Some players stay with one club all through their careers, others dot about here and there.
Bobby Gould played for 10 clubs and managed 11 teams. But even these numbers were beaten by Francis Jeffers who played for 12 different clubs, but never had more than 55 games with any of them. At the end of his career, after leaving Accrington Stanley he had trials with Bury, Brunei DPMM and Chester but none wanted to take him on. But not to be defeated he worked with Everton’s youth programme on a voluntary basis, and he eventually joined their coaching team in 2016.
Here are the anniversaries…
14 June 1912: Andy Ducat was sold to Aston Villa. He was Arsenal’s one great player at the time, and was still only 26. He had remained loyal to the club through all its troubles and had played 175 league games for Arsenal.
14 June 1920: Athletic News magazine gave fulsome praise to Sir Henry Norris for his work on steering the anti-gambling bill through the Commons. It now moved onto the Lords where their Lordships who were fond of a flutter on the horses did all they could to hold the bill up. However it did eventually pass.
14 June 1973: David O’Leary signed for Arsenal. He went on to become Arsenal’s all time record holder for first team appearances. He stayed for 20 years whereupon he transferred to Leeds. Since getting compensation from Al-Ahli in the UAE for the early termination of his contract as manager with them, he doesn’t seem to have worked.
14 June 1973: Peter Storey made his 19th and last appearance for England. He also played twice for England Schoolboys and twice for the Football League. In 2004, he moved to a village in Southern France and in September 2010 he released his autobiography. Other than that we have not heard of him for a while.
14 June 1974: Ian Selley born. He joined Arsenal in 1990 as a trainee and won the SE Counties League and the Floodlit Cup winners’ medal in his first season. He later moved on to Wimbledon and a number of smaller clubs seemingly quitting football in 2008.
14 June 1990: John Lukic left Arsenal for Leeds for £1m. He played 265 league games for Leeds before returning to Arsenal in 1996 where he remained as backup keeper until 2001. He now works as a freelance goalkeeping coach and tours the country as an after dinner speaker
14 June 1993: Eddie McGoldrick joined Arsenal from Crystal Palace. In all he played 57 times for Arsenal and scored one goal, before moving on to Man City, after a loan spell.
14 June 1997: Luis Boa Morte signed from Sporting CP to Arsenal for £1.75m. The press were very critical of Arsenal’s signing of overseas players and in reporting the move the Daily Telegraph sarcastically said of Luis Boa Morte he was “apparently just one player, not three”.
14 June 2001: Francis Jeffers signed by Arsenal for £10m from Everton. His transfer was not a success and in 2003 he was loaned back to Everton. In all he had 12 clubs but never played more than 55 games with any of them.
14 June 2013: Denilson transferred to São Paulo who gave him a four year contract, after he had played 96 times for Arsenal, followed by a loan spell to the Brazilian club.
14 June 2014: Sir Chips Keswick announced as Arsenal’s new chairman, replacing Denis Hill-Wood who had been chair from 1962 to 1982. Denis Hill-Wood was the third generation of his family to serve as chairman of Arsenal going back to his grandfather, Samuel Hill-Wood.
14 June 2018: The Football League announced the fixtures for the new season showing Arsenal and Emery having the toughest of starts: at home to Man City, away to Chelsea.
Publications
“Woolwich Arsenal, the club that changed football” and “Making the Arsenal” are both available in paperback, as well as on Kindle. Please see here for more details.
Henry Norris at the Arsenal:
Arsenal in the 1930s: The most comprehensive series on the decade ever
Arsenal in the 1970s: Every match and every intrigue reviewed in detail.
