Arsenal in the late 1950s and the hopes of a revival

By Tony Attwood

The full index of this “100 years” series of articles so far is published here

Recnt articles

In the last post, I looked at the Swindin era overall rather than take us through the painful business of each season’s depressing results, as I really don’t want to go through Swindin’s time at Arsenal in this way. It should have worked, and it had its moments, but overall, it was depressing. But I do feel a bit more context is required.

During Tom Whittaker’s time at Arsenal, the rebuilding of the cover over the north bank was a long-running on-going saga. The destruction of the stand was clearly war damage, and the state was very slow in making a suitable offer to Arsenal for the cost of repairs. One can’t say that such a worry led to the early passing of Whittaker, but it was a dispiriting, negative factor that lingered over the club. As indeed was Tom Whittaker’s long illness before his passing on 24 October 1956.

Although it did not affect the club’s on-field performance, the retirement of Joe Shaw and the passing of Whittaker’s predecessor George Allison, later in the same season, seemed to mark the end of the era of the great Arsenal team.

But perhaps it was indeed Arsenal’s belief that it was Arsenal men who should run the club, that hastened the decline, because the club seemed at this time to be in need of a new perspective, which those who had served Arsenal in the pre-war period could not bring. Football had changed post-war, and Arsenal seemed not to be quite up to speed with that change.

Thus it is not that Chapman, Allison and Whittaker made the club invincible – far from it – but they did build the feeling that Arsenal were the team of the present and the future. Contrast that with the unprecedented defeat of Arsenal by Northampton Town in the FA Cup in the 1957/58 season, and one can see how far Arsenal had fallen, and imagine at once how much the media loved the situation and crowed over Arsenal’s demise.

Worse, the Northampton fiasco was not only a disaster for the club that affected its standing in football. For it was also noted, quite reasonably, that Arsenal were 13th in the league. The whole club, it was felt, was but a pale shadow of the organisation that ruled football before the war. It was now a club living on its history, and that in football is never a clever thing to do.

But this was not just an emotional decline, as other clubs took over as the most newsworthy football teams, for the sizde of the Highbury crowd collapsed too. And this was, of course, important, since money at the turnstiles was just about the only income the club had. It certainly wasn’t making a profit on transfers – quite the opposite.

Over 50,000 had turned up for Arsenal’s first home Saturday game in the 1957/8 season (against the hardly eye-catching Luton Town). But by May 22, 28,000 went through the turnstiles for the home win against Sheffield Wednesday. On April 19, just over 31,000 came along to see the goalless home draw with Burnley, followed by 23,000 for the game against Nottingham Forest. The crowds, in short, had lost both belief and, worst, interest. London had largely been rebuilt, and the pubs, cinemas and theatres were open. Why go to see a football team that was clearly (as the newspapers reminded readers every day) in decline.

However 1958/9, with George Swindin in charge, did see an improvement both in terms of crowds and league performance as Arsenal finished third in the league. That final league table suggested to north London Arsenal were indeed on the way back.

	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
1	Wolverhampton Wanderers	42	28	5	9	110	49	61
2	Manchester United	42	24	7	11	103	66	55
3	Arsenal	42	21	8	13	88	68	50

But by late October, Arsenal had sunk back to the mid-table and crowd numbers were slipping again. Indeed by the end of the campaign, Arsenal were able to draw only around only 25,00 or so, except where the game was a London derby.

Y as we noted in the table produced in the last article having had the success of finishing third in 1958/9, Arsenal’s best performance since winning the title in 1952/3 (and with no decent run in the FA Cup to ease the awareness of decline) in 1959/60, (Swindin’s third season in charge of the club), Arsenal sank to 13th in the league. Worse, having been knocked out of the FA Cup in the third round by Northampton Town two years before, Arsenal were this season knocked out by Rotherham United of Division Two – a club that had only just avoided relegation to the third division the season before.

The decline in Arsenal’s performance between 1958/59 was indeed remarkable for it was not only a decline from the seaon before of ten places in the league, it also suggested that the middle table (or lower) was now Arsenal’s natural position.

