When I started work on the Anniversary Files I rather thought that May would be one of those months in which little happened.
How wrong – we seem to have as many historical moments in May as in any other month. Just look at today’s list…
- 22 May 1902: Jack Lambert born
- 22 May 1914: Christopher Buckley signed
- 22 May 1914: George Pike Weaver’s mineral company closed – significant because Weaver was the leader of the attempted coup at Arsenal in 1892
- 22 May 1931: Final senior appearance of Jimmy Brain
- 22 May 1946: Leslie Jones transferred to Swansea
- 22 May 1953: Paul Marriner born
- 22 May 1971: Frank McLintock played last game for Scotland
- 22 May 1986: Danny Clapton died.
- 22 May 1990:John Lukic sold back to Leeds
- 22 May 2009: After Hull accuse Fabregas of spitting, being improperly dressed, entering the field of play after the match was over, and Wenger of not shaking hands, Arsenal are cleared on all counts
- 22 May 2011: Arsenal conclude the season with Fulham 2 Arsenal 2 after consecutive defeats at Stoke and home to Villa.
The 22 May 2009 event is one that sticks in the memory.
Phil Brown claimed that he had seen Cesc Fàbregas spit at the Hull assistant manager Brian Horton at the end of the defeat of Hull City in the FA Cup. That was bad, but then it became seriously odd as other allegations (like illegally being on the field of play after the game had finished) were added.
On 22 May 2009 Cesc was cleared of this and various other wild allegations made, such that Cesc had no right to be on the pitch at that moment (Cesc was recovering from knee surgery, and joined the team on the pitch at the final whistle), that Cesc was improperly dressed (!) , and that Arsène Wenger had refused to shake his hand at one of the two previous games between the clubs that season.
The stories on most of these anniversaries can be followed through the links above.
The Anniversary files now have over 4000 entries, and are now divided into six sections:
If you would like to contribute an article to this site, please see this note on submissions etc. The Books
- Woolwich Arsenal: The club that changed football – Arsenal’s early years
- Making the Arsenal – how the modern Arsenal was born in 1910
- The Crowd at Woolwich Arsenal
What about all the Cup Finals Arsenal have played in. They were all in May and must have had an affect on our history.
I think “affect” should read “effect”….sorry 🙂