George Graham's title-winning Arsenal side of 1989 would be a match for Pep Guardiola's Manchester City

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It was fantastic to catch up with team-mates including Alan Smith and Steve Bould at the premiere of 89. It’s a wonderful documentary that captures the spirit of Arsenal’s famous title win at Anfield 28 years ago.

It was nice to see Jack Wilshere, but he was the only current Arsenal player there to see it and I feel it’s something the Arsenal squad would benefit from watching together, if only to capture what we had back then.

There is a belief that anything that happened before 1992 is no longer relevant. I always smile when I hear about a Premier League record being set, as if there was no real football before.

A new documentary has been released about Arsenal's 1989 title win at Anfield

But the majority of my 17-year career at Arsenal took place in the old First Division and I’m certain a lot of my team-mates and opponents would have done very well in today’s game.

Arsenal were going nowhere in my first few years until George Graham came in the door from Millwall in 1986 (I can’t see something like that happening again!).

He made it clear he wasn’t going to pick players on reputation or price tag. 

Homegrown talent like David Rocastle, Michael Thomas, Tony Adams, Paul Merson and myself realised we’d be given opportunities. Youngsters still need that and it’s great to see Mauricio Pochettino and Gareth Southgate doing that again.

Michael Thomas scored the important goal during a special day where history was made

George worked on defence, organisation, drills, discipline. Everything was done as a unit.

Those principles are still of value. For all the plaudits Manchester City have rightly received this season, some of their opponents would have learned a thing or two from our approach and detailed training. We would have been able to give Pep Guardiola’s team a real game.

Take that famous match at Anfield. Liverpool were one of the best teams in Europe and had world-class players in Ian Rush and John Barnes. But George was meticulous in his planning, picking David O’Leary as a third centre back to allow our full-backs, Lee Dixon and Nigel Winterburn, to engage Barnes and Ray Houghton further up the pitch, well away from our goal.

George predicted how the game would play out in the team meeting and I remember travelling up on the coach very disappointed to be missing out on the match of our lives because of injury. I felt history was about to be made.

George Graham celebrates with the title after masterminding a brilliant victory at Anfield

If we’d been playing this City team, George would have prepared a plan for Sergio Aguero or David Silva, just as we neutralised Liverpool and beat Parma in the European Cup-Winners’ Cup final in 1994, when they had Gianfranco Zola, Faustino Asprilla and Tomas Brolin up front.

Our players were good enough to have adapted to the modern game. We had to try to stop Glenn Hoddle and Paul Gascoigne in north London derbies in our day.

Glenn was the most gifted player I played against and Kevin De Bruyne is his current-day equivalent. I have been fortunate enough to stay in the game after retiring as a player. I worked for the PFA for 12 years and now I’m a qualified FA national coach educator, tutoring on our Pro Licence and A-Licence courses.

I have always welcomed and embraced new ideas, concepts and technology. But I won’t dismiss everything that has gone before.

George's plan included using David O'Leary as a third centre back to neutralise Liverpool

George would have had to change his management style to deal with the modern player. He wouldn’t allow anyone else in the room for contract negotiations, and when I asked to leave the club during an 18-month exile from the first-team squad, he just refused. Brutal, but clubs and managers pretty much had all the power. In terms of tactics, his ideas would still work today. He and Jose Mourinho are cut from the same cloth.

It drove a creative player like myself crazy because of what I was being told to do with no compromise or way to express myself. We called the boss Gaddafi because of his dictatorial style (though never within his earshot!) but I have to admit he was just what Arsenal needed in 1989.

Peter Schmeichel once said Manchester United’s 1999 Treble team under Fergie would have smashed the 1968 European Cup winners 10-0. I don’t buy that.

The modern game is quicker, played on better pitches and it’s more entertaining, but great teams from the past would be competitive against anyone today. When you hear about the next Premier League record being set, check if it wasn’t matched or bettered before 1992.

Paul Davis was talking to Joe Bernstein.

George gave opportunities to homegrown players like me (left) while with Arsenal