Celebrating the birthday of one of our greatest players, and 11 other anniversaries today

Today is the anniversary of the birth of Jack Lambert.

His name is not widely remembered beyond those who study Arsenal’s history but his story of endurance in the face of early rejection, and his utterly brilliant achievements really should have a wider audience in my view.

The story of Jack Lambert was carried on this site a couple of years back.  If you are interested in the history of Arsenal, and some of its forgotten heros, I do hope you have a moment to read not only the article itself but also the comments below it, which help clarify one or two of the points raised, and include a contribution by Jack’s descendents.

Here are the full set of the other Arsenal anniversaries for today.

22 May 1914:  Christopher Buckley signed.  He was a regular at centre half during much of that season. During the war he became a farmer, but continued to play wartime football for Arsenal, making 33 appearances

22 May 1914: George Pike Weaver’s mineral company closed – significant because Weaver was the leader of the attempted coup at Arsenal in 1892, and the owner of the Invicta Ground from which Arsenal were evicted by Weaver in 1893 – a move that resulted in Arsenal joining the Football League and playing at the Manor Ground.

22  May 1931: Final senior appearance of Jimmy Brain,  In September 1931 he moved to Tottenham for a transfer fee of £2,500.  He played 47 games for Tottenham and scored 10.

22 May 1946: Leslie Jones transferred to Swansea as a player coach. He then played for Brighton and Hove Albion.  In June 1950 he was appointed manager of Scunthorpe United, their first League manager – and promptly recruited his home club and Arsenal friend Reg Cumner.

22 May 1953: Paul Marriner born.   He started with Chorley, before turning professional at 20 with Plymouth.  He moved onto Ipswich, worked under Bobby Robson, and became an England international at that time.

22 May 1971: Frank McLintock played his ninth and last game for Scotland.  After retiring from playing, he joined his old club Leicester City as manager in 1977. However, City went through a spell where they had one win in 26 matches and Frank’s tenure was not a happy one.

22 May 1986: Danny Clapton died.  He moved to Luton Town in September 1962 before playing for Corinthians of Sydney. He later returned to England and ran a pub in Hackney.

22 May 1990:John Lukic sold back to Leeds.  In his second spell with Leeds he played 265 games, He won a second championship and a runners’ up medal in the League Cup with them.

22 May 1999: Thailand 4 Arsenal 3.  Kanu got two and Petit the third in this second and final match of a brief Far East tour.

22 May 2009: After Hull accused Fabregas of spitting, being improperly dressed, illegally entering the field of play after the match was over, and Arsène Wenger of not shaking hands, Arsenal were cleared on all counts at a hearing.

22 May 2011: Arsenal concluded the season with Fulham 2 Arsenal 2 after consecutive defeats at Stoke and home to Villa.  Arsenal finished 4th, three points off 2nd place.

The complete Arsenal on this day index is now here with around 5000 major events in Arsenal’s history recorded.  May and June recently fully updated.  If you find anything that is wrong or an entry that is missing please do write in to Tony.Attwood@aisa.org and I will be happy to correct.  However if you are reporting an error I’d be glad if you would let me know your source for as you will see within this article, it is often the case that different accounts report different details, and it is difficult to resolve sometimes which one is the correct version.

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