On this day in 1976 Terry Neil became Arsenal manager joining from Tottenham, where he had been a failure. He managed Arsenal for 416 games finally being replaced by Don Howe in December 1983, his one trophy being the 1979 FA Cup. His win percentage was 44.95% putting him 16th in the list of managers ranked by the percentage of games he won.
He was not noted for success in the transfer market, Lee Chapman for example costing £500,000, playing 23 times, scoring four goals and then being sold for under half that price. He was given a new three year contract in the summer of 1983 but sacked in December that year, at which point her retired from football moving on to work in media management.
Here are the anniversaries.
9 July 1856: Nikola Tesla, the man who invented the alternating current electricity supply system, was born
9 July 1910: William Rippon joined Arsenal. He had already played for Hackenthorpe, Rawmarsh Albion, Sandhill Rovers, Kilnhurst Town, and Bristol City.
9 July 1921: The two sides in the Irish War of Independence signed a truce to come into effect on 11 July, but on 10 July, 23 died in Belfast and the surrounding area and around 200 homes were destroyed
9 July 1938: As a sign of things to come, gas masks were issued to the population at large.
9 July 1976: Terry Neil became Arsenal manager, after having spent two years at Tottenham in which he narrowly avoided relegation and came 9th in his second season. (see also main index on Terry Neill)
9 July 1999: Barnet 1 Arsenal 6. Arsenal started a three year sponsorship with SEGA worth £10m, with this match.
9 July 1999: Oleg Luzhny transferred from Dynamo Kiev. He won the Cup with Arsenal in 2003.
9 July 2004: Graham Stack went to Millwall on a year long loan spell. Despite six years at Arsenal he never played a league game, but did get games with Millwall and Beveren. He later had extended runs with Hibs and Barnet, where he was also a coach, and in 2018 joined Watford as a coach.
9 July 2007: A season long loan spell to Colchester for Matthew Connolly was announced, but this was curtailed on 2 January 2008 after he had played 16 games and scored two goals, and his permanent transfer to QPR was announced. He was called up for the England under 21s shortly after. He has most recently been playing for Cardiff.
