Frank Bradshaw; from goal scoring to defending, Arsenal after the WWI

———————————- The Christmas gift for the fan with (almost) everything ———————————- By Tony Attwood Continuing the review of Arsenal’s team as it took up its duties in the first division at the start of the 1919/20 season. Frank Bradshaw joined Arsenal in 1914 and played 29 league games and scored ten goals as a number …

Untold: Arsenal v Stoke, the ref review (40% of his decisions were wrong!)

Preliminary Note: This article was published here during a period when the Untold Arsenal site was down.  It is indexed on the Untold site in the normal way. —————- Arsenal v Stoke, the ref review. By Ref Reviewer 04 For the game between Arsenal and Stoke we had ref Mason in the Emirates. Because of …

Untold Arsenal: Arsenal 67 Stoke 33

This article was published here during a period when the Untold Arsenal site was down.  It is indexed on the Untold site in the normal way. By Tony Attwood Of course it would have to happen on a weekend when there was so much to chat about.   I can’t remember if we have won five …

Untold Arsenal vanishes: update and explanation

Untold Arsenal (www.blog.emiratesstadium.info) went down on Friday afternoon, and is still down. All the sites operated by my company (over 120 of them) were affected, and we are continuing an investigation into why. Other sites, apart from Untold, are now back on line, hence this notice appearing.  But for the moment Untold appears to have …

Football resumes – Arsenal in 1919… Ernie Williamson

By Tony Attwood On August 30 1919, under the guidance of Leslie Knighton, Arsenal (not Woolwich Arsenal, not The Arsenal, but Arsenal) played their first match of the new era. The war had been over for almost a year, football had been restructured, after all the rows and arguments about match fixing and expansion of …

Arsenal’s 125th anniversary? Sorry guys it may well not be this year at all

—————————————————————————— The Christmas gift for the fan with (almost) everything —————————————————————————— This is part five of the series “Arsenal, the search for the first year”.  There is a link to the earlier postings on this topic at the end of the article. By Mark Andrews, Andy Kelly and Tony Attwood If you have been reading …

Arsenal evolved from Woolwich United FC, not Dial Square

With over 2000 followers: Arsenal History and Untold Arsenal on Twitter @UntoldArsenal —————————————– By Andy Kelly, Mark Andrews and Tony Attwood This is part four of the series of articles concerning the very origins of Arsenal FC. Part 1: Arsenal the First Year Part 2: The Confusion Deepens Part 3: The Earliest Evidence of Arsenal’s …

Found – the first ever historic review of Arsenal’s foundations

With over 2000 followers: Arsenal History Society on Twitter @UntoldArsenal This is the third in a series of articles examining all the evidence that exists concerning the first year in the history of Arsenal.   You can read the earlier sections here: Part One Part Two Found: the first ever historic review of Arsenal’s foundations By …

Arsenal’s first year: the confusion deepens

This article continues our debate on the foundations of Arsenal FC.   To read part one of this review click here What actually happened in the first year of Arsenal FC is unclear – not least because many different sources have told different stories.  Indeed even the official Arsenal story as retold over the past century …

Arsenal: the first year. If you know your Arsenal history you are in for a shock.

By Andy Kelly, Mark Andrews and Tony Attwood It’s in every history book on Arsenal, and in every official Arsenal publication.  The club, we are told, has had five names – Dial Square, Royal Arsenal, Woolwich Arsenal, The Arsenal, and Arsenal. It is at the start, matters are a little more murky.   We played almost …

Dial Square, Woolwich Union, Royal Arsenal, Eastern Wanderers: all the things you’ve never been told

Read any Arsenal history book or even a summary of Arsenal’s history and you get much the same story. Our original name was Dial Square FC, and our first match was (for reasons not explained in any text before we came along) not at Woolwich (where the club was formed) but several hours journey away …

Arsenal look, listen and take note of what we say! Just a start but wow, we feel wonderful!

By Andy Kelly and Tony Attwood Arsenal’s recently published year end accounts have this little statement within it… “David Danskin had an ambition to build a community of people with a kindred spirit and aim, namely playing football, having fun and being together.   December 1st 1886 was the date.” You cannot imagine how this has …

The unique quality of Arsenal: players, supporters, owners and managers, united as one.

