Ray Parlour is one of the funniest footballers to ever play for Arsenal.
The Englishman was extremely underrated as a player. He made 465 appearances for the Gunners and helped them win 12 trophies.
Even though Parlour never gets the credit he deserves for the midfielder he was, people will always remember him for his iconic stories.
The Romford Pele has now shared another hilarious anecdote from over 20 years ago involving the great Patrick Vieira.
Is Declan Rice Arsenal’s best midfield player since Patrick Vieira?
Ray Parlour shares why he told Arsene Wenger that Patrick Vieira was ‘useless’
Vieira is one of Arsenal’s greatest-ever players.
The legendary Frenchman played over 400 games for the Gunners and was among the best players in the world under Arsene Wenger.
Vieira was Arsenal’s captain for a long time as well, and his leadership skills are unquestionable. However, Ray Parlour used the one opportunity he got to mock the iconic midfielder’s captaincy skills.
Back in September 2003, Arsenal suffered a 3-0 defeat to Inter Milan at home in the Champions League. Vieira was the captain on the day, and it wasn’t his best evening.
In the return fixture in November, the World Cup winner missed the game due to a hamstring injury, and Parlour wore the captain’s armband at the San Siro.
Arsenal won that game 5-1, and Parlour jokingly told Wenger that he deserved to be the skipper going forward because Vieira was ‘useless’.
Speaking about Arsenal’s current captaincy situation, Parlour said on Le Grove’s The Arsenal Opinion Podcast’s live show: “Declan Rice doesn’t expect to get it, so what’s the point of changing it?
“That’s how I look at it. Declan Rice can still be a captain on the pitch, but he hasn’t got the armband; it doesn’t really matter about the armband.
“My prime example was, it was quite funny, we lost to Inter Milan 3-0 at Highbury, and Patrick Vieira was the captain. We go away to San Siro, I’m the captain now, and we won 5-1. After the game, I said to Arsene Wenger (jokingly): ‘Boss, you’ve got a problem here. Patrick Vieira is f——g useless, isn’t he?’
“Wenger was such a nice man, he laughed at me and went: “Ray, Patrick is our captain.”
“I said: “No, boss, you’re going the wrong way here.” That was the banter with Vieira back in the day.”
Where does Arsene Wenger rank among the Premier League’s greatest managers?
Ray Parlour’s example perfectly shows why Arsenal should not change captains
Tony Adams is adamant that Rice should be made Arsenal’s captain, and he has been saying that for months now.
Martin Odegaard has done a good job as the skipper, but many feel he isn’t assertive enough like the captains from the previous generation.
However, every Arsenal player respects Odegaard as the captain, and stripping him of his role now will do more harm than good.
Rice is part of a five-man leadership group at Arsenal, and he doesn’t need the armband to play a leader’s role in the side.
Unless Odegaard leaves, we think he should remain the club captain.
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