Yesterday morning we learned of an honour. An honour bestowed on one Mr Pat Rice. Or as we must henceforth know him: Patrick James Rice Member Of The British Empire. I’m not much of a one for Empires. From Moguls to the Byzantine, Incas to Romans not much seems to come of them bar defeat and occupation of peoples who were otherwise minding their own business and generally just trying to get through this life without being subjugated, forcibly converted, garotted or generally pissed off. However I am delighted that such an incredible servant to our club with a record which must be the envy of most if not all involved in the game should receive any recognition from any quarter. I’d be over the moon if he stuck two fingers up to the whole overpriced and embarrassing royal shambles and told them to shove their award where Sri Lankan prisoners keep their phones, but if he and his family are happy with the gong then that is all that matters.
Pat was there at the start for me. I didn’t know back when I started following the club in 1970 that he’d only played a bit part in our Fairs Cup winning season nor that like Li’l Jack he came up through the youth set up to captain the team to glory. Woops, sorry I’ll cover the crystal ball over don’t want to spoil the surprise for the rest of you when certain events come to pass. Anyway as I say when I started supporting the coolest team in the land Pat Rice was the right back, I’d known no other and neither would I for the rest of my childhood. To give you some context as to how ever present Mr Rice MBE has been in my life I was at St John’s Infants when I first cut out his picture for my scrapbook and working for the Ministry Of Defence, married and living in my first flat when he left us to pursue a twilight career with Watford. This has been a strangely Riceless season for me.
As it’s Bacary’s birthday today and I seem to be strolling down memory lane once more I thought we might take a few moments out of our hectic lives to consider the right back. The Arsenal right back of course. And naturally we will start with Mr Rice. My first.
I don’t intend to give you any great tactical insights as to how vital the full back position has become to our style of play. I’m a little under qualified. However I did used to play right back for Reg’s Bar first 11 in the lower reaches of the Frome and District Sunday league so I do have some little sensibility of the role. The one thing my research has shown is that Pat in his heyday was a little more mobile than I used to be. It’s easy to assume that defenders back in the late sixties and early seventies were just lumpen cloggers hoofing the ball clear and the opposition winger with it. Think Stoke City or Sunderland circa 2013. Easy but wrong. Pat used to bomb forward with every bit as much aplomb as the modern full back, dark locks streaming out behind him and in many matches you’d see him crop up in unusual areas of the pitch, meandering across to the left, or making runs inside his winger a la Andre Santos in fact. I’m watching the 1971 final against Liverpool as I write this and he’s just skinned Steve Heighway on the half way line and charged forward in the inside right position to unleash a shot which, well, ok so let’s draw a veil over the somewhat tame pass to Clemence which may have a been a through ball so subtle that only a time travelling Thierry Henry could have got on the end of it or may just have been a lame shot, the point is I was weaned on attacking minded right backs with dubious finishing skills.
Pat was there as I’ve said for a long time. A very long time. He was our RB for ten years and when he left a pattern began to emerge. We seem to replace long serving right full backs with a series of bit part players. Some win things with us, some don’t. Some amuse others infuriate but they don’t last. And then the next long term incumbent dons the number 2. Or whatever bloody number they wear these days. After Pat we saw John Devine. Apparently. I seem to remember John Hollins playing in defence as well but my recall is hazy at best so forgive me. I do clearly remember Viv Anderson coming to us from Brian Clough’s Forest. 
Double European Cup winner, tall and somewhat elegant for a full back Viv was another attack minded defender scoring fifteen times for us and looking for all the world like an inside forward rather than a full back. However Anderson was approaching his thirties and only lasted three seasons. George Graham provoked the eighties equivalent of a black bag protest by selling him to Man United without any obvious world class talent to replace him. Of course fools who react to managers’ far sighted decisions in the transfer market with knee jerk protests and spasmodic convulsive complaints are almost always proved wrong. Graham had bought a young, fancied but untested Lee Dixon from Stoke City and the rest is history. Pat’s true successor had arrived, and the next full time right back assumed the position. OK if you must have the facts, after a failed experiment with Nigel Winterburn on the right he assumed it. Dixon’s playing career was nothing short of phenomenal. He was with us from ’87 to 2002 won titles and cups galore and managed to make the switch from Graham’s rigidity to Arsene’s fluidity without drawing breath.
