A fortnight ago, I landed in Madrid after a flight from London and turned on my phone to be greeted by a flurry of text messages from a friend who is an Arsenal season ticket-holder.
He had driven up to Yorkshire with his daughter for the Premier League away game against Leeds United.
‘Any idea what’s happening at Elland Road?’ his first message read. His second, sent immediately afterwards, was an unprintable diatribe about what he thought of everything connected with VAR and how it was destroying his enjoyment of football.