onrita
When Dennis decided that he was
signing for Arsenal and we were
moving to London, I was delighted.
"THERE'S ONLY ONE DENNIS BERGKAMP, ONE DENNIS BERGKAMP,
Three of my girls in Amsterdam last year;
Henrita, a tired Yasmin and Estelle
Mitchel - like father like son!
respect to him. It's been great and the
relationship he has had with the fans has
made our time here even more special.
He's known as the Iceman of course,
and I know he can come across as cool,
but really, when you get to know him he
is not like that.
When he's at home he is just a normal
husband and dad. He is able to switch
off from football when he's at home,
although obviously he's not in a great
mood after a bad result. To be honest
though, I'm usually worse than him after
we've lost!
I have been so busy helping organise
this testimonial match lately that I
haven't really stopped to think that this
is Dennis's last ever game - that there's
no more after today. After such a long
time in the sport, it will be strange when
he's not playing anymore. I'm sure it will
be emotional, both for him and for me,
this afternoon.
I hope you all enjoy it, and thanks for
making our family feel so at home at
Arsenal over the years.
Finally I want to thank my husband, who
has given me and the family so much joy
during his career and our time in London,
and our children, who always knew when
daddy had an important game and when
they had to be well behaved and help
him be properly prepared.
We had just had two years in Milan, and
it was great to experience the culture
there, but it was time for a change. In
Italy it was football, football, football
morning afternoon and evening, so by
the time we came to London, it was nice
to be more relaxed.
Not that I don't like football, far from it, I
love watching the games - which is just as
well when you're married to a footballer! I
love coming to the games, after all I could
have stayed at home on Saturday
afternoons if I liked, but we used to always
go along to Highbury for the football.
Now we have bought a box at Emirates
Stadium so we will continue to watch the
games this season, and Dennis will be able
to shout at all his former team-mates!
We have been in London for 11 years and
the time has absolutely flown by. The
fans have really taken to Dennis and
we've all been made to feel very
welcome by the whole Club. The
kids have been to the training
a ground quite a lot and we've made
lots of friends at Arsenal. These are
friendships that I hope will
continue for many years. There's
no need for them to end just
because Dennis isn't playing
anymore, we will still be around!
I know how much the fans think of
Dennis and they show a lot of
