April 1922: Arsenal and Man U fight against relegation. Only one survives.

By Tony Attwood

You may recall that through much of the early part of 1922 we have been reporting that Sir Henry Norris was out of the country recuperating from an illness first in Italy and then in France. In the days before antibiotics (Alexander Fleming did not discover penicillin under 1928) heading for the sun to avoid the English winter was the prime way of attempting to recover from infections and the like for those wealthy enough to be able to afford it.

However by March 1922 he was back in the country, and if not as active with meetings as he had previously been, he certainly was attending some.

And upon his return he found Arsenal at the start of April in a parlous position.

Pos	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	GAv	Pts
1	Liverpool	34	18	12	4	48	24	2.000	48
2	Burnley	34	19	4	11	59	41	1.439	42
3	Aston Villa	34	19	3	12	66	43	1.535	41
4	Tottenham Hotspur	33	16	8	9	52	31	1.677	40
5	Cardiff City	34	16	7	11	51	42	1.214	39
6	Bolton Wanderers	34	16	6	12	55	44	1.250	38
7	Newcastle United	34	14	9	11	45	37	1.216	37
8	Middlesbrough	33	13	11	9	62	53	1.170	37
9	Manchester City	33	14	8	11	53	54	0.981	36
10	West Bromwich Albion	34	13	9	12	41	44	0.932	35
11	Sunderland	34	13	6	15	47	51	0.922	32
12	Blackburn Rovers	36	11	10	15	45	49	0.918	32
13	Chelsea	34	10	12	12	27	37	0.730	32
14	Sheffield United	35	12	7	16	47	46	1.022	31
15	Preston North End	32	12	7	13	35	50	0.700	31
16	Huddersfield Town	32	11	8	13	37	37	1.000	30
17	Birmingham City	34	12	6	16	39	48	0.813	30
18	Everton	33	9	10	14	44	44	1.000	28
19	Oldham Athletic	34	9	10	15	25	41	0.610	28
20	Bradford City	34	8	10	16	37	61	0.607	26
21	Arsenal	33	10	5	18	31	45	0.689	25
22	Manchester United	34	7	10	17	34	58	0.586	24

Arsenal were clinging on to two rays of hope. First, they had the game in hand (something that had bolstered them slightly throughout the last couple of months) and second two of their forthcoming matches were against Manchester United while the last two games of the season were against Bradford City – “real four pointers” as they used to say. Arsenal still had its future in its own hands.

Arsenal’s first match of the month, on All Fools Day, was against Middlesbrough at home, and despite the disappointment of a draw after being 2-1 up at half time, the result was met with some satisfaction for it meant that the club were now undefeated in three successive games for only the third time this season.

And interestingly once again the two inside forwards, White and Boreham, scored, exactly as they had done in the surprising 2-0 win over Villa in the previous game. Indeed it was the fourth time since Christmas that these two players had both scored – something to be savoured in a season of such chopping and changing.

Unless there was a special event that was noted in the local paper we don’t have details of whether Sir Henry was at Arsenal matches, but I rather suspect he was given that on the following Monday he was fit enough to attend the quarterly meeting of the Worshipful Company of Feltmakers at the Guildhall. This may seem odd for a man who was most certainly not a feltmaker, but as with so many of the liveried companies the original purpose of the company has been set aside and instead it was then (and still is now) engaged in charity work. Set up in the 17th century, by the time Sir Henry was a member, the feltmakers were already being drawn from the higher ranks of many professions, businesses and trades as well as the hatting industry.

The following day, amidst all the nailbiting over Arsenal’s league position there would have been a moment or two’s relaxation as Joe Toner won his first cap (of eight) for N Ireland.

Also on this day but utterly unconnected of course, Sally Davis has found details of a case in the magistrates court of a resident of Notting Hill being charged under Ready Money Betting Bill which Sir Henry had been so involved in taking through Parliament.

What is particularly interesting is that as Ms Davis reports, “the magistrate hearing the case criticised the use of the word “knowingly” in the Act – which is interesting as this was the word added against Norris’ better judgement in August 1920 on the day Bill was rushed through its last stages to get the Royal Assent before Parliament went on holiday.”

Also at some time around now, although the exact date is unclear. Sir Henry attended a meeting of his Fulham constituency party. You may recall that his initial argument with the party had stemmed from the local party requesting rather firmly (or so it seems now) that Sir Henry up his annual payments to the party to meet their growing expenses. He had declined the invitation.

Now at this meeting, which as I say, was probably early in April, upon Sir Henry’s return, Sir Henry agreed to their demand, and doubled his annual support payment to the party to £300 per year. What’s more he also agreed, if they so wished, to fight the next general election as Fulham East’s official Conservative and Unionist Party candidate.

