AISA Arsenal History Society: preserving Arsenal's heritage
by Andy Kelly On the 22nd of October 1949 Arsenal’s reserves journeyed to South Wales to play Cardiff City in a Football Combination game. Arsenal’s team included youngsters Jack Kelsey, John Chenhall, Joe Wade, Ray Daniel, Arthur Shaw and Arthur Milton, who would all go on to win honours at the club, along with veteran …
Read More “On this day in 1949 – Arsenal players start the second half with a fag!”
by Andy Kelly This weekly series charts Arsenal’s final season in Plumstead and the move to Islington that, effectively, saved the club’s very existence. Wednesday 16th October 1912 Arsenal had a mid-week game at Crystal Palace in a relatively new competition – the Kent Senior Shield. It had been inaugurated the previous season and was …
Read More “21st October 1912 – Woolwich Arsenal to move to North London”
The club that changed football Coming this week – “The Crowd at Woolwich Arsenal” Making the Arsenal Referee Decisions – just what are the refs up to this season? The only guaranteed way to lose weight programme Untold Arsenal Arsenal History Index ————————————————– The big difference that Chapman made in his first season. By Tony …
Read More “From Failure to Excellence: moving from Knighton to Chapman”
By Mark Andrews As part of the Arsenal History Society programme, Hamilton House is publishing my thesis, which is the source for chapter 6 of the recently published “Woolwich Arsenal FC 1893-1915: the club that changed football”. This book ‘The Crowd at Woolwich Arsenal FC’ is in essence the original research I carried out while studying …
By Tony Attwood This article was updated in the light of evidence and questions raised in the comments made at the end. The comments have been left in place so that the questions raised can still be seen by anyone who would like to do further investigation. The name Fred Pagnam hardly rings …
Read More “Fred Pagnam: One reason why Knighton’s testimony should be ignored”
by Andy Kelly This weekly series charts Arsenal’s final season in Plumstead and the move to Islington that, effectively, saved the club’s very existence. Saturday 12th October 1912 Arsenal hosted fellow Londonders Chelsea. Chelsea were a relatively new club having been formed in 1905. They gained admission into the Second Division of the Football League …
The club that changed football Making the Arsenal ———————————- Today, 14 October is the 119th anniversary of Arsenal’s all time FA Cup record victory. It came right at the start of the Woolwich Arsenal era, and is recorded in detail in the book, Woolwich Arsenal the club that changed football. Below is an extract from …
Read More “The anniversary of Arsenal’s record FA Cup victory”
The club that changed football Making the Arsenal Coming very soon: The Crowd at Woolwich Arsenal By Tony Attwood We have variant stories as to how Herbert Chapman moved from being a footballer to being a football manager. Not very variant, but slightly different. But it is still possible to get a fair picture of …
The club that changed football Making the Arsenal The main series: Islington 100: celebrating 100 years of Arsenal in Islington Arsenal’s Anniversaries The Managers index with two managers that no one else includes! ——————————— By Tony Attwood For the story so far, see The Chapman Files We’ve looked at Chapman’s choice of player for each …
Read More “The Chapman formation: did he really create something new?”
by Andy Kelly This weekly series charts Arsenal’s final season in Plumstead and the move to Islington that, effectively, saved the club’s very existence. Saturday 5th October 1912 The Woolwich Arsenal team journeyed up to the north-west to play Oldham. Captain Percy Sands and Charlie Randall returned to the team after missing one and two …
Read More “7th October 1912 – Title winning form from Woolwich Arsenal”
Did Chapman really introduce a new formation? The way in which teams line up in formations that we today call 4-3-3- etc etc emerged from the original rules of football, and to how matters led up to what we now celebrate as the WM formation of Herbert Chapman can only be understood in the context …
Read More “Did Chapman really introduce a new playing formation in 1925?”
