ARSENAL 0 CITY 0
FA Premier League
16th October 1993
Attendance 29,567
Ref Roger Milford
City Coton, Flitcroft, Phelan, McMahon, Curle, Kernaghan, Simpson, Sheron, Quinn, Edghill, Lomas – subs Mike(unused), D Brightwell(unused), Dibble(unused)
Arsenal Seaman, Dixon Linighan, Adams, Winterburn, Parlour, Davis, Smith, McGoldrick, Heaney, Wright – subs Campbell(82), Keown(unused), Will(unused)
From ONCE A BLUE ALWAYS A BLUE The Arsenal game at The Gunners’ former home, Highbury, was a day I remember clearly. I walked up those marble steps thinking “Wow, I’m out of my depth here.”
… It had been a long journey on the coach travelling with older blokes, senior pros you’d call them. Keith Curle ordering me to make him a coffee. Me pretending to be asleep, then him waking me up on purpose so he could ask me to brew up for him! Even if senior players talked down to you or treated you like a nobody you would have to take it on the chin in those days.
… So here I was playing Arsenal and looking at the team sheet with all their fantastic players; David Seaman, Tony Adams, Paul Davis and Alan Smith, while sat in a dressing room with underfloor heating. At City the boiler had been broken for a while, cold water only.
Arsenal won a corner and it was my job to stay with the post at corners. I recall TC (Tony Coton) telling me to stay where I was but at the same time him and Ian Wright were having a right old slanging match, TC pushing Wrighty just before the corner was delivered. The referee stopped the play to have a word with the players and as he did Wrighty then started staring at me. I looked back at him, looked behind me, looked back at him, looked everywhere. He was trying to intimidate me and psyche me out but too be honest I hadn’t really realised this was happening. I was just confused! So he shouted “What the fuck are you looking at!” and then I got the message don’t mess with Ian Wright!
After the corner TC just said “ignore him he’s only messing” and before the end of the game Wright came past me and gave me a friendly rub on the head. One of my first lessons in mind games on the pitch. We actually had a goal disallowed from Niall Quinn, who was desperate to score against his former club, but we came away with a fighting, and given the circumstances, very sprited 0-0 draw. I remember getting back on the coach absolutely shattered thinking ‘Gosh this is what it must be like to be a professional footballer playing at the top level.’ I could barely walk.