AISA Arsenal History Society: preserving Arsenal's heritage
By Tony Attwood This weekend Arsenal become the most successful team ever in the history of the FA Cup – and they will retain that crown no matter what happens on Sunday in the semi-final. After the conclusion of the FA Cup in 2016 the table for the number of appearances by the most successful …
Read More “Arsenal: the most successful team in the FA Cup of all time”
By Tony Attwood Joseph Williams was born in Rotherham on 4 June 1902, and started playing for Rotherham County (the club that merged with others to form Rotherham Utd in 1925). In 1924 he moved to Huddersfield Town, then managed by Herbert Chapman, and was part of Chapman’s league winning team of 1924/5. He stayed …
Read More “Joey Williams: the Arsenal man who won the league and got relegated at the same moment.”
By Tony Attwood Leonard Thompson was born on 18 February 1901 in Sheffield. His first club is recorded as Shiregreen Primitive Methodists, Shiregreen being a part of Sheffield, but then curiously there is a note of him playing for Norfolk Amateurs. I have found a few references to this team – including a programme showing them as …
By Tony Attwood Albert Humpish was born on 3 March 1902, and was one of eight players to make his debut for Arsenal in the 1929/30 season as Chapman gave the squad his final shuffle in order to win the illusive first trophy, which of course he did. Bert, as he was usually known, (although …
Read More “Albert Edward Humpish: Herbert Chapman’s mystery signing for Arsenal in 1929.”
By Tony Attwood Arsenal joined the Football League in 1893/4 and stayed in the second division for 11 years. The table below shows the growth (and in three years a decline) in the attendances for league matches at the club, and compares these not only with the club’s position in the league (the last column) …
Read More “The crowd at Woolwich Arsenal: Arsenal in the 2nd division 1893/4 to 1903/4”
By Tony Attwood In a previous post I published a copy of the 1930 Arsenal handbook in what I trust is an easy-to-read format. Much of the text is taken up with a history of the club, and it is a history that contains a few errors. My aim here is to clarify some …
Read More “The Arsenal Handbook 1930: the errors and the consequences”
By Tony Attwood The Arsenal handbook for 1930 (officially titled “The Arsenal Football Club History and Fixtures 1930/31”) has been on line for a while now courtesy of Andy Kelly but for those of us reaching a certain age it is not that easy to read, and so as part of the “Arsenal in the …
Read More “The Arsenal handbook 1930: after winning the first major trophy”
by Tony Attwood David “Dave” Halliday was born 11 December 1901 in Dumfries and trained initially as a motor mechanic playing for the works team of car maker Arrol-Johnston. The works team merged with two others in 1919 to form Queen of the South and the following year on 17 January Dave started playing for them, (and not …
Read More “David Halliday: top scoring centre forward who couldn’t make it at Arsenal”
By Tony Attwood Bill Johnstone is one of the Arsenal players of whom I have been able to discover so very little, and I would love to know more. Any help would be greatly appreciated. He was born in Fife 18 May 1900 and started out with Rosyth Juniors before moving on to Kings Park …
Read More “Bill Johnstone: a goalscorer but in a team awash with goalscorers”
How the first home of Arsenal FC developed across the centuries – and what is happening to it now. In 1513 Henry VIII set up a dockyard at Woolwich to build the royal ship which came to be known as the ‘Great Harry’. Later, in 1559 Elizabeth I came to Woolwich to launch the ship …
Read More “The site of Arsenal’s foundation to be transformed into an arts zone”
by Tony Attwood For the past 10 months I have been writing a history of Arsenal in the 1930s. The first draft is now finished and you can read the entire work as it stands at the moment, on this website. But as any author will tell you, the first run through of any …
Read More “Arsenal in the 1930s, the full story as never before told”
by Tony Attwood On 19 August 1939 on the eve of war, Arsenal beat Tottenham (away) 1-0 in a friendly – an event that was undoubtedly presaged by the same fixture as a pre-season friendly, but at Highbury, on the saturday before the first league match of the 1938/9 campaign. Whether the clubs also agreed …
Read More “Arsenal in the 30s: Arsenal at the start of the 2nd world war (autumn 1939)”
