This series is researched and written by Tony Attwood, of AISA Arsenal History Society.. Details of Arsenal Independent Supporters Association (AISA) can be found here The full index of articles tracing 100 consecutive years of Arsenal in the top division is published here
Recent posts are
- 100 seasons in the top division – 1987/8: faith in Arsenal is finally rewarded
- 100 seasons in the top division:1986/7. A trophy!
- Arsenal’s 100 Seasons in the top division: 1984/5 and 1985/6
In 1970/71, Arsenal won the FA Cup and 1st Division double, only the fourth club to achieve such a feat. The first double was achieved by Preston North End in the very first season of the Football League in 1888/9, with that achievement repeated in 1896/7 by Aston Villa. There were then no further Doubles until Tottenham won the Double in 1960/61. Arsenal were then the fourth club to gain both trophies in the same season, ten years later.
Since then Arsenal have achieved the double twice more – in 1997/8 and 2001/2, thus winning the Double three times, equalling the achievement of Manchester United.
Sadly for me, that first double was achieved when I was living in Africa, but I did manage to hear the commentary on the FA Cup Final on short wave radio. Not quite what I wanted, but better than nothing. And indeed I am able to celebrate that I am still here, and indeed writing about such days, so something must have gone ok since then!
Of course it was so long ago, memories can be misleading, but I do know that back in London for the start of the following season, I expected that Double to be the launch of a new glorious era.
After all, we had Kennedy and Radford in the team knocking in goals galore, and although we only came 5th in 1972, Arsenal were also FA Cup runners-up. And although we only made the Cup semi-final in 1973 were runners-up in the league. Surely (we felt) at least another League title or FA Cup win was only just around the corner.
But no, it wasn’t to be. Somehow all that promise and ability slipped away, and Arsenal didn’t win another trophy until 1979 – the FA Cup – having been beaten finalists the year before. But worse, far, far worse, in the interim, Arsenal had had league seasons where they ended up 16th (1975) and 17th (1976). In fact, 1976 was the worst of all, for not only were Arsenal 17th in the league, but also went out of the FA Cup in round 3 and the League Cup in round 2. The top scorer in the league was Brian Kidd with just 11 goals to his name. It was as if our entire heritage of 1971 had been lost.
Of course, there was a light at the end of the tunnel, but all I can say is it felt like we were in a bloody long tunnel. Because after that FA Cup win of 1979, we then went another eight years before getting anything silver to shout about – and when we did it was very much the lesser of the three trophies: the League Cup of 1986/7. Sometimes I ask my pals from the older days a trick question about that year: Who was Arsenal’s top scorer that season, when we won the League Cup and came fourth in the league – our best league finish in six years?
If you have been following my rambling telling of the story of 100 years in the top division, you’ll know, but otherwise, you might find it hard to get. It was Martin Hayes with 24 goals. His one great season as a player. Why he faded from Arsenal’s first team so quickly, I wish I knew, but I don’t. I thought he was a brilliant player.
So to summarise, we won the FA cup in 1979, then nothing until the League Cup in 1987, and that was it. Nothing else in the follow-up years to the utterly unbelievable famous double of 1971. But each time we won something, the thought then was, “Could this be the start of the new golden era?”
1988/89 was the season wherein the Premier League reduced itself to 38 games, and it also celebrated the Football League Centenary Trophy: 100 years since the birth of the Football League.
Now of course, I’m writing these articles about Arsenal’s unique achievement of 100 years in the top division, and of course, I am aware that Arsenal were not in the original Football League. That league consisted of 12 clubs, and quite remarkably, all 12 of them are still with us, although not in the top division and not all in their original form. So we must note that there has been a need for reconstruction in certain clubs – we might think of Accrington, for example, but there is still an Accrington club in the league, and as this is an Arsenal story, I’m not going into what happened to them along the way.
Arsenal of course, were not in this original league, but I’m putting that original league table below because the creation of this league stimulated other clubs to be formed and get themselves together into regional leagues (such as Tottenham with the Southern League) or into the Football League Division II, as was the case with Woolwich Arsenal. Here’s the table of the first season of the Football League – obviously before Arsenal joined.
| P | W | D | L | F | A | Pts | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Preston NE | 22 | 18 | 4 | 0 | 74 | 15 | 40 |
| 2 | Aston Villa | 22 | 12 | 5 | 5 | 61 | 43 | 29 |
| 3 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | 22 | 12 | 4 | 6 | 51 | 37 | 28 |
| 4 | Blackburn Rovers | 22 | 10 | 6 | 6 | 66 | 45 | 26 |
| 5 | Bolton Wanderers | 22 | 10 | 2 | 10 | 63 | 59 | 22 |
| 6 | West Bromwich Albion | 22 | 10 | 2 | 10 | 40 | 46 | 22 |
| 7 | Accringtron | 22 | 6 | 8 | 8 | 48 | 48 | 20 |
| 8 | Everton | 22 | 9 | 2 | 11 | 35 | 47 | 20 |
| 9 | Burnley | 22 | 7 | 3 | 12 | 42 | 62 | 17 |
| 10 | Derby County | 22 | 7 | 2 | 13 | 41 | 61 | 16 |
| 11 | Notts County | 22 | 5 | 2 | 15 | 40 | 73 | 12 |
| 12 | Stoke | 22 | 4 | 4 | 14 | 26 | 51 | 12 |
The league rules stated that the bottom four clubs had to seek re-election at the end of the season, at the League’s AGM. They were all re-elected, with the general view being that everyone voted for the existing league members since one never knew when one’s own club might end up in the bottom four and need the favour returned.
And obviously the system survived, for as we know, to celebrate the 100th birthday of this event, the top eight from 1987/8 played a celebratory re-run of the competition as a knock-out cup, with the final being between Arsenal and Manchester United, at Villa Park on 9 October 1988 Paul Davis and Micky Thomas scored to give Arsenal the 2-1 win. It’s not a trophy we remember, but it was another trophy the club won.
There were, of course, other celebratory events, such as the Football League v Rest of the World and the Football League Centenary Trophy, at the start of the 1988/9 season, and generally quite a fuss was made of this being the oldest league in the world.
In fact, in 1988/9 there was a whole stream of Arsenal pre-season games starting as early as 23 July with a 0-5 away win at Yeovil and then taking in three games in Sweden before playing a two-day tournament at Wembley which involved beating Tottenham 4-0, and Bayern 3-0. Two more friendlies against Birmingham and Leicester followed, in which Arsenal scored four goals each time, to round off the pre-season matches.
But it seemed that Arsenal overdid the pre-season games as the opening of the season proper, with two wins, two defeats and a draw, was less than everyone expected, and seemed to give credence to this notion that the club had done too much in pre-season. And it really did seem at the start of the season that a new order might be taking over in football for the table on 24 September showed Norwich Citt top of the league and Millwall third. Arsenal as you can see, were lingering in seventh.
| P | W | D | L | F | A | Pts | ||
| 1 | Norwich City | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 5 | 13 |
| 2 | Liverpool | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 9 | 3 | 11 |
| 3 | Millwall | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 5 | 11 |
| 4 | Manchester United | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 10 |
| 5 | Southampton | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 2 | 10 |
| 6 | Coventry City | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 9 |
| 7 | Arsenal | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 13 | 10 | 7 |
