AISA Arsenal History Society: preserving Arsenal's heritage
By Tony Attwood When Henry Norris agreed to take over Arsenal in 1910, in order to avoid the club going into liquidation and thus ceasing to exist as a League club, he did so on the basis that he would fill the gap in the club’s finances, but then sell the club back to the …
Read More “Imagine Arsenal as a club owned by its fanbase: we nearly got it.”
25 mins: Henry’s side-footer gives Arsenal the lead 33 mins: Inter equalise after Vieri’s shot is deflected past Lehmann 49 mins: Ljungberg puts Arsenal back in front from Henry’s cross 81 mins: Henry’s solo special gives them a two-goal cushion 87 mins: Arsenal pile forward and Edu slots home the fourth 89 mins: Pires wraps things up by slotting in the …
Read More “The anniversary of one of the great, great nights of the Wenger years.”
I can’t help thinking that the name of Reg Stockill should be commemorated by Arsenal even though he only played seven games for us. But in those seven games he scored four goals, which is not bad going, including a goal that ought to be symbolic to the club – although it isn’t. For Reg …
Read More “The man who started the three league wins in a row”
by Tony Attwood In studying the life and times of Sir Henry Norris, the man who rescued Arsenal in 1910 and became its chairman, we find a man who would work hard, give generously of his time and money, but not suffer fools gladly. And looking back from nearly 100 years on we find that …
According to the Daily Express this week Arsenal have this season suffered their worst start to a season for over 30 years. Interestingly on this day in 2014 when Arsenal suffered a 2-1 home defeat to Manchester United the press also made much of Arsenal’s “poor start” to the season of four wins, three defeats …
Read More “Arsenal’s worst start to the season for 30 years. Maybe.”
On this day in the 1942/3 wartime league Arsenal beat Aldershot 7-4. And the question might be asked, how did Arsenal let in four against Aldershot? In fact Arsenal had had problems with the keeper’s position all season, and this was their sixth keeper in 13 games. Indeed the struggles they had with this position …
Read More “The keeper who let in four in his first match for Arsenal.”
Say “1971” to an Arsenal fan, and if she or he knows Arsenal’s history a smile might well emerge, because in the late spring of that year Arsenal won the double, including a famous victory at Tottenham to clinch the title. And yet, say it concerning the period just six months later and it would …
Read More “How quickly the mighty can fall; 6 months on from the first Arsenal double.”
While there were a lot of “Wenger Out” banners towards the end of the reign of Arsenal’s longest serving manager the club continued to perform well – although not well enough to win the league. On this day in 2016 for example the club continued its unbeaten run which had begun with the second match …
Read More “Would we still call for the manager to go if we were two points off the top”
The wartime game between Arsenal and Watford played on this day in 1944 is hardly remembered – if at all. And yet it was an extraordinary season because out of 30 league games played, 16 contained four or more goals, including this defeat of Watford. Notable highlights included Arsenal 6 Brighton 3, Fulham 4 Arsenal …
Read More “Arsenal knocking in the goals in the wartime league.”
The Petroleum Authority of Thailand Rayong Football Club, has probably not been mentioned on this site before but that is where we now find ex-Arsenal player and England international at under 17 and under 19 level, Jay Emmanuel Thomas. PTT Rayong play in the Thai League and as the name suggests is a company sponsored …
Read More “From England under 19 international and Arsenal hopeful to Thailand.”
Throughout the 1920s the FA acted as if it were the law and could do anything. So bad did matters get that in 1927 on this day the high court itself reminded the FA that it was not able to the law and could not eject people from positions they held, just because they didn’t …
Read More “When the High Court told the FA that it did not have God-like status”
Football seems to have become ever more myopic – whatever the problem is today, that is the BIG problem, and needs to be sorted out with BIG solutions – usually involving dropping half the team and sacking the manager. The thought that this sort of thing just happens, doesn’t seem to occur to supporters or …
Read More “Not every run of poor results is actually a major crisis”
by Tony Attwood Most people who take any interest in the history of Arsenal FC know that the first match for what might be called an Arsenal team was between Dial Square and Eastern Wanderers. Dial Square we know was the name of the factory within the Royal Arsenal on the south of the Thames …
Read More “What actually caused the formation of Arsenal football club?”
