AISA Arsenal History Society: preserving Arsenal's heritage
Although I suspect most Arsenal fans with even a passing knowing of the history of the club will have heard of George Allison, his is not a name that has the same instant recognition as that of Herbert Chapman. And yet Allison had the same record of achievement as Chapman, with two league titles …
Read More “The forgotten Arsenal manager with two league titles and an FA Cup win”
On 22 January 2015 I wrote a little piece in Untold Arsenal about a change in the law in Switzerland which meant that corrupt Fifa officials could be arrested in that country and then prosecuted for their crimes. It was not a piece that got that much attention beyond the regular Untold readership and I …
Read More “How we tipped off Fifa about a raid, but they took no notice.”
Publications We have a small number of copies of “Woolwich Arsenal, the club that changed football” and “Making the Arsenal” now available as printed books. They are also available on Kindle. Please see here for more details. The series Henry Norris at the Arsenal: There is a full index to the series here. Arsenal …
Read More “Arsenal’s forgotten great manager, and a certain match v Liverpool”
Granit Xhaka is one of those players that some journalists and fans get on the back of, call useless, and demand the end of. No matter what the statistics and evidence show (his successful pass rate is in the Gilberto league for example) the word is out – he is useless, he has to go, …
By Tony Attwood Just how wild and crazy are the stories that circulate in the media about Arsenal can be seen by the tale which was doing the rounds at this time in 2010 – that Arsenal were going to be bought by a Nigerian businessman. They were not, and on this day the gentleman …
Read More “Arsenal and the Nigerian takeover, plus the supposed dispute with Tottenham.”
By Tony Attwood The revolutionary nature of Arsenal FC throughout its history is often forgotten, it seems to me. And today’s first anniversary – the first report of Arsenal becoming a club that paid its players – is an example of that. Clubs in the north of England had been paying their players for several …
Read More “The revolutionary nature of Arsenal Football Club.”
The answer to the question above is Jack Lambert – one of the most extraordinary footballers ever to have taken on the Arsenal shirt. I won’t try and summarise his story here, but rather suggest that if you are interested you might like to follow the link in the first anniversary article, commemorating the …
Read More “Who scored 38 goals in 34 games, and 74 in 90 games – and was booed?”
Fifa getting the rules of football in a muddle – whoever would have thought it! But seemingly they did get the issue of whether a goal could be scored from a corner completely muddled up, and had to do some hasty re-writing in 1924. But even now they still can’t get their own story right …
Read More “Fifa cock up the rules, ball dropped from plane, Vieira’s last kick”
The answer to the question above is Ian Wright, and I mention it today, because today is the anniversary of Arsenal winning the FA Cup in 1993 – the cup double season. It was the first time any team had won both the League Cup and FA Cup in the same season. Wright got ten …
Read More “Who scored 15 cup goals for Arsenal in one season?”
Everyone who saw him knew from the off that Liam Brady was a brilliant player and extraordinary natural talent. But his time with Arsenal was a tragedy. Not of Liam’s making of course but of the fact that he played under two poor managers. Bertie Mee had delivered a European trophy and the first double, …
Read More “The sadness of Brady and scoring in 47 consecutive games”
There is much on this site about Henry Norris – indeed there is a whole series on Henry Norris at the Arsenal which overturns many of the stories that have emerged about him following the self-justifying autobiography of the one manager Sir Henry sacked: Leslie Knighton. Henry Norris’ name turns up twice in the anniversaries …
Arsene Wenger won the FA Cup an incredible seven times with Arsenal – an amazing record. Those victories came in 1997–98, 2001–02, 2002–03, 2004–05, 2013–14, 2014–15, and 2016–17. It is recorded that George Ramsey of Aston Villa won it six times, but when we look at the years involved we can see that at least …
Read More “The FA Cup record holding manager remembered on this anniversary”
In 1999 Arsenal concluded the season having conceded just 17 league goals – their lowest ever league total. The top four read… Team P W D L F A GD Pts 1 Manchester United 38 22 13 3 80 37 43 79 2 Arsenal 38 22 12 4 59 17 42 78 3 Chelsea 38 …
Read More “Arsenal’s tightest ever defence, but we didn’t win the league.”
