had one main striker in Olivier Giroud, who is good but not great, and very little else. Aaron Ramsey injured himself on Boxing Day against West Ham and was not set for an immediate return. But as is common at the Emirates, the cheque book stayed shut and only Kim Kallstrom came in on loan, before promptly injuring himself.
As expected, Arsenal floundered. In a run of 11 games starting away at Southampton on January 28 and ending at Everton on April 6, they won three and took just 13 points. They conceded four against Everton, five against Liverpool and six against Chelsea.
When the tough run ended, they won their final five matches to seal fourth place, but all that means is another nervy Champions League qualifier soon after the World Cup ends.
The FA Cup is a great competition and one which all clubs should target. Personally, I prefer it to the Champions League even though that puts in me a vast minority. Arsenal fans should celebrate their side's achievement and bask in Wembley success.
But a domestic cup win is not what sets Arsenal apart from the rest. It doesn't set them apart from Swansea and Birmingham in recent years. They are meant to be an elite club, winners of the Premier League and Champions League which differentiates the brilliant sides from those in the aspiring tier just below (think Tottenham and Everton) and of course all others below them in the football pyramid.
If Arsenal are part of the elite, then they need to start becoming realistic challenges for the top two prizes and not a side content with third/fourth in the league (where they have been in the last nine seasons) or last 16/quarter-finals of the Champions League (where they have been knocked out in the seven of the least eight seasons).
Wenger has seen Liverpool overtake his side. He has seen his gifts of moulding a winning outfit without recourse to heavy spending usurped by Jurgen Klopp at Borussia Dortmund and Diego Simeone at Atletico Madrid.
It shows that top dollar doesn't always need to be spent to become winners, but quality needs to be brought into the club. This summer will prove if Arsenal will do a City and use a cup win to propel them to league glory. It's hard to escape the feeling, though, that this year was their great chance and they have blown it.
Still, the FA Cup is a worthy prize and one to be savoured over the summer.
Cup never lost its magic
The suggestion that the FA Cup has lost/regained its magic is up there with Golden Generation and Special Relationship as one of the most frustrating catchphrases.
The cup never lost its magic in the first place. Sure, it is not the grand event it used to be when cup final day was a huge event with the build-up beginning in the morning. It's lost some lustre due to managers prioritising Premier League riches and the Champions League which is fine, as both provide rich entertainment.
But it still remains massively relevant to the supporters. Whether it's a non-league side taking on a vastly superior team on their boggy pitch with the fans practically on top of the players, third round day where upsets appear to be happening everywhere, or your side charging towards a date with Wembley, there is something special about it.
Some clubs will send out fringe players for the early rounds, and low-key matches will be poorly attended, but these can be ignored.
Every year brings great stories, memorable matches where both teams throw hell to leather, upsets, surprise runs, big clashes, and just occasionally you have a Havant and Waterlooville moment where they twice take the lead at Anfield.
Even stupid decisions like playing the semi-finals at Wembley and moving the kick-off to 5pm can't knock the FA Cup off its pedestal.
Roy's mistake
I know it was a one-off game - albeit a huge one - but Curtis Davies made the decision to take both Phil Jones and Chris Smalling to the World Cup seem a daft one. From what I've seen this season, which will not be as much as many others, both have been terrible. Every time I've seen Jones play, I wonder how this is the same player likened to Franco Baresi and Duncan Edwards, which is disappointing as he and Smalling were excellent in a central defensive partnership at the 2011 European Under-21 Championships.
I'm not saying Davies deserves to go instead, but to take both Jones and Smalling only confirms many people's thoughts that players from big clubs are automatically picked over better rivals. Let's hope if either features in the World Cup, they show their undoubted potential and leave their club form at home.
World Cup woes
The deadline for hosting the 2022 Commonwealth Games passed in March this year, and for a long time it appeared that there no city would put itself forward. In the end, Canadian city Edmonton and Durban in South Africa both registered late interest, but the episode proved a point.
With the cost of hosting any big global event now sky-rocketing, it's becoming less enticing for governments to put their countries forward.
They will see that the Sochi Winter Olympics this year cost $51 billion and wonder whether it was worth it.
The World Cup is threatening to go the same way as the Commonwealths, with nobody wanting to touch it. Fifa want to take it around the globe, but the need to spend heavy on new stadiums which will become desolate afterwards is not appealing.
Even a country like Brazil, which takes its football incredibly seriously, is protesting at the cost at a time when corruption and poor living standards are of far bigger concern. Legendary striker Romario, now a politician in his home country, has heavily criticised the cost of hosting the tournament with Brazil struggling to get its infrastructure in place for the opening kick-off.
Meanwhile, the controversy over Qatar hosting the 2022 version continues to rumble. Allegations of corruption have dogged the decision since it was made and there is anger at the late call to switch the World Cup from the summer to the winter.
The government, obviously seeking to boost Qatar's profile, must be dismayed at the negative publicity. The reports of shoddy labour laws in the country by The Guardian have even forced them to make a change, although the final result may not be much of an improvement.
With Fifa showing an aversion to the UK and other well-established sporting nations, they might find at some point that nobody will be willing to host the greatest sporting event on the planet.
Privacy should be respected
Richard Scudamore is under increasing pressure to step down as Premier League chief executive after emails were released which showed a number of derogatory terms used about women.
These emails were crude, but importantly, they were not meant for public consumption. In public, Scudamore has, as far as I'm aware, said nothing derogatory about the women's game. In fact, even in his emails there is no suggestion of female inferiority in football.
This is not to defend what Scudamore said, but I think in the majority of cases it is wrong to take someone's private conversations and use them against that person. Obviously, there are times where it is necessary. The News of the World's Fake Sheikh was the perfect example of investigative journalism, and Vince Cable's assertion that he had 'declared war' on Rupert Murdoch's attempted takeover of BSkyB was highly relevant to report as he was in charge of whether the decision could be approved or not.
This is not the same, though. People are completely different in private to what they show in public. Professionals have to portray a scandal-free image of themselves, which is why anything controversial written on social media gets leaped upon so quickly.
The context is important as well. What you say to your friends you wouldn't say to a stranger. Scudamore is the top man at the Premier League and as such has to be careful with everything he says and does. But that does not mean he cannot speak freely when away from his job, just like everyone else does. Most people's texts and private messages would probably reveal information which, if made public, would cause huge embarrassment. But they say these things anyway because they expect them to remain hidden.
The way things are going, we will soon live in a police state like in North Korea where any dissent from accepted comment makes you an enemy. So, unless Scudamore says something which directly contradicts his role within football, then his private comments should stay where they belong.
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