AISA Arsenal History Society: preserving Arsenal's heritage
by Tony Attwood According to Wikipedia Gordon Rahere Hoare (18 April 1884 – 27 October 1973) was “an English amateur footballer” – and that’s all you get. Which is rather sad given the extraordinary nature of his engagement with the game. Now if you are a regular reader of this site you might recall that we …
Read More “Gordon Rahere Hoare: the Arsenal player who transferred 23 times.”
By Tony Attwood John Chalmers was born in Beith in 1885 or 1886 (sources differ), and played initially for Rutherglen Glencairn. Rutherglen Glencairn FC were formed in 1895 at the wonderfully named ‘Old Jail’ office in Rutherglen, and they are still in existence. The club played at Southcroft Park – a stadium that lasted 110 …
Read More “Jackie Chalmers: the man who rescued Arsenal, but then rode back to the north.”
by Tony Attwood As part of the series of articles covering Henry Norris at Arsenal we’re now looking at the players who played in the first season under Henry Norris’ chairmanship – 1910/11. A list of all the players and their number of games, with links to the articles on those players already covered, appears …
Read More “Arsenal’s team in Norris’ first season overseeing the club: George Burdett”
By Tony Attwood 1910 was the summer that Woolwich Arsenal FC were on the edge of extinction surviving only because of the intervention of Henry Norris. He paid off the debts, negotiated with the existing shareholders, offered the club back to the local community, and indeed guaranteed the club’s solvency. He also guaranteed that the …
Arsenal Anniversaries on this day 3 July 1925: Charles Buchan, the man who helped develop WM, re-signed by Arsenal in £100/goal deal. He played 102 games scoring 49 goals before finally retiring in 1928. Buchan’s first signing for Arsenal. For many years it was reported that Arsenal ended up paying more for Buchan through …
By Tony Attwood By the start of 1911 Henry Norris was fully ensconced at Woolwich Arsenal. He did not own the club, but owned shares in the club, was the lead director of the club, and had guaranteed the club’s financial well being. He had arranged for the club’s debts to be cleared so the …
Read More “Henry Norris at the Arsenal part 9: 1911 – Arsenal escape relegation.”
by Tony Attwood Continuing from the last episode we have now got to the point where the new season was almost upon the club. The directors continued to sort out the debts of the Woolwich Arsenal club which had existed until this summer. The bank overdraft, and the second mortgage on the ground were …
Read More “Norris at the Arsenal part 8: July to December 1910. Bad news all round.”
Patrick Vieira: Arsenal’s Missing Rib With Arsene Wenger remaining at Arsenal as manager for another two seasons, the odds on the North London club, as shown on Ladbrokes free bet, to win the Premier League next season is high. At the time of writing Arsenal are available as a big as 16/1 and sixth in …
By Tony Attwood All through the tumultuous period that we’ve been looking at in the previous articles, the fund-raising committee that had been set up before the full extent of this financial crisis was appreciated, had continued its activities. However on 6 June at a meeting in Rotherhithe, the committee resolved not to hand …
Read More “Norris at the Arsenal 7: Completing the takeover and preparing for the new season”
This is part six of our series on Henry Norris at Arsenal. The previous articles are Part 1. How Arsenal fell from grace. Part 2: heading for liquidation and the first thought of moving elsewhere Part 3: March and April 1910 – the crisis deepens Part 4: the proposed mergers with Tottenham and Chelsea. Part …
Read More “Norris at Arsenal 6: It’s agreed, Arsenal stay in Plumstead for one (no two) years”
This is part 5 of the Henry Norris Files – the complete story of Henry Norris at Arsenal. The previous sections are Part 1. How Arsenal fell from grace. Part 2: heading for liquidation and the first thought of moving elsewhere Part 3: March and April 1910 – the crisis deepens Part 4: the proposed …
Read More “The collapse of Woolwich Arsenal: how the rescue took shape.”
by Tony Attwood This article updated 5 Dec 2018 This series of articles covers the 17 years in which Henry Norris was involved with Arsenal football club. The story so far: How Arsenal fell from grace. Heading for liquidation and the first thought of moving elsewhere March and April 1910 – the crisis deepens …
Read More “Henry Norris at the Arsenal part 4: the proposed mergers with Tottenham and Chelsea.”
