When Arsenal fans became anxious about the pre-season form

Pre-season friendlies against foreign clubs are a fairly recent innovation – if you have been reading our Arsenal in the Summer series of articles you will know that for many years, if there was to be a tour it would be at the end of the season, not the start.

And in 2012 we also had a theme familiar to us today – supporters getting edgy about the direction of the club.

On this day in history we also have a pre-season game abandoned because of rioting, and the unveiling of the Highbury clock.

The Arsenal in the Summer series has itself now been updated to include seasons up to 2018 – you can find the latest articles listed under recent posts on the left hand side.

Here are the anniversaries…

27 July 1913: Albert Beasley born.  Born in Stourbridge, he began his career as playing for local sides in Kidderminster, before joining Stourbridge. In 1931, while still only seventeen he was signed for £550 by Herbert Chapman for Arsenal

27 July 1935: Billy McCullough born.  He played initially for Portadown and then in 1958 was signed by Arsenal being one of the first players signed by George Swindin.

27 July 1971: John Matthews joined as an apprentice.  He became a professional in 1973 and then made his first appearance in the league in the opening match of the 1975/6 season.

27 July 2000: Brian McGovern joined Norwich City.  He only played one league match for Arsenal, but played five on loan to QPR.  He played 21 for Norwich in the next two years before playing briefly for Peterborough and then moving back to Ireland.

27 July 2002: Arsenal’s friendly against Rapid Vienna in Austria abandoned after rioting among local fans.  The problem was entirely focussed on the directors of the Viennese club which had not won the league since 1996 and finished 8th the previous season.

27 July 2005: FC Utrecht 0 Arsenal 3 (Pires, Reyes, Henry).  It was the fourth of six pre-season games in which we won every game.

27 July 2006: The old Highbury clock was erected onto the wall of the Emirates Stadium.  The new clock inside the ground, based on the design of the original clock of Highbury was unveiled in 2010.

27 July 2009: Szombathelvi Haladas (Austria) 0 Arsenal 5 (Bendtner 2, Eduardo 2, Van Persie).  One of seven pre-season games that summer.

27 July 2010: SC Neusiedl 0 Arsenal 4 (Walcott, Emmanuel Thomas, Chamakh, Vela).  This was one of six pre-season games, of which the last was Legia Warsaw 5 Arsenal 6

27 July 2012: Arsenal lost a pre-season game against Man City as some supporters became anxious about the club’s direction following the departure of Robin van Persie and Alex Song.  It was one of 12 pre-season matches that summer.

27 July 2014: Arsenal announced the signing of David Ospina from Nice for a fee quoted in the press of around £3m, with Ospina replacing Fabianski.  By early 2015 Ospina had become first choice keeper.

 

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