On This Day – 20th June
It was on this day a quarter of a century ago that Arsenal Football Club changed forever.
They had reached the final of the European Cup Winners Cup for the second successive season, losing in the last minute. This run in Europe took the attention away from their awful Premier League form as the finished in a very disappointing 12th place.
Things were even worse for the club off the field. Playmaker and fans favourite Paul Merson had admitted to addictions to gambling, alcohol and cocaine and was suspended for a few months.
Longstanding manager George Graham was sacked in the February of 1995 for receiving illegal payments in a couple of transfer deals.
The summer of 1995 was a time for great change at Highbury and Bolton Wanderers manager Bruce Rioch landed the managerial job vacated by Graham.
He promptly opened the cheque book and signed England captain David Platt. Then came an even bigger annoncement on 20th June that Dennis Bergkamp had been signed for £7.5million!
I could go on and write bout Bergkamp’s career at Highbury, but I have already included him in my ‘Hall of Fame’. This article can be found here.
The best way of showing how much signing Bergkamp meant for those who held Arsenal close to their heart is to show a video to you. Ian Wright explains on this video about how excited he was when he met Bergkamp for the first time:
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