Tottenham believed they would sign Emmanuel Petit in 1997, but Arsenal hatched a plan to pull off the mother of all transfer stealers.
This was a period of great success for the Gunners – Dennis Bergkamp and David Platt were added to the squad that summer, while Arsene Wenger was appointed manager in 1996 and changed them forever.
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When French international Petit was asked the question: Do you want to fight against relegation or fight for the Premier League title, it was a given.
Petit was in London and spoke to Spurs chairman Alan Sugar about the move from Monaco to the capital. Arsenal found out about the meeting and told him not to sign anything until he had at least heard Wenger’s talk about this new era that was about to begin at Highbury.
That seemed fair enough considering Wenger was the man who brought him to the French club, so Petit asked Tottenham bosses for time to consider the offer at his hotel.
Spurs even paid for the taxi to take him there, but the taxi was instead diverted to Wenger’s home, where he was joined by vice-chairman David Dein and a £3.5m deal was sealed.
Speaking to Andy Goldstein on The Pitch Prospect Drive, Petit recalled: “I had meetings with Tottenham and Arsenal on the same day. I met Tottenham in the morning but when I came to England I didn’t know about the rivalry between the two clubs.
“When I left the Spurs stadium they booked me a taxi and the taxi driver asked me for directions so I gave him the Arsenal address and didn’t know the taxi was prepaid by Spurs so they knew where I was.” went!
“I told Spurs I needed time to think but knew I had to look at Arsenal and other clubs in Italy and Spain.”
“I told everyone I would make up my mind and if I knew the answer I would give it, but after a few days I signed for Arsenal and it was in the papers and suddenly the story came.
“Then I realized the pressure of the rivalry.”
Speaking about it in 2018, Petit said: “It’s part of the legend now. David Dein still loves this story – and [more than] 20 years later he’s still telling it!”
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With his transfer, Wenger’s revolution began, and Gilles Grimandi and Nicolas Anelka also came to Highbury.
And Petit was a very busy man.
By the end of the Ponytail’s first season he was a Premier League and FA Cup winner, his partnership with Patrick Vieira in midfield was praised, he won the World Cup and he even found time to help Sun Hill’s finest in an appearance in a Christmas episode of former ITV drama The Bill.
“I didn’t know it was so popular back then,” he laughed of his appearance on the popular TV show, which ended in 2010 after 27 years, in which he played himself delivering a signed ball to a sick child in the hospital.
But the long blonde locks that fans loved for him may never have been seen by British fans as his team-mates threatened to cut them off for apparent rudeness.
“When the French boys came over the atmosphere was a bit different,” former teammate Ray Parlor once told The Pitch Prospect.
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“We Brits had a bit more fun.
“Dennis Bergkamp was different, they were a bit more serious and we tried to get a bit of fun out of them.
“They changed quickly and really enjoyed the banter, but every now and then Manu Petit, for example, would sometimes walk right past you.
“You would say ‘Morning, Manu’ and he would walk right past you.
“He did it to all the players. He did it to all the players.” [captain] Tony Adams, he did it [goalkeeper] David Seaman and that is unacceptable.
“Whatever problems you have, you still say good morning to someone, don’t you?” It’s very rude to just walk past someone. It’s just about having that respect for other people.
“So one morning we nailed him to the wall and said to him, ‘Make sure you say good morning to everyone or we’ll cut off your ponytail!’
“We even had scissors.
“After that it was worth its weight in gold!”
However, Petit would have been more worried if Martin Keown had told him to behave.
He once joked that football had saved Keown from prison. “Martin is such a nice guy, but suddenly, in a second, he can change,” he recalled of his teammate’s combative nature.
Both have been fierce competitors and both have enjoyed Arsenal’s rise in recent years and Tottenham’s difficulties.
When he joined The Pitch Prospect after a very one-sided North London derby in which Spurs were easily beaten, he described manager Ange Postecoglu as “broken” and felt sorry for the White Hart Lane supporters, which certainly didn’t go down well becomes.
“When I look at this team, I have no idea what they want to do on the pitch, what system, what movements, even the commitment and behavior of the players.”
“I know they give everything on the pitch, but it’s not enough. If you look at the quality individually and collectively in this team, something has broken.”
Once a Gooner, always a Gooner.