Charlie Nicholas (1983/84-1987/88)
Charlie played in Arsenal's first three league games of 1987/88, but those
were to be his last in an Arsenal shirt before a £400,000 transfer to
Scottish Premier League side Aberdeen in January 1988. He scored 37 goals
in 78 league appearances during his two seasons at Pittodrie but could not
prevent Glasgow Rangers from winning the Scottish Premier League
Championship on both occasions. Charlie transferred to Glasgow Celtic in
the summer of 1990, hoping that he could win his first League Championship
since 1981/82, the first of two successive titles that he won in his first
spell at the club. He never managed to win the League Championship in 5
seasons at Parkhead, but netted 37 times in 114 league appearances and
scored against Arsenal in Paul Davis' testimonial match, when his Celtic
side came to Highbury and drew 2-2 in the summer of 1991. Charlie's last
spell as a professional came with Scottish Second Division side Clyde,
where he scored 5 goals in 31 league appearances during 1995/96, before
calling an end to his playing days. He is now a highly-successful football
analyst for Sky Sports, as are a number of former Arsenal greats such as
Brian Marwood, Kenny Sansom and Alan Smith.
David O'Leary (1975/76-1992/93)
After signing for Arsenal on his fifteenth birthday in May 1973, David
O'Leary served Arsenal for over 20 years before finally departing for Leeds
United in the summer of 1993 on a free transfer. He appeared for Arsenal on
558 occasions in the league and ended his time with the club in style by
making his last appearance in the FA Cup final replay victory over
Sheffield Wednesday in May 1993. David made 10 league appearances for Leeds
United during 1993/94, with the club finishing in fifth place, a point
behind Arsenal in fourth. He was unable to make a single league appearance
during both 1994/95 and 1995/96 due to a serious Achilles injury and was
forced to retire in October 1995, having failed to recover from the injury.
He made his decision known publicly in the build-up to Arsenal's 3-0
victory over Leeds at Elland Road in October 1995, but he stayed on at
Elland Road as a defensive coach. In September 1996, David became George
Graham's assistant at Leeds United and the pair transformed the fortunes of
the side that had spent the past four years underachieving for a club of
its stature. George Graham, who had returned to management having served a
one-year ban for accepting illegal transfer payments whilst manager of
Arsenal, was the ideal master to learn the managerial trade from, with
David destined to take over at Elland Road after his departure. Having
taken Leeds to eleventh (1996/97) and fifth (1997/98) place in the league,
George Graham left to become the manager of Tottenham Hotspur in October
1998 and handed the reigns over to David on a temporary basis. David was in
fact second on the Leeds United wanted list behind Leicester City boss
Martin O'Neill but since finally taking over permanently in October 1998,
it has been clear to see that he has the qualities to become a great
manager. He has steered Leeds United towards fourth place in the league
(1998/99), a UEFA Cup semi-final (1999/00), third place in the league
(1999/00), fourth place in the league (2000/01) and a European Cup semi-
final (2000/01).
(1995/96-1997/98)
During the summer of 1998, when Arsenal were fresh from winning the double,
David Platt announced his retirement from the game, 3 days short of his
32nd birthday. He had served Arsenal for 3 seasons after a £4,750,000 move
from the Italian Serie A side, Sampdoria and in December 1998, he took up
the opportunity to rejoin the Italian club as their 'Overall Supervisor'.
During the seven weeks that he held the position, he was put under immense
pressure to resign, as he had not completed the Italian coaching badges,
which are required of all Serie A managers. David was managing the club
from the stands because he did not have the recommended qualifications to
hold a place in the dugout and in February 1999, after just 6 matches in
charge, he resigned from his role. Sampdoria were relegated to Serie B that
season so the pressure that Platt was constantly being put under throughout
his stay could not have been helpful towards the teams cause. In the summer
of 1999, he was appointed manager of Nottingham Forest and registered
himself as a player at the First Division club, recently relegated from the
Premiership. During 1999/00, still finding his managerial feet, David only
managed to guide Nottingham Forest to fourteenth place, as well as making 6
league appearances throughout the campaign. He made a further 2 league
appearances during 2000/01, and having missed out on the play-offs zone by
six points, the club is struggling to live up to its glory days of the late
1970s and early 1980s. In the summer of 2001, David left the City Ground to
join the England set-up, where he took over the reigns from Howard
Wilkinson as the England Under-21 manager.
Niall Quinn (1985/86-1989/90)
Niall Quinn left Arsenal for Manchester City during March 1990 in a
£800,000 deal having failed to maintain a place in the Arsenal first-team
on a regular basis throughout the 1989/90 campaign. It was to be the start
of a Manchester City career that lasted for six and-a-quarter seasons, 203
league games and 66 league goals. In November 1993, he sustained injuries
to the knee ligaments that kept him out of the game for nine months and
which also out ruled him out of USA '94 with the Republic of Ireland. He
nethertheless made a full recovery for the beginning of the 1994/95 season
and stayed at Maine Road until the summer of 1996, when the club had been
relegated to the First Division. In the summer of 1995, it was reported he
had joined the Portugese side, Sporting Lisbon for £1,800,000 on a two-year
contract with the option of a further year. The move was not completed and
the striker stayed at Maine Road during the relegation season of 1995/96,
which ended with a 2-2 home draw against FA Cup finalists Liverpool. He
joined newly promoted Premiership side Sunderland for £1,300,000 where a
serious knee injury restricted him to make just 12 league appearances (2
goals) during 1996/97, his second successive relegation season. The 1997/98
season ended with the final of the First Division play-offs, in which
Sunderland were defeated by Charlton Athletic on penalties, but Niall had
recovered from his injuries to score 14 times in 35 league appearances
throughout the campaign. In 1998/99, he helped to steer Sunderland towards
the Division One Championship during a record-breaking season where the
club earned 105 points from 46 league games. Niall scored 18 goals in 39
league games throughout the campaign and on his return to the Premiership,
he netted 14 times in 37 league games to help Sunderland finish in seventh
position. Sunderland maintained their high Premiership standards during
2000/01 by finishing in seventh place for the second successive season, but
missed out on a European place to Chelsea on the final day of the season
following a 2-2 draw at Goodison Park, Everton. On a personal note, Niall
netted 7 times in 34 league games and will be competing with new French
International signing, Lilian Laslandes for a first-team place during the
2001/02 campaign.
(1997/98)
In the 1998/99 pre-season, Isaiah Rankin joined Bradford City of Division
One in a £1,300,000 deal and 'The Bantams' won promotion to the Premiership
in his first season at Valley Parade. Although he was the victim of a
successful strike-partnership, built up between Robbie Blake and Lee Mills,
he still managed to feature 27 times in the league throughout the season
and scored 4 goals. He made a further 9 league appearances during 1999/00
but failed to score for a Bradford side that survived relegation on the
final day of the season. Isaiah had also spent 13 games on loan with First
Division Birmingham City during 1999/00, where he scored 4 league goals. At
the beginning of 2000/01, Isaiah had a loan spell with First Division
Bolton Wanderers, scoring 2 goals in 16 games, but the move never resulted
in a permanent transfer. He returned to Valley Parade, where he only made
one further league appearance, before moving to Barnsley of Division One
for £350,000 in January 2001. Having scored 1 goal in 9 league games for
'The Tykes' during 2000/01, Isaiah will be hoping to have a more settled
season during 2001/02.
© Richard Tufft & ArseWeb 2001