Football and footballers have moved on from the era in which Perry Groves played for ‘The Arsenal’ as George Graham, who signed Perry from Colchester, always called our great club. In many ways things, have improved and this is mostly down to Sky Sports and the money that has been injected by television, but you do sometimes wonder if we the fans can possibly connect with our heroes the way we once did?
I never had the talent to be a footballer but had I, I would have wanted to play for the team I loved and supported. Not many players get the opportunity, but Perry Groves did. Perry was a Gooner through and through who got to live the dream. He was playing for Colchester in the lower reaches of the football league when Graham, newly appointed to his own dream role, made Perry, a complete unknown, his first signing for a grand total of £75,000.
I am writing this for several reasons. Primarily because I have just once again read Perry’s biography and if any self respecting Gooner has not read ‘We all Live in a Perry Groves World’ I strongly suggest you do so. However, it is more the general context of this week with Thierry Henry returning and all the gossip about potential transfer window signings, as well as the fees and wages the modern player expects or demands. Football has just gone crazy!
Don’t get me wrong I love Thierry Henry as a player and for everything he helped us achieve in the past decade. I jumped and screamed in the upper echelons of the north Upper on Monday night and sang his name again and again. I have also though read in the programme and subsequently how it is different this time because he is just here as a fan and due to his love for the club. I don’t know what Sol Campbell and Jens Lehmann asked for on their returns, but I do know that we are paying Henry £70k-a-week and covering his insurance. For me this is a slightly odd way to show love and to help out the club and, more importantly, the man to whom he owes everything.
I am not saying it is wrong, but it is the way football is today and it just makes me look back through rose tinted glasses to the Perry Groves era when the Arsenal team was largely made up of London lads living their dreams. In September 1986, when Groves signed for Arsenal, his first contract was £350-per-week. Then there were appearance and win bonuses of up to £100 per draw home or away and a whopping £250-per-match won home or away! But that was not all – there were additional bonuses for finishing in the top six and for runs in the FA Cup. As you would expect, Perry signed the contract before the financials were even discussed. On a quick calculation given we finished high in the league and won and drew more than we lost, I reckon Perry made over £30k that year before tax. Wow!
Legend…