the official illustrated history

1886-2009

Ds Megatron
 First published in 2009
by Decepticons Limited
DsDecepticons
M78 Galaxy
Cybertron
TNT2 MK2

Copyrights© Ds Megatron, 2009

The moral rights of the authors have been asserted

ISBN 0 984021 6698

CONTENTS
Introduction 1

Chapter One – A Brief History 1

Arsenal Football Club–A Brief History 2
The History of Arsenal’s Crest 4

Chapter Two – The Gunner’s Stadium 5

Highbury Histroy 6
Emirates Stadium 7
Club Kit Design 9
First–Team Squad Pictures 10

Chapter Three – Arsenal Team Member 12

The Introduction Of The Players Present & Previous 13
Coaching Staff 49
Tranining Centre & Teenage Cancer Trust 58
Arsenal Academy & Arsenal Ladies 64
Junior Gunners & Arsenal In The Academy 68

Chapter Four – Preview 71

Club Honours 72
Arsenal Publication 79
The Arsenal Membership 83
Directory Contact Centre 92
 INTRODUCATION
The book you are reading is a large and complex object. The book
introduce the magnificent 122 years history of Arsenal Football Clubs.
It included the many champion, the honor, the famous players and
the historical events.

This history charts Arsenal’s story from its inception in 1886 right
up to the dramatic 2007/08 season. It details how Dial Square became
Woolwich Arsenal, the move to Highbury, Herbert Chapman’s
inspirational leadership, the famous Double of 1971, the exciting title
race of 1989, the second Double of 1998, the unbeaten season of 2003/04
and the move to their current home ——Emirates Stadium.

At present, Every Arsenal fan will find something to cheer about in

this book. For Arsenal, 2007 promises to be yet another monumental
year, with the move to Emirates Stadium completed, the Gunners
going well in the Champions League, chasing down Manchester
United and Chelsea in the Premiership and reaching the last four of
the Carling Cup. In addition to events off the field with new signings
and old friends departing, the 2007-08 seasons is certain be full of
excitement and interest. In addition to a review of 2006-07, there are
player profiles and interviews, reviews, reports, fun, games, puzzles;
in fact all a Junior Gunner could ever want in the book!

So, this book gives you the complete picture of how the Arsenal came
to be North London’s most successful and fascinating side.
CHAPTER ONE

Arsenal Football Club

A Brief History

1
 arsenal–A Brief Hisroty
From Foundation to the
First World War
Arsenal Football Club began life when
a group of workers at the Woolwich
Arsenal Armament Factory decided to
form a football team in late 1886. The Club
played under the name of Dial Square.
Their first match was a 6-0 victory over
Eastern Wanderers, on December 11, 1886.
The next season and another first was
realised – the League and FA Clop
‘double’.
Later in the decade. Terry Neill took
Arsenal to three consecutive FA Cup Finals,
dramatically winning the 1979 game 3–2
against Manchester United. The Gunners
also reached the 1980 Cup Winners’ Cup
THE Graham's Glory
Years
the pitch. Defensively, Arsenal were
second to none and Graham set about
building a back four that would serve the
Gunners for over a decade, with young
captain Tony Adams its centrepiece.
Further up the field, the likes of David
Rocastle, Paul Merson and Alan Smith
provided the Gunners’ attacking threat.
In his third season in charge, Graham
would oversee perhaps the most dramatic
title triumph in League history on the final

