I’ve been an Arsenal fan since 1979, when I went to my first game, a 1-1 draw with Southampton at Highbury. Following the trauma of the 1980 FA Cup Final, the aftermath of which found me to be the only Gooner in a primary school full of West Ham fans, I fell out of love with the beautiful game for a couple of years before resuming life at Highbury in the early 80’s – I’ve not looked back since. My all-time favourite Arsenal player is Thierry Henry: he is simply the most gifted footballer I have ever seen at the club. My favourite game at Highbury was probably the Champion League semi-final with Villareal, as much for the sense of occasion and history as the result. There really hasn’t been anything at the Emirates to compare as yet, although hopefully we won’t have to wait too long.
I came to Arsenal via the generation game. My father had been to Highbury in the late 1920's when Herbert Chapman was preparing to launch his mighty champions. I attended my first match in 1951 and recall that it was the heroic 10 man defeat against Newcastle Utd at Wembley the following year that sealed my life long commitment to The Gunners. Highlights included the last Busby Babes match in 1958, the win at Tottenham in 1971, Michael Thomas's winner against Liverpool in 1989 and Wenger's first Double in 1998. The biggest single moment of victory was 3-0 against Anderlecht in 1970 – Kelly, Radford and Sammels ended seventeen years in the wilderness.
