AISA Arsenal History Society: preserving Arsenal's heritage
April and May 1980 didn’t seem like the end of an era. Far from it in fact with Arsenal grinding their way to another FA Cup final, fighting in the Cup Winners’ Cup and also looking for a place in Europe next season. But in essence, it was. Terry Neill had three more seasons to …
Read More “April/May 1980: an era starts to move to a close”
By Tony Attwood Sometimes when we find players who are a total mystery – whose lives are totally lost to us beyond the fact that they played a few games for Arsenal – I’m puzzled by the blank, but can leave it at that. But when we find a player who is a league winner …
Read More “Arthur Shaw, the Arsenal league winner who vanished from history”
Untold Arsenal, the companion of the Arsenal History Site which appears here, is out of action for a while, as we move servers. We expect to be back up quite shortly. Sorry about this, but it is going to help us a lot in the long run. Tony
7 January 1978 Sheffield United 0 Arsenal 5 FA Cup 3rd round Attendance: 32,156 The build up to the game was all about how Arsenal would not be allowed to settle into their rhythm thus allowing the local lads to cause an upset. Arsenal responded by spending the first 18 minutes doing exactly what they …
1966/67 – the early days of Mee Billy Wright’s tenure at Arsenal had ended in disaster with home crowds collapsing… 12 March 1966: Arsenal 0 Everton 1 (24,821) 26 March 1966: Arsenal 1 Newcastle 3 (13979) 5 April 1966: Arsenal 1 WBA 1 (8738) 23 April 1966: Arsenal 1 Sunderland 1 (25,699) 5 May 1966: …
Read More “1966 – the early days of Mee and only seeing half the pitch”
Tommy Baldwin was born on 10 June 1945 in Gateshead. He is, with George Graham, one of only two players to have played for three of the top four clubs of recent years. Although he made his name at Chelsea, he has often spoken of his time of Arsenal and his admiration of Arsenal and …
Read More “Tommy Baldwin one of the two who played for three of the four”
By Tony Attwood The London Charity Cup was a London FA County Cup. The original trophy was donated by the Rt. Hon. Reginald Harrison. Over the years a number of London’s larger clubs have entered the competition, including Charlton, Chelsea, Crystal Palace, Fulham, Leyton Orient, Millwall, QPR, Tottenham H, WHU, Wimbledon, and of course Arsenal. …
Each day of the year, except when I’m away, the Arsenal History Society publishes the Arsenal anniversaries for that day. . But actually we do more than that, because each day we add about another ten anniversaries to the file – and now have over 3000 of them recorded. . Today we include famous names …
By Tony Attwood There are some days in the history of Arsenal that just ring out with historic importance – and 30 March is most certainly one of those. For 30 March was the day that saw the club play for the very first time at the Manor Field, which became the Manor Ground – …
Read More “The early Arsenal. From zero to 10,000 in five years.”
By Tony Attwood As I mentioned the other day, with over 1000 articles now on this site, we’re getting into the lives of some players who seem to have little said about them in the history books (or indeed in this case on Arsenal.com) And so we turn to James Gibb Fotheringham (known as Jim) …
Read More “James Gibb Fotheringham: an Arsenal man of whom we’d like to know more”
March 25 1972: Leeds United 3 Arsenal 0 Football League Division 1: Attendance: 45,055 Through March and April one year before Arsenal had gone through a winning run of nine games. This had set them up so that even the controversial defeat by Leeds on April 26 1971 had not stopped the club winning the …
By Tony Attwood I am fairly used to struggling in finding out the details of some of the lesser known players in the pre-Chapman era, but generally once we get to the latter part of the 1920s things become clear. So it is a surprise that John Vance Milne known as “Jackie” and perhaps sometimes …
Read More “Can you help re Arsenal player John Milne (also known as Jack or Jackie)?”