By Tony Attwood 15 May is one of those days for which I have found a limited number of anniversaries, but among them is a real corker, and a second one that still makes me smile. And in both cases I was fortunate enough to be at the ground. The first was on this day …
Read More “A grown man cries at Highbury; everyone laughs at the Emirates”
By Tony Attwood Today’s highlight… Some players don’t make it, we know that of course, and some do make it but fade away quickly. But few that I have seen have slipped so quickly and so far as Christopher Wreh. Signed in 1997 he scored the only goal in the cup semi-final against Wolverhampton in …
By Tony Attwood We regularly get emails from readers looking for information about relatives who may have played for Arsenal. While the list of players who played for the club is published in several places (Wiki has a list, and we have a list with links to articles on this site (Arsenal players A-K and Arsenal Players …
Read More “Arsenal’s lost players and their families: Logie and Calvert”
Arsene Wenger was the longest serving manager Arsenal has ever had, with the best win record of any manager who had managed over three seasons. His final match – a win at Huddersfield was a year ago on this day. Also interesting to note that on this day George Graham ended the season as the …
Read More “One year ago today – farewell Mr Wenger, and Henry’s “police officer””
Publications I’ve discovered another box of copies of the book “Woolwich Arsenal, the club that changed football” in our store room, having previously said it was out of print. So both this book and “Making the Arsenal” are now available as printed books, and on Kindle. Please see here for more details. Anniversary news …
Read More “Why youth trophies don’t mean a thing (at least not always)”
Today there would be complaints and complaints – with a top scorer with just 11 goals, but in 1972 the top scorer got 12. Ten years on the top scorer for Arsenal got just 11. But really the key issue of the day is 11 May 1985, the day of the Bradford fire, killing 56 …
Read More “Arsenal great hero, and when the top scorer managed to score just 11 goals”
That man is Leslie Knighton, Arsenal manager from 1919 to 1925. Knighton was a modest manager for the first three years of his reign, but only just avoided relegation in the final two years. However what has soured his reputation considerably is a reconsideration of Knighton’s autobiography in which he launched a series of attacks …
Read More “The man who did more to disrupt Arsenal than anyone else – ever”
It was said on this day 2014 by Arsene Wenger concerning Laurent Koscielny, a player who had not been highly valued by some fans when he first came to the club. 9 May 1891: Royal Arsenal FC voted at its AGM to turn itself into a professional side, making the club the first professional team in …
Read More ““The best value for money player I have had at the club” Who said that about whom”
When the first Arsenal double was completed in 1971 it was considered a rare fluke – Tottenham had done it, but no other team had managed it since the earliest days of the Football League. It was utterly unimaginable that by 2002 we would be on the edge of our third double. On this day …
Read More “The first double and winning the league… in Manchester”
The story of Arsenal’s title win on this day in in 1938, their 5th in eight years, required not only their win, but a defeat for Wolverhampton Wanderers – with which they duly obliged. But this was nothing compared to what happened at the foot of the table. Manchester City, the champions of the …
The deduction of two points from Arsenal’s tally in 1990 because of supposed bad behaviour during the game against Manchester United was unprescedented and it was never clear why this punishment should suddenly be introduced at this point, when it had seemingly never been used before. In fact the most likely reason for the deducation …
Read More “When Arsenal won the league, despite having two points deducted”
It is interesting just how much of Arsenal’s history, beyond the strictly factual accounts of who played and what the score was, is down to the testimony of one man. On this day I am reminded of another such case as Charlie Buchan’s name turns up twice – in 1910 and 1928. Many know that …
Read More “How the untrue stories about Charlie Buchan and Arsenal have grown and grown”
