AISA Arsenal History Society: preserving Arsenal's heritage
By Tony Attwood The list of results for the opening of the 1994/5 season shows a sad tale indeed. 20 August 1994 Arsenal 3-0 Manchester City 23 August Leeds United 1-0 Arsenal 28 August Liverpool 3-0 Arsenal 31 August Arsenal 0-0 Blackburn 10 September Norwich 0-0 Arsenal 18 September Arsenal 2-3 Newcastle And …
Read More “By 18 September 1994, Arsenal knew they were in trouble…”
by Tony Attwood Geoffrey Hugh Strong, was born in Kirkheaton, Northumberland on 19 September 1937 and being a talented schoolboy sprinter and top quality all-round athlete seemed destined from the start to make his living from sport. However he trained as a machine-tool fitter while playing for north-eastern amateurs Stanley United, until he joined Arsenal …
Read More “Geoff Strong: made at Arsenal, flourished with Liverpool”
By Tony Attwood Arsenal have gone to the top of the league 19 times since August 2000, and from that position have won the league twice. The last time before the Sunderland match on 14 August 2013 was on 4 December 2010 when Arsenal beat Fulham 2-1. It was however a short lived period at …
In 2010/11 we were drawn against Braga in the Champions League and had two very contrasting results. Here’s how the games were seen by regular blogger Gf60 Arsenal 6 Braga 0 Euro Cup. 15 September 2010 A recently conducted survey of one reveals a fascinating bit of information…namely that this year we are more likely to …
Read More “15 September 2010: Arsenal beat Braga, but fail in the return”
Douglas John Lishman was born in Birmingham in September 14, 1923 and died in December 1994. Having served in the Royal Marine Commandos during the Second World War and taking part in the Walcheren Island landing in Holland. He signed as a professional for Walsall in the run up to the return of football after …
Read More “Doug Lishman – 3 hat tricks in consecutive home games”
What do we remember of Ian Wright? Ian Edward Wright, MBE was born 3 November 1963 in Woolwich – a propitious start for an Arsenal player. He started out with Greenwich Borough and then having been spotted was invited to have a trial at Crystal Palace who signed him in August 1985, when he was …
I write this on the 60th anniversary of Arsenal’s game away to Sunderland, and coincidentally at a time when we are just two days away from the same fixture in the 2013/14 season. The match in question involved Arsenal losing 1-7 away to Sunderland on September 12 1953. 1953/4 saw Arsenal have a wretched start …
Read More “60 years ago: when Arsenal lost 7-1 to Sunderland”
Freddie Ljungberg was born on 16 April 1977 in Sweden and was spotted as a remarkable footballing talent from very early on, as well as being noted for his ability in other sports. Unlike many footballers he was also academically gifted, and started taking a degree, but then football took over. Ljungberg made his debut for …
Read More ““We love you Freddie, cos you’ve got red hair.” Freddie Ljungberg an all time favourite.”
