Misty Water Coloured Memories
Oct 10th, 2008 by 'holic
I was set a challenge by Snail to list briefly the ten most memorable Arsenal games of my time following the Gunners. Doddle, I thought. I was wrong. It’s no different to being asked your favourite Arsenal side of all time and realising you have more candidates that cannot be excluded than places available.
So in what seems like reverse order I thought the top ten should include a memorable disaster. The names race through the brain. Peterborough, York, Walsall, Wrexham, ugh! No, it has to be Swindon, Wembley 1969, the first Final I got a ticket for as we were moving the year before when we had reached the League Cup Final and lost to Leeds. Can you imagine what it was like for a twelve year old going back to school on the Monday after your team have been beaten 3-1 by a Third Division side at Wembley?
Better cheer you up at nine! Christmas 1979, White Hart Lane, the Spurs of Hoddle and Ardiles are completely and utterly humiliated 5-0, and I still look at Liam Brady’s goal every week, honestly! I can still remember near the end looking at a ground that was three-quarters empty. Lovely.
At eight it has to be Everton at home in 1998. Never mind four goals, I can still remember the tears flooding out when Bouldy put Tony Adams through for that goal. Enough said.
Number seven, and it’s back to Wembley for the first Double-winning game. Liverpool took the lead at Wembley in 1971 just five days after we had lifted the title at the Lane. Eddie Kelly and Charlie George swung it our way. Rarely has any game since prompted such extremes of despair and elation in just a couple of hours.
Another ordinary League game at six. In 1968 Manchester United came to Highbury on Boxing Day as the first ever English Champions of Europe. Law, Best, Charlton et al left with their arses handed to them on a plate. A hat-trick of headers gave us a 3-0 win and that game saw the birth of the ‘Jingle Bells’ song, ‘Oh what fun it is to see United lose away’.
Into the top half and nobody who was at the 1979 Cup Final win over Manchester United will ever forget it. I used to go with the same bloke every week, huge bugger he was, and when they got back to 2-2 at the death he was sat on the terrace in bits when Alan Sunderland grabbed the winner. A never to be forgotten moment.
Close to the top has to be a week in Copenhagen in 1994. A Brazilian airline flew there and the fare was only a hundred quid if you stopped a week. We took the city over and beating the holders and hot favourites, Parma, with an injury-ravaged side was amazing. I still don’t know what happened to the Thursday of that week!
Top three would kick off with the winning of the title at White Hart Lane in 1971. I nearly missed it. Astonishingly it was not all-ticket and to make sure of getting in the old man and I were there at four in the afternoon. At seven we finally reached the turnstile, only for the gates to be locked in front of us. Heartbroken we strolled back round the ground in the hope of finding a pub with a radio and a gate to the Shelf was still open. Amazingly we got in and estimates of the number locked out were from fifty to over one hundred thousand!
Penultimate memory would have to be Anfield 89. The beauty of the anniversary is that a lot of people are getting to see at least the highlights of that night all over again. You can never say never, they reckon, but I would be very surprised if we ever saw the title claimed with virtually the last kick of the season, in a match between the two contenders, again in my lifetime.
Number one would probably be The Fairs Cup Final win over Anderlecht in 1970. Although I hadn’t been alive for all of them, the club had not won anything for seventeen years, and this was probably the most amazing atmosphere I ever experienced at Highbury. The grainy images that remain of that night do not do it justice.
So that’s my ten Mr Snail. I’ll probably come back to them all with a fuller description in time. That could well be a series for the next close season. I hope I haven’t put you all to sleep.
Have a great weekend all.
28 Responses to “Misty Water Coloured Memories”
Top stuff and great memories, unfortunatly in my top ten I would also add FA Cup semi final against Man Utd, Bergkamp missed penalty, Giggs unchallenged winner. Amzing day of tension and despare!
That made for really interesting reading, you really have been there and done it all.
Alas in my time as an Arsenal supporter I have not made it to anywhere near as many matches, but I do hope that by continuing my membership with the supporters club I will be able to change all that.
Every game I have been to has been magical and has touched me in some way. To have been present at some of the matches you have described must have been life-changing.
Quality reports ‘holic. Thanks for all that effort. Some far deeper stories there I don’t doubt. I guess I owe you at least a real pint one of these days.
I agree LondonGooner, that hideous yeti-ridden semi-final replay, which I cannot seem to shake from my head, hangs around like a bad smell. I also especially remember my first ever match, when we won 1-0 against Southampton at Highbury, Brady with the only goal.
