This article is part of the review of the players who played under George Graham.
By Tony Attwood
David Seaman began his career at Leeds United but Eddie Gray, their player manager turned him down, so he joined Peterborough then in the 4th division. The transfer fee was £4000.
In 1984 he went to Birmingham for £100,000 and in August 1986 he moved to QPR for £225,000. His goal keeper coach was… Bob Wilson.
In 1990 Arsenal came in for him, paying £1.3m for him in the close season – the record for a keeper at the time with John Lukic going to Leeds.
In his first season David Seaman let in only 18 goals, played every league game, and won the Championship with Arsenal. This was the season we lost only one game – an astonishing record at the time, but one that drew only minor notice from the press, most of them preferring to focus on the two points deducted for the Man U handbags at 40 paces kerfuffle. I seem to remember that David was the only player not involved.
That season was clearly George Graham’s finest moment, although we must remember the first ever Cup double, and the European Cup Winners’ Cup – by which time David was the first choice England keeper.
After George Graham’s departure Arsène Wenger kept Seaman in the team and he won his first double. In 1998/9 he again played all the league matches and this time let in only 17 goals and in 2001/2 he got his second double – although amazingly two other goal keepers also got championship medals (Stuart Taylor and Richard Wright) as David Seaman missed games through injury.
In his last season at Arsenal Seaman played his 1,000th professional game and he finished as captain of the side that beat Southampton to win the league. He thus also played in the first match of the 49 unbeaten run, but that was all, as the cup final was his final game.
David Seaman played more games in goal for Arsenal than anyone else. He then moved on to Manchester City and retired in January 2004.
In all, with Arsenal he was a league champion three times, a runner up four times, a cup winner four times, a runner up once, a league cup winner once, a Cup winners cup winner once, and runner up once.
The books…
- Woolwich Arsenal: The club that changed football – Arsenal’s early years
- Making the Arsenal – how the modern Arsenal was born in 1910
- “The Crowd at Woolwich Arsenal”: crowd behaviour at the early matches
The sites…
- Untold Arsenal
- Referee Decisions – just what are the refs up to this season?
- The weight loss programme: The only guaranteed wayto stay fit
The history series…
- Islington 100: celebrating 100 years of Arsenal in Islington
- Arsenal’s Anniversaries
- The Managers index with two managers that no one else includes!
Correction: Seaman finished as captain of the side which beat Southampton to win the F.A. Cup, not the League.