Morning all.
Arsenal fans favourite, David ‘Rocky’ Rocastle, lost his battle against non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma fifteen years ago today, aged just 33!
Despite the number of years gone by, Arsenal fans young and old still miss him today….
In 1982, Rocky signed up for Arsenal Football Club as an apprentice and it wasn’t long before he signed his first professional contract. Nine years later, the club decided to cash in on him as he moved to Leeds United for £2 Million.
He cried the day he left, something which isn’t heard of in today’s world. Today it’s all about money and who will pay the most, not for playing for a club a footballer loves because it’s in their DNA. The red and white of Arsenal was in Rocky’s blood and playing for the club he was born into, was nothing but a privilege. He didn’t want to leave Arsenal and I doubt there was any fan who wanted him to leave either….
His son Ryan has been talking to the clubs official website:
I was born in 1991 so I don’t remember watching him play too much. I do remember us watching old videos of him playing actually. Quite often we would do that on Sundays.
Sometimes you look at the videos and think, ‘That’s my dad, he’s amazing’. It was incredible to see some of the goals he scored.
He was very skilful and learnt a lot just by playing in the park on Sundays. He was able to transform that into playing at international level. That was his passion and he managed to make it his career.
He wasn’t just remembered for what he did on the pitch, the fans loved him because he always wanted to meet fans, sign autographs and speak with the supporters. People remember that as one of his biggest strengths.
He was exactly how you would want your dad to be. He was very generous, funny, someone you could learn from and talk to easily. He was what you saw on camera and exactly like that off the field.
Fifteen years may have passed but the memory of such a fine man and footballer lives on.
RIP Rocky, gone but never forgotten……
Pat Rice says the fact that David Rocastle remains revered by Arsenal fans makes him “so happy”.
The former England international, who made 277 appearances for the club, passed away 15 years ago this week after losing his battle with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
Rice coached Rocastle as he made his way through the academy, and says he was always destined for the top.
“I was very fortunate to have coached players like Niall Quinn and Paul Merson, Mickey Thomas as well, and all those guys were something else but I will always remember one story,” he said.
“I was annoyed with the youth team once and I brought them all back to Highbury, sat them all down in the away team dressing room and gave them a stern talking to.
“We were having a heated discussion on my part and I remember just saying to all 18 of them there, ‘How many of you are going to make it into the first team?’
“I’ll never forget the response because only one player held their hand up. It was David Rocastle – and boy did he make it into the first team. I’ll never forget that boy.
“He was fantastic. He loved the Arsenal with a passion and the supporters loved him. They still do to this day and that makes me so happy.”
Read more at http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/20160330/rice-why-i-will-never-forget-rocky#3wGerEYPvqDrzRC4.99
“Remember who you are, what you are and who you represent.”
David Rocastle
Morning rico, house. Love that, Rocky putting his hand up!
Morning Andrew. He was right though… lol
Shame a few others at the club don’t take note from those wise words Lee.
So we miss true Arsenal players?
I say yes.
Players willing to give everything on the pitch, as well as off it.
RIP.
Morning all and a lovely post, with beautiful words from the great mans son.
Wenger mustn’t like confrontation or something because we’ve not had a leader on the pitch for a long while…. this squad should be pissing this league, it really should!
Lee, looking at his offsiders, I’d suggest you’re right.
Rice and Bould have been fairly timid, or seem to be.
It’s so boring Scott because yet again we fail at the final hurdle (fingers crossed we win all our remaining games and nick it!), and it might not of ended like this if he’d strengthened in the summer….. got to be one of the most bizarre footballing decisions ever?!?!
Thanks Scott…
Agree re the leaders, none, both on and off the pitch…
I must say, I just watched an Arsenal TV from the Citeh game 2 years ago on this day.
The fan interviewed was obviously siscussing Rocky, but then went on about the clubs direction blah blah blah.
Anyway, it’s exactly the same thing being said today and it hit home more than ever….we really are just treading water and for no apparent reason.
Still, plenty of money in the bank… 😉
Joke eh…
Well I reckon we’ve one more year of Wenger, then SK will have his work cut out trying to find a manager that will consistently achieve the coveted fourth spot…
Rocky – a delight to watch and a tragedy to lose.
On leaders and water treading – Step forward Mr Elneny. I believe he has that look in his eye to lead by example. Treading water is something (alas) we have done for a while. Answers on a post card please.
Lee, maybe that’s what Stan needs to get his arse into gear.
I guess that’s why he wants Arsene to stay.
Wenger doesn’t complain about lack of available money, If that’s the case, doesn’t spend a heap if it is there for him, and keeps getting CL.
For an investor, he’s worth more than the 8 million salary.
An investor owning a football club.
Makes ya skin crawl.
