Former Arsenal star David Hillier recently joined Barnet on a month's loan. HUGH CHRISTOPHER finds out what happened to him after he walked out of Highbury.

It is remembered as one of the most breathtaking moments in football history. Arsenal vs Real Zaragoza, the Cup Winners' Cup Final, 1995. It's the last minute of extra time in a hard fought 1-1 draw. Arsenal, the cup holders and firm favourites, look to be heading to retain their silverware. Then, from nowhere, Zaragoza midfielder Nayim tries an audacious lob from the halfway line. The ball sails 40 metres, over the head of the despairing David Seaman and into the Arsenal net.

Game over.

"I was playing," begins David Hillier, who graced the red and white on that day, "it was just surreal, everything slowed down. It was an X-Files moment. I can still remember it now. He was meant to shoot, it was a great strike and, well, it was fate really."

The moment acts as an apt metaphor for the career of ex-Arsenal star Hillier. One moment you have the world at your feet. The next you are watching it all slip away.

Hillier had eight years at Highbury. He was part of the team that won the FA Cup, the league cup and the league championship. But after that fateful cup final, Hillier's Arsenal days were numbered. In the November of 1996, shortly after Arsene Wenger became the Gunners' manager, he moved to first division Portsmouth beginning a steady decline that recently saw him join conference side Barnet on a months loan.

"I had great times at Arsenal. Times that I'll never see again and never forget," says Hillier.

"It was a different kind of football back then. It has moved on so much in the last few years. Diet, fitness, the technical ability of the players. I gave what I had to give at that particular time. I'm never going to run past people with the ball or be a different kind of midfield player but George (Graham, former Arsenal manager) knew I was combative, would do the job he asked and would work hard. And thats what he wanted from his midfield players. But you can't get away with that in today's Premiership because the technical ability has gone up so much."

Hillier would play 3 seasons at Fratton Park, before joining Bristol Rovers in 1999. At the end of last season he became a a victim of the financial crisis that is currently engulfing the football world. Manager Gerry Francis told all his players who were paid above a certain wage that the club could no longer afford them. Hillier was forced to look elsewhere.

"Martin Allen (Barnet's first-team coach) gave me a call and asked me to come down to Barnet. I knew him from Portsmouth. I wanted training and matchplay and we decided if we liked each other we would see what we could do.

"I'm pleased to be starting the new season at a football club. It's a difficult situation right now for me and a lot of friends."

It has been a strange journey from Highbury to Underhill for David Hillier. A journey that has seen him go from a well-known name at a Premiership team to virtual obscurity. While Barnet must be delighted to obtain a player of his experience, enthusiasm and ability, you can't help but feel that he never really did achieve what he once promised.

"Football's over so quickly you can't dwell on regrets. I wish I'd come along 10 years later, as it would have been different money wise. But for actual football highs, I've had a great time.

"You come full circle. I'm not worried about doing that because I like playing football, I just like being out there on Saturday with the lads."

August 22, 2002 17:30