Chapman and the

Glorious 30s
Herbert Chapman
joined Arsenal in
1925 and just five
years later the
Club won their
first major trophy
the FA Cup.
The following
season Arsenal
were league champions for the first time,
Chapman added another title in 1932/33
and was on his way to securing another
campaign triumph in 1933/34 before
succumbing to serious illness mid•way
through the season, but not before he had
achieved legendary status.
George Allison continued what Chapman
had started and the Club went on to win a
further two league titles and an FA Cup in
what is, so far, the most successful decade
Post-War
In 1947, Tom Whittaker became manager
and more success followed. Arsenal were
Champions in 1947/48 and 1952/53; FA
Cup winners in 1950 and Cup runners–up
in 1952. In 1966 Bertie Mee was appointed
as manager and just four years later helped
achieve a first for the Club – a European
trophy – thanks to victory over anderlecht.
In May of their centenary year, Arsenal day of the 1988/89 season, with extra-special
named former player George Graham as the thanks to Smith and Michael Thomas.
man to succeed Don Howe, who had asked
to be released from his Highbury contract. The Club’s first Division One triumph for 18
years was expected to usher in a new period
The Scotsman’s arrival drew a line under of Arsenal dominance in English football,
a fallow few years in the early 1980s under but that wasn’t quite the case. The following
Terry Neil and later Howe. After winning season was blemished by inconsistency
the FA Cup in 1979 and losing out on and a disappointing fourth-place finish
penalties in the 1980 Cup Winners’ Cup was all Graham’s men could muster.
Final, Arsenal lost some of their most
established stars at the beginning of the Reinforcements were needed and Swedish
decade. Liam Brady, who had been named midfielder Anders Limpar and a Queens Park
Player of the Year three times running, Rangers goalkeeper by the name of David
signed for Juventus while Frank Stapleton Seaman were brought in with immediate
moved on to Manchester United. The two effect. Despite a two-point deduction for a
departures embodied the passing of an era. mass brawl in a 1-0 win against Manchester
United, and an eight-week prison sentence
Graham was installed as Arsenal manager for Adams, Arsenal romped to the Division
after a successful spell at Third Division One crown, losing only once along the way.
Millwall. Within a year he had delivered
the Club’s first silverware since the FA However, once again Arsenal were unable
Cup in 1979. Despite going a goal down to build on their league success and a fourth-
to the mighty Liverpool, Graham’s young place finish followed once again in 1992. The
side won 2-1 to claim Arsenal’s first League league title continued to evade the Club in
Cup. They reached the Final the following the following seasons but Arsenal would
year too, but were denied by Luton Town. emerge as a highly-efficient knock-out team.

