The Arsenal man who by the age of 19 had won the League, FA Cup and been capped for England

This is our daily review of Arsenal anniversaries taken from the Arsenal day by day  files prepared by the AISA Arsenal History Society.

Our headline is taken from 1991.

Here are the stories from this day in history…

4 December 1909: Arsenal beat Tottenham 1-0 in their first ever league encounter.  Lawrence scored in front of 18,000.  It came as part of a five match undefeated run – the best run of form in the 1909/10 season which almost saw Arsenal relegated.  Although it was only game 16 of the season Arsenal had already used their 6th different centre forward.

4 December 1914: George Swindin born in Yorkshire.  He played as an amateur for various clubs, including Rotherham United, before turning professional in 1934 with Bradford City.  He was with Arsenal as a player from 1936 to 1954 making 297 appearances as a goalkeeper.  

4 December 1924: Alexander Graham sold to Brentford.  Alex went to Scotland during the war and returned in 1919 to take up the number five shirt at Highbury, and was a regular player for three seasons.  He won one cap for Scotland, in 1920, in a 2-0 win against Ireland

4 December 1933: The second attempt by Arsenal to introduce numbered shirts (despite opposition from League and FA) in a friendly against F.C Vienna, which Arsenal won 4-2.

4 December 1952: Bill Dodgin signed from Fulham.  Fulham were managed by Bill’s father (also called Bill Dodgin) and Bill junior left when Fulham were relegated to the second division.

4 December 1956: John Barnwell’s first game in the Southern Floodlight Cup.  After playing as an amateur for Bishop Auckland he had moved to Arsenal in 1955 turned pro in 1956 and started playing for the first team in 1957.

4 December 1959: Terry Neill signed from Bangor City for £2500.  He played 241 league games for Arsenal before playing for Hull – and later went on to manage both teams.

4 December 1961: Arsenal beat Millwall 3-1 to win London Challenge Cup.  It was Arsenal’s 13th appearance in the final.

4 December 1962: Kevin Richardson born in Newcastle.  He played for Everton with whom he won the league and cup, then moved to Watford before becoming part of the 1989 league winning team – playing in the final game against Liverpool

4 December 1968: Tottenham 1 Arsenal 1 in the second leg of the league cup semi-final having won the first leg 1-0.  Once again Radford scored for Arsenal to win 2-1 overall and go on and face Swindon Town in the final.

4 December 1974: Alex Cropley transferred from Hibernian to Arsenal for £150,000.  He had played 118 times for Hibs but broke his leg twice playing for Arsenal, and never made the impact hoped for.

4 December 1976: Alan Ball’s final Arsenal game; a 5-3 win over Newcastle.  Macdonald got a hatrick, Ross and Stapleton the others.

4 December 1991 Cliff Bastin died in Exeter aged 79.  He had been one of the very greatest Arsenal players of all time.  After retiring from playing football, after the war, he ran a cafe, wrote for the Sunday Pictorial and went on to be a publican.  With Arsenal, Bastin won the FA Cup twice, and the First Division title five times. By the age of nineteen Bastin had won a League title, FA Cup and been capped for England

4 December 2004: Arsenal 3 Birmingham 0; the win started a month of four wins and a draw.  It was also Almunia’s first Premier League game.  He went on to play 109 league games for Arsenal.

4 December 2010 Arsenal beat Fulham 2-1 to go top of the league.  It was the only moment the club were top of the league during the season, losing the next game to Man U and dropping to second.

 

Yesterday’s anniversaries: Arsenal players caught smoking at half time


 

The latest post from our series on Henry Norris at the Arsenal

The 1917/18 season; Arsenal’s players and the final league table

Special feature:

Highbury: from start to end with previously unseen pictures of the end of the stadium.

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