It is 10pm on the dot and the cold Bromley air is beginning to bite. Midfielder Mitchel Bergkamp is a stride away from the tunnel when a shout from the stand causes him to crane his neck and pause.
It comes from a man — Abu Kamal — accompanied by his wife and young daughter, who is looking for a photo pitchside. The man inevitably proclaims that he was a huge fan of his father, that other Bergkamp fellow you may have heard of once upon a time. Does Dennis — the Arsenal forward, non-flying Dutchman, footballing artist — ring any bells?
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Abu says that he has been besotted by Arsenal ever since watching a 1998 FA Cup tie against Leeds on TV. That was his introduction to English football and, as an 11-year-old, the day Dennis Bergkamp became his hero.
Such is his affection for the former Arsenal No 10, when he found out that his son had signed for Bromley he persuaded his wife that spending a full evening of their week-long holiday in London watching a fifth-tier match here on its far south-eastern outskirts would be time well spent.
Bergkamp is affable and obliges for the photo (lead picture, above), but he is then hit with a quiz question from his newly-acquainted fan.
“Guess where we travelled from to come and watch you play tonight… Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia,” boasts Abu, excitedly not even allowing him time to even hazard a guess.
It brings a half-bewildered, half-chuffed smile from Bergkamp, until the next question arrives.
“I was a big fan of your dad so I was hoping to see you play… are you injured?”
Bergkamp shakes his head, says goodnight and heads inside to change.
There was no injury. Bergkamp was just one of the two unused substitutes as Bromley lost 3-0 at home to York City. His only action of the night came during the pre-game warm-up and at full-time when he was put through his paces, running from one end of the pitch to the other on repeat. His hands gradually retreated into the warm pockets of his waterproof coat.
How many similar experiences to this must Bergkamp Jnr, now 24, have endured? Times when he is the subject of a photo request, though not really the primary subject of the snapper’s interest? Where he is left feeling slightly awkward because he hasn’t lived up to the expectations of a complete stranger?
Carving out a professional career in football is hard enough without your father’s glittering record hanging over you — 120 goals in 423 appearances for Arsenal, three Premier League titles, four FA Cups and a statue outside the Emirates loom pretty large.
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Dennis Bergkamp’s statue at the Emirates Stadium, paying homage to one of Arsenal’s great players (Photo: Charlotte Wilson/Offside/Offside via Getty Images)The challenge of trying to step out from the shadow of such an icon to establish a distinct identity of your own in the same line of work must feel like a poisoned chalice.
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Kasper Schmeichel, Marcus Thuram, Justin Kluivert, Timothy Weah, Giovanni Simeone, Ianis Hagi, Devante Cole, Jordan Larsson, Erling Haaland, Federico Chiesa, Giovanni Reyna, Alexis Mac Allister, Jordi Cruyff, Thiago (Mazinho) and Romeo Beckham have all experienced similar psychological challenges as Mitchel Bergkamp, with varying degrees of success.
Yes, there must be some genes, not to mention a love of the game, that are passed on and come in handy. Yes, some doors are likely opened quicker than for players from ‘ordinary’ families. But your surname must suffocate at times, too.
His will stand out on any team sheet in the National League but, at Bromley, it is not as if the Bergkamp circus has rolled into town. Speak to season-ticket holders or officials at the club and they will tell you that the famous surname has not been a magnet for media attention and casual fans in the same way, say, as Wrexham’s takeover by Hollywood actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney.
On Tuesday night, that is clear to see.
Bergkamp was only on the bench. The club shop has made no attempt to put him front of centre of a merchandise push and the locals’ singing group behind the goal did not appear to have treated him to his own chant yet. The only real sign that having a Bergkamp in your team carries brand sex appeal was that NSP Renewables immediately sponsored him on all three kits.
Indeed, at half-time in the bar area, a season-ticket holder called Shaun is open in sharing his expectations when he heard Dennis Bergkamp’s boy was going to be playing for his team.
“Well, we all just thought he was going to be unbelievable, like his dad!” he says. “But to be fair to the lad, we have hardly seen him yet to judge.”
Since joining seven weeks ago, Bergkamp has played just 147 minutes, comprised of six substitute appearances and one start against Woking — he did take advantage of that opportunity and scored Bromley’s goal in a 2-1 defeat that night. But that, to date, has been it.
