10 stories of Arsenal and Tottenham that the media today won’t mention (and one they might)

10 stories the press probably won’t mention, and one that they might.

In the build up to the Tottenham v Arsenal game on 7 February 2015 the English press has got very excited talking about the best players to play in the match, the best players in each team, and so on.

Quite a contrast given that many has been the year when Arsenal / Tottenham games have seemed to be of little interest to the media as they didn’t involve a club from the north west of England.

So as part of the build up for the day the Arsenal History Society presents ten articles from our archives relating to some of the more interesting issues that have arisen from the rivalry between the two.

Some are about players, some about matches, some about the era and the build up.  I hope you find something of interest.

Tony Attwood

1.  The man who was an Arsenal player one day, but played against Arsenal for Tottenham the next – in the wrong position!

2.  Arsenal’s and Tottenham’s results leading up to the first ever match between the two sides.

3.  Ly Burrows – the only man regularly to swap between playing for Arsenal and Tottenham – and how he managed it!

4.  31 January 1959: Arsenal beat Tottenham 4-1 at White Hart Lane

5.  10 September 1988: Tottenham 2 Arsenal 3 and other such games from the era

6.  Tottenham 1 Arsenal 5: what a way to start a season!

7.  16 November 2002: Can it ever get better than this?

8.  The day Arsenal opened talks with Chelsea and Tottenham over them buying part of the club.  Did it ever get darker than this?

9.  The first Arsenal Tottenham derby at Highbury, and why we had to wait for it.

10.  The day we beat Tottenham 10-1.

And one story that does get dug up.

If you are a regular reader you’ll know that we’ve spent more time searching out the issues relating to Arsenal’s promotion and Tottenham’s relegation in 1919, than virtually any other topic.   We’ve also looked at the allegations made by some Tottenham supporters and others, that matters were fixed in some illegal way.

This does get mentioned so isn’t in my list of ten items above, because it does get mentioned in the media, but unfortunately the mentions that the press give the story are sadly woefully inaccurate.

So a while back we did the most detailed analysis of what happened in 1919 that has been published anywhere, and you can read it here.  There is even an offer of a prize if you can find something we have got wrong, and evidence of some illegal act.

It’s a long read, because it (unlike most other commentaries on 1919) contains reprints of articles from the press at the time as part of the evidence.  But actually it is worth it, and is one of the most detailed bits of digging for evidence we’ve ever done.  I’m eternally grateful to Andy Kelly for that piece of work.

Tony.

 Today’s anniversaries.

One Reply to “10 stories of Arsenal and Tottenham that the media today won’t mention (and one they might)”

  1. Tony

    Re #8. I can only think it would have been surpassed if the talks in the late 70s about Ally Pally had actually led to a groundshare!

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