Arsenal and the London Combination Victory Cup – an untold tale by Tony Attwood After the end of the 1914/15 season the Football League and the Southern League in England were suspended (although league football continued in Scotland) until the end of the war with Germany. On 11 November 1918 the ceasefire that ended the …
Read More “Arsenal and the London Victory Cup – an untold tale”
Alexander Main (known as “Sandy”) was born in West Calder in Scotland in 1873 although I can find no record of the actual date. His playing career at the first took him across four clubs in one season, but at some stage in his second season he moved south and joined Woolwich Arsenal. Here’s the …
21 March through the years has been the date on which the first player ever got an international cap while playing for Arsenal, and is the anniversary of the day the club started its final downward slide into the second division. Elsewhere the great Jimmy Brain made his last appearance on this day while the …
By Tony Attwood 21 March 1978 Birmingham City 1 Arsenal 1 Football League Division 1 Attendance: 22,087 The period February 11 to March 27 was unbeaten for Arsenal in the League – involving 9 games, of which this was the sixth. It was also a period that included wins in the 5th and 6th rounds …
5 March 1980: Gothenburg (Sweden) (H) Cup-winners’ Cup 5-1 Attendance: 36,323 Jennings, Devine, Nelson, Talbot, O’Leary, Young, Brady (Hollins), Sunderland (McDermott), Stapleton, Price, Rix. Scorers: Sunderland 2, Young, Brady, Price. It was cold. Very very cold. Which presumably gave Gothenburg the advantage The score was gold but Brady Sunderland and Stapleton all hobbled off, either …
Arsenal in the FA Cup 1979. Tony Attwood In this piece we look back through the FA Cup games of 1979, and also note in passing what happened in the league in between these games, starting with the third round, of course… 6 January: Sheffield Wednesday (A) FA Cup 3rd round 1-1 Attendance: 33,635 Jennings, …
By Tony Attwood Arsenal have appeared in 17 FA Cup finals, a figure only exceeded by Man U with 18. Arsenal have won the cup 10 times, a figure only exceeded by Man U with 11. Only one manager has won the FA Cup more than once – Arsene Wenger, who has won it four …
Read More “Having got to the FAC semi finals, Arsenal’s most common outcome is to win the Cup”
Jens Gerhard Lehmann Jens Lehmann was born 10 November 1969 is the only player in the entire history of League football in England to have played through the complete season without ever being on the losing team. He played in total 200 games for Arsenal. Through his career he was awarded UEFA Goalkeeper of the …
Read More “The only keeper ever to go a whole season unbeaten. Ever.”
By Tony Attwood 1973/4 is hardly a season to recalled with fun and excitement. My previous article on the subject took us up to February and has the headline Was this the worth month of Football ever? That piece ended on 23 February with Birmingham City 3 Arsenal 1. What happened next was that Arsenal …
Read More “1974: The decline of Arsenal – March and early April”
The Life and Times of Herbert Chapman by Patrick Barclay Published by W&N. £20.00 Journalists who write popular histories tend to give the reader facts without the details of how they got these facts. This approach helps the flow of the text, and makes life easier for the writer. It is how things are done. …
By Tony Attwood Today is the anniversary of Arsenal’s largest ever league win – the 12-0 defeat of Loughborough. The story of the event is recorded by Andy Kelly here. On this site we are building what I hope will be (and probably already is) the largest database of Arsenal anniversaries – there are over …
Read More “Today is the anniversary of Arsenal’s biggest ever win”
By Tony Attwood 11 March 1911. The start of an 11 match sequence without defeat which saved Arsenal from relegation. But also the last time Arsenal won a home league game on 11 March! It is of course a coincidence – at least I think it is a coincidence – but as far as I …
Read More “11 March: when Arsenal should not play in the league (but cups are ok)”
By Tony Attwood, AISA Arsenal History Society Brian James McDermott was born on 8 April 1961 and is one of that select group of players who has played for Arsenal and has since gone on to a period of management in the Premier League. Although he has spoken of his sadness that he did not …
Read More “Brian McDermott: Arsenal occasional, manager, Dylan lover.”