How Mitchel Bergkamp netted his first for the club last night 🙌#WeAreBromley pic.twitter.com/vnhacFNcow
— Bromley FC (@bromleyfc) February 22, 2023
Bergkamp Jnr spent the first nine years of his life in London and, after returning to the Netherlands with his family, made his way through the youth system at Almere City, based just outside Amsterdam. He was there for nine years until released by the second-tier side in the summer of 2020.
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He was handed a trial at Arsenal the following year then signed for Watford on a six-month deal in the February to play with their under-23s, where the sons of Mauricio Pochettino (Maurizio) and Dennis Wise (Henry) were among his team-mates.
This recent move to Bromley marks his reintroduction to the game after almost 18 months without a club.
Bromley manager Andy Woodman, who was Arsenal’s goalkeeping coach from 2017-21, believes people should not read too much into his limited playing time to date.
“I worked with him at Arsenal but he was a little bit too old for that under-23 group. He was excellent, so, when I got a message from his agent asking if he could come in, it was a no-brainer as he is a quality player,” Woodman tells The Athletic.
“He just carries the weight of the name of his father, which is a burden at times as I’ve seen in my own family (Woodman’s son, Freddie, is a 25-year-old goalkeeper at Preston North End of the Championship after nine years with Newcastle United and playing for England up to under-21s level).
“He’ll be a big asset. He knows my thinking about where he is going to fit into our team, which he will do for sure.
“I spoke to him the other day, as I don’t want him to feel like he is on trial. He has come in on a short-term deal but the plan is for him to stay in London and play for Bromley for a couple of years.
“He’s a good player in his own right. He’s got really good feet and can play No 10 or No 8, but he is the latter as he can break into holes and gets his shot away. He’s not too dissimilar to his dad in the way that you don’t think he’s running, but then he finds those pockets of space and comes alive.
“The last time I saw Dennis was when he scored his 100th Arsenal goal — past me (in 2003, when Woodman was playing for Oxford United)! I haven’t had the chance to catch up with him, but I’m not sure I need to. It’s about Mitchel now.”
Frmer Crystal Palace, Oxford and Northampton goalkeeper Andy Woodman spent time coaching at Arsenal before taking up the reins at Bromley in 2021 (Photo: David Price/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)Woodman admits Bergkamp had to wait for a chance in a team performing well this season as they chase a place in the play-offs and promotion to the EFL for the first time in the club’s 131-year history.
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He told Bergkamp he could not bring him on against York after the hosts were reduced to 10 when goalkeeper Reice Charles-Cook was shown a straight red shortly before half-time.
Charles-Cook, a former Arsenal academy graduate, spoke to The Athletic before Tuesday’s game. “To us, Mitchel’s just another lad — if my dad was Dennis Bergkamp, I’d be letting everyone know!” he says. “I’ve tried to test his mentality and he is very much, ‘I’m Mitchel Bergkamp, I’m my own person’.
“He doesn’t shy away from the banter in the changing room. He sang his initiation song in Dutch, which was a bit of a cheat code.
“I’ve tried to wind him up by saying, ‘Your dad isn’t even in the top five Dutch players of all time’, and, ‘Frank Lampard was 10 times the player your dad was’. I’m a Chelsea fan, so I’ve been joking that he should bring Dennis in to training for me to tell him face-to-face, but he just laughs it off.”
Dennis Bergkamp, with a young Mitchel, waves goodbye to the Arsenal fans after his testimonial match at the Emirates stadium in July 2006 (Photo: Olaf Kraak/AFP via Getty Images)Bergkamp does not rise to the bait, presumably because he’s had it his whole life, but Charles-Cook is convinced his team-mate has the ability to go on from here and build a playing career of his own.
“He said to me he just wanted to play men’s football finally,” adds the goalkeeper. “He’s tall and an elegant player. He can float with the football. When he does get higher up, which he can do, you’ll see his quality stand out even more.
“He’s got new boots every week in non-League, which is unheard of. If there is a new pair of Nike boots out, he’ll have them. I’m like, ‘Freaking hell, Mitch. You love football, don’t you?’. It’s all he talks about.
“Some people will say he’s living through his dad, but it is his own passion.”
(Top photo: Mitchel Bergkamp/Instagram)
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