At the start of 2008-09 season, Arsenal launched a new away kit based on the one worn in 1988-89 to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the club's most famous night: Mickey Thomas's injury time title clincher against Liverpool at Anfield.

The strapline used to promote the latest kit launch read: Become Legends.

Although nothing more than marketing spiel, the tag neatly encapsulates the level of expectation borne out of that one goal in 1989.

Thomas, Alan Smith, David Rocastle, Paul Merson, Tony Adams—the list of legends from that immortal night goes on.

Become Legends. It was supposed to draw inspiration, but it almost sounds like a commandment. Arsenal have not been able to live up to the hype, but it's time to put things in perspective.

On my last visit to Emirates Stadium, the 4-1 loss to Chelsea, the cover of the Gooner, the Arsenal fanzine, pictured Thomas in that glorious, resplendent yellow shirt lifting the ball over Liverpool goalkeeper Bruce Grobbelaar. The caption read: "What we'd give for another Mickey Thomas moment..."

I stopped reading the Gooner some time ago because of its ultra-critical rhetoric. Other fans must have gone the same way because I saw one issue a while back which had "moan-free special" stamped on the front, a desperate plea to recapture its voice, its authority.

But Mickey Thomas moments don’t happen very often, as a character in Nick Hornby’s film Fever Pitch puts it.

Arsenal, like all football clubs, and the world in general for that matter, faced a crossroads in 1989. It was the year that would indirectly shape English football for years ahead, and Liverpool and Arsenal were the protagonists in the process.

After the Hillsborough disaster, when 96 Liverpool fans lost their lives, the game between Liverpool and Arsenal at Anfield was pushed back to 26 May―20 years ago a week today. So much has changed since.

After Hillsborough, the Taylor Report made all-seater stadiums a condition of top-flight football.

Little did we know, but Thomas's goal had an impact of its own. It confirmed the untapped potential in the relationship between football and TV as record numbers flocked to watch the title decider on a Friday night. Sky Sports, the Premier League, and globalisation, for better or worse, followed.

Back to the game, though. Arsenal had to win by two goals on the night, a task dismissed as impossible against a side that had dominated the 80's and entered the match itself in irresistible form. It would be George Graham's greatest night as a manager.

He, like Wenger, had stripped the side of some experienced players, such as Graham Rix and Kenny Samson, and put his faith in a youthful, dynamic, hungry group.

The average age of the side that night, incredibly, was under 25 years of age. They pulled off a footballing miracle. The only player in the 13-man squad that night (you were only allowed two substitutes) was David O'Leary.

Arsenal's best starting line-up today is only slightly older at the average age of 25 and a half years, but the rest of the squad, now much bigger, is very young.

The similarities 20 years on end there. The utilitarian George Graham was the antithesis in Arsene Wenger philosophy.

"You can pass and pass and pass without going anywhere," Graham said after Arsenal qualified for the European Cup in 1991. "We won't apply the continental style, we will play our way."

Based on this season's events, Graham had a point. But the Arsenal way is different now. It's something Arsenal fans are supposed to be proud of.

Britain's Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, was ousted in 1990 and the same fate could befall Gordon Brown 20 years on. Maybe Arsene Wenger should be installed at Downing Street. He has led Arsenal with integrity, vision, and restraint.

Wenger is a welcome constant in an uncertain world and the fans need to get behind his project. Emirates Stadium is a massive statement of the club's intent but it came with a £400million mortgage.

The board is at an uncertain stage. The club has been in the hands of the Hill-Wood family for decades and Peter Hill-Wood is determined to continue as its custodian.

He is trying to deal with the dilemma of outside interest from the world’s greedy, rapacious plutocracy. A massive decision looms and he is understandably reluctant to take it. We don’t want to imitate Chelsea’s fragile model, do we?

Wenger is a flawed genius but he deserves our backing. He's building a sustainable future for the club.

"It's not your money Wenger, it's ours," raged one fan behind me at the Chelsea game, desperate for new signings.

Utterly deluded. Wenger’s responsible handling of the club’s finances has been absolute.

1989 created a platform for everything that followed for 15 years, all the way to Wenger’s Invincibles in 2004. Now Wenger is building a new springboard from which the club will flourish if he is left to do his job.

But we still haven't replaced Tony Adams, I hear you cry. That's because there was only one Tony Adams.

We sang that song, remember?

And this weekend, against Stoke, we should be singing "There's only one Arsene Wenger."

Four years may seem a long time.

When Arsenal wins their next trophy it will be worth the wait. Just as it was in 1989, when Thomas, right at the end, netted Arsenal's first league title―since 1971.

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