Johnny Cochrane (@iJohnnyCochrane) is a comedian with a host of credits including CBBC, ITV2 and C4 as well as being the voice of MTV UK.
He is the co-host of the #ArsenalOpinion podcast with Pedro aka Le Grove and has also co-hosted the official Arsenal nation podcast.
When did you start supporting Arsenal and why?
I started properly supporting Arsenal when I was about seven or eight. My Dad wasn’t into football so it was up to my brothers and I to choose our own teams. Highbury was around three miles away from where I used to live as a child and so Arsenal was my nearest team, which was the criteria with which I wanted to pick a team to support.
However when I was about five and before realising Arsenal was my nearest club (as I hadn't asked my parents yet at that point and Alexa didn’t exist) I thought I’d support Liverpool, as I lived near to Liverpool Street station which is where as a young child I thought Liverpool actually was. After being given a geographical lesson by my mum I resolved that Arsenal were my team and I haven’t looked back since. Oh and I loved Ian Wright.
Interestingly, my brothers also chose their own team, and without the strong parental guidance went off the rails and chose to support the enemy because they liked Gary Lineker.
Which has meant that growing up in our house, derby days were particularly tense and even lead to a few punch-ups on occasion. We’re much more civilized now though.
What was your first Arsenal match?
Whilst in primary school I befriended another Arsenal fan (Shout out to Stuart Rogers if you’re reading this) whose Dad was a season ticket holder and they would regularly attend games. He offered to take me along and I went to see us play Leeds United at Highbury. The game was a shambles and we eventually succumbed to the might of ex-Leeds United striker Phil Masinga, who had his way with us on that day, scoring in a dominant win over the Arsenal.
However, despite the poor on-field performance, my love affair with Arsenal did not dampen one bit. I remember so vividly walking down to Highbury from Finsbury park that day and the moment as I finally turned the corner and entered the neighbouring street in which the stadium suddenly comes into view, was truly electrifying.
I was in awe. It was majestic and as a young boy, finally being in the place, that I’d spent so much time thinking and even dreaming about was almost too much to handle.
Who was your first Arsenal hero and why?
Without question Ian Wright. As a young mixed race kid growing up in a predominantly white area understanding my own racial identity and feelings that arose from that was a constantly evolving and challenging situation.
One of the issues I found, and something that persists in being an issue to this day (although I concede things have improved) is around representation. Seeing black role models and black idols was something that I remember was less than commonplace growing up.
However in Ian Wright, I had found someone that was not only black but someone who was wildly confident and charismatic and was the unquestioned hero of that team. It was both refreshing and liberating all at the same time.
Ian Wright drew adulation from all Arsenal fans irrespective of their racial and cultural backgrounds and I can’t overstate how important it was for a young black kid growing up in the 90s to see.
However I’d be remiss if I didn’t clarify that my idolisation of Wrighty was not just due to his being a symbol of black excellence and his undoubted place as a cultural icon.
He was simply an amazing football player. His goal against Leeds United chipping former Arsenal goalkeeper John Lukic from outside the box using what seemed like impossible technique, or his goal against Everton, juggling the ball over a scrambling defender’s head before lobbing Neville Southall spoke to the majesty with which he would regularly play.
In this way I don’t think his genius was ever truly celebrated in the media.
Cantona scored a chip against Sunderland and the words uttered from all corners of the media were “genius” and “magician”. In my opinion Wrighty’s goal against Leeds was better and yet he never garnered the same level of praise, which always annoyed me.
Who is your favourite ever Arsenal player and why?
After Ian Wright left Arsenal, I remember feeling like there was never going to be a player that would hold the same place in my heart. Someone who was not a only a fantastic player but someone who could cross over and become a cultural icon. Someone that you could look at and go he encapsulates what Arsenal is all about. I was wrong.
By the time Anelka had effectively displaced Wrighty in the 98 season, I knew it was the end for Ian Wright, and whilst I loved Vieira, Bergkamp and Pires, who were all exceptional in their own right, they never quite struck the same chord with me as Wrighty did in his hey day. Anelka was clearly an upgrade on the pitch though at that point and I was certainly initially fond of him but his stay at Arsenal was to be short-lived, as he would soon move to Real Madrid.
