AISA Arsenal History Society: preserving Arsenal's heritage
By Tony Attwood The Guardian has come up with an interesting analysis of how each team that has had a season in the top division in England and Wales compares with all the others. They have taken the number of points won (which means that teams who have competed since we went over to 3 …
Read More “Arsenal’s progress in the first division from the very start”
By Tony Attwood Henry White is probably not a name you will know in terms of Arsenal. He was born on 17 April 1892 in Watford, and played first as an amateur with Brentford before the war. But in the first season after the first world war (our first back in the first division) he …
By Tony Attwood George Hedley Swindin was both an Arsenal player and an Arsenal manager, playing almost 300 games for Arsenal, but proving to be a very poor manager, from whose tenure the club took years to recover. He was born 4 December 1914, near Doncaster, and played as an amateur for Yorkshire clubs before …
Read More “George Swindin – one of Arsenal’s great keepers.”
John Barnwell was born on 24 December 1938 and played 151 games for Arsenal between 1957 and 1964. Thus he had the misfortune to be with Arsenal during The Darkness, playing under Jack Crayston, George Swindin and Billy Wright and was precluded from any chance of winning a trophy. After playing as an amateur for …
Read More “John Barnwell, Arsenal league debut 13 April 1957”
by Andy Kelly (@Gooner_AK) One of the many myths of Arsenal’s history is that the club has never been relegated. Unfortunately, this is not so. Even worse is that when they were relegated it was with one of the worst records ever. The fateful day when Arsenal were relegated was 12 April 1913. Prior to …
Frank Robert Hill was born on 21 May 1906 – 26 August 1993) played 81 times for Arsenal and in so doing won three championship medias (1932/3, 1933/4 and 1934/5. He also won the Charity Shield in 1934 and three caps for Scotland. Later in his career he won a Division 2 runner’s up medal …
Read More “Frank “Tiger” Hill; a forgotten hero of the Chapman era”
By Tony Attwood 10 April 1948: Arsenal win the First Division Championship by drawing with Huddersfield 1-1. After the game (and remember this was the era of two points for a win, not three) Arsenal had a lead over Manchester United of seven points, with United only having three games to play. It was all …
Read More “10 April 1948: Arsenal win the League in Whittaker’s first season”
By Tony Attwood There was nothing special about this particular match 92 years ago, but I list it on the Anniversaries file, for personal reasons. Earlier this season (2012/13) I watched a game between Corby Town and Bradford PA in the Conference North. Many years ago, probably around 1960 I watched Bournemouth and Boscombe Athletic …
Read More “9th April 1921: Arsenal 2 Bradford 1 – there but for the grace…”
By Tony Attwood Three last game anniversaries happened on 8 April – or at least three that we have managed to trace. 8 April 1922: Last senior game for Angus McKinnon 8 April 1939: Last senior game for Alex Wilson 8 April 1986: Last senior game for Paul Mariner The Alex Wilson article will have …
By Tony Attwood At the end of the 1979/80 season Arsenal’s schedule became increasingly crowded as the club sought to play five games in 12 days between March 28 and April 9. March 28 Everton Away 1-0 April 2 Norwich Away 1-2 April 5 Southampton Home 1-1 April 7 Tottenham H Away April 9 Juventus …
Read More “The game against Tottenham Arsenal didn’t want to play”
By Tony Attwood If you know about your Arsenal history you will know of Mel Charles, and of course his even more famous brother John. What you may not know that after he got too old to play professional football he was ‘virtually penniless’. He was reduced to working as a door to door …
Read More “6 April 1959: First Arsenal game for Mel Charles, (in Southern Floodlight Challenge Cup)”
by Andy Kelly with Mark Andrews and Tony Attwood Sometimes when you’re digging through old newspapers you come across something that stops you dead in your tracks. This happened to Mark Andrews and myself as we were doing research for the Arsenal History Society just over a year ago. We looked at each other and …
Read More “5 April 1929 – The Day Herbert Chapman Resigned From Arsenal”
By Andy Kelly, Mark Andrews and Tony Attwood When, in 1913, the League’s management committee turned down the demand for a vote on Arsenal’s move from Plumstead to Highbury, proposed by Tottenham Hotspur, Tottenham’s response was to appeal directly to the League as a whole. However although entry into the Football League might be a …
By Tony Attwood Ask the majority of supporters of Arsenal who know a little bit about our history, and they will tell you that one of the many reforms that Herbert Chapman made at the club was the changing of the name of “The Arsenal” to “Arsenal”. He did it, according to legend, in order …
Read More “Who changed the club’s name to “Arsenal”? (And who invented “The Gunners”?)”
