The anniversary files are edited by Tony Attwood. Please note that as I’m currently travelling the time at which the files appear each day may vary considerably from the norm.
The latest post from our series on Henry Norris at the Arsenal
Arsenal hire a music hall star as their new centre forward. October 1920
Today’s headline story comes from 2010
27 February 1897: Arsenal played Millwall, their closest rivals, in the United League. The crowd was 15,000, the highest recorded for a United League game. Arsenal won 3-1.
27 February 1915: Arsenal lost at home to high flying Derby 1-2. At half time the Islington Recruiting Committee (with Arsenal directors’ compliance) were active pushing the case for more volunteers. For Arsenal the only good news was the crowd: 18,000. On the same day a platoon of the Footballers’ Battalion that Henry Norris had funded, marched around the pitch at Craven Cottage.
27 February 1926: First senior game for Andrew Neil. He had played for Kilmarnock, Galston, Stevenston United, and Brighton and Hove Albion before moving to Arsenal on March 13 for £3000. He played 54 times before Arsenal brought in Alex James.
27 February 1926: William Harper made his Scottish debut. Arsenal broke the record transfer fee for a goalkeeper to bring him in – paying £4000. Despite the fee Harper was dropped by Arsenal after 20 matches although he did get the minor consolation of winning a London Combination League Winner’s medal.
27 February 1932: Huddersfield’s largest ever crowd 67,037 saw Arsenal win in the FA Cup 6th round tie 1-0. Over 100 fans were treated for injuries due to poor to non-existent crowd control. Herbie Roberts scored.
27 February 1954: Tottenham 3 Arsenal 0. It was part of a four match sequence without a win as Arsenal slumped to 12th – although not below Tottenham who finished 16th.
27 February 1971: Derby 2 Arsenal 0. League match 29 of the first Double season. Three defeats in the last five games cast major doubts over Arsenal’s attempt to win the league with Arsenal seven points behind Leeds but two games in hand.
27 February 1986: Pat Beasley, one of Chapman’s signings, died. He played 79 times for Arsenal in the league, and then moved on to Huddersfield, Fulham and Bristol City. After finishing playing he had managed Bristol City, Birmingham City and Dover.
27 February 1991: Shrewsbury 0 Arsenal 1 in the FA Cup. Mickey Thomas scored the only goal of the game, 12,536 in the crowd. It was Arsenal’s sixth FA Cup match of the season, but they were still only in the 5th round.
27 February 2002: Arsenal 4 Bayer Leverkusen 1, leaving Arsenal needing to win at least one of their last two group games to progress further. Pires, Henry, Vieira and Bergkamp scored.
27 February 2010: Ramsey was seriously assaulted by Shawcross on the pitch causing a double fracture of Ramsey’s lower right leg, breaking the tibia and fibula. He did not play against until 23 November when he played in a reserve game. Shawcross was immediately given a place in the England squad and at subsequent games large numbers of Stoke fans booed Ramsey, something the club did nothing to counter.
27 February 2010: Jay Emmanuel Thomas loaned to Doncaster but it was not until 2013 that he fully realised his goalscoring potential, playing for Bristol City before later moving on to QPR.
27 February 2011: Arsenal 1 Birmingham 2. League Cup final. The referee was Mike Dean. RVP scored Arsenal’s goal and Birmingham’s second came from a mix up between Szczęsny and Laurent Koscielny.
Yesterday’s anniversaries:
Arsenal prepare for six consecutive defeats
What’s on the Arsenal History Society site
Our current series is “Henry Norris at the Arsenal” An index to the various series that contain over 1,900 articles on this site concerning the history of Arsenal appears on our home page. Previous series have covered Arsenal in the 1930s, Arsenal in the 70s, the Royal Arsenal years, and many individual players.
Please note that “Woolwich Arsenal, the club that changed football” and “Making the Arsenal” are both available on Kindle, but I cannot currently accept orders for the printed edition as I’m travelling. Please see here for more details
