AISA Arsenal History Society: preserving Arsenal's heritage
Please note that this site contains the master files of the anniversary details we hold. Each is updated at the end of each month – hence the December file has just been updated in full incorporating changes that were made during the publication of the files in that month 2019. The month by month index …
Read More “19th in the first divison and held by York in the cup: yes it can get worse.”
Please note that this site contains the master files of the anniversary details we hold. Each is updated at the end of each month – hence the December file has just been updated in full incorporating changes that were made during the publication of the files in that month 2019. Here is the monthly index …
Read More “Two of the most important comments about Arsenal ever made”
Unravelling Arsenal’s history often involves locating events which of themselves seem rather unimportant, but the existence of which can prove a key issue or disprove a popular theory, which otherwise remains unclear. For example the recording of the match on 2 January 1886 involving Woolwich United suggests that there was an organised team in the …
Read More “The man who ensured that Arsenal would not be owned by its fans”
Letting in five for the third time in a season would be more than enough to lead to mass demonstrations against the manager these days. Fortunately in the 1930s things were just a little calmer, since the manager was Chapman, and he offered to resign. Fortunately the board said no and he stayed. Here are …
Read More “Why it is not always good to sack the boss after a run of poor results.”
Two goals stand out on 31 December in Arsenal’s history. One was Jensen’s first ever goal for Arsenal, his failure to score before this becoming the stuff of legends, and the other was a goal so outrageously wrong that even TV commentators found it hard to excuse, in the match in 2017. Here are the …
Read More “The anniversary of one of the all time classic referee “mistakes””
This day in 1995 was probably a key moment in which it was decided by Arsenal directors that Bruce Rioch was not the man to take the club forward. It was not just that Arsenal were defeated at home by Wimbledon but also that this was followed by a 0-2 defeat to Newcastle. Arsenal did …
Read More “How a poor game in December convinced the directors Arsenal needed a new manager”
This day in 1973 marked one of the darkest days in terms of Arsenal’s management and decision making, as Bertie Mee, the man who had delivered the first double, responded to demands from his playing staff for more recognition for their talent in terms of salaries and bonuses, by announcing his plans to cut the …
Read More “When Arsenal planned to cut the professional squad to 19 and scrap the youth teams”
These days, playing two games a week (as clubs playing in Europe, the League, the League Cup and the FA Cup regularly do) means having a squad of 25 players, plus a whole load of youngsters who can step up for some of the non-league games against weaker opposition. Five games in eight days seems …
Read More “Five games in eight days, and Tottenham bottom of the league. The Arsenal anniversaries”
The notion of scoring five or more goals, in nine different league games in a season seems very unlikely now, but that is what Arsenal did in the 1930/1 season as they proceeded to win the league with a record number of points. On this day in 1930 it was Arsenal 7 Blackpool 1. Here …
Read More “When Arsenal scored five or more in nine separate league games in one season.”
The popularity of Boxing Day matches in recent years means that key events in our three Wenger championship years happened on this day – and there was another particularly vibrant reason to celebrate on a non-trophy year around this time. In 1977, the Boxing Day game of the second double season gave us the start …
Read More “No Boxing Day Blues for Arsenal – well at least not many”
Football matches on Christmas Day were exceedingly popular until around 1950 by which time supporters were starting to feel more inclined to stay at home with the family on 25 December. It was in fact simply a decline in crowds that moved matches away from 25 December rather than any regulation, and the occasional experiment …
Read More “Playing football on Christmas Day, the Arsenal way.”
Untold Video Updates: We’re continuing to experiment with our video commentaries: do take a peek at Untold GoonerNews I’ve been interested over the years to trace back the behaviour of the Arsenal crowd in order to ascertain if the booing and jeering of players that we have seen in recent times is just a …
Read More “The man with 98 goals in 143 games – who was jeered by his own supporters.”