And it should be remembered that this poor defensive record came at a time that Arsenal had Jack Kelsey – recognised as one of the truly great goalkeepers of the era, in goal for the club.

	Season	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
12	Arsenal 1957/58	42	16	7	19	73	85	39
3	Arsenal 1958/59	42	21	8	13	88	68	50
13	Arsenal 1959/60	42	15	9	18	68	80	39

That 1958/59 was in fact the high spot in Arsenal’s performances in the era and unfortunately, instead of building on the achievements of that season, Arsenal seemed to feel they were back in their rightful position. Thus, instead of developing further, the club appeared ti sing back to the mid-table mediocrity of the season before. For from being third in the league in 1958/59 Arsenal were now 13th in Division One, and a dismissal from the FA Cup once more from a lower league team in the third round 0-2 to Rotherham after two draws.

Arsenal had multiple problems, and one of these was the issue of captaincy. During the period 1954 to 1959, Arsenal had no less than ten different captains, and although three of these might well have been clearly noted as filling in because the captain was either injured or playing for his country on a day when there were also league matches, it was still a ludicrous number. There was, in fact, no consistent and recognisable leadership on the pitch.

That the matter was solved finally by appointing Vic Groves as captain for the 1959/60 season turned out to be too little too late, and it made no difference with Arsenal sinking to 13th and having the aforementioned disaster with Rotherham in the cup.

But perhaps the biggest worry, and the one that really should have led the board to act, was the fact that in 1959/60 Arsenal finished 13th in the league – and this, we should remember, was one season after finishing third.

Worse for the local supporters was the way in which Tottenham Hotspur, erratic as they might be, were now seriously challenging Arsenal as the prime team in North London. Tottenham had won the league in 1950/51 for the first time ever. It was dismissed by some as a one-off, and although they did come second the following season, it was noted they were equal on points with Arsenal in third. Arsenal then reasserted what many saw to be the normal order of things, winning the league in 1952/3. The crisis, everyone thought, was over.

But in 1953/4, as we have seen, Arsenal sank to 12th, a position only made slightly more bearable by the fact that Tottenham finished 16th. Arsenal recovered to 9th in 1954/5 while Tottenham continued to linger in the lower reaches once more, ending up 12th – but that of course meant nothing. Arsenal had won the league seven times from the start of the Chapman revolution, and it seemed as if all that progress had been thrown away.

And so, as Arsenal built their way towards what was locally hoped to be a new era of excellence, ending fifth in 1955/6, Tottenham continued to linger in 18th, missing relegation by just two points and a better goal average.

But just as Arsenal improved in 1956/57 by coming sixth, Tottenham had a remarkable surge from near relegation one season to second in the following campaign, (although it was noted in parts of North London that they were eight points behind the title winners Manchester United.)

That dominance in north London continued into 1957/8 with Tottenham finishing third (although 13 points off the top place) while Arsenal now fell back to 12th. much closer to relegation than the title.

But then the rise once again to third in 1958/9 was part of a dramatic improvement for Arsenal, an event made twice as sweet by the fact that Tottenham, league champions in 1957 and third in 1958 were now 18th.

Yet the fact was that since winning the league in 1952/3 in the following six seasons, that third position in 1958/9 was the best Arsenal could do. And it wasn’t as if there were signs of progress.

Pos	Season	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
1st	1952–53	42	21	12	9	97	64	54
12th	1953–54	42	15	13	14	75	73	43
9th	1954–55	42	17	9	16	69	63	43
5th	1955–56	42	18	10	14	60	61	46
5th	1956–57	42	21	8	13	85	69	50
12th	1957–58	42	16	7	19	73	85	39
3rd	1958-59	42	21	8	13	88	68	50

The fact was that in 1958/9 Arsenal were back to the points total of 1956/7, having sunk down to 12th the previous season. Was it possible for this team to go on to win the first title since the glorious years of Chapman, Allison and Whittaker? Certainly, the club seemed to have confidence in Swindin whose two seasons had ended up with Arsenal 12th and 3rd. There was hope and anticipation.

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