Martins celebrates, while Koscielny (Number 6)
and Szczesny (Number 53) react
February 27, 2011: The League Cup Final is held at the new Wembley Stadium in London. North London team Arsenal was heavily favored to beat Birmingham City, whose entire haul of major trophies to that point consisted of the 1963 League Cup, and that's it.
But Arsenal were missing several starters due to injury: Midfielder, Captain and best player Cesc Fabregas; goalkeeper Manuel Almunia; forward Theo Walcott; and midfielder Aaron Ramsey. To make matters worse, the referee was Mike Dean, already known as someone who would fix games to make Arsenal lose.
Arsenal fell behind in the 1st half, but soon equalized. It looked like the game would go to extra time, but a miscommunication between backup goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny and centreback Laurent Koscielny led to the winning goal for “The Brummies.” It was scored in the 89th minute by Obafemi Martins, and the Nigerian forward repeated the backflips he did after scoring against Arsenal in UEFA Champions League play for Inter Milan in 2003. It was a brief reprieve: They finished 18th out of 20 teams in the Premier League, and were relegated to the 2nd division.
For Arsenal, it was an ignominious defeat. It came 22 days after losing a 4-0 lead against Newcastle United that became a 4-4 draw; 9 days before being knocked out of the UEFA Champions League in the Round of 16 by FC Barcelona in a match that seemed to be riddled with official corruption; 13 days before being knocked out of the FA Cup in the Quarterfinal by eventual Premier League Champions Manchester United; and seemed to begin a weak stretch of PL games that saw them win only 2, draw 6, and lose 3 of their last 11 games, taking just 12 of a possible 33 points, and fall from contending for the title to finishing 4th.
It was now 6 years since London's most historically successful team had won any of the 4 competitions usually judged to come with a "major trophy," not since the 2005 FA Cup, a streak that would reach 9 years. And since Manchester United and West London team Chelsea had dominated English football in the interim, and North London arch-rivals Tottenham Hotspur had won a trophy as recently as the 2008 League Cup, it got more embarrassing every season.
For the next 7 years, a small but very loud, and equally stupid, group of fans, rallying around a YouTube channel named Arsenal Fan TV, demanded the firing of manager Arsène Wenger. He would win 3 more FA Cups, and keep the team in the Champions League until 2017, but it was never enough for these cretins.
Finally, Wenger resigned in 2018. Those people got what they wanted, with terrible results: Arsenal finished 5th in the 2018-19 season, 8th in 2019-20 (though firing new manager Unai Emery and replacing him with former Arsenal midfielder Mikel Arteta did bring the 2020 FA Cup), and 8th again in 2020-21. Arsenal had become almost irrelevant.
Legal action taken by the organization resulted in Arsenal Fan TV host Robbie Lyle, a former BBC radio host who had previously claimed to support suburban team Luton Town, losing the right to use the Arsenal name on his broadcasts, and the right to record his material on the grounds of Arsenal's Emirates Stadium.
As Arsenal began to recover under Arteta in the 2021-22 season, the renamed "AFTV" became an afterthought, as its original regular interviewees were no longer available: Claude Callegari was banned from the channel in 2020 after a racist remark, and died in 2021; Aumar Hamilton, who went by "Troopz," left Britain to come to America and work for Barstool Sports (which means he actually achieved a downgrade); and, in 2022, Liam Goodenough, who went by "DT," was sent to prison for armed robbery -- for the 2nd time.
*
February 27, 2011 was a Sunday. Baseball had just begun Spring Training. American football was out of season. There were 10 games in the NBA:
* The New York Knicks beat the Miami Heat, 91-86 at the American Airlines Arena (now the Kaseya Center) in Miami.
* The Orlando Magic beat the Charlotte Hornets, 100-86 at the Amway Center (now the Kia Center) in Orlando. Stephen Jackson scored 35 points for the Magic.
* The Houston Rockets beat the New Orleans Hornets, 91-89 at the New Orleans Arena (now the Smoothie King Center). Kevin Martin scored 33 for the Rockets.
* The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Oklahoma City Thunder, 90-87 at the Oklahoma City Arena (now the Paycom Center).
* The San Antonio Spurs beat the Memphis Grizzlies, 95-88 at the AT&T Center (now the Frost Bank Center) in San Antonio. Manu Ginóbili scored 35 for the Spurs.
* The Dallas Mavericks beat the Toronto Raptors, 114-96 at the Air Canada Centre (now the Scotiabank Arena) in Toronto.
* The Philadelphia 76ers beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 95-91 at the Quicken Loans Arena (now the Rocket Arena) in Cleveland.
* The Phoenix Suns beat the Indiana Pacers, 110-108 at the Conseco Fieldhouse (now the Gainbridge Fieldhouse) in Indianapolis. Grant Hill scored 34 for the Suns.
* The Minnesota Timberwolves beat the Golden State Warriors, 126-123 at the Target Center in Minneapolis. Kevin Love had 37 points and grabbed 23 rebounds for the T-Wolves.
* And the Atlanta Hawks beat the Portland Trail Blazers, 90-83 at the Rose Garden (now the Moda Center) in Portland.
And there were 8 games in the NHL:
* The New York Rangers lost to the Tampa Bay Lightning, 2-1 at Madison Square Garden.
* The New Jersey Devils beat the Florida Panthers, 2-1 at the BankAtlantic Center (now the Amerant Bank Arena) in the Miami suburb of Sunrise, Florida.
* The Atlanta Thrashers beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 3-2 at the Philips Arena (now the State Farm Arena) in Atlanta. Ron Hainsey scored the winning goal with 2:29 left in overtime. There would be only 9 more home games for the Thrashers, who did not make the Playoffs, and were moved in the next off-season, becoming the new Winnipeg Jets.
* The Nashville Predators beat the Columbus Blue Jackets, 3-2 at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville.
* The Chicago Blackhawks beat the Phoenix Coyotes, 4-3 in a shootout at the United Center in Chicago.
* The Calgary Flames beat the St. Louis Blues, 1-0 at the Saddledome in Calgary.
* The Boston Bruins beat the Edmonton Oilers, 3-2 at Rexall Place (as the Northlands Coliseum was then known) in Edmonton.
* And the Anaheim Ducks beat the Colorado Avalanche, 3-2 at the Honda Center in Anaheim.
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