31 December

1983 Arsenal v Southampton

New Year's Eve and I'm making the trip to North London. And why not. We are shit, we sacked our manager not too long before and we had struggled at home to Birmingham City days earlier. Why would anyone want to stay home.

Grim times at the Arsenal and the crowd of 27 and a half thousand witnessed a 2-2 draw with terrace hero Charlie Nicholas scoring from the spot. It was his second pen in two games at Highbury and indeed his second goal at home all season.

The terraces were filled with kids sporting their latest Sergio Tacchini, Pringle and Fila as the casual craze went from a bunch of thugs nicking them off clothes lines to parents buying them for their sprogs.

Odd, isn't it, what sticks in the mind?

1988 Aston Villa v Arsenal 0-3

I loved going to Villa no matter what day it was. We;d take so many it was almost like a reunion  you'd keep bumping into familiar faces.

The thing with the Arsenal support back then was it was very splintered at home games. You had lads on the North Bank, the Clock End or in the seats. But come away games we were all thrown together and I gotta say we had a pretty impressive away following back then both numbers and noise. The fact we were splintered at home meant Highbury was much quieter.

But come away games we'd pile on the motorways or trains and head off for the Arsenal and it was what it was all about. Indeed there have been a number of times when I just blew home games off and saved the cash, or went elsewhere, preferring the buzz on the road.

And they didn't get much better or bigger than Villa. Nice stadium, nice and easy to get to and we usually got a good result like this day with a supreme chip from the late, great David Rocastle we still talk about to this day.

Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way, oh what fun it is to see the Arsenal win away. Christmas was over but the song still carried meaning.