David is a photographer and content creator, a podcaster and writer who has encountered global fame as a passionate Arsenal fan at the front of Block Four at the Emirates Stadium, often seen showing the scoreline or celebrating with players.
He explained how his moniker came about: “Score Guy came about when we moved to the Emirates. It was the time when Sky Tv started to film the crowds to get the atmosphere, turning the camera to pick out people in crowd. Arsenal fans always celebrate hard. Quickly the cameras picked up on our celebrations. What started as a joke soon became a regular event.
“A close Gooner buddy who had recently moved to New Zealand said the games were sometimes on at a difficult time when he was in the office, so he wouldn’t always know the score, with the sound muted on the tv streaming in the corner of his office computer or phone.
“So I would use my fingers to show the score to him when the camera came to me and it became a bizarre trademark.
“During Covid my wife suggested putting Tv clips up on social media and it quickly went crazy. I have people now asking for selfies every game, wanting to stop and chat, which is wonderful, even in strange places like a nightclub in Berlin in the early hours! I've have grown men coming up to me saying their grandmother or son loves it!
“Many overseas gunners have grown up watching me on their Tv’s in their homes since they were very young. It does result in many beers being offered and moments recalled of great goals!
“We have recently seen how the notoriety of fans can sometimes backfire! I never do gimmicks, I’m just celebrating a goal and it can be a lot of fun. It is just a way of putting smiles on faces and getting people and players connected. But we do love banter and amusing moments, if you know you know….
“I sit in the front row of Block 4 and the players will often jump in with us there, which you can be sure Mikel Arteta gives them permission to do in order to build that connection that he wants with the fans. When Max Dowman scored his first ever Premier League goal against Everton this season, he jumped in with all us and players have done it for years over many seasons.“
When did you start supporting Arsenal and why?
Like a lot of fans, it was a family thing.
It was early 1970s and I couldn’t figure out who to support – all I could do then was read about football in Shoot magazine, decades before the internet and hardly any matches were televised, except the FA Cup.
My mother was from North London and had worked as a tea lady at Luton Town FC, so she always had a strong connection to football. She said why didn’t I support a London club.
I saw Arsenal’s cannon on their crest and the fact that they had the nickname “The Gunners” and it was BANG, I was sold.
I don't remember fully the FA Cup final against Liverpool in 1971 but I remember the final against Leeds United the following year when Mick Jones dislocated his shoulder, and we lost.
So my love affair with Arsenal started with disappointment. Then Ipswich beat us in the FA Cup, so it was hard and faith was questioned but and then we beat Manchester United the year after. I was 15 years old by now and that winning result meant I could brag at school, especially the way it was done. I suppose I realised then, being a young Gunner would be a rollercoaster ride.
What was your first Arsenal match?
Some early years were in Lancashire so my first game was Everton away, which my Dad took me to when I was 12. (April 10 1976)
We had tickets in the Everton end because there was no way to get in the Arsenal end. It was the punk era and I’d never really seen a punk before so there were punks coming up from London who were Arsenal fans.
One of our funny moments was these Everton fans screaming at this Arsenal fan because he had green spiky hair. I'd never seen a guy with green hair before. I was mesmerised. It stuck with me the abusive banter the away fans received and that fired my adrenaline.
I went to Highbury for the first time in mid 1980s, standing on the North Bank and those memories are vivid. Technicolour. In this year you would say IMAX.
I can remember the peanut guy, the surge when we scored and how much it felt like the original mosh pit!
I left college and moved to London in 1987, I got a photographic assistant job in Shepherds Bush but decided I had to live no more than a mile away from Highbury. I just wanted to be able to get up on a Saturday and walk to the game.
I loved how spontaneous it all was. You would use the landline to call your mates and arrange to go that morning and it was only about £3. You’d arrange to meet at the tea room at the back at the North Bank at half time, if you didn’t have a pint in the Woodbine before.
I also remember that collective noise of the North Bank. We all love Fever Pitch and those scenes of him growing up and going to the ground, it was just like that. When you watch the young kids now on the parade, their love and adrenaline is firing straight away.
