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Happy birthday Dear Liamo/Chippy/Number 7 February 13th, 1973 is the day Liam Brady signed professional forms for Arsenal, on his birthday, after 2 years in the academy. Although a Man Utd supporter previously, he is an Arsenal legend now and always will be. He had 7 years as a first team player and a remarkable 18 years as head of youth development for the Gunners. That second career saw him bring through many players still playing for Arsenal today, and he was unusual in that David Dein appointed him in 1996 as an independent head of the Academy, not aligned to any manager so he could keep his job even if a new manager came in. Bizarrely that never happened as, although Bruce Rioch was still technically manager, he was a dead man walking as Arsene Wenger was set up to take over. Liam the boy And so two true Arsenal legends worked side by side for those 18 years, with Wenger proclaiming that the most important man at Arsenal was Liam Brady. Brady was keeping the competition high for the established players and, of course Wenger accomplishing miracles for the first team. I doubt if such an arrangement will ever happen again for such a long period. Always number 7 at Arsenal Now I know I reviewed Brady’s book not so long ago here, but I will keep this a bit different. Surprisingly, at least to me, Arsenal have only had 4 players win the PFA player of the year in Brady, the first, Dennis Bergkamp, Thierry Henry, and yes, you guessed it, Robin Van Persie . As it is voted on by the players themselves it is the top accolade. Liamo is also an English Hall of Famer since 2006 and the FAI Hall of Fame since 2001. There is no other number 7 He is also immortalised in the Arsenal song We all live in a Perry Groves World in which Perry Groves gets every position except number 7 which goes to Liam Brady. I was at the Emirates a few years ago with my son when he asked me who was playing number 7. I immediately replied Liam Brady and a few old-timers beside me chuckled. He is the only player in the world nicknamed after his fondness for fish and chips and seemingly, after his sojourn in Italy, where he acquired more sophisticated tastes, he is not so keen on this appendage, only allowing close friends the privilege. And hey, I think the only 2 players to have an FA cup final named after them were Stanley Matthews and the birthday boy, Liam Brady. Liam created the Late Late Show And, just to mention that final, which was a very late win for us, and which presaged the famous away day victory against Liverpool ten years later, there was one big difference, as we were one goal up for most of that match and one more got us the win and the title. However in that 1979 final Man Utd scored 2 late goals and we were beaten, deflated, with our heads on the ground until Brady ghosted through the Utd midfield from well inside our own half, shimmying past players as if they didn’t exist, then got to the edge of their box and whipped the ball out to Graham Rix who blasted it over to Alan Sunderland and miraculously, fashioned a win from defeat because surely in extra time an elated Man Utd would have defeated a deflated Arsenal? No, it didn’t give me that enormous high of winning the league by scoring more goals than Liverpool to win the title in 1989. That was an improbability that probably will never happen again but that final sure ran it close. A Perry Groves World In his time at Arsenal we had three Republic of Ireland players who were truly world class, Frank Stapleton, David O’Leary, our man with the top appearances, and the wonderful Mr Brady, still many an Arsenal fan’s favourite player – just ask Nick Hornby. And when both Brady and Stapleton left within a short time of one another it was, for me, the lowest point of my Arsenal life. Our two focal points gone, simply because we hadn’t the ambition to keep them. Arsenal were famous for being stingy with our homegrown players and kept the good money for transferred players. That team, with Brady and Stapleton, were on the verge of challenging Liverpool, then the dominant team in world football, and we just threw it all away. A bit like selling Saka and Odegaard today, but at least today we have a big squad. In those days the same players turned out every week, barring injuries. St Valentine Brady? I had a look to see how Liam did on his birthdays for us but it seems he only played once, a game against QPR on February 13th 1979 in which he chipped in with the first goal for a 2-1 away win. Seems his birthdays were not football days but as he was born the day before Valentine’s day I wonder if they would have called him Valentine if his mother had bothered to wait one more day . Valentine Brady? I am not sure that’s a top footballer's name. And his wife might have said, you have to spend the day with me romantically rather than going around chasing a ball on your birthday. I am not sure how Terry Neill, Jack Charlton or Giovanni Trapattoni would have taken that as an explanation. St Valentine Brady does look to have red hair? Incidentally both Bacary Sagna and Phillippe Senderos have their birthdays on Valentine's Day. Would Arsene Wenger have accepted that excuse from them? Women can be terrifying, you know. He played beautiful football The only time I met Brady was in Eason’s in Dublin (a major bookshop in Dublin) where he mistook me for a shop worker and asked me a question about a book on the shelf. I readily obliged anyway. It was the days before selfies and anyway I have never asked anyone for a selfie. You can eat all the chips you want now, Liam A happy happy birthday to so many fan's favourite player, to an Irish legend, the creator of the Arsenal academy in its modern version, and a man who will always be talked about as a top legend at Arsenal. 27 years, man and boy, dedicated to making Arsenal the best team in the land and almost succeeding. And maybe Wenger was right, the most important man at Arsenal during Wenger’s own glory years. And Liam Brady the man Happy 13th February, Liam Brady, the man who played the most beautiful football for Ireland and Arsenal. Update to the Table of Doom Table of Doom Fixtures Current Max Liverpool Man City (h) Spurs (h) Villa (a) 54 96 Man City Liverpool (a) Arsenal (h) Villa (h) Spurs (h) 52 97 Arsenal Man City (a) Villa (h) Spurs (a) 52 94 Spurs Villa (h) Man City(a) Arsenal (h) Liverpool (a) 47 89 Villa Spurs (a) Man City (a) Arsenal (a) Liverpool (a) 46 88 And so one change from last week – Villa lost and go bottom. If my target of 86 points to win the title is correct then they are close to dropping out. They have an away game against Fulham next and that does not look easy. The others would be expected to win, Liverpool and Arsenal away to Brentford and Burnley and Tottenham and Man City at home to Wolves and Chelsea.
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