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The Anniversaries …
Below are the Arsenal (and for historical context, occasionally one or two non-Arsenal) anniversaries for today taken from the files of over 6000 Arsenal anniversaries which appear on the Arsenal History Society website. You will also find links to the month by month listing of anniversaries in the right hand column of this page.
The big series
“Henry Norris at the Arsenal” is now complete. The index to all the articles can be found at Henry Norris at the Arsenal. We are now preparing a more concise edition for publication as a book.
Arsenal in the 1930s: the complete history. The most detailed review and analysis of Arsenal in the 1930s ever published. The full index is here.
Arsenal in the 1970s: the complete history. Every game reviewed and analysed. The full index is here.
The Anniversaries for Today
Today’s headline comes from 2008
22 January 1887: Royal Arsenal 1 Eastern Wanderers 0. The return game of Arsenal’s first match played on the Isle of Dogs – it was the newspaper report that this was the second meeting of the two teams that helped confirm that the first game (the Dial Square match) had actually taken place when reported.
22 January 1898: The first of three matches against local rivals Millwall in the space of four months. This was a 2-2 draw with 8000 in the crowd.
22 January 1910: The events began that led to Henry Norris taking over Arsenal. On this day Woolwich Arsenal held two vital meetings (one for shareholders, one for supporters) in which they confirmed the extent of their debts after playing their scheduled league game.
22 January 1910: Man U played their last home match before moving to Old Trafford – a successful move to a larger stadium that may well have been a model for Henry Norris with his move of Arsenal to Highbury three years later.
22 January 1914: George Drury born in Hucknel.. He played 40 times for Arsenal either side of the Second World War. He moved to Arsenal for £7,000 in March 1938 and won a championship winners’ medal and he also played in the notorious post-war match against Moscow Dynamo.
22 January 1916: The first London Combination wartime league ended with a 2-2 away draw with Brentford in front of only 2,500. The league had been set up to run only until January in the hope the war would be over by then. In fact a second league was organised to start the following week.
22 January 1918: It is clear from meetings he did not attend Lt Col Norris was again working full time for the War Office on the issue of conscription. It was also evidence that Arsenal was being left in the hands of others and that Sir Henry had no input into the club at this time.
22 January 1921: Arsenal played Tottenham for the second week running, winning 3-2 at Highbury – making this the first Highbury derby between the two teams. A crowd of 60,600 turned up – the highest thus far at Highbury.
22 January 1927: First live radio broadcast of a match: Arsenal v Sheffield U (1-1). The commentator was actually a rugby expert (Capt H B T Wakelam) who had the week previously commentated on a rugby match on the BBC.
22 January 1948: Peter Goring signed from Cheltenham. He went on to play over 200 games for the club in a 10 year period, won the league with Arsenal and appeared in the Cup Final.
22 January 1966: Blackburn 3 Arsenal 0 (FA Cup) followed three league defeats. In the four games Arsenal scored just one goal as Billy Wright’s tenure crumbled. It meant the club had not got past the 5th round since 1957.
22 January 1966: Last senior game for Joe Baker (FA Cup 0-3 to Blackburn). He had been Billy Wright’s first signing, and had a superb goals to game ratio scoring 93 in 144 league matches. He then played for Nottingham Forest, Sunderland, Hibs and Raith.
22 January 1972: Arsenal beat Huddersfield 1-0 with 36,670 at Highbury. Huddersfield were under no illusions as to the limitations of their play, and managed only two shots through the whole game, giving Wilson just one save to make.
22 January 1979. Arsenal 2 Sheffield W 0 in the fourth replay of the FA Cup 3rd round, as Arsenal progressed on towards the final. In all Arsenal played 11 FA Cup matches in the season. Gatting and Stapleton scored to see Arsenal through.
22 January 1985: Arsenal 7 Hereford 2 in 3rd round FA Cup replay. Marriner (2), Talbot (2), Nicholas, Anderson and Woodcock got the goals after a 1-1 away draw.
22 January 1989: Somerset Cricket Club 0 Arsenal 1, played in Bermuda as part of a two match mid-winter tour. Martin Hayes scored. The matches were arranged after Arsenal were knocked out of the FA cup in the third round and thus had a spare weekend.
22 January 1998: George Marks, the keeper in the “Arsenal Stadium Mystery” died. After leaving Arsenal he had coached with Reading, and then became a local government officer until his full retirement – which he lived out in Wiltshire until he passed on aged 82.
22 January 2003: Matthew Upson sold to Birmingham for £2.5m. He had played 35 league games for Arsenal, and went on to get 21 England caps and play over 250 Premier League games.
22 January 2008: Tottenham 5 Arsenal 1, League cup semi-final. Arsenal put out their usual reserve team, and thus suffered the first defeat to Tottenham since November 1999, as Tottenham responded with their first team. Arsenal however did beat Tottenham home and away in the league that season.
22 January 2012: Arsenal 1 Man U 2. Arsenal lost all three January league games and were said to have “no chance” of qualifying for Europe in 2012/13, being in a mix of three teams, each five and six points outside the top four.
22 January 2012 Park Chu Young made his first league appearance v Man U as a sub. His was one of the most curious transfers of all time and the reasons for it have never been fully resolved.
22 January 2018: Henrikh Mkhitaryan was signed from Manchester United with Alexis going the other way.
