30 June: the day for releasing end of contract players

The list of the 270+ videos we have gathered commemorating events on individual days are to be found via this link. We are also developing our video collection series in which we are gathering together the best videos we have against each club we have played in recent years – and adding some new ones to the list as we go. Here is the list of clubs covered so far… the latest addition is Manchester City

Today’s Arsenal anniversaries are published below. We don’t have a video for this day but another collection from a particular club will go up shortly.

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.

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For all other issues please contact Arsenal History Society at Tony@schools.co.uk

100 Years in the First Division: the absolute complete story of Arsenal’s promotion in 1919.

And here are … the anniversaries

30 June 1884: Tower Bridge was opened. It was the furthest easterly bridge over the Thames until the opening of the Queen Elizabeth II bridge at Dartford.

30 June 1905: The Kentish Independent published a list of season ticket prices at Woolwich Arsenal – showing a price of £2 2s – about two thirds of the weekly wage of a skilled artisan and equivalent to about £250 today. At the same time Woolwich Gazette revealed that Arsenal did not run the bars in the Manor Ground but leased them to others.

30 June 1914: Steve Stonley transferred to Brentford. He scored 13 goals in 28 league games in 1913/14, but left for Southern League Brentford after Harry King was signed.

30 June 1915: The 177th (Fulham) Royal Field Artillery Brigade which was raised and paid for by Henry Norris had, by this day, recruited everyone it needed apart from the hard to find skilled metal workers who maintained the guns in the field. Norris was immediately asked to raise a second artillery brigade and subsequently went on to raise a third. They were billeted in Fulham Town Hall, at Norris’ expense. It was for this work that he was knighted in 1917.

30 June 1932: Derek Tapscott born in Barry. He was one of 16 children, After leaving school at 14 he worked as a delivery boy, TV repairman’s assistant and bricklayer, before serving with the Royal Engineers. He was signed by Arsenal in 1953.

30 June 1975: Rami Shaaban born in Stockholm of Egyptian and Finnish parents.He started at Saltsjöbadens IF before playing in Cairo while also studying at university. He later moved to Djurgården and in August 2002 to Arsenal.

30 June 1995: Kevin Campbell transferred to Nottingham Forest who were European Champions. However the side were relegated and then promoted during his time there.

30 June 1999: Michael Black given a free transfer. He had signed as a pro for Arsenal in July 1995 having won the Youth Cup in 1994 and played his one and only game for the club as a sub in the Champions League match away to Panathinaikos in December 1998. Subsequently he played for Millwall, Tranmere, Southend, and then for a wide variety of non-league clubs.

30 June 2009: Amaury Bischoff and Rui Fonte left Arsenal while Luke Ayling, Craig Eastmond, Cedric Evina signed pro forms. Bischoff was signed as “a gamble” because of his injury record and only made 1 appearance. Rui Fonte did not make the first team appearance and signed for Sporting Lisbon but didn’t play for them either.

30 June 2009: Craig Eastmond signed pro forms, and went on to make 10 first-team appearances for Arsenal before being loaned to Colchester Utd on 27 September 2012.In 2015 he signed for Sutton United

30 June 2010: Luke Ayling transferred to Yeovil one year after signing professional forms with Arsenal. After 162 games for Yeovil he moved on to Bristol City and won League One with them in 2014. During the 2018–19 he played 42 games for Leeds United in the Championship and in February 2020 he was awarded the EFL Championship Player of the Month title

30 June 2010: Kerrea Gilbert transferred to Portland Timbers. He was unable to obtain a visa to play in the US however, and ultimately signed for Yeovil and played for them 8 times. He subsequently played for Shamrock Rovers, Maidenhead and St Albans City.

30 June 2010: Jens Lehmann, the only player ever to go 42 games in a 1st Division or Premier League season unbeaten, retired as a player. Although he did make a comeback – by chance.

30 June 2010: Jérémie Aliadière’s contract at Arsenal ended and he left as a free agent, but injured himself in pre-season training, and was left without a club and without being able to play. He did however recover and went on to play for Lorient, and Umm Salal finishing his career back at Lorient in 2017.

30 June 2012: Manuel Almunia at the age of 35 was released by Arsenal and moved on first to West Ham and then to Watford for whom he played 76 league games in two seasons. His transfer is also reported as 30 July.

30 June 2013: Andrey Arshavin released and transferred to Zenit for whom he had been on loan in 2011/12. He retired in 2018 after playing 536 first class games.

30 June 2014: Park Chu Young left Arsenal after just seven games in three years. His transfer was one of the strangest in the history of the club and appeared to have as much to do with passport requirements as anything else. (See link for details).

30 June 2015: The loans of a number of young Arsenal players expired, including Wellington Silva, Carl Jenkinson, Austin Lipman, Jon Toral, Ryo, Josh Vickers, Lukas Podolski, Yaya Sanogo, Joel Campbell, Semi Ajayi, Chuba Akpom and Jack Jebb

30 June 2017: Arsenal’s loan of Calum Chambers to Middlesbrough and Jack Wilshere to Bournemouth officially came to an end and the players joined the first team squad at Arsenal.

30 June 2017: Chris Willock joined Benfica upon the expiry of his contract, signing a five-year deal. Sadly for him his decision to turn his back on Arsenal didn’t work out – he played 64 games for Benfica B, went on loan to WBA and didn’t play, and eventually ended up at QPR

30 June 2018: The loans of Takuma Asano, Marc Bola, and Emiliano Martínez to Stuggart, Bristol Rovers and Getaffe respectively, came to an end.

30 June 2019: Arsenal released a whole clutch of players: including Petr Cech (to Chelsea), Daley-Campbell, Gilmour, Lichsteiner, Pleguezuelo (to FC Twente), Ramsey (to Juventus), Spencer-Adams, and Danny Welbeck.

30 June 2020: The initial loan spell of Dani Ceballos Cédric Soares and Pablo Marí officially came to an end. The loans for a number of other Arsenal players also came to an end including Jordi Osei Tutu at VfL Bochum, William Saliba at Saint Etienne, Henrick Mkhitaryan at AS Roma, Mo Elneny at Besiktas, Emile Smith Rowe at Huddersfield.

30 June 2021: Arsenal released Dani Ceballos, David Luiz, Leonie Maier, Martin Odegaard and Mat Ryan

And just in case you are interested, also on this day…

1934 having been democratically elected Adolf Hitler eliminates all his political opponents
1938 the first Superman comic appeared
1960 Psycho opens in American cinemas
1997 the first Harry Potter book is published
1997 Hong Kong is handed over to the Chinese

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