The pattern of long term incumbent followed by bit parters continued after Lee retired with Oleh Romanovych Luzhny AKA The Horse (ask your parents why), Lauren (The Invincible) and His Royal Eminence Lord Emmanuel Eboué Dada all pretenders to Pat’s throne, but none quite making the grade. And then our birthday boy arrived. If Bac is to maintain the pattern he must sign an extended contract and play on well into his thirties and of course I fully expect him so to do. I was derided from all sides for saying I fully expected Theo to sign on for another stint and look how that turned out. I therefore have complete confidence in my powers of prediction. The crystal ball of course comes in handy here too.
Bacary is very much in the Pat Rice MBE tradition. Piling forward at every opportunity, extravagant hair-do flowing in his slipstream and yet brutally unforgiving in his defensive duties he is as Arsene is alleged to have said the ‘best right back of all time in the Premier League’ . If anyone questions his commitment just look at how he has tackled since coming back from two broken legs. No. Strike that – if anyone questions his commitment just piss off and follow a different sport. He’s the kind of man that has the character to play through a run of poor form needing no protection from the manager and as his out of position heroics against Sunderland (who were remember playing with a ref and an extra player for much of the match) proved he has versatility and footballing intelligence in his locker to boot.
Those predicting Corporal Carl to take Bac’s shirt any time soon need to beware the pattern. After the long standing player steps aside a period of uncertainty must follow and only then will the next true heir to Mr Rice MBE become known to us mortals. Unless of course , like me, your balls are crystal.
Positively Arsenal 
Excellent Steww. You, sir, are a giant, rescued from pygmies. You are proof of something I said earlier this week; to truly love your team/club, you must love the players. If not, what is the point.
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Excellent writing Steww and a stroll through the men who have filled the right back slot over 40+ years -they have almost always been “big” players – the spirit of the club in their boots.
Here is a picture of my first Arsenal right back – back row second from right as well as some other faces from yesteryear;
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Lovely piece. We do take Bac for granted, don’t we, as if he’s always been there and always will. Jenks looks the part to me, his crosses especially good, and I expect he will earn his place on the England team in due course, he’s learning from a master. Watching a few old clips of games, I was surprised how nippy and adventurous going forward Pat was in his day.
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And Shotta, in many different ways and for many differing reasons I have loved them all. Pat will always be my favourite of course. Apart from his time at Watford (and who among us hasn’t played away once or twice in our lives?) he has been there with me from when I wore short trousers to school until I started seriously worrying about not having a decent pension plan.
That’s long term!
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I suspect there is an affinity between bass guitarists and right backs, must be!
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ZP – you may have a point. The bass provides the stability, the foundation for the music but also has moments of rampaging through the song and grabbing your attention in unexpected ways. It links the under evolved elements of the band (drummer) with the show ponies up front and in the middle (guitarist and singer).
So yes you may well be on to something.
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anicoll5 – love the Typhoo card! Look at how young Geordie Armstrong was! And Don Howe – did he ever have a big head?
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RB (bass) + LB (keyboard/or rhythm guitar)) + CBs (percussion or sometimes brass section) + keeper (drummer) = rhythm section, not so? Do you play electric or double bass or both? Jazz, rock, reggae, soul, blues, Latin? Do you have thunder thumbs (as we call the best bassists here)?
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Now ZimP starts showing off leaving unartistic types like me in the dust. Keep it up “gays”. 🙂
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ZP – you out analogied me! I dont play with my thumb neither do I slap the bass. It’s a delicate instrument not a Spurs fan. My style of choice is Ska, I love funk bass but I’ve played so many styles I don’t really mind.
