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Trivia
- Tickets for the match sold out in two days, helping to produce receipts of nearly £1m of which Adams – a recovering alcoholic – has promised to donate around half to his own charity, Sporting Chance.
- Strictly both teams weren’t the strongest they could have been as players were off for preparations for the World Cup in Japan/Korea.
- Last game Celtic played at Highbury as Arsenal prepared to leave this old home for the Emirates Stadium down the road.
- For such a great player for them, shame the Arsenal fans couldn’t even sing for the guy at this game. Many Arsenal fans talking outside in a bit of awe for the Celtic fans and why can’t their own fans do the same as the Celtic fans. Most of the atmosphere (actually all of it) came from the away end.
- As usual the 6000-strong Celtic fans were impeccably behaved – so much so that the match day police superintendent wrote to Celtic to commend the club on the behaviour of the fans. “They were a credit to the themselves and their club, and added significantly to the event. I cannot speak for Tony Adams but I am sure that he greatly appreciated the reception your fans gave him during his lap of honour. I take this opportunity to say thank you to those supporters who attended the match and to put on record my appreciation for their behaviour and good humour; they were amongst the best in my five years at Highbury,” said Superintendent Andy Smith of the Islington Division.#
- Goalkeeper subbed on by Celtic was the young former Paris St Germain goalkeeper Michael Herbert. He sadly didn’t make it at Celtic, and didn’t make a first team appearance in the competitive competitions. He has impressed while on a trial period with the under-21s at Parkhead and has joined the club on a free transfer. In fairness, Celtic struggled badly with keepers until Boruc keep on the scene.
Review 
The return of Adams’ former Arsenal team mates at Highbury – Nigel Winterburn, Steve Bould, goalkeeper John Lukic and striker Ian Wright – added to the party mood.
The goals came from Alan Thompson’s 32nd minute free kick and a 67th-minute equaliser from the head of 38-year-old Arsenal veteran Lee Dixon, who announced his retirement at the weekend.
But the occasion belonged firmly to Adams, the former England captain who has played 663 senior matches for the north London club and who is contemplating retirement.
Adams was very happy it seems to have Celtic fans there, and after countless chants of “Tony Tony gie us a wave” he obliged us with one. Also can’t think of many other away supports that would have sung “there’s only one Tony Adams”. A great day.
Ex-Arsenal & ex-Celt Ian Wright (an old team mate of Tony Adams) came out late as a sub, with certain fans gritting their teeth over this.
Adams’ Arsenal team-mates tried desperately to set him up with a goal but he couldn’t oblige before being substituted one minute before time, bowing as he left the pitch to a rapturous reception, and a run around the pitch.
Teams
Arsenal:-
Lukic (Wright 46); Winterburn (Cheevers 84), Adams (Aliadiere 90), Bould (Stepanovs 62), Dixon; Edu (Luzhny 46), Bergkamp (Juan 56), Viera, Parlour; Aliadiere (Kanu 46), Jeffers (Wright 71).
Goal:- Dixon 67.
Celtic:-
Gould (Herbert 79); Boyd, Weighorst, Balde (Kennedy 36); Smith (McGovern 79), McNamara, Healy (Fotheringham 71), Thompson (McCann 79), Guppy (Wallace 71); Sylla, Maloney (McParland 79).
Goal:- Thompson 33.
Att:- 38,000
Ref:- Dermot Gallagher.
Articles
- Match Report (see below)
Pictures
Articles
Adams soaks up nostalgia
Vindication: Arsenal captain Tony Adams enjoys his last match before retirement
By Nicholas Spencer
10:57PM BST 13 May 2002
Arsenal (1) 1 Celtic (1) 1
TONY ADAMS left Highbury to the chants of ‘One more year’ from the Arsenal faithful after his second testimonial ended in a draw between the champions of England and Scotland.
Adams’s body may be telling him a different story from the fans but the evidence of the age-reducing properties of a long Highbury career was clear to see in his former team-mates, who gathered in force to pay their tribute to Mr Arsenal.
With the orginal Arsenal back five reunited for the first half and Ian Wright making a typically rumbustious appearance for the final 18 minutes, this was a night of real nostalgia for a 38,021 crowd.
The wrong man scored but the old guard even managed to create Arsenal’s equalising goal, Nigel Winterburn capping a night of indefatigable endeavour down the left with a slanting cross which Lee Dixon headed neatly past Jonathan Gould to cancel a sumptuous first-half free-kick by Alan Thompson.
Adams had walked on to the pitch carrying the Premiership trophy, accompanied by his children, Oliver and Amber, and preceded by Tom Boyd carrying Celtic’s equalling shiny Premier League trophy.
Even without many of their highest profile players, notably Neil Lennon, John Hartson and Henrik Larsson, Celtic – the testimonial opponents of choice for anyone wanting a competitive match and a full house – provided strong opposition, a day after wrapping up their domestic season by winning the title by the small matter of 18 points.
As champions of their respective leagues, these teams might meet in the Champions League next season and it is difficult for any neutral to imagine Celtic swapping that sort of opportunity for the Nationwide Division One.
With a combined age of 191, John Lukic, Dixon, Adams, Steve Bould and Winterburn have enough miles on the clock to be troubled by a nimble teenager like Celtic’s Shaun Maloney, but Adams metaphorically clipped the youngster’s ear with a majestic sliding tackle.
Thompson atoned for a bad miss with his right foot in the 18th minute, when Jamie Smith found him unmarked at the far post, with a trademark free-kick to open the scoring just past the half hour. Thompson made light of the angle, swerving his shot away from the wall and beyond Lukic.
It is worth pausing to consider just how much time has elapsed since Nov 1983, when Margaret Thatcher was mapping out her second term, Billy Joel was No 1 and a 17-year-old boy/man was making his debut in the centre of Arsenal’s defence.
Now, 669 first-team appearances later, and 15 years as captain, it is still not clear whether the FA Cup final was his last competitive match. News of his retirement, or otherwise, will come during the summer.
On the face of it, a charity for sportsmen with alcohol and drug dependencies might not seem a prime cause for public sympathy and donations but Adams’s own dignified recovery from alcohol addiction should serve as an inspiration to many. The Sporting Chance Charity that he founded stands to benefit by around £500,000.