Wenger - Why I missed special Anfield moment

[FOXYARSENAL]

i was only 8 years old but it is my real first recollaction of watching the arsenal and what a game it was,i watchedit in my sisters house i was staying over that night and my brother in law is a gooner to so he was glued to it bit vague but still great

[GE|2|2Y]

http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archiv ... eld-moment

Every Arsenal fan knows the story of Anfield '89 but Arsène Wenger's memories of that famous game are actually rather sketchy.
This season marks the 20th anniversary of the night that Michael Thomas scored in stoppage time to snatch the title from Liverpool on Merseyside. As a result generations of Arsenal fans have grown up with Brian Moore's memorable commentary - "It's up for grabs now!" - etched on their consciousness.
For Wenger, May 26, 1989 was a rather more sedate affair. The Frenchman was in charge of Monaco at the time and, as he explained ahead of Tuesday's visit to Anfield, he was unable to see Arsenal's title decider on television.
"No, we did not watch English games live in France," said Wenger. "We felt we were better than England and television was less internationalised than it is now – we only watched domestic games.
"I have seen the goals, I haven’t seen the game but I have seen the goals many times since and it makes history. It made history because it’s in the final minute and it was the unpredictability of winning 2-0 at Anfield that made a big impact.
"You always feel when people speak about it that it was a special moment of the Club. It was such a big thing. Since then we’ve won a few times at Anfield as well. What is amazing is that Liverpool was a dominant force at the time but they’ve had more problems to dominate English football like they did at the time."



I find Arsenes comments quite amusing and odd (nothing new there).

I know we have discussed this here before, but to lift the mood here today I thought I would ask where were you in 89.....

I watched it with my dad and he nearly took the roof off - mental crazy and absolutely incredible!

I was 4 months old in the buggy watching the match with my ol man!

[Skooner]

Only 8 at the time but remember being allowed to stay up late to watch the match with my parents and brother. Happened to be my first season as a season ticket holder so was just starting to get into football and Arsenal.

My dad is one of the most reserved people you could meet, even when it comes to Arsenal but when that ball hit the back of the net he was down on his knees screaming with joy. I remember being excited by the whole thing but massively regret that I wasn’t old enough to fully appreciate the enormity of it.

Just thinking about that goal gets me going prior to any match or even just walking to the bus.

[corkbarry]

I was 4 months old in the buggy watching the match with my ol man![/quote]


Is your ol man a Gooner

[mcdowell42]

I had just left ireland 3 weeks to look for work in London and was living with an uncle and aunt and their family .My uncle had invited family and friends around to watch the match.My aunt put on a huge spread before the match when we finished eating the match got underway.I can remember my uncle having a dog called winnie i think it was a belgian shepherd but when the 2nd goal went in we all went ballistic and frightened the shit out of the dog.The dog went mad and it was a big dog it nearly frightened the shit out of me.Im sorry now that we didnt all head down to highbury to celebrate.

[olgitgooner]

Watched it at home. Me, the mrs, and my daughters (then aged eleven and eight)

The daughters were probably wondering why Dad jumped out of his seat, and made an accidental dent in the ceiling with his fist.

I'm pleased to report that they are both Gooners now.

I was at WHL in 1971. Which was fantastic. But 1989 was just so unexpected. To win the league in the last minute of the last game of the season was just unbelievable. Probably NEVER happen again. For ANY team.

[corkbarry]

Watched it at home. Me, the mrs, and my daughters (then aged eleven and eight)

The daughters were probably wondering why Dad jumped out of his seat, and made an accidental dent in the ceiling with his fist.

I'm pleased to report that they are both Gooners now.

I was at WHL in 1971. Which was fantastic. But 1989 was just so unexpected. To win the league in the last minute of the last game of the season was just unbelievable. Probably NEVER happen again. For ANY team.

If you saw it in a film, you would not believe it

[butcher boy]

spent the day at the hospital , helped deliver my first born, then went home and remember a match was on !
What a day

[Chippy]

I posted this in the issue 195 thread cos of the guy from Sky who had pretty much watched every game while he was ovewr there.