Graham’s reign was notable for the strict

discipline put in place both on and off

2

THE ARSÈNE WENGER ERA
In 1997/98, Wenger's first full season at
Highbury.
Arsenal achieved, for the second time in
the Club's history, the League and FA Cup
'double' enabling the Frenchman to pick up
the Carling Manager of the Year Award.
Dennis Bergkamp was also named Football
Writers' Association (FWA) Player of the
Year and PFA Player of the Year.
Three consecutive league runners–up
positions followed Jnd in 2000 Arsenal
appeared in the UEFA Cup Final where
they lost on penalties to Galatasaray.
2001/02 saw a reversal of fortunes, however,
as the Club recorded their third 'double' by
beating Chelsea in the FA Cup and ending
their league campaign with a memorable
1-0 win over Manchester United at Old
Trafford, Arsenal remained unbeaten at
home for the whole season, and Mel'll"
Wenger was named Barclaycard Manager
of the Year while Robert Pires was named
arsenal–A Brief Hisroty
Football Writers'Association Player of the
Year.
The following season Arsenal narrowly
missed out on retaining the title, but the
Gunners did relain the FA Cup with their
1-0 victory over Southampton in Cardiff,
Thierry Henry was voted Player of the
season by both the PFA and the Football
Writers' Association in a term that saw
him join Dennis Bergkamp in the hallowed
'100 club’, havmg scored a century of goals
for Arsenal.
Season 2003/2004 saw Arsenal win back the
title in unbeatable fashion, going through
the entire league season without a single
defeat. Finishing 11 points ahead of second-
place Chelsea, Arsenal eased to their l3th
league title win. Spanish teenager Cesc
Fabregas arrived in January and proceeded
to break the record for the youngest Arsenal
appearance,aged 16 years and 177 days.
The unbeaten league run continued into
the following season and, in August 2004,
Arsenal overtook Nottingham Forest's
record for the longest all-time unbeaten
3
sequence in English league football, The
Gunners made it five lrophies in four
seasons by winning the FA Cup in a penalty
shootout against Manchester United.
The 2005/06 campaign was the Club's
last atHighbury and the Final Salute
celebrations proved a fitting goodbye to its
home of 93 years. fourth place in the league
–and Champions League football was
secured on the last day of the season with a
4-2 win over Wigan Athletic. Arsenal's all-
time record at Highbury reads as follows:
Played 2,010; Won 1,196; Drawn 475; lost
339; Goals Scored 4.038.
The highlight of the season was the Club's
amazing journey to the 2005/06 Champions
League Final inParis. A 12-game unbeaten
run, including a competition record for
the most consecutive dean sheets (len),
saw Arsenal face Barcelona in the Final
on May. 17 at the Stade de France, Despite
having Jens Lehmann sent off, the Gunners
scored first through Sol Campbell before
the Spaniards scored two late goals to break
the hearts of the Arsenal support.
 Arsenal’s Club Crest History
IN 1888,JUST TWO YEARS
AFTER THE FORMATION
OF THE CLUB, ARSENAL,
WHO WERE THEN CALLED
ROYAL ARSENAL, ADOPTED
ITS FIRST CREST (1).
This was
b a s e d
largely on
the coat of
arms of the
Borough of
Woolwich.
The Club was based in the Borough
from its formation until 1913, playing at
Plumstead Common; Sportsman Ground;
Manor Ground; Invicta Ground and the
Manor Ground again before heading
across London to Highbury, Islington.
The original badge comprised three
columns, which, although they look like
chimneys, are in actual fact cannons. The
significance of the cannons to the Borough
of Woolwich derives from the long
military history surrounding the area.
The cannons on the original crest were
obviously a reference to the military
influence in Woolwich and despite the
Club's ties with the area being cut 89 years
ago, the cannon theme has developed
throughout the years and has remained
prominent on the Gunners different
crests down the years. Shirts remained
plain, unless commemorating a significant
match, an FA Cup Final for example, and
the crest was generally reserved for official
headed stationary, matchday programmes
and handbooks.
Following Arsenal's move north to
Highbury in 1913, it wasn't immediately
apparent that the Club would embrace
the Woolwich Arsenal legacy and keep
the cannon as a recognisable motif. The
Club soon became just 'Arsenal', the Great
War affected football for four seasons and
recommencing in 1919/20 ‘normal’ football
took some time to settle. During all of
this period there was no sign of a crest as to this. In the final matchday programme
such but, in the first matchday programme of the 1947/48 League Championship
of the 1922/23 season, when the Gunners winning season, 'Marksman' (aka Harry
played Burnley, a new club crest (2) was Homer), the programme editor of the day,
revealed - a fearsome looking cannon, wrote:
that would have sat proudly in the Royal "...my mind seeks
Arsenal of Woolwich. an apt quotation
with which to close
As can be seen the vertical cannons have this season which
gone with the new design featuring a has been such a
single eastward pointing cannon. Whoever glorious one for
designed this robust looking weapon saw Tom Whittaker,
his handiwork used by the Club for just Joe Mercer and all
three seasons however, and for the start of c o n n e c t e d w i t h
the 1925/26 season, the Gunners changed T h e G u n n e r s .
t o a Shall we turn for once to Latin? 'Victoria
westward Concordia Crescit'. Translation: 'Victory
pointing, grows out of harmony.'"
narrower
cannon Two seasons later and Arsenal unveiled its
(3) with new crest which incorporated Marksman's
the legend latin maxim. Tom Whittaker explained
' T h e in the 1949/50 handbook (which also
Gunners' remaining next to it. included the new crest) that the Club had
The derivation of the narrower cannon has been impressed by Marksman's motto and
never been officially confirmed, but the it had now been officially adopted by the
cannons on the crest of the Royal Arsenal Club. The new crest also featured 'Arsenal'
Gatehouse in Woolwich (4) are uncannily in a gothic style typeface, the westward
similar to that used as the Gunners’ facing cannon, the Borough of Islington's
symbol. coat of arms and ermine.
This cannon crest remained prominent For the past 53 years this crest has
in the Arsenal matchday programme remained largely
and other publications for 17 seasons. It unchanged (6),
changed slightly through the years with though at the start
the wording eventually disappearing, but, of the 2001/02 season
despite being usurped by the Victoria it was 'cleaned up'
somewhat (7), with a
solid yellow replacing
the different tones
of gold and Victoria
Concordia Crescit.
The Club's identity has thus evolved over
Concordia Crescit crest in 1949 it has the years and in 2002 the decision was
remained a basic symbol of the Club ever made to formulate a new crest (8). It had
since, featuring on official merchandise always been one of the Club's primary
and stationary throughout the years right objectives to embrace the future and
up until the present day. move forward. With a new stadium on
The VCC crest (5), which the new crest the horizon and the Gunners consistently
replaces, has been challenging for domestic and European
Arsenal's symbol honours, the Club
since appearing in believed that this
the first new style was the ideal
magazine matchday time to introduce
programme of season a new crest.
1949/50. It would
appear to have been
in the minds of the
Gunners hierarchy for
at least a year prior
4
CHAPTER two

