Please note that this site contains the master files of the anniversary details we hold. Each is updated at the end of each month – hence the December file has just been updated in full incorporating changes that were made during the publication of the files in that month 2019.
Here is the monthly index so that you can always find any particular date that you wish to look up.
- Anniversaries 01: January
- Anniversaries 02: February
- Anniversaries 03: March
- Anniversaries 04: April
- Anniversaries 05: May
- Anniversaries 06: June
- Anniversaries 07: July
- Anniversaries 08: August
- Anniversaries 09: September
- Anniversaries 10: October
- Anniversaries 11: November
- Anniversaries 12: December
The first comment comes from this day in 1953 and is one of the earliest comments from the post-war era in which players complain about the attitude of the crowds at Arsenal.
The second comes from 1999 in which Ferguson, the Man U manager made a public statement in which he accused Arsenal players of being responsible for numerous fights on the pitch.
The former comment gives us an insight into the effect of booing and jeering on home players – something that has still been a major issue in recent seasons. The second was a flagrant bit of match fixing, knowing that the media would hang on every word, that others would demand referees take “stronger action” against the “hooligan players” and so Arsenal found themselves getting more and more cards – although no evidence was ever produced to support the Ferguson claims.
The press were used, but they were thoroughly complicit in the scheme.
Here are the anniversaries.
3 January 1908: Dr James Marshall known as Jimmy was born in Avonbridge, in Stirlingshire and started out with junior club Shettleston in the east end of Glasgow before joining Rangers in 1925 – where he stayed for nine years, winning five league trophies.
3 January 1911: Winston Churchill the home secretary took the unprecedented step (one which has since never been repeated) of personally leading the Metropolitan Police in action against a criminal gang – in this case a group of Latvian anarchists who were trapped in a house in Sidney Street in the East End of London following a jewel robbery.
3 January 1913: Ralph James Evans Birkett was born in Dartmouth, Devon, (or according to other sources Newton Abbot, or Ellacombe Torquay neither of which are far away) on 3 January 1913 (9 Jan in some sources). He joined Arsenal in 1933 for £1518 and was one of Chapman’s last signings.
3 January 1919: Soldiers blockaded Folkestone harbour in a successful protest against being returned to France. This was in effect a mutiny… and in the face of it the government caved in, undoubtedly aware that the mood of the population had changed. Four years of privation had left their mark, and the populace now wanted a return to normal life.
3 January 1920: Arsenal drew 2-2 at home with Manchester City but the game saw the loss of their first choice right back and first choice keeper, and in the next six games Arsenal lost five and won one.
3 January 1925: A 1-2 away defeat to Liverpool starts a run of 6 consecutive defeats during which Arsenal scored just two goals. It was the run which finally ensured that Leslie Knighton would be replaced by Herbert Chapman as manager.
3 January 1934: Despite feeling unwell Herbert Chapman went to watch the Arsenal “A” team. Mr Chapman was warned to take it easy, but he refused, and tragically died from pneumonia on January 6, aged 55.
3 January 1951: Having been rejected by Wolverhampton, Dennis Evans was signed by Arsenal for £1500. He subsequently played over 200 games for Arsenal – his only club.
3 January 1953: Arsenal lost 1-3 at home to Sunderland and as a result slipped from second in the league down to sixth. John Spurling recounts the story that Peter Goring was confronted by a fan who said that he’d seen the Arsenal team of the 30s and that the current team wasn’t fit to lick their boots. Peter is quoted as saying, “I wasn’t the only player to be confronted in such a way. Some of the other boys also got hassle from fans which wasn’t nice”.
3 January 1977: Alan Hudson, the man who quite amazingly gave Stoke City creativity, made his debut with Arsenal in a 1-1 draw with Leeds in front of 44,090 spectators.
3 January 1981: Everton 2 Arsenal 0. After 3 consecutive FA Cup finals, Arsenal went out in the third round. The same happened in 1982 (a 3rd round defeat to Tottenham), and Arsenal did not reach another cup final until 1993.
3 January 1994: Arsenal 0 QPR 0. The start of a five match sequence of drawn games. Two were goalless, three were 1-1. This was the second sequence of draws this season – in October Arsenal had played four consecutive goalless games.
3 January 1998: Arsenal 0 Port Vale 0 (FA Cup round 3 – the first cup game of the second Double.) The second double: part 1, part 2, part 3.
3 January 1999: Sir Alex Ferguson’s notorious speech published in Sunday Times in which he claimed Arsenal were responsible for numerous fights on the pitch in what was the most blatant piece of public ref-fixing seen thus far. Ferguson claimed he then apologised, but Arsène Wenger said, “If he sent an apology it must have been by horse”.
3 January 2011: Aaron Ramsey’s loan with Nottingham Forest which aimed to help him recover after his horrific injury was completed successfully.
