89

The conclusion to the 1988/89 First Division season was probably the most exciting of any in my lifetime, but it also came at the end of a season of tragedy and change. As such, the thrill of a nationally broadcast, last minute title-winning goal by Michael Thomas at Anfield, was overwhelmingly offset by the trauma of watching the horrific events of Hillsborough unfold before our eyes. Football at its exhilarating best and devastating worst, with just a few short weeks between.

I am not an Arsenal supporter, I am a Nottingham Forest fan and my first-hand experience of Hillsborough cuts a much deeper mark upon me than the season’s conclusion. I do still love football, however, and this “in their own words” account of that game and the events that led to it was in its own way as thrilling as the final game itself. George Graham, his players, the staff and a host of fans remember how they pulled off the seemingly impossible by beating the formidable Liverpool 2-0 in their own backyard, and it is an absorbing and insightful read.

The experience of a football fan comes in three key expressions, a long form narrative within their club’s history, the ups and downs of a particular season and the beauty of individual moments, in 89 we have all three. Arsenal had not won the league title since 1971. George Graham was one of those heroic champions, but his appointment as manager was not greeted with the joy that might have been expected. He arrived from Millwall, an unglamorous second division club and did not really fit the mould of high profile manager that the fans were looking for.

He knew this club, however, and he arrived with a determination to return it to glory. Immediately he set about the task of building a squad that he could lead and mould, removing some of the old guard and replacing them with young, hungry and pliable footballers. Graham the manager was a very different beast to Graham the player, a laidback midfielder who the fans had nicknamed “Stroller”. His team would be organised and it would work hard, not just on matchday but right through the week.

Lawrence tells the story of this momentous game and its broader context through the words of the people who experienced it on closest terms. The books is thus a series of quotes that set the scene and then unpack the drama. George Graham himself explains the way he approaches management and provides insight into his thinking, often received doubtfully but ultimately accepted by players who held him in great respect and sometimes fear.

First and foremost Graham created a team, a unified whole that was prepared to sacrifice everything for collective glory. Several players had grown up at Arsenal and had genuine feeling for the club, those that were brought in to join them were all upwardly mobile in their careers, looking to make a mark. It was a classic case of the sum being greater than its parts, even though the parts were undoubtedly talented.

It is not all about the staff and players though. Football is nothing without fans and Lawrence gives Arsenal supporters around the world a chance to express what it meant to them; to be there, or to be with friends around a television screen, or to be desperately trying to find out what was happening at Anfield while exiled at a checkpoint in East Berlin, or on the other side of the planet. A defining moment, a brief but glorious coming together as one homogenous mass, as Arsenal.

As the story unfolds, you get a sense of the individual characters in the team and the way they contributed to the whole. You also have an insight into the mind of a professional athlete in those crucial moments and how they each cope with them, or don’t. Seconds from the end of the last game of the season with the title riding on your next move as you run in on goal, defenders at your back, playing chicken with the goalkeeper, wondering if he’ll make his move in time for you to make yours, can you hold it together in that moment? Could you be Michael Thomas at Anfield and hold your nerve? It is why we love this game.

RIP Rocky. RIP the 96.

A must read for all Gooners young and old. This provides a glorious reminder of Arsenal's incredible last day of the season victory at Anfield which brought them an unexpected title win.

Amy Lawrence has done an exceptional job in recreating the day through the eyes and words of all the main protagonists and they paint an unforgettable picture of this triumph.

Something to revel in for all Arseanl fans.

Highly recommended..