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Tommy Caton signed for Arsenal in December 1983 and in so doing ended a
two-year search for the successor to the combative Willie Young who had
moved to Nottingham Forest in late 1981. The Londoners had been courting
the Manchester City defender for over twelve months, but his club had
proved unwilling to sell. During this time the Gunners had tried a
variety of partners for David O'Leary at the heart of the defence, but
all had been unsuitable.
Following a 0-3 defeat at Leicester City, which
signalled an undeniable new low in the reign of manager Terry Neil,
Arsenal finally got their man as Caton signed for £400,000, not that it
did Neil any good as he was sacked two games later! Tommy made his
debut on 3 December 1983 in a traumatic 0-1 home defeat to West Bromwich
Albion, but when coach Don Howe was elevated to manager things
gradually improved. The club lost only five more games that season as it
secured a respectable sixth place in the final table with Caton playing
twenty-six games as a virtual ever present.
The Gunners kicked off
1984/85 with a flourish, topping the table in mid-October, helped in
part by Tommy's first goal for the club in a 3-2 win over Sunderland at
Highbury. However, that was as good as it got. Arsenal eventually
finished an inconsistent season in seventh place and also suffered the
ignominy of going out off the FA Cup 0-1 to York City. Unrest was
brewing in the dressing room, there was already speculation about Howe's
position, and the emergence of youngsters Tony Adams and Martin Keown
were starting to put Caton's place under threat.
He had not quite lived
up to the vaunted reputation that preceded him to Highbury and suffered
in comparison with crowd favourite Young. However, in a period of
transition he helped maintain a veneer of respectability without ever
rediscovering the sort of form that had him talked of as an England
candidate in his early days at Manchester City. Arsenal kicked off the
following season with Caton still in the side and he played the first
twenty games, scoring in a 3-2 win over Southampton. But by mid-December
he could no longer hold off the emerging Keown. Despite making a couple
more League Cup appearances his frustrating and underachieving Highbury
career was over and he was sold to Oxford United for £180,000 in
February 1987. (David Fensome)
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