Witness to History: Graham Stack on being the Arsenal Invincibles’ No.2

Graham Stack may have fully established himself as Arsenal’s No.1, yet the club still provided the goalkeeper with one of the highlights of his career.

For every major sporting success, there are those left in the background, names forgotten by the masses even though they were the closest to the action.

Names like Graham Stack.

He never played a single Premier League game for Arsenal, making most of his career appearances for Hibernian and Barnet, but as second choice to Jens Lehmann during the Gunners’ Invincibles season he was a first-hand witness to history.

Lehmann played every minute of that unbeaten Premier League campaign, but Stack had proved to Arsene Wenger he was worthy of being called upon if the big German was unable to play.

An impressive feat in itself, and something he now looks back on as one of his fondest memories in football.

“I loved it even though I didn’t play,” Stack says. “I wasn’t ready to play 38 games as Arsenal’s No.1 anyway.

“I didn’t have enough experience at that level, I still had a lot to learn technically, and my temperament still needed to improve and develop in order to turn into a composed goalkeeper.

“It was probably the right moment for me to be a No.2 and to learn from Jens, to develop both on the pitch and off it, as goalkeepers do improve as time goes on. I’m not saying we wouldn’t have won the title if I played 38 games, but it was too early for me to be a No.1.

“I was just happy to be involved, to be learning, and I did improve greatly that year under the guidance of (goalkeeping coach) Gerry Peyton and Jens, and being in that company on a day-to-basis.

“The manager showed belief in me, he played me in every League Cup game and had we got to the final I would have played in