The Legends of Arsenal!

[kukun]

David Rocastle

- Rocky's Arsenal career started in poor circumstances in 1985 as a crumbling Arsenal team lumbered to a goalless draw with Newcastle. However, Rocky was a catalyst for the youthful revolution that would sweep Arsenal to glory from 1987-1991. His emergence on the scene was a rare bright spot for Arsenal in the mid 1980s.

As a creative midfielder he was simply brilliant. He had pace, skill and vision. He scored the goal that set Arsenal on their way back to the top - the injury-time winner against Spurs in the League Cup semi-final replay of 1987. At Old Trafford he made fools out of Ince, Robson and Schmeicel with a brilliant lob that even Alex Ferguson admired. During the 1988/89 Championship season, Rocky was brilliant from start-to-finish.

Yet above all, Rocky was Arsenal through and through. It's a cliche, but if you cut him, he'd bleed red and white. His skills may have made him a perfect fit for the Wenger era but he had the heart, soul and passion for the club that too many of his successors have lacked. When George Graham told him that he would be sold, Rocky cried. That's how much the club meant to him. He knew what it meant to play for that badge.

Whenever the Arsenal old boys get together for their Anfield '89 reunions, sadly there is a gap at the table because of Rocky's tragic death from cancer in 2001, at the age of just 33. Nobody will ever forget David Rocastle and nobody should.

[Q8 Gooner]

Rocky for me.. Then comes Tony Adams and Dennis Bergkamp..

[Massa]

Dennis Bergamp had grace.
Jose Reyes had pace.

Thierry Henry had both.

[Dan The Fan]

Dennis Bergkamp.

I still watch that goal against Newcastle with such joy knowing that no-one has ever scored a goal with quite so much technical precision. Still regard it as the best goal I've ever seen.

[gooneritis]

Perry Groves





Liam Brady - arguably our greatest ever player

IAN WRIGHT WRIGHT WRIGHT

[starmandb]

i don.t read other fans sites but they do get quoted by others sometimes and one of the more spurious comments came from a site called redcafe.
henry never scored a goal against a team at there peak?
00/01
utd[h]1-0
bayern[h]2-2
utd[a]1-6
valencia[h]2-1
01/02
utd[h]3-1henry2
juventus[h]3-1
02/03
valencia[a]2-1
utd[h]2-2
03/04
utd[h]1-1
04/05
bayern[h]1-0
05/06
real madrid[a]1-0
liverpool[h]2-1
06/07
liverpool[a]3-1
utd[h]2-1
suggests he was more than a flat track bully

[Leody]

Michael Thomas...

I don't think I should need to expand upon that, but I will. He scored quite possibly the most dramatic goal ever. Just seconds remaining and the entirety of a year's worth of football hanging in the balance. They made a movie out of it for crying out loud, that's how special that moment was. That one act will etch him in the mind of every Arsenal supporter alive at the moment for the rest of their lives, that is the stuff of eternity. I don't care if he never kicked a ball in an Arsenal shirt at any other time in his life, or what he did after or before, that moment makes him a legend in my eyes. I still get goosebumps thinking about it, and I didn't even have the privilege at that age of seeing it. It really was that amazing. That goal's dramatic effect on all involved transcends sport.

He could kick my dog and I'd still hand him a pint and give him a hug.

[starmandb]

paddy definatly fits into this category but when i see our players compared to him because of there lack of goals it must be remembered that he never scored more than 7 goals in a season
diaby cesc rosicky nasri theo and arshavin all have better goal to games ratio than paddy
i know that there is so much more to paddys game and you may class walcott andarshavin as forwards but using it to cast a shadow on our current crop is unfair.
lets love what we have

[GunnGunn]

paddy definatly fits into this category but when i see our players compared to him because of there lack of goals it must be remembered that he never scored more than 7 goals in a season
diaby cesc rosicky nasri theo and arshavin all have better goal to games ratio than paddy
i know that there is so much more to paddys game and you may class walcott andarshavin as forwards but using it to cast a shadow on our current crop is unfair.
lets love what we have

[Libertine]

Michael Thomas...

Brilliant player who, unfortunately, fell out with Stroller and was consequently sold far too soon.

Legendary story about doing press ups in training which Graham always bore a grudge about afterwards.....

That was the thing with Stroller. If you crossed him you were as good as handing in a transfer request.

[SE13]

That was the thing with Stroller. If you crossed him you were as good as handing in a transfer request.

True enough, but he did bring discipline back to the club that had been lacking since Bertie Mee left, or indeed probably before he left.

His two biggest failures were Adams and Merson, but he stuck with them, and guided them through......

[Est83]

For me, Bergkamp is ALL! He is football personified, I just f**king love the man! I want to be him! Bergkamp It's an unhealthy obsession, I even have a collectable figure thingy that I haven't taken out of the box, I'll probably hand it down to my kids... but then again I might not!

The first player I ever remember trying to emulate, and truly worshipping (for a short time anyway), someone that hasn't really been mentioned on here, Merson. Looking back I think he was one of those that would have thrived under Wenger, and his play was pretty un-English (off the pitch than man was of course English through and through). The first league championship I have vague memories of was '91, and he played a big part (with a bit of help from Alan Smith of course). I also have fond memories of the cup double in '93, first games I ever went to a pub to watch. Can't really say why I took to Merson so quickly and at such a young age (with hardly any understanding of football), he just always seemed to be involved.

Being a young'n I didn't truly appreciate players like Adams, not until I was a teenager anyway. In primary school I - like many - just assumed that defenders were shit, and they only played in defense because they were shit in attack A one-team die hard fan/player like Adams would be magical now!

[Libertine]

The first player I ever remember trying to emulate, and truly worshipping (for a short time anyway), someone that hasn't really been mentioned on here, Merson. Looking back I think he was one of those that would have thrived under Wenger.

Wenger sold him....

[Est83]

The first player I ever remember trying to emulate, and truly worshipping (for a short time anyway), someone that hasn't really been mentioned on here, Merson. Looking back I think he was one of those that would have thrived under Wenger.

Wenger sold him....

I seem to remember Wenger offering him a two year contract extension, and Merson himself chose to leave. I also remember Merson saying in interviews that he regrets not spending more time under Wenger.

[Massa]

Hapgood, Male, Bastin and Drake are other greats from the Chapman era.