AISA Arsenal History Society: preserving Arsenal's heritage
By Tony Attwood Arsenal and Wolverhampton had now become the form teams with four wins and two draws for Arsenal, five wins and one defeat for Wolverhampton, in the last six. Wolverhampton however had the games in hand. The table at the end of February looked like this. P W D L F A …
Read More “March 1938: Arsenal at the top and a fifth title looks possible”
This article is part of a series that traces Arsenal’s history through the 1930s. A full index of the articles is given at the end of this piece. by Tony Attwood Arsenal ended January 1938 in the 5th round of the FA Cup but were now six points behind the league leaders with two games …
Read More “Arsenal in February 1938: a true resurgence takes us top of the league.”
by Tony Attwood This is part of a series of articles covering every aspect of Arsenal FC throughout the 1930s. Details of all the other articles in the series are given below. At the end of 1937 the league table looked a lot more promising from Arsenal’s point of view than it had before. P …
Read More “Arsenal in January 1938: two steps backwards but a new genius emerges.”
by Tony Attwood This is part of a series of articles covering every aspect of Arsenal FC throughout the 1930s. Details of all the other articles in the series are given below. At the end of November 1937 Arsenal were in 6th place in the league – just four points off the top of the …
Read More “Arsenal in December 1937; a settled team and a revival”
By Tony Attwood Arsenal began November 1937 languishing in 9th place, with the football world was awash with rumours of the biggest shake up in Allison’s career as a manager about to happen. Chapman had been known to be ruthless in his treatment of players, dropping them the moment they did not meet his expectations, …
Read More “Arsenal in Nov 1937; a tactical signing changes the game”
By Tony Attwood By the end of September Arsenal had raised the hopes of all their fans that another title winning season could be on the cards, but then after a perfect start had faded away and ended the month in 7th position. But they were only three points behind the leaders – Charlton – …
Read More “Arsenal in October 1937: Allison decides it is time for a total change.”
By Tony Attwood The 1936/7 season had ended in disappointment for Arsenal who had for a long time looked capable of winning the league. Instead Man City made a late rush to win the league for the first time. Home Away W D L F A W D L F A GAv Pt 1 Man …
Read More “Arsenal in August and September 1937: a brilliant start and a TV first.”
by Tony Attwood Today, playing large numbers of matches in the Football Combination (the reserve league) would be derided, but many is the player for whom doing just this in the 1930s was a matter of significance, and the medals to be won as Arsenal regularly won the Combination league were items to be cherished. …
Read More “Reg Trim: only one game for Arsenal but a varied career as a footballer”
by Tony Attwood Raymond Parkin was born on 28 January 1911 in Crook, County Durham. He started his career in 1926 as an amateur, with Esh Winning FC – a team that won the Northern League in 1913 and was considered one of the leading amateur teams in that part of the country at the time. …
Read More “Raymond Parkin: great goalscorer, five times Combination champion”
by Tony Attwood Dr James Marshall known as Jimmy was born 3 January 1908 in Avonbridge, in Stirlingshire and started out with junior club Shettleston in the east end of Glasgow (a club still in existence) before joining Rangers in 1925. Dr Marshall stayed at Rangers for nine years, winning the league five times, the cup …
Read More “Dr James Marshall: came for a near record fee but only played five games.”
