| Date and Place of Birth:
20th November 1978 - Yamoussoukro, Ivory Coast
Transfers to and from Burnley:
from Caen 1st August 2001
to Queens Park Rangers 19th February 2004
First and Last Burnley games:
Rushden & Diamonds (h) - 21st August 2001
Crewe Alexandra (a) - 26th December 2003
Other Clubs Cannes, Caen
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Queens Park Rangers (initially on loan), Istres, Bulle |
Burnley Career Stats
| Season | League | FA Cup | League Cup | Others | Total | | . | | | | | | | | | | | | apps | gls | apps | gls | apps | gls | apps | gls | apps | gls | | 2001/02 | 31(3) | 3 | 2 | - | 1 | - | - | - | 34(3) | 3 | | 2002/03 | 31(2) | 2 | 3 | - | 4 | - | - | - | 38(2) | 2 | | 2003/04 | 12(2) | 1 | - | - | 2 | - | - | - | 14(2) | 1 | | . | | | | | | | | | | | | Total | 74(7) | 6 | 5 | - | 7 | - | - | - | 86(7) | 6 |
Player Profile by Tony Scholes
It takes some doing to become almost an instant hero with the Burnley fans but that was very much the case for central defender Arthur Gnohere who was to be a Claret for just about two and a half years.
Burnley had enjoyed an excellent first season back in what is now the Championship following promotion in 2000 and manager Stan Ternent was leaving no stone unturned as he looked to strengthen his squad for the 2001/02 season.
During the pre-season we played a friendly against Everton and during the day a 22-year-old Ivorian arrived from France on trial. He went straight into the squad that night and came on for Ian Cox during the second half.
The fans loved him. He was full of enthusiasm and vacated his defensive position on one occasion to make a surging run forward that had the Turf Moor crowd on its feet. Such was the impression he made that by the time the season started he'd signed a deal with the Clarets and found himself on the bench for the opening day game at Sheffield Wednesday.
He soon won his place in the side and in October an injury to captain Steve Davis let him in on a regular basis just as we were to embark on a fantastic eight game run of seven wins and a draw.
Arthur was playing well, extremely well, but in December 2001 he turned in a memorable performance that he'll always be remembered for at Burnley. We went to Deepdale and beat Preston 3-2 and Arthur incredibly scored two of the goals. The second, and the goal that proved to be the winner, was a fantastic goal as he played a one-two with Alan Moore and latched on to the return ball.
He was labelled King Arthur and he even gave us a treat when he scored his only other goal that season. It was the equaliser in a 1-1 home draw with Nottingham Forest and he stormed over to the dug outs and planted a kiss on Stan Ternent's cheek.
However, it wasn't to last. In his second season we certainly found the ability to concede goals. In the almost comedic 6-5 defeat at Grimsby he was hauled off before half time. When asked after the game if he'd been injured Ternent said, "Between the ears."
There seemed to be a definite problem between him and the manager and there's no doubt he was nothing like the same player we'd seen a year earlier. He was even sent home at one point to get his head sorted out, but things didn't get much better for him.
He'd made 77 first team appearances during those first two seasons but he found it increasingly difficult to hold down a place and after starting a reserve team game he was the subject of the most amazing outbursts from coach Ronnie Jepson.
Within hours he was sent out on loan to QPR and at one point he was playing for the London club whilst we were struggling to put a team together and in one match at Ipswich we suffered a 6-1 defeat with not a solitary central defender available. When he did return from the loan Ternent was asked if he'd learned anything at QPR to which he replied, "His way round London."
It was clear he wasn't going to be with us for much longer although he did get back into the team. He was probably our best defender in the 5-3 defeat at Preston (he scored his last Burnley goal in that game) and was at Crewe on Boxing Day when we suffered an embarrassing 3-1 reverse. He didn't play for us again.
He was ruled out of the next game with a hamstring injury that Ternent said he'd sustained doing the quickstep and by February he'd moved on to QPR on a free transfer.
Things didn't go well for him there either. He suffered a serious injury and then had his contract terminated for disciplinary reasons and that brought to an end his Football League career.
He had a short spell with French club Istres before playing non-league football in England for Oxford United. He was on a month to month deal there but such were his performances that they ended the arrangement after just eight games. This year he's signed for Swiss club Bulle.
He's a player who is still talked about by Burnley fans and I think that will be the case for years to come. I don't think any of us will forget Preston but his fall from grace was quick and there was always some apparent problem between him and Stan Ternent. But he was never able to build on that early impact and even the move to QPR had no positive effect.
Still, just for a short time he was very much King Arthur at Burnley. |
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