When Arsenal won the world cup

On this day in 1930 the first ever World Cup competition began in Uruguay.  England felt themselves way above such silly matters and didn’t take part.

68 years later to the day the Daily Mirror ran the headline “Arsenal win the world cup” as France beat Brazil 3-0.  In fact there was only one Arsenal player in the starting line up for France – Manu Petit, although Patrick Vieira came on as a sub on 74 minutes.  Pires and Henry were also both in the squad.

13 July 1856: Frederick Beardsley born.  He worked in a Nottingham government munitions factory and played for Nottingham  Forest as an amateur keeping goal in the FA Cup semi-final against Queen’s Park.

?13 July 1904 Phil Kelso officially started his duties as manager.   He introduced the notion of professionalism to Arsenal, insisting that players live locally, and didn’t drink or smoke. He also got the players together for matches a day or two before, to start preparations – a revolutionary stance in those days.

13 July 1910: Woolwich Arsenal Football and Athletic Company Limited (the company which still exists as the ultimate company that owns the club) issued a financial statement showing  it was already £700 in debt, through paying the players’ close season wages.

13 July 1920: In one of its most appalling acts the London County Council banned people who were not English nationals from working for the council – an act that was legal at the time.

13 July 1929: Joey Williams played his second and final game in the FA’s tour of South Africa.

13 July 1930: The first ever World Cup competition began in Uruguay.  England did not enter, and instead, in terms of overseas sports, the broadcasters and newspapers focused on the first ever British Empire Games held later that summer in Canada.

13 July 1936: Jimmy Dunne sold to Southampton. He never replicated his amazing goalscoring form that he showed at Sheffield Utd and after he was dropped was described in the press as the most expensive reserve in English football.  However in the season after leaving Arsenal he scored 28 goals in 36 games for Southampton.

13 July 1995: George Graham banned from football for one year as a result of his taking illegal payments.  He then returned with Leeds Utd before also managing Tottenham.

13 July 1998: Ian Wright having become the club’s all time record goal scorer left Arsenal to join West Ham.  He played 22 league games for them, and also played for Nottingham F., Celtic and Burnley before retiring.

13 July 1998: Daily Mirror ran the headline “Arsenal win the World Cup” on the front page in relation to the previous day’s triumph for France.

13 July 2000: Jay Bothroyd moved to Coventry.  He won the FA Youth Cup for Arsenal against Coventry in 2000 just ahead of his move, but never played for Arsenal in the league.  He later played 116 league games for Cardiff.  By 2017 he was playing in the J league.

13 July 2005: Robin van Persie voted Arsenal’s Player of the Season with 35.3% of the votes as Arsenal came second in the league, 12 points behind Chelsea.

13 July 2011: Malaysia XI 0 Arsenal 4 (Ramsey, Vela, Walcott, Rosicky) – the first match of the pre-season tour.

13 July 2017:  Arsenal opened their Australian tour with a 2–0 win over Sydney FC, with Mertesacker opening his final season as a player with an overhead kick to score the first goal.


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.

 

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