Lay Off Pat Rice!!!

[1989]

If Pat Rice had ever disagreed with Wenger, we would've probably heard about it now, or in a worse case scenario, he would've been fired.

So yes I blame Pat Rice because like all the others he's far too happy to collect his paycheck at the end of the month so he's as accountable as the players, the coach, the board etc...

pat Rice is exactly like wenger, he digs his head in the sand and refuses to see the truth. Oh he may not agree with Wenger and his policy deep inside, but his act shows someone 100% behind Wenger and the actual policy....

One of the older players (Lee Dixon, I think) recounts a story where trailing at half-time, Pat Rice was having a go at some of the players and Wenger told him to shut up!! Even Bob Wilson has said in the past that rather than go with the advice given to him by his staff, Wenger said something like 'as it was his neck on the line, he would have to go with his own judgement'. I think those two stories should be enough evidence that it's Wenger's way only.

Which brings me to a point I made a few days ago regarding Steve Bould. Even if he is to be the replacement to a retiring Pat Rice, there's no guarantee that he will have any more of an impact or that Arsene will listen any more to him than he does Rice. As the coaching staff are every bit as beholden to Wenger for their jobs as the players, who is seriously going to stand up to him and tell him where he's going wrong?

I honestly can't see Bouldie watching our pathetic defending and doing/saying nothing about it. Whether or not he owes Turnip anything doesn't matter, his character won't allow him to shut up and be quiet. PS he's fucking scary! Turnip would shit himself if they had an argument!!

[FrenchGun]

Seriously this thread is a waste of time cos imo the vast vast majority of Gooners dont slate pat rice anyway and are fully aware that wenger is 98% of the problem in our club.


PS Can I just say that my laughing in the top line was at the laural and hardy photo and not at any of the comments since

Actually Augie, I blame the rest of the crew (Board, Players, Pat Rice, medical team etc...) as much as Wenger!

I can't agree with putting everything on the back of Wenger.

They're all member of the same team, who, at the moment, isn't producing the expected results. Yes Wenger is probably the reason behind our bad results, but no one around him ever did anything to change it!

A team's a team, and everyone accountable for the clubs result! If something goes wrong, everyone takes the blame! If we don't start to act as a team off the pitch, you can't expect the players to act as a team on the pitch...

[Blade]

Look at Red nose and Mike Phelan. Fergie always asking him stuff during games -respect and sharing responsibilities.

Whereas AW will slam Pat Rice's hand down if he even waves it at his little babies.

[Rugby Gooner]

Nothing worse than being a yes man, makes him as much of a culprit for our current plight as Chief Turnip in my opinion.

Yeah,like the guy in Mike Bassett,England Manager....."Yes Boss,Yes Boss."

[Arsenal 1991]

If Pat Rice had ever disagreed with Wenger, we would've probably heard about it now, or in a worse case scenario, he would've been fired.

So yes I blame Pat Rice because like all the others he's far too happy to collect his paycheck at the end of the month so he's as accountable as the players, the coach, the board etc...

pat Rice is exactly like wenger, he digs his head in the sand and refuses to see the truth. Oh he may not agree with Wenger and his policy deep inside, but his act shows someone 100% behind Wenger and the actual policy....

One of the older players (Lee Dixon, I think) recounts a story where trailing at half-time, Pat Rice was having a go at some of the players and Wenger told him to shut up!! Even Bob Wilson has said in the past that rather than go with the advice given to him by his staff, Wenger said something like 'as it was his neck on the line, he would have to go with his own judgement'. I think those two stories should be enough evidence that it's Wenger's way only.

Which brings me to a point I made a few days ago regarding Steve Bould. Even if he is to be the replacement to a retiring Pat Rice, there's no guarantee that he will have any more of an impact or that Arsene will listen any more to him than he does Rice. As the coaching staff are every bit as beholden to Wenger for their jobs as the players, who is seriously going to stand up to him and tell him where he's going wrong?

I honestly can't see Bouldie watching our pathetic defending and doing/saying nothing about it. Whether or not he owes Turnip anything doesn't matter, his character won't allow him to shut up and be quiet. PS he's fucking scary! Turnip would shit himself if they had an argument!!

Then he'd be out of the club the next day!

Keown was brilliant when he was a coach but was too vocal apparently, AW didn't like it.

[worthing gooner]

This might be a wild guess but Pat rice doesnt strike me as the bloke who would surf the net worrying about his credibilty on forums?

[Arsenal 1991]

And blaming Pat Rice is harsh. We all know Wenger is the great dictator and Pat is a legend of the club and should be treated with a bit more respect!

