Perry Groves
Encyclopedia
Perry Groves is a former English
football
er, known chiefly for his time at Arsenal
. He was a fast-paced player who usually played as winger
, and occasionally as a striker
. His uncle Vic Groves
also played for Arsenal, from 1955 to 1964.
, London
, but as a boy he played for Cornard Dynamos in the village of Great Cornard
on the Suffolk
- Essex border. Groves then had a trial with Wolves
as a schoolboy before signing as an apprentice for Colchester United
in 1981. He turned professional a year later and over the next four seasons he played 142 league games for the U's, scoring 26 goals.
for £75,000, becoming the first signing by new manager George Graham
. In his first season at the club he helped set up Charlie Nicholas for the winner in the 1987 League Cup
final, dribbling past three Liverpool
players before laying the ball off.
Noted for his enthusiasm and hard work, he started most of Arsenal's games in the 1987-88
season, helping the Gunners reach a second League Cup final the following season by scoring the only goal of the away leg of the semi-final against Everton
; Arsenal however lost the final to Luton Town
. Although Groves made 46 appearances in all competitions that season, the arrival of Brian Marwood
reduced his opportunities to play, and he was mainly used as a substitute in Arsenal's title-winning 1988-89
season, coming off the bench 15 times during the league campaign, on top of 6 starts. He was on the pitch as a substitute in the final game of the season when Michael Thomas famously scored the title clinching goal
at Anfield.
Although an injury to Marwood opened the door for him again in 1989-90
, Groves returned to the bench after Marwood recovered. This did not however stop him from winning a second league title winners' medal in 1990-91
, again with most of his appearances coming as a sub. As Graham's Arsenal became more defensive Groves found himself in the team less and less, and after making only 13 league appearances in 1991-92
he was sold to Southampton.
in 1992 for £750,000 but only played 15 times in two years before retiring from professional football at the age of 28, following two serious Achilles tendon
injuries.
for Dagenham & Redbridge
before ending his playing career completely.
shows filling in for presenters such as Alvin Martin
or Gary Stevens
. He has also recently made his debut on the BBC 5 Live radio
show Fighting Talk
and is now a regular on BBC Radio Five Live's show "Kicking off" on Friday evenings alongside Colin Murray.
In 2010 Groves signed as a non-playing substitute for new club Chester after Colin Murray of BBC Radio 5 Live offered the new club £2,000 if they named Groves and Pat Nevin
as unused substitutes at every game in the 2010–11 season.
), to the tune of The Beatles
' "Yellow Submarine
". He still has a large following, with a fanclub and website devoted to him. In October 2006 Perry Groves published his autobiography
, entitled We All Live In A Perry Groves World (ISBN 1-84454-319-6). With it came an Arsenal fans' campaign on the web
to purchase the book, in an attempt to outsell former Arsenal defender Ashley Cole
's autobiography, My Defence, which was out at the same time. His autobiography has since outsold that of Cole, as well as the autobiographies of other much more high-profile players including Frank Lampard
and Rio Ferdinand
.
As a part of the BBC Sport Relief 'Shirt of Hurt' campaign, challenging personalities in football to wear the shirt of their club's greatest rival to raise money for charity, Perry Groves was challenged to wear a Tottenham shirt by Colin Murray on the latter's show on Radio 5 Live. Groves refused to wear the shirt and was willing to pay £400 to avoid it.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
football
Football (soccer)
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...
er, known chiefly for his time at Arsenal
Arsenal F.C.
Arsenal Football Club is a professional English Premier League football club based in North London. One of the most successful clubs in English football, it has won 13 First Division and Premier League titles and 10 FA Cups...
. He was a fast-paced player who usually played as winger
Winger (sport)
In certain sports, such as football, field hockey, ice hockey, handball, rugby union, lacrosse and rugby league, the term winger is the name of a position. It refers to positions on the extreme left and right sides of the pitch . In American football and Canadian football, the analogous position...
, and occasionally as a striker
Striker
Forwards, also known as strikers, are the players on a team in association football who play nearest to the opposing team's goal, and are therefore principally responsible for scoring goals...
. His uncle Vic Groves
Vic Groves
Victor George "Vic" Groves is an English former footballer.Born in Stepney, London, Groves started his career at east London non-league clubs Leytonstone and Walthamstow Avenue, and then briefly as an amateur for Tottenham Hotspur before signing professional forms with Leyton Orient in 1954...
also played for Arsenal, from 1955 to 1964.
Colchester United
Groves was born in BowBow, London
Bow is an area of London, England, United Kingdom in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is a built-up, mostly residential district located east of Charing Cross, and is a part of the East End.-Bridges at Bowe:...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, but as a boy he played for Cornard Dynamos in the village of Great Cornard
Great Cornard
Great Cornard is a large village located just outside Sudbury, in Suffolk, England.-History:The area now called Great Cornard has been occupied since pre-history, with evidence of Palaeolithic, Bronze Age and Roman settlements in the parish. The village is accounted for in the Domesday Book as the...
on the Suffolk
Suffolk
Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...
