Channelling 22 years of despair, humiliation

Whether in life, business or football, despair can be an operating system. Arsenal, for 22 yrs, was forever the bridesmaid, never the bride, the proverbial bouquet falling in the hands of the two Manchesters, Liverpool, Chelsea.... Gooners became connoisseurs of exquisite humiliation, sipping despair like absinthe and remarking on 'late-season collapse' and 'goal difference heartbreak'. And then, this Wednesday, the Premier League crown they last wore in 2004 was theirs. Meanwhile, in the less stratospheric arena of Indian Super League, East Bengal FC also remembered 2004 well - the last time the Kolkata club won any national title. Worse than 'forever-second' Arsenal, EB was on speed dial to ignominy, their fans bearing the battering of archrivals Mohun Bagan strutting about and maintaining their ascendancy over the last 22 yrs. East Bengal's despair was full-on existential. They were the ghost at every Durga Puja feast, the punchline in every Bengali soiree. And then, on Thursday, they became champions of India again.

So, what do these two very disparate clubs prove? That despair is not a dead end, and humiliation - not Tottenham - can be the ultimate spur if one reboots, trains, reinvents. Both iconic clubs have shown that shame, properly channelised, can be transmuted to glory. Well played and praise be upon you, Gunners and Bangaal Brigade.