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4 string, 5 string, 6 string!? Actually, I am a musician Steww (tenor sax, show pony!) so my interest is high. I’m also a funk guy, brought in 60s soul, blues and jazz, “Mercy, Mercy, Mercy” being the meeting point between them all, and my favourite simple tune of all time. We don’t have Ska bands here, but there is an outstanding, wondrous Ska band (fronted by a Zimbabwean) in Cape Town called “The Rudimentals”.
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I shall look them up ZP. I have four and five string basses, semi acoustic, acoustic and solid body. Good brass player will make a band, a bad one can undo a lot of good work! My favourite bassists are Bruce Thomas from Elvis Costello and the Attractions and of course James Jamerson.
The stuff people took for granted on Motown poop singles was often outrageously good.
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class post, historical too. love this generation to generation patterns for all positions but yes sir rice gets his special, well played steww! and on bass guitar i give you the boss
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yz8qHxsKu6A
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Thanks Hunter. A virtuoso no doubt but not a style I like to play. I prefer to compliment the music than try to turn the bass into a solo instrument.
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pastorius too
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oh yeah you mean bass pads ..atmospheric …im savi ng money to get the macbook pro with logic pro installed and then load on omnisphere and just lose it in there for a good year or two….
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Don’t know what bass pads are (I am very old remember) but I have heard of Jaco!
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how can i say, my terminology might suck here a bit…like when you want the bass to form background….support….pad (?) ..or bridging the drum kicks with the prima notes.. imagine a giant bass ..( the one called cello i think) like a huge violin you need to stand up to play it ..wboom wboom wbooooooom wmmmmmm wmmmmmm anyway ignore it i need cofee..too early to orchestrate thoughts and sentences in the mind…ill stick to bashing united it comes out naturally..
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Good thinking!
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Lovely write up stew,pat rice was my first Arsenal right back and my stand out memorys of him are him nearly hitting the clock with a shot once and his smile after winning the cup in 79-my first cup final aged 8. The best right back? bacary sagna,by a distance.
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I’m now off to buy part 2 of my wife’s valentine present, part 1 was me secretly entering her into the London Marathon (you should have seen her face), I just hope they’ve got deep sea diver suits in her size.
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Nice post Stew.
Love Pat Rice. I met him outside Highbury in January 2003 after the Wet-spam game. My daughter wanted his autograph (not me honest 🙂 ).
He said, “Shouldn’t you be waiting for the players for their autographs”.
He and Bob Wilson are two of the nicest men you would wish to meet.
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All I’m going to say about that boring CL game I watched yesterday is that Arsene Wenger would never kill a spectacle quite the same way Mourinho and Ferguson murdered the football fairy last night. How can two of the world’s hottest football sides, with some of the most creative players in the world right now, resort to strangling all the creativity out of a classic game like Manchester United and Real Madrid? If I were Michel Platini I’d sanction those two coward managers for crimes against football. The stale, safe, cautious, unimaginative crap on display last night is worse for the game than a betting scandal, doping or any peripheral stuff that happens around the sport.
To those who hail Alex Ferguson as a great manager, I hope they were watching the game last night. While the old drunkard parks the bus against superior teams (Barcelona in the finals a few years ago, Madrid last night), Wenger always plays an attacking line up no matter who is the opposition. Some people may call Taggart’s approach pragmatic, but that’s just weak, considering how they just added the hottest striker in Europe to an already expensive squad. Something else to take into consideration is that we beat Barcelona at home and were robbed of advancing by a phantom second yellow given to the little Dutch boy. Meanwhile, the Mancs were taught a football lesson in the finals that same year for parking the bus.
Now onto the Portuguese wizard. How this manager is even talked about in the same breath as other great European managers will always be a mystery to me. The minute he came to Chelsea every one knew that he was a coward. As far as the game last night, how can you be the home team and employ two holding midfielders? No wonder lifelong Madridistas (not the plastics who became fans at the start of the Galacticos era) are all pissed off at Mourinho. They hired him because he was supposed to win them all the tin pots in Europe and they overlooked his ability to be make the most expensive squads ever assembled play boring, stiffled football. But, no, Mourinho wins trophies so this is the standard of manager the Wenger out orcs want.