Arsenal Football Club

The Gunner’s Stadium

5
 Highbury Stadium History
Arsenal
Stadium,
known
almost
universally
by its
original
name of
Highbury,
was the
Club’s home
It was Henry Norris who decided to move the This stand housed the offices, players’ facilities
from 1913 Club from The Manor Ground in Plumstead to and the main entrance (the famous Marble Halls).
until 2007. North London. Norris took over at Woolwich It cost £130,000 and had seating for 8,000. It is in
Arsenal while still chairman at Fulham in the Marble Halls that the bronze bust of Herbert
1910. His initial plan was to merge Fulham and Chapman, Arsenal’s legendary manager who died
Woolwich Arsenal, but the proposal was rejected in 1934, was positioned, and has remained to this
by the Football League. day. In the Second World War Arsenal Stadium
was used as a first aid post.
He was then told by the League During the war incendiary bombs destroyed the
that it was a conflict of interests to North Bank roof. In 1948 Highbury was used as one
control both clubs, and so he chose to of the football venues during the London Olympic
concentrate his efforts on Woolwich Games. In 1951 floodlights were added and in 1956
Arsenal — the first London club to the North Bank roof was rebuilt. Undersoil heating
turn professional and the first to be followed in 1964 and extra seating was installed in
admitted to the League. the West Stand in 1969.

In a bid to revive the Gunners
fortunes, and to increase the supporter
base, Norris decided to move the
Club. Despite local opposition to the
move, from residents and other north
London football clubs, the deeds were
signed early in 1913.
At the South end of the stadium, the practice pitch
was replaced by an indoor training centre. The
Clock End stand was redeveloped completely in
1989, to provide room for 48 executive boxes and
further office space. In 1991, following the Taylor
Report, work began to convert Highbury into an
all-seater stadium.

Arsenal paid £20,000 for a 21-year
lease on six acres of land and, as
part of the deal, agreed not to play
at home on Christmas Day or Good
Friday. The college remained at the
southern end of the stadium until it
burnt down at the end of the Second
World War. The Club dropped
‘Woolwich’ from their name during
the season following the move north
of the river, but much work had to
be done at Highbury before Arsenal
could play their first game there.
In 2006, after an emotional final season for the
famous stadium, in which the team sported
redcurrent jerseys as a nod to the first Arsenal
teams to play there, the gates closes for the final
time on Sunday, May 7.
In a fitting send off, Thierry Henry scored a hattrick
as Arsenal beat Wigan Athletic 4-2 to secure a
UEFA Champions League spot, at the expense of
North London rivals Tottenham Hotspur.

