An Overview of Bruce Rioch’s story at Arsenal

DBasia.news – Arsenal fans might be unfamiliar or even not know Bruce Rioch. But the Scotts had a hand to deliver the Gunners to the gates of success with Arsene Wenger.

Yes, Rioch was the Arsenal coach before Wenger. He handled the club from North London for a season in 1995-1996.

With such a short time, there was no trophy that Rioch could present to Arsenal. His best achievement was the UEFA Cup (now Europa League) ticket as he finished fifth in the Premier League final standings.

If observing from this fact, many might judge Rioch as a mediocre level coach. But actually, he left a number of inheritance for Arsenal.

One that escaped the attention of the public was that Rioch was appointed to replace George Graham. He was arguably the second most successful coach figure after Wenger for successfully presenting seven prestigious trophies.

Graham was fired by Arsenal on February 21, 1995 for being involved in an illegal transfer scandal. The FA sentenced him to a one-year ban from training after being proven to have received illegal payments from an agent, une Hauage.

The sacking of Graham has made Arsenal’s internal conditions waver. The appointment of Stewart Houston as a caretaker until the end of the 1994-1995 season didn’t help much as they finished 12th.

In the summer, Arsenal’s management appointed Rioch as the head coach to replace Graham. He was chosen after successfully delivering Bolton Wanderers promotion to the Premier League.

Shortly after it was unveiled, Rioch began to revolutionize Arsenal. He bravely changed the style of his team’s care from a typical English style long balls by relying on short passes.

“I want to leave the era of the long ball and start the game from the defense to pass the ball through midfield, not just directly sending the ball forward,” Rioch stated as quoted by FourFourTwo.

To support his philosophy, Rioch brought in Dennis Bergkamp from Inter Milan. This decision was questioned as the Dutchman appeared sluggish in Italy.

In fact, Bergkamp managed to ordain himself as an Arsenal legend. He continued to stay there until he retired in 2006.

Rioch has a strong and firm character. That makes him often involved in feud with the players.

One of the most memorable was of course his feud with Ian Wright. The attacker even asked to be sold to Chelsea.

The reason, Wright did not like the game strategy applied by Rioch. He felt his role as an attacker was being eroded because of these short operand strategies.

Rioch’s firmness is also seen in upholding discipline to maintain the life pattern of his squad. Despite receiving a lot of rejection, he has tried to get rid of the player’s love for drinking alcohol.

The Various policies implemented by Rioch were not immediately apparent. Arsenal management then fired him at the end of the season.

Even though the 1995-1996 season was arguably a transitional period from the Graham era. It is uneasy to replace the role of a coach who has successfully handled the team for years.

Without the role of Rioch, Arsene Wenger might not feel the beautiful moments with Arsenal. It could be that his career was only short-lived because of the difficulty in controlling the Arsenal star players.