AISA Arsenal History Society: preserving Arsenal's heritage
On this day in 1998 Freddie Ljungberg joined Arsenal as a player. He is now, of course, first team assistant to the manager and since joining from Halmstad in 1998 he has always been a crowd favourite. He has also retained his long term willingness to relate to the fans – as when two of …
In terms of his historic legacy, Leslie Knighton might best be described as a menace, for he was the manager who some 20 years after he left Arsenal, wrote an autobiography which accused Sir Henry Norris, his boss, of the most awful nefarious deeds, many of which have passed into the mythology of Arsenal, not …
Read More “When the Arsenal team all took drugs, according to their manager”
Following the introduction of the new offside law in the summer of 1925, Arsenal lost 7-0 to Newcastle. It was Herbert Chapman’s first year at the club and the story told by the somewhat unbiased Charlie Buchan, who played inside right in the game, and later went on to become a famous journalist, promoted his …
Read More “Was it Charlie Buchan who solved the issue of the new offside law? Probably not.”
On this day in 1888 the first ever games were played in the Football League. What makes it particularly interesting is that although the clubs involved had agreed to play each other once at home and once away through the season, there was no agreement as to how the winner should be decided. Various ideas …
Read More “When the League started without any agreement as to how they could decide who had won”
By Tony Attwood Details of the many series and articles on Arsenal, and the books we have published, can be found on our home page. It is undoubtedly difficult for many supporters today who complain about Arsenal not being in the Champions League, to realise the depths to which Arsenal has sunk after previous …
Read More “The proof that a brilliant team without a decent manager will soon fall apart”
The final year at Highbury was a good thing for the club to celebrate of course, and the idea of playing in a kit that was the same as worn for the first league match at Highbury, played on this day in 1913, was a good idea too. Except that the picture that the club …
Read More “The first match at Highbury; but those maroon shirts were a myth”
On this day in 1992 Wimbledon beat Arsenal – and it wasn’t too much of a shock. This was the first year of the Premier League and Wimbledon had already been in the top tier for six seasons. Arsenal did finish above them in 1992/3, but only by two points. Other clubs in the first …
Read More “The unlikeliest of opponents who beat Arsenal no less than seven times.”
This day in 1937 marked the start of the final triumph of the glorious 1930s. Between April 1930 and April 1938 Arsenal won the league five times and the FA Cup twice, also coming runners’ up in the league once and beaten finalists in the league once. But this was not just the work of …
Read More “The men who got 33 (from the wing) 39 and 44 goals for Arsenal in a season”
Failing as Arsenal manager didn’t seem to matter much in the days of Billy Wright who passed away on this day in 1994. His reputation as a wonderful player stayed with him, and only Arsenal fans remembered the humiliations of his time at the club. In the league we finished 7th, 8th,13th and 14th, in …
Read More “The lowest ever crowds in the last 80 years and worst league position since 1925”
126 years ago today, Arsenal played their first ever league match, but it is a mark of the way the club was evolving at a very fast speed that none of the players in this game played in the first match of the following season. The estimated attendance at the match was 10,000. However it …
Read More “On this day: Arsenal’s first ever league match – against Newcastle.”
That headline does indeed reflect what happened to George Allison between 1910 (when he was editing the Arsenal programme) to this day in 1934 when he managed Arsenal for the first time at home. In fact Arsenal owe a huge amount to Allison, not just in terms of winning the league twice and FA Cup …
Read More “From programme editor to Arsenal manager in 24 years”
The simple fact is that the dislike of Arsenal within the mass media is generally so intense that reason, logic and any type of even semi-decent reporting goes out the window. But even if this bizarre setting, suggesting that a match in the unbeaten season contained “the worst 45 minutes [by Arsenal] that any …
Read More ““The worst half any Arsenal fans could remember.” Said in the unbeaten season!!!!”
By Tony Attwood As you will see before for the anniversary of this day in 1913, Arsenal played at Highbury for the first time in a practice match. Although officially it was behind “closed doors” as the comment below says, the reality is that the ground was far from secure right up to the first …
Read More “The day the club played its first match at Highbury – but we don’t know the score!”
