By Tony Attwood
The story of Arsenal during the barren years of the mid to late 1950s and on through the 1960s is told in the superb book, Arsenal the Long Sleep. There are full details of this volume, which is available worldwide as a paperback, and via Amazon on Kindle on the Arsenal Books page and at the end of this article. We have a link to sample pages from the book, and details of the other Arsenal books that we have published.
The story of what happened after Arsenal won the Fairs Cup in 1970 is on this site, in the Arsenal in the 70s series (of which there is an index below). That series ends with a quick overview of where we had got to in the summer of 1980 and what happened next.
This now is the very last piece of the jigsaw: the overview of the whole period. Here’s a chronology of the era.
| Season | Lge pos | FA Cup | Lge Cup | Euro comp | Round |
| 1952/3 | 1st | QF | |||
| 1953/4 | 12th | R4 | |||
| 1954/5 | 9th | R4 | |||
| 1955/6 | 5th | QF | |||
| 1956/7 | 5th | QF | |||
| 1957/8 | 12th | R3 | |||
| 1958/9 | 3rd | R5 | |||
| 1959/60 | 13th | R3 | |||
| 1960/1 | 11th | R3 | |||
| 1961/2 | 10th | R4 | |||
| 1962/3 | 7th | R5 | |||
| 1963/4 | 8th | R5 | Fairs Cup | R2 | |
| 1964/5 | 13th | R4 | |||
| 1965/6 | 14th | R3 | |||
| 1966/7 | 7th | R5 | R3 | ||
| 1967/8 | 9th | R5 | RU | ||
| 1968/9 | 4th | R5 | RU | ||
| 1969/70 | 12th | R3 | R3 | Fairs Cup | W |
| 1970/1 | 1st | W | R4 | Fairs Cup | QF |
| 1971/2 | 5th | RU | R4 | European Cup | QF |
| 1972/3 | 2nd | SF | QF | ||
| 1973/4 | 10th | R4 | R2 | ||
| 1974/5 | 16th | QF | R2 | ||
| 1975/6 | 17th | R3 | R2 | ||
| 1976/7 | 8th | R5 | QF | ||
| 1977/8 | 8th | RU | SF | ||
| 1978/9 | 7th | W | R2 | Uefa Cup | R3 |
| 1979/80 | 4th | RU | QF | CWC | RU |
The trophies and runner’s up places were
- League: 2 (once runners’ up)
- FA Cup: 2 (three times runners’ up)
- League Cup: 0 (twice runners’ up)
- Fairs Cup: 1
- Cup Winners’ Cup: 0 (once runners’ up)
The worst performances
- 17th in the league
- FA Cup 3rd round (six times)
- League Cup 2nd round (four times)
- Fairs Cup round two.
So what we right and what went wrong?
We can get a feel for what was happening in the first division with this table. The number in brackets after the Champions name is the number of times the team had won the league by that point. In winning the league in 1953 Arsenal had won the league more times than any other team, an achievement that was equalled by Liverpool in 1966, Man U and then Everton, before Arsenal took the lead again with eight in 1971. Liverpool finally overtook Arsenal in 1976
| Champions | Runners-up | Third place | |
| 1952/3 | Arsenal (7) | Preston NE | Wolverhampton |
| 1953/4 | Wolverhampton W | West Bromwich Albion | Huddersfield Town |
| 1954/5 | Chelsea (1) | Wolverhampton W | Portsmouth |
| 1955/6 | Manchester Utd (4) | Blackpool | Wolverhampton |
| 1956/7 | Manchester Utd (5) | Tottenham Hotspur | Preston NE |
| 1957/8 | Wolverhampton W (2) | Preston NE | Tottenham Hotspur |
| 1958/9 | Wolverhampton W (3) | Manchester United | Arsenal |
| 1959/60 | Burnley (2) | Wolverhampton W | Tottenham Hotspur |
| 1960/1 | Tottenham (2) | Sheffield W | Wolverhampton |
| 1961/2 | Ipswich Town (1) | Burnley | Tottenham Hotspur |
| 1962/3 | Everton (6) | Tottenham Hotspur | Burnley |
| 1963/4 | Liverpool (6) | Manchester United | Everton |
| 1964/5 | Manchester United (6) | Leeds United | Chelsea |
| 1965/6 | Liverpool (7) | Leeds United | Burnley |
| 1966/7 | Manchester United (7) | Nottingham Forest | Tottenham Hotspur |
| 1967/8 | Manchester City (2) | Manchester United | Liverpool |