But the top game for me was the 79 Final, when I puked when they equalised, and couldn’t face watching the remainder, choosing to cry in the bathroom instead. I had watched it over the road at a friend’s house on their new colour TV. I thought someone was winding me up when they said we’d actually won. What a sad child I was. I even thought the cups were far more important than the league… I suppose I could have turned out a spud with that thinking! *shivvers*
great read holic!!! didnt think it was possible, but you made my desire to see the arsenal do their thing live, even greater! a bit tough to get to the game from the southern tip of africa…
heres to getting there one day!
Damn this internanationals!!!!!
I saw my first game at Highbury in the year you were born, 1957. After that it was 13 long years without winning a thing. I was at Wembley in 1968 and 1969 for the League Cup Final defeats against Leeds and Swindon, so when, in 1970, we were 3-1 down to Anderlecht after the first leg of the Fairs Cup Final I went along to the second leg without a great deal of hope. What a night! They say you never forget your first time and the feeling of relief and sheer joy when we won 3-0 to lift the first trophy I’d ever seen Arsenal win was ORGASMIC!
Thanks ‘holic. Reading some of them, it felt like I was there too. Super post.
pint
A great list `holic.Cant really add to much to it but I must mention the away cup tie against Manchester City in our first double year.
City were a top team and had some great players(Bell,Summerbee,Neil Young,beore he joined the Buffalo Springfield.)
The game was played in a deluge.Charlie scored two goals the second running from the half way line and slipping the ball past giant City keeper Joe Corrigan.I knew then we were going to win the cup.
What a player Charlie George was ,still probably my favourite Arsenal player.(sorry Dennis and Thiery.)
`holic that was a magic season,I still tingle thinking about it.
Apologies for the ramblings of an old git.
beer
@South African Gooner
100% agree…. All I can do is watch from afar 🙁
Wow ‘holic, I can only envy you having enough memories to place the Everton game at number 8!
Look at the posts above herts. There are so many games that didn’t get in. Juve away in the 1980 Cup-Winners Cup semi-final? Any games at Cardiff, a ground and day out I loved? Winning the league at Old Trafford? Turning over Liverpool at Wembley after Rush scored first? FA Cup replay at Forest in 79? The semi-finals against Liverpool that finally ended at Coventry, what a night? Four goals in Leipzig, seven in Liege, winning in the Bernabeau and the San Siro twice? Thirteen minutes from being Champions of Europe? Wrighty? Henry? Bergkamp? Pires?
How can anybody settle on just ten?
Shit, sorry, my post wasnt meant to sound sarcastic, but I can see how that came across. I wasnt questioning the judgement, just saying how fantastic it is to have had that wealth of memories of amazing days out.
Being a young ‘un, the last day at highbury was pretty special for me
No, I didn’t think you were mate, and a great point about the last day at Highbury. That was so emotional for us old buggers. I did a few words about it here, http://goonerholic.com/?p=94. I could, and maybe will one day, write so much more about the place and the day.
In fact that really should have been in the ten, but what do I leave out?
Buggered if I know 😉
Just make it a top 11!
*Hides freshly looted contents of The Arses in the Drinks Storeroom*
You ain’t seen nufink, right?
*Flashes ‘Blade’*
Mwahhaha
*Scuttles off*
Top shout. Very interesting to read. I agree with a lot of the comments. There are so many magical memories. It almost becomes a, and what about this game? And this one? etc etc…. The list is endless.
Back to the vin rouge……..
A great read ‘holic, fantastic memories. Thanks.
I was 14 in May 1979 and had to watch the cup final at home with my Man Utd supporting older brother. We ended up in a fight over a disagreement about the legality of a manc challenge and I remember not caring about my black-eye as I danced in the street outside after the final whistle.
Happy days.
Excellent write up ‘holic.
Is the bar open yet?
I go to one game the ECL final. I get ticket from Iceland Supporters club. I only go to the big game
nelly, get the hell out of here. Are you on a mission to break every blog around?
Cheers ‘Holic, top write-up! Toast!
Yeah, fuck off nelly.
Hmmm, interesting. I wasn’t sure if profanity was tolerated in The Drinks.
Speaking of which, I’m gasping here. Anychance of a long, cool lager?
It is allowed against the person who broke the interweb.
Should have popped in earlier really.
I think water or fruit juice is the only thing the doctor would recommend right now.
Happy just to pop by anyway.
Now I will read the blog.
And a few of the previous ones, but bear with me, I’m not sure I am up for catching up with all these weeks.
Cheers.
Snail gets a mention?
Jesus Christ.
Brilliant stuff ‘holic…loved the article. Love hearing about these. Keep it up mate. Cheers