Arsenal on April 4: what happened to the club on this day through history.

 

4 April 1896: Grimsby 1 Woolwich Arsenal 1.  A goal for Boyd gave him 13 for the season and made him top league scorer as Arsenal moved towards 7th position in the final league table in the club’s third league season.  He became our most prolific goal scorer ever.

4 April 1903: Woolwich Arsenal 6 Small Heath 1.  It was a remarkable result as Small Heath ended the season above Arsenal and gained promotion to the 1st Division, as Arsenal secured third place in the league.

4 April 1904: Woolwich Arsenal 2 Glossop NE 1.  Shanks scored to make it 24 goals (he played 30 league games in the season) and become (with Coleman) one of the two first men to score over 20 league goals in a season for the club.  He scored three hat tricks and four goals in one other game.

4 April 1907: Alf Haynes born, although other sources quote 1906 or 1910. He started with Oxford City, and later played 29 league games in all for Arsenal, and went on to be a scout for the club.

4 April 1912: Archie Gray transferred to Fulham for £250 (at a time when Henry Norris had a major influence on both clubs).  He had come from Hibernian and played 184 league games and 16 FA Cup games between 1904 and 1912.

4 April 1913: Spurred on by Tottenham Hotspur’s objections, the Highbury Defence Committee persuaded Islington Council to push through a vote protesting against Arsenal moving to the Gillespie Road ground.  Also here

4 April 1914: Last game for George Jobey the man who scored the first Arsenal goal at Highbury.   It was a 1-1 draw with Bristol City and Jobey went on to play with Bradford for the final season before football was suspended.

4 April 1917: Records of War Office meetings at this time were destroyed in the second world war but judging by important meetings Henry Norris missed and from his promotions it is clear that by this date he was taking on significant new work in relation to the organisation of army recruitment.

4 April 1919: The complaint against Fulham by Sir Henry Norris over their playing unregistered players in the post-war knock out cup was heard by the Committee of the London Combination.  The dispute led to Sir Henry resigning as a Fulham director.

4 April 1922: Joe Toner won his first cap (of eight) for N Ireland.  He played 89 league games for Arsenal before moving on to St Johnstone.

4 April 1929: Mike Tiddy born in Helston. He started out with Torquay, and then Cardiff before making 48 league appearances for Arsenal.  He was one of the few Arsenal players to have been a lay preacher.

4 April 1931: For once it wasn’t Arsenal result which dominated the headlines. Arsenal beat Chelsea 2-1 (Hulme and Bastin getting the goals), but there was utter disbelief as the score from their rivals for the title, Villa, came through: Portsmouth 5 Aston Villa 0.

4 April 1933: Derby Daily Telegraph published a report on Arsenal’s new shirts with the white sleeves – showing just how much fascination there was with the idea across the whole country.

4 April 1936: Having gone 15 games unbeaten Arsenal had begun to fall apart not winning any of the previous six.  On this day they played Brentford with four first team regulars absent on England duty. The 1-1 draw was Arsenal’s fourth in a row and seventh game without a win, with Dougall getting the goal.

4 April 1983: Tottenham 5 Arsenal 0.  It was the first time since Christmas Day 1911 that Tottenham had scored five against Arsenal.  It was also the last time that Tottenham scored five against Arsenal in a league match.

4 April 1988: Arsenal 2 Norwich 0.  Only 19,341 turned up at Highbury following four uninspiring draws.  Smith and Groves scored.

4 April 1992:  Coventry City 0 Arsenal 1.  Match 11 of a 17 match unbeaten run which took Arsenal from 8th to 4th where Arsenal ended the season.  The run involved 10 wins, scoring 41 goals in the 17 games.

4 April 1993:  A Tony Adams header won Arsenal’s 18th F.A. Cup semi-final, in this case against Tottenham.  See also here   And here This was Cup match 14 of the Cup Double Year 

4 April 1997: Fever Pitch, the movie about supporting Arsenal, based on the novel of the same name, was released.

4 April 2001: Arsenal beat Valencia 2-1 in the quarterfinals of the Champions League.  Valencia took the lead but Henry and Parlour scored in the 58th and 60th minute. Valencia won the second leg 1-0 to go through on the away goals rule.

4 April 2002: Middlesbrough 0 Arsenal 1.  FA Cup semi final. Part of the 3rd Double.  Arsenal got through thanks to an own goal from Festa.  Two days later Arsenal played Tottenham in the league, winning 2-1.

4 April 2009: Arsenal made it 17 unbeaten by beating Man City 2-0.  Adebayor scored both upon his return from injury.  

4 April 2015: In the most stunning league performance of the season Arsenal destroyed Liverpool 4-1 with goals from Bellerin, Ozil, Sanchez and Giroud.  It left pundits who had predicted Liverpool would push for honours this season, struggling for excuses.

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