Top 30 countdown

Arsenal.com have recently been counting down the best ever Arsenal players. Here's my own list (from players in my own lifetime):

1. Dennis Bergkamp
2. Thierry Henry
3. Patrick Vieira
4. Liam Brady
5. Tony Adams
6. Ian Wright
7. Paul Merson
8. David Seaman
9. David O'Leary
10. Robert Pires
11. Pat Jennings
12. Kenny Sensational
13. Charlie George
14. Ray Kennedy
15. Paul Davis
16. Nigel Winterburn
17. Marc Overmars
18. Sol Campbell
19. Cesc Fabregas
20. David Rocastle
21. Michael Thomas
22. Pat Rice
23. John Lukic
24. Freddie Ljungberg
25. Martin Keown
26. Lee Dixon
27. Charlie Nicholas
28. Ray Parlour
29. Steve Bould
30. Alan Smith

That said, I'd now like to pay tribute to no.28 on my list, Ray Parlour.
Ray came into the Arsenal team after George broke up the 1991 Championship side. He had shoulder-length curly blonde hair then, an all-action muppet of a player, hurtling around the pitch with energy but little plan or effectiveness. I think he played some part in the 1993 League Cup win (the one where Big Tone dropped Steve Morrow onto the pitch after the final whistle went and broke his arm). As the club disintegrated in GG's dotage, then was revitalised (partly - out of the ICU anyway) by Rioch then (fully) by Arsene, Ray seemed destined to go the way of David Hillier or Ian Selly - especially after his association with the laddish, drinking culture that Arsene cleared away, epitomised in his Ray 'Pizza' Parlour tabloid nickname (so-called after he got into trouble when he let off a fire extinguisher at a pizza restaurant early in his career).
But no. Under Arsene, Ray was a different player entirely.
In fact, I have always thought that, for all the excellence of Bergkamp and Overmars and the emergence of Anelka, the real man of the season for us in the 1998 Double campaign was Ray Parlour. Playing right midfield, Ray was crucial to the balance of the team. He knew when to tuck in and make three in the middle with Paddy and Petit to mix it; he knew when to get wide to provide an outlet for a quick counterattack; he knew when to release the ball back to Dennis or Paddy to play in Overmars or Anelka. In a team of gifted players, he knew not to play with ego, but to work within his own limitations, playing for the team, for the win. Unshowy, unflashy, often unnoticed, Ray was always more than a 'water carrier' (as Cantona dubbed Deschamps): he was tactically one of the best English midfielders of his generation. England managers never noticed him, partly because Beckham came to prominence by 1998, playing wide right; but Beckham was not a team player in the same way, but a kind of quarterback. Beckham was certainly no tactical genius, however sublime that right boot might have been for whipping in a free kick. Ray knew what to do in games; his technique was sound; and he could score goals. The crowning glory was when the 'Romford Pele' cruised across the Cardiff turf in the 2002 Cup Final and smote the ball arcing high into the top corner of Cudicini's goal to put us 1-0 up; but ever after, even when Ray was no longer a first-team choice, he was the perfect substitute, who got the pace of the game immediately and played as the match required, selfless and full of heart.
I think Ray Parlour is one of the great Arsenal players, a youth team player who gave his very best to the club and was at the hub of some magnificent achievements, the most sustained success for the club since the 1930s. He went off to Middlesbrough and others where eventually time and injuries wore him down; in more sentimental times, he might have finished his career with the Arsenal. I hope he comes back to the club in some capacity, and we could certainly do with Razor, circa 1998, next season.