NORTH London Forever.
Says the song, and the scenes from Tuesday night will live with me for that time and more.
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I only popped out for a pint of milk (or can of stella!) Credit: Supplied
Ian Wright was in the thick of the celebrations with the Arsenal fans outside the Emirates Stadium Credit: AP
I’m lucky to live right inside the Emirates Stadium, in the flats on the concourse next to the Tony Adams statue near the North Bank.
An approximate 1 minute 30 second commute from door to seat.
For an Arsenal maniac like myself it really is a dream place to live, unless you need any post delivered on a match day.
As the moment 22 years in the making finally arrived, I stepped out of my front door and was immediately thrown into a crowd of thousands of ecstatic fans all making their way down the bridge to the front of the stadium.
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Huge smiles etched across everyone’s faces. It was a mixture of pure shock and utter delirium.
My phone was melting. FaceTiming and texting friends and family, receiving far more messages than I’ve ever had for any major life event.
Hugging more strangers than New Year’s Eve on steroids.
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Arsenal’s stars made sure they made it to the Emirates Stadium to celebrate too Credit: Instagram
Walking down the steps to outside where the Armoury club shop is I could hear a section of the crowd roaring: “Ian Wright, Wright, Wright”.
I got a bit nearer and it was actually Ian Wright spraying a bottle of champagne right in the middle of everyone.
Give that man a statue.
Untold thousands of people were now at the front of the stadium, hanging off lamposts as fireworks went off and the sky turned bright red from the flares.
It still didn’t feel real.
I actually lived in the same building of flats 10 years ago, but during that time you’d never even know there was a game most of the time.
That was near the end of Arsene Wenger’s tenure. We had a disillusioned fan base and a distinct lack of competition for the big prizes. Admittedly, Wenger was hamstrung by finances to improve his squad – largely due to building this very stadium – but the disconnect between the fans and the squad was incredibly clear.
Not anymore.
Now, with Mikel Arteta’s extreme enthusiasm and passion, you know from early in the morning of every game there certainly is a match on.
For the last couple of home matches thousands of fans have met the bus on arrival too, always from around 1 hour 45 mins before kick-off.
By 7am on Wednesday morning, the clean-up mission was already underway. I passed the cleaner removing debris – mainly celebratory BuzzBallz – from the front of the flats.
And like the thousands before I was greeted with a huge smile.
What a night.
I only went out to buy a pint of milk, honest.
