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So, why no statue? 722 appearances for Arsenal, a record that may never be beaten, the quickest to reach 100 appearances, 200 appearances and 400 appearances. He has 2 league titles, two FA Cups and 2 league cups. He turned down terms from Manchester United as a kid to sign for Arsenal because his dad was a Gunners fan. As a kid of 17, he made his debut and played a massive 30 times that season 1975/76 which is remarkable seeing as teams are very reluctant to play kids in central defence. Look what Arteta did with Saliba, for example. We could meet here in future Arsenal still employs him as a club ambassador and he will be 67 on May 2nd which means for a period of over 50 years he has mostly worked for Arsenal. He came through our academy very young alongside Liam Brady and Frank Stapleton. Yes, newbies, great players did come through our academy in the past. Time for a statue, yes? He played in probably our two greatest matches He played a central role in two of Arsenal’s greatest matches, the 1979 FA Cup final against Manchester United where we were cruising 2-0 until Utd got 2 late goals and we looked beaten until Liam Brady went at Man Utd, ghosting through them like they didn’t exist, slipped the ball to Graham Rix, who crossed it to Alan Sunderland to score the winner. 3-2 to the Arsenal and a game that is forever etched in the minds of fans. A young fresh-faced kid from the academy And of course, the famous battle of Anfield, where George Graham put O’Leary at the front of a 5 man defence as a sweeper to make sure we didn’t concede and make life impossible. Liverpool were the best team in the world at the time and nobody went there and beat them 2-0, but Graham had a plan to frustrate them and O’Leary was key to that plan. We got the two goals, the final in injury time, to deflate the KOP and Liverpool, leaving them collapsed on the ground, stunned and disbelieving. It’s a shame that so many of my ASCB colleagues were too young to experience those magic moments but at least lots of you got fairy-tale Wenger times to give you some idea of the excitement those two matches generated. A dedicated Arsenal fan David O’Leary was an Arsenal fan all his life, unlike his two famous Irish compatriots who were at Arsenal at the same time, Frank Stapleton and Liam Brady who supported Manchester United like many Irish kids at the time. Stapleton left for his boyhood team when Arsenal wouldn’t pay him a salary commensurate with his status as a top player and international. Liam Brady was offered an incredible sum by Juventus when he left but O’Leary stayed to become Arsenal’s top game player, leaving at the very end of his career for Leeds where he only managed 12 games. O'Leary snuffed out Mario Kempes in the 1980 European Cup-Winners Cup What was he like as a player? Pretty much undroppable as he got to partner many top centre halves such as Peter Simpson, Willie Young, and Tony Adams, who benefitted from O’Leary’s ability on the ball, his quick pace and quick brain to complement their more direct physical game. He kept the legendary Mario Kempes quiet in the 1980 European Cup Winners Cup final and of course scored the decisive penalty against Romania in the 1990 Italian World Cup to allow us to progress to the quarter finals. He could play for Mikel He was cultured, a ball playing centrehalf who would fit perfectly Mikel Arteta’s belief that players should be quick, aggressive, skilful, and capable of adopting different roles. Goals were not his forte as in 722 games he barely managed double figures. He kept a lot out, though. He always had a great keeper behind him as well, with Pat Jennings, John Lukic and David Seaman minding the net. Arsenal fans were unhappy when he celebrated a Leeds win over Arsenal to give the title to Man Utd So why does he not have a statue? Fans were very unhappy with him for celebrating a Leeds win at Elland Road in 1999, when as manager of Leeds they beat Arsenal 1-0 thus handing the title to Manchester United. In this he has parallels with Jack Charlton who famously beat England as manager of Ireland and the English FA never forgave him. I always thought that was harsh as a professional should always try their best for their sides and their job is a simple one, to win. Why you shouldn’t celebrate a win seems a little strange to me. Our most devoted player One day, I believe it will happen, though. He is, after all, our most loyal servant as a player. He won trophies, and still carries the flag for us as an ambassador. He has always been seen as a gentleman and I have never heard a former colleague speak a bad word about him. Jack Charlton never worried about celebrating a win For Ireland his record was tarnished by his relationship with Jack Charlton. Charlton disliked ball playing defenders, preferring players to boot the ball up the pitch for players to chase rather than fiddling about trying to find an accurate pass to a player. Charlton thought only as a defender and that was always his priority – defend. He rarely played O’Leary which meant he only got 69 caps when I am certain he could have been amongst our highest. Mick McCarthy, playing at a much lower level than O’Leary, was preferred as he would regularly boot the ball into the stands declaring the opposition won’t score from there. A clean player as well What we are left with is one of the most gifted central defenders Arsenal has ever had, the man who played the most times, won lots of trophies at a time when Liverpool were dominant, and never got sent off, in fact was rarely booked despite playing against many great centreforwards at national and international level. A true Arsenal great by any metric you can find for a central defender. Still an Arsenal man today I asked earlier is it time for a statue? Yes it is. And happy birthday, David O’Leary.