CHILDHOOD MEMORIES OF ANFIELD 1989

BY ANDREW ALLEN

I may only have been six years old, but I will never forget the 26th of May 1989.

Kitted out in an Umbro replica kit from the early eighties, my whole family and I went to watch the Arsenal-Liverpool title decider at my father's friend's house in Ashford, Middlesex. There were three families of Gooners around the television set that night and I remember it being very crowded.

The match is a blur...what I recall is mostly what I've seen a hundred times in replays, but when Michael Thomas scored I remember rolling around on the ground like it was me who'd got the goal. When the final whistle blew and George Graham's side were crowned Champions, the house went crazy.

That night the other kids and I stayed up for hours playing football in the dark as we tried to recreate what we'd just seen at Anfield. It was a magical night.