Saturday January 31. It is the coldest match day on record at Emirates Stadium in North London. As Arsenal line up to face London rivals West Ham, Nigel Boardman and I nip into the club’s souvenir shop to escape the weather and try on hats and gloves.

The son of Lord Boardman, a former Tory Cabinet Minister who later chaired NatWest, Mr Boardman is one of Britain’s most prominent corporate lawyers. He has worked on most of the significant takeover deals since the 1980s and was one of the select band of “wise old men” to whom Baroness Vadera, Gordon Brown’s adviser, turned when the banks first needed bailing out last October.

He is also an Arsenal fanatic, having followed the club since he started his career at Slaughter and May, the City law firm, in the 1970s.

Mr Boardman is close to Arsenal’s board and was particularly close to David Dein, the chief executive who left after a boardroom battle 18 months ago. He carries out Arsenal’s legal work, ranging from transfers – he helped to sort out Robin Van Persie’s arrival – to the club’s move from its old Highbury stadium to the new – and admittedly very impressive – Emirates stadium in Finsbury Park.

I say “admittedly” because I have just confessed to Nigel that I have been a fan of one of Arsenal’s biggest rivals – Manchester United – since the 1980s. The subject comes up as Mr Boardman tries on an Arsenal hat.

“What has been the best game of the season so far?” I ask smugly, after admitting that I support the current world, European and Premier League champions.

“Well,” says Mr Boardman, “that would have been against Manchester United.” Ouch. Arsenal unexpectedly overcame United 2-1 at the Emirates in November.

We get to our seats above the press box just after the game has kicked off, joining Chip Goodyear, former BHP Billiton chief executive and the new boss of Temasek, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund. Often Mr Boardman sits in the directors’ box, but he also has his own seats with hoi polloi, which is where we are today.

Arsenal is a bit of family affair for the Slaughter and May partner. Mr Goodyear – an old client and an old friend of Mr Boardman – often joins him at Arsenal matches and Richard Slater, his former Slaughters partner, is to my left. Mr Boardman also takes his children to many of Arsenal’s home games. Twenty minutes in, and North London’s finest have not had a shot on goal, perhaps because Arsene Wenger, the club’s French manager, inexplicably has left out Van Persie, the inform Dutch striker.

Mr Boardman is watching the pitch intently but the game is pretty dull and not only is it the coldest match day on record at the stadium, it is also the coldest day in Britain for more than ten years.

I try to make conversation to distract myself from the fact I have lost feeling in my toes. Who was the best signing you did the legal work for?” I ask. “Fabregas joined just before I became involved on the football side, so I just missed him, but he’s pretty impressive,” says Mr Boardman. “Van Persie has always been one of my favourites. We got him pretty cheap,” he adds.

We are on the half-hour mark and still not a shot on goal. It is truly freezing, so time to bait Mr Boardman. “Arsenal are never going to catch United, are they Nigel?” I ask. “Arsene would say that there’s a long way to go. It’s a season in which nobody has dominated – even Manchester United. They’ve put on a sprint, but its not over yet.”

A diplomatic answer. Time to change tack. All football fans hate being told there is no atmosphere in their home stadium, but whether it is the cold or the poor football – Arsenal’s devotees really are quiet today, as are West Ham’s. I suspect that the Hammers’ fans are so silent because – like some of their players – in an unbelievable display of machismo they are wearing short-sleeved shirts.

Sensibly, Arsenal’s players are wearing gloves.

I ask Mr Boardman why: “They don’t have much to cheer about.”

Still no shots on goal and its nearly half-time. “Do you have much to cheer about?” “No, I suppose not,” he concedes.

That touched a nerve, but it is time to get in couple of questions about work. It is widely assumed that a recession is good for law firms because there is so much litigation and insolvency work around.

To an extent that is true. Lawyers could also be seen to benefit because they are far more shielded in a recession than investment bankers. Much to the bankers’ chagrin Mr Boardman, who reportedly took home more than £2 million last year, may have to struggle by on two thirds of that this year.

But rival firms, including Clifford Chance, the world’s biggest law firm, are cutting the number of partners and junior lawyers.

