Category: Arsenal

  By Tony Attwood On January 12 2012 in the historic setting of the House of Commons, the AISA Arsenal History Society will hold its first social.  And as part of that event my colleagues and I in the Society will take the opportunity to launch the forthcoming book written by three of the officers …

Read More “Become part of Woolwich Arsenal by being in the definitive history”

By Tony Attwood If 1893 was traumatic, with Arsenal fighting corruption and intrigue in the form of Royal Ordnance Factories (whose sole purpose was to close down Arsenal and set up a rival Plumstead club), 1910 was, in a very real sense, the end. Arsenal had risen, and risen fast.  True they had not won …

Read More “Iconic Moments in Arsenal’s history 3: Death and rebirth”

By Mark Andrews and Tony Attwood Twice in the first 25 years of its existence Arsenal football club came to the very brink of going out of existence. Yet in virtually all the histories of the club the first of these disasters (in 1893) is written (if at all) as a minor incident of no …

Read More “Iconic Moments from Arsenal’s past 2: when they tried to shut us down”

By Tony Attwood My thought in this new series is not to find the 10 greatest moments (3 cup and league doubles and that sort of thing) but rather the moments that defined Arsenal as a club, and set out the way things would go in the future. It is fairly obvious that in such …

Read More “The 10 moments in history that defined Arsenal. 1: 1st December 1886”

By Tony Attwood This is one of those articles that really has nothing to say, other than the question in the headline. Mascots these days are people dressed up in silly costumes.  We have Gunnersaurous, although I have probably not got the spelling right, and most clubs have those. But in the past there were …

Read More “Has Arsenal ever had a mascot, and other questions.”

This is the start of a chronology of Arsenal FC built by Andy Kelly, Mark Andrews and Tony Attwood, of the AISA Arsenal History Society.  There is a long way to go, but every journey starts with a single step (Lao-Tzu). So here we go – please write in the comments and add the ones …

Read More “The History of Arsenal Year by Year: day one of building our chronology”

By Mark Andrews The upcoming threat of a tube strike has led to the Boxing Day game being postponed for 24 hours. However while travelling to the rescheduled Wolves game, spare a thought for the players, officials and fans in 1904. With Woolwich Arsenal having been promoted to the first division for the first time, …

Read More “Christmas Scheduling Past: when Arsenal played four games in five days”

By Tony Attwood Occasionally we get emails (both on this blog and directly to the AISA Arsenal History Society) pointing out that we are changing the story.  One day we have said x, the next day y. And yes, that is perfectly true. We do change the story, and we do this because the Arsenal …

Read More “History in the making – why we keep changing the Arsenal story”

AISA Arsenal History and Untold Arsenal on Twitter @UntoldArsenal The Christmas gift for the fan with (almost) everything ———————————- By Tony Attwood If there is one thing that the 125 celebrations taught us, is that if we are to have any influence on Arsenal’s decisions on what to celebrate and how to celebrate it, we …

Read More “After 125, what is the next special celebration for Arsenal? We reveal all…”

By Tony Attwood For something that started out as little more than an idea at the AGM of the Arsenal Independent Supporters’ Association just two and a half years ago, the AISA Arsenal History Society has come an extraordinarily long way in a very short space of time. We’ve done some interesting things along the …

Read More “The Statues are a triumph for the AISA Arsenal History Society but what do we do next?”

Follow us on Twitter @Untold Arsenal ———————————- “Making the Arsenal” – is available on Amazon, Arsenal on line, the Woolwich Arsenal site and in the Arsenal store. By Tony Attwood With all the arrogance that comes from feeling so clever in terms of being the guy who suggested to Ivan Gazidis that we should have …

Read More “Looks like I guessed the statues wrong, but they are still a great idea”

AISA Arsenal History and Untold Arsenal on Twitter @UntoldArsenal If you like Arsenal history with a difference you really should have a copy of Making the Arsenal – or at least give it to the fan with (almost) everything ================ David Herd, by Tony Attwood 1954 was one of Tom Whittaker’s rebuilding years.  Having won …

Read More “The Players in the Dark Era: David Herd”

AISA Arsenal History and Untold Arsenal on Twitter @UntoldArsenal The Christmas gift for the fan with (almost) everything ———————————- By Tony Attwood Victor George Groves  commonly known as Vic was born on November 5th, 1932 in Stepney.  He started out at Leytonstone, and those two points might make you think, “haven’t I read this before?”  …

Read More “In darkness – the players who played for Swindin. Vic Groves”

Follow us on Twitter @Untold Arsenal ———————————- “Making the Arsenal” – is available on Amazon, Arsenal on line, the Woolwich Arsenal site and in the Arsenal store. by Tony Attwood Continuing the review of the players who were playing for Arsenal at the start of the Dark Era when we were managed by Swindin and …

Read More “DR Clapton: played two games in one day”

Arsenal History and Untold Arsenal on Twitter @UntoldArsenal The Christmas gift for the fan with (almost) everything By Tony Attwood The season 1950/51 saw the launch of the Arsenal career of two Welsh players, whose names  ring through history: Jack Kelsey and Dave Bowen. David Lloyd Bowen was born in Natyffyllon, near Maesteg on 7 …

Read More “Dave Bowen: the man from the Dark Era who should have been our manager.”

By Tony Attwood More time has been spent by the AISA Arsenal History Society debating the exact starting date of Arsenal FC’s existence than any other single topic. We’ve looked at Dial Square Cricket Club, and the way that some members wanted to have a football part of the club, we’ve looked at the supposed …

Read More “Happy 125th birthday Arsenal. 1 December, today’s the day”

by Tony Attwood About a year ago I met with Ivan Gazidis at a private meeting arranged by Arsenal Independent Supporters Association, and put forward my thoughts on what could be done to commemorate Arsenal’s history, both generally and in the coming 125 year anniversary. One of the ideas I put forward both at that …

Read More “Arsenal accept History Society’s plea for statues – but we don’t know who yet…”

By Tony Attwood Emmanuel Eboue Sad to report that the former Arsenal defender Emmanuel Eboué was repeatedly pelted by missiles while playing for Galatasaray.  There is no report that this was a racist attack, but rather a protest against Eboue who is seen as a player who dives. Bottles, cigarette lighters and the like were …

Read More “After they left Arsenal… Emmanuel Eboué attacked by fans”

——————————- “Making the Arsenal” – the book of Arsenal’s rebirth Follow us on Twitter @UntoldArsenal —————————————- By Tony Attwood This series of articles considers the Swindin/Wright period of Arsenal’s history in which we not only won nothing, we also failed even to enter the top four in the 1st division. Having looked at Swindin himself …

Read More “Swindin’s men: the players who entered the dark zone. Stan Charlton”

—————————————– “Making the Arsenal” – the book of Arsenal’s rebirth —————————————– By Tony Attwood 1958/9 was the last season that Arsenal made it into the top four until Bertie Mee achieved this in 1968/9.  Not only was Arsenal outside the elite challenging clubs, we also failed to win either the FA Cup or League Cup …

Read More “Into the darkness: George Swindin’s opening teams and his signings”