Patrick James Rice, a true “Gunners” Legend. Player and coach, culminating to over 4 decades of fantastic service! Farwell Pat! Thanks for all the memories.

This weekend the Gunners will play West Bromwich Albion at The Hawthorns, where the final chapter of an incredible season for my beloved team will be scripted and the story closed. It has been one hell of season, we haven’t had the success and the silverware that we all so desperately crave and wish for, but the trials and tribulations that we have been through, have been superb and the way the team has responded time and time again is equally so, and makes me very proud to be a Gooner! For us fans the season has been a painful one, not good for our health that’s for sure, but the curtain we hope will be closed in a very positive manner this Sunday, and this I look forward to with happiness and excitement.

As well as the season, another thing that will be coming to a close is the fantastic contribution of Mr Patrick Rice of Northern Ireland, to our equally fantastic club.  Having joined the Gunners in 1964 as an Apprentice he has been at the club (apart from 4 years as a player at Watford) ever since, and his service and tutelage of the club through this period, should not and will not go unnoticed, this will be remembered. He has served us with distinction is his role as a player, as a fantastic fall back as Youth Team Coach, as a caretaker manager for a time and of course more recently, for the last 16 years at least, as Mr Arsene Wenger’s right hand man, as his assistant coach! Bringing together 42 years of fantastic devoted service to our club.

The man is quite simply a legend! He goes, we are led to believe, as a result of chronic knee trouble which I am told causes him huge pain and he clearly feels that now is the time for him to “hang up his boots” or perhaps more apt “hang up his clipboard” for good. This chap certainly deserves it because of his undoubted contribution to Arsenal over the years, now is the time for him to move on and to pave way for the next generation of former Arsenal players come Arsenal Legends to take up his mantle as a coach for the team, alongside Arsene.

Pat served us with distinction as a player winning many titles and plaudits along the way, as a relatively young Gunners fan I never got to see him play for us, but I am told by my Father that he was fantastic and one of the top of his generation and what I have read about him since certainly points to such an acclaim, he will go down no doubt as an Arsenal Legend and I look forward to seeing his face at club events and occasions in the future, where he will considered as the aforementioned words of "Arsenal Legend"!

Thank You Pat for your service to our club and all the best!

All that leaves me to say now is that, if it is as we are led to expect, big Steve Bould will come in as his replacement, (another Arsenal defensive legend), we wish him also all the best in his role and look forward to him having all the success he deserves, furthermore we thank him for his fantastic work as youth team coach, helping to bring through cracking protégés such as Jack, Wojiech and the like!! Finally I watch on with interest as to which Arsenal Legend will take up his mantle as Youth Coach, as we are told by Arsene that he prefers to appoint men from inside the club, people who have been involved in the club for long period of time, jobs within the coaching team, at the club!

Do follow me on twitter @Mr_arsenal_blog - i do reply to all your thoughts. What are your over-riding memories of Pat, and his Arsenal "legacy" if you like? 

Very frustrating afternoon, but what are the refs up to? Tale of a disgraceful show from the officials, why are they so poor? Supporting the team!  

Before I start my little rant, I would just like to say thanks everyone for your support since I started this blog a month or so ago, it has been very encouraging to hear your support and kind words. Right let's get down to it, today was a very frustrating day. As I set of to the game with my Uncle we were ready for what should be a routine day for Arsenal. Whilst we accepted that Norwich City are a very decent team, and one of the real surprises of this season this year, but still we were expecting an easy win. Then when Yossi curled in that brilliant one early on in the match, I thought right here we go this is going to be comfortable and convincing. But no, ooh to be a gooner hey! 

The team came out the blocks firing and I remember saying at the start that the team look fired up and ready to seal their place in the Champions League proper for next season. We were getting forward and were fighting for the ball, all was good. And then after the breakthrough we became very flaccid and limp, the passing was sloppy and slow, the movement was almost non existent and of course Norwich to their credit took advantage of that but we have to say the Arsenal players did not take advantage of their early lead and this is very concerning. 

