AISA Arsenal History Society: preserving Arsenal's heritage
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Read More “Did Chapman and Buchan invent the withdrawn centre half tactic?”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.”
I guess that most people who look at any sort of anniversary files take a particular interest in what happened on their birthday. I’m no exception, and today is my birthday, which I am delighted to share with this being the date of the first ever AGM of Woolwich Arsenal FC – as the …
Read More “Arsenal’s first AGM, a great benefactor passes way, Chapman signs all on this day”
Successful runs of managers are hard to achieve, although Arsenal did this in the 1930s with Chapman, Shaw and Allison resulting in five league titles and two FA Cups in nine years. In one of the two years where nothing was won, Arsenal came second in the league and were beaten finalists in the FA …
Read More “Appointing a successful manager is not just a matter of finding an Arsenal man.”
Ronnie Rooke, who transferred from Arsenal to Palace on this day in 1949, played for Fulham before the war, and was 35 years old when football resumed in 1946. And yet despite this was still signed by Arsenal. Amazingly the plan worked and not only did Ronnie get 21 goals in 24 League matches in …
Read More “70 goals for Arsenal in 94 games – all after the age of 35!”
By Tony Attwood As I have noted before, these anniversary files which we publish each day, reflect all aspects of life at Arsenal – players being born, joining the club, achieving things, leaving the club, and ultimately passing away. Sometimes the snippets of information that we have are tantalising, as with Len Julians who was …
Read More “Remembering Len Julians. Arsenal man, and title winner in Kenya.”
Where do players end up after retiring from football? It is a theme we tend to come across at this time of year, when anniversaries are thin on the ground but player departures are more frequent. As we can see from the links below Andy Linnighan became a plumber, Paul Davis works for the FA …
Read More “Plumber, coach and FA employee – where players go after leaving Arsenal”
What day contained not one but two utterly brilliant signings? The answer is this day in 1997 when Marc Overmars, Emmanuel Petit both signed for the club. Overmars played 100 games for Arsenal and Petit 85. Not huge numbers but their impact in transforming the club from also-rans into double winners cannot be over-estimated. …
Read More “Which two of our most gifted players ever were both signed on this day in 1997?”
Feeder clubs – clubs which have a direct link with another club in a higher division – are outlawed within England, but it has not always been so. In 1934 Arsenal became one of the first clubs to join forces with a much smaller team, giving them somewhere that they could send promising young players …
The reason for Arsenal moving from Plumstead to Highbury can be summed up by two factors: the river to the north meant that Arsenal’s catchment area was effectively half what it might have been, and the supporters tended mostly to work in one place: the Royal Arsenal factories. So when there was no foreign war, …
Read More “How the torpedo factory and peace scuppered Arsenal”
Some players stay with one club all through their careers, others dot about here and there. Bobby Gould played for 10 clubs and managed 11 teams. But even these numbers were beaten by Francis Jeffers who played for 12 different clubs, but never had more than 55 games with any of them. At the end …
Read More “The man who couldn’t stay at any one club, finally settles down”
Actually that headline could apply to Arsenal in two separate ways: the end of the line financially which occurred on 13 June 1910, and the end of the line for Billy Wright. The 1910 tale has been followed in great depth on this site through Henry Norris at the Arsenal: There is a full index …
Chasing down the history of players after they have left Arsenal is always fascinating not least because by and large we generally know very little of the player beyond what we see on the pitch. I never saw Nelson Vivas as a desperately violent or hotheaded player while at Arsenal, so it is interesting to …
Read More “The Arsenal man who leaped into the stands and attacked a fan”
By Tony Attwood Of course in the history of Arsenal there have been many major changes in the way the club exists and works. The move to become the first professional team in the south in 1891, the rescue of the club from liquidation in 1910, the move to Highbury in 1913, the appointment of …
By Tony Attwood There were many reasons why Woolwich Arsenal moved from Plumstead to north London in 1913, including the low attendances at matches (which seemed hard to overcome for a club based near the river and thus with no fans to the north). But the fact that despite all the fuss made by supposed …
Read More “Why two clubs in a neighbourhood is better than one – and the anniversaries”
Anniversaries at this time of year tend to reflect players and staff leaving the club – the transfers not arriving until July and August. As for the backroom staff they tend the come and go unnoticed. However this was not the case one year ago when Colin Lewin was sacked by Arsenal; I am not …
Read More “Gary Lewin and Colin Lewin and a mysterious departure”
The last I heard of Phillipe Senderos he was playing for Houston Dynamo in the USA but I suspect he finished his contract there last year and has now retired. His reputation among Arsenal fans was not of the highest, but I saw him in a more positive light, as obviously did the Swiss national …
Read More “Phillipe Senderos reaches the end of his career and the Arsenal anniversaries today”
“Arsène Wenger” (CC BY 2.0) by Ronnie Macdonald Arsene Wenger is the measuring stick by which all subsequent Arsenal managers will be judged. Now that successor Unai Emery has completed his first season at the helm of the Gunners, how do their debut campaigns compare? Turning the clock back to September 1996 when Wenger’s appointment at Highbury …
Read More “How Unai Emery’s First Season at Arsenal Compares with Wenger”
Making fun of people who suggest there might be something amiss with football is a common substitute for proper debate. The very notion that it could happen in English football is thus considered laughable and not worthy of investigation. Those suggesting something is amiss are themselves held to be worthy of derision. Such was the …
Read More “When dismissing the notion of match fixing seriously backfired on the League”
