David Rocastle

David Rocastle was born at Lewisham on 2 May 1967 and  joined Arsenal in May 1982, turning professional in December 1984.

He was introduced into the first team by Don Howe and grew in stature under George Graham.  However George Graham sold David, and having played his last game on 2 May 1992 he was transferred under what now seem to be bad circumstances

In 1987 he won the league cup with Arsenal and in 1987/8 he was an ever present player in the league campaign.  He went on to play a prominent part in both the Graham championship winning sides of 1989 and 1991, although by 1991 a knee injury restricted Rocastle to just 18 league games.

During his Arsenal career he won 14 caps for England.

In 23 July 1992 he was sold (seemingly against his will – see note above) to Leeds, who were league champions at the time.  He moved to Manchester City in December 1993 and was transferred to Chelsea in 1994, playing in the majority of the club’s games that season.  He was later loaned to Norwich and Hull, and saw out his contract at Chelsea until 1998.  He played briefly in Malaysia and retired from football in December 1999.

In February 2001, David Rocastle announced that he was suffering from cancer and died the following month aged 33.

Arsenal’s youth team indoor training facility is named after him.

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