The anniversary files are edited by Tony Attwood. Please note that as I’m currently travelling the time at which the files appear each day may vary considerably from the norm.
The latest post from our series on Henry Norris at the Arsenal
Arsenal meet the king, Ireland split in two, Scotland says no. December 1920.
Today’s headline story comes from 1987.
4 March 1902: Tim Coleman joined from Grimsby for £7500. He had played 196 league and cup games and scored 79 goals. Chapman had been chasing Jimmy Dunne but followed Coleman instead, after a chance meeting with his manager.
4 March 1905: The start of a run of seven without a win. Sunderland 1 Arsenal 1. Arsenal did however rally in April to finish 12th.
4 March 1910: George Grant joined from Invicta FC as an amateur. He had the remarkable record of playing for Woolwich Arsenal, The Arsenal, Arsenal, (all by playing just 54 league games) and later against Arsenal.
4 March 1913: Henry Norris finally confirmed Woolwich Arsenal were moving from Plumstead to a ground in Gillespie Road, Islington. See also here.
4 March 1914: London County Council granted planning permission for the Gillespie Road stadium, seven months after it opened and one year to the day after Norris announced that Gillespie Road was the site of the new ground.
4 March 1922: Arsenal 1 Preston 1. FA Cup round 4 (equivalent of round 6 today). It was Knighton’s most successful cup run and the best since the 1907 semi-final.
4 March 1932: With Lambert and Parkin both injured Chapman acted and on this day Ernie Coleman was signed from Grimsby following a chance meeting with the Grimsby chair. The following day he played his first Arsenal game.
4 March 1933: Arsenal played their first game with the white sleeved shirts based on an idea by Tom Webster, but lost to Liverpool 0-1. 42,868 were present, bemused perhaps by the fact that in the previous match Arsenal had beaten Blackburn 8-0.
4 March 1936 Arsenal beat Derby County away 4-0 which given Derby’s position in the league was a fair vindication of the team selection by George Allison, especially as new men Dougall, Kirchen and Cox all scored.
4 March 1950: Arsenal 1 Leeds 0. FA Cup round 6, on the way to winning the trophy for only the third time. Lewis scored with 62,573 in the crowd. This was the first season in which Arsenal played every FA Cup match in London.
4 March 1961: Aston Villa 2 Arsenal 2. The first of six consecutive draws – Arsenal’s longest drawing run in the league. Haverty and Barnwell scored.
4 March 1972: Manchester City 2 Arsenal 0. After four straight wins and 12 games undefeated in the league, the wheels suddenly came off the bus as Arsenal started a run of losing three successive league matches without scoring a goal.
4 March 1978: Arsenal 3 Manchester City 0. This was the first win in six league games but also a part of a run of nine undefeated. Sunderland, Young and Price got the goals.
4 March 1987: Tottenham 1 Arsenal 2. League Cup semi-replay. Clive Allen put Tottenham ahead in all three of the “one nil down, two one up” semi-final games. Ian Allinson scored the first for Arsenal and Rocastle scored in injury time.
4 March 2006: Fulham 0 Arsenal 4. After three without a win Arsenal returned with a four match winning run scoring 14 goals letting in 1. Henry (2) Adebayor and Fabregas got the goals on this occasion.
4 March 2008: Arsenal became the first English team to beat Milan in the San Siro thanks to a Fabregas free kick.
Yesterday’s anniversaries:
12 consecutive matches in which neither team scored more than one.
What’s on the Arsenal History Society site
Our current series is “Henry Norris at the Arsenal” An index to the various series that contain over 1,900 articles on this site concerning the history of Arsenal appears on our home page. Previous series have covered Arsenal in the 1930s, Arsenal in the 70s, the Royal Arsenal years, and many individual players.
Please note that “Woolwich Arsenal, the club that changed football” and “Making the Arsenal” are both available on Kindle, but I cannot currently accept orders for the printed edition as I’m travelling. Please see here for more details
