How i became a gooner

[oohtobe]

I was about 9 when I saw the light!It was the 1st of the late 70's cup finals that started the big romance!
It was probably just down to the fact that I liked the design of the shirt(home and away).Didnt even know where arsenal was!I remember that my friends were mancs and scousers,and there was no way that was going to happen to me.
Good memories of mancs cup final-I used to copy the goals on my back lawn!Yes,I have been Liam Brady and Alan Sunderland many many times!! ;D

[gunner14]

I get asked why I'm a Gooner all the time, stuck in the West Mids, surrounded by Wolves fans, Scousers, and Mancs... It goes something like this... '79 Cup Final, remember it happening, and the excitement, but not actually watching it. Bizarre. Arsenal lodged in the back of my head after that, even though I don't recall looking for their results. Fast forward, these things stick out in no particular order - Big Tone writing off cars, Romford Pele and Merse doing whatever came to mind... I used to love Ian Wright when he was at Palace, especially when he scored in those Cup games. And then he comes to Arsenal... you see the link ?! My interest grows... Anfield, last minute... Then, out of the blue, out of nowhere... BERGKAMP. To this day my all-time favourite player. That was me hooked. Then the Wenger revolution. Vieira, Petit, Overmars, Fred... No, I'm not Arsenal born and bred. No, I haven't been a Gooner all my life - just for my favourite part of it.

[West Mids Gooner]

That's some Gooner journey gunner14 - and it all started over 20 years ago..sounding like proper Arsenal..still can't sleep for worrying about your email address though fella.

(How many people think it was Brady who crossed to Sunderland for the winner at Wembley in 79? Tempting to airbrush Rix out of it though isn't it given more recent misdemeanours!)

[oohtobe]

Will never forget Brady running down the middle,passing to Rix and then step up Mr Sunderland!

[Harshad]

I was about 11 when I saw the light. I can't even pinpoint it to any one game but Ian Wright was the main reason. I've not supported any other clubs in that time so it's really annoying when people start saying "You should support your local team" or "Gloryhunter"!

What people fail to realise is that a lot of Gooners have had to watch some dire football where mid table and a good Cup run would be a good season for us! Times have changed a lot since then and we are spoilt to be watching the most entertaining team in Arsenal history.

I didn't even get to any games until 2001 because of the vast distance to Highbury but after going to uni and meeting some Arsenal fans we went away to Lyon in February for my first ever Arsenal game. That game probably won't live long in the memory for most but it was truly to special to me with an Henry header(!) for a 1-0 win, breaking into the ground the day before the game & walking round the pitch and the parties after!

After that I was hooked and went to the Chelsea cup game a few days later (for the record, Wiltord scoring twice in a 3-1 win) and been to many games since and hope to continue doing so.

RED ARMY!

[shifnalgooner]

Well as others have mentioned on here my love affair with the Arsenal also started with the 79 cup final.I can still picture myself on my knees in front of the TV,tears streaming down my face as the mancs scored the equaliser and then through blurry eyes seeing that curly mophead diving in at the far post. Oh from despair to joy in a matter of seconds. Since that day i have always followed the gunners,admittedly from the comfort of home until this season. With my youngest lad now also a proud junior gunner i managed to take him to Highbury for the carling cup game against Reading, so he can say that even if it was only once he has been to the Old Home of Football. Then i happened to chance across a little two line advert in my local paper which has changed both of our lifes. Joining this Supporters club has enabled both myself and my JG to get to the NHOF several times this season. Most notably for the fantastic moments at the end of the game against Manure. ;D ;D. What a great day! The result,the atmosphere and pulling up alongside a coachload of mancs fans on the holloway road ;D.
Oh and having to tell him he wouldn't be able to sing some of the new songs he's learned in front of his mum and grandparents especially the one about Shrek and his dalliances with slightly older ladies of ill-repute ;D.
Now he too is a proud gooner and hopefully will remain so. It's been a difficult couple of weeks for all of us but the pain of losing will only make the joy of winning even better. So whilst some of his mates will follow whichever team happens to be winning he will always be following the boys in Red'n'White. Hopefully !

[West Mids Gooner]

Nice one Shifnal..cheered me right up!

[tomkingsbury]

One of my cousins hooked me onto the arsenal - or dare i say forced me - i was a young and impressionable lad (4yrs old) and i looked up (and still do) to my elder cousin, and since he said there was no choice but to support them, thats how i became a gooner. My cousin's family live in the boreham wood area (i was living in high wycombe) so at that time it seemed ideal for me to support them. As i was born in 1983, the 1989 final was a little too early for me, and my major interest grew with age into the 90s, i remember my first few idols were adams, davis, merse, but mainly smudge - until wrighty came along! once i moved to cornwall at 8 any chance of watching the great team seemed unlikely, but luckily my uncle worked for someone for owned 3 season tickets, and once he became ill, he passed the tickets to him. On several occassions i got to watch us, firstly the end of season 5-1 hammering of southampton, the 7-1 sheff wed game, 3 2-1s against spurs but my first game was the 0-0 draw away at QPR when i was 6 or 7 i think - it was pretty boring! One of most memorable games however was the league cup final victory over sheff wed when morrow broke his arm - i was still young and was amazed at the amount of foul language but immensely enjoyed myself.
This season i've been fortunate enough to have a season ticket and my most memorable games were the chelsea away and cup final games -terrific atmosphere whilst the manure victory and spudz games were fantastic. I'm very proud to be an Arsenal fan and i look forward to the day when i get to see us win the champions league -thatll be fantastic!!

[TopGooner10]

I've always been a Gooner as I was born in North London. My parents lived in St. Johns Wood at the time and Highbury was the nearest club to home. It was fractionally closer than Loftus Road so that was a let-off!
Once the family re-located to The Midlands (Staffordshire & Shropshire) the only matches I was able to go to were with my grandfather. I have an uncle (Iam McFaul) who used to play for Newcastle and we used to meet the team and go to see them whenever they played Stoke, Wolves, Birmingham and the other local teams.
Although I remained a Gooner, I ended up only seeing Newcastle and became a big fan of Supermac. Imagine my delight when he joined Arsenal! That was the catalyst for me to focus only on the mightly Gunners.
As soon as I was able (1980s) to, I began driving to as many matches at Highbury as I could and have continued to do so ever since.
Now, my brainwashed wife and I are the proud holders of season tickets; we only had to wait for 11 years!
Although I don't go to many away matches, my favourite experience watching Arsenal was, ironically, at St. James' Park. I was amongst the Toon Army, directly in line with Bergy when he received the ball, turned Dabizas and scored THAT goal. The home fans when completely silent; you could even hear the pocket of celebrating Gunners up in the rafters! Then, once the initial disappointment of conceding had passed, the whole crowd applauded Dennis. Even now, the memory of it sends a tingle down my spine. I was especially proud to be a Gunner at that moment.