Heroes & Villains – Arsenal
Tony Adams 1983 – 2002
‘Mr Arsenal’ is my choice for the Arsenal hero but there could have been countless more that I could have chosen. Adams is the only player in the history of English football to have captained his club to a league championship in three successive decades. He made his debut as a young 17 year old against Sunderland on 5th November 1983 and made a couple of mistakes in a 2-1 defeat.
Rather than letting them get him down, he turned his form around and soon became club captain. He was unfairly nicknamed a donkey for several key mistakes in the late 80’s but again didn’t let it phase him and used it to spur him on.
Adams battled with alcoholism for much of his career and was imprisoned for several weeks during the 1990/91 campaign but came back to lead Arsenal to the league title.
In his time at the club, Adams won the League four times, FA Cup three times, League Cup twice and the European Cup Winners Cup. He famously scored the winner in the 1993 FA Cup Semi Final against Spurs in the season when Arsenal won both the League Cup and FA Cup.
Gus Caeser
Poor old Augustus Caeser! If you mention his name to Arsenal fans over the age of 40, you will be likely to get a groan and a response like “Bloody Gus Caeser!”. This is due to a particularly poor performance in the 1988 League Cup Final where he made two big defensive mistakes and Luton (Arsenal’s opponents) took full advantage and won the game 3-2. It is perhaps unfair to put the blame completely on Caeser as Nigel Winterburn had a penalty saved by Andy Dibble when Arsenal were 2-1 up. Caeser came up through the ranks at Arsenal and made his debut in a game against Manchester United at Old Trafford in December 1985. He made a total of 50 appearances for Arsenal over five years before being released on a free transfer in the summer of 1991.
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