Liege 0- Arsenal 7

By Boris Mellor
September 15 2009

I never quite understood why a lifelong Arsenal fan would retire to Tottenham; he said it was because there was a branch of Sainsbury walking distance from the house. More importantly it was only 10 minutes from the Victoria Line which meant he could get to the West End, or Arsenal, in minutes.

It was a nice house, but its main selling point was a quick escape from Tottenham. However, that was back in 1968, now he was old, and dying of cancer he could only follow the team on the radio, his wife was dying in hospital and he was living alone. I ferried him backwards and forwards to the hospital, and drove him past the new North Bank Stand which he thought was wonderful. Neither of us guessed that it would not survive for very long.

My girlfriend at the time had never seen a football match, so I told her I would take her to the best. There were no membership schemes; to be honest I hadn't been following the team for quite a while. Graham's inability to contest the league was beginning to depress me. We were a cup team, and not always pleasant to watch.

 Nonetheless tickets were easily available and I parked immediately outside the ticket office and bought two tickets in the East Stand Upper for the Liege match on 20 October 1993. I wasn't expecting too much, but the view would be good.

We ferried the old boy back towards Tottenham, but the traffic was heavy, I had to stop and get him a cab back the rest of the way. The cabbie promised to make sure he was safely indoors before he drove off. I abandoned the car down a side street and we got a cab to the ground. We had to run up the stairs to see the kick off in time.

I don't remember that much about the match, mainly my companion's reaction to the beauty of Highbury. There was the billiard green pitch floodlit below us like chessboard. Secondly we scored three, Wrighty 2 and Merson 1. Liege scored none.

 It was the perfect display, and she was most impressed. I didn't have the heart to tell her that we had just seen 3 weeks' worth of goals, and that it was rarely that exciting.

A couple of weeks later it got even better and Arsenal beat Liege away 7-0. The old man was now in his last couple weeks, it was very cold and there was a light smattering of snow on the rooftops, he needed morphine and 24 hour nursing. The nurse was surprised to discover she was looking after an Arsenal fan in deepest Tottenham.

He was finding it hard to remember things, and the morphine made him light headed. He took to watching Red Dwarf and saying it was the best thing he had ever seen, he was probably in a minority of 79 year olds with such viewing tastes. True it was funny, but I am sure the morphine explains his laughter at some of the lamer gags.

As I already said we weren't playing well in the league, and the nurse teased him, "they are not doing that well this season are they". Quick as a flash he replied, "Yes they are in Europe". The ten nil aggregate thrashing of Standard Liege had made a deep impression on him.

He died before Arsenal played another game in Europe. Of course it's history that the team went on to win the European Cup Winners Cup that season, I just wish my father had lived a little longer to hear about it. Nonetheless I had the feeling that he knew it was going to be a great season in Europe.

Dying deep in enemy territory - Liege Preview

Discussion started by Arsenal Times , 15/09/2009 21:01

Arsenal Times
15/09/2009 21:01

What do you think? You can have your say by posting below.
If you do not already have an account Click here to Register.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2009:09:18:20:40:48 by Padre Pio.

Reply Quote Report

eduardo
15/09/2009 21:38

so who has to die for us to win the cl this season

Reply Quote Report

Padre Pio
15/09/2009 22:05

Well Im not volunteering

Reply Quote Report

eduardo
15/09/2009 22:31

what about a human sacrafice of Eboue

Reply Quote Report

Padre Pio
15/09/2009 23:07

You need a soul that has had led a blameless life - so it wouldnt work

Reply Quote Report

eduardo
16/09/2009 00:08

oh would a virgin like denilson do then,(wait till tom14 sees this)

Reply Quote Report

Padre Pio
16/09/2009 07:35

I said blameless not celibate

Reply Quote Report

GoonaWin!
16/09/2009 07:54

Great post. Nothing to add. I was in England back then and saw those two games. Oh the good Ol' days

Reply Quote Report

djarse
16/09/2009 10:40

Lovely post - can remember the astonishing 7 goal thrashing.

Lets hope we win the Champions League for you this year, Padre!

Reply Quote Report

AJ The Gunner
16/09/2009 11:19

great post with a perfect caption; dying deep in enemy territory.

who knows which team will turn up.

Reply Quote Report

Philly the kid
16/09/2009 13:27

Does believing you're blameless count? Ade would be perfect then!

Reply Quote Report

Merlion96
16/09/2009 17:16

Deja vu.

SL again.....and a die-hard and 79 year old Arsenal fan must sacrifice himself after Liege match.

Any member of our Board of Directors is 79 year old and balmeless?

Reply Quote Report

Bergmars
16/09/2009 18:50

PHW it would be the most usefull thing hes done for us,nice post Padre and very poignant.

Reply Quote Report

Padre Pio
16/09/2009 23:33

thanks, I wasnt sure if it would hit the mark, but it feels like a very similar time.

I suppose the point is that the old man kept the faith even though it wasnt looking that good.

Reply Quote Report

Bergmars
17/09/2009 08:03

A salutory lesson to us doubters I suppose,still back to being pessimistic.

Reply Quote Report

scorpion_nib1
17/09/2009 10:56

loved his rebuttal to the nurse!! fantastic..top arsenal man!

Reply Quote Report

Goto: Forum List•Message List•Search• Log In

Sorry, only registered users may post in this forum.

We record all IP addresses on the Sportnetwork message boards which may be required by the authorities in case of defamatory or abusive comment. We seek to monitor the Message Boards at regular intervals. We do not associate Sportnetwork with any of the comments and do not take responsibility for any statements or opinions expressed on the Message Boards. If you have any cause for concern over any material posted here please let us know as soon as possible by e-mailing abuse@sportnetwork.net