As everyone will be aware this weekend saw the first of Arsenal’s pre-season fixtures, which as ever was away to Barnet.

I went to the game with a friend of mine, starting the day by heading to his house to meet up. The location of his house? The Clock End, Highbury. I’m not sure how many of you may have had the chance to enter Highbury Square, but for me it was the first time I’d been inside the stadium since the final game against Wigan. Obviously I have done a tour of the outside many a time since we moved to our new home, but actually being inside was very different.

I found myself in a world of my own, thoughts starting to run through my mind. Remembering my first couple of seasons stood on the Clock End terraces behind the goal, moving to the North Bank upper which became mine and Dad’s season ticket location until that final day against Wigan. Thinking about certain players, games and goals which I had seen…I found it all a bit emotional to be honest, I guess it’s like a homecoming. My friend however moved to North London from Australia in February 2008, and therefore never had the privilege of watching a game at Highbury… no doubt he probably found my mixed emotions a little hard to fully understand.

We moved from the Clock End to Underhill. As ever the team was a mixture of first team players who finished their holidays early and youth team players happy to be involved with pre-season proceedings. The key point to note was the man wearing our captain’s armband at the start of the game… that man was Tomas Rosicky. It was great to see Tomas back, and looking fairly sharp it has to be said. Picking up the ball, driving at defenders, playing killer passes and most notably getting stuck in to one or two rather crunching tackles. A good reception was received and he seemed pleased to be back out there… fingers crossed he stays fit for the season ahead, he could have a big part to play. My friend reminded me that having only arrived in North London in February 2008 this was the first time he had ever seen Rosicky play for Arsenal live!

So the matched finished 2-2, Arshavin and Bazarite with the goals, and time to head home. On arriving home I turned on Sky Sports News, perhaps hoping for a brief interview with Arsene and Tomas to hear their thoughts on the day. Instead I was looking at the cheesy grin of Adebayor, dressed in a Man City shirt claiming to the world that City was always his first choice. The deal had gone through and the fans at Barnet who sang “Adebayor… give him cab fare, and show him the door” had got their wish. The man’s ego, wage demands and poor advisors have ruined what could have been a good Arsenal career should he have chosen to continue down the work hard and score 30 goals route… but it isn’t to be, so long and far well Mr Lazy Greedybayor.

Before I knew it the day was drawing to a close. The long summer is almost over; real football is soon to return with a trip to Goodison Park. And to keep me occupied until then I’d just had a very surreal day which included standing in the Clock End, seeing Rosicky playing football and Greedybayor in a City shirt… I was kind of waiting for someone to pinch me or for the alarm clock to go off and wake me from what seemed like a dream!