Last night Arsenal Independent Supporters’ Association (AISA) had one of its regular “pub quiz” nights, held on line. (Our new website will open very shortly, and I’ll give you the link to that when it happens).
There were six rounds of five questions each, with a splendid time had by all. Here are the five questions I set for the Arsenal History round – this time the theme was Herbert Chapman. If you were at the quiz you’ll have heard the answers there, but if not, I’ll try and remember to put the answers up tomorrow…
- Herbert Chapman was recruited to Arsenal as manager in 1925. Prior to this Chapman had been banned from football for life. What was the reason?
- Which club did Chapman come from, and what honours, if any, did he win there?
- In 1925 what was Chapman’s first match, and where did Arsenal end up that season?
- In 1929 after four years at the club Chapman resigned, the club coming in 9th. The directors however rejected his resignation. What happened in the next season?
- What was Chapman’s trophy haul at Arsenal by the time of his death?
And here are today’s anniversaries
10 June 1910: Local press reports in SE London confirmed that Henry Norris was willing to sell his Woolwich Arsenal shares to local people. But it was also confirmed that the last share issue itself had failed because local people were not taking up the offer. This failure to buy was a major cause of the decision to move Arsenal to north London.
10 June 1919: Dr Kevin O’Flanagan born – he played for Arsenal in 1946/7. He also played for Ireland at both football and rugby, was also a sprint champion, and later played football for both N Ireland and the Irish Free State.
10 June 1921: The UK reached crisis point with 2.2 million unemployed, 2 million involved in wage disputes and in the midst of it all, 100 days of drought.
10 June 1925: Having returned early from Huddersfield’s European tour Herbert Chapman met with directors of Huddersfield prior to agreeing to manage Arsenal.
10 June 1936: Arsenal released Frank Hill and Ehud Rogers. Hill moved on to Blackpool after playing 76 league games. Rogers had signed for Arsenal in 1934, making 16 league appearances and scoring 5 goals and moved on to Newcastle.
10 June 1945: Tommy Baldwin born. Some sources quote 1946. He played first for Wrekenton Juniors before joining Arsenal. He turned professional in 1962, and made his league debut in the 3–0 defeat of Birmingham City in April 1965.
10 June 1966: David Platt born. He was an apprentice at Man U before moving on to Crewe and then Aston Villa. After that he played in Italy before joining Arsenal from Sampdoria.
10 June 1984: Almost unimaginably, given the state of their relative teams, England beat Brazil 2-0 in Rio, with Sansom and Woodcock in the side.
10 June 1985: Brian Talbot sold to Watford after 254 league games and 40 league goals for Arsenal. After that he moved on to Stoke, WBA, Fulham and Aldershot before playing finally for Sudbury Town, and then moving into management. He became chief scout and assistant director of football operations at Fulham in February 2017.
10 June 1985: Park Chu-Young was born in Korea. His transfer to Arsenal on 30 August 2011 was one of the strangest transfers of all time and he never showed any promise at all at Arsenal.
10 June 1993: Archie Macauley died. After a playing career which earned him numerous plaudits he had a very successful managerial career with Norwich, WBA and Brighton, but then, aged 50, having just taken Brighton up, he gave it all up and is said to have become a traffic warden.
10 June 2009: George Eastham finally presented with his World Cup medal. As a squad member who did not play in the 1966 World Cup Final he had not been granted a medal – but finally got one 43 years later.
10 June 2013: On his birthday (see above) Park Chu Young, on loan to Celta Vigo, was fined for failing to turn up at a match. He then went on loan to Watford, for whom he played two games, before being sold to Al Shabab. He was last heard of winning the Korean League for FC Seoul in 2016.
10 June 2015: Josh Vickers’ released by Arsenal. Two months later he signed for Swansea City. He was released by Swansea at the end of the 2016–17 season and then joined Lincoln City on a two year deal.