Who Is The Best Partner for the Best Arsenal Centre Back?
The fifth in a series of articles on all of the best modern Arsenal players in every position.

You’ve now voted for our best centre back.

It will probably come as no surprise to most of you that the winner by far was of course, Mr Arsenal Tony Adams.

Now we will re-open the vote with the ‘winner’ excluded, to find him a partner.

Frank McLintock

1963-1973

403 appearances (32 goals)

Championship Medal, FA Cup Winners Medal, Fairs Cup Winners Medal, 9 Scotland caps (1 goal)

The importance of McLintock to Bertie Mee’s successes of the early ‘70s is immeasurable. Clenched fist, imploring the team on, Frank was a true leader in every sense of the word.

Signed from Leicester City as a midfielder some fans doubted him until he was moved to centre half and from that moment he never looked back. As an ex-midfielder he had an eye for a pass going forward and would often instigate attacking moves.

The 1971 FA Cup Final was his fifth appearance at Wembley and was to finally be his first victory. Two years later he left Arsenal for QPR and the wisdom of that sale can probably be judged by the fact that as Arsenal diced with relegation Frank led QPR to second place in the League!

Peter Simpson

1963-1978

478 appearances (15 goals)

Championship Medal, FA Cup Winners Medal, Fairs Cup Winners Medal.

Nicknamed ‘Stan’ (after the passive half of Laurel and Hardy) it was joked at the time that he was so laid back he needed waking up to go out for the second half. When he was on the pitch his calm and cultured defensive work was at odds with the blood and thunder style so prevalent at the time.

Criminally under rated outside of Highbury it is a travesty that he never won any international caps but he always eschewed the limelight and to be fair sometimes needed a bit of a gee up to perform his best.

A product of the youth system he never played for another English club and is a true Highbury hero without ever having to try too hard.

David O’Leary

1975-1993

719 appearances (14 goals)

2 Championship Medals, 2 FA Cup Winners Medals, League Cup Winners Medal, 68 Republic of Ireland caps (1 goal).

A fixture in the Arsenal defence for over a decade O’Leary was a cultured defender who always seemed untroubled and graceful. Recognised as one of Europe’s finest one of his best performances was when he totally stifled a rampant Mario Kempes in the 1980 ECWC final.

Stayed around when the other Irish stars left in the early ‘80s, when Arsenal finally won the title in 1989 it probably meant more to him than any other player out there and it was somewhat fitting that 14 years after first winning the FA Cup with Arsenal his final match was in the FA Cup Final replay of 1993.

Tony Adams

1983-2002

659 appearances (48 goals)

4 Championship Winners Medals, 3 FA Cup Winners Medals, 2 League Cup Winners Medals, ECWC Winners Medal, 66 England caps (5 goals)

Rightly known as Mr Arsenal. Championship winning captain in three different decades, and unarguably one of the true legends of our club.

Criminally abused by the press after Euro ‘88 he had the last laugh by lifting the title at Anfield. It took a lot longer for those outside Highbury to learn what we knew though, and that was that he was the best.

Probably epitomises the changes in football over the last decade or so more than any other player with his re-invention; he revelled in the freedom that Wenger allowed him to finally display the full range of his skills as a footballer.

Steve Bould

1988-1999

371 appearances (8 goals)

3 Championship Winners Medals, ECWC Winners Medal, 2 England caps.

Another unassuming defender who went quietly about his game rarely receiving the plaudits he deserved from outside Highbury but he provided the perfect foil for Tony Adams’ more in your face style.

Showed his true worth during Adams’ ‘absence’ in 1990/91 by stepping up and it’s telling that our only defeat of the season came after injury had forced him to leave the field at Stamford Bridge.

After leaving Arsenal he became immensely popular in his couple of seasons at Sunderland before finally retiring and returning home to Arsenal to join the coaching staff.

Martin Keown

1984-1986 and 1993-2004

449 appearances (8 goals)

3 Championship Winners Medals, 2 FA Cup Winners Medals, 43 England caps (2 goals)

It’s interesting to note that if Martin Keown hadn’t fallen out with George Graham over a pay rise the career of Tony Adams would have had a major obstruction to overcome. It says a lot for the player that 6 years later Graham jumped at the chance to re-sign him.

Took him a while to usurp Bould as Adams’ partner in central defence but he bided his time with some outstanding performances as a midfield marker (which earned him the nickname ‘Rash’) and even filled in at right back.

Cup-tied for the 1993 Cup Double and injured for the ECWC Final a year later it wouldn’t be until the double of 1998 that he’d earn his first medals but there would be many more to come and after a brief spell away from Highbury he too returned home to join the coaching staff.

Kolo Toure

2002-present

191 appearances (7 goals)

Championship Winners Medal, FA Cup Winners Medal, 44 Ivory Coast caps (1 goal)

Bounced onto the scene with all the enthusiasm of a kid who’d been walking past the ground when Arsene leant out of the window and asked him if he wanted a game. In all honesty whilst his enthusiasm was heartening he didn’t look like he’d develop the discipline to hold down a firm position.

Well appearances were most definitely deceptive with the Ivorian and after getting a run in his favoured centre half position he is now generally accepted as one of the best in Europe.

Recently he’s added another string to his bow by being very vocal in defence and being one of the biggest factors in holding the make shift defence together for our European run.

Sol Campbell

2001-2006

197 appearances (11 goals)

2 Championship Winners Medals, 2 FA Cup Winners Medals, 66 England caps (1 goal)

Caused uproar when he left the impoverished part of North London on a Bosman in the summer of 2001; 12 months later Arsenal fans would be gleefully pointing out to his former fans that he’d won the double and they’d won, well, nothing again.

As much brick wall as player he regularly out muscles opponents but there is far more to his game than that. Being a good reader of the game tends to negate any problems his lack of mobility might cause and his general calmness tends to settle the defenders around him.

Until recently Sol was one of the first names on the team sheet for both Arsenal and England and his class is shown by the number of times he appears in the ‘Team of the Tournament’ at international competitions. In the summer he followed his dream of playing abroad and signed for, er, Portsmouth!

Please note – for all players only club honours won with Arsenal are included, although the caps shown are a career total and may include caps won whilst at other clubs. All stats are intended to be correct at the start of the season.

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