By Tony Attwood
100 seasons in the top division. Recent posts in this series
- Arsenal’s 100 seasons in the top division: signs of improvement. 1976/7
- How did Arsenal collapse so quickly after the first double of 1971
- Arsenal under Mee: after the double
- 100 seasons in the top division: 1971/2 and 1972/3
The full index of articles so far is published here
After winning the double in the 1970/71 season, Arsenal quite simply fell by the wayside. In 1972 they had slipped back to fifth in the league, although were beaten Cup Finalists, but in 1972/3 had risen once more to second in the league, just three points behind Liverpool, who won the league, while going out of the cup in the semi-final.
But then it seemed the era of challenging on all fronts was over, for in 1973/4 Arsenal had sunk back to 10th in the league and gone out in the third round of the FA Cup to Nrowich City And in case anyone thought that was a blip, in 1974/5 the collapse was confirmed as Arsenal unbelievably finished in the league 15th, losing in the Cup in the 6th round to West Ham.
1975/6 showed that the desperately needed rebuild had either not happened or worse had happened but without an impact. Arsenal finished 17th and went out of the cup in the third round. It really was one of the fastest collapses of a top club in the history of the league. It was clear that Mee, having delivered the impossible dream of the Double, had served his time and needed to be moved on.
And thus it was that in 1976/7 Terry Neill took over as manager and Arsenal rose to 8th in the league, with a bit of an improvement in the FA Cup too. Of course, that was not really back to the old days, but it was an improvement, and so there was a certain amount of looking forward to the 1977/78 season. Surely, after coming 17th and 8th in the last two seasons, Arsenal could now leap forward once more!
Thus it was, for in 1977/78 Arsenal did indeed find a way forward – and it was powered through one particular improvement.in defence. Arsenal in 1977/78 let in 22 fewer goals across the league season than in the season before. It was their best defensive record since the double season of 1970/71. The comparison between the two seasons is easy to see – Arsenal were on the up.
| Season | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pos | FAC | Lge C | Top Scorer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1976–77 | 42 | 16 | 11 | 15 | 64 | 59 | 43 | 8th | R5 | QF | Macdonald 29 |
| 1977–78 | 42 | 21 | 10 | 11 | 60 | 37 | 52 | 5th | RU | SF | Macdonald 26 |
Indeed, the period from 1973/4 onwards had been pretty awful for Arsenal, with the end of season table showing the club being in 10th, 16th and 17th in 1974, 1975 and 1976.
So although being 8th in 1977 was hardly wonderful for Arsenal, the rise again to 5th in 1978 showed there was still growth, and although the defeat in the cup final 0-1 to Ipswich (who had finished 18th out of 22 in the league) was a severe disappointment, just getting to the final was something Arsenal had not done in several years. It seemed an important portent. Indeed it is a curious fact that coming 8th in 1977 and 5th in 1978 as part of a rebirth of the club, is exactly the same as happened to Arsenal in 2021 and 2022, ahead of the run of three runners-up finishes in the following years.
And although Tottenham, having been relegated the season before, now gained promotion back to the top flight in1977/78 there was some amusement to be had from the fact that they had only done so by claiming third place in the second tier, but also in the fact that they had got promotion only via the recently introduced goal difference. Not too much was expected from them in their first season back.
So all things considered coming 5th for Arsenal was not a bad conclusion to the season especially since it was done by conceding 22 goals fewer in the league But there was a disappointment in that Macdonald had scored ten goals fewer than the season before, However Stapleton had been knocking in the goals also, and Brady had now had his third season of playing almost every game and had scored nine goals – his best return so far.
If there was to be a negative in 1977/78, it was that Arsenal finished not only 12 points behind the winners (Nottingham Forest under Brian Clough) but also with a goal difference that was 22 points worse than Forest’s. But again, there was hope, as Sammy Nelson had played every league game but one at left back, having made his way through the ranks from the youth team. His pairing with Pat Rice was also noted to be of importance to the club’s back line, and he was known for his humour (although he did get banned once for dropping his shorts at the end of a game).
Arsenal were of course, not thought by anyone to be likely to win the league this season, but the final league table had its best look about it from an Arsenal perspective since becoming runners-up in 1972/3.
But the campaign should not be seen as one of success throughout, for the opening to the season was itself painful. Arsenal went through no less than 17 league and League Cup matches before they managed a single game in which they scored more than one goal in the first half. Fortunately, the second half did produce more to cheer, but there was a lot of talk on the terraces about it not being worth entering the ground until half time (at which point one could often get in through the gates for free). Here’s the table at the end of the season…
| Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nottingham Forest | 42 | 25 | 14 | 3 | 69 | 24 | 45 | 64 |
| 2 | Liverpool | 42 | 24 | 9 | 9 | 65 | 34 | 31 | 57 |
| 3 | Everton | 42 | 22 | 11 | 9 | 76 | 45 | 31 | 55 |
| 4 | Manchester City | 42 | 20 | 12 | 10 | 74 | 51 | 23 | 52 |
| 5 | Arsenal | 42 | 21 | 10 | 11 | 60 | 37 | 23 | 52 |
But perhaps most of all we might note the players who made their Arsenal debuts in this campaign, among them being Pat Jennings and Alan Sunderland. The season before (1976/7), the club had welcomed Malcolm Macdonald, Willie Young and Graham Rix among others. There was a real sense of a new team being built, season by season.
Yet Arsenal didn’t just have their best league finish for five years, they also were runners-up in the FA Cup to Ipswich Town at Wembley. And although Ipswich were hardly a team setting the league alight, at the time they were a 1st division side. So although the result was something of a surprise and disappointment, it was not exactly a case of giant-killing.
The fact overall was that Arsenal had climbed to fifth and reached the FA Cup final. Neither the league nor cup gave the club a trophy of course, but it was an acheivement in each case equal to Arsenal’s 1971/72 season, which was seen as the conclusion of Arsnal’s great period at the start of the decade.
In fact the 1977/78 season ended with a strong feeling in the ground that Arsenal were now, under the management of Terry Neill, seriously on the way back to the top. And indeed, when there was talk of a trophy in the season to come, it was not instantly dismissed as mere wishful thinking. There was a lot of positive thinking about the future.