The new stadium was designed by

Archibald Leitch. The pitch was
levelled a new grandstand was partly
built, and turnstiles and terracing
were installed - all at great expense
to Norris (later Sir Henry Norris).
The main stand was on the East side,
and housed 9,000 spectators.

6
 Emraites Stadium

7
 Emraites Stadium

EMIRATES STADIUM HAS NOW BEEN THE GUNNERS’ HOME FOR TWO YEARS,
HAVING SPENT 93 YEARS AT HIGHBURY. HERE ARE SOME OF THE SIGNIFICANT
MOMENTS FROM THE FIRST TWO SEASONS AT EMIRATES STADIUM.
Tuesday, July 18, 2006 Thursday, October 26, 2006 Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Pitch marked out - the playing surface was Royal opening - prince Philip was the guest 50 goals - Cesc Fabregas' goal against
painted for the first time. of honor as the stadium was officially Manchester city in the 3-1 win made it a
opened. half-century for the gunners in competitive
Thursday, July 20, 2006 football at emirates.
First training session - Emirates Stadium Sunday, January 28, 2007
hosted its first ever training session, as part First cup game - arsenal and Bolton Saturday, July 28
of member's day. Wanders drew 1-1 in the FA Cup fourth and Sunday, July 29, 2007
round at emirates stadium. First pre-season tournament- Emirates
Saturday, July 22, 2006 stadium hosted the prestigious Emirates
First-ever game and goals - Arsenal Tuesday, February 6, 2006 cup, featuring arsenal, Valencia, inter
beat Ajax 2-1 in the Dennis Bergkamp International football returns - Brazil took Milan and Paris saint-germen, the gunners
testimonial match. Klaas Jan Huntelaar the emirates stadium pitch again, facing came out on top. Some 115,000 fans came
became the first player to score at emirates Portugal. This time they were on the losing through the turnstiles over the weekend.
stadium when he put the Dutchman in the side as their opponents won 2-0.
lead. Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Monday, February 19, 2007 Biggest win - the gunners recorded the
Wednesday, august 23, 2006 First hat-trick - jay Simpson became the biggest victory in the first two seasons, a
First European game- Mathies Flamini first player to score a hat-trick at emirates 7-0 thrashing of Salvia Prague in the group
scored a late winner in the 2-1 champion’s stadium, against Cardiff city in the 3-2 FA stage of the champions league.
league third qualifying round second leg youth Cup win.
match against Dinam Zagreb.
Saturday, November 3, 2007
Sunday, September 2, 2006 Wednesday, march 14, 2007 Highest attendance- 60,161 watched the
First interactional fixture - Elano scored Record set-emirates stadium set a new gunners draw 2-2 with Manchester united,
twice for Brazil as they beat Argentina 3-0 record for the Highbury - saw arsenal beat the highest attendance in the first two
in the first international match played at Manchester United 1-0 in the first leg of the seasons.
emirates. semi-final.
Wednesday, march 26, 2008
Saturday, September 23, 2006 Saturday, April 7, 2007 International friendly- the third such
First league win - the gunners beat Sheffield First defeat - West Ham beat arsenal 1-0 in match took place at emirates, this is time
united 3-0 in the league with goals from William the premire league - the club’s 24th game at brazil triumphed over sweden,1-0.
Gallas, Thierry Henry and an own goal. Emirates.

8
 Club Kit Design
in the 2005-06 season,To commemorate the
Club's final campaign at Highbury, the

193
home of Arsenal since 1913, the Gunners

0
wore a special redcurrant shirt.Designed
to honour the colour of the Club's set of
shirts for the first season at Highbury,

193
they were adorned with gold lettering

6
and accompanied by white shorts and
redcurrant socks.

For season 2006/07, the first at Emirates Stadium, a welcome return

195
to the famous red and white of Arsenal was made.

