Grovelands Emulate Arsenal’s “Invincibles”
2003/04 marked what was without doubt the most historic season in English professional football history. Arsenal completed a remarkable unbeaten campaign, on their way to a record-breaking title; never before had a team gone close to this feat, and almost all pundits and fans believed it would never happen again. It is therefore all the more extraordinary that Grovelands United repeated Arsenal’s achievement and claimed a richly deserved Premiership title of their own.
Grovelands began the campaign with uninspiring draws in the opening two games. They then went on a winning run to the end of the season (interrupted only by an incredibly hard-fought draw against a technically superior opposition) and finished the season with a trademark 2-1 victory. Grovelands had been priced at a generous 10/1 for the title before the season started, and in the end made the bookies look foolish by winning with a game in hand.
The Invincible Arsenal team of 2003 possessed a cacophony of big name stars who matched immense talent and skill with power and grit; Lehmann, Campbell, Vieira, Pires, Henry, Bergkamp – the list of stars was endless. Throughout the course of this season many of the Grovelands team have displayed marked comparisons to those Arsenal legends. Jeffery showed all the mad talent that encompassed Jens Lehmann, Marker and Ives formed a strong centre-back pairing reminiscent of Campbell and Toure, whilst Gardner played the Gilberto role well. Throw in Wilson as Freddie Ljungberg, Henderson as Robert Pires, the Bailey brothers as Vieira and Bergkamp and you’ve got a good picture. Thierry Henry scored 30 league goals in the 2003/04 season, and whilst he couldn’t boast those figures, Darren A’Court netted a better-than-a-goal-a-game tally of 11 goals.
All in all it was a magnificent season for a side tipped to head straight back down to the Championship. The new season starts on Monday and who would write Grovelands off from repeating their success?