By Tony Attwood Each day in the Anniversary section of this site we remember an Arsenal event. Today, April 2nd, we recall Joe Hulme making his England début v Scotland in Glasgow. England won 2-1. This was an era of fewer international matches than today, and each was significant to the club and the players. …
Read More “The Arsenal player who managed Tottenham and helped secure their first title”
By Tony Attwood At the 2013 AISA Arsenal History Society social event at the House of Commons we had Sammy Nelson as a guest speaker, and I have to say I was impressed. I’ve not heard him speak before and he was entertaining and lucid, and it was a pleasure to see him again. Anything …
Read More “Sammy Nelson: born April 1; joined Arsenal April 1st”
We’ve got three semi-finals and notable days for Frank McLintock and David Seaman today – quite a notable selection. Because our Anniversary files are still growing, not all of our stories have links at the moment – but over time we’ll cover the lot. However there is an article on David Seaman’s time with the …
Read More “31st March: 3 semi finals plus Frank McLintock and David Seaman”
by Andy Kelly (@Gooner_AK) The issue of appointing a manager to run Arsenal’s team had been a bone of contention for a number of years. The earliest mention of appointing a full-time manager was in 1892 when the club was still known as Royal Arsenal and run by a committee. A sub-committee of five was …
Read More “30 March 1897 – Arsenal’s First Manager Takes Office”
On February 5th 1931 Arsenal beat Leicester City away 7-2. Lambert got a hat-trick. That win took the club back to the top of the First Division, where they had been for much of the season, and a position at which they stayed for the remainder of 1930/31, thus winning their first ever league title. …
Read More “March 28 1931: Arsenal head for their first league title”
Apologies – this article first appeared with the wrong date up. March 27th was not the date of the League Cup Final, but was the date when Steve Morrow was transferred to QPR in 1997 ——————————————- 1992/3 was Arsenal’s Cup Double Year. The first ever team in England to win the FA Cup and …
Here’s a strange thing. Alan Smith won two first division titles, the FA Cup, the League Cup, and the Cup Winners Cup. He won the Golden Boot twice, and was named in the PFA First Division Team of the Year. So how many England caps did he get? Answer one – and even that wasn’t …
Read More “26 March 1987: Alan Smith signs from Leicester for £750,000.”
by Andy Kelly (@Gooner_AK) 1905, that’s when. On 26 September 2010 Arsenal’s history changed. That was the day that Tony Attwood published this article about Bobby Buist, an Arsenal player from the 1890s. I added a comment including a link to a match report of a game that Buist was reported to have played in. …
Read More “The History of Arsenal – Where Did It All Go Wrong?”
Edward Joseph Drake was born 16 August 1912 and died 30 May 1995. We already have many mentions of him on this site, including our invention of Ted Drake Day in December, to commemorate his achievement of scoring seven goals in one first division game. This article aims to cover some of the other issues …
Read More “Ted Drake scores in his first Arsenal game: 24 March 1934”
By Tony Attwood Arsène Wenger speaks five languages – which, as the old joke goes, is five more than Sir Alex Ferguson. But Arsène Wenger does not speak Romford – for he confessed in one early interview that he couldn’t understand a word Ray Parlour said. Ray was born 7 March 1973 in Barking. I …
by Tony Attwood . On 22 March 1950 Arsenal played Chelsea at White Hart Lane, in an FA Cup semi-final replay. Arsenal won 1-0 with a goal scored in extra time. It was, according to reports, not a perfect game of skilful football – indeed it seems that Arsenal were indulging in a long ball …
Read More “Leslie and Dennis Compton: Brothers at the Arsenal”
