The Arsenal Anniversary Files
Today’s headline anniversaries come from 2000
Latest article published by the Arsenal History Society
Arsenal in the summer of 1925: Knighton out and the club advertises for a manager
Coming up next: Hello Chapman!
Below are the Arsenal (and for historical context, 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 monthly Anniversary files can be found in the right column of this site under “Pages”
The current historical series on this site is Henry Norris at the Arsenal. An index of all our main series can be found on the home page.
19 August 1904: Woolwich Gazette reported Archibald Leitch was engaged in work on Manor Ground building refreshment bars utilising the back of the Abbey Wood End slope. It was probably the first job since the Ibrox disaster for the man who went on to design Highbury.
19 August 1939: On the eve of war Arsenal beat Tottenham 1-0 in a friendly. After three league games the season was abandoned and the league did not resume until 1946, and Arsenal spent most of the war years based at White Hart Lane
19 August 1946. Ray Daniel signed. Because of conscription he did not start playing for Arsenal until May 1949.
19 August 1956: Joe Wade left Arsenal to become player manager at Hereford. He had played 86 times for Arsenal, his only senior club.
19 August 1961: Laurie Brown and John MacLeod each played their first match for Arsenal, a 2-2 draw with Burnley.
19 August 1966. George Eastham transferred to Stoke for £35,000. He’d scored 41 in 223 games for Arsenal and transformed the legal basis of the retain and transfer system – which Woolwich Arsenal had originally established in court.
19 August 1969: Last appearance of Ian Ure in 1-1 draw with Leeds. He had played 168 league matches for Arsenal, before moving on to Manchester Utd and then St Mirren.
19 August 1975: After a dire opening match against Burnley, Sheffield United 1 Arsenal 3 was much better although peppered with Sheffield appeals for penalties from the third minute onwards. Brady ignored the fuss and gave Arsenal the lead on the 34th minute with a shot from 30 yards. Sammy Nelson was sent off for handball in the 72nd minute, but Kidd made the game safe seconds from the end.
19 August 1978: John Kosmina played his first and last game for Arsenal as a substitute in the match against Leeds. He had transferred from Adelaide City earlier in the year and the following season left to play for West Adelaide Hellas. John Hawley, one of the brave heroic men of football, played in the game.
19 August 1989: In the first league match after winning the title in the last seconds at Anfield, Arsenal lost 4-1 away to Man U, but were undefeated in the next seven.
19 August 2000: Arsenal started their season at Sunderland with a 0-1 defeat. Arsène Wenger was accused of violent and threatening behaviour towards the fourth official in a case that rumbled on and on for months to come.
19 August 2006: Gilberto scored his first league goal for Arsenal and Arsenal’s first league goal at the new Emirates Stadium in a 1-1 draw with Aston Villa.
19 August 2011: Joel Campbell signed from Saprissa for around £1m. He played only eight league matches before Arsenal signed him, and then loaned him to Lorient.
19 August 2011: Jay Simpson sold to Hull City. He never played for Arsenal but had successful loan spells with Millwall, WBA and QPR.
19 August 2012: Arsenal confirmed that Alex Song sold to Barcelona, amidst rumours of a dispute with the management over tactics. He played 39 times for Barcelona before being loaned to WHU.
19 August 2014: Besiktas 0 Arsenal 0: the first Champions League play off match Arsenal had failed to win. Ramsey was sent off for a second yellow card
