David O’Leary

[Kingralph]

Our record appearance maker and yet his name never comes up on here or in any conversation about The Arsenal.

Is it because he whored himself as Leeds manager or something else?

I only really remember him from playing as a surprise at the victims rathole in ‘89.

Is there a reason his name gets no respect from the fans?

[mcdowell42]

The way he reacted after Leeds beat us 1-0 ,which put a big dent in our title challenge is the reason I don't have any respect for him,he could have celebrated the win obviously but it was imo over the top

[SteveO 35]

I think it is how he conducted himself at Leeds. He took great joy rubbing our noses in it, which for someone who spent two decades at the club left a nasty taste. He was a core part of the Arsenal I grew up watching but unlike other legends he seemed to distance himself from the club once he stopped playing. You'd think there'd be a statue of him or that you'd see him turning up at legends events etc, but seems to have gone down a completely different route.

Being positive though he was a very stable and reliable defender and always came across as something of a gentleman during his Arsenal days. One of the other reasons his name probably didn't carry as much weight as an Adams, Vieira etc, is that he had the misfortune to spend his peak years playing at a time when we weren't very good - occasional cup winners, UEFA Cup participants and some dull football played under managers who didn't have great spells with the Arsenal

[Retro Gunner]

Very much as the other guys have said, he spoiled himself after he finished playing. I was always a big fan of his, a consummate and fleet footed centre half and as SteveO says, he always came across as a gentleman and a nice guy. Not so after he left.

Of course it's fair to want to beat us when managing other sides, but he seemed to have a visceral dislike for us and as Mc says, he seemed to seriously enjoy beating us at the end of the 98/99 season - after we'd absolutely battered them - thus handing the title to Utd. I've also heard it said that, contrary to his apparent character as a player, he's a nasty piece of work, but I can't verify that of course.

I always remember Leeds beating us and I think it was Gary Kelly scoring from a free kick when we were still arranging the wall and were not ready. The ref allowed the goal and O'Leary was grinning like a Cheshire cat when he was interviewed and crowing about how smart it was of the player. Fast forward and Henry (I think) did the exact same thing against either Leeds or Villa when O'Leary was managing them and he was complaining and moaning about it afterwards, saying the goal should have been disallowed. The interviewer reminded him of the Kelly goal against us, saying wasn't it exactly the same? O'Leary's face turned to thunder and after staring at the bloke for a few seconds he made some threatening sounding comment which I can remember started with "Listen my friend...." and carried on with a kind of you don't know what you're talking about theme. I have genuinely never seen a manager look so close to chinning an interviewer.

[Perryashburtongroves]

It was the stuff at Elland Road in 1999 that did the damage. Running on the pitch, cheering. All seemed a bit different from when he played for us and wasn't one for massive celebrations and giving it the big 'un.

The stuff at Leeds with that bunch of twats, the whinging about everything, the racist attack case with those players who he kept picking and then becoming a sort of Martin O'Neil parody at Villa. All seemed a bit too much.

Apparently, he had the hump that he didn't finish at Arsenal and become part of the coaching set-up and didn't like going to Leeds for a season and therfore not being a one-club player. I always thought the stuff that followed was him taking out a bit of frustration at us for whatever reason.

Having said all that, I saw a couple of years back that he managed the legends side that played AC Milan or Real Madrid or whoever and he had his Arsenal tie on again. I've also seen some pictures of him and his daughter watching out games and he seems to still follow us and want us to win.

Perhaps it was all because he had to create some distance between us and his career in order to move forward and that possibly, he had his eye on managing us one day but it just never happened and the timings just didn't work out.

[Limerick Gooner]

And yet he is well in at the Club and often seen in the Director’s Box. A class A prick. Wanted to rub our noses in it in front of his Leeds faithful and yet loves to be patted on the head as an Arsenal legend. You can’t have both pal. Persona non grata to most Gooners.

