:45:04
[Paul] Football
has meant too much to me
:45:07
and come to represent
too many things.
:45:10
After a while,
:45:11
it all gets mixed up
together in your head.
:45:14
You can't remember whether
:45:16
life's shit
because Arsenal's shit
:45:18
or the other way round.
:45:19
l've been to watch
far too many games,
:45:22
spent far too much money.
:45:24
Fretted about Arsenal
:45:25
when l should have been
:45:27
fretting about something else.
:45:29
l've asked too much
of the people l love.
:45:32
OK, l accept all that.
:45:34
Perhaps it's something
you can't understand
:45:36
unless you belong.
:45:38
But what about this...?
:45:39
Three minutes to go
:45:41
and you're two-one up
in a semi-final.
:45:44
You look around and see
thousands of faces
:45:47
contorted with fear
and hope and worry.
:45:49
Everyone lost.
:45:51
Everything else
gone out of their heads.
:45:54
Then the whistle blows
:45:55
and everyone goes spare.
:45:57
And just for those few minutes,
:45:59
you're at the centre
of the whole world.
:46:01
And the fact
that you care so much,
:46:04
that the noise you've made
:46:06
has been such
a crucial part of it,
:46:08
is what makes it special.
:46:10
You've been
as important as the players
:46:13
and if you hadn't been there,
:46:15
who'd have been bothered
about football, really?
:46:18
The great thing is,
:46:19
it comes round again and again.
:46:21
There's always another season.
:46:23
lf you lose
the Cup Final in May,
:46:25
there's the third round
to look forward to in January.
:46:29
What's wrong with that?
:46:30
lt's actually pretty comforting
:46:32
if you think about it.
:46:33
But every now and then -
:46:35
not very often, but it happens -
:46:37
you catch a glimpse of a world
:46:39
that doesn't work like that.
:46:41
A world that doesn't stop in May
:46:44
and begin again in August.
:46:46
There's some stuff
that just never comes back.
:46:49
And some stuff
that just won't go away.
:46:52
And some stuff
that you couldn't ignore
:46:55
even if you wanted to.
:46:58
[Phone rings]