Why I do hope you will buy a programme at the Emirates this season

By Tony Attwood

Well, not to put a final point on it, I would love you to buy a programme at the ground this season, because, well, you know…

The programme will feature a series this season called…

“Arsenal Uncovered”

written by…  well…..  me.

The idea is that each article covers one bit of Arsenal’s history that is generally unknown and contains some quirky bits of our club’s past that aren’t in the history books.

It is not a series that moves step by step through history, starting in 1886, but rather it jumps around here and there, from the modern day back to the 19th century – although given that most of what has happened in the 21st century is so completely and utterly well recorded and mulled over I doubt I will find much in the very recent past to write about.

I have written five pieces already, and of course it is up to the editor of the programme to decide which ones to use, and the order, but to give you a taster, here’s what he has got so far….

  • George Eastham – the Arsenal player who transformed player contract regulations in England.
  • Our greatest victory and our greatest defeat were both to the same club.  But hardly anyone saw the games.  Why not?
  • If we counted wartime league football in the stats our top scorer list would look completely different.  What happened to Arsenal in the second world war?
  • When the Arsenal manager gave all the players performance enhancing drugs something rather strange happened.
  • Arsenal’s most famous defeat was against Walsall in the FA Cup.  But what happened to the players after the match?

I am now working on a story for the next article about Arsenal’s use of substitutes, and how we used subs in the most unexpected ways early on.

If you can think of any topic that would fit into this series I would love to hear from you and will try and use the story.  If you know the details so much the better.  But if you don’t I’d still like to hear your idea, so that Andy (who is of course working like mad to check the details and come with the information needed) and I can use the story.

I really do hope you enjoy the series, and that you feel it might be worth using this channel to influence what goes into the Arsenal Uncovered series.

If you prefer to write to me directly, rather than using the form below, it is Tony.Attwood@aisa.org

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