By Tony Attwood
Recent posts:
- 2003/4: the proof that the Almighty really does support Arsenal
- 2002/3: the fourth runners’ up in five years. Could Arsenal not win the league again?
- Arsenal 2001/2: the problem of scoring, and after three second places, Arsenal come top
The full index of articles so far… is published here
For a club funded entirely by itself, and without any secret money coming in from associated European clubs or oil-rich countries, Arsenal’s record from 1997/8 and the subsequent seven years was astounding. The fact that it “only” included two league titles is occasionally mentioned, but in reality Arsenal were a team built on the income from a stadium that only held 38,000 people. And thus its income was tiny compared to some others. The fact that, despite the income of other clubs, none then or since has managed an unbeaten season, tells us everything. Here’s the guide to the seasons of this era…
| Pos | P | W | D | L | F | A | PTS | |
| 1997/8 | 1 | 38 | 23 | 9 | 6 | 68 | 33 | 78 |
| 1998/9 | 2 | 38 | 22 | 12 | 4 | 59 | 17 | 78 |
| 1999/0 | 2 | 38 | 22 | 7 | 9 | 73 | 43 | 73 |
| 2000/1 | 2 | 38 | 20 | 10 | 8 | 63 | 38 | 70 |
| 2001/2 | 1 | 38 | 26 | 9 | 3 | 79 | 36 | 87 |
| 2002/3 | 2 | 38 | 23 | 9 | 6 | 85 | 42 | 78 |
| 2003/4 | 2 | 38 | 26 | 12 | 0 | 73 | 26 | 90 |
| 2004/5 | 2 | 38 | 25 | 8 | 5 | 87 | 36 | 83 |
During this era we had brilliant teams, but above all, two names shone out as players of such utter magnitude that each is not just worthy of one statue but should have a row of statues at the ground, with each pointing toward the manager: Arsene Wenger. The two are of course Dennis Bergkamp and Thierry Henry In the list of top scorers for this period, Dennis only appears once, in 1997/8 when Arsenal did the double. Dennis got 22 league goals but that only tells us a fraction of the story.
But in terms of numbers from 1999/2000 onwards, the game was Henry’s, and he was top scorer for six consecutive seasons, scoring between 22 and 39 goals a season (that unbelievable 39 total coming in 2003/4.)
2003/4 was of course, the Unbeaten Season – the season of which others proclaim Arsenal were not really unbeaten because they lost matches in the cups, but I doubt any of us bother to answer such mindless nonsense. No club since the first season of the league has been unbeaten in the league through the whole campaign.
Yes, the 90 point total has been broken, and more goals have been scored, but the simple fact that the “unbeaten” record has never been matched tells us everything about 2003/4 and tells me why I can still remember the details of the journey away from the ground in every detail even though it happened 22 years ago (as I write this).
| P | W | D | L | F | A | Pts | Pos | FAC | 1st scorer | Goals | |
| 1997/8 | 38 | 23 | 9 | 6 | 68 | 33 | 78 | 1 | W | Bergkamp | 22 |
| 1998/9 | 38 | 22 | 12 | 4 | 59 | 17 | 78 | 2 | SF | Anelka | 19 |
| 1999/0 | 38 | 22 | 7 | 9 | 73 | 43 | 73 | 2 | 4 | Henry | 26 |
| 2000/1 | 38 | 20 | 10 | 8 | 63 | 38 | 70 | 2 | RU | Henry | 22 |
| 2001/2 | 38 | 26 | 9 | 3 | 79 | 36 | 87 | 1 | W | Henry | 32 |
| 2002/3 | 38 | 23 | 9 | 6 | 85 | 42 | 78 | 2 | W | Henry | 32 |
| 2003/4 | 38 | 26 | 12 | 0 | 73 | 26 | 90 | 1 | SF | Henry | 39 |
| 2004/5 | 38 | 25 | 8 | 5 | 87 | 36 | 83 | 2 | W | Henry | 30 |
This was the eighth consecutive year Arsenal had been in the top three, winning the league three times, coming second four times and third once (in 1997 at the start of the run).
