By Alan Smith (the original Alan Smith; the League's topscorer with Arsenal when we won the title in 1989 and 1991, and who scored the winner when we won the European Cupwinners' Cup in 1994)By joining Arsenal in 1995, Dennis Bergkamp unwittingly managed to achieve something seminal. By just being himself, by bringing his prodigious talent to bear on the playing fields of England, he was largely responsible for a seismic shift in expectation levels, not just at Highbury but in the country as a whole. Once the princely Dutchman had started displaying his wares to disbelieving audiences up and down the land, once his incomparable skills became as much part of the scene as a crunching Tony Adams tackle, there was no going back for those privy to the pageant. The public wanted more. No longer would it settle for merely 'good' when it had seen what 'superb' could do to the pulse. Time had moved on and so had the demands, thanks to Bergkamp's brilliant machinations with the ball at his feet.
A heavenly touch, extraordinary vision, a sublime range of passing plus a compendium of wonderful goals: who could settle for milk after this taste of ambrosia? Not Arsenal. Not Arsene Wenger. With the bar raised to an unprecedented height, anyone fancying a jump needed spring in his heels.
Bergkamp, to all intents and purposes, was the trailblazer at Arsenal. Without him, the likes of Vieira, Anelka, Overmars, Petit, Pires and Henry might not have been so inclined to head for N5. They had, after all, seen their predecessor arrive as the first genuine overseas superstar to be beguiled by Blighty. Before him, the feisty fireworks accompanying most tussles in this country, the muck and bullets attitude that has prevailed down the years, tended to discourage the so-called foreign 'Fancy Dans'.
One sign of greatness is being able to adapt to different styles and Bergkamp proved beyond doubt that he could certainly do that. After Ian Wright, he learned to dovetail smoothly with first Nicolas Anelka, then Thierry Henry and, in a slight variation on a theme, the dashing Freddie Ljungberg.
Anelka, for one, has Bergkamp to thank for many of his goals. Likewise, the supplier hungrily seized on the Frenchman's devastating pace and direct movement to showcase his own talents. It was an avenue of attack too good to pass up. "His pace made things very simple for me," Bergkamp says. "Put the ball over the top and no one could stop him. It was just a matter of keeping him onside and getting the ball in his path."
Pace also played a key part in the man's dealings with Henry. Yet Bergkamp soon discovered that any kind of service would usually do the trick. "Thierry, for me, is one of the most complete players I've ever played with. It doesn't matter how he gets the ball. Just do it. He makes it look very simple but we all know it's very hard."
A little more complex if no less devastating was the relationship with Ljungberg, perhaps his most enduring at Highbury. With the elusive Swede cutting in from the right flank at an incredible pace, timing his darting runs to perfection, the angles involved were slightly different. Nevertheless, it was an enthralling sight as the two worked perfectly in tandem to prise open back doors. "That's very hard to deal with for a defender," Bergkamp confirms. "A left-back wouldn't follow Freddie all the way and a centre-half wouldn't be able to pick him up." The ploy worked countless times. Defenders knew what was coming but so fast was the link-up, they were helpless to respond.
Picking out the best example - from many - isn't easy, but perhaps the most spectacular linkup, though slightly different from the norm, came against Juventus on a stirring Highbury night in the Champions League. This was Bergkamp in his prime, at his ridiculous best. Two twists and a turn, a lightning-quick drag back and the deftest of flicks proved more than enough to flummox two Juve defenders. Ljungberg made it all seem worthwhile with a typically clinical finish. Thinking back, Bergkamp remembers this moment with a fond nod. He also remembers how he arrived at this place, at a level of excellence very few can match. "Those through-balls are just a matter of practice. A lot of it has to do with the pace of the ball. Anyone can play a ball in between two defenders, but you've got to judge the pace right. If you do, it's a great ball, otherwise it looks like nothing. On a wet pitch, on a dry pitch - it's all different."
This all reflected Bergkamp's work on the training ground, where his attention to detail was second to none. You would often see him practising out on the pitch long after many team-mates had wandered off for a shower. Volleys and half-volleys into an empty net, controlling the ball different ways with either foot - whatever it took to keep his technique razor sharp. It proved a marvellous example to those watching. If a senior craftsman like Dennis felt the need to practise, less gifted team-mates could have no excuse. Repetition, repetition - a mantra for success and a worthy legacy. "I didn't practise because I was told to but because I've always liked doing it," he explains. "Since the age of 12 at Ajax, it was all about being there with the ball, trying shots, passes and tricks. After training as well. It was just a regular part of my day."
Perhaps the most audacious example in this man's impressive directory of goals came one day at Newcastle in 2002. After a Robert Pires pass had found his team-mate on the edge of the box with back to goal, what happened next defied football physics. One impossible touch with his left boot allowed the striker to spin sweetly on his axis as the ball floated around one side of his marker, Nicos Dabizas, and he glided the other. It was a move that totally flummoxed the defender and led to Bergkamp somehow facing up to goal with the ball at his feet. With the hard bit done, the engineer of this outrageous act comfortably held off Dabizas before slotting the ball home past a helpless Shay Given. At first glance, it didn't look intentional. In fact, if anyone else had done it you would say they got lucky. But this was Bergkamp. On his day, nothing seemed out of reach. Bobby Robson, Newcastle's manager at the time, agreed. "You can't blame anyone for that," he said. "You just have to accept that Bergkamp did a beautiful thing."
FEW outside his inner circle know much about the real Bergkamp, the person within. Supporters see the 'Iceman' doing his stuff on the pitch, they hear him give interviews with intelligence and honesty, but they don't see the dry humour, the biting wit, which formed part of the dressing room for so many years. On that score, Arsenal's number 10 could hold his own with the best. If any mickey-taking was required, Bergkamp was always on hand to oblige. That's partly what attracted him to England in the first place. He knew the culture and humour were very similar to Holland's.
This familiarity dates back to his summers as a child coming over on holiday: Cornwall, the south coast, London - his family would visit them all as committed Anglophiles. As Manchester United fans, what's more, his parents had named their son Dennis after the great Denis Law, adding an extra 'n' to avoid comparisons with the girl's name Denise.
It seemed preordained that Bergkamp would, at some point, ply his trade in England. "In my time the route from Holland was always to Spain or Italy first. England was never mentioned. For me it was different. I always had a connection with English football. I don't know why. I went to Inter knowing that I would go to England afterwards. I signed a contract for four years at Inter, but after two it hadn't worked out. Once I told my agent I wanted to try England, contact with Arsenal was made and the deal was done within a week."
Bergkamp enjoyed a very good relationship with Bruce Rioch [his first manager at Arsenal] so naturally felt sad when Rioch was sacked five days before the start of the following season. The Arsenal board kept saying, 'Relax, relax, there's a new coach coming in and it will all change. Trust us'."
Once in place, Arsene Wenger introduced methods that made his new charges think. "The training sessions were different," Bergkamp says. "'We worked a lot with mannequins and practised shadow play. He was just trying to put in place a way of playing and getting everyone used to it. The right-back passes to the right winger, the right-back overlaps - all those movements, repeating them over and over again. We kept doing that for months at the start so that everyone knew a different way of playing. The whole team was there on the pitch and we'd practise a lot of moves around the mannequins. He was so calm with everything. He introduced recovery days when you'd just stay indoors and do stretching. Straight away it seemed more professional, like we were really making a nice job out of this.
"Before Arsene came, a double session meant we were finished by about 1.30pm. Now we would have a session in the morning, have lunch, rest for two hours, then start the second session at three. We started stretching before games at the hotel. Somehow it all makes you think more about your game, about the task coming up."
In David Winner's book, Those Feet, the author Nick Hornby cleverly explains his own take on Bergkamp. "When Dennis arrived, he exposed something about England," Hornby says. "It's as if you're watching a film with special effects where everything is very small, and it's fine as long as they keep the cameraman out of the picture.... but then 'oh, they're only an inch tall'."
In other words, everyone was dwarfed by the Dutch master's talent. His entrance put the achievements of predecessors into sharp perspective.
Agree or disagree with those sentiments, it was Homby's way of describing Bergkamp's magnitude as one of the most gifted footballers ever to grace these shores. His impact, as a result, stretches beyond tribal ties to leave the English public with a new yardstick.
Could he possibly have expected so much upon arriving in London? For that matter, could the aspiring schoolboy at Ajax ever have foreseen what was to come? "First of all the dream was to become a professional footballer. When you've achieved that, you want to take things further- become a top scorer, play international football, make a move to a different country," said Bergkamp.
"I look back now at 19 years playing at the top, seeing three different countries, playing a lot of games, scoring a lot of goals, seeing a lot of success but most of all enjoying it all. Yes, this is way more than I could ever have expected."
More than we anticipated, too, Dennis. For Arsenal fans, especially, it has been a total privilege.
-END-
Here are 2 Youtube clips showcasing some of Bergkamp's goals. First link is a 3 and a 1/2 min clip and shows some of his goals for Holland and Ajax as well, 2nd is 9 mins long (taken from the '501 goals' Arsenal DVD).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCEXkik6Iuk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBu_F30CHQk
