Arsenal on this day: Aubameyang leaves but is still playing and still scoring

 

 

Arsenal Anniversaries of the Day for 1 February: the strange case of Aubameyang 

1 February 2022: After a prolonged dispute with the club Aubameyang had his Arsenal contract terminated and the player was moved to Barcelona. He made just 18 appearances for them before being moved again to Chelsea the following day where amazingly he was given a three year contract.

Either ironically or in desperate hope the Chelsea wiki page showed (at least as of this date in 2023) the player having played 100 games and scoring 1 million goals.  However, he was later excluded from the 25-man Champions League squad for the knockout stages by coach Graham Potter.

In the Champions League group stage, he scored two goals in two matches for Marseilles against his former club AC Milan.  As of the time of writing he is still with Marseilles having played 28 times in the 2023/4 season and scoring 14 goals.

Here are the other anniversaries for 1 February.

1 February 1896: Burnley 6 Woolwich Arsenal 1.  Having been excused the preliminary rounds Arsenal fell in the first round proper of the FA Cup.  Goalkeeper Albert Russell’s first and last competitive match although he also played two friendlies.  We know nothing at all of his life.

1 February 1902: A possible date of birth for John “Jack” Lee.  He played for a variety of non-league clubs in the north east before being signed by Arsenal as a possible left winger of the future.  Jack Lee played his first game on 6 September 1926:  Bolton 2 Arsenal 2.

1 February 1908: Tottenham 0 Arsenal 1; a crowd of 10,000 turned up to this friendly – the last friendly game between the two until after the first world war.

1 February 1913 Arsenal 1 Liverpool 4.  The crowd was 8,655 for this FA Cup match.  Arsenal had drawn with Liverpool at home in the league in late December, but there was little hope by February of anything against the twice League winners.  

1 February 1914: The main stand at Gillespie Road (Highbury) was reported in the press as having tarpaulin for walls as work continued, showing just how basic the stadium was when opened the previous August.

1 February 1921: Following a successful appeal to have his lifetime ban from football (handed down as part of the Leeds City scandal) rescinded, Huddersfield gave Herbert Chapman a job as assistant manager.  For more details see here

1 February 1933: Arsenal beat Bolton away 4-0 with Chapman using his revolutionary style of playing counter-attacking football both home and away (thus giving the players a greater chance of perfecting the approach).

1 February 1935: Bobby Davidson signed.  Just 5 feet 3 inches tall it was said he had a kick like a mule, and was in constant trouble with the refs.  He played 63 league games for Arsenal.

1 February 1936: Arsenal beat Stoke 1-0.  It was the last home win until 10 April when finally Arsenal played West Brom at home and won 4-0.  It also saw the first goal for Drake while on the winning side, since he scored the record-beating seven against Villa.

1 February 1947: Arsenal 6 Man U 2.  An extraordinary result given that Man U finished runners-up (Arsenal were 13th), and the match at Old Trafford ended 2-5.

1 February 1956: Tommy Lawton retired from playing having appeared 38 times and scored 15 goals in the league for Arsenal.  He moved to Kettering as manager where he had considerable success.

1 February 1958: Arsenal lost 4-5 at Highbury to Manchester United in one of the most thrilling games witnessed at Highbury. Derek Tapscott scored Arsenal’s 4th goal to set up a grandstand finish – his 62nd and final league goal for the club. Tragedy was to strike six days later at Munich airport when Manchester United’s aircraft crashed on takeoff coming back from a European Cup tie with Red Star Belgrade. 21 passengers on board died that day, including several of the United players who took part in the nine-goal classic.  It was also the start of sequence in which Arsenal let in 19 goals in five games.

1 February 1971: Arsenal 3 Portsmouth 2, FA Cup 4th round replay in the first Double season.  Charlie George scored his first goal since March the previous year. Simpson and Storey got the other goals.

1 February 1975: Trevor Ross came on as a sub for Alan Ball to make his first league appearance, against Liverpool.  He later reported that after he tackled Tommy Smith, Smith said to him,  ”Son, tackle me like that again and I will break your leg”

1 February 1988: Kevin Campbell signed as a professional.  He scored 76 goals in 224 games for Arsenal before moving to Nottingham Forest.

1 February 1992: Arsenal 1 Man U 1 watched by 41,703 – the highest attendance of the season.  It was Arsenal’s 7th consecutive game without a win.  Rocastle scored.  But from this date to the end of the season Arsenal were unbeaten in 17 including a 7-1 thrashing of Sheffield Wednesday (who finished the league in third) and a 5-1 win over Southampton.

1 February 1995: Arsenal v Milan; European Super Cup.  Milan were managed by Fabio Capello and not surprisingly it was a 1-1 draw.

1 February 1995: Paul Merson returned to Arsenal after treatment for his addictions, and went on to make a total of 24 starts for the club in the league that season.

1 February 2004: Arsenal 2 Man C 1.  The 23rd league game of the Unbeaten Season and the second game in a run of nine consecutive wins.  Man C scored an own goal and Henry got the second.  Anelka scored for Man C and was then sent off.

1 February 2006: Arsenal 2 WHU 3, Sol Campbell was substituted at his request at half time, and left the club for five days.  This was Arsenal’s second consecutive defeat after the 7-0 win over Middlesbrough.  Henry overtook Bastin’s goalscoring record.

1 February 2010: Sanchez Watt loaned to Southend.  It was the first of six separate loan spells that he had before finally signing for Colchester in 2013.

1 February 2015: Arsenal 5 Aston Villa 0.  This was part of a run of five consecutive wins in which the club scored 15 goals.  The run extended for 20 games and had the result of 18 wins and two defeats.

1 February 2016: Following the success of Bellerin, Debuchy was loaned to Bordeaux for the rest of the season in the expectation he would then be transferred away from Arsenal.  He was, but not until January 2018.

1 February 2023, Cédric Soares joined Fulham on loan for the rest of the season, meaning Arsenal had 24 playerrs in the first team squad and 11 first team players on loan elsewhere.

You might also enjoy

The 1919 Affair: How Arsenal were promoted to the first division – the only complete and detailed history of Arsenal’s election.

Day by Day the videos – An Arsenal video for (almost) every day of the year in order. 

Day by Day the stories a key moment in Arsenal and footballing history for each day of the year

Join AISA for Free.   If you enjoy our daily review of Arsenal’s history please do show your appreciation by becoming an associate member of AISA – Arsenal Independent Supporters’ Association.  It’s completely free, but being a member does make a statement that you value our work not just in recording Arsenal’s history but also in engaging with the club over issues relevant to supporters today.   You can join for free at https://aisa.org/associate-membership/

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *