Nigel Mitchell (@MrNigelMitchell) started his presenting career with Nickelodeon and The Disney Channel.
He has worked for Arsenal since 2008, presenting the Matchday Show in front of over 60,000 people for every home fixture at Emirates Stadium as well events and videos for the club and their global partners.
When did you start supporting Arsenal and why?
My Dad was a rugby fan and was a bit disappointed that I didn't like the game.
He used to play for Wasps back in the day, I think occasionally he made the bench for the first team when it was all amateur. My Mum, on the other hand, likes football and used to go to Leyton Orient where she grew up.
But back in the 1980s there was a time when Liverpool and Everton were dominating and when I went into the playground at my first school everyone was like, “So are you Liverpool or Everton?”
I grew up in Kingston in Surrey, and all my friends were Liverpool or Everton with the odd one or two being Manchester United.
So I just randomly picked Everton and followed them through the 1985-86 era with Gary Lineker. That was it but obviously I didn't go to any games or anything like that.
Then my granddad said to me “Why on earth are you supporting Everton? You're never going to go there. You don't live anywhere near there. You should support a London club and I like George Graham and I think you should support Arsenal.
That just happened to coincide with Anfield 89 and I remember sitting there with my granddad at my Mum and Dad's house on a tiny box TV watching Elton Welsby and Jim Rosenthal. I thought “Well, this will do!”
What was your first Arsenal match?
My godfather was a big Arsenal fan and when he got wind of the fact that I was an Arsenal fan, he decided to take me to Highbury.
I’d actually been to a match before because my parents were friends with the Capital Radio DJ David Jensen and he took us to Crystal Palace versus Barnsley or something random like that.
Anyway, my godfather managed to get us tickets, I think it was Ian Wright's first season, so I guess that would have been 92 or 93 and it was against Palace.
We sat opposite the dugout in the West Stand, brilliant seats, and from then on, I was properly hooked. I got my first Arsenal shirt, which still fits me!
I think Ian Wright scored and I remember the mural being there because they were building the North Bank.
I've spoken a lot to David Seaman about the mural and the players thought it was horrible, because the ball would bounce off and then go halfway out the pitch again.
My godfather took me to the shop afterwards and bought me a little arsenal pin, which I've still got in my hallway. I think when you get taken to your first match and you feel part of something.
My friend, his daughter Chloe (Tron), is on the Board of Arsenal Supporters Trust and she's quite active.
Who was your first Arsenal hero and why?
I’m going to say the player who I used to pretend to be and I have no idea why I pretended to be this player, it’s completely random: Eddie McGoldrick.
I think he only ever scored one goal for us or something, didn't he?
I think maybe because I played a bit on the wing. I wasn't very good and I was in the third team at school.
He wasn't really a superstar player for Arsenal and he was often injured but for some reason he caught my eye back in the day.
Who is your favourite ever Arsenal player and why?
It’s really hard but I’ll go with Dennis (Bergkamp) probably just because of what he. did with the football and how he did it.
He was instrumental to everything, wasn't he, really? And I think he changed Arsenal as well. He was the first big big signing.
Some of the players I speak to say that when Dennis arrived, they knew the club meant business.
Suddenly this guy comes in and it changed everything. The other players literally looked at what Dennis was doing and would follow it. He was an example to the rest of the club.
Watching back some of those moments from over the years, Thierry (Henry) obviously had all those amazing goals and the runs and all that kind of stuff, but some of the stuff Dennis did was nuts, really, wasn't it?
I bet he was quite excited to get past the halfway line, too, after his experiences at Inter Milan!
I see Martin Odegaard in a similar way, a real game changes, isn't he?
When the team needs someone to step up, he does and the way he controls the ball, some of the stuff he does like the reverse tackle he did last season, you wonder “Did he just do? He did!”
Martin, I think is probably one of the best all-round captains in terms of the way he behaves on and off the pitch and how represents the club.
He is so accessible and whenever you work with him, it's never a problem. He wants to talk to you, and it's great. You go, wow, this guy is amazing and he gets it.
What’s your biggest Arsenal regret/disappointment?
Supporting and working probably was Baku (Arsenal lost 4-1 to Chelsea in the Europa Cup final, missing out on Champions League qualification and a European trophy).
It was such an important match for us as well, wasn't it? There was so much riding on it and we had the manager (Unai Emery) who knew the competition inside out.
The Club and Emirates organised a direct flight so we didn't have the challenges that everyone else had, you know with 10 hours here and 10 hours there.
I was very lucky. The club asked me to announce at the final as well, which was just incredible. So I had all that emotion going on as well.
