Perry Groves
Groves in 2014, at the Emirates Stadium legends tour
Personal information
Full name Perry Groves
Date of birth (1965-04-19) 19 April 1965
Place of birth Bow, London, England
Height 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)[1]
Position(s) Left winger
Youth career
1981–1982 Colchester United
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1982–1986 Colchester United 156 (26)
1986–1992 Arsenal 156 (21)
1992–1994 Southampton 15 (2)
1994 Dagenham & Redbridge 4 (0)
1995 Canvey Island 1 (0)
Total 332 (49)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Perry Groves (born 19 April 1965)[1] is an English former professional footballer, best known for his time at Arsenal. A fast-paced player who usually played as a winger and occasionally a striker, Groves also played professionally for Colchester United and Southampton, also briefly playing for both Dagenham & Redbridge and Canvey Island in non-league football towards the end of his career. He currently works as a media pundit.[2][3]

Playing career

Colchester United

Groves was born in Bow, London, but as a boy he played for Cornard Dynamos in the village of Great Cornard on the Suffolk – Essex border. Groves then had a trial with Wolves as a schoolboy before signing as an apprentice for Colchester United in 1981. He turned professional a year later and over the next four seasons he played 142 league games for the U's, scoring 26 goals.

Arsenal

In September 1986, he signed for Arsenal for £50,000, becoming the first signing by new manager George Graham. His debut came in a goalless draw against Luton Town that same month.

In his first season at the club he helped set up Charlie Nicholas for the winner in the 1987 League Cup final, dribbling past three Liverpool players before laying the ball off.

Noted for his enthusiasm, pace and hard work, he started most of Arsenal's games in the 1987–88 season, ousting Charlie Nicholas as strike partner to Alan Smith, and helping the Gunners reach a second League Cup final the following season by scoring the only goal of the away leg of the semi-final against Everton; Arsenal however lost the final to Luton Town. Although Groves made 46 appearances in all competitions that season, the arrival of Brian Marwood reduced his opportunities to play, and he was mainly used as a substitute in Arsenal's title-winning 1988–89 season, coming off the bench 15 times during the league campaign, on top of six starts. He was on the pitch as a substitute in the final game of the season and helped create the space when Michael Thomas famously scored the title clinching goal at Anfield.

Although an injury to Marwood opened the door for him again in 1989–90, Groves returned to the bench after Marwood recovered. This did not however stop him from winning a second league title winners' medal in 1990–91, again with most of his appearances coming as a sub, as Graham usually favoured Kevin Campbell to play alongside Alan Smith. After making only 13 league appearances in 1991–92, Groves was sold to Southampton just at the start of the inaugural Premier League season.[4]

Southampton

He moved to Southampton in August 1992 for £750,000 but only played 15 times in two years before retiring from professional football at the age of 28, following two serious Achilles tendon injuries.[1][5]

Dagenham and Redbridge

He then played four games in the Conference for Dagenham & Redbridge before ending his playing career with a solitary appearance for Canvey Island.

Post-retirement

Groves has appeared for Arsenal in several Masters footballing tournaments.[3] He is now a well established sports pundit and has worked for a wide variety of media firms including Sky Sports, BBC Radio 5 Live, BT Sport, Absolute Radio as well as TalkSPORT.[6] Groves was previously part of Absolute Radio's Sony Award winning Rock 'N' Roll Football show, fronted by former Arsenal teammate, Ian Wright, which airs on a Saturday.

In 2010, Groves signed as a non-playing substitute for new club Chester after Colin Murray, then of BBC Radio 5 Live, offered the new club £2,000 if they named Groves and Pat Nevin as unused substitutes at every game in the 2010–11 season.[7]

Legacy

Groves became a cult player among Arsenal fans, who commemorate him with the chant "We all live in a Perry Groves World", which listed Perry in every position from 1 to 12 (except 7, which is instead taken by Liam Brady), to the tune of The Beatles' "Yellow Submarine".[3]

He still has a large following, with a fan club and website devoted to him.[8] In October 2006, Groves published his autobiography, entitled We All Live in a Perry Groves World (ISBN 1-84454-319-6). With it came an Arsenal fans' campaign on the web to purchase the book, in an attempt to outsell former Arsenal defender Ashley Cole's autobiography, My Defence, which was out at the same time.[9] His autobiography has since outsold that of Cole.

