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It’s not just a club, it’s a love story

An appreciation of Arsenal FC

27 January, 2014 9:00 50 comments
It’s not just a club, it’s a love story

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It’s strange isn’t it, to love a football club. Those same feelings that, if applied to a woman, may result in holidays to exotic lands, marriage and children. You might share a holiday to Venice with the girl of your dreams, or you might chase European dreams with the club you love. That same feeling of heartbreak inflicted by a break up or a divorce could also be provoked by a loss to Manchester United in the Champions League semi-final, or ‘The King’ being sold to Barcelona.

I was born 130 miles away from Arsenal, thrown in to the world as a blank slate without any preconceptions about life or anything it might entail. I could have grown up supporting my local club, Sherborne Town, or decided my allegiances lay up North, with Manchester United. I could have decided English football wasn’t for me and lent my support to Real Madrid or Barcelona. I could even have grown up with no emotional connection to football whatsoever, and opted to follow Rugby, or Cricket.

However, when I was born, my first love was destined to be somewhat different to those who don’t follow football. I didn’t meet a girl, fall in love, spend a year putting countless kisses at the end of texts and then, ultimately, getting dumped, being left a foolish teenager wallowing in self pity having thought he had found ‘the one’.

I didn’t have a choice really, and I’m glad I didn’t. Adopted predominantly by my Dad, Arsenal had a place in our family far before my conception. My love for the Arsenal will always be the first thing I inherited from my family.

Arsenal, and all football clubs for that matter, are almost an extension of life itself, with parallels running flawlessly between the two. My emotions, which are intertwined in both life and football, resemble each other with impeccable veracity.

The ups and downs of life can be compared to that of a football club. The pains of watching your club go into administration can relate to the bank balance attached to the debit card you carry in your wallet. A break up can aggravate the same emotions that being dumped can cause to surface. The trophy-less years Arsenal have endured may relate to an era of mediocrity in your life you can’t seem to get out of.

But, with the bad comes the good. In light of the trophy-less seasons or the hard times in life, the silhouette of success may be becoming ever more discernible on the horizon. Financial stability may manifest itself in the form of foreign take-over, or a lottery win. And, that break up you suffered over for so long may have paved the way to a relationship you could never have dreamed of, be it Mesut Özil, or the girl next door every man yearns for.

It’s strange, isn’t it? But when you experience it, you understand. When you don’t have a choice, you accept it and you love it. Arsenal have an unconditional, everlasting place in my heart and that will never change.

What do Arsenal mean to you?

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50
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  1. 3pm Saturday at the Clock End

    Feb 02, 2014, 2:47 #45049

    My Dad, Mum, Brother, Sister, Uncles, Aunts, Nan and Grandad were all Arsenal supporters. What chance did I have? Love 'em to my core.

  2. Jason B

    Jan 30, 2014, 21:09 #44921

    Will never be separated.Even when it's time for me to go, i will take the memories with me and carry on going to the great highbury in the sky.

  3. Moscow Gooner

    Jan 29, 2014, 15:56 #44836

    RadfordKennedy - save for West Stand Upper replacing East Stand Upper exactly mirrors my experience! The pitches seemed that much more greener those days (an illusion of course since they were a mixture of sand and mud), the shirts redder, the crowds (of course) noisier. The transition to the North Bank came a few weeks later: a 2-0 win over Derby, in the mud, with Charlie George scoring twice.

  4. Robb1970

    Jan 29, 2014, 5:53 #44788

    Well injuries are mounting and Flamini goofed. What is it with Wenger and Podolski?? Lukas is in great touch, scoring freely, but he is hardly used. Reminds of Wegner's harsh treatment of Arshavin who could have been used to good effect many times; and what is the story with Frimpong? Will he ever play? I fear we are on the usual slippery slope

  5. Man United Killer

    Jan 28, 2014, 23:03 #44787

    Southampton is a tough place to go but we didn't look interested for long spells of the game. The first half especially.

