AISA Arsenal History Society: preserving Arsenal's heritage
By Tony Attwood Paul Taylor wrote to the AHS a little while back about the Arsenal player Frank Ransom. His report is that he was born sometime in 1878 and and he is found on all censuses from 1881 to 1901 living in Plumstead; latterly as a house painter. None of his immediate family is …
Read More “The very very odd case of Arsenal player Frank Ransom”
By Tony Attwood. This article continues the series on past pre-seasons, this time dealing with the summer of 1996. None of us knows, of course, what happened when Bruce Rioch left and Arsene Wenger arrived. We know that Rioch finished the previous season of 1995/6 in a bit of style, but had a dreadful 1996 …
By Tony Attwood I am not sure if the Kapfenberg Tri-Team Pre-Season Tournament of 2002/3 was unique, but it was certainly unusual. As the name suggests three sides (Arsenal, Panathinaikos and Roma) played each other. What the titles doesn’t suggest is that the games all took place on 1 August 2002, and were games of …
Read More “Arsenal pre-season friendlies 2002/3. Gilberto’s first game.”
James Devlin has always been at best a footnote in the history of Arsenal, playing just one game for the club. But as always when one looks behind the scenes there is a little more to be revealed and it is rather an interesting tale. But there is mystery even as to his place and …
Read More “James Devlin: a tale of wandering and an insight into the early days”
By Tony Attwood The season 1999/2000 started with some high hopes after 1998/9. Arsenal had finished second, just one point behind Man U, who had won the Double, beating Arsenal 2-1 after extra time in the FA Cup semi-final. A return to the 1997/8 style and pomp could be hoped for especially as Arsenal had …
Read More “Pre-season friendlies in days of yore: Arsenal prepare for 1999/2000”
8 July 1997: St Albans 1 Arsenal 4 (Grimandi Rankin Shaw 2) 12 July 1997: Leyton Orient 0 Arsenal 1 (Shaw) 20 July 1997: Stade Nyon 0 Arsenal 4 (Mendez Boa Morte Overmars Bergkamp( 25 July 1997: Strasbourg 1 Arsenal 2 (Garde Wright( 30 July 1997: PSV Eindhoven 1 Arsenal 0 4 August 1997: Norwich …
Read More “Pre-season friendlies 1997 including Norwich 2 Arsenal 6”
By Tony Attwood In 2003 there had been the wretched Confederations Cup, and Arsenal’s French players were by and large absent from most pre-season training. The results are below – but the game that really stood out for me was the first one – I have such vivid memories of Mr Wenger strolling about on …
Read More “Arsenal’s pre-season friendlies. 2 August 2003: Celtic 1 Arsenal 1”
By Tony Attwood Herbert Chapman’s last major signing came four months before he passed away suddenly. Arsenal already had four centre forwards in the club: Lambert, Jack, Coleman and Bowden, but Chapman was always looking to improve and develop, and give competition for those who were in the team. So he chose Jimmy Dunne. In …
Read More “The curious life of Jimmy Dunne: Herbert Chapman’s last big money signing”
I first wrote about Paul Vaessen on this site with an article that had the bleak title The awful tragedy of Paul Vaessen After that article appeared I received an email back from a regular reader asking that if I was going to publish something as moving and ultimately tragic as this, would I mind not …
Read More “Paul Vaessen and FA Youth cup winners remembered. Again.”
By Tony Attwood Jimmy Logie was an Arsenal player from 1939 to 1955, playing 296 league games for the club. It could of course have been many more, of course, but for the war. However he was still there for the club in 1946 and went on to win the FA Cup and the first …
Read More “When the anti-Arsenal menace and their media allies sank to the depths”
By Tony Attwood Benefactors have a long tradition of rescuing football clubs – and Arsenal’s major benefactors (although there were other benefactors of the club before him) was Henry Norris in 1910, and again with the building of Highbury in 1913. But it is interesting in reading Tom Whittaker’s memoires that despite his joining the …
Read More “The day Arsenal directors vigorously attacked the FA in the Arsenal programme.”
By Tony Attwood Reading a real manager’s memoires, as opposed to the sanitised rubbish we normally see, one gets some real insights. If you have been following my recent meanders around Arsenal’s history you’ll know I’m writing the annual AISA Arsenal History Society publication which will go out to all members this summer, and it …
Read More “Today’s anniversaries and “the dignity and fairness of the British press””
By Tony Attwood 1945/6 was a strange season. The wartime leagues continued as before, for although the war was over, too many players were still away from their clubs in the armed forces. But the FA Cup came back after its wartime suspension, and for one season only, it was played on a home and …
Read More “When Cup matches continued until there was a result! 1945/6 and today’s anniversaries”
By Tony Attwood When the real success started for Arsenal with the FA Cup victory in 1930, football in England was dominated by a group of regular cup and league winners. The subsequent turnaround for football in general and Arsenal in particular was extraordinary. In the post-first-world-war era before Arsenal’s first triumph in 1930, the …
Read More “The Arsenal Dynasty: 1930 to 1956, and 8th June anniversaries”
By Tony Attwood I was writing before about my lack of knowledge of exactly how Tom Whittaker got a job as a trainer with Arsenal, having been an out of favour player, and then getting injured on an FA tour in Australia. (The article, How did Whittaker get Chapman to believe in him, as the …
Read More “How Tom Whittaker persuaded Chapman to make him a trainer with Arsenal, after his injury”
By Tony Attwood Today’s anniversary list has as its first item, 4 June 1925: Herbert Chapman returned to England early from a tour with Huddersfield, ready for talks with Arsenal about becoming the club’s new manager. And in these last couple of days, that has given me a bit of a problem. Not with the …
Read More “How did Tom Whittaker get Chapman to believe in him, and other anniversaries”
By Tony Attwood Collating the anniversary files makes one very aware of just how fragile a career in football is. Even for those youngsters who play for their country at under 18 level or who win the Youth Cup playing for Arsenal. They must think they have the world in front of them. I was …
Read More “Winning the youth cup in 2009 and what happened next.”
By Tony Attwood It was the favourite knocking copy of the media for around six years – telling us how long it was since Arsenal won a trophy. Now they have the chance to knock other teams – but no, they don’t. I wonder why not. So I thought I would fill in the gap. …
Read More “How many years since they last won a trophy? And 1 June anniversaries.”