[Bradywasking]

I was a big fan of O'Leary when I was a young Arsenal supporter in the 70s. .Like others have said here it was his antics in 1999 that upset Arsenal fans. Yes he was Leeds United manager and it was a big game to win. However there was little or nothing riding on it for Leeds but obviously it was massive for Arsenal. He could have showed some dignity and decorum and shook Wenger's hand then dissappear down the tunnel. That night still ranks as my biggest disappointment as an Arsenal fan and maybe that's why he annoyed me so much.
There was a further issue with Robert Pires a few years later , apparently O Leary blew kisses at Pires after the game in an attempt to wind him up..Pires reacted by insulting O' Leary in French...Then O 'Leary was "hurt" and the idiotic Irish journalist Cathal Dervan took O'Leary's side to make it a bigger issue in Oirland...I cannot warm to O'Leary the way I would to real Arsenal legends.

[the playing mantis]

Is he not an official ambassador of the club in it's employ???

Yes the Leeds stuff was distasteful but I think Wenger may have caused a lot of that given his habit of rubbing folk the wrong way meaning most managers liked to get one over in us

[Retro Gunner]

Is he not an official ambassador of the club in it's employ???

Yes the Leeds stuff was distasteful but I think Wenger may have caused a lot of that given his habit of rubbing folk the wrong way meaning most managers liked to get one over in us

I suspect there’s something in that Mantis. I don’t want to make excuses for O’Leary, because given his background, he should have had an inbuilt respect for the club and the supporters, but there didn’t seem to be a single manager that liked Wenger. Not everyone can be wrong…the man was an arsehole.

[DB10GOONER]

Elland Road 99.

He went way way over the top celebrating beating the club that made him wealthy, in the process stopping us winning the league and handing it to our most bitter rivals of that era. All fine in the wider picture that is football if he had shown some class and decorum towards his previous club and our fans. But he acted like an absolute cùnt and celebrated like some poxy ex scum player would, some no mark like Darren Anderton or whatever. If he had won the league say, I'd have accepted it to a certain extent, but all he "achieved" that day was stopping his supposed beloved ex club from winning it. I was gutted at his carry on that day. Up to then he was an Arsenal legend in my eyes. Complete prick afterwards.

I've also read in a couple player autobiographies that he was a bit of a wànker as a bloke during his playing days too. The kind that would be talking to a fellow player at an event and as soon as someone more important or famous arrived he'd just up sticks rudely and run off over to lick their ass.

[OneBardGooner]

As most have already said it was his behaviour at Elland Road 99 and His Un-necessary and Vindictive Over The Top Celebrations When He Knew Full Well We Had Lost The Title... O'Leary a Classless Cūnt.

[subtleasaheadbutt]

Good read this thread. O'Leary is a *word censored* because of Wenger.
Happy to have that cleared up.

[Nick Nack]

Back in the 90s, my manager at the place I worked was quite well connected in football circles, and not always for good reason.

However his old man ran a large boozer in N London that was often frequented by players of quite a few different clubs, mainly because they could get a lock-in and because whatever went on behind closed doors stayed there.

O'Leary was a fairly frequent visitor, often with a female companion, but usually not his missus. Apparently he used to take advantage of the empty bedrooms upstairs

Not quite the golden boy that the press (c.unts) would make him out to be

[Bradywasking]

In 1979 he used to write a column in the Irish Newspaper The Sunday World. He ran a competition for a trip to an Arsenal game, with behind the scenes visits etc. If memory serves me it included a visit to the training ground. Naturally I entered.
The consolation prize was an Arsenal " club" scarf...On the Sunday morning that the winners was to be announced I was waiting impatiently for the paper to be bought to see if I won...I didn't , however I did win a consolation prize of the special "club scarf".
My friend who was with me when I opened the paper said I went white, possibly because I saw my name in print and thought I had won. Anyway I was delighted to be getting the club scarf, I had a few scarves but I imagined this was something special.
A few months passed with no delivery of said scarf. Then one day I got a letter from David O' Leary saying the prize was being sent undet separate cover but instead of the scarf it would be an Arsenal bag..The bag arrived, it was a mass produced plastic type of holdall with Arsenal written on it.
It was cheap and tacky andI was far more disappointed with that than not winning the competition's first prize. I still have the letter ,the bag lasted about six months.