Mr Boardman is not always popular with rival lawyers in the City. Part of the reason is that he has been forthright in saying that law firms should not hestitate to cut high-earning, nonperforming partners who are a drain on the business. “Partners should not be immune to cuts, but you do have to be careful not to lose the culture – a partnership culture is different,” he says. “I think it’s very damaging to cut graduate trainees and young associates – it leaves a generational gap in your business. Plus, these are people who could have other careers – it’s just not fair.”

Mr Boardman – along with Robin Budenberg and David Soanes, of UBS; and Lord Davies, the Trade Minister, former chairman and chief executive of Standard Chartered – was one of an elite band of City grandees whom Lady Vadera relied upon to design the first bank bailout.

The plan was developed behind closed doors in the offices of Mr Soanes and Lady Vadera last October and Mr Boardman remains pretty tight-lipped about it. “I think we did the right thing at the time. But other steps have become necessary as the reality of the banks’ situation has unfolded,” he says defensively.

The half-time whistle goes, which is a relief, as my fingers are turning blue. We pop into the bowels of the Emirates with Mr Goodyear and his wife to meet Mr Boardman’s daughter – a chip off the block and a devoted Arsenal fan.

But all too soon it is back out to the freezing stands and still no shots on goal after ten minutes.

To break the tedium, Mr Boardman extols the virtues of Arsenal’s Emirates stadium. “It’s quite different from Old Trafford. The boxes here are outside. What’s the point of sitting behind glass to watch football? We’ve solved that problem.”

It is a fair point. But I do not like to mention that today most of those in the boxes have not come out for the second half – either because it is too cold, or too dull. Although Mr Boardman was close to David Dein, who left after he tried to bring the American sports tycoon Stan Kroenke on to the board and then threw his weight behind the approaches made by Alisher Usmanov, the Russian billionaire, he is also loyal to the current board. I ask if the Usmamov-related troubles are over.

“Arsenal welcomes all supportive shareholders, but I certainly hope they are over,” he says cautiously.

Halfway through the second half and there still haven’t been any obvious chances. Mrs Goodyear is an Aussie Rules fan from her time Down Under when her husband ran BHP. It is her first Arsenal game and she looks bored, so we talk about Davos, which is the alternative entertainment this weekend. She says the Davos glitterati are hopeful that the recession will be over by the middle of next year. “Ah, what do those guys know?” chips in Mr Goodyear.

Fair point, and end of that conversation. With 20 minutes to go and still no goals, Mrs Goodyear goes inside to get cups of tea. She comes back after a couple of minutes to ask her husband for cash – having just returned from her native New Orleans she has only dollars in her wallet, she says.

There are no flies on Liz and I suspect she just wants to get back into the warm.

There is a minor flurry of excitement when Mr Boardman’s favourite, Van Persie, comes on. But the whistle goes and Arsenal leave the pitch to some half-hearted booing from their own fans. “No penetration, no inspiration,” bemoans one of Mr Boardman’s former colleagues.

A brief postmatch analysis lays the blame at the door of West Ham’s spoiling tactics. The Hammers play Manchester United tomorrow, so let’s see how the tactics work with a better quality of opposition.

The top five deals

The first bank bailout in October 2008. The tense weekend of negotiations led to £50 billion being injected into the banking system.

Why? “For its national importance.”

BHP Billiton's ultimately unsuccessful bid for Rio Tinto in November 2007. The merger would have created a mining giant worth over £100 billion and would have been the world's second-biggest merger after Vodafone's purchase of Mannesmann in 2000.

Why? “Because of its complexity”

Thomson-Reuters merger announced in May 2007. Thomson, the Canadian financial data provider, bought out the news and financial information company for about £8.7 billion, creating one of the largest businesses of its kind in the world.

Why? “Again, because of its complexity”

Morland's bid defence as rivals battled to buy the Oxfordshire brewer. Greene King finally managed to beat Wolverhampton & Dudley, after offering about £182million, as part of its ambitions to become the biggest British-owned brewery in the UK.

Why? “Made memorable by the presence of Speckled Hen at all the drafting meetings.”

The sale of Rover to British Aerospace in 1988, and then its sale on to BMW in 1994. This is just part of the tumultuous history of Britain's car manufacturer.

Why? “It was politically sensitive and needed careful handling.”