Latest article published by the Arsenal History Society…
Arsenal in January 1927: Sir Henry Norris acts strangely
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” on the right of the screen.
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.
Today’s headline comes from 2015
5 October 1889: First ever FA Cup match played by Arsenal, as Royal Arsenal beat Lyndhurst 11-0, although there is some debate over which Lyndhurst it was, but the club in Hampshire which is still playing, claim the honour. See also here
5 October 1896: Rushden Town 5 Woolwich Arsenal 3, United League. This was Arsenal’s first season in the league, in which they generally played their first team players. They continued in the league for three years after which they moved into the Southern District Combination.
5 October 1904: Reginald William Tricker (known as Reg) was born in Karachi and moved to England in 1908 with his family. Reg joined Arsenal from Charlton Athletic for £2,250 on 12 March 1927, before making his full debut just one week later in a 2-1 defeat at home to Everton.
5 October 1912: After starting the season with four successive defeats Arsenal recovered with three unbeaten including this 0-0 draw with Oldham. However the relief was short lived as Arsenal did not win again until March. Also on this day Aston villa beat The Wednesday 10-0.
5 October 1919: The rail strike was called off after the employers caved in to workers demands. Simultaneously the Met Police launch their first mobile patrol unit using horse drawn carriages.
5 October 1922: Sir Henry Norris, William Hall, Charles Crisp, John Humble, Leslie Knighton, and the Arsenal players involved in the match against Tottenham, plus the directors, managers and players of Tottenham, were summoned to an FA Commission of Inquiry into the game played at White Hart Lane on 23 September.
5 October 1923: Albert Sigurður Guðmundsson – the Arsenal player who became Icelandic Minister of Finance, was born.
5 October 1925: The new “WM plus zonal marking” high speed counter attack system played for the first time in a 4-0 victory over West Ham. It was gradually refined as players were found who could exactly meet the demands of the new system, but it did not lead to long term Arsenal success. See also here
5 October 1927: Samson Haden sold to Notts County for £1350. He went on to play 289 league games for Notts C, scoring 36 goals. Later he became player manager and manager of Peterborough, but after that we lose sight of him.
5 October 1929: Cliff Bastin league debut for Arsenal in a 1-1 away draw against Everton. He went on to play 21 games in his first season, scoring seven.
5 October 1936: Gerry Ward born in Stepney. He was signed by Tom Whittaker who was convinced he had a great future at the club, and made him the youngest ever player to start a match for Arsenal.
5 October 1936: The Jarrow March began with 207 marching to London in protest against poverty and unemployment
5 October 1953: First game for Len Wills in the floodlight opening friendly at QPR which Arsenal won 3-1. He first played for Eton Manor FC, an amateur club formed by several well-to-do families to support young men and boys in the East End of London.
5 October 1954: Dynamo Moscow 0 Arsenal 5 making Arsenal the first English club to play in the Soviet Union. The attendance was 90,000
5 October 1964: Frank McLintock signed from Leicester for £80,000. He had played in two Leicester cup final sides (1961 losing to Tottenham, 1963 losing to Man U) but won the League cup final in 1964 beating Stoke over two legs.
5 October 1966: Debut for John Woodward v WHU, in the league cup. Arsenal lost 1-3 at Highbury, with David Jenkins scoring his only goal of the season. John made just two starts and came on once as a sub for Arsenal.
5 October 1970: Arsenal beat Tottenham at Highbury. Later they did it again at White Hart Lane in the last match of the season to win the league.
5 October 1974: Last game for Jeff Blockley, having played 52 league games for Arsenal. He was dropped and placed on the transfer list and sold in January 1975 to Leicester for half the fee Arsenal paid for him
5 October 1974: A month after sacking Brian Clough, Leeds United finally appointed Jimmy Armfield of Bolton Wanderers as their new manager on 4 October. On 5 October Leeds United celebrated by beating Arsenal.
5 October 1976: Arsenal played Blackpool (the exponents of anti-football) at home in the League Cup for the third time and finally won 2-0, in front of 26,791 who clearly thought it couldn’t be as bad as the last two games. Stapleton and O’Leary broke the 11 man defence..
5 October 2004: The name “The Emirates Stadium” was announced, with naming rights granted for 15 years alongside an eight year shirt sponsorship deal. The price was about £100m. Although the name did not leak out in advance, Arsenal did start buying web sites with EmiratesStadium in them although they forgot EmiratesStadium.info which Untold Arsenal used when it opened in 2007.
5 October 2014: Arsenal lost their first league game of the season 0-2 to Chelsea. Much was made of the fact that Arsène Wenger had not beaten José Mourinho in 12 games, and that Arsenal had dropped to 8th in the league.
Gerry Ward fiSrst game V Huddersfield . Correct if wrong please
Gerry Ward first game 22 August 1953 – becoming Arsenal’s youngest ever player at the time aged 16 years 322 days. Many thanks Tom – I will add it to the anniversary files at once.