My Football: Arsenal fan Alan Davies talks Hale End, Declan Rice's free-kicks and the player he wanted to be growing up

Alan Davies has supported Arsenal since he was a child.

The Jonathan Creek and QI star has never hidden his affinity for the Gunners, and having a dad who'd take him to White Hart Lane, he grew up to become an Arsenal season ticket holder.

FourFourTwo caught up with Davies for the latest instalment of My Football.

My Football: Alan Davies and his journey with Arsenal

What was the first game that you ever attended?

August 1971, I was five, against Stoke at Highbury. We lost 1–0. I just remember a strange smell and having never seen so many people in my life. I realised years later it was cigarette and cigar smoke. For me, that was the smell of a football ground – until I got into my teens and realised what cigarettes were. I remember trying an Embassy No.5 at a party, thinking, “This is the smell of Highbury… and White Hart Lane.” My dad and my brother were Tottenham fans, but my mum got me an Arsenal shirt and sewed a No.5 on the back. I wanted to be Frank McLintock – the captain. She also stitched the badge on the front. I’ve still got it. I used to be taken to White Hart Lane, but I wanted to go to Highbury. We’d just won the Double. My brother suggested I support Arsenal because he didn’t want me to support his team. Worked out well for me.

Who was your childhood hero and did you ever meet them?

Liam Brady. He broke our hearts when he went to Juventus in 1980. He was our best player when we won the FA Cup in ’79. I was 13, going to matches, but couldn’t get a ticket for the final. Decades later, he organised a reunion lunch for that ’79 team and asked me to compere it. I was falling over myself. After the lunch, we went to a bar with Alan Sunderland, Frank Stapleton and others – all legends of my childhood. They say, never meet your heroes – but for me, it was a brilliant day.

What’s your favourite Arsenal goal?

Declan Rice’s first free-kick against Real Madrid in the Champions League feels like it should go straight in at No.1. How can you top it? A couple of Thierry Henry goals were pretty extraordinary. I also love Jack Wilshere’s finish after a series of one-twos against Norwich. Tomas Rosicky scored a similar one. All peak Wenger – when we scored so many good goals.

Do you have a matchday routine?

I get to the ground on an e-bike, like so many people in London now. It used to be the bus and Tube, and I walked there when I lived in Islington. I tend to arrive just as the teams come out – I’m not a pre-game drinker. When you get to the Emirates, there are 10,000 e-bikes around the stadium. After the game, they’re all gone. Then it’s off to the pub.

What do you like most about the experience of going to a match?

I like Arsenal scoring! But when I was younger, it was more about getting away from the house. It was a bit turbulent at home, so I’d often go by myself. I stood on the North Bank for the last game of the 1981 season when 57,000 of us watched Arsenal play Aston Villa. They were about to win the league; we were trying to qualify for Europe. I remember Pele coming out at half-time in a suit. The crowd sang, “Sign him up, sign him up.” I stood on the North Bank for 10 years, mostly alone. Then I met mates through comedy – Keith Dover, Patrick Marber, Ian Stone and Simon Clayton – and we got seats together in the West Lower. I still see Keith every home game, plus Damian Harris and others. Now there’s about 11 of us.

Some of those names all feature in your hilarious Tuesday Club podcast. How did that come about?

There was a podcast called The Spurs Show, and the producer, Mike Leigh, asked me to do an Arsenal version. It was a pain going to his office, so we set up on our own as The Tuesday Club – named after the Arsenal post-training sessions in the ’80s. I hosted it with Keith, Tayo Popoola and Ian Stone, then Damian Harris and Oliver Scott came in. The best time was during lockdown – we recorded every week. I’m not a big podcast listener, but ours made me laugh. I stopped it when I realised I was moaning too much about Mikel Arteta. Then when it clicked – when he worked it out – I didn’t want to jinx it. I just wanted to enjoy the football again. By then, there were about 98 other Arsenal podcasts and Ian had been poached by The Athletic. It was a lot of fun.

Who is your favourite current player?

Bukayo Saka. Apart from his amazing ability, I love his attitude – and that goes for all the young lads from our Hale End academy. Players like Emile Smith Rowe, Joe Willock or Reiss Nelson – wherever they end up, they always give 100 per cent. They don’t get involved with referees or opponents. They don’t shout at team-mates. Their temperament is excellent – that’s the academy. I’m proud of it. It’s hard now to get from the academy to the first team. That’s why players like Myles Lewis-Skelly and Ethan Nwaneri are so exciting. They’re not just good – they’re elite. And we trust them. They’re not holding their head in their hands when a shot flies 40 yards over the bar – like we used to joke about Olivier Giroud. Take Bruno Fernandes. One of the best players in the league, but he’s always sulking when things don’t go his way. I look at him and think, ‘Why behave like that? You needed to come through Hale End.’ It’s a tribute to Saka that he’s the face of our academy. He’s a decent person who knows how to carry himself.

And favourite Arsenal managers?

I remember a bit of Bertie Mee, but I was more familiar with Terry Neill and Don Howe early on. I actually wrote to Peter Hill-Wood when he sacked Don Howe – I thought he’d been treated badly. George Graham was really my era. He brought through so many youth players – Rocky Rocastle, Michael Thomas. I really followed that team everywhere during the ’90/91 title season. I loved it. Then Arsene Wenger came in and it almost didn’t feel like Arsenal at first. The football changed – quick restarts, one-touch play. It was unrecognisable, but it was a very special time with very special players.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve heard from a player or manager?

I hosted a couple of Q&As with Arsene Wenger. He said something I’ll never forget: “You have to keep your emotions in line with your ambition.” He held up his two index fingers and showed how they had to be aligned. He said: “If your emotions are over here, and your ambition is there, you can’t play properly. You won’t achieve what you want if you’re distracted by opponents, referees, or emotions. You need to channel everything you want in the same direction.” That kind of wisdom – and remember, English is one of five languages he speaks – it sounded like Confucius. Wenger was a great teacher. He could make you think and understand.

Alan’s new book White Male Stand-Up is available on September 9 and he is on tour from September. Go to www.alandavies.live for details