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- 100 Years in the First Division: the absolute complete story of Arsenal’s promotion in 1919.
- 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.
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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.
Here are the anniversaries
1 January 1896: Hastings 0 Arsenal 12. Arsenal played 29 friendlies in the course of the season in addition to their 30 league games, but generally crowds were disappointing. This is one of only two games where no crowd is recorded. We do know however that Henry Boyd scored six.
1 January 1899, 20,000 turned up at the Manor Ground for the FA Cup match against Derby but it ended: Arsenal 0 Derby County 6.
1 January 1903: After being a near ever-present, Fred Coles ceased to play regularly after this game – a 1-0 win at Stockport. He played the last match of the season and again on January 16 1904, but moved to Grimsby Town in June. Later he became a cricket and football coach in Gothenburg, Sweden. He was also trainer of Hague in Holland between 1910 and 1911.
1 January 1903: William Bannister played his first match away to Stockport. He played just 18 league games for Arsenal before moving to Leicester in May 1904.
1 January 1906: Bolton W 6 Arsenal 1, a result that left Arsenal with one win in seven. However recovery was around the corner as Arsenal won the next league game 5-1.
1 January 1908, A rule was introduced that transfer fees be limited to £350, but by and large the clubs ignored it, and it lapsed. Despite attempts by Henry Norris and others to introduce a limit that would be agreed and would hold, none was ever achieved.
1 January 1910: Arsenal Reserves played a home game against West Ham in blue shirts. Quite why Arsenal used such a colour is not known although it is possible that the shirts were borrowed.
1 January 1910: Arsenal’s worst season thus far in their history, started the new year badly with Liverpool 5 Arsenal 1, in a run in which the club had four defeats and one draw.
1 January 1921: Arsenal 1 Bradford City 2. It was Bradford’s last league triumph over Arsenal as City’s decline set in and they were relegated at the end of the season. Bradford PA had one more season in the first division before they were relegated too. This was also the day car tax was introduced in the UK.
1 January 1923: A 5-0 away win over Blackburn (the highest away win of the season) made it 13 scored and none conceded in last three games, as it began to look as if manager Henry Knighton might have at last turned the corner. It was however a false hope.
1 January 1924: The BBC first broadcast of what it called “Weather Shipping” later to be known as the Shipping Forecast. It is still with us today.
1 January 1927: Arsenal 3 Cardiff 2. The first game for Harold Peel – a Chapman signing that didn’t quite work. He moved on to Bradford City in 1929. Brain got a hat trick.
1 January 1929: Sunderland 5 Arsenal 1. Arsenal let in five for the third time in Chapman’s fourth season, but the recovery was about to start as the next 11 games passed without defeat. It was the first game for Raymond Parkin
1 January 1931: All speed limits for cars and motorcycles were abolished under the Road Traffic Act 1930 and Britain’s roads became a free for all.
1 January 1934 Herbert Chapman went on a scouting trip as the tragedy of his untimely death started to unfold. He died on January 6.
1 January 1938: First game for Reg Lewis who had joined from Margate in 1935.
1 January 1968: Davor Suker born. He was Real Madrid’s top man in his prime, but only played occasionally for Arsenal and left on a free transfer to WHU. His life was later surrounded by controversy, although many still hold him in high regard.
1 January 1985: Arsenal 1 Tottenham 2. Steve Williams debut; Woodcock scored. The result left Tottenham top of the league, five points ahead Arsenal in fourth.
1 January 1986: For the second year running Arsenal played Tottenham on New Year’s Day, this time the score being 0-0. After this game Arsenal were 7th and Tottenham 10th.
1 January 1988: Tony Adams became Arsenal captain for a day as Kenny Sansom was rested. Kenny Sansom remained club captain until March 1988 when Tony Adams took over permanently. Smith scored in a 1-1 draw with Portsmouth
1 January 1995: News of the World ran the headline “After 98 games, two years, four months, two weeks, two days, one hour and 19 minutes Jensen scores!”
1 January 2001 Charlton Athletic beat Arsenal for first time in 44 years and the club had its first away win since November. Within a year there was early talk of Arsenal going through a whole season unbeaten away from home.
1 January 2002: Leicester v Arsenal should have been game 21 of the third Double season but was postponed because of the frozen pitch at Filbert Street.
1 January 2005: Emmanuel Eboue joined Arsenal from Beveren. He went on to play 132 games for Arsenal before moving on to Galatasaray.
1 January 2009: Ivan Gazidis became chief executive of Arsenal, replacing Keith Edelman.
1 January 2011: Ryo Miyaichi joined from Japan. He offered great hope and did brilliantly in early loan spells, but injuries later caught up with him. He eventually moved on to FC St. Pauli in the 2. Bundesliga
1 January 2014: Arsenal 2 Cardiff 0, with goals from Bendtner and Walcott, but Bendtner was injured in the game and joined Giroud, Ozil, Ramsey and Gibbs on the injury list.
1 January 2017: Arsenal 2 Crystal Palace 1. It was the second in a run of six wins and one draw. Giroud scored his scorpion kick goal which won the FIFA Puskas Award for Goal of the Year
1 January 2019: Arsenal opened the year with a 4-1 defeat of Fulham, having ended the old year with a 5-1 defeat by Liverpool. There was a constant theme of criticism however on this day for the substitution of Lacazette later in the game.
1 January 2020: Arsenal beat Manchester United 2-0. It was one of only two wins in 17 League games.