If you have been following these tales of Sir Henry since 1910 one thing may have struck you, and that is he was not a man who regularly changed his mind. But he was a man prone to moments of generosity, and a willingness to pay even when he didn’t have to. We may recall Archie Leitch’s large bill for the work on the Manor Ground which seemingly was not declared in the club’s debts when Henry Norris took the club over, but which he paid anyway. And of course his willingness to clear all the other debts of the club in 1910, as well as his willingness to guarantee the rent, and underwrite all the borrowings of the club incurred as a result of the move to Highbury.

In this case in 1922 however the about turn in relation to Sir Henry standing again for the party was not needed as the following day as a small inner group of the party told him that he would not be needed to stand again in Fulham.

If you have ever been involved in local politics you might well find these sort of about-turns ringing a bell. The full membership, or at least all of those present at a meeting vote for one thing, and the next day a small group of activists overturn the vote through an “executive decision”. (Or maybe I’ve just witnessed it because I belong to the wrong party!)

What is interesting in all this is that the actions of Sir Henry are not the actions of the man so regularly portrayed in history books, the inflexible control freak, at the heart of everything he was engaged in. Certainly that is how Leslie Knighton portrays Sir Henry – a man limiting the manager’s transfer expenditure, instituting a minimum height requirement for each player, forcing him to use the brother in law of the club’s physio due to a lack of players.

Yet here we have Sir Henry having set his mind not to stand, then being persuaded to stand, then being persuaded not to stand the next day. And at the same time upping his payments to the party.

We can of course think of many explanations for this sort of behaviour, but the one that seems to me to fit not just the current situation with Sir Henry returning to work after a long illness, but also his personality generally is revealed by his behaviour as we have witnessed it from 1910 onwards. In effect that he was not mean with his money, he was not the monster that Knighton portrayed, and he had a fair understanding of honourable behaviour from which he did not waver.

The payment of the sums due to the Manor Ground architect suggest a different type of man, as does the fact that having promised to keep Arsenal at the Manor for one year he actually allowed the club to stay for three. His work in raising the Footballers Battalion, although now forgotten, shows a man willing to give both his time and his money, as was his willingness to serve in the army, even though considerably beyond the age of conscription.

Because of Knighton’s commentary, every action of Sir Henry Norris is considered to be one of a self-centred mean individual, and yet when we come to look at this history, the only examples we find of this are the ones that Knighton describes which are not backed up by the facts as revealed).

Meanwhile of course football went on and on 5 April Arsenal had one of the matches highlighted above – the home game against Manchester United.

In front of 25,000 Arsenal won 3-1. And wouldn’t you know it, White and Boreham scored again, for third match running. Butler got the third goal which meant that Arsenal now had three wins and a draw in the last four.

Interestingly the team was now beginning to look rather like the side that had played at the start of the season with seven of the original starting 11 from August in the lineup. Additionally Borham and Toner had become fixtures at inside and outside left while Young was playing most of the games at centre forward. There were still injuries of course – this was the 1920s and the trainer most certainly ran onto the pitch to treat an injury with a bucket of cold water and a sponge – but things were looking up.

As a result of the win over Man U Arsenal had lept (well, climbed at least) up the table and were now out of the relegation zone!

Pos	Club	P	W	D	L	F	A	G.Av	Pts
18	Everton	34	9	10	15	44	45	0.978	28
19	Arsenal	35	11	6	18	36	48	0.750	28
20	Bradford City	35	9	10	16	41	61	0.672	28
21	Oldham Athletic	35	9	10	16	25	43	0.581	28
22	Manchester United	36	7	10	19	35	62	0.565	24

As we consider what was happening to Sir Henry at this time I think it is also worth noting the position of Lady Edith Norris. She had been a member of the Fulham Board of Guardians for many years (the organisation that ran the workhouses and undertook social work), but she did not stand for re-election in the ballot that took place on 6 April. We might consider this a sign of Sir Henry and Lady Edith both deciding to pull back from ceaseless meetings and community work, and perhaps spend more time with the family and each other – exactly as they had been doing in Italy and France.

And not only had Arsenal won and risen up the table, but by the end of the week matters between the local Party and Sir Henry were completely resolved; the party would choose another candidate for the next election, exactly as Sir Henry had suggested.

Thus cleared of any concerns about a continuing life in politics Sir Henry’s new life began with a football match on 8 April – he was a guest at Villa Park for a luncheon followed by the England v Scotland match, which ended 0-1. (That is the match ended 0-1. I have no details of the luncheon).

