View from the West Upper , livre ebook
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51
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2019
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Publié par
Date de parution
31 janvier 2019
Nombre de lectures
0
EAN13
9781528944847
Langue
English
Poids de l'ouvrage
1 Mo
Publié par
Date de parution
31 janvier 2019
Nombre de lectures
0
EAN13
9781528944847
Langue
English
Poids de l'ouvrage
1 Mo
A View from the West Upper
A Reflective Account Through the Eyes of One Fan
James Harrison
Austin Macauley Publishers
2019-01-31
A View from the West Upper About the Author Dedication Copyright Information Acknowledgements Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 Chapter 24
About the Author
The author
James Harrison has worked in adult education for nearly 20 years. As part of his role, he has provided career advice, as well as help and support to students. He is a keen Arsenal supporter and has been going to games since early childhood. He enjoys watching Arsenal play, reading, writing and spending time with his family at home in Hertfordshire. This is his first book.
Dedication
For my children, Millie and Oliver – by far the greatest fans the world has ever seen.
Copyright Information
Copyright © James Harrison (2019)
The right of James Harrison to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with section 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.
Any person who commits any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.
ISBN 9781528900287 (Paperback)
ISBN 9781528900294 (E-Book)
www.austinmacauley.com
First Published (2019)
Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd
25 Canada Square
Canary Wharf
E14 5LQ
Acknowledgements
Thank you to my family for firstly introducing me to the club some 43 years ago, and for their appreciation and understanding to ensure that I still attend games today. Thank you as well to the book publishers for giving me this opportunity and, finally, to Arsenal Football Club for its timeless brilliance and the support they have shown me.
Chapter 1
Picture the scene, four men leaving a café and walking slowly to their beloved football stadium. They talk about how bad their latest fry up was and that next season the food can only improve. Some of them have been saying that for years. They know it won’t, but there is no way they will try somewhere else.
They greet the same people as they go through the turnstiles and make their way up the staircases in the west upper stand. They use the toilets and pass the bar. They order the same drinks as they have for years, yet still can’t remember the cost. With their drinks, they climb the last set of stairs overlooking the pitch. They sit down, two in front of the other, and pause. It’s a beautiful evening, for a few seconds, there is silence, and then our journey starts.
“What a ten years we’ve had!” The silence is broken. He shakes his head as he speaks. The same four men sit in the west upper stand, their eyes darting around a famous football stadium.
“We’re so lucky!” says his fellow fan and lifetime friend.
“Aren’t we just?” comes a reply. We all agree.
It’s May 1995, the early summer sun shines on the lush Highbury turf, as four men reflect briefly on a massive generation for the club.
The club was going through a huge change in both management and players. “We should go continental!” demands one fan. We all agree, though secretly no one knew what that actually meant.
Then, that summer, the club decided to change the structure of the goal frames, out went the traditional Highbury goals and in came the ‘European’ nets. Also that summer came a new manager and two huge names. One, of course, was very much a continental player, the other, a full England international but was moving back to England from abroad. Did this start a journey to a continental structure? Quite possibly, it did.
As our two summer signings fired us into European football, on the final game of the season, the events which followed were beyond any fan’s dream.
Back in those days, the idea of social media and smartphones would make people laugh and, perhaps, even cry. However, the rumour mill was as strong back then, as it is now, perhaps, even stronger as there were limited sources to base it against. Yes, we had the television, where sports programmes were in their relative infancy, we also had radio phone-in shows, but nothing like we have today. We relied on the ever so reliable sandwich bar owners, taxi drivers and, the best source of anything relating to football, yes, you’ve got it, the residential estate agent, to keep us, fans, updated with the latest houses that superstars from Europe and beyond had just brought from them. Strange, some things don’t change, do they?
Football is strange. Like no other sport, it has the power to draw you in. It can love you, hate you, be the source for peace and, at the same time, create war. One thing is for certain though, it keeps us coming back. Week after week, we are all the same. When the final whistle blows for the last game of the season, the countdown starts immediately to the next campaign. Year after year, it’s the same.
The mid-’90s were no different, apart from the fact we were looking for a new manager.
It’s difficult to remember how you were 20 or 25 years ago. Whilst not a lifetime ago, it’s still enough time to change dramatically. The years certainly fly by, along with some of the hopes and aims you wanted to achieve, but no matter if you are rich or poor, young or old, when it comes to football and Arsenal, the interest and excitement on who the new manager should be seemed more important than anything.
In the mid-’80s, there was household excitement, if Arsenal were featured in the newspaper. I remember reading in such fine detail on how we were destined to finish in the top 8 at the end of each season. Things changed hugely, however, in 1987, as I saw my team not only reach Wembley, but win at Wembley, as we won the league cup. The next seven years or so were spent lifting trophies, parades around Islington and photographs with silverware. People used to tell me, I didn’t know how lucky I was to see my team win at Wembley, at the age of 12, actually I did realise how lucky I was, and still do.
My first few years were a bleak period for the club. We still finished in healthy positions, made some progress, normally in cup competitions, but we didn’t stand out. I can put the last 30-something years down to two separate eras of success. One from 1986 to 1994 and the other started in 1996 and is ongoing.
As you get older, however distressing the world and people can become towards you, whoever you are let down or hurt by, there is always football. Only a football fan will understand that comment. But it’s so true. Even in war, football still goes ahead, through personal disappointment, it doesn’t disappear from your life either.
Huge football names continued to be linked to our club in the summer of 1996. Some were managers and others were coaches. It was clear, ironically, that the fan that thought that the club should go continental was right. I see and interact with this fan at most home games, he hasn’t really changed that much; just gone a little grey, but I guess that is his entitlement, 20 years after his famous prediction. Though, if I can say, he looks very different from when I saw him at the 1987 League Cup Final.
That’s another point about football, and Arsenal, for which I can only comment on. Week after week, season after season, you really do see the same faces. Yes, they are looking older and more stressed as life puts pressure on them, but they are the same people. The little children who took up half a seat in 1996, now use the whole space on the seat. Their parents and friends, who at one stage ordered them to stop talking and concentrate on the game, back in 1996, now have a battle to keep them away from their smartphones.
This author very much looks forward to taking his children to the games, though I really don’t want them to waste their money on smartphones. I’m sure they will listen to their mum and me.
Football came home in 1996, and as summer started to fade and girl power started to shine, strangely enough, the rumours started to dry up. Suddenly, the sandwich bar owners only talked about what type of bread you wanted, (white or brown only in those days) and if you were lucky, it’s filling too. Taxi drivers only talked about who they had in the back of their cab, and the residential estate agents only talked about money. What a difference 20 years make, well sort of.
Then it happened. The world’s media, the paparazzi, flashing lights, high-tech smart phones, tablets, red carpet and plush 5-star hotels.
Well, no, not exactly, this is Arsenal and then it was 1996. All that greeted our new manger were strange looks and quiet applause.
Our friend’s famous prediction about the club going continental had started, society was starting to change, so was this author and so was my club.
Chapter 2
Critics always used to say that Highbury was a library. Too quiet, lacking atmosphere, and if you sat in the west stand upper tier, not only were you an armchair fan, but there was also a lack of singing. Almost all of these points were untrue, of course. In fact, Highbury was an excellent stadium; combining English tradition with character, success, excellence and world class players. A waiting list for season tickets and in terms of the west stand upper tier, incredibly high ticket and season ticket prices which suggests that, actually, supporters who were prepared to pay that amount of money, were after all proper fans. I concede the singing point, but let’s move on.
I remember my first game very well. We won 3-1. I just never really kn
