The year is 2000, and as the new millennium was only just beginning, it was looking like the end of the Denmark Supporters' Club. Membership was hovering at 300 and as the founder and chairman left, the group was on the brink.

Thomas Ballegaard was an editor, helping out with the group's magazine, and recalls the moment it all unfolded: "It came as a surprise at the general meeting that the chairman and the founder left, and suddenly, they were like: 'do you want to take it, otherwise we'll just close it.' So I said: 'no, no, no, I will do it' and I took over as chairman."

Fast forward 25 years, and the Denmark Supporters' Group has over 4,500 members with smaller groups set up across nine regions of the country, all cheering us on each weekend.

"We're growing, which is a good situation, because there is fantastic support for everything we do. We have our AGM in Randers in October with Martin Keown coming over to meet our supporters, and it's all for them.

"We have 15 places around Denmark and every group has its own Facebook group, which is all organised by a local head, who is responsible for building their society in their hometown. We feed them with content and graphics, and small things. All of this is based on passion for Arsenal and goodwill."

Barry’s Pub in Randers is the destination of choice for Thomas, who has been supporting us since he was a child. The red and white of our kits lured him on Sundays during broadcasts of The Big Match.

Since joining the group, set up in 1991, and leading the group for 25 years, Thomas has helped bring a host of our legends to Denmark over the years. From Danish hero John Jensen, to Ray Parlour to Gilberto Silva, Ballegaard puts the visits of greats as one of the big reasons the group has had such popularity in the last quarter of a century.

He said: "It's one of the things that I'm most proud of. As a group, you must have a general meeting according to the club. We were doing that every year and 20 people were coming up. Then I said if we're going to make this work, I don't want to do that for 20 people, how can we bring more than 200 people together? 

"We bring an Arsenal player, how could we do that? I wasn't sure at the time. But we made it happen, and the first player we brought in was John Jensen. That was big. People were turning up and he would talk about his life at Arsenal; it was fantastic.

"He helped us get connections to the generation of Pat Rice, Pat Jennings, Charlie George, those guys. So every year, we organised bringing them to the venue and they were a special guest at the general meeting.

"Suddenly, it became a big event, and people would come to the general meeting and hear about the fan club and listen to all the good stories from their time in Arsenal, and it grew. 

"We had Tony Adams coming up to Brondby, Copenhagen, we had over 350 people, a television crew was there, it was a massive day. We've since had Ray Parlour, Lauren, Jens Lehmann, Gilberto, and many people since.

"It gives people a chance to connect closer to the club because there's one thing getting an autograph and a selfie, but it's sitting listening to their hero, just in front of them, in their hometown.

"It brings Arsenal to their home, and it makes it a very personal subject. So this is one thing that I'm most proud of, because that has made the supporter club grow and become more important to people."

So what does supporting Arsenal from Denmark mean? Outside of the pubs dotted all over the nation, the club organises regular trips to London to watch us play, one of the first coming just so happened to be on May 3, 1998, the day we clinched the Premier League title against Everton.

He recalled: "In September 1997, we organised a group trip, and we did it with DFDS Ferries and managed to get some tickets. We had no idea that the game would mean so much; no one knew that we would actually be winning the trophy that day. It was really great to be there, we were so fortunate!

"For me, it's very important to be able to organise a trip for our fans here in Denmark. I'm used to travelling for work, but some people are not comfortable doing that, some people have never been to London, and some people have never been to a football game.

"They won't come unless someone is helping them, sorting it out. We bring these people together, and then we see that we create new connections and relationships, and that's fantastic, and that's something football can do. I love that.

"It makes me very emotional because we give people a chance, give them an experience, give them a chance to make new friends and it's all in the life of Arsenal, around an Arsenal trip. Isn't that fantastic?"