  6. BADARSE

    Jan 28, 2014, 22:37 #44786

    Had a dodgy feeling about this game for a day or so, happy to come away with a draw after losing a goal in the first half when we just never turned up, then losing the Flaminal. The ten men held on, Sir Chesney earned his corn again. Good enough Arsenal under the circumstances.

  7. jjetplane

    Jan 28, 2014, 20:58 #44785

    Was gonna stand in the schoolboys again, mid sixties, all that big stone under your little doctor martins. Looking up at the north bank as the big boys sauntered in, waiting for the first arrest. Course we would get in (all three of us) as soon as Highbury opened so the north bank was deserted. What was it with those big old steps like at the back of the north bank. As I meander we have just scored f...ing two! Do I hear Let's go f...king mental la la la ....

  8. BADARSE

    Jan 28, 2014, 19:27 #44784

    Highbury Boy we played Rangers every pre-season as Ron rightly said. I was at what proved to be the last one in the late 60's. I was in the East Lower and looked towards the Clock End and thought my eyes were deceiving me. There seemed to be a swarm of dark locusts descending into the middle of the crowd. In the blink of an eye the crowd parted like the Red Sea. Still those locusts descended, smashing into fragments-they were brown beer bottles! I realised then that this mob were not coming back-until the recent invite for the Emirates Cup. We won 3-0.

  9. Ron

    Jan 28, 2014, 18:35 #44783

    Highbury Boy - We used to play Rangers every pre season more or less didn't we. It some 'special arrangement' we had with them as i recall.It was maybe one of those games you speak of? PS Recall seeing JB on the tele turn England inside out in 67 at Wembley - 3-2 Scots.He literally took the p--s. When they then claimed to World Champions'! Great days. How times have changed. The scots had fantastic footballers. JB was better than Jimmy Johnstone i always thought in his Rangers days (or maybe he was just a better entertainer) as JJ was a Celt at the time.

  10. Highbury Boy

    Jan 28, 2014, 18:06 #44782

    Oh the memories! We lived round the corner of the Highbury ground and I stood with my Dad just behind the railings behind the photographers at the Clock End from the age of about 5 or 6. My Dad was a fanatic and had watched them since the 20s always talking about the 30s side with Chapman as a brilliant manager. I went to a North London school and in the 50s and 60s it wasn't a 'given" that you supported Arsenal.In fact I remember there was support across the board for clubs such as Charlton,WBA and Newcastle as well as Manu and Spurs. An early memory was listening to the radio commentary of the FACup Final we lost to Newcastle 1 nil after Barnes was injured and we played 55 minutes with 10 men. I also recall standing in the Lower East on a Friday night when we beat Burnley 3-2 to win the Title on goal difference over Preston. Little did I know then that it would be another 18 years (including all my secondary school years) before we would win the League again. But what a night at WHL in May '71. After that long 18 years wait and being teased by Spurs supporting friends I still think it was my best match ever including Anfield, Copenhagen etc. I saw the Davis and Baker punch ups and was just 3 yards away from Sprake punching Bobby Gould in 68/69. Sprake wasn't even sent off and Leeds went on to win the game 2 -1.I also recall seeing Jim Baxter at Highbury. Must have been in a friendly when he was at Rangers. He was brilliant. Ah those memories!

  11. Pub Watch Gooner

    Jan 28, 2014, 16:32 #44781

    Anyone know if the north London pubs will be showing the Southampton game ?

  12. Ron

    Jan 28, 2014, 15:36 #44780

    Westie - According to Wikipeadia JB signed for Forest at 'end of 67' so as i thought he wdt have been in the runners up team. I recall him in a few matches though when i went in the season after. Forest went quickly downhill afterwards. Storey Moore went to Man U soon after as they bought like mad to try and avoid their decline. He was poor there.A few of the others had peaked and were knocking on ie Hennessey and Grummitt and Billy Mac et al. Great Club Forest. I always keep an eye on them as i still do Leicester. Both shd be in the PL really. Massive support.

