Arsenal has lost a legend. And I’ve lost a very dear friend. Ken Friar was Arsenal through and through. His is one of the most extraordinary stories in football. A boy who started in the club’s post room and went on to run the institution he loved. Quite literally a lifetime devoted to one football club. But for all his remarkable achievements, titles and honours, what made Ken so special was the man himself. My grandfather had a wonderful relationship with Ken, and over the past 20 years I was fortunate enough to develop my own very special friendship with him. A couple of times each season, he’d invite me into the Arsenal boardroom for a match. It was always a privilege, but the real pleasure was spending time with Ken and his beautiful family. Warm, gentle, wonderfully funny and utterly without pretension. He always had a joke ready, invariably a Jewish one, and despite not being Jewish himself, he told them better than most Jews I know! But above all, he was extraordinarily thoughtful. I remember him asking me, completely out of the blue, whether I had any photographs of my son at Arsenal. I told him I had a few hundred! He asked me to send him some, and a little while later he asked me to come and see him at his office (overlooking the old Highbury pitch) at the club. Unbeknownst to me, he’d arranged an enormous printed card featuring the photographs, signed by the entire first team, together with a personal letter to my son from the manager and a signed Bukayo Saka shirt. Nobody had asked him to do any of it. He just thought it would be a lovely thing to do. As he did when he took it upon himself to include a beautiful condolence message in the programme when my father passed away. That was Ken. This photograph below was taken that day in his office. I’d brought Cookie, whom Ken adored. I rather love that this is how I’ll remember him. In an era when football has become increasingly dominated by billionaires, corporate interests and, at times, questionable behaviour, Ken represented something rather different. Loyalty. Decency. Kindness. Humility. He was a reminder that the greatest institutions are built not simply on money or success, but on people who genuinely care. It wasn’t business, it was his life. How fitting that he got to see his beloved Arsenal crowned champions of England once more before bowing out. I have no doubt he’ll be up there now, kicking every ball, celebrating every goal and agonising over every missed chance. And I rather like to think my old man will be right there alongside him. Football has lost one of its true gentlemen. Arsenal has lost part of its soul. And those of us lucky enough to have known Ken have lost someone very special indeed. My thoughts and love are with his family and everyone who loved him. Rest in peace, dear Ken. Thank you for the friendship, the laughter and the memories. Once a Gooner, always a Gooner. ❤️🤍 @Arsenal