Because the start of the 1970s was such a good time for Arsenal, with three major trophies in two seasons, it is easy to forget what happened thereafter. For what happened was that the club sank lower and lower and lower as indeed did the crowds. From an average league crowd of 43,776 in …
Read More “Average crowd of under 27000 and a defeat to Rotherham. When was that?”
How did newspaper commentary on Arsenal begin? It is hard to say exactly, but as Arsenal became a professional club in 1891 – two years before the club entered the Football League – the Woolwich Gazette started running a regular column, “Arsenal Football Notes” – on this day in 1891. And a year later there …
Read More “When Arsenal fans’ criticism was aimed at the reporter, not the club.”
On this day in 2014 Alexis Sanchez scored his first goal for Arsenal. It was his first of 60 in 122 games – a remarkable record. If we just measure league games he got 24 in 38 in his last league season. Even in the season in which he left half way through he got …
Read More “Why Alexis Sanchez declined so rapidly from his best form after leaving Arsenal”
The events following the game between Arsenal and Celtic in the Champions League on this day in 2009 are among a group of happenings which show that there most certainly is something very underhand and nasty going on in football. The BBC’s online report of the event read, “Eduardo was the central figure when Arsenal …
Read More “Arsenal player banned retrospectively to the delight of the media.”
In many ways the Unbeaten Season has dimmed the memory of the almost unbeaten season which started on this day in 1990, in front of a crowd of 13,733. Arsenal were insanely docked two points that season for a bit of pushing and shoving of the type that was regularly going on in games …
Read More “When under 14,000 watched Arsenal’s first game of the season”
Publications “Woolwich Arsenal, the club that changed football” is the definitive history of Arsenal from its inception as a league club through to its first year at Highbury, and reveals dramatic elements of Arsenal’s early days that have never been revealed before. “Making the Arsenal” is a journalist’s inside view of the events around Arsenal’s …
Read More “Remembering the great talents whose careers were broken by injury.”
Publications “Woolwich Arsenal, the club that changed football” is the definitive history of Arsenal from its inception as a league club through to its first year at Highbury, and reveals dramatic elements of Arsenal’s early days that have never been revealed before. “Making the Arsenal” is a journalist’s inside view of the events around Arsenal’s …
Read More “Why season openings don’t always tell us what is going to happen”
Publications “Woolwich Arsenal, the club that changed football” is the definitive history of Arsenal from its inception as a league club through to its first year at Highbury, and reveals dramatic elements of Arsenal’s early days that have never been revealed before. “Making the Arsenal” is a journalist’s inside view of the events around Arsenal’s …
Read More “When Arsenal scored ten goals in the first two games of the season”
Publications “Woolwich Arsenal, the club that changed football” is the definitive history of Arsenal from its inception as a league club through to its first year at Highbury, and reveals dramatic elements of Arsenal’s early days that have never been revealed before. “Making the Arsenal” is a journalist’s inside view of the events around Arsenal’s …
Read More “Losing at home to average sides doesn’t mean we can’t win things.”
Considering that the media endlessly tell us who Arsenal are secretly negotiating with, who is going to be bought, and who is going to be sold, when it comes to the test, their knowledge is generally woefully lacking. Each summer between 85 and 110 players are tipped as coming to Arsenal, while the entire first …
Read More “Do the media really know anything at all about negotations and transfers?”
19 years ago today after a league match at Highbury, it was suggested that Mr Wenger, who until that moment had an utterly unblemished record as a manager, had indulged in violent or threatening behaviour against Mr Taylor, the fourth official at Sunderland. At the hearing Mr Wenger was given a 12 match ban. He …
Read More “The moment officialdom decided that it had to take on Arsenal”
by Tony Attwood Looking at today’s anniversaries I am reminded of how much the media make of any possible stories of Arsenal failing, and how little they make of Arsenal’s successes. Last season on this day Arsenal lost their second match of the season – having already lost the first, and the media were …
Read More “The Arsenal contrasts: two defeats at the start of last season vs the club’s record runs”