- Essex border. Groves then had a trial with Wolves
Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C.
Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club is an English professional association football club that represents the city of Wolverhampton in the West Midlands region. They are members of the Premier League, the highest level of English football. The club was founded in 1877 and since 1889 has played at...
as a schoolboy before signing as an apprentice for Colchester United
Colchester United F.C.
Colchester United Football Club is an English football club based in Colchester. The club was formed in 1937, and briefly shared their old Layer Road home with now defunct side Colchester Town who had previously used the ground from 1910....
in 1981. He turned professional a year later and over the next four seasons he played 142 league games for the U's, scoring 26 goals.
Arsenal
In September 1986 he signed for ArsenalArsenal F.C.
Arsenal Football Club is a professional English Premier League football club based in North London. One of the most successful clubs in English football, it has won 13 First Division and Premier League titles and 10 FA Cups...
for £75,000, becoming the first signing by new manager George Graham
George Graham (footballer)
George Graham is a Scottish former football player and manager. He is best remembered for his success at Arsenal, as a player in the 1970s and then as manager from 1986 until 1995.-Early life:...
. In his first season at the club he helped set up Charlie Nicholas for the winner in the 1987 League Cup
Football League Cup
The Football League Cup, commonly known as the League Cup or, from current sponsorship, the Carling Cup, is an English association football competition. Like the FA Cup, it is played on a knockout basis...
final, dribbling past three Liverpool
Liverpool F.C.
Liverpool Football Club is an English Premier League football club based in Liverpool, Merseyside. Liverpool has won eighteen League titles, second most in English football, seven FA Cups and a record seven League Cups...
players before laying the ball off.
Noted for his enthusiasm and hard work, he started most of Arsenal's games in the 1987-88
1987-88 in English football
The 1987–88 season was the 120th season of competitive football in England.- First Division :Liverpool won the league title with a comfortable nine-point margin and just two defeats all season....
season, helping the Gunners reach a second League Cup final the following season by scoring the only goal of the away leg of the semi-final against Everton
Everton F.C.
Everton Football Club are an English professional association football club from the city of Liverpool. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of English football...
; Arsenal however lost the final to Luton Town
Luton Town F.C.
Luton Town Football Club is an English professional football club based since 1905 at Kenilworth Road, Luton, Bedfordshire. The club currently competes in the fifth tier of English football, the Conference National, for the third consecutive season during the 2011–12 season.Formed in 1885, it was...
. Although Groves made 46 appearances in all competitions that season, the arrival of Brian Marwood
Brian Marwood
Brian Marwood is an English former footballer and is currently one of the main executive staff at Manchester City F.C. under the role of Football Administration Officer.-Hull City:...
reduced his opportunities to play, and he was mainly used as a substitute in Arsenal's title-winning 1988-89
1988-89 in English football
The 1988–89 season was the 109th season of competitive football in England.-Hillsborough disaster:On 15 April, a crowd crush at the FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest at Hillsborough killed 94 people and injured more than 300. A 95th Liverpool supporter died in hospital...
season, coming off the bench 15 times during the league campaign, on top of 6 starts. He was on the pitch as a substitute in the final game of the season when Michael Thomas famously scored the title clinching goal
Liverpool 0–2 Arsenal (26 May 1989)
The final match of the 1988–89 English Football League season was contested on 26 May 1989, between Liverpool and Arsenal, at Liverpool's Anfield ground. By sheer coincidence, it was the match between the top two teams in the First Division and the teams were close enough on points for the match to...
at Anfield.
Although an injury to Marwood opened the door for him again in 1989-90
1989-90 in English football
-European competitions:English clubs were still banned from competing in European competitions following the Heysel Stadium disaster.- First Division :...
, Groves returned to the bench after Marwood recovered. This did not however stop him from winning a second league title winners' medal in 1990-91
1990-91 in English football
The 1990–91 season was the 111th season of competitive football in England.- First Division :Arsenal won the league. Runners-up spot was achieved by Liverpool, who had led the table for much of the first half of the season but had been shell-shocked in February by the sudden resignation of manager...
, again with most of his appearances coming as a sub. As Graham's Arsenal became more defensive Groves found himself in the team less and less, and after making only 13 league appearances in 1991-92
1991-92 in English football
- First Division :The last-ever league championship before the creation of the Premier League was won by Leeds United who overhauled Manchester United thanks to the efforts of, among others, Gordon Strachan, Lee Chapman, David Batty, Gary Speed and Gary McAllister...
he was sold to Southampton.
Southampton
He moved to SouthamptonSouthampton F.C.
Southampton Football Club is an English football team, nicknamed The Saints, based in the city of Southampton, Hampshire. The club gained promotion to the Championship from League One in the 2010–2011 season after being relegated in 2009. Their home ground is the St Mary's Stadium, where the club...
in 1992 for £750,000 but only played 15 times in two years before retiring from professional football at the age of 28, following two serious Achilles tendon
Achilles tendon
The Achilles tendon , also known as the calcaneal tendon or the tendo calcaneus, is a tendon of the posterior leg. It serves to attach the plantaris, gastrocnemius and soleus muscles to the calcaneus bone.- Anatomy :The Achilles is the tendonous extension of 3 muscles in the lower leg:...
injuries.
