Twenty-four years ago, Arsenal signed Dennis Bergkamp. The non-flying Dutchman became one of Arsenal's greatest ever players, scoring 120 goals in one of the most celebrated Premier League careers of all time.
Not that everyone foresaw this happening. Stuart Pearce was quoted in the Sun newspaper proclaiming the signing of Bergkamp to be a "massive gamble" and was unconvinced that it would pay off after he had "struggled with Inter Milan".
Pearce further bound himself to the fickleness of hindsight by arguing that Arsenal should have signed Stan Collymore instead. "I would have taken Stan Collymore ahead of Bergkamp, even for £1million more. Liverpool have got a better deal than Arsenal". Pearce was unaware that the phrase "Liverpool have got a better deal than X" would become a widely discredited phrase in football.
History has been unkind to Pearce. Bergkamp's career is remembered by a statue for all to see outside the Emirates stadium, while Collymore is chiefly remembered for public observation of a very different kind.
Pearce has since learned his lesson. When asked for a prediction as to how far England would go in Euro 2012 in this video, he gave a minute-long answer, without actually giving a prediction.