[merson_is_god]

RICE RICE BABY!!

[flash gunner]

RICE RICE BABY!!

Pay back the money MIG

[HashKads]

RICE RICE BABY!!

Pay back the money MIG

Yeah, thats theft!

[TeeCee]

I've heard that Pat Rice is retiring and has bought an ice cream van to run...............something about being an expert with cones.........

[mrgnu1958]

Why does Pat Rice get so much stick? People say all he does is lay out cones!! How do they know? Yes he does that as part of his job as he does when he calls the subs in but how do we know what he is doing on the training ground, or in the dressing room, what he is saying to the players at half time, what he says to AW off the record {which AW then ignores granted}. Only the players and staff know all this so how can we as fans slag him off as the reason everything is wrong and make him out to be a feeble yes man to Arsene?? None of you see him at work properly, i DO know that he shows 10 times more passion, gesticulating and shouting on the sidelines than Arsene during a game.
This is a man who has served our club as player, captain [winning] and coach for over 40 years ffs! where is the respect he deserves, when he retires it will be a sad day for Arsenal fc, there are not many of his kind around these days, he is a winner, been there and done it, im not saying its not time for a change but i do believe that Pat Rice deserves more respect from Gooners than he is getting right now!

i love PAT RICE...TASTY GOAL

[Herd]

He once told me to fuck off ,we had lost to West Ham ,then Valencia ,then won away to Wolves on the Friday night following the Valencia Game.

There wasn't many of us there an I decide to hit the pitch and tell the captain we were right behind him and would be at Boro on the following Monday all 200 of us.
He told me to fuck off.

Notwithstanding the above I cannot fault him ,he's been a loyal servant to the club and has Arsenal in his blood.

He may be the cone man but he is our cone man and isn't one to blab in the press about our shortcomings,this WAS the Arsenal way.

That the blind and Obsessive and corrosive anti Wengerism is now extending to him is way off base and just shows what *word censored* a lot of people are.

Whose next Steve Bould,Liajm Brady ???? ,fuck it lets Blame Charlie George,Perry Groves and Kenny Samson after all they are at the club too and surely they must be telling Wenger what to do .

Where will it all end ?

[I Hate Hleb]

He once told me to fuck off ,we had lost to West Ham ,then Valencia ,then won away to Wolves on the Friday night following the Valencia Game.

There wasn't many of us there an I decide to hit the pitch and tell the captain we were right behind him and would be at Boro on the following Monday all 200 of us.
He told me to fuck off.

Notwithstanding the above I cannot fault him ,he's been a loyal servant to the club and has Arsenal in his blood.

He may be the cone man but he is our cone man and isn't one to blab in the press about our shortcomings,this WAS the Arsenal way.

That the blind and Obsessive and corrosive anti Wengerism is now extending to him is way off base and just shows what c**ts a lot of people are.

Whose next Steve Bould,Liajm Brady ???? ,fuck it lets Blame Charlie George,Perry Groves and Kenny Samson after all they are at the club too and surely they must be telling Wenger what to do .

Where will it all end ?

Now even Pat Rice's biggest critic must see that as a redeeming feature!!

[LDB]

He once told me to fuck off ,we had lost to West Ham ,then Valencia ,then won away to Wolves on the Friday night following the Valencia Game.

There wasn't many of us there an I decide to hit the pitch and tell the captain we were right behind him and would be at Boro on the following Monday all 200 of us.
He told me to fuck off.

Notwithstanding the above I cannot fault him ,he's been a loyal servant to the club and has Arsenal in his blood.

He may be the cone man but he is our cone man and isn't one to blab in the press about our shortcomings,this WAS the Arsenal way.

That the blind and Obsessive and corrosive anti Wengerism is now extending to him is way off base and just shows what c**ts a lot of people are.

Whose next Steve Bould,Liajm Brady ???? ,fuck it lets Blame Charlie George,Perry Groves and Kenny Samson after all they are at the club too and surely they must be telling Wenger what to do .

Where will it all end ?

Now even Pat Rice's biggest critic must see that as a redeeming feature!!

At least we know he is a quick judge of character

In all seriousness though i hate these "<random celebrity> is a *word censored* because he told me to fuck off/was slightly off with me once" stories. Have you never told someone to fuck off/been blunt with someone when in a bad mood/heat of the moment?

And just to balance out your anecdote, i know someone who met pat rice once at a pre-season friendly and said he was a top bloke, loved talking about the arsenal and had all the time in the world to chat with fans.

So NURRR