Birthday Special: A Walk Down Memory Lane

Top of the Morning to y’all

It a special day for me today folks. It my birthday and as I was thinking of a theme for today’s blog yesterday, I was reminiscing about how I fell in love with this great club, the glory days long lost, the great players, the stadium – Highbury – oh yes I loved Highbury. I loved all its 38,000 capacity and one man was catalyst for that love. Thierry Henry. It was always a joy seeing him race up and down the pitch at Highbury with reckless abandon. The small size of the pitch I think was one of the factors in the success of the team. Having speed demons like Henry, Ljungberg, Reyes bombing towards the opposition, meant they could cover considerable distance at a short time. Oh I miss that pitch.

I also thought about some memorable games that I have witnessed in the past, Arsenal vs. Juventus, Arsenal vs. Real Madrid, crazy games, Arsenal vs. AS Roma at the Stade Olimpico where Thierry Henry scored a hat trick including that sweet freekick and the trade mark curler into the right corner, Arsenal vs Spuds where Henry raced from his own half and dribbled everyone on his path before banging the ball in the net from outside the box with his left foot, Arsenal vs Spuds again where after the Spuds cheated to score, Henry equalised with that delicate flick to ensure champions league qualification. I also remembered the weird game against Inter Milan where we lost 3-0 in the first game of the champions league season only to go to the Giuseppe Meazza to trounce them 5-1. Those were the days that would forever make being an Arsenal fan worth all the trophylessness of all these years. The commentator said during that game against Inter Milan that you could have played Thierry Henry against any defence in the world and he would have destroyed them all. He was that great, that influential, and that prolific.

I don’t know if they make them like Thierry again but in my eyes, he was and would ever be the greatest striker in the world. The 2004 world footballer awards will forever remain in my memory. Seeing Henry stand side by side with Brazilian Ronaldinho and Andriy Shevchenko. The votes meter was used to announce the winner by votes and when Shevchenko’s meter stopped first, I dearly prayed to God for Ronaldinho’s meter to stop but alas, it was Henry’s meter that stopped and Ronaldinho was declared the world footballer of the year. Henry never reached the heights he reached for the following year; he came fourth in the polls.

I also remembered the champions league final in Paris that we lost to Barcelona. That has so far been my saddest moment as an Arsenal fan. I was so preparing for the celebrations, the champaign was already in the fridge ready to be popped at the final whistle. I was distraught after the final whistle. I think it was in that game that Barca conceived their idea of total domination football because after Belletti scored, we did not even have a sniff of the ball till the game ended. It was one of those nights that you were so sad that you wonder why you loved football in the first place.

If Thierry had not done anything else at Arsenal, scoring the last goals at Highbury will have sealed his place in history. Moving to the Emirates has also brought its own memories such as the Barca game last year and of course that game against Spuds but so far nothing like Highbury.

I wondered what my best moment as an Arsenal fan was and it was undoubtedly the 2-0 win against Milan who were the reigning champions at the San Siro. That night, I danced from the King Jaja hall in the University of Lagos to the El Kanemi Hall which is over one kilometre away. That night I loved Fabregas, I loved Adebayor and Walcott and Diaby. That night, I loved the Arsenal and I still do

I have been thinking about all these and wondering on what to post on my blog for today. Am still thinking about it.

Special birthday shout out to Yoann Gourcuff, Caroline Wozniacki and Andre Ooijer who all share the same birthday with me.

That's all for now folks, be back on Friday with another one.

God bless the Arsenal, Iree o.