Dennis Day: A game of two halves
37 comments July 23rd, 2006
I’ve been to several testimonials in my time, and probably the most fun were Paul Merson’s and Martin Keown’s. Yesterday’s game was different in that it was not played at Highbury, and also in that it was incredibly bizarre.
Despite promising fans that it kicked off at 4.15pm, the game didn’t actually start until around 5. This was obviously a move by the club to make sure everyone got to their seats nice and early, though I think it dampened the atmosphere somewhat: people arrived ready for the game, and then realised they had to sit through Arsene Wenger Tina Turner-ing the ball wide of the “north goal”.
However, this extra time before kick-off did give me the chance to take in just what an amazing sight lay before me. The stadium was almost full, and it looked fantastic. The seats are so comfortable that it’s almost like sitting in your own front room.
One cannot underestimate just how proud we ought to be of this fantastic arena. If I had to compare it to another we’ve visited recently, I’d probably say Cardiff. If we experience anything like the success we have in Wales at our new home, we’ll be just fine.
Then came the game itself – a team of Arsenal youngsters against a strong Ajax outfit. An emotional kick-off saw Dennis’ cancer-suffering father baptise our new stadium. Our most impressive youthful performer was probably Armand Traoré, who just needs to make sure he doesn’t get too carried away with his meatier tackles. Alex Song wasn’t as bad as usual, though the need for us to buy a midfielder is still fairly pressing. Ajax grabbed a goal through Klass-Jan Huntelaar, sweeping home a cross after some inexperienced, Cygan-led defending.
Then it was half-time. Or was it full-time in a 45 minute match? No-one seemd quite sure. Arsenal reckoned the former, but Channel 5 were pretty sure it was the latter, reverting the scoreboard to 0-0.
This interval period brought the highlight of the day for me: the introduction of the Arsenal legends: David Seaman, Lee Dixon, Nigel Winterburn, Steve Bould, Martin Keown, Patrick Vieira, Gilles Grimandi, Marc Overmars, Emmanuel Petit, Edu, Ray Parlour; Dennis Bergkamp, Thierry Henry, Ian Wright, Oleg Luzhny, Giovanni van Bronckhorst, Alex Manninger, Patrick Vieira, Glenn Helder, Kanu. Each name recieved raucous applause, none more so than Patrick Vieira, whose indiscretions were forgotten with a rousing welcome.
His arrival, or that of Ian Wright, was when the Emirates probably reverberated to the most noise. Either side of that, it was worryingly quiet, particularly in my South-West corner. The strangeness of the game(s?) meant that the fans couldn’t quite get into it. The weird nature of the match was underlined when the second half (Arsenal Legends vs. Ajax Legends) kicked off without the teams changing sides.
The first Arsenal goal at the new stadium was fittingly scored by Thierry Henry, who controlled, span, and slid it under the goalkeeper. He hasn’t even trained since the World Cup, yet Thierry turned up for Dennis on his big day. Tony Adams, on the other hand, was conspicuous by his absence.
For most fans in attendance, the real “I was there” moment was the double-substitution which saw Johan Cruyff and Marco van Basten enter the field of play (well, either that, or Gilles Grimandi’s devastating professional foul on Edgar Davids). Van Basten in particular still looked very sharp, flicking the ball over Steve Bould’s head and nearly scoring a goal worthy of his extraordinary talent.
Kanu added a deflected winner late on, before the ref continued the strangeness by blowing up on 81 minutes, giving us a final score of 2-1. Or 2-0. Or something.
It was great to get into the new stadium, but I couldn’t help but feel this wasn’t the right way to send Dennis off. Surely the great man would’ve preferred a more traditional game? By all means bring in the legends, but maybe not make it two completely distinct games, and perhaps change ends?
Anyway, goodbye Dennis. It’s a shame he couldn’t get on the scoresheet, but then he has scored enough brilliant goals in his time. The stadium is now up and running, and anyone lucky enought to go will surely agree it’s a fantastic ground. Plus, if you’re hard up for cash, you could sell your free Dennis t-shirt for up to £200 on ebay.
Notice: One of my favourite things about this site is the small community that has grown up around it. One member of this community, a man known as Gelbs, has been recieving a bit of stick for his views in the comments below. Now, in the interest of fairness, I would like to give Gelbs an unedited chance to air his views. If he would get in touch via the contact section, I’d be delighted to hear from him. This is a serious request.
Tata.
I managed to snap another pic of a confused Kolo, this time driving a four-by-four. Although it was pretty dark in there, I think I spied his brother Yaya in the back, though I don’t think that has any particular significance: he was probably just a guest.
