Recent articles in this series
- 100 seasons in the top division: a key turning point 1933/4
- 100 seasons in the top division: 1934/35: Arsenal after Chapman
- 1935/6: Arsenal have lost their manager but still come good
- Arsenal 1936/7: Suddenly, the trophies stop rolling in
If you wish to read the series from the start, please start with this link – you will then find a link to each subsequent article at the top of each page.
By Tony Attwood
This series of articles covering Arsenal’s 100 seasons in the top division of English football started with the article Celebrating 100 consecutive seasons of Arsenal in the top division which gives some of the background to Arsenal’s arrival in the top division and how the club carved out its own unique history by staying there, season after season.
But of course this wonderful history of the club was interrupted twice by issues totally beyond its control – the two world wars. In the First World War, the League kept going through 1914/15 and only then stopped the games for the rest of the duration.
However, the lesson that it was not really desirable to continue professional football while civilisation was tearing itself apart was quickly learned, and so as the political climate declined in the late 1930s, there was some nervousness about the possibility of another war, and what it would mean to football.
But two more seasons were to be played – 1937/38 and 1938/9 before football suffered its second hiatus due to war, and Arsenal must have been pleased about this for one particular reason, for as a side note in the volume, “Arsenal the complete record” points out, “In every seasopn between 1929/30 and 1937/’38 Arsenal had the highest average atteendances in English football.” The club was one of the few making a profit.
However this final pair of seasons prior to the outbreak of war, did not start particularly well, for by 13 November 1937 Arsenal were in very unfamiliar territory in terms of the League table.
| Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brentford | 16 | 9 | 3 | 4 | 33 | 24 | 21 |
| 2 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | 15 | 7 | 5 | 3 | 23 | 17 | 19 |
| 3 | Chelsea | 15 | 8 | 3 | 4 | 34 | 27 | 19 |
| 4 | Bolton Wanderers | 15 | 7 | 4 | 4 | 30 | 22 | 18 |
| 5 | Leeds United | 15 | 6 | 6 | 3 | 23 | 18 | 18 |
| 6 | Preston North End | 15 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 28 | 19 | 17 |
| 7 | Charlton Athletic | 15 | 5 | 7 | 3 | 21 | 18 | 17 |
| 8 | Sunderland | 15 | 7 | 3 | 5 | 26 | 28 | 17 |
| 9 | Stoke City | 15 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 26 | 16 | 16 |
| 10 | Arsenal | 15 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 27 | 19 | 15 |
At this point, after 15 games, in the season before, Arsenal had been fourth in the league, and with a game in hand over two of the three clubs above them. True, the gap to second and third place was only four points – two wins in fact – but the newspapers ignored that and focused totally on the shock horror story of Arsenal being 10th. The last time Arsenal had been so low in the league was 1929/30, and the media made much of that fact.
However, seven wins in the next nine games restored everyone’s faith in Arsenal, and by 8 January 1938, Arsenal were second, just three points behind Brentford. Two defeats to Brentford home and away over Easter, without Arsenal scoring a single goal in either of those games, and the 0-2 defeat to Birmingham on the intervening Saturday, allowed the chasing pack to catch Arsenal, and the day ended with a table that read
| Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arsenal | 39 | 18 | 10 | 11 | 68 | 43 | 46 |
| 2 | Preston North End | 39 | 15 | 16 | 8 | 61 | 41 | 46 |
| 3 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | 38 | 18 | 10 | 10 | 66 | 46 | 46 |
| 4 | Brentford | 40 | 18 | 9 | 13 | 68 | 53 | 45 |
Having come sixth and third in the two previous seasons, there was now little belief left in Arsenal’s invincibility, especially as the game on Easter Monday had seen Brentford beat Arsenal 3-0.
But three Arsenal wins against Preston, Liverpool and Bolton led to a final table that read
| Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arsenal | 42 | 21 | 10 | 11 | 77 | 44 | 52 |
| 2 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | 42 | 20 | 11 | 11 | 72 | 49 | 51 |
| 3 | Preston North End | 42 | 16 | 17 | 9 | 64 | 44 | 49 |
Alison had won his second Arsenal championship and thus equalled Herbert Chapman’s record of two league titles and an FA Cup win. Yes, it had been by just one point, but the title meant that in the nine seasons since the Chapman revolution had begun, Arsenal had moved from having no trophies to speak of, to five league trophies, two FA Cup wins, and a runners-up position once in each of those two competitions. Arsenal truly were the team of the 1930s, and there was no other club challenging that position.
That 1938/9 was a major anti-climax was perhaps inevitable – Arsenal had been performing miracles at the top of their game and ultimately something had to give, although finishing 12 points behind the eventual winners Everton was still a shock. Although perhaps supporters were somewhat prepared for the fact that things had reached the end of their course when they picked up their evening newspapers and saw the league table on 16 September, although there was perhaps a little relief from the fact that Tottenham were sitting ninth in the second division.
Indeed by 15 October, Arsenal, the current league champions were still 15th in the league,
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19 | Arsenal | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 3 |
| 20 | Huddersfield Town | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 9 | 3 |
| 21 | Birmingham City | 6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 6 | 13 | 2 |
| 22 | Blackpool | 4 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 8 | 1 |
By 15 October Arsenal, the current league champions, were still 15th in the league, although a major recovery did occur in April when five wins out of six games saw Arsenal finish fifth.
Thus, Arsenal’s league record through the 1930s read:
| Season | League position | FA Cup |
| 1930/1 | 1 | 4th round |
| 1931/2 | 2 | Finalists |
| 1932/3 | 1 | 3rd round |
| 1933/4 | 1 | 6th round |
| 1934/5 | 1 | 6th round |
| 1935/6 | 6 | Winners |
| 1936/7 | 3 | 6th round |
| 1937/8 | 1 | 5th round |
| 1938/9 | 5 | 3rd round |
To summarise, five league titles and one FA Cup. Overall, the club finished in the top three seven times in the nine years in which the competitions were played.
Three league games were played in 1939/40 season before the season was abandoned upon the outbreak of the Second World War. Arsenal drew 2-2 away to Wolverhampton, and beat Blackburn and Sunderland at home 1-0 and 5-2 respectively. As a result, after three games, they were second in the league, behind Blackpool and Sheffield Wednesday.
During the war, wartime leagues were organised, in which players were allowed to play for the team nearest to where they were based, when they were not called up by one of the military services and posted elsewhere. The rules stated that the games were to be “friendlies” and would not count toward normal statistics.
Changes were made each season as clubs had different availability of players and transport facilities changed. The FA Cup was abandoned and a League War Cup was played for. In 1940, the FA’s ban on Sunday football was removed – after it was being widely ignored anyway.
Meanwhile, London teams joined together to express their unhappiness about the arrangements being made for football in London at this time, and so broke away from the league and FA, arranging their own competitions. George Allison, who stayed working with Arsenal during the war, was a significant voice in this movement for London’s independence from the FA.
Arsenal retained Alliosn as manager through this period, and effectively he ran the club on his own, leaving him totally exhausted when he was called upon to be manager for the first post-war season. As for the ground, Highbury was set up as an ARP (air raid precaution) centre. As a result, all Arsenal home games were played at White Hart Lane.
The series continues.