OK here goes. I am writing from Colorado in the good old US of A, having watched the CL game on Setanta broadband and then seen the whole thing again on ESPN classic immediately after. Thanks to Yankee gooner and Gusher for their help. Relevance to 195 is the article from the guy who worked for Sky (sorry don't have the mag with me).

Things have changed so much and tonight I am going to reveal a dirty secret of my gooner past. In the 80's I lived in New Jersey. "Soccer" was something loved by your Hispanic gardener and was just catching on in schools frightened by the legal consequences of contact sports. The only English game that made it over was the FA Cup final and that was covered in a Dick van Dyke "aint they all quaint" kind of way.

If I wanted to find out what was happening I had to go into Manhattan to a little shop in midtown that stocked newspapers from all corners of the globe. Sunday evening was the earliest you might get a Sunday paper, but more often than not you wouldn't get them till Monday. No internet, no live games and phone calls were bloody expensive.

Anyway there was this one Friday when there was a game in England where the Arsenal were going to take on the best team in England for more than a decade and had to win by more than 2 goals at their ground to win the League for the first time in 18 years. I had not been party to the hype about the game and was absolutely convinced we could not do it. I was invited to a BBQ with colleagues that weekend and did not make the trek into Manhattan to get an English paper.

Got to work Monday morning and the first phone call was from a fellow footy fan (Leeds unfortunately) saying that I must be over the moon about Arsenal beating the Scousers to win the League. This was the first I heard. The shame.

Embarassed Embarassed Embarassed Embarassed

Any way he was a mate. he had recorded it and was coming over on business later in the week. So fellow gooners I witnessed one of the greatest moments in our history nearly a week late. Ever since I have been ashamed and annoyed that even supporters of other teams can tell me stories of that night but I have just embarrassment.

Oh how things have changed, as I type this in Colorado knowing that it will be available in London in a few seconds.

Finally got this off my chest and really envy all of you who have great memories of that night. Crying or Very sad Crying or Very sad

[I Hate Hleb]

Charlatan!!

[REB]

it was also the night of my 21st and so was a good long nite of drinking after , only myself and my uncle were gooners in a pub full of liverpool supporters, never celebrated a win like that one and the piss take we gave out all night was unreal

there was never and will never again be a night like it

[Reg Niseth]

Took eight hours to drive, met John Radford and Michael Watson on journey up. Radford was in a motor next to mine stuck in the car park called the M6. On my left was a van with Kennedy on the back. An omen?

Arrived at the Kop End, mate was standing up through the sun roof like a panzer tank commander as I played 'Ride of the Valkyries full blast.

Parked up about 1/4 mile from ground. Everton fan let us park across his drive. Ran to the Annie Road End, just in time for delayed KO. Not many Arsenal in there as most still stuck on motorway.

Good atmosphere, our end started filling up, so we climbed a barrier into the next section right next to the bindippers in the seats. As you stood on the terracing we were on the left. Yes we're on TV.

Half-time the party started with continuous singing of 'Gerogie Graham's Red n White Army' it kept going through half-time right up until Smudger scored. Bedlam.

Game flew past no idea how long left when Mickey first went through. He couldn't believe he only had Grob to beat and virtually passed it to him. Cue crowd surge, off come my glasses (pre-contact days), they lay broken in my hands, but I'd caught the lens and more importantly the little screw holding them together. Plod next to me fixed them.

Every time we went forward, glasses came off as I held them tightly. I was driving home. As Mickey surged through the middle, I held my glasses and couldn't see a fucking thing.

didn't need to.

The rest they say is geography . . but that's a different subject.

Had some grief from bindippers on way back to motor, but Evertonians came out of their houses to give us beer.

Large mob of bindippers near some traffic lights attacking Arseanl cars. Pulled into first service station and Arsenal were dancing on the roof, watching the viedo in a limo and generaly partying.

Team coach passed us on M1, so we headed straight for N.London. Most of the lads went in the opposite direction to watch England agansit the sweatys.