2002 FA Cup Final
Having travelled to Cardiff on the train from Paddington in
2001 we decided to take a minibus from Dover for the Chelsea game in 2002. The
previous year had seen a magnificent day in the Cardiff sunshine spoiled by
Steve Dunn’s deliberate act of stopping Arsenal from winning the FA Cup (just
check the video from that match and tell me there isn’t something fishy about a
referee who seemed to make it his personal quest to upset Dennis Bergkamp). The
highlight of that train journey the previous year had been at Reading station
where a train full of Arsenal supporters spied a train spotter in a Tottenham
shirt at the end of the platform – we were the first train of the day and it
absolutely erupted once this cretin had been seen.
Back to May 2002 and we set off on the afternoon before the
game after a quick drink at The Boar’s Head. The fun bus, bedecked in its red
and white ribbons, was packed with beer and crisps and brandy and Dover Gooners
– there was me, my Dad, my brothers, Bill, Gary, David, Frank and Tony, with
Scott, a Newcastle fan, doing the driving for us. The singing was good (or
largely out of tune) and we made good time all the way to Bracknell where I
insisted on an impromptu pee stop by the side of the road. Having been abused
mercilessly for curtailing the progress I was amazed to see every other sod
also get off the bus to relieve their aching bladders.
Having stopped on the M4 for diesel and a small (!) brandy
coffee we eventually got to our hotel in Chepstow around tea-time. A quick
change of clothes and we headed off up the hill to join Frank Stubbs and the
Maidstone Gooners for a night of good food and drink to prepare for what lay
ahead the following day.
Pre-match in a magnificent stadium
We were all up early the following morning for a cooked
breakfast, and some more brandy. We were “joined” by a family of Chelsea
supporters who I don’t think were regulars at the Shed back in the 80’s. Gary
offered them some brandy to usher in the day only to be told in a very plummy
accent “We do our celebrating after the game”. Naturally they were told to
expect a very sober day in that case. Off in to the bus again and we were in
Cardiff early doors. After a quick walk around, and meeting Peter Nicholas
briefly, we settled in front of Cardiff Castle with the remaining beers to
enjoy the Cardiff weather and hospitality once again.
It's only...you know the rest
Having got in to the ground nice and early I once again
marvelled at the Millenium Stadium. It is one of my favourite grounds that I’ve
ever been to. Our seats were high up in the top tier, about the edge of the
penalty area at the end we scored both goals, opposite the tunnel. I can
remember the usual business of each Club getting to hear from their usual PA
announcer before a song was played for a bit of a sing-along. This was the
season of Freddie, of course, and the song played for us was “Can’t Take My
Eyes Off You” by Andy Williams. The song seemed to float across the sea of
flags that was now in the Arsenal end and the singing of our version of the
chorus was loud.
We love you Freddie...
I don’t recall too much of the first-half, save for a
Bergkamp header that floated just over the top. We were all pretty relieved
when Jimmy Floyd-Hasselbaink had to be replaced as his hamstring injury hadn’t
really healed properly and he was never fit in the first place. Two minutes
later Ray Parlour let fly with that shot. What a celebration. It was the usual
scene of jumping and shouting and flag waving joy. We seemed to have them on
the rack and Thierry Henry and Ashley Cole seemed to tear Chelsea apart down
our left. Following what had happened twelve months ago each missed chance had
us more and more worried. Then Freddie went down the left and left John Terry
on his back side. When he curled that ball you just knew it was going in. You
also knew we’d won the FA Cup. One of my abiding memories is of watching the
replay on the big screen and seeing Lee Dixon, warming up behind the goal, take
off in celebration in front of the Arsenal fans.
Within a minute Henry was replaced by Kanu and my brother
immediately pointed to the slumped shoulders of the Chelsea players – they were
still petrified by the Nigerian after his hat-trick at Stamford Bridge three
years earlier – and they simply couldn’t get the ball off him in those last ten
minutes. The rest of the game is a blur, and I don’t really recall the trophy
presentation.
Tony and Patrick
I do remember vividly parts of the lap of honour. Most of all I
remember Ashley Cole coming back out of the tunnel with the Cup and running to
our end because we were all still in the stadium. The reason we were all still
there was because Lee Dixon hadn’t left the pitch yet. He stood there in the
centre-circle just looking at the Arsenal supporters, dancing away to the
songs, determined to take in everything on what would be the last time he would
be around such an occasion as a player. The only shame was the chanting of his
name was being drowned out by yet another oppressive PA system.
Ray and Freddie
The walk back to the minibus was fantastic. Arsenal
everywhere, singing Sol Campbell songs and Freddie Ljungberg songs and Arsene
Wenger songs. Fantastic. Back on the bus it was more of the same. We drove out
of Cardiff with the sliding door cracked open and me and Gary hanging out of it
singing “We love you Freddie” to everyone on the pavements and in the cars.
Magnificent memories if, looking back at it, a little bit stupid in safety
terms!
That's why Sol left Tottenham
The frivolity did stop on the M4 when, in the traffic jam, we found the
bus (with door shut) the object of hostility from a similar vehicle containing
the more thuggish elements of the Chelsea support (I should mention that three
of our group were over 60 years old). By now a couple of us were dying for a
pee again but we couldn’t stop because of these nutters. When they pulled off
in to the services we piled out on to the hard shoulder – our driver Scott, an
ex-Royal Marine, was also out of the bus but he wasn’t stopping to relieve
himself so much as to look for the Chelsea fans!
Dicko with the spoils of the season
We made it back to Dover safe and extremely happy at the end
of a long and fantastic couple of days. The first part of another Double was in
the bag, but I wasn’t able to go to Old Trafford the following Wednesday
(unlike most of the others) as I was in the middle of a four week training
course. What a week to be a Gooner.
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