When you fall in love with another person, part of what you fall in love with is the picture you create in your own mind. Very often you simply impose your own idealised vision of the other person, regardless of whether they in fact have those qualities. And it can take years before you finally admit that the picture is inaccurate and that you have to compromise and get on with them as they are. This is the transition from romance to a mature relationship.

Arsene Wenger is in love with his team. It is youthful, beautiful to look at, elegant and slightly langourous. But in his mind's eye he has built up a romantic vision. It is a champion in waiting, it has spirit, it will fight to the last, despite its humble and inexpensive origins it is just as good looking and clever and powerful as its money-laden rivals. Other people seem not to fully appreciate the team's beauty and quality. But how wrong they are. They will all be proved wrong. It is his team and he loves it more than any other team in the world.

It is, he acknowldeges, a bit frustrating when these other rivals maltreat his team and even do better than them in face-to-face competition. But they are older, his beautiful team will conquer them. This year, oh well maybe not this time. But next year, oh not again. All right the year after that, how can it not have happened? Well the following year definitely...

But Arsene has now been in love with his team for a number of years and maybe it is time to settle down, tie the knot, compromise, and get used to the fact that his team does not have all the qualities he imagined. He still loves his team. In fact he may love his team in a deeper and more understanding way. He now recognises that it is a bit fragile, but if he settles down into a long term stable relationship rather than a blind romance he can do even more to help it. He can help the team get stronger by accepting its weaknesses and giving them the nurture they need. He can provide more financial support. He can help take the pressure off the team in difficult times. Through adversity and a shared understanding he and his team can, together, become even stronger than before.

To celebrate his decision to embark on a more mature, post-romantic relationship, Arsene buys his team a safe pair of hands, strenghtening for the base of its spine and a rapier to thrust into his rivals' hearts. And to celebrate the first anniversary of the new relationship his team present Arsene with two large silver cups engraved with the team's name. Arsene loves this team even more than before - and now with babies playing happily as well, the future has never looked so rosy. Life is now just so well-balanced.