1935/6: Arsenal have lost their manager but still come good

By Tony Attwood

Recent episodes

If ever a football season needs to be seen in the context of history, 1935/6 for Arsenal was this season. For in the previous three league seasons, Arsenal had won the league – in 1932/3 Arsenal were champions under Herbert Chapman, but equally were knocked out of the FA Cup in the third round by Walsall – a defeat that became one of the most famous cup results of all time.

But then, part way through 1933/34 Herbert Chapman had died At the moment of his passing the league table read

	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
1	Arsenal	23	14	6	3	41	20	34
2	Derby County	23	13	6	4	46	23	32
3	Huddersfield Town	23	11	8	4	52	35	30

Jo Shaw had taken over the first team at that point, and Arsenal went on to win the league The details of the season and the final table are showin in our previous article here.

Quite why Joe Shaw did not want to continue as manager is not clear, but the general consensus is that he preferred the quieter life of a reserve team manager, which meant not having to face the media. Certainly, there seemed to be no upset over the fact that after the half-season that Shaw ran the first team, he returned to his previous role as reserve team manager, without any fuss. And we should also note that Arsenal’s reserve, playing at Highury on the days when Arsenal’s first team were away, themselves got decent crowds. 10,000+ was not unusual.

Jo Shaw remained at Arsenal until the outbreak of war in 1939. After the war he went to work for Chelsea as a coach for two years, but then returned to Arsenal as assistant to Tom Whittaker in 1947. He then served as club ambassador representing the club at functions and on occasions when preliminary discussions were being held about a potential transfer, until he finally retired in 1956 fully ending his footballing days after 49 years’ service for Arsenal. He died in 1963 at the age of 80, one of the club’s great servants who needs to be remembered alongside Chapman and Allison.

But now, after Chapman had won the league for Arsenal in 1933, and Shaw had got the title in 1934, George Allison took over the manager’s chair for the 1934/35 season and was to stay in the role until 1956/7, winning two league titles and one FA Cup – exactly the same as Chapman had. His first season was thus 1934/5 – after Arsenal had won the league in the two previous seasons.

Arsenal started with a draw against Portsmouth, and it is clear that Allison was not convinced by that opening performance. Bob John was dropped at left back and only made six appearances in the whole season. Hill and Hulme also were dropped and became just bit part players.

And clearly there was something about Allison’s methods that shook the Arsenal squad up, perhaps after years of Chapman and Shaw, because in the second game Arsenal beat Liverpool 8-1. Eddie Hapgood fitted into the new left back role, and Croayston became the regular right half. But one position seemed to baffle the new boss throughout the season – outside right. In all Hulme, Beasley, Birkett, Kirchen and Rogers all took on the number 7 shirt.

But this is not the say the whole season was one of suffering and changing. For this was the year that Ted Drake played in 41 of the 42 league games and scored 42 goals. while Cliff Bastin got 20 goals in 30 matches.

On 2 February Arsenal beat Sheffield Wednesday 4-1 – their fourth successive victory in which they had scored a totla of 12 games. leaving Arsenal top of the league but only on goal average.

	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
1	Arsenal	30	16	8	6	85	37	40
2	Sunderland	31	15	10	6	68	39	40
3	Manchester City	30	17	5	8	62	45	39
4	Sheffield Wednesday	31	15	7	9	53	48	37

… and clearly some nerves started affecting the team as on 9 February Arsenal lost 0-2 away to Birmingham City, who at that moment were sitting 20th out of 22 in the league, 16 points behind Arsenal (remembering of course that these were the days of two, not three, points for a win.

In fact, Arsenal only won four of the next nine games, but where they were not winning, they were not getting beaten either, and the stumbling of other clubs, plus the fact of only two points for a win, meant Arsenal held on. By 13 April, Arsenal were still top of the league. In the table below, I don’t want to take up too much space with the whole table, but I will include the foot of the table, just for comparison, and a little bit of a laugh. Arsenal’s goal average was far superior to Sunderland’s, as you can see without even reaching for the calculator, and so no matter what happened, all Arsenal had to do was equal Sunderland’s points.

But from 30 January 1935, Tottenham entered freefall, playing 19 league and FA Cup games and winning just two. Arsenal meanwhile, went on a run of nine games, winning seven and drawing two and so a 1-0 at home to Derby on the last day of the season hardly bothered anyone.

	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
1	Arsenal	37	19	12	6	100	42	50
2	Sunderland	37	17	13	7	78	44	47
3	Manchester City	37	19	8	10	70	53	46
4	Sheffield Wednesday	38	17	10	11	65	60	44
5	Everton	38	15	11	12	81	74	41

20	Birmingham City	37	12	7	18	53	72	31
21	Leicester City	37	12	6	19	53	74	30
22	Tottenham Hotspur	38	8	10	20	44	84	26

At the other end of the league, the fate of Tottenham seemed settled. In their four remaining games, they could get another eight points.

Thus Arsenal had won the league three seasons running under three different managers, and although Chapman’s passing was properly commemorated each year with much sadness and the shedding of tears, the fact was that in Shaw as reserve team coach and deputy manager and Allison as manager, Arsenal had survived the passing of the club’s most famous manager in history – the man who took the club from the edge of relegation in Knighton’s final season, to beinjg what was regarded in the mid-30s, as the greatest team football had ever seen.

Arsenal had emulated what was considered at the time to be the greatest achievement in English football. After the growth of Liverpool for a couple of seasons in the early 1920s, follwoed by the unprescedented thre in a row titles for Huddersfield (who had never won the league before), and a couple of seasons of title winning by The Wednesday (renamed Sheffield Wendesday during that period) Arsenal had won the league four times in five years, and come second in the one season when they hadn’t won the title. What’s more, these were their first four titles.

And perhaps a moment should be spared for a thought about Sheffield Wednesday who had won the league for the fourth time in 1930. And perhaps too a word about Tottenham.

They had won promotion from the second division in 1933, and came third in the first division in 1934. But then collapsed to the bottom of the league in 1935 and were duly relegated back to the second division, just as Arsenal were gaining universal acclaim not just for their dominance of the league but also their style of play. Tottenham did, of course, eventually return, but not until 1950, by which time Arsenal had won the FA Cup three times and the league six times. Here are the details of Arsenal’s first league trophy seasons. And Tottenham, as you can see, do get a mention.

	Champions	Runners’up	3rd place
1930–31	Arsenal	Aston Villa	Sheffield Wed
1931–32	Everton	Arsenal	Sheffield Wed
1932–33	Arsenal	Aston Villa	Sheffield Wed
1933–34	Arsenal	Huddersfield Town	Tottenham Hotspur
1934–35	Arsenal	Sunderland	Sheffield Wed

Thus, Arsenal won the league in three successive seasons under three different managers. And by this time, the football world was existing in a state of expecting Arsenal to win something every season. The question was, what would they win next?

Leave a Reply