John Pickford was born into the Arsenal family and can trace his families roots back to Islington from the 1860’s. Indeed his grandfather (in his mid nineties now) is still alive, kicking and telling stories of Highbury and mythical Arsenal from the 1920’s and 30’s. Having first seen Arsenal play in 1967 he was soon to migrate to Australia with his family in May 1968 and spent his formulative years in Adelaide. He fondly recalls listening to the 1971 Liverpool Cup Final by radio at 2am with his dad and being carried round the lounge when Charlie George hit the winner. Returning to the UK from 1975 until 1979 he was in attendance at such memorable matches such as the the 5-0 win over Spurs in December 1978, the 1-0 away defeat of Nottingham Forest in 1979 and the FA Cup final win against Manchester United in 1979.

He can recall keeping in touch with Arsenal exploits through short wave radio reception during the 1980’s and recalls venturing to Mildura a few times when a couple of entrepreneurial brothers bought the satellite rights to live coverage of English football in Australia and was part of a team that then secured the rights to televise these games from the Para Hills Soccer Club in Adelaide in the early 1990’s. Anfield, May 26th 1989 is still considered the greatest night of his footballing life and his prized possession is his seven letter South Australian registered ARSENAL number plates he purchased and proudly put on his car the day after the 1991 Championship was secured.

Returning to the UK in 1992 for a twelve month working holiday, which subsequently turned into twelve years he bought a season ticket at Highbury in 1994 which he is still in possession of. In the intervening years he was an ever present at just about every game home, away and in Europe and saw the beginning of the new golden age brought on by Arsene Wenger. Highlights of this time in the UK included the Cup double of 1993, Copenhagen 1994, the first Wenger double of 1998, the 2002 Cup Final vs Chelsea and the double winning victory at Old Trafford culminating in the undefeated season of the Invincibles in 2003/4.

A CPA by profession, John was fortunate enough to have been back in the UK at a time when trade barriers with the old CIS were being reformed and he was involved in some interesting projects within the metals and commodities markets in London and Eastern Europe. On returning to Australia in July 2004 he settled his family on the Gold Coast of Queensland and now relies on the technological wonders of the internet and satellite to keep in touch with his beloved Gunners, though he did also venture over to Paris in May 2006 to witness their first Champions League final and secured a ticket with barely an hour to go before the kick off.