His replacement, I was apathetic to at the time. Thierry Henry was to come in after an underwhelming stint at Juventus. I had watched Thierry at France ‘98 and whilst perhaps through partisan lens at the time, I remember thinking he’s not as good as Anelka. He also came across as a bit “dorky” to me, as he was sporting a moustache and/or a high top at that point, which as a young black teenager still trying to find his own style I was less than impressed with.
I remember being more excited by an ageing Davor Suker coming into the club, off the back of his magical chip over Schmeichel in the World Cup for Croatia. That Suker goal was special and witnessing players doing special things, remains a key component and metric with which I view and judge the game and players to this day.
To explain: there are certain bits of play, be it passes or goals or tackles that are special, and only special players can do them. I knew Suker at his best could do truly special things, but I’d not seen anything from Thierry in my limited exposure of him at that point, which would suggest he could do the same. Not all players are capable of those special things. Without trying to over simplify it, that’s what makes special players special.
In Thierry’s early games for Arsenal he really struggled. As far as I was concerned we’d just gone from Anelka who whilst was also young had had virtually immediate success, before moving for big money to Real. Anelka had also shown himself to be a big game player, scoring in crunch games against the other powerhouses of the day Manchester United. There was a lot of pressure on Thierry and early on I thought we’d signed a slightly worse Anelka.
Thierry then opened his account for Arsenal against Southampton and it was a great goal to get started with; he was up and running. Would he be as good as Anelka? Who knows, but at that point he certainly looked like he could have an impact.
The next season I had certainly warmed to Thierry and he’d become a bit of a focal point for both Arsenal and myself. We then played Man United in a game that was turning into the most exciting fixture in the Premier League calendar and from that game on, everything changed for Thierry and my true love affair with him began.
Gilles Grimandi, rolled the ball into Thierry on the edge of the box, with Gary Neville (who I despised at the time) trying to get close and Thierry let the ball roll over his foot as he simultaneously flicked it up, before unleashing a volley all in one motion that looked like it was on rails, straight into the top corner.
Don’t move Fabian Barthez, save your energy!
This was the nuts! Top top drawer!
Special? Davor Suker you’ve seen nothing yet mate!
The term “world class” would not do it justice. In the biggest game of our season it was a player that we had, entering a cheat code and doing something silly, which left me sitting on the floor in my living room, mouthing the word “wow!”
He then ran to the Arsenal bench and performed his take on the popular Budweiser “Wassup” advert, which in one moment removed any dorky perception I may have previously held of him. He was cool! No he was very cool and he was a special player and he’s been my favourite player ever since.
What’s your biggest Arsenal regret/disappointment?
The Champions League final in 2006. As a football fan I think we all set targets or dreams if you will. Aspirations for our clubs that we would love to see come to pass.
I remember vividly talking to my older cousin who is also a big Arsenal fan when I was about 12 or 13,. He sat me down one day and said “We’ve got to win the European Cup!”. He continued: “The leagues are great and are definitely important, but we’ve won leagues before and we will again, but we’ve never won the European Cup. Even teams like Forest (who’d been relegated by this point) have two. Aston Villa have won it, we’ve got to win it!”
That chat still drives me as a fan to this day.
In terms of my dreams for Arsenal above all else, I want to see us win the Champions League before I die.
By the time we made it to the Champions League Final in Paris I was at University. I remember watching the game with my mates at their uni digs. The good thing about that stage of my life at uni, was no matter what happened in the game I was gonna go out after and get trolleyed whether it be celebrating or commiserating.
Without trying to romanticise drinking culture too much, I bring it up because the scale and importance of that game for me was huge. It was my life’s ambition as an Arsenal fan on the line. I feel like if I was at a different stage of my life, perhaps watching the game at home on my own, I don’t know how I would have coped with the disappointment that was to come. Perhaps tears.
