AISA Arsenal History Society: preserving Arsenal's heritage
Many of these commentaries from recent years highlight the signing or sale of players by Arsenal who didn’t really make it in the team, either because of a lack of form, or injury, or simply not being able to settle in London. Such transfers can be easily criticised with comments about the amount of time …
Read More “The history of all clubs is a history of those who failed to make the grade”
by Tony Attwood As you can imagine, writing the Arsenal History files has been an education for me – I knew some of the facts I would be covering, but as it turns out, only a handful. The history of Arsenal’s pre-seasons for example was not something I knew about. I had over the years …
Read More “How Arsenal has changed its pre-season year by year, and the interesting case of 2005”
Looking at the anniversaries for today I particularly noticed John Hollins, who played 127 games for us in the late 1970s and early 1980s before moving on to Chelsea for one season. After playing he moved into management, and his record really does look rather poor – or maybe he was just unlucky. He obviously …
Read More “The curious life of John Hollins, once of Arsenal”
One of the interesting things about running the Arsenal History Files is the odd bits of information one picks up about players from the past. For example today is the anniversary of the signing of Manuel Almunia who played 109 games in goal for Arsenal. Today I learned that he has a deep interest …
Read More “Which Arsenal player had a particular interest in world war 2 battlefields?”
On this day in 1930 the first ever World Cup competition began in Uruguay. England felt themselves way above such silly matters and didn’t take part. 68 years later to the day the Daily Mirror ran the headline “Arsenal win the world cup” as France beat Brazil 3-0. In fact there was only one Arsenal …
Ray Kennedy played 158 games for Arsenal before being sold by Bertie Mee on this day in 1974 – one of a number of totally bonkers decisions that Mee made from this time onwards. John Radford said, “I couldn’t believe it when he left and felt it was a great shame to have broken up …
Read More “The insane sale of Ray Kennedy, and the willingness of a fan to help”
On 11 July 2003 Arsenal played Peterborough in a pre-season friendly, and lost. I remember the Peterborough fans getting rather excited, and doing a lot of arm waving and shouting about how rubbish Arsenal were. In the following match we drew with Barnet. And if you know your Arsenal history you will know …
Read More “What does pre-season tell us? Not always that much, it seems.”
It is always nice to think that there is something special about Arsenal which brings out the best in players, and that after they depart the club, they never quite get that old Arsenal form back again. Of course this can be a misleading thought since players may have played out their best years with …
Read More “When Arsenal players force a transfer for more money, it doesn’t always work out”
From 1959 to 1970 Terry Neill was an Arsenal player, and for some of that time Arsenal’s captain, playing 241 league games for the club. After that he moved to Hull City as player manager as well as being part time manager of Northern Ireland before moving on to be manager of Tottenham.# At Hull, …
By Tony Attwood Perhaps the most interesting part of running the anniversary files (especially during the summer) is looking at the arrivals and departures of Arsenal players and trying to find out where they are now and what they are doing. Of course many players take on media work, and a few make a living …
Read More “Which ex-Arsenal player was (deputy) manager of Trinidad and Tobago?”
That headline is what Arsene Wenger said about Laurent Koscielny, who completed his transfer to Arsenal on this day in 2010. At first many fans were unimpressed by Koscielny, forgetting perhaps how much adjustment is needed for a player moving from a small French club to a club the size of Arsenal, in a league …
Read More “The Best Value Arsenal Transfer of the past 10 years”
Finding Arsenal anniversaries in July is harder than finding them on 29 February, but we have three that are relevant to Arsenal’s history, and being a person who has lived for many years in Northamptonshire I am always interested in the history of David Bowen who played 146 games for Arsenal in the 1950s, and …
Read More “Remembering Dave Bowen who played for Arsenal and created miracles at Northampton”
By Tony Attwood In tracing the history of Arsenal FC I often find myself asking one simple question: “why?” Today’s anniversaries provide a perfect example of this, for on this day in 1939 the Football League voted to allow numbered shirts, having previously forbidden their use. You’ll find this change of mind mentioned in many …
Read More “Why were numbered shirts banned in English football (and other funny events).”
