On this day in history two very different Arsenal players moved on to very different lives. Davor Suker went on to become the president of the Croatian Football Federation but in that role found himself accused of preventing freedom of information and for physically blocking journalists from reporting and doing their work. Also on this day in history Sanchez Watt, a player who never lived up to the potential Arsene Wenger saw in him, joined Colchester. Last season he played for Hemel Hempstead.
Here are the anniversaries. The books and major series on the site, are listed below.
28 June 1913: Arsenal gained possession of the Gillespie Road site for the first time thus leaving them just 10 weeks before the first match of the season to make the ground ready. There is no record of the club making any arrangements to have matches played elsewhere in the event of the ground not being ready.
28 June 1913: Joseph Lievesley signed from Sheffield Utd who had bought him after having been beaten by Southern League Swindon, for whom he played. Swindon’s victory in 1908 was one of the great cup shocks of the era; Lievesley went on to play in the FA’s tour of South Africa in 1910.
28 June 1919: Five years and a day after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand the Treaty of Versailles was signed, finally confirming the end of hostilities.
28 June 1921: Reg Boreham joined Arsenal from Wycombe. Although Bernard Joy said of him “His sparkling displays nearly gave him an England professional cap as well as amateur ones,” we know little of him save for the fact that he played 53 games and scored 18 goals for Arsenal. See also here.
28 June 1922: Archie Roe signed from Castleford Town; one of eight players who made his first appearance for Arsenal in the 1922/3 season. However he only had four games for Arsenal before moving on.
28 June 1923: Harry Woods joined Arsenal from Newcastle U. He served his country in the Tank Corps in France during the war, and then played for South Shields before moving to Newcastle United in January 1922 for £2600 – a fee that for a few months was the world record.
28 June 1928: John “Alex” Mackie transferred to Portsmouth for whom he made 257 appearances over seven seasons, including playing in the FA Cup finals of 1929 and 1934.
28 June 1929: Stan Charlton born in Exeter. His father played for Exeter and Crystal Palace while Stan junior started his career with Bromley, moved to Leyton Orient in 1952, then Arsenal and played 80 league games for the club.
28 June 1998: France v Paraguay. Manu Petit played in the first ever “golden goal” game in the world cup. It was an experiment that was quickly abandoned.
28 June 2000: Davor Suker joined WHU on a free transfer. He later moved to 1860 Munich, and later became president of the Croatian Football Federation and worked as a football agent. In 2015, Croatian Journalists’ Association accused Suker, then the president of the Croatian Football Federation of preventing freedom of information and for physically blocking journalists from reporting and doing their work
28 June 2013: Sanchez Watt joined Colchester after a period on loan. It was the last of six loan deals during his time at Arsenal and he went on to be a regular player for Colchester. In 2018/19 he played for Hemel Hempstead.
Publications
“Woolwich Arsenal, the club that changed football” and “Making the Arsenal” are now available as printed books, and on Kindle. Please see here for more details.
Elsewhere on the site…
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.
A full index of our series can be found on the home page.