Untold Video Updates: We’re continuing to experiment with our video commentaries: do take a peek at Untold GoonerNews What a goal by Brady. That commentary that we hear at every home match Arsenal play was scored on this day in 1978 in the game that ended Tottenham 0 Arsenal 5. The result left Arsenal fourth …
Read More “What a goal by Brady. When it happened and what happened next”
Untold Video Updates: We’re continuing to experiment with our video commentaries: do take a peek at Untold GoonerNews A lot has been made of Arsenal’s poor away form in recent years, and certainly it has contrasted with Arsenal’s home form – most notably in Arsene Wenger’s final season. But this is not a new …
Read More “When Arsenal’s away form was a disaster – but they still won the league!”
Untold Video Updates: We’re continuing to experiment with our video commentaries: do take a peek at Untold GoonerNews Today marks the anniversary of one of the games played as Arsenal moved to its first ever trophy – winning the Kent Junior Cup – in this case “junior” meaning for less established teams, rather than …
Today is Alexis Shachez’ birthday. There was huge excitement when he arrived at Arsenal from Barcelona in 2014, and the 72 goals he scored across the next three seasons was by far the most productive part of his entire career and was an absolute triumphant signing by Arsene Wenger. But it seemed greed or poor …
Read More “Happy birthday Alexis Sanchez – how’s it going these days?”
By Tony Attwood If we had a complete sense of Arsenal history in our club, today would be marked as a solemn occasion, being as it is the anniversary of the passing of Jack Humble. And if you have never heard the name you can be forgiven, because the club has seemingly forgotten him too. …
There is a saying that one should never go back – and in football that means not going back to a club that you have played for, or managed before. Brian McDermott did not heed this advice, for not only did he return to Reading to be manager for a second time, after previously managing …
Read More “4-0 down, and then we won 5-7 with our ex-player as their manager”
On this day in 1983 Terry Neill was sacked as Arsenal manager. He had taken Arsenal to three successive cup finals, of which just one was won, and had never looked like winning the title. His win percentage of 44.95% was only a little worse that George Allison (46.24%), Tom Whittaker (47.21%) and George Graham …
Read More “The percentage success rates of long term Arsenal managers”
By Tony Attwood On this day in 1995 the European Court ruled the system of clubs retaining the right to play a player until they released him was illegal under EC rules. As a result when Mr Wenger came to Arsenal the following year he was able to bring in players from across the EU …
Read More “When “a Bosman” became a type of transfer and football was changed.”
Latest news: We are developing our own video channel. It’s still at the experimental stage but you can get a feel here… Untold Gooner News Phil Brown, the football manager, seemed something of a curious fellow when he was managing in England. On 17 March 2009 as Hull City’s manager he claimed that he had …
Read More “When the Hull manager complained Arsenal’s man was improperly dressed on the pitch”
by Tony Attwood Untold Gooner News video: A lesson in how to silence the critics Leslie Knighton, Arsenal’s manager from 1919 to 1925 would hardly be commented upon at all 100 years on, were it not for the fact that in his retirement over 20 years after leaving Arsenal he wrote an autobiography of …
Read More “The Arsenal drugs scandal: where does the truth lie?”
Latest development: We are developing our own video channel. It’s still at the experimental stage but you can get a feel here… Untold Gooner News Micky Thomas going to Liverpool in 1991 having scored the goal that gave Arsenal the league title and stopped Liverpool from winning it again, always strikes me as odd. Not …
Latest news: Our companion website Untold Arsenal is developing its own video channel commenting on both contemporary and historic events. It’s still at the experimental stage but you can get a feel here… Untold Gooner News And today is of course a very historic day, being the day on which in 1886 the first …
Read More “The anniversary of the very start of Arsenal, and how we proved it happened.”
One of the extraordinary things about the media coverage of football is how often the media get things wrong, but then ignore that reality, continuing as if nothing had happened. So it was on this day in 1911, when the media told anyone silly enough to listen that Roose was going to Fulham, when in …
Read More “The crazy things players and the pressmen say about football”
