Mark Brindle
I suddenly realised recently that I must be fast approaching the 40th anniversary of my first visit to Highbury. On consulting Fred Ollier’s ‘Arsenal - A Complete Record’ I discovered that the date of my first visit was in fact 13th November 1971 when I sat in the West Stand Upper Tier and watched ‘The Arsenal’ lose 2-1 to Man City in front of 47,443 supporters.
As an 8 year old this of course resulted in copious amounts of tears after the game on the way home to Woolwich, which were not helped by my Dad advising me that I should follow his team (Man Utd) if I didn’t want to get used to losing! Thankfully even at the tender age of 8 I knew that dad’s views were not to be taken seriously and I did not go over to the dark side.
Over the 40 subsequent years Arsenal have been a constant in my life. Sometimes a bringer of great joy, sometimes frustration, and sometimes even pain.
Of course such an anniversary drags up all sorts of memories of great players, great matches, trips to the frozen north, trips to Europe, cup finals, Anfield 89, chasing the Marshmen down the Seven Sisters Road, being chased by the Marshmen down the Seven Sisters Road, alcohol, SLAG Army, more alcohol, Travel Club cheese or ham rolls, the bear, dodgy haircuts, even dodgier clothes, DB10 buying us a beer in The Rocket, An Imperfect Match, the Clock End, B’Jesus said Paddy, and even more alcohol.
All these things would be nothing however if it were not for the all people I have met through the years, fellow Gooners. Some are friends to this day, some have drifted away for whatever reason, some are just people I have met on a trip and often never seen again. Just because you have the common ground of supporting the Arsenal does not of course mean you are going to be best buddies with all, but I believe that no matter whether you are an - in today’s parlance - an AKB or indeed an AKN (Arsene Knows Nothing) we should all stand together and support our team on the pitch.
The Arsenal do not owe me anything and I owe them rather a lot. My 40 years of support is nothing compared to some I know and the title of this piece was written with tongue firmly in cheek. However what I would like to see this season is an end to all the divisions in the Arsenal support. It would be naive to expect everyone to agree on every aspect of Arsenal life (and a little scary if it did happen) but it would be great to think that we could all pull in the same direction at The Grove and emulate our magnificent away support. Then maybe, just maybe, with a little help from us, the proverbial 12th man, a trophy or two to give me an excuse to celebrate with friends old and new will be coming our way very soon.
Here’s to the next 40 years (I hope) and let’s start them off with wins against Norwich, Dortmund and Everton.
