Ian Stone (L) with the legendary Liam Brady
Ian Stone is one of the UK’s leading comedians, appearing at The Comedy Store and on a wide range of radio and television shows including “The Football’s On” which he hosts on BT Sport.
He presents the Arsenal podcast “Handbrake Off” for The Athletic and also appears on “The Tuesday Club”.
When did you start supporting Arsenal and why?
It's all a bit lost in the mists of time, really. A long time ago, when I was six, I got taken to West Ham.
I have a very vivid memory of sitting on the track at Upton Park just in front of where the terraces were. The ball came off for a throw in and Bobby Moore came running over and picked the ball up from right in front of me and took a throw.
My dad was football nuts really and would go to four or five games on a weekend if he could.
He used to go to Tottenham one week and Arsenal the next. I even had all the programmes for the Tottenham double season in 1961.
Taking me to Spurs every week would have been tantamount to child abuse I think so it's best that he took me to Arsenal in the end really, when I was about seven, maybe 1970, and that was it.
I was hooked. The red shirts, Highbury…all those things. It was because my dad was a fan really and he took me along and I became an Arsenal fan.
What was your first Arsenal match?
I can't remember the game. I really have no recollection of it at all, but I used to have all the programmes.
Arsenal had a good team at that time. They were just about to win the Double and then they'd won the Fairs Cup the year before.
One game I remember was in 1972 when Ajax came to town.
We had won the League so we were in the European Cup and got to the quarter finals against Ajax.
This was a great Ajax team – Johan Cruyff was playing for them and possibly Johan Neeskens and a couple of the others, these players who went on to be the best in Europe.
I have a vivid recollection of Johan Cruyff bringing the ball down in the penalty area over his shoulder and he just killed it, Bergkamp-esque, if you like.
I remember 58,000 people going “Oh wow, did you see that?”
I'd never seen a player that good in the flesh. They beat us at Highbury and they went on to win the European Cup that year, but that was really one of the first things I remember, watching Johan Cruyff and it was a thrill.
We had a good side. That Double-winning team was a good team. George Graham could play, John Radford and Ray Kennedy, who then got converted to midfield and ended up being an absolutely stunning midfielder for Liverpool…that team could play, but Ajax were a different level. No doubt about it.
Who was your first Arsenal hero and why?
You know, it's difficult with memories from that long ago, but I know for certain that at eight years old, watching Charlie George wallop the ball into the top corner in the FA Cup Final, having won at Spurs on the Monday night before, would have been a big thrill for me.
That's my team. Winning the Double, in those in those beautiful yellow shirts with a blue collar.
That was a big moment, seeing Charlie George, especially when I found out three or four years later that he'd gone to Holloway Boys School, which is just up the road from where I went, the Jewish Free School. It's nice to find out the guy is a local kid, you know, that's pretty cool.
Liam Brady was another one by 1976/77 when he was coming through and I was going every week. He was a huge hero for me.
He was a lovely lovely footballer and left footed as well. My son is left-footed and when he was seven or eight, and it's hard to describe this, but essentially his body shape reminded me of when I was watching Brady. I mean, my son, he's a player, he can play, but he ain't Chippy Brady. But there was something about his body shape that really took me right back, a sort of visceral moment.
It's the goal against Tottenham away. It's the amount of time he had on the ball, how cool he was and how calm in the middle of all that craziness. These great players have always got time on the ball.
Who is your favourite ever Arsenal player and why?
It's hard for me to to pick one. Is it okay if I actually refuse to answer the question because I genuinely don't know?
I can easily say Tony Adams or I could say Ian Wright or Liam Brady or I could say Patrick Vieira or Dennis Bergkamp or Thierry Henry….we have had some great players. We've been very very lucky to see them all.
I used to love watching Pat Jennings play for us. You know, I used to stand on the North Bank and there’d be one-on-ones and you'd never expect Jennings to be beaten. He was just enormous, and he used to hold the ball with one hand. I loved all that.
So I don't know favourite player of all time. I can't. It's impossible. It genuinely is for me. There's too many.