  13. Ron

    Jan 28, 2014, 15:19 #44779

    Hi Westie - indeed i did mate - afew times. Gentleman Jim! He wasnt the Rangers JB by then though. He was fat and idle for most of his spell at Forest. I cant recall if he had many games (if any) in the really good season that i do recall well ie runners up season which unless im mistaken was 66/67. If memory serves me well, JB came in the year after. I stand to be corrected though. I recall seeing the Arsenal win at the City Ground in about 69. 2-0 I think or 2-1. Im sure Baxter played that day. Have to check old Forest stats to be sure though mate.

  14. Westlower

    Jan 28, 2014, 14:31 #44778

    @Ron Did you ever get to see Jim Baxter when he was at Forest 1967-69? I was lucky enough to see him also play for Sunderland but he was well past his best after his move to England. He had the reputation as being the greatest Scot ever. He was well known at drinking himself unconscious the night before a game and then playing a blinder. Suffice to say he suffered in the form of two liver transplants in his short life. He had this aura about him on the field, a really big arrogant bast**d strutting his stuff. I've only ever seen one other who could match his arrogance on the field and that was Stefan Effenberg of Borussia Mochengladbach.

  15. BADARSE

    Jan 28, 2014, 14:03 #44777

    Stop it Ron, you'll have me tearful. If only these 'heroes' knew just how they moved emotional mountains in people, astonishing. Joe Baker-'Warrior'! The outpouring of grief following John Lennon's murder was a very good example of this adulation of people. It's everything. The saying goodbye, marking an end of an era, realising we've all moved on, and are vulnerable, and somehow less than what we were. I think as he trooped off Joe was quietly reflecting on the enormity of what he had just done- to us fans he had felled an oak.

  16. Ron

    Jan 28, 2014, 13:27 #44776

    BADARSE - Feb 1964. Looking down maybe but Joe was quietly satisfied i venture? It was a thing of great gravity to be sent off in those days wasnt it. The media used to focus on sendings off at length. The main news used to have details of it, never mind the sports media. Joe Henry Baker - Top scorer in all of his seasons with us. The King of Highbury! As a kind i cried when my Dad told me was off to Forest. By then we had moved to live near Loughboro and my mate was a big Forest fan, whos Dad used to take him and me to Forest. I used to cag in with them so to go and see Joe. Good side. Finished runners up to Man Utd in one of Joes seasons. Ian Storey Moore, Peter Grummitt, Terry Hennessey, Billy Mc Kinley and Co. Used to enjoy it. Joe wasnt quite the same player, but he knocked a few in. Double figures as i recall.I never had a Gunners hero like him ever again afterwards. Best CF we ever had. Yes, i know its all subjective but Joes strike rate was phenomenal and in a mediocre side too. R.I.P Joe. Loved you fella!

  17. BADARSE

    Jan 28, 2014, 13:10 #44775

    chris dee and westlower. I stood as a young star struck kid beside the players tunnel that day. My hero came trundling off looking down. It was a very muddy day and I remember thinking of Yeats being on the wet ground for a long time whilst they revived him. I smiled up at my hero as he left the field, David had just slain Goliath.

  18. Westlower

    Jan 28, 2014, 10:36 #44772

    @Chris Dee, Spot on! The Baker boy knew how to look after himself. I remember that incident as if it happened yesterday and it's scary that it was over 50 years ago. The advantage the small guy has by hooking you from underneath with all his body weight behind the punch. Poor Yeats was poleaxed and out cold for a time. Geoff Strong went to centre forward after Joe was sent off. Geoff later transferred to Liverpool, years before the great Ray Kennedy went the same route.

