We had to get special dispensation for Alex to get a Premier League winners medal in 1998. Back then, you needed 10 appearances to get one – he had only made seven.
Everyone at the club thought he fully deserved it, though, and the Arsenal fans took to Alex too, because of how brilliantly he played.
They had a song for him, roughly to the tune of the nursery rhyme Three Blind Mice.
Alex Manninger, Alex Manninger
Got a sore finger, got a sore finger
Loves Arsene Wenger, loves Arsene Wenger
We would sing it to him too, whenever he came into the room. He loved it. Alex was a shy guy initially, but that changed when he was part of the group.
You always get to know some players better than others at any club you are at, but there was a real togetherness in our squad at the time. Everyone would mix together.
I roomed with Stephen Hughes that season but Matt Upson and Alex would come to our room to play PlayStation games when we were in hotels for away matches. I was a few years older, so they kept me young really.
Alex’s character was quite a contrast on and off the pitch – on it, he was fiercely competitive. He always trained incredibly hard and he was very driven.
He could sometimes be very critical of himself if he made a mistake, but it was very clear he just did not want to be beaten. As a senior player, I loved that mentality.
Off the pitch, he was a huge personality too. Someone who was great fun to be around but also very calm – unless he was playing on the PlayStation.
Looking at photos of him now reminds me of how he was, and of those days, but it is something more than that. When I think of Alex, I can still picture the connection we had in my mind’s eye.
He left Arsenal in 2002 and I had not seen him for a number of years before he passed away, but whenever you win things together, like we did – we went through some really big nights together – then there is a bond there that keeps you together forever.
That 1997-98 season was the first in my career where I tasted real success – it was my first league title, and first FA Cup – and I will never forget he played a major part in that.
