Manninger is the least remembered of that trio of keepers, and yet when called upon to play six games without conceding in his first season, following an injury to Seaman, he became player of the month. This day in 2003 and 2008 saw the departure of Seaman and Lehmann – the latter often ignored, and yet he was the only player to play every single league game in the glorious unbeaten season.
Here are the anniversaries…
3 June 1912: At the AGM of the Football League William Hall applied to be a director of the League. He didn’t get elected but gained the highest number of votes of those not elected. Thus when Tom Houghton of Preston North End died in September Hall gained a place on the Football League board, and was the first Arsenal man and the only man from the south of England to do so for over 25 years.
3 June 1918: The penny post countrywide postal service, initiated by Sir Roland Hill in January 1840 came to an end as the price of posting a letter was raised by 50% to “three ha’pence” (1.5d – around one half a decimal penny.)
3 June 1931: Jack, Lambert and Bastin scored in a 3-2 win over Gothenburg. Final senior appearance of Jimmy Brain. In September 1931 he moved to Tottenham for a transfer fee of £2,500. He played 47 games for Tottenham and scored 10.
3 June 1939 Jimmy Logie signed from Lochore Welfare. He served in the Royal Navy through the war before returning to Arsenal with whom he won the league twice.
3 June 1939: The Military Training Act came into force. It re-introduced conscription for all men aged 20 and 21. Six months military training was now compulsory.
3 June 1970: Bobby Gould transferred to Wolverhampton. In all he played for ten clubs, and the 65 league games he had with Arsenal was only beaten by the 82 he had for Coventry.
3 June 1997: One day before his birthday Alex Manninger joined Arsenal from Grazer AK, to become understudy to David Seaman. Seaman was injured in Manninger’s first season giving him the chance to play six games in a row without conceding.
3 June 2000: The song “Arsenal number 1″ entered the top 50 for one week.
3 June 2003: David Seaman was transferred to Manchester City. (Quoted in some sources as 4 June), after 405 games for Arsenal. He stayed one season at Man City and played 19 league games before retiring after 731 games.
3 June 2008: Jens Lehmann, the only player to play in every game of the Unbeaten Season, transferred to VfB Stuttgart.
3 June 2010: Philip Roberts signed from Norwich City where he had been a youth player. He was quickly loaned to Inverness and then transferred to Falkirk without playing a league match for Arsenal.
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