By Tony Attwood There is a new book that three of us are working on called WOOLWICH ARSENAL: THE CLUB THAT CHANGED HISTORY. That title is being seen as very pompous and overstated, and yet I believe there is validity in it for a whole range of reasons.  Here’s one of them… Arsenal was just …

Poor starts to the season? Try this one…

By Tony Attwood November 6th, 1909.  The world looks bleak. Arsenal are bottom of the league division I, having never been relegated in their history.  Their record so far is is played 11, drawn 1, won 2, lost 8. There was light on the horizon at the start of the day, as after a terrible …

Who invented the nickname “The Gunners”, and when was it first used?

First references to Woolwich Arsenal FC as the Gunners. by Mark Andrews Mark is one of the three authors working with Tony Attwood and Andy Kelly on the forthcoming book “Woolwich Arsenal: the club that changed football“. The book is planned for publication early next year and more details will be announced here soon. We …

Ex-Arsenal: John Jensen sacked by Blackburn after beating Arsenal

By Tony Attwood Trying to read what on earth is going on at Blackburn Rovers is hard: Sam Allerdyce was sacked for not sharing the vision of the club, and the other people are brought in – including our old chum John Jensen. On 12 January 2011 he signed a 6 month contract with Blackburn …

Revealed: the dark secret behind Tottenham Hotspur

By Tony Attwood Since the Arsenal History site was formed we have had a particular focus on Tottenham – not just because they are our local rivals, but also because they have, since 1919, been involved in one of the most extraordinary attempts in the history of football to re-write history and besmirch the name …

How the current discontent at Arsenal started in 1933 – what happened in the 1930s.

A continuation of the series “100 years of Hating Arsenal” By Tony Attwood My father told me a number of stories about being at Highbury in the heady days of the 1930s.    Many of course were told to me as a child and have now been forgotten, sadly, and my father is no longer with …

Olympique Lyonnais and Remi Garde (plus Lorient)

By Tony Attwood We are staying in touch with Lyon this season because Remi Garde is now the manager there.   And while doing this we’re having a look at Lorient as they have Joel Campbell playing. To start with Joel he has played four times as a sub, and played in the 1-1 draw with …

When Arsenal changed the laws of the game

by Andy Kelly Up until 1925 the laws of football stated that an attacking player required at least three opponents between himself and the opponent’s goal to be onside. In the early days of the game, tactical naivety meant that there were still plenty of goals to keep the fans happy. In Woolwich Arsenal’s last …

Arsenal’s “worst ever start” to the season could bring a million smiles

By Tony Attwood Going on holiday during the season does allow one to gather a certain perspective on life, the universe and Arsenal, although last week in Cyprus I did manage to watch the Bolton game live on an Arabic station with English commentary. But get back home and what do I find: this in …

Ex Arsenal players in management: How’s Martin doing at Dover?

Arsenal History Website…… Making the Arsenal …… Arsenal Uncovered …… Arsenal History Society Untold Arsenal on Twitter @UntoldArsenal Untold Arsenal By Tony Attwood Martin Hayes is manager of Dover Athletic, who last year had something of a wonder season with their cup run.  This year has started out ok – the club are eighth in …

Ex Arsenal man Remi Garde takes on the job of manager at Olympique Lyon

By Tony Attwood Continuing my occasional series about ex Arsenal players in management here is the latest on Remi Garde’s team Lyon.   The club is lying second in the league after five games, having already beaten the early leaders Montpellier in August. Pos. Team Pl W D L GF GA +/- Pts 1 Montpellier HSC …

Tony Adams makes a good start to the season in Azerbaijan

By Tony Attwood We’ve been keeping some of our past players in our sights from time to time and here is the latest that I have on Tony Adams. After a mid table position last year (although with a very strong second half of the season and a long unbeaten run) Tony seems to be …

I played for Arsenal – Pete Cernis

By Andy Kelly Sadly (for me) this article isn’t about me. I’ve been collating line-ups for Arsenal games since the late-1970s and have been fascinated by those people who played the odd game here and there, wondering how they got a game. Some of these people went on to become relatively famous – Glenn Roeder, …