By Tony Attwood Peter Dougall was born on 21 March 1909 at Denny in Falkirk, and played inside left. His first recorded club was Dunipace Juniors, who were founded in 1888 and who currently play in the West Region of the Scottish Junior Football Association. Here’s his football career. Years Team Games Goals 1926–1929 Burnley 6 …
Read More “Peter Dougall: the next Alex James… but not quite”
By Tony Attwood George Cox was born in Warnham near Horsham in Sussex on 23 August 1911, and signed for Arsenal as an amateur in November 1933 from Horsham, before turning professional the following month on 19 December. Horsham FC were formed originally in 1871, and then reformed in 1882 on a firmer footing, and …
The Strange Case Of The Charlie Buchan Transfer By Graham Lister How much did Arsenal really pay Sunderland for Charlie Buchan? Until now, everyone has given the same answer, but is it possible that his much heralded return to London, and Arsenal, from Wearside in 1925 been consistently misreported over the intervening nine decades? It …
By Tony Attwood There are mystery men who played for Arsenal, and then there is Sydney Cartwright. He played 16 times for the glorious Arsenal team of the 1930s, and yet very, very little is known of him. There are two stories about his club/s before Arsenal. Some reports refer to him playing for …
Read More “Sidney Cartwright: a member of the 1930s Arsenal team of whom we know so little”
By Tony Attwood Arthur Biggs was a player I was hardly aware of until I wrote up the end of the season story for 1936/37. Since then I’ve been a digging and managed to come up with his footballing career, but sadly nothing further about his life beyond football. If you know anything more please …
Read More “Arthur Gilbert Biggs: only three games for Arsenal but a varied football career”
by Tony Attwood This article was update 23 Jan 2017, with information about Frank Moss In the 1930s it was not commonplace for Arsenal to play end of season tours, and completely unknown for them to play pre-season friendlies, other than matches between the first team and the reserves (matches which I believe took place …
Read More “Arsenal in the summer – the overseas tour of 1937”
Previous titles in this series All the men who played in the league for Arsenal 1929/33 1933/34 League players, and how the goals declined but the crowds went up. Arsenal players 1934/5 and 1935/36, and the fundamental problem with the team 1936-37 season statistics, Player Position 1936/7 Games 1936/37 Goals 1935/6 games Cliff Bastin Outside …
Read More “Arsenal players 1936/7, Arsenal crowds in the 30s, and comparisons with earlier years”
By Tony Attwood As the football going public started to get used to the new nickel-brass 12 sided coin which came to be known as the threepenny bit, the first division table at the start of March 1937 looked like this P W D L F A GAv Pts 1 Arsenal 37 16 15 …
Read More “April / May 1937: Arsenal slip back and Man City triumph – for the moment”
By Tony Attwood March 1937 opened with the table looking like this P W D L F A GAv Pts 1 Charlton Athletic 31 15 11 5 43 34 1.26 41 2 Arsenal 31 14 11 6 67 40 1.68 39 3 Manchester City 30 13 10 7 67 48 1.40 36 4 Brentford …
By Tony Attwood Arsenal began February 1937 in second place, one point behind Charlton and with one game in hand – plus three points above Brentford in third. Charlton were the team in form with five wins and a draw in the last six. Amazingly no other team had won more than half of their …
Read More “Arsenal in the 30s – Feb 1937: Seven in the cup, and all to play for in the league”
This article is part of a series covering Arsenal throughout the 1930s from the first FA Cup and League triumphs to the outbreak of war. A list of all the articles appears at the end of this episode. By Tony Attwood At the end of 1936 the top of the first division table was indeed …
Read More “January 1937: Arsenal unbeaten as the goalkeepers change (again).”
by Tony Attwood Arsenal’s recovery in November from the horror show that was the slide down the table in October 1936, had left the everyone with great hope and restored faith in Allison as manager. After all, Arsenal had won either the League or the FA Cup in every year from 1930 onward (except 1932, …
Read More “Arsenal in the 30s. December 1936: once more top of the league as the king steps down”
By Tony Attwood Arsenal had ended October 1936 in a singularly parlous position – one that had not been seen for many a year… P W D L F A GAv Pts 16 Manchester City 13 3 5 5 24 22 1.09 11 17 Arsenal 12 3 5 4 14 15 0.93 11 18 …
Read More “November 1936: Arsenal reborn, TV starts, the king demands, the palace burns down.”
The index of all the major articles on the site about Arsenal players is now complete. It comes in two parts: A to K L to Z We have around 1500 articles on this site, and a fair number are specifically about one man who played for Arsenal. However this is the first time they …
Read More “The Index of articles about individual players is now complete”
by Tony Attwood A wonderful story has appeared on an academic blog, about two young members of the Royal Engineers who went on leave and then were too tired to walk back to their barracks at the Woolwich Arsenal, so simply handed themselves in to a police station to get a free ride back to …
