On October 18, 2014, I stood in line at the Tollington with a hardcover clutched in my hand. It was a few hours before Arsenal played Hull City and the pub was already vibrating with match-day excitement. I hadn’t seen us play live since February 2012, but that anticipation was temporarily relegated to the back of my ribs. I was about to meet three Arsenal gentlemen of the “71 variety” as my friend Dave Seager later captioned it. The photo with Frank McLintock, Eddie Kelly and John Radford now hangs on my Arsenal wall.
It was Dave’s debut book release that I’d flown over for, from Spain (where I’d just moved for work), with the bonuses of getting in a match, being able to catch up with Gooner friends, and spend time in a beloved city. Geordie Armstrong on the Wing remains a labour of love, even seven years on, but on that day, yet to read the book, I was just proud of my friend, proud of the legacy of my club, privileged to witness both. That day, I walked out of the Tolly having met club legends, with a book that would make me miss a person I’d never know, with an introduction to Geordie’s daughter that has since turned into a lovely friendship, and carrying a desire to continue learning as much as I could about this most beautiful of games, but especially about this club I call home.
I wasn’t to know then the tempestuous times to come for the club.
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Years and years before, on a Saturday in early May, the old Wembley was packed with 100,000 Arsenal and Liverpool fans. Just five days before, we had prevailed in a tense 1-0 win at White Hart Lane to secure the league. Tottenham were already Double holders from a decade prior, only the second team to do so after Preston North End, and had hence been keen to do everything in their power to stop us.