The significance of Ray Parlour in the pursuit for success
Kolo Toure in an interview had this to say about his former club,
“We lost too many leaders at Arsenal”.
We know who they are. Adams, Keown, Campbell, Bergkamp, the list does go on. Vieira, another leader, is mentioned by Toure. So is Henry. And Ray Parlour. Wait a minute. Ray Parlour as a leader? Wasn’t he more of squad player?
That puzzled me a little until I finished reading the Toure quotes. This one explains the reasoning behind the mention of Parlour.
“When we were winning the league title, the spirit was fantastic, we were like a
band of brothers”.
Whenever Toure was interviewed, he always struck me as a shy, down-to-earth person, a dude with a good sense of humour. This was illustrated in the press conference when he was unveiled as a Man City player where he compared Man City’s offer as a woman reciprocating love.
Throughout the history of the game, there are examples of how an amiable, honest, family-esque spirit within the squad fosters success and vice versa. One example of this is when in a post match interview Fabregas is asked whether the player fouls him and Henry coughs out “say yes” in a not so subtle way.
Perhaps Toure felt that this light-hearted spirit was missing at Arsenal and has gone to search this at Man City albeit in arguably a more demading environment. Parlour was to me, very much a key individual who helped to ease tension. Nicknamed affectionately, the “Romford Pele”, Parlour was never the most gifted player to wear the red and white of Arsenal. Plenty of times, I laughed and sometimes my eyes almost turned away in embarrassment at watching a player that struggled to pass the ball cleanly, had poor control on the ball, slipped up plenty of times and made clumsy tackles.
Yet this was Ray Parlour, a player whose commitment was greatly appreciated by the fans and the players. And a player who has registered two hatricks at club level should arguably command even greater respect with regards to his technical abilities. Often Wenger played him in the big matches. The manager knew, the players knew, the fans knew what Ray Parlour would bring.
No two leaders are the same. Parlour lead by example with his commitment in matches and was perhaps appreciated also off the pitch. Watching him now as a pundit and I can’t help thinking that here is a likeable chap.
Currently the closest we have to a Ray Parlour, is perhaps Eboue although the latter is slightly more technically gifted. Eboue is from what I hear is a much loved player at Arsenal and this is reflected as much when the players stood up for him after he was unfairly booed at the Emirates. I suppose the advantage Parlour has or had over Eboue is that he was very much a local lad and criticism is always slow in coming when that is the case. Looking at the youth squad that won the FA Cup against Liverpool, it would appear that someone like Jay Emmanuel Thomas or JET as we like to say, is in the Ray Parlour personality mode.
Technique is an essential part of a team’s success. However, the importance of strong personalities that help to strengthen the squad relationships off and on the pitch shouldn’t be underestimated either. It might be worth keeping hold of players who aren’t gifted in the footballing sense but are key to maintaining a band of brothers spirit that Toure referred to. Perhaps then we can all finally relax and the success will surely come.