I don't want to write a match review, as you can clearly get those elsewhere but the fact was overall we were not good enough and the Arsenal boys have really got to take a real hard harsh look at themselves after today, because their ability to kill of Norwich was not good enough, that has to improve. After taking the lead we should have pushed on, but no, we fell asleep everything became very limp and slow. And each goal we conceded quite frankly, despite how well the opposition played, were poor from our point of view! The 1st was a mistake from the goalie, the 2nd was a deflection and the 3rd, well, and we just let them in! It was very disappointing indeed!

But having said that the officials could have cost us big time today, yes we were not good enough but the referee and his assistants had a big effect! As I said I would like to stress that YES we were NOT at our best at all, we were poor but I will not accept people that say that the ref isn't at all to blame because the facts are these: the ref lost control of the game he allowed Norwich to keep kicking the ball away waste time, and did not give what was an absolute blatant penalty for us right at the end, which would have all but sealed our passage into the champions league next season, this decision is what hurts me and what I find absolutely impossible to understand at all! Yes you could argue that Koscielney gave Martin's shirt a bit of a tug in the first half, and that could have been a penalty, but it was not exactly as stonewall nor as obvious as the rugby tackle on RVP at the end in the box, just as he was about to put the ball into the back of the net. 

I don't understand how in a league as big and successful as ours that refs can keep having such an effect on games, it is just getting to the point where it is ridiculous and results, league positions and ultimately clubs fortunes that are being sacrificed and limited directly through the referees incompetency! It is something that I really cannot understand, why are referees making so many important mistakes and ridiculous decisions. The decision not to award a penalty today was laughable! It really was incredible; I just do not fathom it at all. And to be honest last week we should have had a penalty away at Stoke, when Yossi was knocked over in the box, and that therefore (as I was discussing with my friend @igooner7 on twitter) is 4 points that the ref's have cost us, just in the last 2 weeks and that would have sealed as already in 3rd and all would be rosy, rather than gloomy and uncertain once again! And it wasn't just that RVP penalty claim as well, there was also the blatant one where the player’s arm was up, and his hand hit the ball in the 2nd half after the Ox crossed it! 

As I write this article I am watching the game again on my IPad and it has to be said Norwich played extremely well, credit to them, and we were not at all at our best that is an absolute certainty. Wojiech was very poor today, our midfield lacked control and composure and our attackers passed up so many chances to score and render our performance irrelevant, as we should have won, that is a fact! But what frustrates me about this all is the fact that, YES we didn't play well and YES Norwich were fantastic and to be fair deserved something, but the fact is the ref missed an absolute stone-waller and could have cost us Champions League football next year. Despite all that I have said about our own performance the ref cost us the game at the end of the day, and therefore when people say that you can't blame the ref for the result, I have to say if he had given that blatant penalty we would have (at least) had the chance to win the game from 12 yards! It just frustrates me! 

But despite this the way once again some fans have reacted really angers me, calling for the boss to be sacked and players never to play for us again and bitching at each other accusing fans of being this and that, it really is stupid, I just wish that fans could unite and support the team till the end and not knock their confidence! For example Aaron Ramsey has been the but of fans' critics recently and that has clearly got to him and therefore put him in a viscous cycle, because he gets stick, he looses confidence as a result, therefore his performances are affected, he gets more stick and he looses confidence again. It has to stop, I really believe in Victoria Concordia Crescit and we have to stick to this, us fans have to get behind the team and hope that we do enough next week against WBA, that's the situation and we have to believe that we could do it! 

But how we did not get that penalty, Anthony Taylor the referee was an absolute disgrace today!!! Sky Sports agreed on the commentary that it was a disgraceful decision! But we still had many many chances to win it, and didn't so that's that I suppose! For the neutral I suppose it was a great game and a great advert for the Premier League, there was chance after chance followed by chance, but not good for us at all! That is very much for sure, we should have won and we didn't!! 

Anyway we cannot change that, we HAVE to go to WBA next week and get the win and hope that other teams help us and do the rest! 

UP THE ARSENAL!!!

Please follow me on twitter @Mr_arsenal_blog - send me your thoughts I do reply to them all! What do you think to the performances of the team and the officials, can we still finish 3rd? Will Spurs and Newcastle drop points!