Ray Kennedy played 158 games for Arsenal before being sold by Bertie Mee on this day in 1974 – one of a number of totally bonkers decisions that Mee made from this time onwards. John Radford said, “I couldn’t believe it when he left and felt it was a great shame to have broken up our partnership which had wobbled slightly but which I was sure would come together again with a little time.” That Kennedy went on to play 275 games for Liverpool says everything that needs to be said about the decision.
After leaving football in 1985 he has suffered poor health but as our entry below shows, at least some people still care.
Here are the anniversaries
12 July 1935: There was rioting in Belfast following the annual Orange parades, with 13 dead, hundreds injured and around 2000 Catholic houses destroyed.
12 July 1958: Steve Williams born in London. He signed for Southampton straight from school, and made his debut in a 1–0 victory away to Portsmouth aged 17 helping to relegate Portsmouth Division 2.
12 July 1963: Gerry Ward sold to Leyton for £8000. He made 44 league appearances for them before moving into non-league football. He died aged just 57 in 1994.
12 July 1974: Ray Kennedy sold to Liverpool. He had played 158 league games for Arsenal, but went on to play 275 for Liverpool before moving onto Swansea and finally Hartlepool, retiring from football in 1984. According to Wiki By 2002, he was reported as living alone and soon after as suffering from hallucinations. A Liverpool fan then bought him a computer so he could make friends in football chat rooms.
12 July 1974: Brian Kidd purchased from Man U for whom he had played 203 league games and scored 52 goals, after Manchester United were relegated to the second division and felt they could no longer afford his services.
12 July 1977: Red Star Belgrade 3 Arsenal 1 (in Singapore) (Macdonald); at the start of a four match tour which included two matches in Australia.
12 July 1995: George Graham found guilty of receiving £425,000 payment from agent Rune Hauge following the purchase of John Jensen and Pål Lydersen. He was dismissed by Arsenal and banned for one year by the FA.
12 July 1995: Stefan Schwarz transferred to Fiorentina. He had played 34 league games for Arsenal and later played for Valencia and Sunderland. It is said that Sunderland inserted a clause in his contract that said that he could not travel into space. He retired in 2003 and we have no further knowledge of him.
12 July 1998 Emmanuel Petit and Patrick Vieira (along with Thierry Henry and Robert Pires who did not play in the final but were in the squad) became the first Arsenal players to win the World Cup; Petit the first Arsenal player to score in a WC final. Dennis Bergkamp won World Cup Goal of the Tournament
12 July 2007: Bacary Sagna signed from Auxerre for whom he had played 89
games. He had played in the same Auxerre team as Abou Diaby. His final signing was with Montreal Impact on 8 August 2018.
And here are the main features from the site There is an index to all our series on the home page.
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.
I saw all of Ray’s career at Liverpool. His conversion to midfield was a Paisley master stroke. He became one of the best midfielders in Europe and it was a privilege to watch him. His subsequent illness was so sad.