by Tony Attwood Arsenal used 29 players in the 1938/9 season of whom 12 played fewer than nine league games. Here is the chart, as usual, along with appearance figures for the previous two seasons by way of comparison. Player Position 1938/9 Games 1938/9 Goals 1937/8 Games 1936/7 Games Cliff Bastin Outside Left 24 4 …
By Tony Attwood Arsenal finished the 1938/9 season in fifth place (not their worst since 1930, but still rather disappointing for the reigning champions). They then set off on a post season tour which took in six Scandinavian games and a seventh against the Belgian national side. Writing of this tour Bernard Joy called it …
By Tony Attwood The final run-in of the 1938/9 season through April and May saw Arsenal start the (as usual) very busy schedule with the league table looking like this P W D L F A GA Pt 1 Everton 34 23 3 8 73 43 1.70 49 2 Wolverhampton Wndrs 34 18 8 8 …
Read More “April / May 1939: Arsenal clamber back to 5th, and achieve film stardom”
by Tony Attwood Arsenal had finished February in ninth still 11 points off the pacemakers, and being out of the Cup as well, all that could be hoped for was an improvement to keep up the Arsenal legend of success in the 30s. P W D L F A GAv Pts 1 Everton 30 20 …
Read More “March 1939: goalscoring and away form are the key problems”
By Tony Attwood Arsenal ended January in 10th but as noted before they also had two games in hand over the middle clutch of teams in the upper part of the table, which gave hope for February. P W D L F A GAv Pts 1 Derby County 26 15 5 6 46 31 1.48 …
Read More “February 1939: Arsenal struggle to make a continuing impact.”
By Tony Attwood On 2 January – postponed for one day since 1 January was a Sunday, Rangers and Celtic played their traditional year opener. This time however the match was of particular significance since it is recorded as having the highest attendance for a U.K. football match ever at 118,730. Back in England …
Read More “Arsenal in January 1939: some signs of recovery.”
By Tony Attwood Arsenal entered December in the unfamiliar position of being in the bottom half of the table without even the consolation that they had found last year of having all the teams bunched together near the top. They were a full 11 points off the leaders, with just one game in hand. Put …
Read More “December 1938: the manager makes changes and a new hero is found”
By Tony Attwood Arsenal ended October 1938 in a rather unappealing 10th position, eight points behind the leaders, with a game in hand. Here is the league table at the end of that month. P W D L F A GAv Pts 1 Derby County 13 9 2 2 25 13 1.92 20 2 Everton …
Read More “Arsenal in November 1938: facing relegation, avoiding collisions”
by Brian Evans. I am currently writing a book on British football managers in Portugal. There are a few Arsenal connections with two of the five mangers being ex Arsenal players, and I will be writing in detail on Arsenals 1948 tour which resulted in the famous Taca da Arsenal (Arsenal Cup). However, at the …
Read More “Joseph Szabo, his visit to Arsenal, and the way it changed SC Braga’s history.”
By Tony Attwood Arsenal ended September in the lower reaches of the first division – way below what had been hoped for after their dramatic seizing of the Championship for the fifth time the previous May. They were at least undefeated in the last two games however (although saying this is rather a case of …
Read More “Arsenal in October 1938: the champions stagnating in mid-table”
By Tony Attwood Arsenal entered the 1938/39 season as Champions, having won the league for the fifth time in eight years. In the seasons they did not win the trophy they had come second, third, and sixth. Additionally they had won the FA Cup twice during the 1930s. Rather amazingly the trophy haul for …
By Tony Attwood George Hunt was born on 22 February 1910 and died on 19 September 1996. For Arsenal supporters he will be remembered as one of the team that won the league in 1938 and also as the first ever player to move from Tottenham (then of the second division) to Arsenal (about to become …
Read More “George Hunt: the first ever player to move from Tottenham Hotspur to Arsenal”
By Tony Attwood After winning the league and playing their one friendly match (see the article on April and May 1938) Arsenal’s season was over. However there was, as always, other activity for the Arsenal players and the club during the summer. They may even have indulged in going to the races. On 14 …
Read More “Arsenal in the summer: 1938. The Nazi salute; the world record signing.”
