With a new stadium to move into a few months, along with the more pressing matter of a Champions League semi-final the following week, on this day in 2006, for Arsenal the future was bright. The future was orange.

Why? 

The club’s Premier League match against West Brom at Highbury was designated Dennis Bergkamp Day, with supporters asked to wear the colour of the Oranje, Holland’s national team which he graced for more than a decade, and in homage of the Dutch master himself. Arsenal also handed out free t-shirts bearing the message DB10.

It was the club’s final season at grand old Highbury and every matchday of that final salute had been designated with a matchday theme intended to pay tribute to the wonderful stadium which had been home to the Gunners since 1913.

Supporters had called on the north London giants to highlight the special contribution Bergkamp had made during the 11 years he spent in N5 – and with the powers-that-be agreeing, he duly had his career marked with a special day.

Dennis Bergkamp Day, April 15, 2006

In a series of gilded nods to the Dutchman’s artful contribution to Arsenal history, the club made a pre-match presentation to him while his teammates warmed-up in orange bibs. There was also a party of Ajax fans invited to attend the match, dressed head-to-toe in orange, while a party of Junior Gunners decorated Bergkamp’s executive box for his family - along with various Dennis-related prizes on offer and a glorious litany of his highlights on a loop on the big screens.

And then, proving there is absolutely no sentiment in football, Wenger promptly confirmed the Dutchman would start the game against the Baggies on the bench as a substitute.

Stillness and Speed

In his superb autobiography Stillness and Speed, written by David Winner, Bergkamp recalled his final years at Arsenal when Wenger regularly left him out of the starting XI as tensions rose between the pair.

"The club were searching to find the next step. They thought: 'We've had this great team but Dennis is coming to a certain age and Thierry [Henry] is becoming the main man because when everything goes through one player, you're vulnerable'. So they had a problem.

"And at that time a lot of the old English players had left and I wasn't young enough to guide the new players so they thought I'd have a big influence, of course, in the dressing room. But they were worried how I would react to playing less!

"And of course I'm too proud to just say: 'Well, let me just play 20 games, I'll be happy with that.' I can't do that! So that was the clash. I wanted to play every game, of course. And if I didn't play I was angry with [Wenger] until I played and then it was OK. Sometimes we really fell out with each other.

"He used statistics on me and one time I said to him: 'Where in your statistics does it say that I changed the game with a killer pass?' And he'd say: 'You run less in the last 30 minutes and you're more at risk of getting injured, and your pace is dropping.' That was his thing. 'You're dropping pace.' Which I was. No problem. 'But then again I'm the one who can make a difference for you, so...' and sometimes we fell out about that and he [Wenger] would say: 'You think only of yourself.' So I was the bad one!"

Arsenal vs West Brom

Amid the fanfare it was no surprise Arsenal had drifted listlessly to a 1-1 scoreline with only 18 minutes remaining after West Brom’s Nigel Quashie capitalised on an Emmanuel Eboue mistake to equalise an Alexander Hleb* [see note on Hleb at the bottom of this article] effort moments before half-time, a draw which would seriously damage their hopes of a top four finish and deny them the promised land – and riches – of the Champions League only months before they were to enter the Emirates era.

However, cometh the hour cometh the man. Immediately after the Baggies leveller, Wenger withdrew the misfiring Robin Van Persie – to be replaced by his fellow Dutchman to the loudest cheers of the day.

As Bergkamp recalled of that period in Stillness and Speed, Wenger would say to him: 'Do you still want to come to the game? Do you want to be on the bench?' And he'd leave the decision to me. I don't know what he was thinking. Was it like 'I'd rather not have you there' or 'I've got so much respect for you?' Of course I knew when I was 35 or 36 that I couldn't play every game. But within yourself you think you can."

Respect and admiration for Bergkamp

From my season ticket seat in the Clock End that day, it appeared the roar of appreciation that rang around Highbury upon the realisation Bergkamp was to be invited to his own party, was as warm and joyful as it was packed with respect and admiration. 

Bergkamp, as he so often did, instinctively understood the importance of the moment – for Arsenal’s Champions League hopes far more than for himself – and was determined not to let anyone down. He certainly didn’t in the moments that were to follow.

Only 240 seconds after stepping onto the Highbury turf to a reception fit for a hero, the Dutch master set up Robert Pires' goal to make it 2-1 to the Gunners, as the crowd – awash in a blaze of orange - thundered their appreciation.

Of course, the incomparable Bergkamp was not finished. How could he not round off his Highbury dedication without a goal of his own?

And so it came in the final minute when he combined with Pires to fire past Tomasz Kuszczak to cap a 3-1 victory.

Wenger praises Bergkamp

Speaking after the match Wenger said: "He never loses the class and after 10 fantastic years he proves that he can still play.

"It would have been sad not to have brought him on and I felt we were looking for his quality to create the opportunities we needed at the end.”

Quite simply it was a wonderful afternoon that would live long in the memory. No wonder the future was orange on that remarkable day.

As a banner read at Highbury: ‘Bergkamp doesn’t fly – he walks on water.’

Arsenal vs West Brom line-ups

Arsenal: Lehmann, Eboue, Toure, Senderos, Flamini, Hleb (Pires 71), Silva, Diaby, Reyes, Henry (Adebayor 62), Van Persie (Bergkamp 72). 
Subs Not Used: Poom, Djourou.

Booked: Toure, Reyes.

Goals: Hleb 44, Pires 76, Bergkamp 89.

West Brom: Kuszczak, Albrechtsen, Curtis Davies, Clement, Robinson, Greening, Wallwork (Carter 79), Quashie, Gera (Inamoto 63), Kamara, Kanu (Campbell 59). 
Subs Not Used: Hoult, Watson.

Booked: Quashie.

Goals: Quashie 72.

Att: 38,167                                                              

Ref: M Dean (Wirral)

.....

Note on Hleb (*Incidentally, Hleb was another player who admitted his career was never the same after departing the club – joining a raft of other players who left Arsenal because either their head was turned with more money, or they simply couldn’t be bothered to stay, and lead the club in the Emirates era once Wenger decided to break up the Invincibles squad far too early and concentrate on his doomed youth project.)

PS Just out of interest, hands up who still has their Dennis Bergkamp t-shirt from Arsenal? Along with the ones from the Wigan game, Bergkamp's testimonial at the Emirates and Wenger’s final home game…?