Family

His great uncle, Vic Groves, having previously featured for Tottenham Hotspur, played for and captained Arsenal. He played as a forward making 203 appearances and scoring 37 goals.[2][10]

Career statistics

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League FA Cup League Cup Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Colchester United
1981–82[11] Fourth Division 900000—90
1982–83[12] Fourth Division 17200213[lower-alpha 1]0223
1983–84[13] Fourth Division 42220501[lower-alpha 2]0502
1984–85[14] Fourth Division 441031203[lower-alpha 2]15212
1985–86[15] Fourth Division 431210102[lower-alpha 2]34715
1986–87[16] Fourth Division 100000—10
Total 15626611019418132
Arsenal
1986–87[17] First Division 2533060—343
1987–88[17] First Division 3464182—469
1988–89[17] First Division 21420202[lower-alpha 3]1275
1989–90[17] First Division 3043031—365
1990–91[17] First Division 3234043—406
1991–92[17] First Division 13110304[lower-alpha 4]0211
1992–93[17] Premier League 100000—10
Total 156211712666120529
Southampton 1992–93[18] Premier League 1521020—182
Career total 3274924238715540463
  1. ↑ Appearances in Group Cup
  2. 1 2 3 Appearances in Associate Members' Cup
  3. ↑ Appearances in Centenary Trophy
  4. ↑ Appearances in European Cup

Honours

Club

Arsenal

References

  1. 1 2 3 Chalk, Gary; Holley, Duncan; Bull, David (2013). All the Saints: A Complete Players' Who's Who of Southampton FC. Southampton: Hagiology Publishing. p. 336. ISBN 978-0-9926-8640-6.
  2. 1 2 Perry Groves (2007). We all live in a Perry Groves World. London: John Blake Publishing. p. 2.
  3. 1 2 3 "Perry Groves: Interview". Planet Football.com. 13 March 2017.
  4. ↑ "arsenal historic players". 15 January 2023.
  5. ↑ "saintsplayers". 7 January 2023.
  6. ↑ "Play with a legend". Nights Out in Newcastle.co.uk.
  7. ↑ "Club not live". Archived from the original on 21 April 2014.
  8. ↑ "We Love Perry". We Love Perry.com.
  9. ↑ "Let's make Perry Groves better than Ashley Cole | Arseblog @ OleOle". oleole.com. Archived from the original on 19 May 2009. Retrieved 13 January 2022.
  10. ↑ "Vic Groves". Arsenal.com.
  11. ↑ "Games played by Perry Groves in 1981/1982". coludata.co.uk. Retrieved 25 November 2022.
  12. ↑ "Games played by Perry Groves in 1982/1983". coludata.co.uk. Retrieved 25 November 2022.
  13. ↑ "Games played by Perry Groves in 1983/1984". coludata.co.uk. Retrieved 25 November 2022.
  14. ↑ "Games played by Perry Groves in 1984/1985". coludata.co.uk. Retrieved 25 November 2022.
  15. ↑ "Games played by Perry Groves in 1985/1986". coludata.co.uk. Retrieved 25 November 2022.
  16. ↑ "Games played by Perry Groves in 1986/1987". coludata.co.uk. Retrieved 25 November 2022.
  17. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Player search: Groves, P (Perry)". English National Football Archive. Retrieved 26 November 2022.
  18. ↑ "Games played by Perry Groves in 1992/1993". saintsplayers.co.uk. Retrieved 25 November 2022.
  19. ↑ "Premier League (Tier One) Honours". Coludaybyday.co.uk. Retrieved 27 February 2017.
  20. ↑ "1972/73 Terry Anderson". Coludaybyday.co.uk. Retrieved 27 February 2017.
  21. ↑ "Mercantile Credit Centenary Trophy 1988". Football Database. Retrieved 26 April 2017.
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