“I WANTED TO CHANGE SOMETHING AT ARSENAL, TO PLAY MY PART IN HISTORY. IT TURNED OUT WELL...”
Dennis Bergkamp is smiling, as he remembers Clacket Lane services on the M25.
Just the merest mention of his visit, and the Dutchman is already getting flashbacks to the summer of 1995. “It was unbelievable...” explains Bergkamp, chuckling as he chats to FourFourTwo.
He isn’t talking about the service station’s facilities, as impressive as they undoubtedly were 25 years ago. He’s talking about the moment when fate intervened – the moment he knew his Arsenal career was bound for glory.
A day earlier, Bergkamp had completed a £7.5 million deal to join the Gunners, following an unhappy spell at Inter in Serie A. Driving back home to the Netherlands from north London, he unwittingly took a much longer route than planned, ending up on the southern section of the M25 motorway.
Briefly stopping to fill up his BMW at Clacket Lane, just south of Croydon, he noticed the man behind him in the queue growing ever more agitated, frustrated that this rookie to the world of British petrol stations had parked in a position that blocked others from accessing the next pump. Eventually, the angry man jumped out of his car. It was Ian Wright.
The pair had never met. Soon realising it was Bergkamp stood in front of him, a suddenly joyous Wright sprinted over to give his new strike partner a hug.
“I’ve spoken to Ian about it a few times since, and it’s ridiculous that we could have met in that petrol station, at that service station,” says Bergkamp now. “How many people are there in London – about 15 or 16 million?! But you meet up on the day after you sign the contract for Arsenal, in the summer holidays – it was absolutely crazy. If that’s not a sign, I don’t know what is.”
The duo would go on to form one of the best double acts of the ’90s. Together, they would propel Arsenal to Premier League title glory, but Bergkamp had only just begun.
The Dutchman would prove the defining player of a sublime era for the club; the star who did more than anyone to transform the Gunners from the dour outfit that struggled through the final Premier League years of George Graham, to one of the greatest attacking teams of modern history. Along the way, he scored beautiful goals for both club and country. Few footballers could paint pictures on a football pitch quite like Dennis Bergkamp.
DENNIS THE LION TAMER
For Bergkamp, British football has always meant something special. Born in May 1969, he was named after the top scorer of that season’s European Cup: Manchester United forward Denis Law. As a teenager, he idolised the poise and technique of Glenn Hoddle.
He had to wait until the age of 23 for his first senior appearance in England. That night, the Netherlands travelled to Wembley for a 1994 World Cup qualifier. The Oranje were third in the group, having played a game more than both Norway and Graham Taylor’s England. Within half an hour, they were 2-0 down and in big trouble.
Then Bergkamp changed the course of history. Jan Wouters dinked a pass to the edge of the penalty area, and his colleague needed just one touch on the volley – the subtlest of
