Visit to Arsenal Training Ground - Friday 7th April 2006

A rare opportunity to visit the Arsenal training ground, on the edge of London. The reason was to present an award to Dennis Bergkamp, thanking him on behalf of Arsenal fans for 11 years with the club. We were ushered into the visitors centre in the training ground, right by the main entrance, so we didn't get to see any players or even football pitches. The one thing we did get to see, through trees, was the players' car park, containing several hundred grand's worth of cars.

Whilst waiting for the man to arrive, we saw some people come and go - Thierry Henry in his Aston Martin (registration T14HEN); Arsene Wenger walking to our building for press conferences; and Kolo Toure and Matt Flamini going to do press interviews also.

After what seemed like an eternity, Dennis Bergkamp walked into the room, and we all shook hands like we'd known each other for ages. The award that we were due to present him with was a big block of glass, with his picture engraved into it. Trying to get it out of the box, nobody wanted to be the one to break it. We were told that Tony Adams had dropped a player of the year award after being presented with it - Dennis asked if that was in his "other days", but apparently not.

A 2-minute presentation, with photos and some autographs later, and he was whisked away by the Arsenal press people. It is a real rarity these days, getting to meet an Arsenal player, as they are usually so well shielded from fans. That is a shame, because more opportunities like this may stop Premiership fans feeling so distanced from the players at their clubs.