Arsenal had won the league just a year before you joined in 1990. Did that play a part in you deciding to join? <\/strong><\/p>\n That was the reason I joined the club: to win trophies. I had the option of going to Manchester United as well, because when I first came to sign for Arsenal the deal fell through. It was near the end of the previous season, around the transfer deadline, but John Lukic didn\u2019t want to leave, so it didn\u2019t happen. <\/p>\n So I went back to QPR, but before Arsenal had bid for me I\u2019d spoken to Sir Alex Ferguson, who told me he was coming in for me. They wanted me as a free agent because my contract was running out. I spoke to Ray Wilkins, who was at QPR then, and asked him what he would do. He said, \u201cIf you go to United, you won\u2019t win trophies straight away because they\u2019re rebuilding. But if you go to Arsenal, you\u2019ll win trophies straight away.\u201d It turned out he was right! <\/p>\n It was instant \u2013 you won the league in your first season, and didn\u2019t lose any of your first 17 matches in all competitions. You must have been delighted how seamlessly you fitted into the club? <\/strong><\/p>\n I was because it underlined the reason why I came to the club, winning the league in my first season. Playing with players that were already champions and winners in their own right from seasons before. But to concede only 18 goals that season, losing only one game in the league \u2013 it was everything I could have dreamt of. <\/p>\n What were the main changes from being at QPR when you arrived at Arsenal? <\/strong><\/p>\n It was much better because I was getting time with Bob Wilson every day. Seriously, that made a big difference. The fact I had him there every day was brilliant, because he wasn\u2019t just a coach, he was a great friend. People ask me what he taught me, but it wasn\u2019t really about that. It was more that he knew exactly what I needed. <\/p>\n I was 26 when I joined the club, so I was already an established goalkeeper. I\u2019d had four years at QPR and one year with Birmingham City in the top division as well \u2013 so five years\u2019 experience at the top before I came to Arsenal. So it was more about having a good routine with Bob, and him knowing exactly what I needed. <\/p>\n After dominating the league in 1991, we didn\u2019t win another title for the next seven years. Why do you think that was? <\/strong><\/p>\n Well, there was always something, every season. We were winning cups, we won in Europe in 1994, we got to another European final in 1995 \u2013 when that ex-Tottenham player scored from you know where! We reached semi-finals too but I don\u2019t know why the focus shifted to be honest. <\/p>\n The team didn\u2019t change a lot, it was the same defence for that whole time, and Martin came in as well, but I always say the league is the real gauge. And you have to get off to a good start in the league, and if that doesn\u2019t happen then maybe you have a better chance in the cups. Manchester United and Leeds were very good teams at that time as well, and that coincided with it, but I don\u2019t know why that focus shifted for us. <\/p>\n Your career straddled different eras, with the backpass rule coming in for 1992, and the launch of the Premier League as well. When you look back at your career, do you section it into different periods like that? <\/strong><\/p>\n No, I didn\u2019t see it like that. The backpass rule was really tough to get used to though. People ask me now if I could play out from the back, and I say I had to adjust my whole game for the backpass rule, so if I can deal with that, I can deal with playing out from the back \u2013 100 per cent! I gave away so many free kicks when that came in, because I was just doing what naturally comes to you, it was instinct. <\/p>\n But I don\u2019t really see my Arsenal career as different sections, because there wasn\u2019t a gap when we weren\u2019t winning trophies or competing. The cup double in 1993, European finals, we went out on penalties a few times, and then Ars\u00e8ne came in and we won the double in 1998 and again in 2002. <\/p>\n Ars\u00e8ne arrived in 1996 with fresh ideas, but didn\u2019t change the goalkeeper or the defence \u2013 did he explain to you all that he was going to stick with that? <\/strong><\/p>\n Not that I can remember, but the fact that he didn\u2019t make many signings there meant we knew he wasn\u2019t going to change it, and it worked. That back four we had, it wasn\u2019t by fluke that it was successful. <\/p>\n I think he saw us working in training every day as well. We all worked hard together in training, and saw how we were as a unit. People were coming to the end of their careers though, so eventually he brought in people like Lauren at right back, Ashley Cole came through and then, after Tony Adams, Sol Campbell came in. But at the start he knew he didn\u2019t need to do that, and he got a few more seasons out of that back