The Anniversary Files
Here are the Arsenal (and occasionally one or two non-Arsenal) anniversaries for today taken from the complete files of over 6000 Arsenal anniversaries which appear on the Arsenal History Society website. An index to the Anniversary files can be found in the left column of this site under “Pages”
The current historical series on this site is Henry Norris at the Arsenal. An index of all our series can be found on the home page.
8 June 1899: Duncan McNichol signed from Scottish junior club St Bernards. He became a regular at full back and played in the record breaking 12-0 victory over Loughboro. For the context in the club see here
8 June 1905: Jimmy Sharp signed for Woolwich Arsenal from Fulham, then of the Southern League. He had won a runners-up medal with Dundee, and Scottish caps before moving on to play for Arsenal.
8 June 1910: Henry Norris, Arsenal’s new owner, told manager George Morrell that his job was safe despite missing relegation by just one place and two points in the season just finished. For all the events of this period see here.
8 June 1914: Frank Bradshaw signed from Everton. In 1907, he played in Wednesday’s FA Cup winning team and got an England cap before moving to Northampton, and then Everton for whom he played 66 times.
8 June 1925: The Football League voted to change the offside rule to two men behind the ball rather than three, leading to Chapman’s variant “WM” formation in his first year at Arsenal. The tactic helped Arsenal come second in 1925/6. For the momentous events of this summer which changed Arsenal forever see here.
8 June 1936: Arsenal fined £250 for fielding weakened teams in order to protect their FA Cup squad (which won the cup the previous April). For the story of the summer of 1936 see here.
8 June 1954: Lionel Smith sold to Watford. Although a regular in the title winning 1952/3 team he only played ten games in 1953/4 and left on a free transfer. He played just seven times for Watford before moving onto Gravesend.
8 June 1982: Tony Woodcock signed from Cologne. He had been in Germany for three seasons, scoring 28 goals in 81 games.
8 June 1995: Bruce Rioch appointed manager of Arsenal from Bolton. In 1994/5 Bolton were losing League Cup finalists, and beat Reading in the Division One play off. It is said Bolton supporters think of him as one of their best managers.
8 June 2010: Philippe Senderos joined Fulham from Arsenal on a free. He played 57 times for them before moving on to Valencia and then in 2014, Aston Villa.
8 June 2011: Carl Jenkinson signed for £1m. He showed great promise and was loaned to West Ham for 2014/15 where he became a regular with the side.senal, but in 2000 returned to the UK to play over 100 games for Dundee.
9 June 1999: Remi Garde announced his retirement. He went into management and later became manager of Lyon and subsequently Aston Villa.
9 June 2008: Alex Song signed new long term contract. He continued at Arsenal, but amidst rumours of a dispute with the management he was sold to Barcelona in 2012 having played 160 league games for Arsenal.
9 June 2008: Gary Lewin agreed to leave Arsenal as the head of their medical team to take up a place with the FA on 1 August. His cousin Colin Lewis took over at Arsenal.
The current series: Covering all aspects of the life and work of the man who rescued Arsenal from extinction, secured the club’s future by moving it to Highbury, and then brought in Herbert Chapman as manager, our current series of articles is on Henry Norris at the Arsenal. The articles thus far are here.
“Woolwich Arsenal, the club that changed football” and “Making the Arsenal” are both available on Kindle. Please see here for more details