English clubs banned from Europe, and the similarity of Arsenal managers

The ban on ALL English clubs from playing in Europe in 1985 following the behaviour of some Liverpool fans in the European Cup final, always seemed wrong to me.  Yes, of course, people died and that was truly awful, but it was not something that involved the great majority of clubs in England.

As a result of the ban Arsenal missed two seasons playing in Europe in 1988 and 1991.   Liverpool had six more years of dominance of English football and appeared unaffected on the pitch, winning the league three times and coming runners’ up three times but after coming second in 1991 their dominance had gone, and they have not won the league since.

Also on this day, in 1947, Tom Whittaker became manager of Arsenal.  It is often forgotten that Whittaker, like Chapman and Allison before him, won the league twice and the FA Cup once.  Like Chapman, he tragically died while manager of the club.  Only Allison was able to retire and live out his retirement in tranquillity.

Here are the anniversaries…

2 June 1891: The International Football Association Board (the forerunner of Fifa, and which at the time consisted of the FAs of England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland) approved the notion of awarding a penalty for fouls close to the goal.

2 June 1908:  James Quayle signed for Arsenal for a second time, before receiving an offer from Northfleet where he played for two seasons, before turning professional and rejoining Woolwich Arsenal.   He made just one appearance for Arsenal on 12 November 1910 but was badly injured and tragically did not play football again.

2 June 1934:  Wilf Copping joined Arsenal from Leeds United for whom he had played 162 games.  He stayed at Arsenal until 1939 whereupon he returned to Leeds.

2 June 1936: The League announced that Arsenal should pay a £250 fine for playing weakened teams in league games, throughout the run up to the FA Cup Final.  But giving the earnings from the FA Cup final the accountants probably thought it had however been worth it.

2 June 1937: Reg Lewis played his third game in a row in which he scored, in 3-0 win over Copenhagen.  He was one of the few players who played for Arsenal either side of the war, and managed 103 goals in 154 league games. For the tour see here.

2 June  1947: Tom Whittaker became manager of Arsenal, thus continuing the dynasty of managers who had a direct connection with Herbert Chapman.  See also here

2 June  1968: Last appearance for Jim Furnell as David Jenkins scored a hattrick in a friendly in Kuala Lumpur.

2 June 1980.  Raphael Meade was given professional status.  He had been at Arsenal since 1977 but although staying until 1985 only managed 41 league games

2 June 1985: As a result of the attack by Liverpool fans on Juventus fans at the Heysel stadium Uefa banned English clubs from playing in Europe.  The ban prohibited Arsenal from playing in the Uefa Cup in 1988 and 1991 even though Arsenal fans had not been involved in any European crowd trouble. The argument appeared to be, if Liverpool can’t be in it, no one can be in it.

2 June 1991:  Gus Caesar moved to Cambridge United on a free transfer but did not play for the club.  He soon moved on to Bristol City, but it was not until he reached Airdrieonians and then Colchester Utd that he showed the form that George Graham suspected he could maintain.

2 June 2002: Campbell, Seaman and Cole play for England in a World Cup game against Sweden.

2 June 2005: Ashley Cole was fined £100,000 for having illegal talks with Chelsea.  He claimed he had done so because he was made to feel physically sick by the lowness of Arsenal’s offer in its contract discussions with the player.


The three main series on this site are

Henry Norris at the Arsenal:  There is a full index to the series here.

Arsenal in the 1930s: The most comprehensive series on the decade ever

Arsenal in the 1970s: Every match and every intrigue reviewed in detail.

However there are many others and these are detailed on the home page and on the Pages section on the right side of this page.


The books…

“Woolwich Arsenal, the club that changed football” is now once more available both in print and on Kindle.

“Making the Arsenal”  is available on Kindle and in print.

Please  see here for more details


 

2 Replies to “English clubs banned from Europe, and the similarity of Arsenal managers”

  1. Are you sure we missed playing in Europe in 1991??? Austria Vienna 6-1 h win then out to Benfica aet… just saying…

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