Commentaries

Due to the fact that my dad is visually impaired, I have sat with him and the other blind and visually impaired fans at Arsenal since around 1992. On various occasions, I had to commentate for my dad as the commentary system had broken down. At first, I found it very hard (and not a little embarrassing!) but after I’d done it a few times, I got used to it and nowadays I commentate on almost every Arsenal home game.

During the 2002/2003 season Elric, the guy who sits next to me, suggested that I record my commentaries and put clips of the goals on the internet. So for some of that season, the whole of 2003/2004 and some of 2004/2005, I used a clip-on microphone to record my commentary of every game and edited the recordings down to the goals to make them into MP3s.

So here, for your amusement and delight, are all of those commentaries in MP3 format.

2002/2003

• Saturday, 15th February 2003 – Manchester United 0 Arsenal 2 – F.A. Cup 5th Round
  • Ryan Giggs’ awful miss
  • Edu’s deflected free kick
  • Sylvain Wiltord’s brilliant winner
  • DJ String’s U2 mashup of the Wiltord goal and Beautiful Day

2003/2004

• Saturday, 16th August 2003 – Arsenal 2 Everton 1 – Premiership
  • Thierry Henry’s penalty
  • Pires’ winner

• Wednesday, 27th August 2003 – Arsenal 2 Aston Villa 0 – Premiership
  • Sol Campbell’s opener
  • Thierry Henry’s last minute winner

• Friday, 26th September 2003 – Arsenal 3 Newcastle United 2 – Premiership
  • Thierry Henry’s 1st goal
  • Gilberto’s header
  • Thierry Henry’s winner

• Saturday, 18th October 2003 – Arsenal 2 Chelsea 1 – Premiership
  • Edu’s free kick
  • Thierry Henry’s winner after Cudicini cock-up

• Wednesday, 5th November 2003 – Arsenal 1 Dynamo Kiev 0 (2-2 agg., Arsenal win on away goals rule) – Champions League
  • Cole’s incredible late winner

• Saturday, 8th November 2003 – Arsenal 2 Tottenham Hotspur 1
  • Pires’ equaliser
  • Ljungberg’s deflected winner

• Tuesday, 2nd December 2003 – Arsenal 5 Wolverhampton Wanderers 1 – League Cup
  • Aliadiere’s first goal
  • Kanu’s goal
  • Aliadiere’s brilliant 2nd goal
  • Wiltord’s goal
  • Cesc Fabregas’ first ever goal for Arsenal

• Wednesday, 10th December 2003 – Arsenal 2 Lokomotiv Moscow 0 – Champions League
  • Pires’ opener

• Saturday, 10th January 2004 – Arsenal 4 Middlesborough 1 – Premiership
  • Thierry Henry’s penalty
  • Ugo Ehiogu’s own goal
  • Robert Pires gets the 3rd
  • Freddie Ljungberg’s 50th goal for Arsenal

• Sunday, 1st February 2004 – Arsenal 2 Manchester City 1 – Premiership
  • Tarnat’s own goal
  • Thierry Henry’s unstoppable winner

• Tuesday, 10th February 2004 – Arsenal 2 Southampton 0 – Premiership
  • Thierry Henry’s first
  • Thierry Henry’s second

• Sunday, 15th February 2004 – Arsenal 2 Chelsea 1 – F.A. Cup
  • Jose Reyes’ memorable first goal
  • Jose Reyes wins the game
  • Craig slags off Elric
  • Commentator loses his voice during goalmouth scramble

• Friday, 16th April 2004 – Arsenal 5 Leeds United 0 – Premiership
  • Robert Pires’ opening goal
  • Thierry Henry’s first
  • Thierry Henry’s second
  • Thierry Henry’s third
  • Thierry Henry’s fourth!

• Saturday, 15th May 2004 – Arsenal 2 Leicester City 1 – Premiership
  • Thierry Henry’s equaliser
  • Patrick Vieira’s winner and the final goal of the unbeaten season

2004/2005

• Sunday, 22nd August 2004 – Arsenal 5 Middlesborough 3 – Premiership
  • Thierry Henry’s opening goal
  • Dennis Bergkamp’s gets the 2nd
  • Jose Reyes gets the 4th seconds after the equaliser!
  • Thierry Henry finishes the job

• Wednesday, 25th August 2004 – Arsenal 3 Blackburn Rovers 0 – Premiership
  • Thierry Henry opens the scoring
  • Cesc Fabregas makes it two
  • Jose Reyes makes us record breakers!

• Saturday, 11th September 2004 - Fulham 0 Arsenal 3 – Premiership
  • Freddie Ljungberg puts us into the lead
  • Zat Knight makes it 2 with an own goal
  • Jose Reyes tops off a superb away win

• Saturday, 18th September 2004 – Arsenal 2 Bolton Wanderers 2 – Premiership
  • Thierry Henry puts us into the lead
  • Robert Pires puts us into the lead again!

• Saturday, 2nd October 2004 – Arsenal 4 Charlton Athletic 0 – Premiership
  • Freddie Ljungberg opens the scoring
  • Thierry Henry scores with an incredible backheel to make it 2
  • Thierry Henry scores his second

• Saturday, 16th October 2004 – Arsenal 3 Aston Villa 1 – Premiership
  • Thierry Henry makes it 2

And that was that. Unfortunately, around that time, my minidisc player started shutting down as soon as I jumped up in the air when we scored so I had to give up. I am constantly on the lookout for a device with a MIC input so that I can use my lapel microphone with it but not many MP3 players do these days.

One of these days, I will find one and resume these amusing recordings but for now, you’ll have to make do with remembering the season when there wasn’t a single team in England who could beat us.

Sorry.