This article updated 15 November 2018 By Tony Attwood The previous article in this series is Norris at the Arsenal part 2: heading for liquidation and the first thought of moving elsewhere The full index of the series is here By March 1910 it was being widely reported in local newspapers, the national press …
Read More “Norris at the Arsenal 3: March and April 1910 – the crisis deepens”
This article updated 15 November 2018 This article continues from the opening of the series on Henry Norris at the Arsenal. The full index to the complete series can be found here By Tony Attwood Henry Norris at the Arsenal: 1910. Arsenal were having a tough time in the 1909/10 season, but two home wins …
by Tony Attwood Revised 14 November 2018 Background note: If there is a man associated with Arsenal whose name is regularly decried it is Henry Norris; a man whose actions were, it is claimed, so outrageous and so awful that it is just a total embarrassment to the club that he should ever have been …
Read More “Henry Norris at the Arsenal: Part 1. How Arsenal fell from grace.”
by Tony Attwood In 1971, at White Hart Lane Arsenal won their first league title since 1953 and won the league with just one point less than the record breaking 66 points achieved in 1931 when Herbert Chapman won Arsenal the league for the first time ever, the club playing the same number of games. …
Read More “8 May 1971 Arsenal win the Double for the first time”
By Tony Attwood On 7 May 1938 the glorious run of triumphs that was Arsenal in the 1930s had its final bow as Arsenal won the league in the most dramatic fashion on the last day of the season. Even after their match ended they still didn’t know if they had got that fifth title, …
Read More “7 May 1938: Arsenal make it five League titles & two Cups in nine years”
By Tony Attwood Ernest Collett known universally as Ernie, was born on 17 November 1914 in Sheffield. He started out playing for Oughtibridge Working Men’s Club, a club that is still extant playing in the Sheffield and Hallamshire County Senior Football League. Ernie joined Arsenal in April 1933 and won the Football Combination six times …
Read More “Ernie Collett: the reserve player who stayed with the club for 37 years”
At the end of March 1935 Arsenal were top of the league – a position most people had got used to them occupying. They had been league champions for the previous two seasons, managed first by Herbert Chapman, then Joe Shaw, and now George Allison. The question was could Arsenal not only win the title …
Read More “5 May 1935: Arsenal win the league for the third time under three different managers”
By Tony Attwood 3 May is quite a day in the history of Arsenal for it was the day that Royal Arsenal transformed itself into Woolwich Arsenal. It meant being able to enter the Football League (the League insisted on clubs being limited companies, and limited companies cannot have a name that suggests royal approval …
Read More “3 May 1971: Arsenal won the league at WHL (for the first time)”
By Tony Attwood Gordon Bremner was the embodiment of a superb player who lost virtually all his playing career to the second world war. He was born on 12 November 1917 in Glasgow and started by playing for Cartha Athletic. Cartha Athletic Club, was founded in Glasgow in 1889, and was one of the largest and …
Read More “Gordon Bremner: a tremendous talent whose career was lost to the war”
By Tony Attwood Ronald (known as Ronnie) Wescott is a player who despite playing for Arsenal in the 1930s is a player whose entry here is going to be sadly very short, for he suffered a career ending injury in just his second game for Arsenal. He was born on 19 September 1910 at Wallesey …
Read More “Ronald Westcott: Arsenal’s unluckiest player ever of whom we know so little.”
Joseph Ebenezer Shaw – a name to conjure with, although in reality he was known as Joe Shaw. Joe Shaw was born May 7, 1883 (Arsenal, the football facts has 1882) and died in September 1963 aged 80 after a lifetime of service to Arsenal. He is one of the handful of men who need …
Read More “Arsenal’s forgotten manager Joe Shaw wins the league for Arsenal. 28 April 1934.”
This article is an extract from the Arsenal History Society complete series on Arsenal in the 1930s. Full details of the series are given at the end of the article. by Tony Attwood On 26 April 1930 Arsenal won their first ever F.A. Cup 2-0 v Huddersfield. And indeed on this day they won their first …
Read More “Celebrating the anniversary of Arsenal’s first ever FA Cup win on 26 April 1930”
by Tony Attwood Reginald Robert Stockill, known as Reg was born on 24 November 1913 in York. Although he only played a handful of games for Arsenal he should always be remembered for what he did on 27 August 1932. For on that day there was a football result which read Birmingham 0 Arsenal 1. …
