Thomas goal... I he was a fighter
ARSENAL v EVERTON
on the bus to training: Pat Dolan.
“Mickey Thomas was the nicest guy you could meet,”says Dolan. “When he scored that winning goal in the ‘89 game at Anfield, I kind of expected it, weird as that sounds.
“You see, he never got flustered, Mickey. Pressure didn’t get to him. So others might have bottled it. He held his nerve.
Youth
“You remember the finish, the moment’s hesitation before striking it over (Bruce) Grobelaar. That composure, that was in him. I saw it from the first day we met.”
Thomas was one of four players on that 1989 team that Dolan had been schooled with in the Gunners’ youth team, Tony Adams, Paul Merson and David Rocastle being the others.
“Pat Rice used to get me to stay over with Merse on Friday nights at his home in Northolt because he considered me to be a leader, a good influence.
“That kind of sums up my football career. I could get others to do the right things but I could never do the right things myself.
“I wasn’t as disciplined off the pitch as I should have been.”
So by May 1989 he was in an apartment in Walsall, Scully in a flat in London, Quinn in the stands at Anfield and all the guys they had been brought up with were in the thick of it,
Pochettino and (below) Pat Scully was another Irish Gunner
Thomas scoring the winning goal, Adams lifting the trophy as captain, Rocastle providing the sorcery, Merson the guile.
“We were all mates, great mates,”says Dolan.
“Arsenal picked their characters carefully.”
Friendships endured over time to the extent that one suffered a cut, everyone bleeds.
Grieves
Rocastle died young from cancer and Dolan still grieves his loss. Adams and Merson had addiction issues.
“Who from football was there for them?” asks Dolan. “The game forgets you.”
Yet neither he, Scully, nor Quinn have forgotten 1989 and what it meant to see their pals win that league.
“Eighteen years had passed since their previous title,” said Scully.“It was such a big deal.”
Now 20 years have elapsed since Arsenal won a League.
So, it is a big deal they have taken it to the final day.
City have to mess up and no one expects that because they’ve won five of the last six titles and are the dominant team in English football since the Aguero moment.
But in 1989, Liverpool were then what City are now, having won six titles that decade, as well as two European Cups.
No one gave Arsenal a chance but their Irish contingent thought it was possible.
“Too right,”says Dolan.“I knew the character of Rocky, Mickey, Tony and Merse. Three of them were flair players, but they were fighters, too.”
Thirty-five years on that fight has passed down through the generations. No one really considers Arsenal to be the Irish club anymore.
“That says more about us and the Irish football system than it does about them,”says Scully.
Grateful
“But look, I’m Arsenal. I want to see them win. The club invested so much in me. I’ll always be grateful to them.”
Anfield in 1989 could have been the latter’s greatest day. Instead it was his swansong.
Being left out hurt. He loved the club, and still does, but knew then he had to move. So off he went, to Manchester City.
They too got under his skin. That’s why he doesn’t know who to shout for tomorrow. But Dolan and Scully do.
“Once a Gunner, you are always a Gunner,”says Dolan.