Soteris Charalambous
Ed’s note – this piece was intended for inclusion in our ‘Au Revoir Arsène’ special edition of The Gooner, but we simply ran out of space. So it seems an appropriate day to publish it online…
From my new home in Cyprus, a trip to Greece (a one hour flight) to see Arsenal take on Panathinaikos in Athens (October 20th, 2004) was the best chance of seeing the newly crowned ‘Invincibles’ in action. My wife chose the hotel, The Intercontinental, and joined me for the four-day break.
I was carrying a sense of unfinished business about the Champions League. The loss at home to Chelsea the previous season was a far bigger thorn in my side than the defeat to United in the FA Cup semis. I was sure this team was good enough to win the Big Eared cup, and that season I felt we could do what we should have done the in 2003/04. After all we had some of the finest players in the world and the best manager in the world.
We’d arrived the night before the match and had booked a dinner reservation at the hotel’s roof-top restaurant. When we checked-in the hotel reception told us they could no longer accommodate us in their restaurant as it had been fully booked.
We found it a little strange but shrugged it off and headed into the mid-Athens evening for a late supper. It wasn’t until afterwards that we discovered that the Arsenal team and touring party had block-booked the place.
The next morning at breakfast neither of us was particularly hungry but as it was thrown in with the room deal it seemed a waste not to. As I browsed the newspaper my wife said: “I think that’s Arsène Wenger.”
I didn’t really believe Arsène was at the hotel, just someone who might have looked like him, so I didn’t make too much of an effort to see who she was referring to.
“I’m sure it’s him you know,” she insisted.
This time I put the newspaper down and turned 180 degrees to see who it was that looked so much like the Frenchman.
I couldn’t believe my eyes. It was him, quite literally in the flesh. He’d come down to do a few laps of the swimming pool. I knew I couldn’t pass up this opportunity, so I made my way over.
I waited at the end he was swimming to and meekly said: “Hello Mr Wenger, I’m a big Arsenal fan.”
He got out of the pool wrapped a towel around himself and sat on the lower diving board.
I explained to him that I was over from Cyprus to see the game. At first, my clearly defined British accent and undeniable Mediterranean roots puzzled him. I gave him a brief history of my life as an Arsenal fan and former season ticket holder and how I’d ended up in Cyprus.
He was visibly more at ease to speak about himself after that, so I asked about the rumours linking him to Real Madrid.
“I’m very happy at the moment, I have everything I want at Arsenal,” he shrugged.
I asked about our chances for a trophy this season and if the Champions League was the main target.
“We will try to win it, we have a good chance. But there are some good teams.”
Surely, we’d have beaten Monaco and Porto I suggest to him, in reference to last season.
I got the impression he wanted to say more than “That’s football” and the half-smile he offered but that’s all he’d comment until adding: “Our focus is on trying to win the group now.”
I was confident that we’d pick up three points against the Greek champions, but Arsène was cautious.