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Absolutely staggering article today.
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To all you married guys, I hope you appreciate those lovely women who overlooked so much and still went through with putting their fingers in your rings.
Happy Valentines day.
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The way Pat Rice was treated by the fat, unknowledgeable, spoiled idiots, who got themselves on the season ticket waiting list, got their tickets and showed up to the football from time to time was a disgrace. For some reason, though, they love Steve Bould. I don’t understand how one can cheer for one club legend and completely shit on the memory of another.
Excellent post Steww. You have an ability to draw pictures with your words which transport me to whichever era you’re writing about.
Happy Birthday, Bac. I hope he signs an extension, but the way he was blurting out agent speak earlier this year may be a signal that he may be off. I sure hope not, though. He’s one of my favorite players in the squad.
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If I bought a Valentine Card today ,it would be for Stew,
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Lovely article and all the more so because, yup, you guessed it, PR was my fist RB! I’d love to know if there are many – or even any – other clubs that have the kind of continuity that finally ended with Pat’s retirement last year?
I’m optimistic Bac will stick around and, like Stew, always thought Theo would re-sign given a fair crack at the old contract whip. One of the things I most admire about Bacary is his class – he has quietly gone about being one of the best players in world football in his position without so much as a misplaced mobile or any other shanigan on or off-field. The ‘spat’ reported last year was very much against the grain and whether it was linked somehow with RvP and Alex Song’s departure I’m not sure.
If he does re-sign then we will truly be blessed in that position at least with the Corporal bringing up the rear and young Hector Bellerin set to storm the stage at some point in the next couple of years – the phrase strength in depth is the most obvious that springs to mind.
Is it still Music Fridays on here – can we expect more good stuff tomorrow?
Happy Birthday, Bac.
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Music Friday? This is not ACLF
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BTW Steww, where do you rate the right back for the Invincibles, “Ralph” Lauren? Was he merely a “bit part” player? Nobody seems to remember him and his contribution. Injuries then sold to Pompey, only to slowly dissappear from top flight football.
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Good player Shotta,never got over that injury.
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Ralph was actually signed as a midfielder. Played his first games there before moving into defence.
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He’s on twitter by the way
@LaurenBisan
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Pires tweeted that it was fake Dups
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Thanks all for the kind words today. George if I received a card from a mystery lover I’d hope it was from you x
Shotta, Ralph was one of the Invincibles. That’s all anyone needs to know.
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I must add I never meant to denigrate any of the RBs who didn’t stay for ten years and win doubles. I loved them all in different ways.
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What a great write up of last night’s “spectacle of the season” by Gainsborough. Said it all.
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Gainsy – I don’t watch Manure and now I don’t need to I can just read your match report. Excellent.
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Thanks Steww. Highlights of the great Bacary Sagna against Sunderland:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJtwxEuOWgE
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http://nutjob.eu/njtvx16.html Ajax playing. Dennis wearing a suit and a scarf. He is so elegant.
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Very brief highlights of the great Bacry Sagna celebrating:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdl1_EE2_aI
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Thanks for informing of that George.
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Fins – that’s outrageous. I knew he was good in that game but boy oh boy. Did you see how often his headed clearances were actually weighted passes to team mates. Brilliant.
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Lauren – if he had been any quieter or more professional he could have been the next James Bond
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What a gr8 read! More strength stew.
@ gainsborough, the match and the managers were well summarised. It is always fun to be here.
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anicoll5 – excellent description of Lauren – he was a top quality professional
I love your work steww – really good piece and a well deserved tribute to our Bac. I hope he stays too.
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Cheers Passenal.
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Today’s post is on another level. One simply cannot find this standard of writing just anywhere. Really top class. Fair play, Steww.
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Dixon was RB when I found Arsenal. We haven’t had one who can pass like him since.
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Nice post again. Top quality. Cheers mate.
On an unrelated note, I saw this blog on Arsenal.com:
http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/frank-stubbs-we-love-you-arsenal-we-do?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+arsenal-news+%28News+Feed%29
Is this the same Frank who writes on Positively Arsenal?
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