Graham Rix

Arsenal

Originally from Doncaster, Yorkshire, Rix joined Arsenal as an apprentice in 1974 and turned professional the year after. He made his debut for the club against Leicester City on 2 April 1977, and marked it by scoring the opening goal. Rix immediately became a regular on the left wing, replacing George Armstrong. Together with Liam Brady, he formed part of an impressive attacking midfield, which helped Arsenal to three successive FA Cup finals between 1978 and 1980. Arsenal only won one of these, in 1979 against Manchester United; the final score was 3–2, with Rix crossing for Alan Sunderland's last-minute winner, just one minute after United had equalised to level the score 2–2. Arsenal reached the European Cup Winners' Cup final the following season, against Valencia; the match finished 0–0 after extra time – a penalty shoot-out ensued, but Rix missed his penalty and Arsenal lost. He became captain of the club in 1983. Arsenal's form slumped in the early 1980s, though, meaning Rix was unable to claim any silverware as skipper. Arsenal won the 1986–87 League Cup; Rix was not part of the squad for the final against Liverpool but he contributed three appearances en route. A series of injuries to his achilles tendon kept Rix out of the team in the mid-1980s, and he lost his starting place in the side to Martin Hayes. Rix had a spell on loan at Brentford, before being released in 1988. In all, he played 464 times for the Gunners, scoring 51 goals.

After…

Between 1980 and 1984, Rix played for the England national team, including making five appearances at the 1982 World Cup. He was capped 17 times, but failed to score. His first appearance came on 10 September 1980 in a 4–0 win over Norway, his last in a 1–0 win over Northern Ireland on 4 April 1984.

Chelsea

Rix joined Chelsea as youth team coach in mid-1993. During an injury crisis, he briefly enlisted as a player for the club, playing a solitary Premier League match in May 1995 against his former club Arsenal. Rix became assistant manager in 1996 under new Blues boss Ruud Gullit, and continued in the same role under Gullit's successor Gianluca Vialli, winning the FA Cup in 1997, and the League Cup and Cup Winners' Cup in 1998. He won the FA Cup again in 2000, before leaving the club, after a brief spell as caretaker manager following Vialli's sacking by Ken Bates.

Portsmouth and Oxford

Rix managed Portsmouth between 2001 and 2002, where his enthusiastic style of management started well, but tapered off in the middle of the 2001–02 season. A string of poor results, including a 4–1 home loss in the FA Cup to bottom of the Football League Leyton Orient, meant that Director of Football Harry Redknapp was given more responsibilities until he eventually replaced Rix as team manager toward the end of the season. Rix then managed Oxford United for seven months in 2004. Their form declined sharply during the last three months of the 2003–04 Division Three campaign: they fell from the automatic promotion places to ninth in the final table, failing to achieve a playoff place. He was dismissed after their poor form continued into the 2004–05 season.

Hearts

In November 2005, after speculation linking him with the manager's job at Scottish Premier League…

Rix has a daughter from his first marriage with Gill. After getting divorced, he married his second wife, Linda. In April 2017, Rix suffered a heart attack.