| 1968/9 | Leeds United | Liverpool | Everton |
| 1969/70 | Everton (7) | Leeds United | Chelsea |
| 1970/1 | Arsenal (8) | Leeds United | Tottenham Hotspur |
| 1971/2 | Derby County | Leeds United | Liverpool |
| 1972/3 | Liverpool (8) | Arsenal | Leeds United |
| 1973/4 | Leeds United (2) | Liverpool | Derby County |
| 1974/5 | Derby County (2) | Liverpool | Ipswich Town |
| 1975/6 | Liverpool (9) | Queens Park Rangers | Manchester United |
| 1976/7 | Liverpool (10) | Manchester City | Ipswich Town |
| 1977/8 | Nottingham Forest | Liverpool | Everton |
| 1978/9 | Liverpool (11) | Nottingham Forest | West Bromwich Albion |
| 1979/80 | Liverpool (12) | Manchester United | Ipswich Town |
The number of league wins during this period (with the number of top 3 finishes as the second number – meaning Arsenal won the league twice and came in the top four 3 times)
- Arsenal 2 / 4
- Burnley 1 /4
- Chelsea 1 / 3
- Derby 2 / 3
- Everton 2 /5
- Ipswich 1 /4
- Leeds 2 / 8
- Liverpool 6 / 13
- Man City 1 / 2
- Man U 4 / 9
- Nottingham F 1 / 3
- Tottenham 1 / 8
- Wolverhampton W 3 / 8
If we turn this table into a list of clubs ordered by the total of top three finishes in the period we get this
- Man City 1 / 2
- Chelsea 1 / 3
- Nottingham F 1 / 3
- Burnley 1 /4
- Ipswich 1 /4
- Tottenham 1 / 8
- Derby 2 / 3
- Arsenal 2 / 4
- Everton 2 /5
- Leeds 2 / 8
- Wolverhampton W 3 / 8
- Man U 4 / 9
- Liverpool 6 / 13
So we have Arsenal half way down the list in terms of successful teams during the period.
In terms of FA Cup Wins and runners’ up places during the same period we have the following table (only including those teams that won the trophy at least once in the era)
- Blackpool 1 / 0
- Sunderland 1/0
- Southampton 1/0
- Aston Villa 1/0
- Ipswich 1/0
- Nottingham Forest 1/0
- Wolverhampton 1/0
- Bolton Wanderers 1/1
- Everton 1/1
- Newcastle 1/1
- Manchester City 1/1
- Leeds 1/4
- West Brom 2 / 0
- Chelsea 2/1
- Liverpool 2/2
- Arsenal 2/3
- Manchester Utd 2/4
- Tottenham 3/0
- West Ham 3/0
What this all shows is that across the whole era Arsenal were, despite the long spell without trophies, one of the more prominent teams, with the second highest number of FA Cup final appearances (beaten only by Man U), and the sixth most successful club in terms of League wins.
If we assigned an arbitrary set of points for achievements, such as 3 for a league win, 1 for coming second or third, 2 for an FA Cup win and 1 for a runner up we would get this
| Club | Lge 1st (3) | 2nd/3rd (1) | Lge Pts | FAC (2) | FARU (1) | FAC Pts | Total |
| Arsenal | 2 | 4 | 10 | 2 | 3 | 7 | 17 |
| Everton | 2 | 5 | 11 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 16 |
| Leeds | 2 | 8 | 14 | 1 | 4 | 6 | 20 |
| Wolverhampton | 3 | 8 | 17 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 19 |
| Man U | 4 | 9 | 21 | 2 | 4 | 8 | 29 |
| Liverpool | 6 | 13 | 31 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 37 |
| Tottenham | 1 | 8 | 11 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 17 |
So throughout this whole period from 1953 (and as you will have seen I included the 1953 league win) to the three cup finals at the end of the period, Arsenal were somewhere around the seventh most successful team. It is a very crude measure of course – but it is a rough guide. We were on a par with Tottenham, but as the final section below shows, we beat them on one score…
For what we didn’t do of course is go down to the second division unlike Nottingham Forest, Blackburn, Leeds, West Ham, Everton and Southampton who started the era in the second division (Southampton being relegated that year to the third).