  19. chris dee

    Jan 28, 2014, 9:42 #44769

    Talking of boxing,some people say that Frazier's punch that knocked down Ali was the best left hook ever thrown,some people say Paul Davis's left hook against Glen Cockerill was the best but us older fans know 5'9'' Joe Baker's short sharp and lethal left hand hook into 6' 3'' Liverpool's Ron Yeats jaw gets the cigar.

  20. radfordkennedy

    Jan 28, 2014, 9:30 #44768

    GoonerD....Sir John Radford the Earl of Avenell IS GOD!

  21. 600NER PETE

    Jan 28, 2014, 9:14 #44766

    goonerD Do you mean Dennis or Thierry?

  22. BADARSE

    Jan 28, 2014, 7:20 #44763

    goonerD I know too much for you my friend.

  23. goonerD

    Jan 27, 2014, 23:09 #44761

    Following Arsenal is great. God is greater. Sorry Badarse, I know you're an atheist, but even you must feel the emptiness in this. Arsenal can't fill that hole.

  24. BADARSE

    Jan 27, 2014, 21:39 #44760

    Alsace, not for the first time have you made me smile a knowing smile, thank you.

  25. Alsace Lorraine de Totteridge

    Jan 27, 2014, 19:48 #44758

    My Dad dropped me off at school one day when I was about 9. This was circa 1970 and everyone else had a team. I asked my Dad who he supported and as I left the car he told me " Arsenal". "That will do", I said. I then discovered of course that Arsenal had the very best kit not only in the league, but in the world. Despite the fact that I was born in North London, my parents didn't live there and I didn't start going until I was at Uni. I have over the years, taken loads of other people (friends, colleagues girlfriends)who wouldn't have gone otherwise and some of whom still attend. It's a disease, boys and girls, contagious in the extreme, floodlit on a Tuesday or Wednesday night, occasionally painful but absolutely brilliant. I have seen the great I.E. Wright play football, and some other players who weren't bad either. I have seen David Rocastle, surrounded by 4 United players on the touchline, and still come away with the ball. I have seen Tony Adams give up the booze and score brilliant skillful goals, Pat Jennings patrolling his penalty area like a panther, and Stewart Robson kicking seven shades of s**t out of our enemies. Oh yes, and Perry Groves enormous and disproportionate bottom, out of which he wrote his excellent book. Je ne regrette rien.

  26. Ron

    Jan 27, 2014, 18:41 #44755

    Ramgun - Thanks pal. All these years and i always thought BW was hurt last minute before that game in 69 v Utd. Cant recall that Burnley injury at all. I do recall Johnny McLeod goal though. He later joined Villa as i recall? I also recall that being at Villa that day, we were still standing on unsegregated terraces and while i was only 8 or 9 i can't recall any hassle if i don't count that Villa kid ripping my rosette off (he was older than me!). Whenever i've been back to Villa i can always see that spot where i was. Opposite the side where the players come out (where we are as away fans nowadays) and half way between the halfway line and the goal to the right opposite their Holte End and about 3 rows of terraces back. My eye line was about pitch height!!It must have been an autumn time game. Can recall Dad being in his big sheepskin coat bless him!

  27. Ramgun

    Jan 27, 2014, 17:56 #44752

    In fact, Ron, Bob Wilson was out with a broken arm sustained at Burnley so we don't have the excuse of Webster being a last-minute selection. Eventually Mee signed Barnett to cover for Bob. Jon Sammels scored from 40 yards in that game against Man Utd. I was first taken to Highbury in 1955 as a toddler. My Sister took me and it remains the greatest single thing she ever did for me! I also remember that game at Villa Park in 1963. Johnny MacLeod put us one up at half-time but Tony Hateley, later to score a classic own-goal at the North Bank end whilst playing for Liverpool in 1967, scored twice (one a penalty) and we were beaten. By the way that 1963/64 season we scored 90 league goals but conceded 82!!!

