City of Joy gears up to welcome 'King Henry'

Kolkata, Oct 24 : When Arsel and France legend Thierry Henry takes his seat at the Rabindra Sarovar Stadium here on Tuesday to watch Atletico de Kolkata (ATK) take on Mumbai City FC in an Indian Super League (ISL) match, a gigantic banner reading ‘Welcome to the City of Joy, King Henry’ will welcome him.

Organised by the Arsel Bengal Supporters Club, a fan club in the eastern metroplois, which has been recognised by the English Premier League heavyweights recently, the 20 by five feet long banner will feature the Frenchman showing his back with the famous ‘No 14’ shirt on.

“We will occupy seats in block B and unfurl the banner in honour of the legend coming to our city. We are also planning to welcome him at the airport and then go to a city mall to meet him and present a booklet,” Avinoj Roy, secretary of the fan club, told IANS on Monday.

Henry helped Arsel earn the tag “invincibles” with a record 49 consecutive top-flight league games unbeaten from May 2003 to October 2004, breaking Nottingham Forest’s previous record of 42.

The Gunners won the 2003-04 English Premier League title during this period.

Commemorating the historic feat which is still unrivalled, the booklet will have 49 pages with messages for Henry from all members of the fan club.

Along with Roy, President Pratik Bhattacharya and eight other members will meet the France World Cup winner.

Henry, the current Assistant Mager to Roberto Martinez in the Belgium tiol team, is expected to touch base around 2 p.m. and will head to a plush mall to spend some time at the store of a sports kit manufacturer of which he is the brand ambassador. From there, after meeting and greeting his fans of the Arsel Bengal club, the mercurial striker will reach he stadium for the game.

“His flight has been delayed so he will only reach by afternoon. From our store he will go to the stadium,” a source close to the sports kit manufacturer said. IANS