In Copenhagen in '94 for the CWC Final, all you could see was a sea of red and white flags and banners everywhere. Holloway Gooners, Barnet Gooners, Essex, Bucks, we were all there and we were the 12th man roaring the team against a team the "experts" said we had no chance against. What a night! All the odds stacked against us but still coming out on top, that's exactly what this great club is all about and on that summer's night in Denmark, us fans made all the difference.
REDaction want to try and recreate those amazing European nights at our new home. We want to turn Emirates into a sea of red and white flags on European nights, just like we used to. So from now until the end of the season, every home European game will be a "Flag Night."
We want all of our fans going to the European games to bring a flag with them. If you've still got one from Copenhagen or Paris or Wembley, dust it down, give it a kiss and bring it with you to the CSKA Moscow game next week and every game after that! Or if you were thinking about buying one, stop thinking about it and buy one before the game.
We want to make our new, magnificent home a European fortress, just as Highbury used to be and you can do your bit. Please just make sure that the flag is no more than 1 metre square with a pencil sized stick, to avoid getting any grief from the jobs worth stewards we've got who have nothing better to do! So long as it's 1 meter sq maximum, you can tell them to "p!ss off and get a proper job!".
As we turn a new chapter in the history of our great club, things are looking incredibly promising for the future. We have a team of young superstars in the making who time after time keep showing that not only can they live up to the glorious standards of the past, they can maybe come close to exceeding them.
Last season our young Guns were robbed from winning Europe's biggest prize for the first time in our history, by a dopey ref who didn't know the rules of the game, and this season we want to go one better and bring the European Cup home!
Can you imagine how pumped up our youngsters will be when they walk out onto the pitch of our fantastic stadium against CSKA and see a mass of red and white flags greeting them? Well how would that make you feel?! Exactly, proud as punch and determined to win the game for our club. That's the difference we can all make.
So please think flags for European nights and make sure that you've got yours next week. You never know, you might be using it again on another famous, summer's night in May!
Victoria Concordia Crescit