28 May: George Allison becomes manager of Arsenal 1934

By Tony Attwood

28 May: George Allison becomes manager of Arsenal 1934

George Allison was one of our great, great managers winning two league titles, an FA cup victory and a third place.  Among other things he won the League title for us in that extraordinary trio of seasons in which three different managers won the league in successive years.

George Allison was with the club from 1910 when he started editing the programme, until his retirement as manager after the second world war – an Arsenal man through and through.  And there is one story of him that I found while researching my book on 1910 that I must share again.

Few London based journalists wanted to go to Woolwich Arsenal to watch matches because of the time it took to get back to Fleet Street after a game.  But the press in Manchester, Liverpool, Newcastle etc expected some sort of report from Woolwich when the Reds were in the first division.  So Mr Allison went to the matches and wrote half a dozen reports for different papers, all under different names, each with a slightly different perspective.

We’ve already done a whole series of articles on Mr Allison and his players – but out of that series I would highlight two introductory pieces if I may.

37 years service – from Administration to Domination

George Allison: more than just a manager

And today is the anniversary of the day he joined the club.

 

 

2 Replies to “28 May: George Allison becomes manager of Arsenal 1934”

  1. Tony,
    I was brought up on George Allison. Him and Quaker Oats.
    George co-edited “The Inside Story of Football” a must for all pre-Gooners in the late 1930’s. The only way to obtain a copy was by sending in coupons from Quaker Oats packets.
    Boy! Did I eat porridge that year, regardless of the season. My younger brother and sister became fed up with my constant pontificating on the goodness of porridge and in particular, Quaker Oats.
    I kept my copy until 2006 and then it was cruelly lost by that world-wide

  2. killer….moving house.
    George was a great publicist, as befits his background and his well educated tone of voice will long be remembered by those of us who were radio buffs during his years in charge at Arsenal.

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