Thank You Pat Rice!

I'm surprise no one mentioned this, with all the transfer talk doing our heads in these last couple of days, i think its appropriated to have a dedication thread on a man who has been with a club that we all love for 44 years.




528 appearances, 4 league titles, 6 FA Cups, 3 double winning seasons and 44 years of service.

Legend is an understatement, a professional of the highest order, when someone says Arsenal through and through, we'll be thinking about Pat Rice, who had an abiding passion for Arsenal Football Club. His passion and loyalty will never be replicated and though winning cups is important, 44 years at The Arsenal is something that no one may do ever again and for that, Pat Rice, we salute you, you really are Arsenal through and through.

Quite the dedicated chap that one...Wish him the best.

He's been an excellent servant, and I hope he enjoys his retirement.

He looks very much like Rooney in the picture on the right.

Hear, hear!

Legend.

legend.

i wish him well

44 years involved in the club, you sure as hell are not going to see that happen as much today. Proper legend, proper gooner, hope he continues to enjoy football.

Hope to see him attending games for a long time to come. Legend. Thanks for everything Pat!

A legend indeed. Enjoy resting those knees.

Has it been announced officially then?

Has it been announced officially then?

As good as.
http://twitter.com/#!/Persie_Official/status/200311981994029057/photo/1/large

Well he's sure earned a rest.

Thanks four your service Pat, enjoy time without football for a couple of months, until you'll eventually come back, but as a fan this time, and fan only.

Can someone describe how he was as a player? Was he a defender, wasn't he? What was his level/style/temperament?

Great man and a 100% Arsenal legend. You will be missed Pat, thanks for everything!

Can someone describe how he was as a player? Was he a defender, wasn't he? What was his level/style/temperament?

He was part of a very good defence in a not very exciting team, one of the reasons we were known as "boring boring Arsenal".

At the time we won the double in 1971 we had the best defence in the league,

GK Wilson
RB Rice
LB McNab
CB McKlintock (captain)
CB Simpson
CM Storey

Arsenal were one of the first teams that had attacking FB's and Rice was part of that way of playing.

He joined us in 1964 as an apprentice and he played for us for more than ten years and was made captain in 1977, he also played for Northern Ireland 49 times.

He also lifted the FA cup in the famous win over Man u in 1979.
If you haven't seen it, watch it on You Tube, it is one of the best finals ever.

He has the 7th most appearances for us playing 528 times, so is a definite Arsenal legend.
As a boy I was lucky enough to see him a few times in the late 1970's playing for us, so the fact that he has been at Arsenal for more than 40 years is an amazing achievement and is unlikely to be beaten.

I'll drink to that.

True legend.

He's the epitome of Legend.

Thank you for your service Pat, enjoy your retirement.

As much as many of us wanted to see a change in some of the coaching/management side of the club (for good reason), none of this should take away from the complete club legend that Pat Rice is.

He's been a remarkable contributor to this football club for more than four decades.

New blood is welcome, but no one will forget Pat Rice's contribution to this club for a very long time indeed.

Thank you, Pat.

thanks you pat rice for every thing a true legend.

http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archiv ... rs-at-club

Arsenal website confirm it.

Thanks for everything!

Hope Pat can enjoy his retirement seeing his beloved club win trophees again.

Deserves a statue, stand and/or pre-season tournament after him.

Thank you Pat.

44 years as an Arsenal legend.

John Cross ‏ @johncrossmirror
Wenger confirms Steve Bould new no 2

good luck bould.

John Cross ‏ @johncrossmirror
Wenger confirms Steve Bould new no 2

good luck bould.

Good decision.
He is well respected through out the club as a player and youth coach.

I wouldn't mind seeing Keown having a role at the club as well, he is quality.

farewell to a true gunner,

http://www1.skysports.com/football/news ... ts-Gunners

Thank you for great Service to Arsenal Pat - True Gent.

I was worried for a while AW would miss control the smashing of the water bottle and injure you on many occassion with the bounce back.

Seriously trough Good and Bad; Pat was the Man.

You would think the club would have made some sort of an effort last weekend to mark the last home game ever for Pat Rice, let the crowd to know so he could get a standing ovation or present him with something to mark his decades of service etc.

You would think the club would have made some sort of an effort last weekend to mark the last home game ever for Pat Rice, let the crowd to know so he could get a standing ovation or present him with something to mark his decades of service etc.

+1 Not Like Arsenal at all normally they have a bit of class when it comes to things like that - I can only imagine they have something planned for the future.

He deserves a statue IMO, he's been at Arsenal 44 years in total I think as a player, coach, assistant manager etc. AW said Rice will still come to home games as a supporter. And AW said at his press conference Rice will be doing scouting for Arsenal in the future.