8 April also saw Arsenal next in action – away to Middlesbrough, and not surprisingly Arsenal put out the same team as had beaten Manchester United. The result however was as 2-4 defeat. Baker and White got the goals, and it was Baker’s fourth game in succession in which he had scored. Arsenal, although defeated had just scored nine goals in four games. In the previous four they had scored zero.

This was also the last senior game for Angus McKinnon. He played 211 games for Arsenal – his only senior club. His place at left half was taken over by Tom Whittaker, while McKinnon subsequently spent some of his post-playing years as trainer and coach for New Brighton FC.

But with that one defeat disaster had struck as Arsenal were back in the mire once more

Pos	Club	P	W	D	L	F	A	G.Av	Pts
18	Bradford City	36	10	10	16	43	62	0.694	30
19	Oldham Athletic	36	10	10	16	29	43	0.674	30
20	Everton	35	9	10	16	46	48	0.958	28
21	Arsenal	36	11	6	19	38	52	0.731	28
22	Manchester United	37	7	10	20	35	63	0.556	24

Bradford City were now undefeated in six and had just done the double over Huddersfield Town, including a memorable 4-0 win at home. Man U however looked desperate having just lost five in a row. Everton’s decline was down to four defeats and a draw in the last five.

Meanwhile despite his agreement after all the to and fro with the local party to stand down as MP, Sir Henry Norris was continuing to do his duty by the government until the next election, and on 11 April he was in the Commons, this time supporting the plan to spend £1m building tennis courts in Hyde Park for public use.

The Commons rose for the Easter recess on 12 April, and on 15 April Arsenal started a run of four games in seven days: two against Tottenham and two against West Bromwich Albion.

Tottenham had been having a very good season, and were now sitting second in the League, although their position six points behind Liverpool with six games to go meant that they would not only have to perform well in those remaining games, but Liverpool would have seriously to slip up. Tottenham also had an inferior goal average to Liverpool making their task even harder.

And to make Arsenal’s life harder, on 14 April Everton beat Huddersfield 6-2, after Bradford City had beaten Newcastle away 2-1. For City that was five wins and three draws in the last eight to make it look certain (at least for the moment) that they would stay up.

On 15th however Everton lost 1-0 to Sheffield United while Bradford City lost 1-2 to Birmingham City to end their magnificent run. Meanwhile Manchester United lost 0-3 at home to Oldham. It was as if all the clubs around Arsenal were doing their best to help the Reds. And yet the Reds couldn’t help themselves for on 15 April the result was Tottenham 2 Arsenal 0 in front of 40,394. Arsenal were of course still in 21st position, three points behind Everton although now with a game in hand – but an inferior goal average. The national papers (in the shape of the Times) and the local Islington Daily Gazette said Arsenal were sure to be relegated with Manchester United.

But what do these journalists know? On 17 April Manchester United ended their run of six consecutive defeats to beat Sheffield United 3-2. Bradford City lost to Newcastle United 2-3.

And then Arsenal amazingly topped all that with the result West Brom 0 Arsenal 3, Boreham, Young and Graham getting the goals. The foot of the table now looked like this with four games to go.

Pos	Club	P	W	D	L	F	A	G.Av	Pts
18	Birmingham City	38	13	6	19	42	55	0.764	32
19	Bradford City	39	11	10	18	48	68	0.706	32
20	Everton	38	10	11	17	52	51	1.020	31
21	Arsenal	38	12	6	20	41	54	0.759	30
22	Manchester United	39	8	10	21	38	68	0.559	26

Suddenly Bradford City, after their great run, were back in the mix, for if Arsenal won their game in hand over Bradford they would leapfrog them on account of their goal average. Man Utd however looked to be in real trouble.

One day on, on 18 April, and Arsenal were home to West Brom and thanks to a last minute penalty scored by Graham, Arsenal drew 2-2. Everton meanwhile won away at Huddersfield 1-2 to lift themselves out of trouble.

This meant that the following Saturday, 22 April, was going to be an even more intense north London derby than normal. And for the second match running Graham scored a penalty to give Arsenal the match 1-0. The Islington Daily Gazette called it “the most valuable ever scored at Highbury”. In the second half, after the penalty, Tottenham had played with ten men, but Arsenal could not get further ahead. It was two wins and a draw in the last three, and five wins, two draws and two defeats in the last nine – Arsenal’s best run of the season.

On that Saturday Manchester United drew 1-1 with Oldham but that run of six successive defeats looked to have ended their chances of survival. Everton secured a 1-1 draw with Sheffield United to keep them safe but Bradford City made it three defeat in a row losing 1-0 to Birmingham.

