13 June: The deadline day for Arsenal

Thus the club’s board now sent out a letter to all the people who had applied for shares in the first attempt to refinance the club, stating that anyone who applied for five or more shares and who bought now, would have the guarantee that not only would Woolwich Arsenal stay in Plumstead for a year, if the club then moved William Hall and Henry Norris would then buy back the shares at face value (£1 each), if so required.

Thereafter (although it is difficult to confirm the exact date) Henry Norris extended the time to which he guaranteed to keep Arsenal at Plumstead from one year (as agreed with the League Management Committee) to two years.

Unfortunately, neither supporters nor local businesses nor anyone else stepped up en masse to support the club, and with Norris and Hall now in charge, the new share register was drawn up.   This showed Hall and Norris having 240 shares each along with some other shareholders holding significant but smaller numbers.

Although there were numerous financial matters to handle, Henry Norris also started to consider the playing side of the club he had just taken over, and on 8 June he had a meeting with Arsenal’s manager George Morrell to say that his job was safe despite the club missing relegation by just one place and two points in the season just finished.

This was a pivotal moment.  Had Henry Norris not stepped up at this point and put his own money forward, with no one else waiting in the wings the club would certainly have folded.  The club owed vast amounts of money, and without a financial saviour, it would have closed at the end of that day.