By Tony Attwood
This article originally appeared on Untold Arsenal in error. It was meant to be here. Sorry.
Hindsight is wonderful, or a painful reminder. The result of Everton 0 Arsenal 1 in the League Cup semi-final first leg on 7 Feb 1988 really felt good, good, good.
The season was much like the previous seasons as our record in the 1980s for the league was:
| League position | Manager | |
| 1979/80 | 4th | Neill |
| 1980/81 | 3rd | Neill |
| 1981/82 | 3rd | Neill |
| 1982/83 | 10th | Neill |
| 1983/84 | 6th | Neill/Howe |
| 1984/85 | 7th | Howe |
| 1985/86 | 7th | Howe/Burtenshaw |
| 1986/87 | 4th | Graham |
| 1987/88 | 6th | Graham |
But in 1987 we had won the League Cup (our first trophy since 1979) so there was hope that we might do so again. We beat Everton away in the first leg 1-0 with a goal from Perry Groves.
Progress to the semi-final had hardly been that difficult as we beat Doncaster Robvers 3-0 and 1-0 (it was a two legged second round in those days), Bournemouth 3-0, Stoke 1-0, and Sheffield W 1-0.
Thus we got to the second leg of the semi-final without conceding a goal – and the manager was… George Graham. We were starting to get the idea of these things.
Our team was Lukic, Winterburn (the left back playing at right back), Sansom; O’Leary, Adams; Thomas, Rocastle, Hayes, Richardson; Smith, Groves.
Names that for the most part ring down through history.
The only trouble was us was that January had not been that wonderful us, apart from beating Sheffield Wednesday in the previous round of the league cup.
True we had progressed in the FA Cup beating Millwall (Graham’s old club) and Brighton, but in the league we were in trouble – and the trouble had started in December. When we lost 2-1 at home to Manchester United on January 24th that meant that the last eight games had resulted in four defeats for draws.
As a result the wonderful expectation that had built up earlier in the season following a run of 10 straight wins from September 12 to November 14 had dissipated. We were not going to win the league after all.
There’s one other thing to pick up from a quick look at 1987/88 – the clubs who were in the 1st Division but who now one would never expect to be there now:
- Portsmouth
- Luton Town
- Nottingham Forest
- Wimbledon
- Watford
- Sheffield Wednesday
- Coventry City
- Charlton Athletic
- Oxford United
Nine clubs, including one that is out of the league, and a couple more that might well be in a year or two. All playing in the first division. How times change.
The only problem with this bit of gloating is that it includes Luton Town, now of the Conference. If you have any knowledge of Arsenal’s history, you’ll know that we got through to the final by beating Everton 3-1 at home and…
That meant we played Luton Town in the final. That was going to be easy.
Wasn’t it?
The books…
- Woolwich Arsenal: The club that changed football – Arsenal’s early years
- Making the Arsenal – how the modern Arsenal was born in 1910
- The Crowd at Woolwich Arsenal – crowd behaviour at the early matches
The sites…
- Untold Arsenal
- Referee Decisions – just what are the refs up to this season?
Just a quick amendment: we somehow finished the 1981/82 Season as high as 5th, not 3rd.
I still think it’s odd that Arsenal finished 3rd in 1981, meaning higher in the first post-Liam Brady season than had been done with him in the starting XI. It was the best finish since 2nd in 1973, which (correct me if I’m wrong) was the last season without him as a regular.
Liam Brady: Arsenal’s answer to Don Mattingly. Or is Mattingly the Yankees’ answer to Brady? Can’t be, as Brady helped assemble perhaps the best Arsenal team of them all, the early Wenger sides of 1997-2006, whereas Mattingly was a failure as a coach.
In the interests of accuracy, rather than pedantry, we beat Stoke City 3-0 in Littlewoods Cup 4th round 87/88 (O’Leary, Rocastle, Richardson).
I’ll get my coat…