The 1930s
Arsenal in the 1930s: the complete history. The most detailed review and analysis of Arsenal in the 1930s ever published. The full index is here.
100 years in the top division: 1930-1933 the trophies start to arrive
100 seasons at the top. Arsenal 1930-31; the goalkeeper accused of smuggling
21 April 1930: Leicester 6 Arsenal 6
28 August 1932: The Times confirmed Charlie Jones had been appointed Arsenal captain. He went on to play 29 games in the title winning season.
17 September 1934: even the 1930s could have surprise defeats
31 May 1935: Having re-introduced speed limits on British roads, the government now introduced the driving test for everyone who had not held a licence before this date.
28 August 1937: Everton 1 Arsenal 4 in the opening game. Alex James had now gone but Drake got a hattrick and Bastin the fourth.
31 May 1937: First appearance of Lawrie Scott. George Allison changed him from a winger to a right back, and he played in the reserves for two years, until the outbreak of war, at which time he became a Physical Training instructor for the RAF.
31 May 1937: Arsenal beat Copenhagen 5-1 (Scorers Crayston, Davidson, Lewis, Biggs, Nelson). This was the third match of a five match series taking in Sweden, Denmark and Belgium.
31 May 1941: The wartime season ended with a replay of the Football League War Cup final, at Edwood Park Blackburn. Arsenal lost 2-1 to Preston in front of 45,000 fans.
31 May 1947: George Allison announced he would retire at the end of the season, ending a 37 year association with the club. His final act was to write his autobiography: Allison Calling (a title which makes reference to his long-term work as a radio commentator). In the book Allison’s description of Henry Norris (who Allison knew from 1910 onwards) and his style of work contrasts starkly with that in Knighton’s autobiography, and calls into question many of Knighton’s assertions. Ludicrously it is Knighton’s book, written 22 years after he left the club but published within weeks of the Allison book, which is used as the prime source of history by many writers. Allison, like Chapman before him and Whittaker after him, won two league titles and the FA Cup. On this day Arsenal beat Everton 2-1
31 May 1961: Peter Storey joined Arsenal as an apprentice. He later wrote a most readable autobiography called “True Storey‘s; My life and crimes as a football hatchet man,”
31 May 1967: Don Howe’s final game as a player. After 342 games for West Brom he had played 70 games for Arsenal and scored one goal. He then became reserve team coach under Bertie Mee.
31 May 1972: Arsenal played away to Miami Gatos (USA) and won 3-2 in front of a crowd of 4,725. George, Radford and Kennedy scored. Quite what the point of this single post-season game, no one knew, but it was typical of the club at the time.
28 August 1971: Arsenal 0 Stoke City 1 in front of 37,637. Having won the double Arsenal had started the next season with two wins and three defeats.
28 August 1973: John Matthews moved from being an apprentice to being a professional. He made his debut one year later, and went on to play in 45 league games before leaving in 1978.
14 September 1974: 50 years ago today Chelsea v Arsenal was a bottom of the table clash and hooliganism was the discussion of the day
28 August 1976: Sunderland 2 Arsenal 2 with 41,211 in Roker Park. But despite a win and a draw in successive away games the “news” was that Armstrong was going to leave the club.
28 August 1993: Ian Wright’s single, “Do the Wright Thing” entered the charts!
31 May 1980: Alan Sunderland played for England for the only time: Australia 1 England 2. Brian Talbot won his final cap for England in the same game.
28 August 1982: Lee Chapman made his Arsenal league debut against his old club Stoke City. Arsenal lost 1-2 and in fact lost three and drew one of their first four league games.
28 August 1999: Nicolas Anelka transferred to Real Madrid after playing just 50 games and scoring 23 goals. It was said that the profit paid for the new training centre Mr Wenger wanted built.
28 August 2004: Robin van Persie arrived from Feyenoord for £3m. He had played 61 times for the club and scored 15 goals, but had gained a reputation as a difficult player to manage.
28 August 2011: Arsenal lost 2-8 to Man U. See also: Ref Review
28 August 2015: Manuel Almunia was forced to retire from football due to a heart condition. He had just signed for Cagliari Calcio but was unable to play for them. He played 405 games for all his clubs in all competitions. He then became Al Jazira’s goalkeeping coach,
28 August 2016: Arsenal signed Lucas Pérez for £17.1m from Deportivo de La Coruña by activating his release clause.
28 August 2021: Arsenal lost to Manchester City – their third straight defeat, leading to claims in the media of this being Arsenal’s worst start to the season since… The date chosen varied in different outlets, but it was always a long time. The club was described as being in a state of panic and disarray and thoughts of relegation were mentioned.
31 May 2013: Arsenal reported that Freddie Ljungberg had taken on an ambassadorial role with the club.
31 May 2023: The BBC ran a “Who had the youngest average starting XI?”. report. Arsenal were shown to be 19th, with only relegated Southampton having a younger average age to their starting teams in the season.