Yeah I got confused I thought you played sport to win….. silly me!
Or four more years Lee…. 🙁
You could have a point re Elneny Iceman. If he carries on as he’s playing, he’ll be one of Wenger’s best bargain signings. £5 million for him was a real steal…
I feel that he moves the ball quickly, so transition from defence to attack is slicker – also, he has a genuine eye for a pass and can shoot accurately. Price tags don’t bother me, attitude and desire do.
Rico, he looked good from day one, but day one should’ve been August 2015 🙂
Ditto Iceman re a players price…
Agree there Scott, especially as he’d been scouted for over a year allegedly… lol
Ah, but scottfromoz, that would have meant us spending money and, dare I say it, showing ambition!
I wonder if we’d be in a better spot having signed Elneny at the start of the sseason.
All hypothetical, but I’d have to say we would….even a few points.
I’d say so, he’s made a difference to how we move the ball around imo…
Agreed.
As always though, we can only guess 🙂
R.I.P Ronnie Corbett…
Afternoon All…
Great post Rico…
I’m looking forward to getting my T-shirt from Scott…
Fork handles
OOOO’s
That’s really sad news. RIP Ronnie Corbett…
Afternoon Kev, thanks and me too…. 🙂
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cz2-ukrd2VQ
Forking genius. RIP.
Has to be one of the funniest sketches ever on TV..
‘Pumps’, ‘p’s’, etc etc made me cry when I first watched. So funny, no hilarious. Funny little short man sits alongside a fattish funnier man and they tell jokes or act out sketches chemistry like that doesn’t come along very often. Legends of the airways, both of them.
Sad afternoon for me then.
Farewell Number 7. You died so early. 16 years ago today. So young. It was easy to identify with you as you were born only a year earlier than me. Maybe one day I will see you play again. But not yet. maybe not yet.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wo4z8e940GE
“Teams will only get stronger and Arsenal will have to
strengthen as well. This season has shown that we
struggle when we are missing a number of key players.
We cannot allow this to happen again next season.”
Mesut Ozil.
Afternoon, great post, Rico, gone but not forgotton.
Another legend, Ronnie Corbett RIP.
Another 4 years of AW would not surprise me, and is a real possibilty. Kroenke must thank his lucky stars every day, he could not have a better manager to handle one of his key investments. Asking him to sack Wenger is like asking a Wall Street broker to dump stock that has performed every year for two decades.
Xhaka seems a genuine target, another could well be Mkhitaryan who is torn between signing a new contract or deciding to move to the Emirates.according to AFCstuff,
Some record too…….
He has been directly involved in 38 goals this season…for Dortmund
20 goals
18 assists
Looks like Ozil will be sold then…..
I think Ozil will only be sold if he and Wenger “don’t share the same vision” (RvP) rinse, dry and wash again!
Wavy, he’ll be off then….. 😉
AW must think highly of Xhaka if he,s to pay 35 million sterling, terms suggest he,ll be on 110 grand a week,
Seen a glimpse of him last Friday, v Rep of Ireland strong in possession, few nice touches, not afraid to shoot, reminded me a bit like Krychowiak but 3 years younger.
Petr Cech back this weekend then?
Jack Wilshere due an U21 game on April 8th.
Santi Cazorla due back as well…
Rocky belongs in the pantheon of true Arsenal men alongside the likes of Bob Wilson. Pat Rice, Frank Mclintock and Jack Kersey. And he was unusual as a player because he could mix it as well as being super skilful. Sadly injury forced his sale. I think even George Graham got emotional when he had to tell Rocky a bid had been accepted.
Jack Kelsey! Poxy predictive text!
These two made me laugh so much it hurt. lol.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAG39jKi0lI
With the emergence of Iwobi and the possibility of playing Aaron in the number 10 position (and he scores more than Ozil) it renders Mesut dispensable. True he is a world beater, but with Coquelin, Elneny, Cazorla and the possibility of Xhaka plus another midfielder on the way than it makes sense to sell Ozil, whether we like it or not.
We still need another CF if Ozil stays. If he goes than Ollie will stay since he and Aaron are good together.
Mkitaryan??? I have to see him playing with the Arsenal shirt to believe it.
Cech to bounce back?
Imo, we must do everything we can to keep Ozil, as I said before Ozil is weakened by current players around him, It,s down to 1 man now to show his true mettle and Ambition in the T.W.
To me it,s simple, Ozil sees true world class talent come in, We keep him.
Another Farce of a T.W and he,ll go with my blessing, who could blame him?
What is interesting about Ozil,s contract, comes in the form of a buy-back clause in Ozil’s transfer which allows Real Madrid to match any offer for the 27-year-old that Arsenal accept from a rival Spanish club.
for example, Barcelona agree a fee with the north Londoners, Arsenal would then need to inform Madrid of the terms of the deal and afford them 48 hours to match or better the offer.
