Perry Groves

Southampton He moved to Southampton in August 1992 for £750,000 but only played 15 times in two years before retiring from professional football at the age of 28, following two serious Achilles tendon injuries.

Dagenham and Redbridge He then played four games in the Conference for Dagenham & Redbridge before ending his playing career with a solitary appearance for Canvey Island.

Post-retirement Groves has appeared for Arsenal in several Masters footballing tournaments. Groves was previously part of Absolute Radio's Sony Award winning Rock 'N' Roll Football show, fronted by former Arsenal teammate, Ian Wright, which airs on a Saturday.

In 2010, Groves signed as a non-playing substitute for new club Chester after Colin Murray, then of BBC Radio 5 Live, offered the new club £2,000 if they named Groves and Pat Nevin as unused substitutes at every game in the 2010–11 season.

Legacy Groves became a cult player among Arsenal fans, who commemorate him with the chant "We all live in a Perry Groves World", which listed Perry in every position from 1 to 12 (except 7, which is instead taken by Liam Brady), to the tune of The Beatles' "Yellow Submarine".

In October 2006, Groves published his autobiography, entitled We All Live in a Perry Groves World . With it came an Arsenal fans' campaign on the web to purchase the book, in an attempt to outsell former Arsenal defender Ashley Cole's autobiography, My Defence, which was out at the same time.

Family His great uncle, Vic Groves, having previously featured for Tottenham Hotspur, played for and captained Arsenal. He played as a forward making 203 appearances and scoring 37 goals.

Career statistics

Honours Arsenal Football League First Division: 1988–89, 1990–91 Football League Cup: 1986–87 Football League Centenary Trophy: 1988