McLintock: Pile on the White Hart pain

Mee, the Arsenal manager, needn't have worried. Three minutes from the end of a tumultuous match, 19-year-old Ray Kennedy scored with a header from Armstrong's cross to give Arsenal a 1-0 victory.

An hour after the game I sat in the Arsenal dressing room with McLintock. "It's the first match Barbara's seen this season," he grinned. "The last game she saw was against Anderlecht when we won the Fairs Cup so I think I'm going to take her to Wembley on Saturday unless, of course, wee Bertie objects!"

The Championship was Arsenal's and, five days later, they beat Liverpool 2-1 after extra-time at Wembley to win the FA Cup and join their great rivals Spurs as Double winners.

It was such an achievement that, 27 years later, when Arsene Wenger's team repeated the feat, McLintock confessed to feelings of jealousy. "It was a special thing for us," he recalled. "I remember David Dein talking to me about it and I admitted that I was a bit jealous.

"It was so difficult to win in the first place. We were only the second team that century to do it."

But the 64-year-old former Leicester City and Brentford manager, who achieved legendary status during his 10 years at Highbury, remains a loyal Arsenal fan. "I still take a lot of pride and personal satisfaction from what Arsenal achieve," he said.

"I think Arsene has created a wonderful team. They play great onetouch football. When they're popping it about as quickly as they do the opposition is just chasing shadows. That's what tires them out and that's when the gaps open and Arsenal flow. But they've still got to win things. You can't say they're the best side you've ever seen if they're not winning trophies. Look at Liverpool - four European Cups. Or Manchester United - the Treble in 1999.

"Arsenal are capable of being the best side ever but they still have to prove it. I was disappointed when they went out of the two Cup competitions because I thought they were just about good enough to win the Treble. Potentially they're the best in the country, and if they sell a couple of fringe players in the summer they'll have a bit of money to reinforce the squad and be even stronger next season."

Not surprisingly McLintock singles out Thierry Henry for special praise.

"He makes it look so easy," said the former Scotland defender.

"He's so graceful when he runs. The guys marking him are giving everything but alongside Henry they look like they're running in sand.

"If they get close he simply finds another gear and moves away from them.

"He just seems to glide along, enjoying himself, without a trace of tension. He scores goals, he makes goals. I've not seen many better.

"I would have loved to mark him so that I could say, as I did with George Best, that I played against the very best. But I'm sure I wouldn't have come out on top. Unless I could have jumped on his head in the first minute, but they don't allow that these days!"