David Showell
Before Arsene Wenger arrived in North London, Arsenal were a side that could only be described as workmanlike. That’s putting it nicely; to their detractors they were as dull as extra-dull dishwater. The French revolution that followed his arrival turned the club into debonair and dashing exponents of the truly beautiful game. Speedy, incisive and constantly easy on the eye, Arsenal have become a watchword for entertainment in recent years.
Wenger deserves, and receives, an awful lot of credit for the team that reflects his principles and panache. But he couldn’t achieve this transformation on his own; who else helped to shape the team that Arsene built?
Pat Rice
Pat Rice is Arsenal through and through. Arsene Wenger is well-known for recruiting players from all corners of the globe, but there’s something heart-warming about the fact that his right-hand man was once a greengrocer’s assistant in Gillespie Road, a cabbage’s throw from the old Highbury ground.
Rice became an apprentice at the club in 1964, and apart from a four-year stint at Watford, he’s been there ever since. He played nearly 400 games for the Gunners, skippered the side in the late 70s, and was a cultured and hard-working right-back. Cut him in half and, like a stick of seaside rock, his torso would read ‘ARSENAL’.
His official title at the Emirates is Assistant Manager, but Rice is so much more than that. At the beginning of Wenger’s reign, he provided a priceless bridge between the then-unknown manager and a predominantly home-based squad. Since then, Rice has been the perfect foil for Wenger, happy to remain in the background while the team takes the plaudits. He sits next to Wenger on the bench like a wise owl, and it’s patently obvious to any observer how much the Frenchman values his input.
Boro Pimorac
The former Hadjuk Split centre-back has known Arsene Wenger for many years, and worked with the Frenchman in Japan before following him to London. He was a tough defender, and won caps for Yugoslavia in a good, but unspectacular career. On the bench the 54 year-old once managed Guinea’s national team.
Primorac is known as a highly technical coach, and Arsenal’s famously intricate passing game owes much to his understanding of the game. Wenger was rightly pleased when he persuaded him to swap Japan for England in 1997.
Neal Banfield
Neal Banfield has worked his way up the coaching ladder at Arsenal, and is now reserve team coach. He played for Crystal Palace and Leyton Orient, as well as enjoying a spell down under with Adelaide City.
Banfield led a mega-talented group of youngsters to FA Youth Cup victory in 2000, and followed that with a repeat performance a year later. His involvement has given him a unique insight to the conveyor belt of talent that seems to continually pour forth in North London.
Steve Bould
A member of the legendary defensive unit built by George Graham, the unimaginatively-nicknamed ‘Bouldy’ is Arsenal’s youth team coach. The Stoke-born centre back was an uncompromising brick wall of a player who wore the red and white 288 times in a glittering career. Bould said last season that coaching the kids to yet another Youth Cup triumph was as satisfying as anything he’d ever achieved in the game.
Gerry Peyton
Gerry Peyton is Arsenal’s goalkeeping coach. Like Wenger, he’s coached in Japan and has an excellent knowledge of the world game. Peyton has also coached in Sweden, and has been at Arsenal since 2003. In his first season at the club, the Gunners had the best defensive record in the whole league.
As a player, Peyton kept goal for Fulham and Bournemouth, and several other clubs, and won 33 caps for the Republic of Ireland. The former keeper was a highly-valued member of Fulham’s coaching staff before crossing London, and Wenger made an excellent choice when persuading him to move.
Liam Brady
A true Arsenal legend, ‘Chippy’ Brady is now head of youth development at the Emirates. The mercurial Irishman’s skills lit up a rather bland period in Arsenal’s recent history, and his famous wonder-goal against arch rivals Spurs is remembered with misty-eyed nostalgia by Gooners everywhere.
Brady heads a youth system now that has brought forth the likes of Jack Wilshere, Kieran Gibbs, Jay Simpson and Henri Lansbury, and promises many more. Highly respected, eminently intelligent and deeply motivated, Brady has turned the system into a mini-revolution of success.
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