11th November 1912 – Arsenal go nap: 5 straight defeats

by Andy Kelly This weekly series charts Arsenal’s final season in Plumstead and the move to Islington that, effectively, saved the club’s very existence. Saturday 9th November 1912 This week 100 years ago, Woolwich Arsenal took on West Bromwich Albion in the Midlands. Following the debacle of the previous week, manager George Morrell changed the …

4th November 1912 – Slaughtered at home

by Andy Kelly This weekly series charts Arsenal’s final season in Plumstead and the move to Islington that, effectively, saved the club’s very existence. Saturday 2nd November 1912 Woolwich Arsenal were visited by a Manchester City team that was in touch with the league leaders. With the Reds’ recent form of six league games without …

28th October 1912 – Another defeat, but still above Tottenham

by Andy Kelly This weekly series charts Arsenal’s final season in Plumstead and the move to Islington that, effectively, saved the club’s very existence. Saturday 26th October 1912 Woolwich Arsenal travelled to Bradford 100 years ago this week. Angus McKinnon and David Greenaway returned to the team after one game whilst Ernest Hanks made his …

21st October 1912 – Woolwich Arsenal to move to North London

by Andy Kelly This weekly series charts Arsenal’s final season in Plumstead and the move to Islington that, effectively, saved the club’s very existence. Wednesday 16th October 1912 Arsenal had a mid-week game at Crystal Palace in a relatively new competition – the Kent Senior Shield. It had been inaugurated the previous season and was …

30th September 1912 – Another week, another point

by Andy Kelly This weekly series charts Arsenal’s final season in Plumstead and the move to Islington that, effectively, saved the club’s very existence. During the final week of September, Arsenal’s first team played one league game and a charity match whilst the reserves also played a league game. There was also an interesting appointment …

23rd September 1912 – Crisis over?

By Andy Kelly Our series plotting Woolwich Arsenal’s move from Plumstead to Islington 100 years ago continues. On Saturday 21st September, the first team ventured north to play Sheffield United. Arsenal’s mis-firing front line was once again changed. McLaughlan returned to the team and Randall came in for his first game of the season; Flanagan …

16th September 1912 – Woolwich Arsenal struggle on and off the pitch

By Andy Kelly Woolwich Arsenal had two games in the week following their 0-3 defeat at Liverpool. Both games were at the Manor Ground against opposition that they had beaten (Bolton) and drawn against (Aston Villa) the previous season, so hopes were high. First up were Bolton on Saturday 14th September. The Arsenal team lined-up …

2nd September 1912 – The beginning of the end in Plumstead

by Andy Kelly This article is appearing one day late, because there was an even bigger anniversary on 2 September, and we felt the need to cover that.   Full list of anniversaries and links to the stories behind them appears on the Anniversary site. ————————— Now, on with the show… To celebrate 100 years of …

2nd September 1893 – Today’s MASSIVE Anniversary

——————————————– There is much more on the background to this extraordinary day in the book “Woolwich Arsenal: the club that changed football“ ——————————————- by Andy Kelly 119 years ago today on 2nd September 1893, Woolwich Arsenal played their first ever Football League game. The opponents were Newcastle United and the match was played in front …

Wenger at Arsenal: 1999/2000 – part 1

A player being unsettled by the media, by other clubs, and by players of other clubs is something that Arsene Wenger has had to contend with all the time at Arsenal.   We are familiar with this as a daily issue over the comments from Barcelona players about Fabregas, and in 2011 from Manchester United players …

Leyton Orient v Arsenal. August 18th 1962.

By Tony Attwood I’ve good reason to remember this game today, as we make one of our rare appearances against Orient – and one of our even rarer appearances at Brisbane Road – simply because I was there. By 1962 my family had moved away from Devonshire Hill Lane in Tottenham, where I was brought …

Woolwich Arsenal in the FA Cup: an attempted summary – 1893/4

By Tony Attwood I do this with great trepidation, knowing that I am going to be shown up to be quite wrong, on all sorts of details. But without writing it up, I will never know.  I am starting with Woolwich Arsenal’s first season in the Cup, although Royal Arsenal played in the Cup from …

Woolwich Arsenal vs London – the results

  By Tony Attwood Woolwich Arsenal are often called London’s first professional team.  Technically at the start they were Kent’s first pro-team, but people linked Woolwich Arsenal with London and they were the first professional team in the south. But after joining the Football League for the 1893/4 season, other teams decided to try and …

Dial Square FC did not play its first match on the Isle of Dogs. The evidence.

By Tony Attwood Arsenal were founded in 1886 and  played their first match against Eastern Wanderers on the Isle of Dogs. You knew that, of course.  But are you quite sure that is right? There has already been an article about the founding fathers on this site in the series on the first managers and …

The last tango in Plumstead: Arsenal’s final game part 2

This article continues from the previous page, with the text of a newspaper column concerning the very last game Woolwich Arsenal played at Plumstead.  Once the game was over, the kit was packed, and the club headed for Highbury.   There’s a brief discussion as to why it was so necessary, at the end of the …

Arsenal: the final farewell. Newspaper report on the last ever game at the Manor

This is a reprint of the newspaper report of the last ever match played by Woolwich Arsenal at Plumstead. I am deeply grateful to Andy Kelly for providing this. This is the first half of the report.  The rest will follow shortly. Woolwich Arsenal – the index Untold Arsenal – Making the Arsenal – the …

George M Grant: played for Woolwich, The Arsenal and Arsenal and against Arsenal!

By Tony Attwood George Grant had an Arsenal career spanning Woolwich Arsenal, The Arsenal and Arsenal, ending with the cessation of football for the first world war.   A career that ran from the Norris takeover in 1910 to 1919. In all he made 57 appearances  and scored four goals. Unlike most of our team in …

What the papers say: Newcastle v Arsenal 30 September 1893

I recently did an article on Arsenal’s first ever league match – against Newcastle.  Rather curiously the return match of this fixture was in the same month (obviously the 19th century fixtures computer worked in a different way from today). Here’s what the Newcastle paper of the day made of it all… “There was a …

The first ever Arsenal league game – the newspaper report

Woolwich Arsenal’s first League Game: 2nd Div: 4 Sept: 1893. By Tony Attwood In recent posts I have been looking at the individual players who played in our first ever league game in the last decade of the 19th century. Now, here’s a match report, from the Newcastle Daily Journal found by Newcastle blogger Eddy …

Aston Villa v Arsenal, September 17, 1910

By Tony Attwood 100 years ago, three games played, two draws and a defeat.  (A bit of a contrast with the season 100 years later).  Two goals scored (both by Rippon) and three let in. Next up Aston Villa away.  Villa won the league in 1909/10 and so were the reigning champions.   Little did they …

How Arsenal was publicised in 1934

Continuing my recent theme on programmes, by 1934 Arsenal’s programme had grown.  It cost 2d (under 1p in today’s money) and had a cover that said “Official programme Season 1933-34” but didn’t say which match it related to.  The back cover was a map of the London underground system. This last was because a major …