By Tony Attwood If you come across any stories of an Arsenal player wanting to leave the club this summer, it might be worth pausing for a moment and recalling the wild and frantic tales that surrounded Hector Bellerin who signed a new long term contract on this day in 2013. For two summers running …
Read More “The endless stories that were told about Bellerin leaving.”
Today is the anniversary of Edu joining Arsenal as a player. He was supposed to sign in 2000, but was found to have a fake passport – which has always seemed strange to me since he was fully entitled to have an Italian passport as his father was Italian – enough to qualify Edu to …
Read More “Remembering the times of Edu, and welcoming him back to Arsenal”
On this day in 2009 Ivan Gazidis, then of Arsenal, proposed a salary cap in the PL – just one of a number of attempts by clubs, the PL and Uefa to get club spending under control. As yet none of these has shown much sign of having any real impact, although the issue of …
Read More “From the proposal of a salary cap in the Premier League to a mother’s expletives”
For many years 1 July was the first day of the summer transfer window, but this was changed when clubs decided to end the transfer period as the new season started. Previously it ended at the end of August – after several games had been played. As a result it is also the day that …
Read More “From Arsenal’s Highbury debt to a 3% ticket price hike. Arsenal on 1 July in history”
This is the day in modern times when contracts come to an end, and those who have not made the grade, or whose contracts have not been extended, go their own ways. Many of the youngsters who have left Arsenal at this time in recent years have ended up in the lower divisions or in …
Read More “Today we sad a fond farewell to eight Arsenal players”
Having been the coach to the Arsenal team which won the double in 1971, Don Howe immediately left and moved to WBA. He did ultimately return to Arsenal as manager, and by then the shortcomings in Bertie Mee’s austere and regimental approach to management had long been plain for all to see. The speed of …
Read More “If Don had stayed would things have been better?”
On this day in history two very different Arsenal players moved on to very different lives. Davor Suker went on to become the president of the Croatian Football Federation but in that role found himself accused of preventing freedom of information and for physically blocking journalists from reporting and doing their work. Also on …
Read More “What happens when they leave Arsenal? From Davor Suker to Sanchez Watt”
The June entries for the Arsenal History Society anniversary files includes many players who have left the club – some of which come as a surprise to me. For example I hadn’t caught up at all with Silvinho since he left Arsenal, and today I find he has had a significant managerial and coaching career …
Read More “What happens to Arsenal players after they leave?”
26 June 2014 was the day of what is called the biggest clear out of players from Arsenal of all time, as the club confirmed that it was coming to the end of the austerity period caused by the repayment of the debts on the new stadium. But although money was then available for new, …
Read More “On this day in 2014: the biggest one day clear out of players in the club’s history”
If people remember the name Charlie Buchan today is it perhaps as the inside forward who earned his former club £100 for each goal he scored in his first season at Arsenal – 1925/6. Then there is the story that Arsenal paid more for the player because of that deal, than if they had paid …
Read More “Did Chapman and Buchan invent the withdrawn centre half tactic?”
24 June is a day that records the comings and goings of several players who never quite made it at Arsenal. Brian Sparrow, Arturo Lupoli, Stefa Malz, Arturo Lupoli, Stefan Malz, Brian Sparrow, Carlos Vela, Vlad Dragomir. To today’s supporters who were not watching these players arrive, the names will probably mean nothing, and yet …
Read More “The sad reminders of players who didn’t quite make it”
Details of today’s anniversaries follow below Publications “Woolwich Arsenal, the club that changed football” and “Making the Arsenal” are now available as printed books, and on Kindle. Please see here for more details. Elsewhere on the site… Henry Norris at the Arsenal: There is a full index to the series here. Arsenal in the …
Read More “How many managers and how many trophies. From Terry Neill to today.”
