100 seasons in the top division: 1934/35: Arsenal after Chapman

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By Tony Attwood

Herbert Chapman died unexpectedly after a short illness on 6 January 1934 at the young age of 55. Joe Shaw took over as caretaker manager, although it seems clear that he made the board of directors aware that he was only accepting the role out of respect for his friend and mentor’s memory. The league table before his first game as manager read

	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
1	Arsenal	23	14	6	3	41	20	34
2	Derby County	23	13	6	4	46	23	32
3	Huddersfield Town	23	11	8	4	52	35	30
4	Tottenham Hotspur	24	12	4	8	42	27	28

Shaw’s first game was a a 1-1 home draw with Sheffield Wednesday on 6 January, a day completely overshadowed by commemorations of Herbert Chapman. There then followed three consecutive defeats to Mancheseter City, Tottenham and Everton, the last two games at home, meaning Arsenal had three deefeats and two draws since the turn of the year.

The only relief came in the FA Cup where on the day of Chapman’s death Arsenal beat Luton Town away and followed this by a 7-0 home win over Crystal Palace on 27 Januarty

But the league form mercifully picked up on February 10 with a 2-0 away victory at Middlesbrough, and this run of form left Arsenal after the game on that day in sedcond place and with a much inferor goal average to that of Derby at the top.

	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
1	Derby County	28	15	8	5	56	28	38
2	Arsenal	28	15	7	6	47	28	37
3	Huddersfield Town	28	14	9	5	64	41	37
4	Tottenham Hotspur	29	15	4	10	53	34	34

But a run of seven wins and one defeat up to a 1-0 victory over Derby on 30 March took Arsenal back to the top and gave life to the sense of wining the league for the memory of Chapman.

	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
1	Arsenal	34	20	7	7	58	37	47
2	Huddersfield Town	34	18	10	6	75	48	46
3	Tottenham Hotspur	36	18	7	11	62	43	43

In all the run continued with the run going from 10 March to 14 Aptril giving Arsenal six wins and a draw so that then Arsenal were top of the league now four points ahead of Huddersfield. The fact that Chapman’s two great clubs were slogging it out in the months after his unepxected death were not lost of the football0going public

The season ended with two wins, a draw and a deefeat and the final table showed Chapman’s two teams taking up the top two positions – an utterly fitting testimony to perhaps the greatest manager English football had ever seen.

	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
1	Arsenal	42	25	9	8	75	47	59
2	Huddersfield Town	42	23	10	9	90	61	56
3	Tottenham Hotspur	42	21	7	14	79	56	49
4	Derby County	42	17	11	14	68	54	45

But although all attention in the prss was on Chapman’s memory and the league table there was something else that Arsenal fans found utterly enthralling

For the last ten league games of the season Ted Drake had been introduced into the team at centre forward. In those seven games which powered Arsenal to their second successive title, he scored seven goals makkiing him Arsenal’s third highest scorer for the season. Looking forward it was no surprise that Drake kept his place for the following season where he played 41 games and scored an astounding 42 goals in the league, and in case you are not familiar with this era, I think I should say that is not a misprint. 42 goals in 41 league games. And yes, the “42” is not a misprint. I can’t prove it but I have heard it pointed out that the magical number “42” in Douglas Adam’s novel “The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy” came from this achievement.

But back with Drake, his story does deserve a place in the 1934/5 season as it was Chapman who discvoered him playing for Southampton

Drake played 71 games for Southampton before moving to Arsenal in 1934, although at first he rejected the idea of a move and opted to stay at The Dell.. His career as with so many, was utterly disrupted by the second world war, but he did play 167 games for Arsenal and scored 124 goals, an utterly asouting record.

But although it was Chapman who discovered the player and thought him ideal for Arsenal it was Allison who finally secured the deal as Southampton were in financial difficulties, and Drake ultimately came to Arsenal in March 1934, playing ten games and scoring seven goalss. He joined too late however to qualify for a league winners medal that year. But in 1934/5 he went on to break the Arsenal club record by scoring 44 goals in one season including those 42 goals in 41 league games, plus goals in the Charity Shield and the FA Cup. I believe that record still stands.

Thus Chapman had sadly departed having transformed Arsenal from a club just missing out on relegation to a club of league winners, cup winners and a record goal scorer.

Clearly the job was now Allison’s for the taking, which he duly did In all he was in charge of 263 games averaging an amazing 1.62 points per game – amazing as it was just two points for a win at that time. He passed away in 1957 aged 73.

Like Chapman he won the league twice and the cup once as Arsenal manager, and did amazing service to the club by keeping it running virtually single handledly during the second world war, overseeing the wartime games. Against his wishes he stayed on for the 1946/7 season as manager, as Arsenal waited for their chosen successor, Tom Whittaker, who was not available to take over the club immediately – a manager who in term announced his arrival by taking the team to a 17 match unbeaten run at the start of the season.

But now I am getting ahead of myself, for we need to look at the rest of Allison’s time at Arsenal first of all. In his final four seaons Chapman had won the FA Cup, and the League twice, On the day he died he left Arsenal top of the league once more – a task that Joe Shaw as interim manager finished off. But more of that next time.,

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