So why did it come to an end? Quite simply because Arsenal’s historic Highbury stadium had been reduced to a capacity of 38,000 and a new stadium needed to be built. And unlike some clubs, the money was not going to be borrowed, leaving the club in debt for years to come. No, the money was going to be paid for by the club, with borrowing kept to a minimum. It meant that the glorious run established in the years noted above would come to an end.
But… and this is important… although Arsenal sank to fourth in 2005/6, Arsenal stayed in the top four, and hence in the top European league also (the Champions League) year on year. Of course, the naysayers following the diktats of the media came up with “Fourth is not a trophy”, but the fact was that Arsenal stayed in the top four AND built a new stadium. Yes, the wait for another title was painful – but it eventually came. And most wonderfully, the first title after the extraordinary Wenger years came in the 100th season of Arsenal in the top league (ie Division One and then the Premier League).
2004/5 saw Arsenal come second, and the decline really started after that, although it was not until over ten years later that Arsenal sank out of the top four – but we’ll come to that in due course – and we all know the ending was happy.
For now, the run of eight consecutive seasons of coming 1st and 2nd ended in 2004/5, the season after the unbeaten season. Eight consecutive seasons of coming first and second… I am not sure if others had done better – I suspect in the overseas investment era of recent years that record has been broken, but Arsenal did it using the money the club itself generated.
And 2004/5 – the season after the unbeaten campaign – was not a year of going out with a whimper as Arsenal won the FA Cup. And there was a bit of history even attached to that match as Arsenal became the first team to win the Cup on a penalty shootout after a goalless draw. We won 5-4 with Vieira scoring and Paul Scholes shot being saved.
Arsenal had won the FA Cup three times in four years, and the one missing season in that run of four seasons was the one in which the club went unbeaten in the league!
So that was it – although of course we didn’t know it at the time. It was not a particularly memorable cup campaign, a 2-1 win over Stoke, 2-0 against Wolverhampton, two draws and a penalty shoot-out with Sheffield United, 1-0 against Bolton, and only in the semi-final did the goals rattle in as we beat Blackburn 3-0. I seem to remember the slogan “winning the cup the hard way”.
It was Arsenal’s 10th FA Cup, and we expected more – and indeed more league titles, but it was not to be. The cost of the new stadium, and the hopelessness of the manager who Arsenal brought in to replace Wenger, revealed just how brilliant a job Wenger did in keeping Arsenal in the top four thereafter.
Cup winning returned in 2013/14 but the title had to wait until 2025/6 – something rather close to my heart since I am writing this in the summer of 2026.
But I am jumping ahead of course. 2003/4 was the unbeaten season; 2004/5 Arsenal won the FA Cup again. What we wanted, expected and demanded was that this would carry on… and of course it didn’t. It didn’t because there was the little matter of controlling the finances that would allow Arsenal to build a new stadium, suitable for the number of people who wanted to come and see the club.
And as I write, in the summer after a season in which Tottenham celebrated their wonderful new stadium by just missing out on relegation, what Arsenal achieved in creating their new stadium surely can now be fully appreciated with a return to league winning in 2025/6.
So of course I shall continue the series, to take us up to 100 consecutive seasons in the top league, with that 100th season being yet another title win – for one doesn’t like to stop these things before they are properly done. Even if I have just reached the unbeaten season, and I can say I was one of the 38,000 there to see it come to completion with an achievement that no one could believe was possible.
If I were never to thank Arsenal for anything else, I would always thank Arsenal for that last match of the unbeaten season. When my time comes, I wish to be cremated, but if I did want to be buried, and if it were possible to have videos on tombstones, I would have one showing that final goal of the unbeaten season, over and over and over again.
