The life and times of Gervinho

Gervinho whose birthday it is today, played for Arsenal across two seasons from 2011 to 2013, playing 46 games in all and scoring nine goals in the league.   He then moved on to Roma, Hebei China Fortune and finally in 2018, Parma where he is still playing

He was one of those players who got an early introduction into the ways of English football.  Having been transferred from Lille for around £11m he scored twice in 15 minutes in a pre-season friendly, but was then sent off in his Premier League debut against Newcastle for allegedly slapping Joey Barton.

Here are the anniversaries…

27 May 1926: Innsbruck Select XI 2 Arsenal 4 (scorers not recorded).  The sixth and final game of Herbert Chapman’s first summer tour.

27 May 1926: Jack Lee signed as a professional from Horden Athletic – one of Chapman’s first signings.  He played his first Arsenal game the following September.

27 May 1931: Following a season in which he scored an amazing 38 goals in just 34 league games Jack Lambert scored four in a 6-1 win over Sweden in Stockholm.

27 May 1933: Alex Wilson purchased from Greenock Morton for £600. He made his league debut the following January for Arsenal and went on to play 89 league and cup games for the club.

27 May 1945: Ernie Tuckett died on active service in an airfield accident whilst serving in the RAF. He was just 31 at the time.  After Arsenal he had moved on to Bradford and Fulham.

27 May 1948: Doug Lishman signed from Walsall for £10,500.  Over the next eight seasons he scored 125 league goals for Arsenal in 226 games, plus another ten goals in the FA Cup.

27 May 1953: Grasshoppers 1 Arsenal 2.  Final game for Freddie Cox DFC and a debut for Dennis Evans as Cliff Holton scored twice.  Cox then moved on to be player coach of West Brom.

27 May 1970: Brian Hornsby joined Arsenal as an apprentice, having been a scholar from the year before.  He became a full professional in September 1971.

27 May 1973: Arsenal 4 Devonshire Colts (Bermuda) 0.  Final game for Peter Marinello.  In July he moved onto Portsmouth, having made just 32 starts in the 1st division.  Some sources quote this game as a week earlier, and others speak of a match in Toronto at this time.  See also here for the events around this game.

27 May 1987 Gervais Lombe Yao Kouassi (Gervinho) born.  He first played professionally for Beveren before moving on to Le Mans and Lille and then Arsenal in 2011.

27 May 1998: Ian Wright and Martin Keown played for England in a 1-0 away victory in a friendly against Morocco.  Wright was injured in the game and dropped out of World Cup squad.

27 May 1998: Despite having started only six games Remi Garde signed a one year extension contract.  John Lukic who had played no league games in the season did the same.  Scott Marshall and Chris Kiwomya however were released

27 May 2011: Robert Pires released by Aston Villa – concluding his final contract in the English football.  He later became an Arsenal ambassador and played in the Indian league.

27 May 2015: Working at the request of FBI agents, the Swiss authorities started to arrest Fifa executives over widespread corruption in FIFA over the past two decades.  The event was predicted in Untold following the change of the Swiss law the previous year to allow such action.

27 May 2017: Arsenal beat Chelsea 2-1 to win the FA Cup for an all time record 13th time.  It also made Arsene Wenger the manager with the most FA Cup victories in history.  Alexis and Ramsey got the goals, while Moses was sent off for one of the most blatant and appalling dives in the history of the FA Cup.  It also made Arsenal the only team to win the FA Cup three times in four years, twice.