David Rocastle

Rocastle was born in Lewisham on 2 May 1967 to Caribbean immigrants Leslie and Linda Rocastle, who moved to London during the 1950s. His father died aged 29 in 1972 from pneumonia when Rocastle was five years old, and his mother Linda subsequently remarried and had two more children. Rocastle attended the Turnham Primary School and the Roger Manwood secondary school in his teenage years.

Arsenal

After being rejected by Millwall, Rocastle joined Arsenal's Academy under Terry Neill in May 1982 and was given a professional contract in December 1984 by Neill's successor Don Howe. In his early career he faced problems with his eyesight, and contact lenses had to be used. According to his teammate Martin Keown "They couldn't work out why Rocastle was running around dribbling with his head down. So they took him to the halfway line and said: 'Can you see the goal?' and he couldn't. His eyesight was terrible. They sorted him out with contact lenses and his career took off." He made his debut against Newcastle United 28 September 1985 and made 16 league appearances in the 1985–86 season, scoring once, against Aston Villa 8 March 1986, as Arsenal finished seventh in the league. Rocastles first goal came three weeks earlier in the FA-cup game against Luton Town 15 February which ended in a 2–2 draw. He remained a regular player in the first team following the departure of Don Howe and the appointment of George Graham as manager in May 1986. In January 1987, Arsenal were away…

After making two appearances for the England 'B' side, Rocastle was capped 14 times at under-21 level for England during the second half of the 1980s, scoring twice. Whilst playing for the Young Lions, he earned a runners-up medal in the 1988 Toulon Tournament and got to the UEFA European Under-21 Championship semi-finals of the same year. Aged 21, he was capped at senior level for the first time against Denmark on 14 September 1988. Rocastle never found himself on the losing side as England won seven of the internationals that he appeared in and drew the other seven. A knee operation in 1990 put him out of World Cup contention after he had been an England regular. Rocastle was excluded although he had played in five of England's six World Cup qualifying matches. He was one of 26 players chosen by the manager, Bobby Robson, to go to training camp before the tournament, but he was one of four dropped from the official 22-man squad. Graham Taylor recalled Rocastle three times afterwards but he wasn't selected for the 1992 Euros. His final appearance for England came just after his 25th birthday, on 17 May 1992 against Brazil. Rocastle won 14 full caps for England but did not score.

Rocastle had three children with his wife Janet – son Ryan and daughters Melissa and Monique. He is the cousin of another professional footballer, Craig Rocastle, and his brother Stephen played for Norwich City and was on the books of Derry City as well.

Arsenal

First Division: 1988–89, 1990–91 Football League Cup: 1986–87 FA Charity Shield: 1991 (shared) Football League Centenary Trophy: 1988 Zenith Data Systems Challenge Trophy: 1989 Leeds United

FA Charity Shield: 1992 Makita Tournament: runner-up 1992 Sabah

Piala FA: runner-up 1998 England youth

Toulon Tournament: runner-up 1988 Individual

PFA Team of the Year: 1986–87 First Division, 1988–89 First Division Arsenal Player of the Season: 1985–86 Barclays Young Eagle: 1987 & 1989