World champion with a tricky misfire
On live TV: Club legend accidentally declared dead
01/21/2025 – 3:17 p.mReading time: 2 minutes
On a TV show in Great Britain, Emmanuel Petit spoke about one of his companions. In doing so, he made an unfortunate faux pas.
Emmanuel Petit was extremely successful as a player. The 54-year-old became world and European champions with France and also won titles at club level with AS Monaco and Arsenal FC. However, the former midfielder still has to work on his skills as a TV expert, as a sensitive misfire on Monday evening showed.
What had happened? Petit was a guest on the British TV show “Monday Night Football”. He said the sentence: “He also had a fight with Pat Rice once. Rest in peace, Pat.” Petit declared Rice, who is considered a club legend at Premier League club Arsenal FC, dead.
The problem is that Rice hasn’t died at all. Moderator David Jones Petit then explained this. He corrected: “I have good news, Pat Rice sends best wishes. He is still with us, alive and well.”
Ex-Liverpool star Jamie Carragher, who was also in the studio as a TV expert, laughed at the situation. Petit, on the other hand, was obviously extremely embarrassed by her. “I’m sorry! Sorry, Pat. I’m confused. I’m so sorry, Pat,” he said. “I made a mistake, I’m sorry.”
Rice, now 75, was a professional for Arsenal FC between 1967 and 1980, during which time he played 397 league games for the Gunners. After four more years as a player at Watford, he returned to Arsenal in 1984, initially as a youth coach and then assisted star coach Arsène Wenger as an assistant coach from 1996 to 2012. At that time he also trained Petit, who was under contract with the Londoners between 1997 and 2000.