In a recent interview, Jurgen Klopp appealed to the people coming to watch the game at Anfield to trade their tickets with others if they are not willing to sing and scream at the top of their lungs for the team.
Easy for Liverpool because they already have an iconic anthem of ‘You Will Never Walk Alone’ at their disposal, while many clubs fail to find or discover the track that might just resonate with their fans all over the world.
Arsenal was in such a dilemma for long, but one artist is up and about to put the Gunners’ fans out of their misery. Louis Dunford, an independent musician from north London, released a track titled, ‘The Angel’ a few weeks ago. If you look closely at the lyrics within the song, one paragraph reads:
‘North London forever
Whatever the weather
These streets are our own
And our hearts will leave you never
My blood will forever
Run through the stone’
A tweet from ‘Highbury Way’ comprising the artist singing the song struck an immediate chord with the Arsenal fans. Soon it was retweeted again and again till it spread like wildfire and became a viral trend to make this an anthem for the Gunners.
GET IT BELTED OUT AT THE EMIRATES @ARSENAL
— Highbury Way (@HighburyWay) April 29, 2022
🎼 @LouisDunford
📹 @davis13afc
RT @clockendben30 @AshburtonArmy @bhavss14 @SheWore @AFC_GLEN @LeGrove @arseblog pic.twitter.com/jol8j0E1Su
Fans from all around the world came in with support and even suggested substituting ‘North London’ with ‘Arsenal’ and singing it at the Emirates stadium the next time their team plays.
But some fans became a voice of concern and pointed out that adding ‘Arsenal’ to the lyrics might just sound cringe and will defeat the mystery that this song brings with itself. Be it ‘Hala Madrid’ for Real Madrid or ‘YNWA’ for Liverpool, every anthem brings a sense of urgency and dominance with itself, and ‘The Angel’ does just that. ‘North London forever’ clearly suggests that Arsenal will be the kings of north London, no matter how many Tottenham Hotspur fans try to claim their turf.
And the search for an anthem has been on for a while. The Gunners tried their luck with another song, ‘The Wonder of You’ but it easily frizzled out and was considered a little shabby, to begin with.
The Angel might be the song that the Gunners had been hoping for. And it’s no surprise that Louis Dunford is an Arsenal fan. His lyrics suggest he has been always close to home and could find words to convert his love for the area he belonged to.
Arsenal fans need just that. A song, an anthem that they can sing in unison with renewed hope when the magical nights of Champions League return to the Emirates next season.
Update
The song made its first outing before Arsenal’s 2-1 win over Leeds United at the Emirates, here’s the footage –
North London Forever 🔴⚪️ @LouisDunford pic.twitter.com/pvN3KFtb7x
— Charles Watts (@charles_watts) May 8, 2022