0
In 1895, two years before the Club became professional, a small

19 7
group of Nottingham Forest players, Fred Beardsley, Bill Parr
and Charlie Bates, joined Dial Square FC, (the Club's first name)

0
and brought their old red kit along with them. Working to a tight
budget, the Club decided the most inexpensive way of acquiring
a strip was to kit out the team in the same colour as the ex-Forest

197
players.

1
This original kit was a dark red, with long sleeves, a collar and
three buttons down the front. The shirt was worn with white
knee length shorts and heavy woollen socks with blue and white

199
hoops. The goalkeeper wore the same attire apart from the shirt -
which was a hand knitted cream woollen polo neck jumper. It was

7
this dark red kit that the team wore during their first season at
Highbury in 1913/14.

200
Depending on which source you believe, Chapman either noticed
someone at the ground wearing a red sleeveless sweater over

1
a white shirt or played golf with famous cartoonist of the day
Tom Webster who wore something similar. Either way the 'look'
inspired the manager to create a new strip combining a red shirt

20
02
with white collar and sleeves. It also incorporated the Club badge,
which was positioned on the left-hand side of the shirt.

In the 1950s a second kit was developed to combat a clash of colours

with opposing home teams with similar kits. And in 1960, the Club 200
moved away from the woven rugby shirt style to a new knitted 3
cotton jersey in around 1960.

The Club's famous canon graphic appeared on the shirt for the first
20

time in the early 1970s. It was this shirt that Arsenal won their first
04

famous 'double', both the League Championship and the FA Cup

in the 1970/71 season.
20

In the late 1970s, the shirt featured a kit manufacturer's logo for
05

the first time, in this case 'Umbro'. And in 1982 'JVC' became the
Club's first shirt sponsor, which in turn made way for 'SEGA' in
1999. Three years later and 'O2' replaced the games company before
20
06

themselves making way for, from the start of the 2006/07 season,
'Fly Emirates'. This particular deal will last eight years.

For season 2007/08 Arsenal will wear a new away kit with a design
20

that celebrates the pioneering spirit of legendary Arsenal manager

08

Herbert Chapman. The new kit embraces design features that

highlight Chapman's influence over the game to this day, and
sees a return to the white away shirts worn throughout the Club's
history.

9
10
11
CHAPTER three

Arsenal Football Club

Team Member

12
 Player Profile
Andrey Arshavin
Name Andrey Arshavin
Born May 29, 1981
Saint Petersburg, Russia
Position Midfielder
Squad Number 23
Previous Club Zenit St Petersburg
Joined Arsenal February 03, 2009
Arsenal Debut Sunderland (h)
Premier League
February 21, 2009
Arshavin, 27, who played a Drew 0–0
key part in Zenit’s UEFA Cup First Arsenal Goal Blackburn Rovers (h)
winning campaign last season, Premier League
was also a member of the Russian March 15, 2009
EURO 2008 squad in which he Won 4-0
scored two goals from his three
appearances, earning him a place
in the ‘Team of the Tournament’.
Arshavin won the Russian Premier League with Zenit in 2007, making a total
of 232 appearances for his previous club, scoring 51 goals. During his time with
Zenit, he was also part of the winning team that picked up the Russian Super
Cup in 2008, the Russian Premier League Cup in 2003 and featured in the UEFA
Super Cup victory over Manchester United in Monaco last August.

Thierry Henry––Gunners’ Greatest Player

Name Thierry Henry
Born Les Ulis, Essonne, France
Position Striker
Arsenal Career 1999–2007
Appearances 370 (337 starts, 33 as sub)
Goals 226
Bought From Juventus
Sold To Barcelona

Remember the kid in the playground who was better than everyone else with a football at his feet? That’s what Thierry Henry was
like in his pomp.
The Frenchman had exquisite technique, searing pace and surprising strength. And like the typical schoolboy superstar, he did pretty
much everything for his team.Then there’s the goals, a club record 226 of them to be precise, in just 380 games.And remember, Henry
wasn’t even a bonafide striker when he arrived at Highbury in the summer of 1999.
The Frenchman raised the bar even higher in the following two campaigns. Arsenal had to settle for the FA Cup in 2003 but 42 goals,
23 assists and both Player of the Year awards summed up just how
influential Henry had become. He scooped both awards in 2004 as
well and contributed 39 goals as Arsenal completed an unbeaten title
season.
In hindsight, this was probably Henry’s prime and he can count
himself unlucky to miss out on the FIFA World Player of the Year
award in 2003 and 2004, finishing runner-up on both occasions.
As football became increasingly big business, Henry became the
Arsenal ‘brand’. This attractive, charismatic figurehead was now a
global superstar, admired by all and feared by opponents.