By Tony Attwood And so we come to the final piece of the jigsaw, Chapman’s outside left. Chapman inherited Toner and Haden in this position. We can see what Chapman thought of Toner – he played the first two games of 1925/6 season at number 11, and that was it for him. Haden fared a …
by Andy Kelly This weekly series charts Arsenal’s final season in Plumstead and the move to Islington that, effectively, saved the club’s very existence. During the final week of September, Arsenal’s first team played one league game and a charity match whilst the reserves also played a league game. There was also an interesting appointment …
Read More “30th September 1912 – Another week, another point”
Herbert Chapman inherited two number 10s of quality, Ramsey and Blyth, and he used both in his early years at Arsenal. After that he turned to Bltyhe who had played in a variety of positions for Knighton but was used as a number six by Chapman in his first year. Here is the table for …
Read More “Chapman and the number 10 – one solution, but otherwise fill-ins.”
By Tony Attwood So Herbert Chapman was a great manager, which means he had a great centre forward didn’t he? Well if we look at the players we see Jimmy Brain – who was a Knighton signing, and Jack Lambert who was indeed brought in by Chapman. Lambert played in 143 games, but many …
Read More “Chapman’s centre forwards – stranger than you might think”
by Andy Kelly Arsenal have been busy promoting their new lottery which launches on 29th September 2012. It looks like the Arsenal Foundation will be the big beneficiaries of this lottery. However, 110 years ago Woolwich Arsenal organised their first lottery, but in different circumstances. You can read the full story here in one of our …
Read More “Arsenal launch new lottery – 110 years after their first one”
By Andy Kelly Our series plotting Woolwich Arsenal’s move from Plumstead to Islington 100 years ago continues. On Saturday 21st September, the first team ventured north to play Sheffield United. Arsenal’s mis-firing front line was once again changed. McLaughlan returned to the team and Randall came in for his first game of the season; Flanagan …
By Tony Attwood Chapman began his time at Arsenal by buying a number 8 – Charlie Buchan. That gave him the figure who could lead the club on the pitch, and who could score: 19 in the first season, 14 in the second and 16 in the third. But as we look beyond this one …
By Tony Attwood We are seeing a real pattern with Chapman. In almost every position he had his man who could deliver the goods, and who would play the majority of the matches. The only thing that kept him out would be injury to himself, or an injury to a key player elsewhere when he …
Read More “The Chapman pattern becomes clear – the outside right”
By Tony Attwood When we look at Arsenal under Chapman and the number six position we have one name – Bob John – one of the outstanding players of the era. Arsenal signed him in January 1922 for £750, and as such is recorded as one of Leslie Knighton’s most successful transfers. He made his …
Read More “The man who was Arsenal’s number 6 – and those who filled in”
The club that changed football Making the Arsenal By Tony Attwood After the chaos of the number 4 position it is rather nice to see that we return to what we might expect from Herbert Chapman: picking his player and sticking with him. We have two centre halves here Butler and Roberts. Butler was left …
By Tony Attwood In writing this article about the right halves (ie players wearing number 4) during Chapman’s era I came across this comment on Wikipedia, referring to one of the players who did play at that position for Chapman: “Although Arsenal were spoilt for choice for wing-halves…” “Spoilt for choice” is one way of …
By Andy Kelly Woolwich Arsenal had two games in the week following their 0-3 defeat at Liverpool. Both games were at the Manor Ground against opposition that they had beaten (Bolton) and drawn against (Aston Villa) the previous season, so hopes were high. First up were Bolton on Saturday 14th September. The Arsenal team lined-up …
Read More “16th September 1912 – Woolwich Arsenal struggle on and off the pitch”
By Tony Attwood Moving on to the issue of left backs in the Chapman period, we can see two players who moved across from the previous era under Knighton: Andrew Kennedy and Bob John. Both men joined Arsenal in the 1922/3 season. Bob John clocked up 78 appearances before Chapman, and went on to a …
By Tony Attwood In my last piece I looked at the number of goal keepers that Herbert Chapman used and drew the conclusion that he was, for many years, unable to find himself the keeper in whom he could have total trust. We have stories of keepers being blamed for specific goals, dropped from the …