four. <\/p>\n He brought in goalkeepers too, including Alex Manninger, who sadly passed away last month\u2026<\/strong> <\/p>\n That hit me hard. I posted a picture of us fishing together, and he was only 20 at the time. It\u2019s so sad. He was a great guy. He wasn\u2019t erratic, that\u2019s the wrong word, but he would really go mad at himself if he made a mistake in training, and it would affect the rest of his session, because he was so desperate to do well. He really wanted to get in the team, and he knew where the bar was, so I think he was trying to get to that level before he had done all his training, because as I say, he was only 20 when he came in. <\/p>\n But that season he was fantastic. He came in for 13 games, he played when we beat Manchester United in that 1-0 at Old Trafford and he won a penalty shootout in the cup at West Ham. He was brilliant for us at that time. <\/p>\n You obviously had many understudies during your time. What sort of relationship did you have with them all? <\/strong><\/p>\n Yes, there was Alex, Stuart Taylor, Richard Wright; Alan Miller was there when I arrived. We all trained together and it was always a really good atmosphere. I felt OK but it\u2019s tough to ask me, because everything was going well for me, so it\u2019s probably a question more for them. <\/p>\n I remember when Richard Wright came in, they paid a lot of money for him, so that\u2019s when I started thinking that maybe they had brought him in to be a number one. That\u2019s when I said in my head, \u201cWell in that case I\u2019ll raise my game, and I\u2019ll show you.\u201d It wasn\u2019t just in games, it was in training too because that\u2019s when you are judged. <\/p>\n Ars\u00e8ne would always come over and watch ten minutes of our sessions, because we trained separately until we joined in with the outfield players. I remember him saying to me once at a session, \u201cDavid, why does the goal look so small when you are in it and so big when Richard is in it?\u201d So I knew I was doing something right! <\/p>\n What do you make of the current team, and how the run in is shaping up? <\/strong><\/p>\n It\u2019s all about the results now \u2013 it\u2019s not about how we play. If we play well, that\u2019s a bonus. It\u2019s all about getting a result. That 1-0 over Newcastle, we didn\u2019t play well \u2013 I don\u2019t care. We won, that\u2019s what it\u2019s all about. <\/p>\n If you end up winning by three or four, great, and it could come to goal difference. But it\u2019s playing with nerves and it\u2019s tough at the moment. I was at the Bournemouth game, and I could feel that tension from the crowd. This is the time we need to help them, get behind them because we\u2019ve not been in this position for 20-odd years, so we know the pressure is on. <\/p>\n But the more positive the fans can be, the better, because that will make us play better and help any nervousness. We need to get behind the lads because this could be a special time. Embrace that, and let\u2019s try to move it forward. Let\u2019s be more positive. <\/p>\n What are your thoughts on David Raya and the season he has had? <\/strong><\/p>\n He\u2019s getting better and better every season and it\u2019s so good to see, because when he first came in he struggled a little bit. Whether that was taking over from Aaron Ramsdale, who was a fans\u2019 favourite, but he was on my podcast recently and he said he\u2019s reached a point now where he knows he\u2019s got to do it this way. <\/p>\n He\u2019s changed, he\u2019s got the No.1 shirt and he believes, he knows now, that he\u2019s the number one and he\u2019s just getting better and better. What I like about him is that he doesn\u2019t have a lot to do in the games, and then he still makes these massive saves. That\u2019s the sign of a really top-quality goalkeeper. <\/p>\n \n Read more<\/span> <\/p>\n Copyright 2026 The Arsenal Football Club Limited. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to www.arsenal.com as the source.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" David Seaman arrived at the club at the start of the 1990\/91 season and slotted straight into the team that had won the league title on that famous May evening … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3335,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3334","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arsenal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3334","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3334"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3334\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3335"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3334"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3334"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3334"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}} How David Raya won the 2025\/26 Golden Glove <\/span>
\n <\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n