The Arsenal History Society is part of the Arsenal Independent Supporters Association – a body which gives positive support to the club, and has regular meetings with directors and senior officials of the club to represent the views of its members to the club. You can read more about AISA on its website.
Below you will find today’s feature, and the list of anniversaries for today. But first…
We currently have two books available.
“Woolwich Arsenal, the club that changed football” is the definitive history of Arsenal from its inception, and “Making the Arsenal” is a novel which tells the story of Arsenal in 1910.
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On this site we have hundreds of series of articles on Arsenal history and a full list of the various series of articles on Arsenal’s history can be found here. Three particular highlights are…
Henry Norris at the Arsenal: There is a full index to the series here.
Arsenal in the 1930s: The most comprehensive series on the decade ever
Arsenal in the 1970s: Every match and every intrigue reviewed in detail.
Today’s anniversaries…
On this day in 2009 Adebayor went to Manchester City for £25m having cost just £3m three years earlier, and as a quick profit sale must rank alongside Anelka who moved from £250,000 to £25m also in three years.
It is easily forgotten that in the Wenger years this is how the club helped finance itself and the purchase of the new stadium – by making huge profits on players brought in for little.
Although the departure of players with talent is often unwelcome, such transfers can be helpful especially when the player is ready to move on and simply doesn’t want to accept another contract. Indeed the website Bleacher Report estimated that Mr Wenger made £311m profit for Arsenal on player sales.
Here are some more Manchester City sales which made Arsenal money…
Samir Nasri would not be seen by most fans as in Henry’s class but he still made us the profit. He cost £15.8 in 2008 and was sold three years later for £22m to Manchester City in 2011. Even if those days with more money than sense.
Gaël Clichy cost £250,000 in 2003, and again provided years of service (8 years in fact) going for £7 in 2011 again after years of great service, again to Manchester City.
Here are the anniversaries…
20 July 1943: Bob McNab born. From 1963 to 1966 he played 68 games for Huddersfield Town before moving on to Arsenal.
20 July 1977: Australia 3 Arsenal 1 (Armstrong). The match was notorious for a drinking spree by the players after the game which saw Neill threaten them with expulsion but only one player (Hudson) ultimately was punished and he left the club. Neill’s authority was seriously diminished by the event.
20 July 1984: John Kay sold to Wimbledon for £25,000, after 14 games for Arsenal. After 63 league games for the Dons he went on to Sunderland where he played
over 200 times. He finished his career in 1999 with Scarborough.
20 July 1991: FC Trollhättan 0 Arsenal 1 (Hillier). The second of eight pre-season friendlies in the build up to the first ever all-London charity shield match, against Tottenham who had won the FA Cup the previous season.
20 July 1993: Eddie McGoldrick’s first match – a friendly v Orient. He had played 147 matches for Crystal Palace where he had played alongside Ian Wright and went on to play 57 games for Arsenal.
20 July 1997: Stade Nyon 0 Arsenal 4 (Mendez, Boa Morte, Overmars, Bergkamp.. One of the friendlies before the second double season.
20 July 1998: Uefa approved Arsenal’s application to stage Champions League games at Wembley. The move allowed over twice as many people to see the games as would be possible at Highbury, and provided proof that the club could draw in enough support to fill the proposed new stadium.
20 July 2003: Gael Clichy signed from Cannes for whom he had played 15 times having graduated to the first team, after two years in the junior teams. Although the club was also the launch pad for such players as Zinedine Zidane, and Patrick Vieira, it was wound up on July 1st 2014 because of its financial situation. They are now in the 5th tier of French football (National 3)
20 July 2004: Martin Keown sold to Leicester City having won the league and FA Cup three times each plus the Cup Winners Cup. He played 17 times for Leicester and then five for Reading before retiring.
20 July 2005: SC Weiz 0 Arsenal 5 (Flamini, Henry, Bentley, Bergkamp). Part of the sequence in which Arsenal won every single pre-season game.
20 July 2009: Adebayor went to Man City for £25m on 20 July. He had cost just £3m three years earlier, and as a quick profit sale must rank alongside Anelka who moved from £250,000 to £25m also in three years. Three years after joining City he was told he was not part of their plans and could leave.
20 July 2013: Andre Santos transferred from Arsenal to Flamengo after a short loan spell with Grêmio. He played 28 times for Flamengo before moving on to Goa.
20 July 2019: Arsenal beat Fiorentina 3-0 with two from Nketiah and a goal by Joe Willock..
