By 8th June 1910 there was no doubt at all who was in charge of Woolwich Arsenal – it was Henry Norris.
And to prove it, he did what the previous owners had done – he told the manager (George Morrell) he was safe in his job – which was quite something considering the disaster of a season the club had just had.
But Norris understood money, and money was what Morrell was good at looking after.
Yet Norris was not getting everything his own way. By now the Fund Raising Committee had, against all the odds, and despite the fact that no one wanted to buy the shares that Norris was trying to sell, raised a fair old sum.
However they were in no hurry to hand the cash over. Norris was not trusted, first because he was clearly Mr Fulham, second because he had proposed to move Woolwich Arsenal out of Kent and into Fulham, and third because Norris had not given any assurances to the contrary.
In the end the fundraisers, shepherded and organised by Dr Clarke, made it clear that without a cast-iron commitment to the club staying in or around the armaments factory, the money would not be handed over.
There was a club, there was a manger, and there was some sort of a squad left over from last season, but no one was convinced about Norris’ motives.
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