AISA Arsenal History Society: preserving Arsenal's heritage
I must admit I have a soft spot for Charlie Nicholas. Maybe because I sat next to him once when he was out of favour at Arsenal and he just took a regular seat in the stand. He was charming. Maybe because he has resolutely supported Arsene Wenger and Arsenal when all the other ex-Arsenal …
This article is part of our series featuring the commentaries on matches of recent years by Gf60. Tony: In 2011 the Emirates Cup had been disappointing with two draws, and the pre-season had ended with a defeat to Benfica. The opening of the season was awful too, with just two victories in the first seven …
Oh Gilberto Aparecido da Silva. Oh a million memories. The Invisible Wall. Those short passes mopping up. And on 1 June 2007, Gilberto captained Brazil against England at the first senior international match at the new Wembley Stadium. I remember sitting in a hotel bar watching the game just thinking over and over, “an Arsenal …
Read More “Gilberto Aparecido da Silva; prince among players, prince among men”
Colin Addison was born on 18 May 1940 in Taunton, Somerset and he played for Arsenal 32 times, his first match being 17 August 1966. He signed for York in 1957, moving to Nottingham Forest in 1961, Arsenal in 1966, Sheffield United in 1967 and Hereford in 1971. He was signed by Bertie Mee in his first …
Tony: I remember Arsenal v West Brom on 16 August 2008 for earth-shattering non-football reasons. First, I wasn’t there – I was on holiday in Slovenia, and very pleasant it was too, overlooking Lake Bled. But fortunately (again) the hotel had free internet connection. Only two computers but, still they were there, and fortunately most …
Read More “Arsenal’s past openers: 16 August 2008. We win. But…”
15 August 2009 Tony: I remember this so well, because it was on Satanta, and the whole thing took them utterly by surprise. They packed the studio with old Evertonians, and towards the end, unable to find anything else to do showed shots of ex-Everton players in the ground, saying how sad it was that …
Read More “Starting the season: Everton 1 Arsenal 6. 15 August 2009.”
By Tony Attwood I got this hopelessly wrong the other day through getting my notes inside out… but hopefully we are right this time – Arsenal’s final season at Highbury played in the redcurrent shirts. For this game the words “‘Highbury 1913-2006” were marked on the grass. Jermaine Jenas got a red for attempting to …
Read More “Arsenal’s last season at Highbury: Arsenal v Newcastle, 14 August 05”
By Tony Attwood George Eastham was not only an Arsenal captain but also the man who did more to reform the transfer system than anyone with the possible exception of Jean-Marc Bosman. To understand exactly how important George’s stand was, we need to take in a little history. At first, professional footballers were allowed to …
By Tony Attwood Total cock up of my notes this morning. Sincere apologies – note to self, try not to write an article the morning after. I’m deleting much of this article because I got everything back to front. The bits about earlier history were right, but not about the last season at Highbury. …
Read More “The first and last seasons at Highbury, and the last at the Manor”
Alexandre Dimitri Song Billong was born in Cameroon on 9 September 1987 – one of 28 children in the family. At 16 he moved to France and signed for Bastia becoming part of the team after one season, and was selected for France Under 16s. Bastia loaned him to Arsenal for 2005/6 and he made …
By Tony Attwood For the north-west centric media it was a non-event, a north London charity shield. Arsenal had won the First Division for the second time in three years, and Tottenham had won the cup, beating Forest in the final. The fact that Arsenal had only lost one match all season in 1990/1 was …
Read More “Arsenal play Tottenham in the charity shield, 10 August 1991”
Joe Mercer, OBE was born 9 August 1914 and died on his birthday 9 August 1990. He played 247 games for Arsenal in a nine year stretch post war during the Whittaker era. His father played for Tranmere and Nottingham Forest, but he died in 1928 from injuries sustained during a gas attack in the …
Read More “Joe Mercer: so harshly treated elsewhere, but with style at Arsenal”
Alexander Mark David Oxlade-Chamberlain was born 15 August 1993, the son of Southampton’s Mark Chamberlain. His uncle Neville was also a footballer (mostly with Port Vale) and was not Prime Minister of England. He (Alex) signed for Arsenal on 8 August 2011 from Southampton for whom he had been Southampton’s second-youngest player. Their youngest was …
By Tony Attwood Let me admit it from the start, with Christopher Wreh I just don’t get it. Here was a man who kept Ian Wright out of the Cup Final, and then was… well, in football terms, nothing. How come? I’m not a footballer, never have been. I work in the arts, as a …
Harry Woods was born on March 14, 1894 in St Helens and trained as a glass worker while initially playing football as a centre forward with St Helens Town. He then joined Norwich City and played for them before the first world war, serving his country in the Tank Corps in France. After the war …
Nelson David Vivas was born 18 October 1969 in Santa Fe, Argentina with a rare ability to play anywhere in midfield or defence. After seven years as a professional in South America he came to Europe and started with AC Lugano on loan, after which Arsenal signed him for £1.6m in August 1998. However at the …
By Tony Attwood This is a day of talk about transfers and transfer records, so not a bad day to go back over the times when Arsenal broke such records – especially as two major events happened on 4 August. On August 4th 1938 George Allison, the Arsenal manager broke the British transfer record in …
Trying to keep tabs on Arsenal’s juniors and reserves is tougher these days – there seems fewer times we can watch them. My judgement as to which youngsters will make it was mostly way out when I used to see the reserves. Now I don’t, I admit I don’t have a clue. One player I …
Read More “Herschel Oulio Sanchez Watt: from Arsenal to Colchester.”
Alexander Rooney Forbes was born 21 January 1925 in Dundee and started with Dundee North End, before joining Sheffield United 1944, towards the end of the second world war. Alex Forbes moved to Arsenal for £12,500 in February 1948 having already become a Scottish international. Arsenal’s first season after the war was George Allison’s final …
Archibald Renwick “Archie” Macaulay was born 30 July 1915. He was born in Falkirk and played at first with Rangers and then West Ham in the years leading up to the outbreak of war in 1939. During the war he served his country in the Army Physical Training Corps, the Essex Regiment and eventually he …
Read More “Archie Macaulay from great player to successful manager to traffic warden”
In Danskin’s footsteps: an Untold away day to Woolwich @Blacksheep63 On Saturday, given the lack of football and wishing to escape the seemingly endless transfer rumour roundabout, I decided to pack my camera, oyster card and sense of adventure, and set off on a bit of pilgrimage. My destination was the Royal Arsenal at Woolwich. …
Read More “In Danskin’s footsteps: an Untold away day to Woolwich”
Kolo Touré was born in the Ivory Coast on 19 March 1981 and was a member of the Invincibles side of 2003/4. Touré joined Arsenal in February 2002 from ASEC Mimosas for £150,000 after a trial with Arsenal, and was granted a work permit on the basis of being a full international for the side. …
By Tony Attwood Marc Overmars is one of those Arsenal players who to me seems to have been at the club much longer than just the three years he played for us. He was also one of the first players to move on to Barcelona from Arsenal and for Barcelona to find that they were …
John Matthews was born in Camden on 1 November 1955 and joined Arsenal as an apprentice in 1971 turning professional in 1973. He made his league début in the opening match of the 1974/5 season – a 1-0 away win against Leicester. Matthews played right back while Sammy Nelson was left back. The rest of …
By Tony Attwood Alan Skirton was born 23 January 1939 in Bath, and was signed from Bath City for £5000 in January 1959 by George Swindin. In total he had 153 games for Arsenal’s first team in League and Cup. He moved on to play as an amateur with Bristol City as an amateur …
Read More “Alan Skirton: first man to score a European goal at Highbury”
