Starting as champions: Arsenal open with two defeats and a draw

Here are the Anniversaries from 24 August – part of our regular daily look at Arsenal’s history.

Our most recent article on Arsenal’s history is Arsenal at the end of the world: May to August 1914.

 


24 August 1878: Believed date of birth of Archi Gray although there is considerable doubt.  He joined Arsenal in 1904.

24 August 1912: Les Calder signed as a professional having been an amateur at Arsenal since March 1911. However he only played one game for the club – as an amateur and none as a pro, probably due to injury.

24 August 1928: Tommy Docherty born in Glasgow.  He started to play junior football but his career developed while he was doing his National Service.

24 August 1949: Peter Goring’s first match – Chelsea 1 Arsenal 2 – in which Goring scored  It was however the only game in the first five league games of the season that Arsenal did not lose.

24 August 1954: David Herd bought from Stockport for £10,000.  His games for  Stockport were restricted by his national service but he scored five goals in 12 games in 1953–54, thus attracting the attention of Arsenal.

24 August 1961: George Armstrong became a professional, having been turned down by Grimsby and Newcastle Utd.  He went on to play 500 games for Arsenal.

24 August 1963: League debut for Ian Ure, a 3-1 home defeat to Wolverhampton.  He had played 107 games for Dundee and went on to play 168 times for Arsenal.

24 August 1967: Michael Thomas, the man who scored in the last minute against Liverpool to win the league, was born in Lambeth. He was a Tottenham fan After but signed for Arsenal as a schoolboy in 1982.

24 August 1991: Aston Villa 3 Arsenal 1.  Alan Smith scored. As league champions Arsenal had opened the season with two defeats and a draw – scoring three and letting in seven.  

24 August 1996: David Hillier’s final game before his transfer to Leicester; he had played 104 league games.  This 2-0 win over Leicester marked the start of a ten match unbeaten run during which Wright scored ten.

24 August 2000: Sylvain Wiltord signed from Bordeaux.  He had scored 46 goals in 96 games for Bordeaux between 1997 and 2000.  He went on to play 104 games for Arsenal.

24 August 2003: Three years to the day after signing Wiltord scored two as Arsenal beat Middlesbrough 4-0.   Arsène Wenger said in the press, “I feel it is very important in our minds to do this and I know the hunger is strong to do it.” He named Newcastle, Liverpool, Man U and Chelsea as the main rivals for the Premier League.  It was the 2nd league match of the unbeaten season

24 August 2007: Joe O’Cearuill sold to Barnet.  He was a youth player for Watford but released after one year and signed by Arsenal.  However he never played for Arsenal in his one season with the club.

24 August 2011:  Samir Nasri joined Manchester City on a four-year deal for around £25m after 86 games for Arsenal scoring 18 goals.

24 August 2015: Gedion Zelalem was loaned to Rangers for the season.  He played 20 games in Rangers promotion season to the Premier League, and on On April 17, 2016 played against Celtic in the Scottish cup semi final. Zelalem converted a penalty in the shootout to help Rangers progress to the final.


Elsewhere on this day, on 24 August 79, Mount Vesuvius erupted and destroyed Pompeii, Herrculaneum, Stabiae and many smaller settlements.


 

The current series from the Arsenal History Series being developed on this site is  Henry Norris at the Arsenal, covering all aspects off the life and work of the man who rescued Arsenal from extinction, secured the club’s future by moving it to Highbury, and then brought in Herbert Chapman as manager.

The previously untold tale of how it was that Norris came to choose Highbury as the suitable location for Arsenal’s new ground.

The series is being worked on daily, and the articles thus far are here.

Among the many other series we have run are…

There are details of many other series covered by this site on our home page.

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