What’s your biggest Arsenal regret/disappointment?
Losing the Cup Winners Cup final in 1980 in the Heysel Stadium after we'd got beaten by West Ham five days earlier at Wembley in the FA Cup final was a tough one to take.
More recently, the Champions League final in 2006. Thierry Henry was through on goal, should have scored and would have scored nine times out of 10 with a chance like that. It's all there for him and the goalkeeper saved it. I think at 2-0 we would have won that game. I genuinely do, even with ten men.
I'm sure that was the biggest regret of Henry’s Arsenal career. I'm sort of glad he won the Champions League with Barcelona because he was a fabulous player.
I went to the game when we lost against Liverpool (FA Cup final 2001) when we should have won by five or six. That was tough. Those big defeats really hurt.
What is your favourite Arsenal memory (away from the pitch) and why?
We went to Manchester United a few years ago in the sixth round of the FA Cup on a Monday night and nine and a half thousand of us went up there.
Danny Welbeck scored the winner.
We made a lot of noise and I remember quite a lot of the players talking about it afterwards. I saw Szczesny in the programme a week later saying how the fans really helped.
I went up there with my son and Wrighty, bless him, who I was working with at the time on Absolute Radio, gave us a lift home. That was quite nice to say the least!
Travelling to Paris for that Champions League final was also a lot of fun. We even had a good time afterwards to be honest with you.
I think it's those away trips where I've been with mates. Copenhagen in 94 was great, travelling over there, running into my mates outside the stadium. You know, there were Arsenal fans everywhere. As far as I can tell, we took over the whole place. That was fun. The camaraderie means a lot.
I went to the protest at the stadium a couple of weeks ago at the Emirates. It was nice to be with my Gooner family again. You know, I've been with my own family a lot and it's been lovely, don't get me wrong. But it's nice to be with my Gooner family as well. I enjoyed that very much.
I'm not thanking Stan and Josh Kroenke for that!
I'm just saying they brought us together. It was a nice communal feeling and that's what I miss about it and that's what I love about it.
What is your favourite ever Arsenal match?
That 1994 Cup Winners Cup final in Copenhagen, “Georgie Graham's Magic Hat” which we were singing the whole game.
We were under the cosh and this was a Parma team that contained Tomas Brolin before he ballooned, Faustino Asprilla, Gianranco Zola. They had some serious players.
Wrighty was suspended for the final and we won one-nil with Alan Smith getting the goal. We were weak but we did the job. Winning a European final, that was good.
And of course, Anfield 89. I wasn't there but I watched it.
For a while, I used to have 26589 as a PIN code for various things., because I wasn’t going to forget that date.
I told Michael Thomas actually and he look at me as if to say “Are you sure you should be saying that?” I wasn’t saying on the radio, but I’ve changed it now!
More recently I enjoyed the first 5-2 at the Emirates against Spurs. That was that was just such a brilliant day because we had the misery of going 2-0 down and then coming back… when Theo (Walcott) thumped in that last goal, the joy of it!
To be honest, there's been quite a few Spurs home games, like the one the other year when Torreira scored and we won 4-2 was probably the best day under Unai Emery I'd say.
I mean we know that right now things are up and down, but there's been enough joyous moments…
The comeback wins… beating Shakhtar Donetsk 3-2 when we were 2-0 down and Keown got two goals in the last four minutes to win it. Brilliant!
Everton in 1998 when Tony Adams half-volleyed it into the bottom corner for 4-0. That was probably the happiest day watching Arsenal.
It was a gorgeous day and Islington High Street after that was just great.
Being an Arsenal fan means misery and suffering with the odd moment of fun and joy but I was talking to a Chelsea mate of mine and we agreed that a lot of it is not really very enjoyable. Not really. But once in a while they do something that surprises you and you feel good about it.
It’s what it means to be a football fan. If you commit, you take the pain and you take the misery and once in a while you get a little modicum of joy and you go “That'll do.”
* Ian has also written a book “To Be Someone” about growing up and his love for “The Jam” which you can buy HERE