  28. 600NER PETE

    Jan 27, 2014, 16:37 #44747

    bobbybigb, I somehow got a ticket up the kop end for that semi-final with the majority being Stoke supporters. Most of the Arsenal support was at the Leppings Lane end. There was an old guy in a peaked cap who kept mumbling on about Arsenal being a " eeh million pound team" and "eeh you won't get two past Banksie laddie" when we were two nil down. It was great when Storey put the penalty away.Happy days! Another odd thing about supporting a team are the strange facts you remember. Whenever I pass Farnham in Surrey on the M3 (which I did yesterday)I always remember Peter Storey was born there! Bizarre. But I suppose anyone who doesn't really support a team like us oldens do would find a lot of our football based behaviour hard to understand at times. COYG!

  29. Ron

    Jan 27, 2014, 16:31 #44746

    600NER PETE and R/K - Great posts guys! Very evocative. G/P it was Sept 69 before i first went to Highbury v Man Utd 2-2. I recall bricking it as Willow was injured or ill pre game and young Malcom Webster had to play last minute. Sammels cracker of a goal. Georgie Best kept Utd in it, as he often did as their post 1968 decline hastily closed in on them. There was an atmosphere at grounds then which just inst there now. I know it got hairy at times with attempts at each Clubs 'ends' etc etc (often in fact) but todays quiet and controlled approaches to grounds is so, so low key. Give me the old aggressive atmospheres any time of the day!

  30. bobbybigb

    Jan 27, 2014, 16:05 #44744

    spot on badarse. Always felt he was one of us living the dream.An immense talent and a true Arsenal legend.

  31. BADARSE

    Jan 27, 2014, 15:52 #44743

    bobbybigb regarding Charlie's wayward back pass which John Ritchie intercepted, ran on and scored. At Villa Park in the replay one of the first things Charlie did was make an unnecessary but cleanly hit back pass to Willow. It was perhaps his way of exorcising the Hillsborough event-he never managed to exorcise the cheeky devil inside him though-thankfully!

  32. smithy

    Jan 27, 2014, 15:51 #44742

    When you are located in the south west you usually have 2 teams- your big side and your local side.I started supporting the Arsenal in 1979 when they beat my old mans team in the cup final.But I have also supported my home town club as well.The quality of the Toolstation western leagues is good,I've been to watch my side at Sherborne a couple of times, watching football dead close up is a totally unique experience.Not better than Arsenal just different.You can do both,you're not cheating.Arsenal and my local side will never compete against each other so I won't have divided loyalties.And before someone comments on supporting Exeter,Torquay,Plymouth and yeovil- I don't live remotely near any of them.I love the premiership and the toolstation western league equally!

  33. bobbybigb

    Jan 27, 2014, 15:46 #44741

    You fellow mature gooners are so right,the 71 double memories are the clearest and the sweetest. I remember breaking down in tears of relief when we were awarded that late late penalty at hillsboro in the semi.That was before Peter Shark eyes converted it, good job he wasnt the wimp i obviously was otherwise he would have surely missed !!On train back to London singing "he shot he missed he must be f##cking pissed ,charlie george charlie george" an affectionate swipe at our hero who unusually had a **** game and gifted stoke a goal with his stray back pass

  34. radfordkennedy

    Jan 27, 2014, 15:16 #44739

    Ron..you know mate when I was a kid I had a bike and a football I'd run home from school pick up the ball run to clissold park and play footy till it got dark then run home again bath dinner bed job done,and then when you are initiated into the Arsenal family all of a sudden you're experiencing all sorts of new emotions nerves,nausea either being on the verge of tears or bursting with joy,which is why those early days and players are etched forever in my heart..its strange but at that first ever night game I can remember my Dad passing me a bag of chipmunk crisps and a panda cola wow what a treat but I can't remember what I had for dinner last week,I also remember creeping down the stairs and peering through the bannisters to watch sportsnight with coleman.I'm sure every generation says the same and they have their own modern day heroes,but for me whatever I did and wherever I went in later life nothing with the exception of my kids had such an effect on my emotions and me as a person as that team and that dear old stadium

  35. BADARSE

    Jan 27, 2014, 15:13 #44738

    GOONER PETE, as a North Bank Boy, I remember that ditty so well. R/K loved your memory. As an older lad with a longer period to choose from my era should have been before your favourite time. It isn't! My heroes are all you mentioned. Frank remains the greatest footballer ever. Am not talking of skill, artistry, achievements as these attributes and qualities befall players. Frank was a footballer. He was the greatest skipper too.

