Five years of glory

I missed some big news, friends, and it's something important enough to track back and make sure I call out. On April 19, 2010, a momentous event in human history occurred. On that day Ted Harwood made the first post on The Short Fuse Dot Com, ushering in an era of light and purity in the analysis and news coverage of the Arsenal Football Club.

Maybe not. But since I joined up here (a couple of weeks after Ted started it up; my anniversary is coming up next week), first as a commenter, then as a staff writer, then as manager, this has been the epicenter of my Arsenal life. I know it's the same for a lot of you. So I'm writing this as a double-thank-you.

First of all, thank you Ted, for starting this blog in the first place, for running it for three-plus years, and for making it a place where (most of the time, at least) we try to put intelligence before hot takes. Most of the time. And personally, thanks for trusting me enough to pass it on into my care.

Second, and just as importantly, thank you. You, the person reading this. I love Arsenal, and I love writing, but frankly, writing is really boring without anyone reading it. It's boring without anyone caring about it. So the fact that you read what we write, tweet about it, share it, argue with us over it -- that's what keeps me going. Without y'all around here, there's not much point in what we do.

Thanks to everyone for a great first five years. Hopefully we'll be able to celebrate the next five together, as well.