Series written by Tony Attwood, AISA Arsenal History Society
We have now codified an index to the series so far, and that full index is published here
The most recent articles in the series are
- 100 Arsenal seasons in the top league: Allison retires, Whittaker takes over
- 100 seasons in the top league: winning the title in 1948
- 100 years at the top. 1948/9 – expectations are high and Brazil beckons
Tom Whittaker joined Arsenal as manager in 1947/8 and immediately fulfilled everyone’s expectations by winning the league title. And so the myth was born. Arsenal managers always win the league. Chapman had done it. Allison had done it, and now Whittaker had done it. Three successive managers and, between them thus far five league titles and two FA Cups.
It was, of course, true that in his second season, Whittaker had taken Arsenal to fifth in the First Division and the fourth round of the FA Cup, but then neither Chapman nor Allison had won something EVERY season. The occasional rebuild was allowed. But even so, for 1949/50, expectations were high. Arsenal had a new club crest and their new “Victory through harmony” motto. Arsenal even had a new second kit to wear when there was a clash of the red and white, and indeed they wore it in the cup final against Liverpool.
But for all the bravado and expectation, the season started very poorly with four defeats and a single victory by a single goal away to Celsea. Indeed a joke (not a new one but one given a new lease of light) spread around London in which a supporter picked up a newspaper saying I see Arsenal are top of the leage” before turned the paer around and apologising for having been reading it upside down.
In fact on 2 September 1949 it must have seemed to Arsenal fans, buoyed up on four championships and two FA Cups in the past 11 seasons, unbelieveable to see the league table on 2 September 1949, with the foot of the chart reading…
| Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 | Arsenal | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 9 | 2 |
| 21 | Huddersfield Town | 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 12 | 2 |
| 22 | Birmingham City | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 9 | 2 |
The two great teams that Chapman had built, Arsenal and Huddersfield Town, were now sitting on just two points each from four games at the foot of the table. It just did not seem possible.
Arsenal did, however, recover and went on a 12-game unbeaten run, which meant that by November 12, they were third in the league, just two points below Liverpool. Huddersfield, Chapman’s other club, had also pulled itself up, but only as far as 18th.
Sadly, the defeat to Chelsea on 19 November started another poor run and the club did not win a single one of the next five games. And by Christmas, Arsenal had slipped back to fifth. The club was clearly in better shape than it had been, but a challenge for the title seemed unlikely if there were any more of these dips in form.
Arsenal started the new year in 8th, having just lost 0-2 away to Liverpool who were sitting pretty at the top of the table. but then, as ever, attention turned to the FA Cup, which in those days always attracted bigger crowds than league matches.
In the 3rd round, Arsenal played Sheffield Wednesday, who were challenging for (and ultimately achieved) promotion from the second division. Arsenal procured a 1-0 home win. At the end of the month, Arsenal progressed further in the Cup, gaining a 2-0 win over Swansea Town, who had come up from Division 3 (south) to Division 2, the previous campaign.
The fifth round was on February 11th again at home, this time to Burnley, a mid-table division one team who had come up from the second tier in 1948 and were now sitting mid-table.
By round six in which Arsenal were drawn at hoke for the fourth consecutive time, this against Leeds United, there was a slight murmuring going on and the first post-war mutterings of “Lucky Arsenal)” for this was a club that had dropped back into the second divsiion in 1948/9 and were showing no signs of getting out of the league.
Thus, Arsenal had survived in the FA Cup by playing four second division teams, each one at home, scoring one or two goals in each game. The only positive thing one could say about Arsenal in the FA Cup, apart from the fact that they got through each round, was that none of their opponents had managed a goal
The media were not impressed, and when Arsenal were drawn against mid-table but very much 1st Division Chelsea, there was widespread expectation in the newspapers that Arsenal would be shown up for what they were – a mid-table team that was not a shadow of what they had been pre-war.
On 18 March 1950 however, a keen-eyed observer would have noted that on that day of the semi-final, Arsenal had actually clambered up to seventh in the 1st Division while Chelsea were 12th. Being a semi-final, the game was played on neutral ground, at White Hart Lane. It was a 2-2 draw.
The replay was four days later and Arsenal won 1-0 in front of a similarly sized crowd, meaning Arsenal were in the FA Cup final for the first time since Allison’s team had beaten Grimsby Town 1-0 in the 1936 semi-final.
At this time, the league programme was not completed before the FA Cup final, and on the day of the final (29 April 1950), Arsenal were eighth in the league. In that final, Arsenal beat Liverpool 2-0 with both goals from Reg Lewis. He had played in all seven FA Cup matches and scored five goals.
As for the team as a whole, only five Arsenal players who had started the first game of the season on 20 August 1949, made it onto the pitch for the final at Wembley against Liverpool on 29 April 1950. Swindin in goal, Bastin the right back who in the cup played left back, Forbes who played in the league at right half but played left half in the cup, Logie at number 8, and Goring at centre forward
After the cup final, Arsenal had two games left to play and won both of them to leave the club sixth in the Division One table, just four points behind the league winners..
| Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Portsmouth | 42 | 22 | 9 | 11 | 74 | 38 | 53 |
| 2 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | 42 | 20 | 13 | 9 | 76 | 49 | 53 |
| 3 | Sunderland | 42 | 21 | 10 | 11 | 83 | 62 | 52 |
| 4 | Manchester United | 42 | 18 | 14 | 10 | 69 | 44 | 50 |
| 5 | Newcastle United | 42 | 19 | 12 | 11 | 77 | 55 | 50 |
| 6 | Arsenal | 42 | 19 | 11 | 12 | 79 | 55 | 49 |
So Tom Whittaker had won the FA Cup and the League Division One in the space of three seasons, and given that both Chapman and Allison had won the league twice and the FA Cup once, there was a clear feeling around that he too could go on and emulate his illustrious predecessors. And perhaps go further.
But there was also a clear feeling that in this new post-war world, the old ways of one club dominating the league were now gone. It could happen, but the competition was getting greater all the time. Here is the summary table for the four seasons up to 1950.
| Season | League Winners | League Second | League Third | FA Cup Winners |
| 1946–47 | Liverpool | Manchester United | Wolverhampton Wanderers | Charlton Athletic |
| 1947–48 | Arsenal | Manchester United | Burnley | Manchester United |
| 1948–49 | Portsmouth | Manchester United | Derby County | Wolverhampton Wanderers |
| 1949–50 | Portsmouth | Wolverhampton Wanderers | Sunderland | Arsenal |
Counting clubs that are first, second or third, and adding in the FA Cup winners is an arbitrary way of measuring success, but of course, so are most other ways. But sticking with this selection, we have in terms of appearances in the table above…
- Burnley: 1
- Charlton Athletic: 1
- Derby County: 1
- Liverpool: 1
- Sunderland: 1
- Arsenal: 2
- Portsmouth: 2
- Wolverhampton Wanderers: 3
- Manchseter Untied: 4
This I think, gives a feel as to the dominant clubs in the immediate post-war years. And although Manchester United appeared four times, the fact is that all they had won was one FA Cup – exactly the same as Wolverhampton Wanderers. In terms of trophies, the top clubs were Portsmouth (two league titles), and Arsenal (one league title and the FA Cup).
The series continues.