  36. 600NER PETE

    Jan 27, 2014, 14:47 #44737

    October '68 for me. Liverpool in the League cup. I was 16. It was a life changing experience. The walk from Finsbury Park station with the glow of the floodlights and the noise of the crowd drawing you into ground. And then walking up the North Bank steps and seeing the pitch the stands and the North Bank for the first time.Stood near the back of North Bank.Not the greatest view but fantastic atmosphere. 1-0 up, then 1-1, then 2-1 near the end and everyone going ballistic. My love affair with the "One Team in London" had started. We are the Arsenal and we are the best we are the North Bank so F#*k all the rest!

  37. bobbybigb

    Jan 27, 2014, 14:26 #44735

    was 60 last week and still wont watch match of the day if we lose surely about time i acted my age rather than my shoe size. Have never been able to reason or explain why my emotions run so high when it comes to my Arsenal. Vividly remember leaving Wembley stadium in 1969 after the Swindon death and swearing i would never go back to them ......that lasted until Monday. Loved them then ,now and forever

  38. Ron

    Jan 27, 2014, 14:17 #44734

    R/K - Nice post. Im the same as you mate. Nothing AW has done or still to be done will compare. Its a question of age and generation though isnt it so others will view and perceive the Club far differently and rightly so, so they should. For me, being a fan from say 1968 to 1978 beats anything ive experienced since, yet look at the feeble team we often were post 1973!Its the sheer privelige of being able to be biased and irrational about your Club that has made football so unique, yet the modern corporate and media soaked product that its become has eroded all that, hence for me, its far too clinical and sterile now, despite its technical advances on the pitch, the experiece and passion of being a fan today, wont ever compare with the period you speak of.Eg i went ticketless to Paris in 06. It was a great couple of days, but was it better than May 1971 at Wembley? No chance. Not for me. People say im mad, but being a supporter is such a subjective exercise isnt it.

  39. Mark

    Jan 27, 2014, 13:36 #44731

    supported since 9 years old from 1970 and still keep 3 season tickets today; born and bred highbury and islington now living in europe but get to attend alot of home matches. i have invested heavily in Arsenal when it was not always easy to do and they are today a huge financial monster and i hope to see them further invest in the team in the next 4 days ! if do that we WILL win something

  40. Reggie's Big-boned Wife

    Jan 27, 2014, 13:31 #44730

    I'd start looking for a fifth wife if I were you Reg

  41. radfordkennedy

    Jan 27, 2014, 13:09 #44726

    My story is no different from the moment I walked out into east upper and saw that pitch under the lights the game was up,players come and go but for me Arsenal will always mean Wilson Rice Mcnab Storey Mclintock Simpson Armstrong Graham Radford Kennedy George and of course Kelly..ahhh ghosts of yesteryear leave me alone..

  42. BADARSE

    Jan 27, 2014, 12:32 #44722

    My story is not unique just more of the same. Arsenal have, some might say, an unnatural influence over me. I suffered terribly after a defeat and made monumental attempts to combat these yo-yo emotions dependent on a win or a loss. I tried to adjust my way of processing those thoughts and feelings. I have achieved a limited amount of success in later years but my raw emotions lie just below the surface. No one, and nothing occupies a pedestal in my life, all have a fallibility. Yet illogically Arsenal is somehow different. I would agree with a reasoned argument that it is irrational but know too the emotional ties are real. This sense of unconditional love is bizarre, but it exists, and thank goodness so too does the Arsenal. Thanks Stephen, in Arsenal you picked the winning horse, for confirmation just ask westlower.

