This is what Dave Seager said in this interview with me a few months ago when asked what he would like to say to younger fans for whom George “Geordie” Armstrong is only a name, maybe not even that. Born in 1989, I only started watching football (and consequently supporting Arsenal) from 2002-03 and the only football world that I know is the one of the Premier League, vastly different from what came before. Morever being born and brought up in Mumbai, I was also far-removed from the culture where this knowledge and history is passed down through family, through the generations. Which is why I remain eternally grateful to all the books I have been able to read and some of the lovely people I have met on Twitter who have first-hand experiences about a time completely unknown to me.
Dave falls into both the above categories and I couldn´t be happier that the Armstrong family approached him to write this fitting tribute to a true Arsenal legend. With a very different format than that of a traditional biography, Dave has opted to use interviews with Armstrong’s former teammates (Frank McLintock, Bob Wilson, John Radford, Ray Kennedy, Eddie Kelly, Pat Rice among many others), coaches, opposition players, players he coached, friends, journalists of that time, even fans as well as all the stories, memories, letters collected by his daughter Jill soon after her father’s passing in 2000. The language is simple but involved and wisely lets the content speak for itself – in turn perfectly encapsulating the man honoured and remembered. (Some great photos too from the family´s collection)