Celebrating 100 years of Arsenal in Islington Friday 6th September 2013 marked the 100 year anniversary of Arsenal’s first ever match at Highbury against Leicester Fosse. To mark the occasion the AISA Arsenal History Society has published “Herbert Chapman – Truth and Myth”, which examines many of the achievements of the first manager to bring …
Read More “New AISA publication reveals what Chapman really did”
The following articles were written at the time by Gf60 as part of his regular review of all things Arsenal and reprinted with kind permission. 2011 Transfer Deadline Day At last, TDD is some 72 hours past; the rumour mill is done for five minutes at least and we can realistically see what’s what in …
Read More “2011: Transfer deadlines and the first game thereafter”
By Tony Attwood Steve Gatting joined Arsenal as an apprentice in July 1975 and became a professional footballer two years later. His first game with the first team was as a sub versus Lokomotiv Leipzig on September 13, 1978 which Arsenal won 3-0. He then retained his place throughout much of 1978-79 but did not …
By Tony Attwood On 8 September 1984 Arsenal beat Liverpool at home and went to the top of the league for the first time in 12 years. That might sound quite hopeful, and yet it wasn’t a complete brilliant runaway success since Arsenal had started with a 1-1 home draw with Chelsea and followed that …
Read More “1984: Arsenal top of the league for first time in 12 years”
by Tony Attwood The United League was a 19th century league set up for clubs to get a few more matches out of the season, in addition to their commitments to the Football League, Southern League or other similar Leagues in which they played. Clubs played their first team players in the United League games, …
The season 2012/13 started off with a tedious match. Song and van Persie had gone and we started with an Arsenal 0 Sunderland 0. The we had Stoke 0 Arsenal 0The third game saw us away to Liverpool. Here’s what Gfor60 said at the time… Liverpool 0 Arsenal 2 That was a lot of fun. …
Read More “2 Sept 2012: After two goallesss draws, at last…Liverpool 0 Arsenal 2”
Fergus Hunt was born is 1876. Sadly he is one of those players of whom nothing is known outside his work in football. There are no details of his career, his family life, nor even of the year of his death. If you know any details please add a comment. Fergus started out with Mexborough …
Read More “Fergus Hunt, an Arsenal man with a missing history”
It is hard not to feel sorry for David Bentley. Actually let me try that again. It is hard to feel sorry for David Bentley. He was born with a remarkable talent and yet it appears to have been swept to the winds. Of course injuries have played a part in his decline, but if …
This article was published in 2013. The run referred to here has continued since then, of course. Additionally new information came to hand in 2017, as we researched Arsenal in 1913 to reveal new insights into how Arsenal have significant leverage over other clubs in 1919 when the election of Arsenal to the first division …
Read More “Arsenal start the run that leads to the most consecutive seasons in the top division”
By Tony Attwood This article focuses on the first ever league match that Chapman took charge of for Arsenal It is an update on part of an earlier article – that earlier article is still on the site as it continues the story beyond the first game – but the rest of the piece will …
The Arsenal Clock moves from place to place This article was updated on 26 October 2013 to incorporate the information provided in the comments section By Tony Attwood The original big clock at Highbury was placed at the rear of the then uncovered Laundry End of the ground (which later became the North Bank), on …
Read More “Tick tock tick tock tick tock tick tock tick tock”
In 2008 Arsenal played Fulham away, before coming onto their second leg (at home) of the Qualifying Round games for the Champions league on August 27. An interesting coincidence of dates, and one that is reflected in these commentaries written by Gf60 at the time. Fulham vs Arsenal 1-0; 23 August 2008 Seriously offensive swear …
Read More “Fulham away and then the Champions League. Hmmm… sounds familiar”
By Tony Attwood (with profound thanks to “The Gunners” by Richard Lerman and David Brown). The greatest hat trick by an Arsenal man? Who knows. That’s the problem with digital television – it wasn’t invented early enough. But if it were possible to go back in a time machine, the hat trick on 27 August …
Read More “The greatest hat trick ever by an Arsenal player?”
By Tony Attwood Season openings can be exciting, frustrating and misleading. Frustration seemed to be the order of the day in 2012/13 as Arsenal sold not only Robin van Persie but also Alex Song. The pre-season games had proven a mixed bag, and included one match against a Nigerian team that was postponed until the …
Jérémie Aliadière was one of those players of whom so much was expected and yet, mostly due to injury, he could not deliver. Another Wenger young French player, a graduate of Clairefontaine, with Claude Dusseau claiming that the three best strikers to emerge from Clairefontaine were Thierry Henry, Nicolas Anelka and Jeremie Aliadiere, and yet… …
Read More “Jérémie Aliadière; helped expose the rise of dubious refereeing”
Thomas Henderson Docherty was born 24 April 1928 in the Gorbals district of Glasgow. He started playing with junior (ie non-league) club Shettleston. In 1946 he was called up for National Service, joined the Highland Light Infantry and played for the Army. After his National Service he joined Celtic, and two years later joined second …
Lionel Smith was born in Mexborough on 23 August 1920 and died aged 60 on 6 November 1980. He joined Arsenal in 1939 just before the outbreak of the Second World War as an amateur left back and signed professionally in August on the eve of the declaration of war. With football suspended Lionel served …