The table with two games to go was now like this with two matches to play…

Pos	Club	P	W	D	L	F	A	G.Av	Pts
18	Preston North End	40	12	11	17	38	63	0.603	35
19	Everton	40	11	12	17	55	53	1.038	34
20	Arsenal	40	13	7	20	44	56	0.786	33
21	Bradford City	40	11	10	19	48	69	0.696	32
22	Manchester United	40	8	11	21	39	69	0.565	27

Man U were thus relegated but Bradford City, Arsenal, Everton and Preston were all still in the mix. But there was a twist because for their last two games of the season, Arsenal had to play Bradford City home and away. The winner would take all.

However before the final games there was an extra match at Highbury as on 27 April the Duke of York returned to the ground to watch the final of the London Insurance Offices FA Cup. A note in the Southern Amateur League (SAL) website says, “A number of SAL clubs with links to the finance sector (and some others, whose involvement no-one has ever been able to explain) enter the London Financial F.A. competitions. In years gone by a number of SAL clubs also entered teams into the London Financial F.A. league competition and, before that, the London Banks F.A. and London Insurance F.A. league competitions.” Sally Davis notes that “the prime mover at Arsenal in getting the match staged at Highbury was probably director Charles Crisp, who worked for Norwich Union.”

The first of the two Bradford City games was away, on Cup Final Day. Huddersfield Town (managed of course by Herbert Chapman) won the Cup 1-0 against Preston with a disputed penalty. It was played for the last time at Chelsea; as of next season the FA Cup Final would move to Wembley which was at this moment still being built.

Meanwhile in Yorkshire Arsenal beat Bradford City 2-0 with goals from White and Young. The Islington Daily Gazette described it as a victory for the Arsenal team “of triers and hard workers.” However the columnist felt that the club could not be described as “a team of talents”.

This 8th game in April meant the month had yielded four wins, two draws, and two defeats.

The table now looked like this:

Pos	Club	P	W	D	L	F	A	G.Av	Pts
16	Huddersfield Town	40	13	9	18	49	53	0.925	35
17	Arsenal	41	14	7	20	46	56	0.821	35
18	Oldham Athletic	41	12	11	18	35	49	0.714	35
19	Preston North End	40	12	11	17	38	63	0.603	35
20	Everton	41	11	12	18	55	55	1.000	34
21	Bradford City	41	11	10	20	48	71	0.676	32
22	Manchester United	41	8	12	21	40	70	0.571	28

With one match to go, Arsenal were finally safe.

Here are the results for the month

Date	Opposition	H/A	Res	Score	Crowd	Pos
01/04/1922	Middlesbrough	H	D	2-2	30,000	21
05/04/1922	Manchester United	H	W	3-1	25,000	19
08/04/1922	Middlesbrough	A	L	2-4	20,000	21
15/04/1922	Tottenham Hotspur	A	L	0-2	40,394	21
17/04/1922	West Bromwich Albion	A	W	3-0	24,000	21
18/04/1922	West Bromwich Albion	H	D	2-2	22,000	21
22/04/1922	Tottenham Hotspur	H	W	1-0	42,000	20
29/04/1922	Bradford City	A	W	2-0	35,000	17

Four wins, two draws, two defeats. Arsenal had done it.

Henry Norris at the Arsenal

A full index to the series which runs from 1910 onwards is given here

Perhaps the most popular element in the Norris story is that of Arsenal’s promotion to the first division in 1919. The most complete review of this, which puts right the numerous misunderstandings of the events of that year appears on this site, and most importantly cites contemporary articles and reports, such as the minutes of the FA meeting where the promotion was confirmed, and the reports in local papers thereafter. It is to be found here in these sets of articles…

The preliminaries

The voting and the comments before and after the election

The Second Libel

Exposing the second libel against Henry Norris: the summer of 1920.

The Third Allegation

The 3rd Knighton allegation against Norris: did he sell much-needed Fred Pagnam just for profit?

The Fourth Allegation

Did Henry Norris really beg Leslie Knighton to stay and offer him the hugest bonus ever? And if so, why were there no new players?

The Fifth Tale

How Henry Norris missed the royal visit and the remaining directors wasted club money on champagne while giving a player a signing on fee of a monkey!

The Sixth Allegation

Leslie Knighton repeatedly claimed in his autobiography that he was limited to transfer fees of no more than £1000 per player. But in March 1922 he paid twice that for Andy Young. That wasn’t the only occasion, but it stands out as Andy Young was a useful but by no means ultra special player.

Leave a Reply