Charlie Ashmore
(Ed’s note – A special six page feature in the new issue of The Gooner, which will be available at the Stoke match on Sunday and online later today, is based on memorable Thierry Henry Arsenal goals. We asked our contributors to submit their memories of a particular strike. We had more than one submission for a particular goal against Leeds United in the FA Cup in 2012, so reproduced below is one by Charlie Ashmore which we held back for the website as a trailer for the new issue. The Gooner costs £2.50, is available from street sellers on your approach to the stadium and relies on your continued support to continue going. For those that missed the Christmas period issue with a free ‘Art of Arsenal’ 2015 calendar inserted, they will have copies of that one too).
Arsenal 1 Leeds 0 - 11th January 2012
How many of us supporters have ever dreamed of scoring the winning goal for our club? How many of us have ever come close to doing so? I suspect for every club the gap between those two answers matches is almost exactly the total number of supporters that club has. But who can doubt that on 11th January 2012 that is exactly what happened.
The career of Thierry Henry is astonishing by any standards. He will forever be remembered as one of the greats and in Arsenal terms I doubt he would ever be missing from a top three players of all time list. The memories he left us with when he went to Barcelona were many - the backheeled goal vs Charlton; the slalom vs Liverpool at a time of need; the dribble from inside our half against Spurs: Real Madrid (a); the turn and volley against United.... the list goes on and on. The credit column is lengthy. The debit column is short and probably extends not much further than Paris 2006 and the missed chance to go 2-0 up, though even that debit is mitigated by the clear and genuinely heartfelt regret that the man himself feels at that rare failure.
And so when in January 2012 he re-signed on temporary loan, the pleasure at one of our own returning was clear on both his part and the part of us supporters, even if there was a touch of concern at the possibility of it being a gimmick potentially tarnishing our memories of what had gone before.
How wrong could such doubts possibly be? Leeds United at home in the Cup. 0-0. No sign of a goal. TH14 starts warming up and the stadium erupts. TH14 strips to come on and the stadium all but explodes. And then... the moment. That wonderful, ridiculous, unbelievable moment when Alex Song played a ball of impeccable precision through to a marginally onside TH14, poised in that familiar position of attacking the goal from the left. One touch to put the ball where he needed it and then, in a manner so completely and utterly familiar, the right boot stroked the ball into the far corner of the goal as it had done many many times before. Pandemonium ensued on and off the pitch.
The Emirates stadium finally had one of "those" moments - the sort many grandchildren are going to be regaled with tales of in years to come.
Even now when I watch that goal and the reaction afterwards, it raises the hairs on the back of my neck. Like so many of his highlights before it, I was privileged to see it in the flesh. Nobody who was there will ever forget it. And what made it so bloody wonderful was that we all recognised the truth when he said that all the goals he scored for us before that were as a player... but that goal he scored as a fan.
Issue 248 of The Gooner will be available to buy from The Gooner Shop from tomorrow (Saturday) if you cannot make the home matches against Stoke, Villa or Leicester to buy it in person.
DIGITAL ISSUES
The Gooner is also available in digital form, through The Gooner App on iPhones and iPads, the Exactly App for Android devices and now Kindle Fire owners can also get their fix by searching the Amazon App Store for The Gooner. Issue 248 will be available to buy in this format later today (Friday).
You can also subscribe at www.exacteditions.com and read it through your internet browser as well as receiving a code which will enable you to access issues on all the above devices.
All digital subscriptions include access to our digital back issue library which dates back to August 2010.