It is such a wonderful season winning the league after 22 years, young Gooners now will be avid Gooners forever. They're addicted to it because of the last two or three years they'll have endured, that rollercoaster has finally stopped!
Who was your first Arsenal hero and why?
Charlie George had a swagger about him. I’d never seen someone with long hair playing the game the way he did, he was brilliant: I loved his persona.
Then came Liam Brady, breathtaking skills and leadership. I was absolutely gutted when he left, first love, first heartbreak. It came as a surprise because I thought players would stay with us their entire careers!
I also fell in love with Rocky (David Rocastle) and Ian Wright, who were immense...
David was given privileged access while writing his book
Who is your favourite ever Arsenal player and why?
It's the hardest question to answer. But I was very lucky that I did some work with Thierry Henry and I got to meet him a few times and talk football.
I got to learn a little about him as a man. He’s an unbelievable human being, so inspirational and someone who could be quite easily be a life coach guru.
As a footballer I always thought Dennis Bergkamp was the greatest player I have ever seen but Thierry just edges it as my favourite.
We are always getting players signing to Arsenal because of the Invincibles and because of Thierry, his legacy is untouchable.
What’s your biggest Arsenal regret/disappointment?
Not winning in Paris (Champions League final, 2006 2-1 defeat v Barcelona).
I felt we could have seen that game out considering we were 1-0 up and the quality of that team, that Invincible team, they should have won a European trophy in that period.
However this team now is right up there with them, we surprised everybody that we got to the Champions League final, but to get the fear out of our hearts we needed to win the league and the Champions League would have always been the icing on the cake. It would have been unbelievable, but we will return.
I learnt that night yet again that European football is a very difficult thing with officials and endurance. To go out on penalties was so disappointing but I didn't come away this time with regret like in 2006 because I was so proud of the team.
I do personally regret not going to more away games when we were at Highbury but I just couldn't afford them. It always felt special going away then and still does now.
What is your favourite Arsenal memory (away from the pitch) and why?
In 1998 after we won the double I approached Arsenal with an idea to do a behinds the scenes photographic book “Memories and Marble Halls” on Highbury. Luckily for me they agreed!
I spent nine months at Highbury nearly every day creating the third official book in Arsenal history with a foreword by Peter Hill-Wood, containing memories from fans from the 1930s right up to 1998. Looking back at this period, so many pictures are timeless. It was published in May 2000 and went on to be a bestseller.
While compiling the book I was called early August 1999 and asked to go along to photograph a new signing, a guy called Henry from Juventus. I went along and in walked the legend onto the Highbury pitch with Arsene Wenger.
No one knew who TH14 was and that's the only mention of him in the book, which is bizarre in a time spanning historical book of Highbury, considering his goals and legacy.
When I was working with Thierry recently, he was relayed the story and subsequently kindly signed over his photo in the book, without my knowledge, which then obviously came as a huge surprise.
He wrote: “To David, the day it all started and the rest is history. Thierry Henry”
I was so proud that he acknowledged the memory.
But saying that, the quick answer would be the parade this year, probably just beats that, the pride of 1.5 million fans in Islington was immense.
The streets are our own. North London is RED.
What is your favourite ever Arsenal match?
I can close my eyes and see it now. It was Arsene Wenger’s first North London derby. November 1996.
The pressure was on Arsene because it was his first Spurs derby, and it was also on Dennis Bergkamp because there was an expectation that he needed to score more.
Ian Wright had the ball in the closing moments and went to the corner flag to run the clock down as we were already winning 2-1 but changed his mind, cutting back he played the ball to Bergkamp, who shot low in to the far corner of the goal.
It was horrendous weather, pouring with rain and when Dennis scored he slid on his knees, spinning around in front of our section in the North Bank and we all went crazy.
There was something about that moment under the lights, it was an atrocious evening weather-wise, but it was unbelievable. A true time capsule moment.
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To listen to David on the Dublin Arsenal podcast, please visit: https://www.youtube.com/dublinarsenal
To buy Arsenal Memories and Marble Halls, click here
David has also just finished a non-fiction autobiographical book on being the photographer during the Greenpeace action on the Brent Spar in 1995. He hopes to be published in the near future.
To find out more, please visit https://www.instagram.com/we_wont_back_down_/