The greening of Gillespie Road: When Arsenal’s Irish held football in the palm of their hands

At Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium, there was no match last Saturday. Only fond memories and Irish nostalgia. Outside, heat lamps tend to minor imperfections on the pitch; watching out from the Holloway Suite, hundreds of green Gunners are feasting on cottage pie, cabbage and leek and poached salmon, garnished with reminisces of an era when a gaggle of outrageously talented Irish men held English and European football in thrall.

Getting to the stadium from the Arsenal tube station is only three minutes east along Gillespie Road and up Drayton Park to the concourse leading to the ground; in the '70s and '80s, it was a minute or two west from the underground and up Avenell Road for the front door at Highbury. Liam Brady, Pat Rice, Sammy Nelson, David O’Leary, John Devine and Frank Stapleton had their directions down and their heads up. Tony Donnelly tended the club kit and Paddy Galligan took care of the stadium, but they minded their Irish fledglings best of all.

As a well-tailored Niall Quinn emerges from the underground, there’s an estate agent showcasing to a young couple the upside of living across the street from a modern-day Premier League stadium. ‘Legends have walked up and down this street, with their gear bag and their dreams slung over their shoulder.’ Quinn smiles.

“Walking up from the Tube station started me thinking,” Quinn says. “I first did that 41 years ago. Did it happen for me here? I dunno. But you get the goosepimples, taking it all in, remembering a time when I had to do the kit and get it all ready for (Arsenal’s training ground at) London Colney.

“For the first while I lived with my uncle and aunt in Twickenham, and I had to get the 281 bus to Hounslow station at quarter past six every morning to get