CHOPS
Active Member
Some of you may or may not believe this but i can remember the first time i went to Highbury,like it was yesterday.I have my Father to thank for that (RIP),strange thing is he only ever took me that once not that i knew much about football as i was only Five!!What i do remember is the journey by train to Highbury & Islington and the never ending walk through the park till we reached the toilets at 'The Clock'.The shuffle through Highbury Barn until we reached Aubert Park Road then swung a left into Avenell Road.
I remember my mouth opening ever so wide in amazement at the ammount of people scurrying about then the 'Football Smell' hit me a mixture of Hot Dogs,Fag smoke,Beer,Freshly printed Match day programmes topped off with the smell of freshly squeezed Horse ****,somehow i fell in love.
In we went the famous 'Clock-End' holding my 'Old Mans' hand as tight as i could wondering just where all these people were coming from?Imust admit the game itself isn't actually crystal but i do remember one guy in particular the late great 'Joe Baker' especially as he scored two goals that night which sent the crowd in hysterics and also causing me to nearly **** myself every time he did so.
It was a while as i say since i returned to Highbury some six years later i went with a friend and his father,this time we went in the 'Schoolboys enclosure'and he the North Bank,we lost 0-3 and i must admit i wasn't impressed one bit but something must have clicked because the following season i didn't miss a home game.
The outstanding game of that season being the winning of the Fairs Cup,a night i'll never forget as long as i live,they called Highbury the 'Library' because at times it's crowd was so quiet but never in all the games i've seen have i heard three goals celebrated louder than the three that were scored on that historical night.What followed the next season was the start of history in the making the 'Double' was accomplished which to be honest i think i missed about five or six away games.The icing on the cake being the Final which i went to as well,courtesy of my programme coupons i had saved and sent off for!That team was supposed to win everything in sight,sadly it wasn't to be and until our victory over Man Ure in '79 we certainly under achieved.
When George Graham took over the reigns you could tell there was going to be a greatness about us,i don't really know why but there was just something about 'George' he seemed like that he lived at Highbury,he certainly 'loved' the club that's for sure he brought us success and i thank him for that which ever your opinions are of him .
Before i end on our God Like manager i'd just like to take this opportunity to thank one more person for making my football life at Arsenal complete.I'd like to thank Bruce Rioch for getting probably the best player to pull on an Arsenal shirt,Dennis Bergkamp what a master stroke that was,i don't care what people say about it being David Dein who actually done the deal,he came to play for Rioch's team as did Platt so he deserves the credit!
So getting on to Mr Wenger,well i doubt very much that by the time he's finished with Arsenal that i'll ever see a more successful manager the man is a genius,both the way he wants to play the game to the way he buys ,sells and manages his players,he has become a very important figure in our history some would say more so than Chapman had become,i think that he will become the greatest manager in our history of that i'm certain,and once he retires from management they'll make a post for him on an advisory status that much talent you've got to keep.
It seems like yesterday looking down Avenell Road at the crowd and the 'smell' it's been the quickest 45 years i've whitnessed but whenever i go to The Emirates i still go the same way as the 'old man' took me,funny how some things never change!
p.s.Just a thought if Wenger had taken over from George Graham instead of Bruce Rioch,do you think he would've bought Dennis Bergkamp?
I remember my mouth opening ever so wide in amazement at the ammount of people scurrying about then the 'Football Smell' hit me a mixture of Hot Dogs,Fag smoke,Beer,Freshly printed Match day programmes topped off with the smell of freshly squeezed Horse ****,somehow i fell in love.
In we went the famous 'Clock-End' holding my 'Old Mans' hand as tight as i could wondering just where all these people were coming from?Imust admit the game itself isn't actually crystal but i do remember one guy in particular the late great 'Joe Baker' especially as he scored two goals that night which sent the crowd in hysterics and also causing me to nearly **** myself every time he did so.
It was a while as i say since i returned to Highbury some six years later i went with a friend and his father,this time we went in the 'Schoolboys enclosure'and he the North Bank,we lost 0-3 and i must admit i wasn't impressed one bit but something must have clicked because the following season i didn't miss a home game.
The outstanding game of that season being the winning of the Fairs Cup,a night i'll never forget as long as i live,they called Highbury the 'Library' because at times it's crowd was so quiet but never in all the games i've seen have i heard three goals celebrated louder than the three that were scored on that historical night.What followed the next season was the start of history in the making the 'Double' was accomplished which to be honest i think i missed about five or six away games.The icing on the cake being the Final which i went to as well,courtesy of my programme coupons i had saved and sent off for!That team was supposed to win everything in sight,sadly it wasn't to be and until our victory over Man Ure in '79 we certainly under achieved.
When George Graham took over the reigns you could tell there was going to be a greatness about us,i don't really know why but there was just something about 'George' he seemed like that he lived at Highbury,he certainly 'loved' the club that's for sure he brought us success and i thank him for that which ever your opinions are of him .
Before i end on our God Like manager i'd just like to take this opportunity to thank one more person for making my football life at Arsenal complete.I'd like to thank Bruce Rioch for getting probably the best player to pull on an Arsenal shirt,Dennis Bergkamp what a master stroke that was,i don't care what people say about it being David Dein who actually done the deal,he came to play for Rioch's team as did Platt so he deserves the credit!
So getting on to Mr Wenger,well i doubt very much that by the time he's finished with Arsenal that i'll ever see a more successful manager the man is a genius,both the way he wants to play the game to the way he buys ,sells and manages his players,he has become a very important figure in our history some would say more so than Chapman had become,i think that he will become the greatest manager in our history of that i'm certain,and once he retires from management they'll make a post for him on an advisory status that much talent you've got to keep.
It seems like yesterday looking down Avenell Road at the crowd and the 'smell' it's been the quickest 45 years i've whitnessed but whenever i go to The Emirates i still go the same way as the 'old man' took me,funny how some things never change!
p.s.Just a thought if Wenger had taken over from George Graham instead of Bruce Rioch,do you think he would've bought Dennis Bergkamp?
