Of the thousands of Arsenal fans took to the streets of north London and the millions worldwide who celebrated Mikel Arteta’s side becoming Premier League champions for the first time since 2004 on Tuesday, many would have been experiencing it for the first time.For those born at the turn of the Millennium or later, the past 22 years have had them feeling akin to Tony Soprano.Part of the mobster’s opening monologue in the pilot episode of The Sopranos goes: “It’s good to be in something from the ground floor. I came too late for that, I know. But lately, I’m getting the feeling that I came in at the end. The best is over.”A swathe of Arsenal supporters were just about old enough to catch the end of Thierry Henry, Robert Pires and other Invincibles, but for a long while, the best was over. Until now.The Athletic spoke to supporters who were too young to remember the last league title to discuss their early memories and their feelings now.“My first vivid Arsenal memory is the Champions League final loss against Barcelona in 2006,” Anthony Zziwa, a 29-year-old Arsenal fan from Croydon, south London, says.“I used to collect stickers and they had a Champions League edition for that season. When I’d trade the stickers with my friends, I’d hear that Arsenal were going on a run (to the final).“We watched the final at my house and when they lost, I said, ‘This is my club’ because my friend supported them. We thought we’d be back next year and we haven’t until a couple of weeks from now.”Anthony Zziwa (right) and friend Ben Brookes (Ben Brookes)For others, it is not even the abject visuals of the yellow and black away strip in the Paris rain as they lost to Barcelona that resonate.“I was in a car, listening on the radio because my dad and I were waiting to pick up my brother from a music concert,” Connor Laing, a 27-year-old from Guildford, a town in Surrey, south of London, says. “I remember hearing the Barcelona goals and bursting into tears at full time, and I don’t remember crying much as a kid for anything else. It was almost like a moment of realisation that I cared about Arsenal.”For this generation, it has been a long road to get to this point.There were fleeting title charges under Arsene Wenger in 2007-08, 2010-11 and 2013-14, but all ended by March. Even when success looked guaranteed with a Carling Cup final against a soon-to-be-relegated Birmingham City, Arsenal found a way to disappoint.That only intensified with the growth of social media. The bombardment of jokes from rival fans became constant in a way that is now considered normal.Arsenal’s 8-2 defeat away at Manchester United came on August 28, 2011. The school year in England does not begin until the first week of September, but Facebook and BlackBerry Messenger chats were in full flow.Arsene Wenger and the Arsenal bench during the 8-2 humiliation at Old Trafford in 2011 (Andrew Yates/AFP via Getty Images)“As an Arsenal fan now, when we play anyone, I believe we can take the fight to them,” Zziwa says. “From the period when Manchester United had (Cristiano) Ronaldo, (Wayne) Rooney and (Carlos) Tevez in 2007, there was no time when I thought we’d beat United.