John Barrie Gould 1944-2015
Barrie Gould was taken on by Arsenal as a youth player, but was transferred to find his feet at various non-league clubs most notably Worcester City.
Barrie Gould was taken on by Arsenal as a youth player, but was transferred to find his feet at various non-league clubs most notably Worcester City.
A one game wonder as wartime guest for the Gunners, he went on to be a hugely popular player wherever he appeared.
A proud and courageous cricketing Yorkshireman he spent a couple of years in red and white at Highbury in the junior sides before his reversion to full whites.
A junior player who was spotted in the nursery team but left for Walsall after a number of A team games.
The 493rd player to appear for the Gunners, Ian McKechnie was a converted winger who kept goal in a period of plentiful keepers at Highbury. He found his feet at Hull where a bizarre but amusing orange throwing fad followed him around wherever he played.
James Morrison McGill was the 516th player to appear for the Gunners. Unable to oust fellow Scot and Arsenal legend Frank McLintock he went on to find his niche as a player at first Huddersfield and then Hull.
Vic Groves was the 463rd player to appear for Arsenal. He captained the club for three seasons, but his Arsenal career coincided with a fallow period for the club; their best position being 3rd in the League and the quarter-finals of the FA Cup.
At the start of the year the Arsenal captain of 1959-1962 passed away. The apparently muted initial response to an ex-Arsenal captain dumbfounded a number of supporters as it didn’t seem to expound the respect deserved of a man who had played for Arsenal for nine seasons, and skippered the side for a third of that period.
Shortly afterwards the Arsenal did Vic proud with an excellent article on him in the programme for the Leicester game.
At the start of this month Ernie Crouch died aged 91, hit by a bus on the way to the Sunderland game on 5 December. He had followed Arsenal since the mid-1930s and, quite rightly, his demise was noted and respected by many who knew him and others within the Arsenal crowd. Piebury Corner even made a special seasonal pie in his honour with proceeds going to the local homeless in the Islington area.
Just as we had finished these tributes, the great Arsenal and England coach Don Howe passed away. Don was linked to Arsenal on and off from 1964, and was a huge part of both of our formative years as Arsenal fans. His is the final tribute to these ten Gunners who all sadly passed in 2015.
It is heartening to know that Don will be a central part of the programme for today’s match.
One of the joys of digging around in Arsenal’s past is finding a photograph or an article that looks reasonably interesting and then, on further investigation, reveals a ripping yarn. Read More →