Over and Over and Over Again

THE MAKING OF MODERN ARSENAL PART TWO - 1996 - 2005 - THE WENGER GLORY YEARS ARSENAL HAD COURTED Arsene Wenger long before he finally arrived in 1996. In fact he had been a guest of vice chairman David Dein at Highbury as far back as the late 1980s while he was still coach at Monaco. Dein had long championed Wenger as the potential successor to George Graham and was keen to appoint him in the summer of 1995 following Graham's dismissal. However with the Frenchman tied down to a contact with Japanese J League club, Nagoya Grampus Eight, Arsenal instead hired Bruce Rioch from Bolton Wanderers. With an eye to the future and to get the fans onboard with what was a rather modest appointment, Dein helped secure the signings of England international David Platt from Sampdoria for £4.7 million and Dutch superstar Dennis Bergkamp from Inter Milan for a club record £7.5 million. Despite these high profile arrivals the 1995/96 season was an unspectacular campaign. Rioch was a decent...

THE MAKING OF MODERN ARSENAL PART ONE 1986 - 1995 - THE GRAHAM YEARS ARSENAL FANS OF a certain age have been fortunate to see not only two of the best managers in the club's history but two of the best of all time.  Both with very different personalities and very different football philosophies, George Graham and Arsene Wenger brought more success to the club than could ever have been imagined.   To put it into perspective; Arsenal had won 14 major honours in the first 100 years of its existence. In the 34 years since Graham's appointment in 1986 it has won a further 16. Starting today I will be looking back at the impact both managers had on the club and how they created the modern era of success. In Part One I start with the man who began it all, George Graham. When Graham returned to Highbury to take over as manager in the summer of 1986, Arsenal had been a sleeping giant, treading water for far too long. Since the break up of the great cup side of the late 19...

SAFE HANDS THERE ARE JUST four minutes remaining in the 2003 FA Cup semi final at Old Trafford. Underdogs Sheffield United appear to have got the equaliser their pressure has deserved as Paul Peschisolido sends a header towards an open goal from just two yards out and is turning away to celebrate. But the Arsenal goalkeeper David Seaman, then aged 39 and playing the 1,000th senior match of his career, somehow manages to scoop the ball away from behind him with his outstretched right hand to produce one of the greatest saves ever seen. If ever a moment perfectly captured the career of one of England's finest ever goalkeepers then this was it. Safe hands indeed. David Andrew Seaman MBE was born on 19 September 1963 in Rotherham, South Yorkshire. He attended Kimberworth Comprehensive School and joined his boyhood club Leeds United as an apprentice in 1981. At the time Seaman, a tall, brave and agile goalkeeper, was understudy to John Lukic, the start of a professional re...

HE'S GOT NO HAIR BUT WE DON'T CARE IT HAD BEEN a difficult season for Arsenal. They had lost their manager, George Graham, sacked for financial irregularities, and had been languishing in the bottom half of the table. But the European Cup Winners Cup had again been their salvation. Italians Sampdoria awaited in the semi final and Arsenal needed a positive result to take into the second leg. But despite a front line containing the likes of Ian Wright and Paul Merson, they were being frustrated by a typically determined Italian defensive performance. With half time approaching a breakthrough was needed and when David Hillier's shot was parried by goalkeeper Walter Zenga the ball runs loose in the penalty area. But it is not Wright or Merson following in, no. Instead it is central defender Steve Bould, a player who has not scored for almost a year. Finishing like a seasoned striker Bould smashes the ball into the net to send Highbury wild. And just for good measure...

YOU'VE CRACKED IT TONE THERE ARE JUST seconds left. Wembley's last ever FA Cup final replay looks like it will have to be decided on penalties for the first time as, after 240 minutes over two matches, there is still nothing to separate Arsenal and Sheffield Wednesday.  The Gunners have one last corner. Paul Merson trudges wearily over to take it. As the ball is lifted into the penalty area, defender Andy Linighan, who had earlier had his nose broken by a stray elbow from Mark Bright, out-jumps the Wednesday man to send a header towards Chris Woods' goal. The Wednesday goalkeeper can only push the ball up into the roof of the net and Arsenal have won the cup with Wembley's latest ever goal. Linighan, who's Arsenal career had been a bit of an anti-climax until then, had written himself into the history books, the unlikeliest of unlikely heroes. Andrew Linighan was born on 18 June 1962 in Hartlepool. He was from a footballing family as his father Brian...

DON'T CRY, WRIGHTY BY 1993 the thrilling Arsenal side which had won the league title so impressively in 1989 and 1991 had been replaced with a rather more stoic version. This had proved useful in the one off nature of cup competitions and despite finishing a lowly 10th in the league in the 1992/93 season scoring just 42 goals, George Graham's side had lifted both cups. So a much anticipated return to European competition awaited. While Graham's first sojourn across the Channel as Arsenal manager in 1991 had ended in a disappointing extra time defeat to Benfica in the second round of the European Cup, his second attempt would prove to be far more glorious. So hurt was Graham by that Benfica experience, where Arsenal had paid the price for playing far too expansively in the second leg, that even before Arsenal had lifted the FA Cup in May 1993 he was already planning his next assault on European competition. The 1993/94 Cup Winners Cup campaign had begun with a...