Old Gunners and Gooners : Journey begins

My Arsenal Journey Begins.

Before I start - As today is the 50th Anniversary of the 1st leg in Anderlecht, would you all please raise a glass to Ray Kennedy whose late goal set us up to win the 2nd leg at Highbury.
A year later he scored at the Lane to make us champions for the first time in 18 years.
He went on to have a great career with Liverpool and sadly has been ill since retiring.

Also to Big Bob ( on far left holding North Bank banner) who died in 2014.

Season 1957-58.

My 23 year old brother decided at the age of 8, I was ready to go to Arsenal on a regular basis. I’d been a couple of times during the previous season but was too young to remember much about it. We used to go as a family group, my brother, older cousins Johnny & Albie and uncle’s Jim & Billy. My dad only went occasionally as he worked shifts.

I would stand at front of the North Bank just to the right of goal while Johnny & the others would be a few steps behind us.
My eyes would be level with the players feet and the Clock End goal looked so far away it could have been at Highbury Corner.

At one game uncle Jim had to take 10 year old Johnny to the toilet at half time and Johnny walked out a different door to the one he went in and got lost.
Jim went to find a copper and report Johnny missing. In the meantime Johnny had been found wandering around and taken to the main office.
He never knew Jim’s surname so a message came over the tannoy “would uncle Jim please come to the main office and collect Johnny”. 60,000 people started laughing.

I had the standard bobble hat and rattle.

In February 1958 Arsenal played Man Utd in the last league game before the Munich disaster.
So I was lucky enough to see Duncan Edwards who would probably have been the greatest English player of all time.
A few years ago I was in Dudley and visited his grave which is still maintained by United fans.
I recall that the day after the air crash I went to school and nearly every boy had become a United fan. That’s how they got so much support outside Manchester.

My brother took me to FA Cup away games as he was always telling me “this is our year “.
So over the following seasons I went to exotic places such as Bury, Colchester, Sheffield United ( Kelsey broke his arm), Rotherham,Sunderland, Man Utd ( postponed 30 minutes before kickoff when fog came down) & West Brom.

In 1957-58 Arsenal were knocked out by Northampton and so on 4th round day played Eintracht Frankfurt ( 1st foreign team I saw).

Also at the start of 1957-58 my brother and billy decided to go to Sunderland away on my brother’s triumph motorbike, no motorways then). They arrived at half time, missing the only goal of the game.
On the way home billy fell asleep leaning on my brother’s back and when they stopped at some traffic lights in suburbs of London the bike toppled over trapping my brother by his leg.
Billy promptly got up and went and laid down on a nearby bench and went back to sleep.
A passing milkman lifted the bike off my brother.

During the school holidays Johnny and me used to go to Aubert court flats behind the Clock End and from the balcony watch Arsenal players training on the outdoor cinder pitch.
Afterwards we would join other kids and get players autographs as they came out of the main entrance. Nobody could ever get Tommy Docherty’s autograph but one day someone said he had gone under the maintenance tunnel to leave by the Highbury Hill entrance under the West stand.
So we ran around there and he was standing outside. I asked him for his autograph and he replied “later Sonny “ I told him that I wouldn’t be there later and he said “well, fucking hard luck then”.
As you can imagine, I was shocked that he would say that to a 9 year old kid.
Needless to say I’ve never forgotten it after 60 years.

Also in those days kids used to run on the pitch when players were warming up and get their autographs and before one night game I started to climb over the railings to get Jack Kelsey’s. As I was half way over one of the players shooting at him hit me instead and I fell into the area between railings and cinders. Kelsey came over picked me up and put me back on terrace. My brother & cousins were in hysterics.

One of my first teams.

2 of the best Kelsey & Herd.

My Rattle

Nowadays the club have banned players from signing autographs at the training ground.

Things started changing with the team in 1960 when George Eastham signed and then in 1962 my all time hero Joe Baker joined Arsenal.

Fond memories of Bovril - Percy Dalton peanuts - Meat pies with real gravy in them - Rosettes.