Today is a sad day for many Arsenal fans,,with the retirement of one of our favourite legends.....Paschal Cygan.......only kidding,,today marks the finish of the playing career of "le grand sausage" Mr Paddy Viera.
Viera ,sprung onto our screens literally predating Monsieur Wenger by a few weeks,,on one rainy septemeber Monday night soccer special against Sheffield Wednesday.
At first glance "Paddy" seemed gangly and awkward and his first couple of touches seemed dubious to say the least,,but just befre half time the legend was born.
As the ball broke around midfield ,,a 50-50 occured between viera and a guy called orlando trustfull i think,,the famliar viera gangly leg and then the signature move of the lob over his opponents head ,darting around him and striding away.
The viera stride was something to behold 2-3 strides could gain 40-50 yards ,box to box setting up defence to attack in a blink and the Arsenal counter attack legend was born.
But Viera was more than that,,he had presence,,he was hate figure at most grounds and with most referees,,i remember the slightly surreal start to the 1999-2000 season when he suffered sendings off in sucessive games in the first 2 games of the season,It seemed like their was a xenophobic agenda to drive Viera out of the english game and for a while we wondered whether he would continue.
He stayed and prospered and how he did,,culminating in the Invincibles team of 2004.
He was the lynchpin of this side,,the fulcrum,the guvnor,the Man,,defending,cajoling,roughing up,breaking up,creative force that made the Arsenal team the legends they were.
My abiding image of Viera at arsenal goes back to the late 90s at highbury in a game against his arch nemesis Roy Keane,,the image of Viera and Keane going head to head ,nether backing down and willing to give way was enough to make you proud to be a gooner.
The respect between Keane and Viera although seemed fractious was genuine,,so much so that Keane actually tried to sign him as Sunderland manager
I dont mind admitting i miss those days we didnt get pushed around
All the best Paddy
ps all the best paschal,,,you did make me laugh though
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