AISA Arsenal History Society: preserving Arsenal's heritage
By Tony Attwood Marc Overmars is one of those Arsenal players who to me seems to have been at the club much longer than just the three years he played for us. He was also one of the first players to move on to Barcelona from Arsenal and for Barcelona to find that they were …
John Matthews was born in Camden on 1 November 1955 and joined Arsenal as an apprentice in 1971 turning professional in 1973. He made his league début in the opening match of the 1974/5 season – a 1-0 away win against Leicester. Matthews played right back while Sammy Nelson was left back. The rest of …
By Tony Attwood Alan Skirton was born 23 January 1939 in Bath, and was signed from Bath City for £5000 in January 1959 by George Swindin. In total he had 153 games for Arsenal’s first team in League and Cup. He moved on to play as an amateur with Bristol City as an amateur …
Read More “Alan Skirton: first man to score a European goal at Highbury”
By Tony Attwood Ask the average Arsenal supporter about Andy Linighan and you probably won’t get too grand a resume of what he did for the club, and how well he performed. At least that is how it seems to me. And yet look at his honours Football League champions – 1991 FA Cup – …
by Tony Attwood Are there any tell-tale signs that a player is going to be one of those people with no sense of loyalty to his employer? A person who thinks contracts are worth nothing and who exploits any situation to his own advantage having taken all he can out of a situation? I think …
Read More “Nasri; is there a way to tell if a player will show no loyalty?”
John Kay was born in County Durham on 29 January 1964 and joined Arsenal as an apprentice in April 1980. He turned professional in July 1981 and was part of the Football Combination winning team in 1983/84. During this season he also made his league debut against West Bromwich Albion (26 February 1983). He played …
Read More “John Kay, championship reserve who had success with Sunderland”
By Tony Attwood 11 July 2003. Peterborough 1 Arsenal 0 19 July 2003. Barnet 0 Arsenal 0 I was at the first match, but really don’t remember too much of it, although I do recall Mr Wenger being on the pitch before the game, talking to the squad and looking very happy. So I’m going …
Read More “Beware making predictions from what you see pre-season”
By Tony Attwood When Rosický moved to Borussia Dortmund, his transfer fee of €14.5 million was a Bundesliga record. He he played just 41 times for Sparta Prague but his reputation had grown quickly. When Dortmund got into financial difficulties everyone joined the queue to buy him, from Real Madrid to Tottenham. The Mozart of …
By Tony Attwood It is, I think appropriate to look back to this pre-season friendly from 17 July 2004, since it was (I believe) one of the biggest pre-season friendly scores in modern times. And the display as far as I can remember it, was not so different from that which we saw in the …
Flamini was one of those players who having had two fairly average seasons at Arsenal and then had one good season playing alongside Cesc. Forgetting the past the press talked him up, just at the moment that his contract came to an end. Despite the offer of a new contract he chose to leave. The …
John William Hollins MBE was born 16 July 1946 and played for Arsenal between 1979 and 1983: Season Lge games Goals Manager 1979/80 23 (3) 1 Neill 1980/81 38 (5) 5 Neill 1981/82 40 (1) 1 Neill 1982/83 22 (1) 2 Neill Total 123 (4) 9 He was born in Guildford into a family in …
Read More “John Hollins MBE – squad man who became a regular”
Manuel Almunia Rivero (born 19 May 1977) joined Arsenal on 14 July 2004 as a deputy for Jens Lehmann and made his league debut in December that year. In his first season he played in the FA Cup 5th round game and saved two penalties against Sheffield United to take Arsenal through and on to …
Read More “Manuel Almunia: first, second and third choice keeper”
Raymond Kennedy was born 28 July 1951. He was part of our double winning team of 1970/71 playing alongside Radford. His first bizarre “honour” came when he was rejected by Stanley Matthews, when he was manager at Port Vale as an apprentice. He was told at the age of 16 that he was “too slow …
11 July 2008: Arsenal fans voted Pirès as the club’s sixth greatest player of all time. I voted for him, because for me, he was the keyholder in the team. He could choose his moment and unlock the gate which allowed Henry to do everything he did. Time and again I watched Henry wander out …
Park Chu-Young’s transfer to Arsenal on 30 August 2011 was one of the strangest transfers of all time. Park was born on 10 July 1985, and in his home country he has been famous since 2004 when he won the Golden Ball for the most valuable player in the AFC Youth Championship in 2004. Indeed …
David John Court was born on 1 March 1944 in Surrey and joined Arsenal as a schoolboy signing in 1959 during the George Swindin era, and turned professional on January 1 1962. As such he is our link to these past eras – and his presence in the club should perhaps be more recognised. He …
Read More “David Court: the last member of the George Swindin era still at Arsenal”
By Tony Attwood I have to admit to bias. There are some players you like, and some you don’t. It doesn’t stop you supporting the team, but those players you don’t like never quite make it into your heart and soul. David Platt is one of these. David Platt was transferred to Arsenal in the …
Read More “David Platt; the one season man beloved by Mancini”
By Tony Attwood Some players’ transfers you just can’t understand. OK, sometimes you see a player coming in or leaving and think “Why?????” but then within a year or so you see why. Hidden depths to the player coming in. The start of a decline with the player leaving, cleverly disguised both from us fans …
By Tony Attwood Paul Barron (born 16 September 1953) was a reserve goalkeeper for Arsenal who played 8 league games between 1978 and 1980. He was born in Woolwich, near Arsenal’s original ground in Plumstead, and somewhat along the lines of Bob Wilson qualified as a PE teacher before becoming a professional footballer. He played non-league …
Read More “Paul Barron: Arsenal’s reserve keeper in the multiple-cup era”
by Andy Kelly and Mark Andrews (@Gooner_AK) (@RoyalArsenalMRA) Post World War Two – A tale of two families The vacant position of Arsenal chairman was filled by a man who was as famous as his predecessors. Sir Bracewell Smith had joined Arsenal’s board in July 1938 having recently purchased a considerable slice of the club. …
By Tony Attwood Charles Murray Buchan was born in Plumstead on 22 September 1891 and was brought up in the homeland of Woolwich Arsenal. Naturally he started with the club, but an argument with George Morrell relating to his expenses while he was training to be a teacher caused him to decline a professional contract …
George Eastham was not only an Arsenal captain but also the man who did more to reform the transfer system than anyone with the possible exception of Jean-Marc Bosman. Starting in 1885 players had to register at the start of each season with one club. The player could then change clubs only if his existing …
By Tony Attwood This site is the day to day outlet for the AISA Arsenal History Society. For the most part it is written by three members of the Society – Mark Andrews, Andy Kelly and myself, but it is never meant to be exclusive. If you have any thoughts on any specific aspect of …
Read More “Do you have historic Arsenal memories or information or news or…”
When looking for footballers and managers who have been involved with Arsenal, I do a few searches of books and web sites trying to find the relevant information. If there is very little then the chances are that the player played 100 or more years ago. So to find a player whose life seems to …
Derek Robert Tapscott was born in Barry 30 June 1932 and died 12 June 2008. He was one of sixteen children. After leaving school at 14 he worked as a delivery boy, TV repairman’s assistant and bricklayer (during which period he also played with Barry Town). At the age of 18 he was called up …