13
 Player Profile
The Iceman––Dennis Bergkamp
Gunners’ Greatest Players 2
You could fill a page with a list of
outstanding goals scored by him. You
could fill two pages with a list of the goals
that had their genius in his vision. And
you could fill a dictionary with a list of
superlatives used to describe his 11-year
career with Arsenal. Dennis Bergkamp is quite simply a legend of the game.

In the last two decades many one-time unknowns have left Highbury with a fearsome
reputation and much-warranted acclaim. But, in a way, Dennis was an exception; he
came, and left, with a world-class calibre.

His arrival signalled a daring change in outlook from the men in charge at Arsenal.
Of course Rioch’s Highbury sojourn came to an abrupt end and in September 1996
Arsène Wenger took the reins. Bergkamp needn’t have fretted over his place in the
Frenchman’s plans, though, and Wenger later claimed Dennis’ presence in the ranks
had been “a blessing, a gift when I arrived”.
And so it was that under the tutelage of Wenger, Bergkamp redefined football in
England’s top division. His textbook technique, physical prowess and second-nature
for picking out the killer pass made him the ultimate symbol of fantasy football.
Indeed when Arsenal usurped Manchester United as the country’s best team in 1998,
Bergkamp, too, succeeded Eric Cantona as the Premier League’s brightest beacon of
European excellence. That Double season Arsenal’s No 10 was outstanding and his
reward at the end of the campaign was both major Player of Year awards to go with
his Championship and FA Cup medals.
But, strangely, Bergkamp had had a fitful beginning to life in London, failing to score
in his first seven senior outings. Pressure was mounting not least from the tabloid
media who had branded the Dutchman ‘Hartle-Fool’ after failing to score against the
North East minnows in a League Cup tie.

Numbers alone will not convey his pioneering pedigree. For the record though,
Bergkamp plundered 120 goals in his time with Arsenal, making him the 10th highest
goalscorer in the Club’s history; quite the achievement for a man who doesn’t do
tap-ins.

Even age couldn’t wither his genius. Four years after guiding Arsenal to Premier
League domination Bergkamp was at it again as Wenger’s men ruled once more. It
was a similar story in 2003 as the Gunners marched to another FA Cup triumph, but
by now Dennis was almost 34 and his contract was up. But Arsenal couldn’t let him
go and he penned a one-year extension. Bergkamp repaid the faith shown in him with
a typically classy season.

But time eventually caught up with Dennis and he decided, as Arsenal left Highbury,
that his playing time was up. Only something massive and memorable would be
good enough to reflect the impact the Dutchman had on the Club. The occasion of
Bergkamp’s testimonial fitted the bill perfectly. The stars came out in force to honour
one of the game’s greats - Marco van Basten and Johan Cruyff to name but
two.

And the honours kept coming. In September 2007, Bergkamp was inducted
in to the National Football Museum Hall of Fame, the first Dutchman to
achieve such acclaim.

Some players elicit admiration, some provide inspiration, and a precious few
can do both. Bergkamp was one such individual. His cast-iron technique was
forged on the youth team training ground at Ajax and his steely character
developed at Inter. But his best years will always belong to Arsenal.

14
What drives me on is the belief that tomorrow I’ll do things
better, and be a better person than I am today.

——Arsène Wenger
 EMRIATES STADIUM

£ 18.99
ISBN 0-984021-66-98

9 787948 021299