The anniversary files are edited by Tony Attwood. Please note that as I’m currently travelling the time at which the files appear each day may vary considerably from the norm.
The latest post from our series on Henry Norris at the Arsenal
Arsenal meet the king, Ireland split in two, Scotland says no. December 1920.
A new post is about to be published – or indeed may already have been published
Today’s headline comes from 1927, the manager was of course Herbert Chapman.
7 March 1891. Arsenal won the London Senior Cup It was at the time the most prestigious trophy in the south of England after the FA Cup, and was Royal Arsenal’s last trophy before they became Woolwich Arsenal.
7 March 1904: Millwall 3 Arsenal 0 in the London League Premier Division. The games between the two continued to have huge local significance until Arsenal moved grounds in 1913 – by which time Millwall had moved in the other direction across the Thames to their new ground at the Den.
7 March 1908. Arsenal 0 Chelsea 0. Attendance: 30,000. The first home game ever against Chelsea in the League. Chelsea ended the season in 13th, Arsenal in 14th.
7 March 1910: Arsenal lost to Everton 0-1 as the vultures circled with the club’s financial problems becoming public knowledge. Only 6000 showed up for what was the fourth of five games without a win. See also here
7 March 1914: Arsenal played an away goalless draw with Nottingham Forest in front of 10,000, but even before this match most Arsenal fans were focussed on the next match on 14 March: the first ever London derby at Highbury.
7 March 1920: Reg Lewis born. In the 1947/8 season he played 28 games and scored 14 while Ronnie Rooke played 42 and scored 33 as Arsenal won the league..
7 March 1921: Fred Pagnam sold to Cardiff. Earlier in his career he was one of the men who blew the whistle on the Liverpool match fixing scandal of 1915, having refused to take part in the scam.
7 March 1927: West Ham 7 Arsenal 0. Chapman’s worst defeat (equal to October 23 1926) and the fourth 0-7 that Arsenal had suffered in the first division. It started a sequence of six defeats letting in 26 goals. It was a good job the aaa were not on hand to demand his immediate sacking.
7 March 1928: Jimmy Brain got a hat trick to become the first man to score 100 goals for Arsenal as Arsenal beat Liverpool 6-3. Hulme, Buchan and Lambert got the other goals for Arsenal.
7 March 1931: Arsenal 0 Huddersfield 0. Final game for Alf Baker, who later in his career became a scout for the club. He played 310 games for Arsenal – his only senior club.
7 March 1953: Arsenal 0 Cardiff 1. Despite this starting a six match run without a win, Arsenal still went on to win the league on the final day of the season in a style that was repeated in 1989.
7 March 1959: Wolverhampton 6 Arsenal 1. After eight unbeaten, Arsenal started a run of seven without a win as hopes of another league title evaporated.
7 March 1964: 185th and final league match for Vic Groves as Arsenal lost 0-2 to Nottingham Forest. He was transferred to Canterbury City for whom he played nine games.
7 March 1973: Ray Parlour born. Ray joined Arsenal in 1989 as a 16 year old trainee, playing his first game on January 29 1992 He later gained the nickname the Romford Pele and later still Arsène Wenger complained that he could never understand a word he said.
7 March 1981: Last game for David Price. He played 176 games for the club and played in the 3-2 cup final win against Man U. At the start of the 1980/1 season he was replaced by John Hollins and at the end of that season sold to Crystal Palace in part exchange for Peter Nicholas.
7 March 1987: Chelsea 1 Arsenal 0. The 5th game without a win, in a run which lasted 10 games, ending finally on April 11.
7 March 2000: Stephen Hughes sold to Everton. Despite some early promise he eventually only played just 49 league games for Arsenal. But he did get a league winner’s medal.
7 March 2007: Thierry Henry’s last match before his comeback. Arsenal 1 PSV 1 in the Champions League. He played 254 league games in total and scored 174 goals. He then left for Barcelona and later NY Red Bulls before returning to Arsenal for his last four games.
Yesterday’s anniversaries:
Tottenham 0 Arsenal 6. Oh what fun.
What’s on the Arsenal History Society site
Our current series is “Henry Norris at the Arsenal” An index to the various series that contain over 1,900 articles on this site concerning the history of Arsenal appears on our home page. Previous series have covered Arsenal in the 1930s, Arsenal in the 70s, the Royal Arsenal years, and many individual players.
Please note that “Woolwich Arsenal, the club that changed football” and “Making the Arsenal” are both available on Kindle, but I cannot currently accept orders for the printed edition as I’m travelling. Please see here for more details
