They say every cloud has a silver lining. Well, in Arsenal’s case it looks like their Champions League final defeat on Wednesday has a lining of pure gold.

As a result of the loss, it now looks very likely that Thierry Henry will put pen to paper on a new deal that will keep him at the club for the next four years.

Speculation over whether the enigmatic Frenchman will stay with Arsenal has been rife over the last few months and it seemed until recently that he would, ironically, depart for Barcelona come the end of the season.

But the fact that Arsenal failed to win the Champions League – the one trophy that has eluded Henry in his time at Highbury – means the striker now believes there is unfinished business back in London.

According to newspaper reports yesterday, Henry is now determined to stay at Arsenal for as “long as he can keep running” effectively indicating he wants to end his career with the club to which he has become highly emotionally attached.

And that can only be good news for the club, its fans and its manager who will now, no doubt, build his new and exciting side around Henry.

Having said all that, you still have to feel sorry for Arsenal losing the way they did. The saddest part of the whole affair is that, thanks to some atrocious refereeing, we will never really know if the best team really won Wednesday’s match.

Defending against a team like Barca for more than 70 minutes with 10 men and a reserve goalkeeper was always going to be a very, very tough task. And, despite the brave efforts of the young team, it was a task they couldn’t complete.

Still, if you are going to lose a major final it might as well be with your heads held high and nobody can deny Arsenal did that.

Tarje Hauge’s blunder

A lot has been said about the standard of the referee on Wednesday night and it cannot be denied that Terje Hauge was just not up to the job.

Nearly everybody, with the possible exception of Barcelona fans, agrees that the Norwegian made some awful decisions and even the man himself has since admitted he got the sending off wrong.

“I should have waited three of five seconds and allowed the goal and given the goalkeeper a yellow card,” he admitted.

And that is absolutely right. He should have.

What makes me angry about the situation is not that he got decisions wrong.

That could happen to anybody. What annoys me is that he was given the game to referee in the first place.

Hauge was not given a place in the World Cup because he was not deemed to be good enough. Simple as that.

So on what basis did Uefa pick this man to officiate at their showpiece event?

The mind boggles.

Championship showdown

Tomorrow afternoon two Championship teams will battle it out for what is, according to the people who know, the biggest single financial prize in world football.

Leeds and Watford will face each other in the play-off final at the Millennium Stadium with a place in the Premiership on offer and with it an estimated 30 million in additional revenue.

The financial rewards of being in the English top flight are incredible.

Gate money obviously goes up, as does revenue from merchandising and sponsorship. Additionally there is also more cash from the television cow, huge prize money according to final placing and the fact that even if you are relegated you continue to receive “parachute” payments for the following three seasons.

All in all, a lot to pay for. Maybe, some would say, too much for a single game.

However, that won’t matter to the Watford and Leeds fans who will pile into Cardiff in their tens of thousands to watch this golden clash.

On a personal level I think I would probably like to see Watford win. Mostly because it would be nice to have Sheffield United as Yorkshire’s only representatives in next year’s top flight.

But Leeds are a good team under Kevin Blackwell and they have come on in leaps and bounds since old Ken Bates took over as chairman. So, at the very least, it should be an interesting game.

Having been through the agony of a play-off final defeat a few years ago I know just how hard it will be to take for either set of fans if they fall at this final hurdle.

But for the winners it will open up a whole new world of riches – at least for a couple of years.

Quote of the week

Quote of the week comes from Arsenal legend Ian Wright who seems to have even less confidence in Sven than I do. And that is saying something.

“I just pray the players can somehow succeed in Germany, despite the incompetent running the team. Yet I know our prospects could have been so much better. I want to go to the World Cup full of optimism. But with Eriksson in charge, I can only fear the worst,” he said.

Well, at least that’s one man who is not sitting on the fence.

Contact James on: [email protected]