By Tony Attwood On this day in 1920 the Arsenal programme contained a piece by Sir Henry Norris, the club chairman, outlining the club’s array of injuries, and claiming that probably no team had ever suffered so many injuries at one time as Arsenal now had. The piece was taken up by several newspapers, and …
Read More ““Arsenal get the most injuries”. How the story began almost 100 years ago”
The notion of a referee having his own team and taking them touring around the country playing charity matches seems very odd today but that is what Roston Bourke did. As noted below he later became football correspondent for the Islington Gazette and so wrote regularly about Arsenal. The anniversaries for today, are printed below. …
Read More “The referee with his own team who became a journalist covering Arsenal.”
By Tony Attwood One of the most interesting things about gathering together all these anniversaries is that there can be a very curious mix of connections emerging on one particular day. And of course a lot of the time I am discovering these things as I go along. The court case mentioned in the headline …
It is always important for a club manager to have a good relationship with his players. When that goes, difficulties arise. Of course some people can set aside past disputes and disagreements but others seem to retain these for far longer than was necessary. We don’t really know enough about Herbert Chapman to know if …
Read More “How personal bitterness can lead to vindictiveness and recriminations”
Arsenal’s decline under Bertie Mee after winning the double in 1971 was one of the strangest and saddest periods in the history of the club. It is one thing to be a poor side, because that is what the club has generally been (as for example in the period from 1919 to 1925, and from …
Read More “How the first double team fell from grace in just three years.”
On 31 August 2003 The Times reported the league match against Man City as containing “the worst 45 minutes [by Arsenal] that any of their fans could remember”. It ended Man City 1 Arsenal 2. On 8 November 2003 Arsenal beat Tottenham 2-1 in the 11th league match of the season. The Observer …
Geoff Strong played for Arsenal from 1957 to 1964 and showed himself to be a singularly accomplished player. Then he was transferred to Liverpool on this day in 1964 – an utterly ludicrous move given that he was performing well with Arsenal and was able to play in a whole variety of positions. In his …
Read More “The days when Arsenal sold their best players: remembering Geoff Strong”
It is difficult to know how much damage Stewart Robson (who was born on this day in 1964) has done to Arsenal – if indeed any. His vitriolic attacks on Arsene Wenger on Arsenal TV and elsewhere certainly set the scene for others to copy, and Arsenal TV did take an indecently long time to …
Read More “Whatever happened to the extraordinarily negative Stewart Robson?”
5 November contains a mixture of curious Arsenal anniversaries. The first report of an Arsenal floodlit match – in 1889! – Arsenal bottom of the league in 1921 with the local press pointing out that abuse of players and the manager is not a constructive argument (clearly the message didn’t sink home), and the last …
Read More “The first Arsenal floodlit match over 100 years ago, and Tony Adams first game”
The wartime league programmes during both world conflicts are rarely remembered these days, but at the time they did produce some interesting matches with extraordinary results. The fact that Arsenal beat Crystal Palace 5-0 on this day in 1939 does not sound too unlikely, but considering that it followed victories with scorelines 7-0, 8-4 and …
Read More “When Arsenal scored 26 goals in four consecutive matches”
Herbert Chapman is of course revered by those who know about Arsenal’s history. And indeed it was the Arsenal History Society (which runs this site) which persuaded Arsenal FC to put a statue to Chapman up outside the Emirates Stadium, looking up at the ground as if to say “I created this”. But unfortunately one …
Read More “When Chapman was in danger of taking Arsenal down to the 2nd division”
That fortunes can change in football very quickly has always been apparent, but few changes were more puzzling than the collapse of Arsenal in the early months of the 1935/6 season. Arsenal had just won the league three times running, and in the final of those three seasons Arsenal had not just won by a …
Read More “As history shows, fortunes in football can change very rapidly indeed”