  43. Tony Evans

    Jan 27, 2014, 12:24 #44720

    Supported since 1970. First game I went to was not until 1973 though - a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Liverpool, and I still have my grainy photo of Geordie Armstrong taking a corner at the Clock End. As Ron said the result is immaterial, I was hooked and have been ever since.

  44. Yanni

    Jan 27, 2014, 11:48 #44717

    I "met" Arsenal at my 1rst visit in England back in 1996 at the age of 13. A young football player my self (in Ergotelis here in Iraklio, Greece) I was there when we signed Bergkamp, Platt, Wright so I had this dream of becoming the first Greek player of Arsenal. My dream didn't came true, but since that day I became a very devoded fan of the club. I've been to all Arsenal's visits in Greece (1997 vs. PAOK, and then with Panathinaikos in Athens and Olympiacos 3 times) and now I'm planning my fisrt trip to England to visit the Emirates!

  45. Ron

    Jan 27, 2014, 11:42 #44715

    Dad drove a coach taking me and fans to Aston Villa in 1963. We led, we lost,some Villa kid even nicked my 'rosette' too, we were rubbish really (typical 60s story!) and Tony Hateley playing for an even worse Villa team seen us off! Hooked and in love. Still got the prog. Never forget that game. Many ups, many downs since. Rock on the Gunners!

  46. John Gooner

    Jan 27, 2014, 11:41 #44714

    Arsenal are my first love, and that is what I tell all GF's who complain that spend too much time watching them. As a child of the 90's it's a miracle that I left that decade wearing anything but a Man U shirt with Giggs on the back, but thanks to the guidance of my old man I emerged as an alienated but very satisfied Gooner. I'm not sure that anything in my life has surpassed the joy of watching Bobby Pires, Dennis Bergkamp and Thierry Henry tear teams apart with pure style and swagger.

  47. Westlower

    Jan 27, 2014, 11:12 #44712

    My earliest memories were a coloured photo of Denis Evans tacking Stanley Matthews in Charlie Buchan's football annual in the mid 50's. The backdrop of the East & West stands looked so classy. My unconditional love was born. Any 'normal' kid would have supported the team that Matthews played for. I enjoyed being the only kid a t school that supported Arsenal, it taught me to be relaxed about swimming against the tide. So many hero's from Derek Tapscott, Tommy Docherty, Joe Haverty, Jack Kelsey, Baker & Eastham, Radford & Kennedy, Charlie George, Armstrong, McLintock, Sammels, Storey, Adams, Petit & Vieira, Bergkamp & Henry. In fact any player wearing an Arsenal shirt. Unconditional love ongoing!

  48. Double98

    Jan 27, 2014, 10:36 #44710

    Difference - as a dubliner it was a choice between Man u and Liverpool. I chose the harder (more rewarding path) of following the Arsenal. It was the 1979 FA Cup final and everyone i knew was up for Man Utd. I picked the little yellow fellows who were predominately irish and managed by an irish man. The rest is a love story, scrap books full of cuttings, match reports. Shoot magazine, Match Magazine posters on my walls. nothing for 7 years and then George Graham.... littlewoods cup final beating liverpool, losing the next year then Anfield 89 - which was as life affirming as it was defining.. As i get older and more sophisticated so does the club then BERGKAMP signs then WENGER then the rise and fall of Arsene and now the rise again.

  49. Nidhin

    Jan 27, 2014, 9:36 #44707

    Its my soul, my life and most importantly i find happiness in Arsenal. Proud to be a gooner for life especially when i come from Cricket frenzied nation with a billion supporting the game.

  50. Reggie

    Jan 27, 2014, 9:32 #44706

    I met my fourth wife at an Arsenal game 10 years ago, even though she isn't as slim as she used to be she's still the apple of my eye. It also happens to be her birthday today so 'Happy Birthday Porky'.