Either way, we lost to Barcelona in a game that provided so many “what if?” moments, and probably was my lowest point for my love affair with Thierry. Things had gone against us in that game, and yet Thierry had a chance to win it and unfortunately he bottled a one-on-one, that he would routinely slot away. This was set against a backdrop of rumours circulating that he was due to leave for our opponents on the day Barcelona and it left a bit of sour taste in the mouth. I guess all love affairs have to have ups and downs.
I hope that we can get back there and get the job done next time.
What is your favourite Arsenal memory (away from the pitch) and why?
When I was probably about 10 or 11, whilst I was attending games with my friend from school Stuart, he one day came to me and said that he was going on a stadium tour of Highbury that he’d won as a prize and he asked if I wanted to come.
He said that whilst his family were using the tickets for the tour that they’d won, I could just tag along to their group. I jumped at the chance but I had to ask how much it would be. As a family we didn't have much money and outside of my £5 pocket money, I would not be able to just ask for money from my mum to do expensive activities flippantly.
He told me it would “probably be about a fiver”.
What a result! I could spend my pocket money on it and that would cover it.
I went along to the tour, it was amazing. For anyone that hasn’t been to Highbury before the hallowed marble halls carried with them a decadence and opulence that made that stadium almost palatial. I couldn’t believe that I was walking around the same places that my then hero, Ian Wright would walk.
At the end of the tour, the tour guide wrapped up and said: “I believe one of your group still has to pay”.
I remember saying “yes” and getting my £5 note out of my Arsenal velcro wallet. The tour guide’s face seemed to drop in confusion, which quickly transformed into awkwardness.
Even as a child I could read these social cues. £5 was not going to be enough. What was the fate awaiting me? Was I destined to pay back the value of the stadium tour back by having to clean Ian Wrights boots? To be honest I would've been quite up for that.
My friend’s dad then reached for his wallet as in to gesture that he would make up any extra amount for the ticket.
But then the guide just broke the tension by saying “It’s fine, you don’t have to pay, I hope you enjoyed it!”. I was very grateful. It was classy, and that is what Arsenal means to me. They are class.
I just unexpectedly got a tear in my eye writing this. Wow!
What is your favourite ever Arsenal match?
My favourite Arsenal match was when we played Pep’s Barcelona with Messi and Iniesta in tow at the Emirates. Without question, that Barcelona team was the best team on the planet.
The team that had snatched our dreams away in Paris some years before with a seemingly endless abundance of world class talent had somehow gotten better.
Messi was doing stupid stuff on a regular basis. It really did feel like we were heading into as tough a litmus test as there could possibly be.
A young Jack Wilshere was being trusted in a game against two of the finest midfield players you will ever hope to see and that was always going to be a tough ask for a talent so young. How would he cope?
Perhaps the answer to that question was the story of the game, because what came next was without a doubt the best performance of Jack Wilshere’s career and one of the finest midfield displays I’d ever seen. Jack rose to new heights that day and not only could live with the two Tiki Taka technicians, he outplayed them.
Perhaps in any great game of football there was drama, with Arsenal succumbing early to Barcelona’s attacking might, conceding a goal to the sublime David Villa. The question of whether or not we could drag ourselves back into a game that seemed objectively above our collective pay grade, hung in the air.
But coming out for the second half we were making a good fist of it. Jack Wilshere was snapping into tackles and playing with great poise whilst being supported by the talisman we were perhaps more accustomed to relying on; Cesc.
Playing well was one thing but could we actually score? Late on we made the breakthrough. Robin Van Persie summoning the spirit of Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and powering a shot past Valdes.
If we were to draw against this level of opposition it would’ve been a fine result. Barca rarely lost in those days, so it seemed a lot to ask...But wait…
Jack Wilshere with disgusting feet on the edge of our box, messing about with the magicians Xavi and Iniesta before finding Cesc.
Cesc plays a ball with the outside of his foot to Nasri who he finds on the wing. Nasri drives to the box before cutting back inside, he plays the ball across the box, Arshavinnnnnnnn!!!!!
Stop it!
Absolute dreamy stuff.
Let me live in that footballing moment forever will you!
Beer being thrown into my afro at a boozer near Oxford Circus, but I don't care, because in football terms, this is as good as it gets.