Dagenham & Redbridge
He then played four games in the ConferenceFootball Conference
The Football Conference is a football league in England which consists of three divisions called Conference National, Conference North, and Conference South. Some Football Conference clubs are fully professional, such as Luton Town, but most of them are semi-professional...
for Dagenham & Redbridge
Dagenham & Redbridge F.C.
Dagenham & Redbridge Football Club , informally known as Daggers, is an English association football club based in Dagenham, in the London Borough of Barking & Dagenham, East London. It was formed in 1992 after a merger between Redbridge Forest and Dagenham...
before ending his playing career completely.
Post-retirement
He appears for Arsenal in the London Masters football tournament, Perry also features on various TalksportTalkSPORT
Talksport , owned by UTV radio, is one of the United Kingdom's three terrestrial analogue Independent National Radio broadcasters, offering a sports and talk radio service broadcast from London to the United Kingdom....
shows filling in for presenters such as Alvin Martin
Alvin Martin
Alvin Edward Martin is a retired English footballer who played as a defender.Playing most of his footballing career for West Ham United he appeared in 598 games for scoring 34 goals...
or Gary Stevens
Gary A. Stevens
Gary Andrew Stevens is an English former footballer who played in the Football League for Brighton & Hove Albion, Tottenham Hotspur and Portsmouth. He won seven caps for England.-Career:...
. He has also recently made his debut on the BBC 5 Live radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
show Fighting Talk
Fighting Talk
Fighting Talk is a topical sports show broadcast on BBC Radio 5 Live during the English football season. Its first series aired in October 2003, and was presented by Johnny Vaughan. The second series featured Christian O'Connell. It is currently hosted by Colin Murray and is aired on Saturday...
and is now a regular on BBC Radio Five Live's show "Kicking off" on Friday evenings alongside Colin Murray.
In 2010 Groves signed as a non-playing substitute for new club Chester after Colin Murray of BBC Radio 5 Live offered the new club £2,000 if they named Groves and Pat Nevin
Pat Nevin
Patrick Kevin Francis Michael "Pat" Nevin is a retired Scottish footballer. In a 20-year career, he played for Clyde, Chelsea, Everton, Tranmere Rovers, Kilmarnock and Motherwell as a winger. Nevin was a fans' favourite at Chelsea during the 1980s...
as unused substitutes at every game in the 2010–11 season.
Legacy
Groves became a cult player among Arsenal fans, who commemorate him with the chant "We all live in a Perry Groves World", which listed Perry in every position from 1 to 12 (except 7, which is instead taken by Liam BradyLiam Brady
Liam Brady is a former Irish association football player, and former assistant manager of the Republic of Ireland national football team....
), to the tune of The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
' "Yellow Submarine
Yellow Submarine (song)
"Yellow Submarine" is a 1966 song by The Beatles, written by Paul McCartney , with lead vocals by Ringo Starr. It was included on the Revolver album and issued as a single, coupled with "Eleanor Rigby". The single went to number 1 on every major British chart, remained at number 1 for four weeks...
". He still has a large following, with a fanclub and website devoted to him. In October 2006 Perry Groves published his autobiography
Autobiography
An autobiography is a book about the life of a person, written by that person.-Origin of the term:...
, entitled We All Live In A Perry Groves World (ISBN 1-84454-319-6). With it came an Arsenal fans' campaign on the web
World Wide Web
The World Wide Web is a system of interlinked hypertext documents accessed via the Internet...
to purchase the book, in an attempt to outsell former Arsenal defender Ashley Cole
Ashley Cole
Ashley Cole is an Barbadian-English professional footballer who plays for Chelsea and the England national team. He plays as a left-back and has been named one of the best in the world....
's autobiography, My Defence, which was out at the same time. His autobiography has since outsold that of Cole, as well as the autobiographies of other much more high-profile players including Frank Lampard
Frank Lampard
Frank James Lampard is an English professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for Chelsea and the England national team. He also holds the position of vice-captain for his club side...
and Rio Ferdinand
Rio Ferdinand
Rio Gavin Ferdinand is an English footballer. He plays at centre back for Manchester United in the Premier League and for the England national football team...
.
As a part of the BBC Sport Relief 'Shirt of Hurt' campaign, challenging personalities in football to wear the shirt of their club's greatest rival to raise money for charity, Perry Groves was challenged to wear a Tottenham shirt by Colin Murray on the latter's show on Radio 5 Live. Groves refused to wear the shirt and was willing to pay £400 to avoid it.
External links
- Unofficial Perry Groves fansite
- Perry Groves on arseblog.com's "arsecast" on 10 November 2006 (MP3MP3MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression...
, 17 MB) - Interview with Perry Groves in The Guardian