Those relegated during the period under consideration included Liverpool (relegated 1954), Sunderland (1958), Aston Villa (1959), Leeds (1960), Newcastle (1961), Preston (1961), Chelsea (1962), Man City (1963), Ipswich (1964), Wolverhampton (1965), Villa (1967), Blackpool (1967), Sunderland (1970), Burnley (1970), Blackpool (1971), Nottingham Forest (1972), WBA (1972), Southampton and Man U (1973), Chelsea (1975), Wolverhampton (1976), Sunderland and Tottenham (1977), West Ham (1978), Chelsea (1979), Derby (1980).
Perhaps it wasn’t so bad after all.
Anyway, that’s it. I’m now going to try and turn the whole Arsenal in the 70s material into a book, but meanwhile the blog will return to articles about individual players for Arsenal through the ages. I hope you have found something of interest in the whole project.
- Arsenal in the 70s part 1: the re-birth of the club. 1969/70
- Arsenal in the 70s part 2: preparing for the impossible. July to December 1970
- Arsenal in the 70s part 3: The Golden Treble
- Arsenal in the 70s part 4: What went so right in 1971, and why did it go wrong?
- Arsenal in the 70s part 5: After the double, double doubts.
- Arsenal in the 70s part 6: The winter of blossoming hope. Nov 71 to Jan 72.
- Arsenal in the 70s part 7: Revival and defeat. Feb 72 to June 72
- Arsenal in the 70s part 8: The lessons learned and the lessons ignored. 1967/73
- Arsenal in the 70s part 9: July to Dec 1972. Indiscipline and invasions.
- Arsenal in the 70s part 10: Being screwed by the league and the prelude to decline
- Arsenal in the 70s part 11: July to Dec 73, the world falls apart and Arsenal sinks.
- Arsenal in the 70s part 12: Jan to June 74. Farewell Bob, hello Liam.
- Arsenal in the 70s part 13: July to Dec 74. Flirting with relegation.
- Arsenal in the 70s part 14: Jan to June 1975 – trying to send Tottenham down
- Arsenal in the 70s part 15. When we thought it couldn’t get worse… July to Dec 1975
- Arsenal in the 70s part 16. Jan to June 1976: the end of Mee
- Arsenal in the 70s part 17: The summer of 76. New manager. New superstar.
- Arsenal in the 70s part 18: July to Dec 1976. Neill takes control
- Arsenal in the 70s part 19: Jan to June 77. Arsenal’s worst ever run. Jimmy Hill stoops low.
- Arsenal in the 70s part 20: July to Dec 77. Signs of recovery.
- Arsenal in the 70s part 21: Jan to June 78. A cup final.
- Arsenal in the 70s part 22:Life without Macdonald.
- Arsenal in the 70s part 23. At last another trophy. Jan to June 1979
- Arsenal in the 70s part 24: July to Dec 1979. One pace on, one back.
- Arsenal in the 70s part 25: Jan to June 1980. Farewell Liam Brady
- Arsenal in the 1970s – the overview and what happened next..
Arsenal: the long sleep 1953 – 1970; a view from the terrace.
By John Sowman with an introduction by Bob Wilson
Arsenal: The Long Sleep is the definitive detailed account of the seventeen seasons immediately after the record seventh Football League championship win in 1953. It is available as a 384 page printed book (9″ by 5.75″ trade paperback size) for £19.95 plus delivery, and also on Amazon Kindle for £9.99. The paperback edition is available exclusively through Untold Arsenal and the Arsenal History Society. The Kindle edition is available through Amazon.
You can see an extract from the book here
You can order the Kindle edition here – it is free with Kindle Unlimited, £9.99 otherwise.
You can order the paperback edition through our on line shop or with a credit card on 01536 399 011 or by fax on 01536 399 012 or by post with a cheque or credit card details to Hamilton House Mailings Ltd., Earlstrees Ct., Earlstrees Rd., Corby, Northants NN17 4HH. The price is £19.95.
