By Tony Attwood
We have now codified an index to the series so far and that full index is published here
Arsenal had come 13th in the first post war year with Allison as the reluctant manager – reluctant in the sense that he had been persuaded against his better judgement to manage the club for just one more season, even though he was exhausted from running the club, virtually on his own, out of White Hart Lane through the war years.
But he did keep going for that one more season, as we saw in the last article, Allison retires, Whittaker takes over
And now in 1947/8 Arsenal had as manager the man they wanted, and Allison, had gratefully left the club he had served so well, in order to enjoy his retirement.
Tom Whitter MBE was born in 1898. He grew up in the north east and served in the army in the First World War, where, aside from his military duties, he played football. And as a result of that, he joined Arsenal as a player in November 1919, starting as a centre forward before dropping back into midfield.
He continued playing with the club after the war but was injured on tour in Australia in 1925 and forced to retire, upon which event he joined Arsenal’s coaching staff and trained as a physiotherapist. Herbert Chapman recognised his skills in this regard, and his dedication to Arsenal, and made Whittaker trainer of the first team, even though some of the playing squad were older than him.
But this arrangement worked brilliantly as it left Chapman free to tour the country looking for new players, knowing that in his absence, Whittaker would be carrying out his instructions to the letter, and giving detailed reports upon his return. Indeed, Chapman would often be noted by the media as watching games almost every night around the country, searching for players who could enhance his squad.
When Chapman died suddenly and unexpectedly, Allison had no hesitation in keeping Whittaker by his side as an essential part of the new management of the club. Indeed, Whittaker was also noted by England and in the 1930s, he was doubled up as the trainer of the England team.
In the Second World War Whittaker became a squadron leader and was awarded the MBE, but as soon as he was allowed to, he returned to Arsenal as the trainer. However, because of his military commitments, he was unable to take over the management of the club at once, and so Allison reluctantly stayed for that one extra year before Whittaker became Arsenal manager in 1947.
In this regard, Tom Whittaker was an immediate and sensational success, as this league table from 11 September 1947 shows.
| P | Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arsenal | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 19 | 5 | 12 |
| 2 | Preston North End | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 6 | 10 |
| 3 | Blackpool | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 12 | 5 | 9 |
| 4 | Middlesbrough | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 12 | 7 | 8 |
| 5 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 23 | 11 | 7 |
Everyone wants their new manager to start with a bang, and there could hardly have been a bigger bang than that. And with the combination of those results, and the fact that most of those who served their country in the war had now been demobilised, the home crowds were always over 50,000. For Arsenal, the money was pouring in.
Whittaker’s medical knowledge obviously helped him along also, as we can see from the fact that for the first six games of the season, he put out the same team….
Swindin
Scott Barner
Macaulay Fields Mercer
Roper Logie Lewis Rooke McPherson
Many of these players became famous, but of course, not everyone turned into a great footballing star of the era, and inevitably, some players were tried out and then dropped. One such was Alf Fields, who played the first six games of this season and just the first game of the following season. However, he still made his contribution to Arsenal, being moved into the role of coach by the manager before eventually retiring in November 1983. And indeed he is a player who deserves an additional mention since he appeared (as himself) in the 1939 movie “The Arsenal Stadium Mystery”. He passed away on 14 November 2011, one day shy of his 93rd birthday.
Field’s position as centre half was immediately taken over by Leslie Compton, pictured here at the time of his signing.
Other players did, of course, come and go – including Ian McPherson, who played in each of the first 28 games of the season at outside left. He had joined Arsenal from Notts County at the end of the war but succumbed to injury on the football field although he did return the following season.
Of course, after the winning start, Arsenal began to find clubs playing defensively against them, looking for a draw. But Arsenal continued their winning ways and did not lose until a 1-0 away defeat against Derby at the end of November.
That overwhelming start of six consecutive wins was not to be repeated, but defeats were rare, and Arsenal did indeed start to find the net more readily. A 6-0 defeat of Charlton in the fourth game of the season was not repeated, but a 5-2 win over Wolverhampton in March gave a sign of what could be achieved. And then just four games later Arsenal beat Middlesbrough 7-0 in front of a full house at Highbury on 26 March 1948. That result took Arsenal eight points clear on what turned out to be a very Good Friday. Arsenal also had a massively better goal average (as scoring issues were then recorded) than the teams around them (in contemporary terms, it was +43). And so, as can happen in such circumstances, for some reason they decided to take the foot off the gas the following day and lost 3-0 away to Blackppool.
In the following games, with no one putting in a serious attempt to catch Arsenal, the club stumbled somewhat, achieving one victory, two defeats and three draws in the next six games, but by 12 April 1948, with three games left to play, Arsenal had won the league.
In the remaining games, the team clearly took their foot off the gas, even though the full first team was played in both the games against Portsmouth and Manchester City, but the results were goalless draws. However, Arsenal did make up for that in the final game on 1 May, as Arsenal beat Grimsby Town, (who had already been relegated), 8-0.
The top of the table at the season’s end read…
| Team | P | W | D | L | F | GA | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arsenal | 42 | 23 | 13 | 6 | 81 | 32 | 59 |
| 2 | Manchester United | 42 | 19 | 14 | 9 | 81 | 48 | 52 |
| 3 | Burnley | 42 | 20 | 12 | 10 | 56 | 43 | 52 |
| 4 | Derby County | 42 | 19 | 12 | 11 | 77 | 57 | 50 |
Arsenal were champions, Tom Whittaker the hero of Arsenal, and the footballing world saw that after dominating football in the pre-war era, Arsenal could still do it post war. For their record now, outside of the war years, was..
- 1930: Won FA Cup under Herbert Chapman
- 1931: Won League Division 1 under Herbert Chapman
- 1933: Won League Division 1 under Herbert Chapman
- 1934: Won League Division 1 under George Allison
- 1936: Won FA Cup under George Allison
- 1938: Won League Division 1 under George Allison
- 1948: Won League Division 1 under Tom Whittaker.
The story continues.
