Although I'd always admired Arsenal ever since I got into football when I was around 10, I only started actively watching Arsenal games since the 11/12 season.
So I just wanted to hear from fans who had regularly watched Arsenal games during both their eras and know which of the two were the better performers and has left a bigger mark on the club's history and how they fared compared to other GKs of their respective eras.
Also who among them are our current keepers most similar to?
Hello!
I thought I would just post to distract you from the misery that is being an Arsenal fan right now, and to let you know that this week, the Football Book Club will be of special interest to Arsenal fans... For the uninitiated, The Football Book Clubis a podcast made up of comedy writers who read and review old footballers' autobiographies, picking out the best anecdotes and bizarre stories, while playing a few games and quizzes along the way. As far as former Arsenal players go we've previously reviewed Jermaine Pennant's book (not great, he kills a cat) and Perry Groves' book (cracking, he doesn't kill a cat although he does cover one in itching powder, weirdly), and now it's the turn of old Safe Hands himself, David Seaman! We've also dragged in star of stage and screen Josh Berry to help us read it, and he provides some great impressions throughout (including a really good Alan Partridge and an excellent Churchill The Dog...)
The book itself is... regrettably it's fairly tedious. It's written just after Euro 2000 before Kevin Keegan got sacked as England manager, so it hits a kind of awkward point in Seaman's career - he's still very much playing (getting lobbed by Ronaldinho is still two years away, and THAT save against Sheffield United is three years away), so he can't be too candid about his former teammates or managers (heck George Graham is still managing Spurs at this point!) in the way that Perry Groves or Tony Adams could. Seaman seems more interested in explaining the set-up of the white goods in his house, and how much he needs a plumber to come in and sort out his washing machine. It veers between endearingly dull and sociopathic (in his youth David liked to steal bird eggs and drown baby birds, apparently - what is it about former Arsenal players and animals?!), although we do also get a lot of insight into Chris Tarrant (loves to fish, and the people at the fishing hut always bring him out a plate of sandwiches which they would NEVER do for David apparently...), and Chris Evans (who gave David Seaman two doves, inexplicably). It's a weird, wonderful and very strange book, and it makes for a rather we
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