When Bergkamp and Anelka were just not potent enough

Arsenal were champions and had their up and coming young striker Nicolas Anelka playing for them on this day in 1998.  And indeed with Bergkamp out injured Anelka took up the challenge and scored the only goal of the game on this day against Coventry to make it one defeat in 16.  As it happened …

A perfect example of how the media will take any chance to knock Arsenal

Although one likes to hope that the more serious newspapers might actually do a bit of research, this is sadly rarely the case, as witness the Guardian’s various attempts to smear the Arsenal with a totally fake account of Arsenal’s election to the first division in 1919.   One of these pieces appeared on this day …

When Arsenal scored 38 goals in five games.

In 1932 Everton won the league scoring 116 goals in 42 games.  That wasn’t the all time record however – for the season before Arsenal had scored 127 as champions, but Aston Villa had scored 128 in coming runners up. Arsenal came back and won the league again in 1933 with 118 goals scored and …

Freddie at the Arsenal, and still on the way up

Freddie Ljungberg will forever be associated with Arsenal having played 216 games for the club – far more than he played for any other side.   He was of course a great favourite with the crowds, and it was pleasing for many of us to see him return to the club in 2016 working with the …

From defeat by Sheffield Wednesday to defeat by Bayern Munich.

The Arsenal match on this day in in 2015 is not widely remembered as a major upset, but perhaps it should be.   In the league cup Arsenal were defeated by Sheffield Wednesday, with Arsenal putting out a strong side of senior players, while being second in the Premier League.  But only Mertersacker and Giroud survived …

The day that football got itself together, and Arsenal went top of the league.

by Tony Attwood This is a day that is as good an anniversary of the foundation of football as any other – the day in 1863 that the FA was formed by a group of enthusiasts who wanted to write the rules of the game came together for that purpose. It is also the day …

Ball hits Brain, knocks player out, goes in net. You couldn’t make it up.

By Tony Attwood This was the day in 1924 when the ball hit Arsenal centre forward Jimmy Brain on the head and knocked him out, as it made its way into the goal.  I doubt that such an event has ever happened again – (as in brain, head, goal) and for the sake of player …

How one man’s tales can overturn the true history of a great club.

It is probably Bernard Joy’s negative comments upon George Allison, that has ensured that Allison has never received much recognition as one of the great Arsenal managers – despite the fact that he kept the club alive in the second world war virtually single handed, and won the same number of trophies as Whittaker and …

The softer caring Jens Lehmann

Finding out what players have done after they have left Arsenal is often fascinating.    For example, Jens Lehmann famously criticised Arsene Wenger when he was a player, but then for the 2017–18 season, he returned to Arsenal as assistant coach leaving on 19 June 2018, in the clear out of Unai Emery. On 29 January …

Celebrating our most successful manager’s birthday

On this day in 1949 Arsenal’s reserve team were accused of smoking after the game.   These days such an accusation would be ignored by the club, perhaps because invented negative reports are so commonplace, but in 1949 Arsenal went on the attack and threatened to sue.  The newspaper backed down and wrote an apology. Today …

When the media reported Arsenal were moving to Harringey Park

During the autumn of 1912 it was no secret that Woolwich Arsenal were preparing to move out of their Plumstead ground, and a number of journalists took to stalking Henry Norris, the club’s chairman, in the hope of spotting where the new ground would be. On this day in 1912 Athletic News, a journal which …

When Arsenal were deducted two points for a spot of argy bargy.

The events of this day in 1990 have always bemused me because for all the world it looked as if the Football League and Football Association were actually frightened of Arsenal and Manchester United.  Liverpool were clear favourites at the top of the league on the day when there was a sport of argy-bargy on …

When Arsenal (bottom of the league) played Tottenham (one from bottom)

If you look at this league table there are some elements that might look familiar, but others which seem hard to believe. But when you have got your head round it, take a guess at the year, without reading on any futher. Yes it was a first division table and it included in it Ipswich, …

Reminding us that Arsenal’s position after 8 games does not indicate what will happen later

The Autumn of 2014 was just one of a number of occasions in which the media and some Arsenal supporters attempted to portray Arsene Wenger as a terrible manager who needed to be replaced – on this occasion by suggesting that the club’s start to the season was the worst in 30 years. In fact …

When Alexis Sanchez was a hero, as Arsenal scored 11 in three league games.

There has been a tendency for the last years of Arsene Wenger’s time at Arsenal to be painted as downhill all the way, but in fact there was a lot to get excited about in those final years – including the winning of the record number of FA Cups both for the manager individually, and …

From double winners to 22nd in the league in just three short years.

It seems hard to imagine that just three years after winning their first double, Arsenal could be 22nd in the league and heading for relegation.  The only thing that lightened the gloom was that Tottenham were also in trouble and were 21st. But that was the situation on this day in 1974 as all the …

Arsenal go top of the league as Walcott shows his style and ability

When Theo Walcott scored two goals on this day in 2016 he was a shining light in the club as 10 goals from 23 starts confirmed, but his days were numbered.   In the following season he scored three goals in 14 games and was then sold in the winter window to Everton after six games …

The decline and collapse of Arsenal after the first double

Having won the Fairs Cup in 1970, Arsenal went on to win the double for the first time in 1971 and this was seen by many (and not just those within the club) as the rebirth of the Arsenal of the 1930s when all other clubs fell beneath an inexorable march that led to five …

When Herbert Chapman was banned from football for life.

Most Arsenal fans know the name of Chapman, and I suspect most also know that he was the manager who gave Arsenal their first trophies – the FA Cup, followed by two league titles. His death at a tragically early age robbed him of a life that would undoubtedly have brought him ever more honours, …

The man who turned Arsenal from a local team of amateurs into a full blown league team.

The name Jack Humble is not well known among Arsenal supporters today, and yet he was central to the evolution of the club from being an amateur works team to a professional club recruiting players from around the country, and of course ultimately entering the League in 1893. He was elected as the first chairman …

Why match fixing in football only involved the players, not the directors

There were a series of match fixing scandals in the pre-first world war era, and at first the League did everything it could to ignore them, at one stage threatening to ban Henry Norris, the Arsenal chairman, from football, if he ever mentioned match fixing again. But when the evidence was overwhelming the full blame …

When Kroenke met the Arsenal fans

On this day in 2013, some Arsenal fans group representatives wrote to Stan Kroenke requesting he honour his pledge made in 2011 to meet Arsenal fans groups.  He didn’t. However his son Josh Kroenke did turn up to a meeting (without warning) on 10 March 2019. That was a fans’ forum at which with head …

The ultimate proof of why sacking the manager is not always the best plan.

By Tony Attwood If you ever read my ramblings on Untold Arsenal you might have noticed that I am rather wary of calls for a manager to be removed after a series of poor results. Partly this is because of the lessons learned from history, for on this day in 1926 Arsenal slipped down to …

How many different names has Arsenal FC had?

  On this day in 1914 Arsenal changed its name.   But this wasn’t the only change that has ever happened. We know that Arsenal used the name Dial Square for its first game – but how formally that name was adopted is not sure and it was only used for one match – it at …

When Arsenal hired entertainers as part of the team

by Tony Attwood One of the central factors in Sir Henry Norris’ tenure as chairman of Arsenal was making the club break even.  When he took it over, it was massively in debt – a debt which Sir Henry himself cleared.  From that point on, making a profit was his key aim, for his belief …