Madrid also secured a pretty hefty sell-on clause that states that, should Ozil be sold for in excess of £38m to another Spanish club, they would receive a massive 33 per cent of any profit made relative to the initial transfer fee.
The details of the deal suggest Madrid were very keen to prevent Ozil from returning to La Liga in anything other than a white shirt,
Might not be so straight forward for Barca, after all.
I am sure that both of the Spanish super clubs have ways to circumnavigate around any problems. Or they could take a leaf from Liverpool’s book and just :- LIE.
Dublin, I’m with you re keeping Ozil, put a lethal finisher in front of him and we’ll score buckets of goals….
Terrific Post. If it’s true that Arsenal watched Elneny for a year before signing him, then the problem when it comes to buying players is bigger than we think. I have watched him played about 20 times for Egypt and saw him in Europa games, against Liverpool he showed that he can played in the EPL…. Am baffled that it should take a year especially when that was an area of need. Elneny is a baller, there is more to come from him. On Mkhitaryan, his dead ball play alone is worth the fee. Our season went south when the “Little Magician” got hurt. The appreciation for Elneny’s game is because he is doing the little things Carzola did, move the ball… albeit with lesser skills. Sometimes, I think that Arsenal fans expectations are very low … hence the reason for Arsene’s and Stan’s behavior. Why do we need to sell anyone, if we get Xhaka and Mkhitaryan (Areteta, Flamini, Rosicky are gone, Jack you can’t count on, Ox ??? ), especially the most intelligent player we have…. Mr. Ozil. I will sell Sanchez, Walcott and Ramsey before Ozil any day. Lets not fool ourselves Ramsey can’t play the “10” role like Ozil.
Afternoon all.
I got it Lee lol
Thanks Obi, Dublin and I agree, the club have to keep Ozil and Alexis and certainly need better quality ahead/around them…
Has to be top priority, Rico to tie these 2 down to long term contracts, but as we all agree, they need to see ambition by the club, I suppose they were as cheesed off as we were when AW only brought in 1 outfield in the past 2 T.Ws. I cant see them accepting it again.
Lee a lethal finisher too, is a must.
Obi, apparently I read somewhere, we have sent scouts to watch Xhaka 30 times, and it only looks like were biting now.
If true, does that mean our scouting system is failing or just over cautious..
Either way it seems excessive.
I dont want Ozil to go either……but he must have a TH14 type of forward in front of him. A speedster who can score at will. With Danny he has felt more at ease than with Ollie.
Ollie feels better with Aaron.
But if we are going to continue with Ollie and Ozil we will continue to fail.
Agree Dublin, it’s an absolute must…
We have one in Theo Devil, the only thing is he doesn’t move much and his finishing is hit and miss…. Lol
Theo will never do it as a striker, Giroud is good, but we need better than good, as is Welbeck, but they both seem as if their back ups to that non existing, top tier striker that we do not have.
Players of the calibre of Ozil and Sanchez deserve better strikers in front of them, an Wenger simply must address this now before it,s to late,
Sanchez came, Ozil came and then Cech, finally we got a keeper we so desperately needed, to start to lose those players would be a major step back for the club and must not be allowed happen,
We now have a pretty heavy wallet and must show ambition and not be afraid to table big bids for players we really want, a top top striker is essential.
Apart from a keeper if Ospina stays, we still need a spine imo, and a winger…
And a right back… Lol
Scouting has been a problem for some time. Remember we lost Mata because we sent Law to watch Campbell for 3 months.
Scouting or how much the club offer for a player?
Quite which we don’t know. But prevarication over Campbell made us miss the deadline on a £18 million clause for Mata. Law was in the West Indies trying to get Joel and the deadline on Mata passed and his price went through the roof.
You’d think the club would have more than just Law sorting out transfers.. Perhaps he needs some help because he’s going to be busy this summer. Hopefully.
We need a manager who stops pussyfooting around. Not stay loyal to players because we are being served well in that area. Yes, Coquelin is a very good DM for example. But if the chance came to sign a better one why not??
Yes Ozil is a top player. But if we can get better than why not?
Ollie may be good and he may score 20 goals a season. But if we are to get a 30+ striker why not?
Yes Rico we need a spine. We have been saying that all along. But does AW say the same??
I certainly hope he does Devil.
Catch up tomorrow..
Night guys.
Morning Rico and all.
Morning Adam and all..
White Rabbits….
Brudder.
There’s only one Arsene Wenger, one Arsene Wenger….
Thank fuck.
Brudder. When are we gonna hook up?
Rico. White Rabbits?
1st of the month Adam.
John Inman Brudder
Pinch punch…
New post up now..
Aha