Alex Iwobi scored a cracking goal to be fair to him, so I did get to announce a goal at least!
On the on the way home, I think no one knew what that really meant either: the importance of that match and what it meant for the next season and the domino effect losing had, because we really needed to get back into the Champions League.
I was sad for Unai as well. He and his family were lovely but I think he always had a tough job filling Arsene’s (Wenger) shoes.
He's doing wonders now at Aston Villa, isn't he, which is brilliant, so I'm pleased for him.
What is your favourite Arsenal memory (away from the pitch) and why?
I've been working as a freelance for the club since 2008, and I still do a bit of voice over work, radio, and other telly stuff.
My background was children's television and my agent at the time said that Arsenal were looking for a presenter. I said I would love to do it but I'd never worked in sport.
So I went and met the guy who was setting it up and went for a coffee. Normally when you go for a TV thing, you do a screen test or something like that but they never did.
We just went up to the canteen at Highbury House and he asked what I knew about Arsenal and we sat there chatting for a couple of hours.
I was asked to write a five minute news bulletin and send it over and was asked to start in January.
It was a real baptism of fire and Richard Clarke (former Arsenal TV Managing Editor) took me under his wing and was amazing and I'll always be grateful to him.
Arsenal were very good to me to let me learn on the job and the role has evolved.
They stopped doing the TV channel but then started this show called Arsenal World, and now we're on episode 530 which I love doing it every week.
Then I was asked if I’d like to do a pitch side role in about October 2012. I think we interviewed Charlie George and the Maidstone Gooners.
I came off at the end and said “Was that alright?” The powers that be that said: "Well you didn’t get booed” and so I've been doing it ever since and we've developed it over the years.
I absolutely love it. It's a pinch yourself job. You know, every time I go there I think “This is amazing.”
I posted a little reel on Instagram of the final day, the lap of appreciation and what an amazing day that was.
I wrote that I can't remember a better lap of appreciation at Emirates Stadium in terms of atmosphere and togetherness and you look around an hour later and the stadium is still pretty much full.
It's still the buzz you get, especially the way the crowd responded doing it with Mikel (Arteta) and Martin at the end.
And interviewing Dennis Bergkamp was one of the highlights, when that whole stadium was silent and you could hear a pin drop.
The biggest highlight would be the Australia Tour, when I realised how massive Arsenal was. It's very easy to get into a bubble, isn't it?
We go to Singapore and these people have been waiting for days for Arsenal to arrive just to get their spot at the airport.
I'll never forget this guy driving along on a moped next to the coach, waving. We wave back thinking that he thinks we're the players. Then we got off at the at the hotel and he just went “Oh, hello, Nigel. Welcome to Singapore!”
The fans knew everyone, all the photographers, all the backroom staff, and you go God, this club is massive.
In Australia, we were working in the Olympic Stadium and it was a sell-out.
We had more fans for the matches than they had for the Rugby World Cup final, which featured Australia!
On the Friday we were doing a fan party and normally they take place in a hotel and there's 800 people.
We were planning on doing some stuff on the pitch and there'd be some open training as well later, and it got to 130pm and we couldn’t start.
We started more than an hour late and we had about 25-26,000 thousand people just to watch some games with the players and I still look back and think how special that was.
It's amazing that fans get up at silly o'clock to watch these matches and they know everything about the club.
It's just a really lovely fan base.
What is your favourite ever Arsenal match?
From a pitch side point of view, it might be a bit of a random one as well.
It was a game against Aston Villa on the very last day of the season in 2016. (Arsenal won 4-0).
Aston Villa had gone down already and their fans had arrived with loads of inflatables and were having a party because they weren’t playing for anything.
Tottenham were playing Newcastle at St. James's Park and they got hammered 5-1 which meant we got into the Champions League.
Everyone was cheering about stuff that wasn't happening on the pitch. There was an amazing atmosphere, especially when Newcastle scored.
Arsene kept turning around asking what the score was and getting updates from the fans.
Then the Bournemouth game this season (3-2 with last minute winner from Reiss Nelson), I think it was a mini earthquake, wasn't it?
I’ve had so many amazing experiences.
And I am now on the side of Emirates, which is mind-blowing. I was sent an e-mail earlier this year and it was a particularly tough day because my Mum hasn't been very well.
The email said that they’d like to include me as a thank you for my commitment over the years. I'm really honoured to be there with my microphone, tucked away on the bottom right hand corner.
At the end of the day I’m representing the football club and you have to be as aware of that as possible.
I'm very proud to represent Arsenal because a lot of their values align with my values, so it's a nice fit for me. It's an honour.
To find out more about Nigel, please click HERE