When the League told four clubs: sorry you’re not wanted here.

 

The Arsenal Anniversary Files


 

Below are the Arsenal (and occasionally one or two non-Arsenal) anniversaries for today taken from the complete files of over 6000 Arsenal anniversaries which appear on the Arsenal History Society website.  An index to the Anniversary files can be found in the left column of this site under “Pages”

The current historical series on this site is Henry Norris at the Arsenal.   An index of all our series can be found on the home page.

You can find an index to all the anniversary files in the Pages section on the right… we’ve changed the home page around a bit to make it more readable.

The AISA Arsenal History Society is part of the work of the Arsenal Independent Supporters’ Association.  If you want to join AISA contact them at membership@aisa.org

Alternatively you can join their new campaigns list and receive information on AISA’s work and campaigns by emailing campaigns@aisa.org


16 July 1917:  The London Combination announced how it would run its wartime league for clubs in the capital in the season to come. The league was reduced to 10 clubs from the 14 of the previous season, removing the four non-London clubs: Watford, Luton, Southampton and Portsmouth, and leaving them to fend for themselves.

16 July 1936: The nation’s collective heartbeat stopped as George McMahon tried to shoot King Edward VIII at the Trooping of the Colour.

16 July 1946: John Hollins born in Guildford into a family in which both father and grandfather played football, as well as his three brothers.  

16 July 1954: Jimmy Bloomfield signed.  He played initially for Hayes moved on to play for Brentford in 1952, but when the club were relegated from Division II into Division III South in 1954 he moved to Arsenal for £8000.

16 July 1962 Joe Baker was Billy Wright’s first marquee signing and Arsenal’s record signing at the time.  He had been Hibernian’s  top scorer for four years getting 102 goals in just 117 league games before moving to Torino.   

16 July 1963: Bob Wilson signed as an amateur, having been playing reserve games for Wolverhampton while studying at Loughborough College (now Loughborough University) to train as a teacher.

16 July 1977: Singapore 1 Arsenal 5 (Macdonald 3, Stapleton, Brady).  This was the second match of a four game tour also taking in Yugoslavia and Australia.

16 July 1996: Valur Gíslason transferred from Fram Reykjavík.  He never played a league match for Arsenal, and in 1999 moved to Strømsgodset in Norway, before then returning to Fram.  

16 July 2005: Barnet 1 Arsenal 4 (Hleb, Henry, Bergkamp, Hoyte).  This was the start of the first pre-season series of the modern era in which Arsenal won each of six games scoring 20 goals along the way.

16 July 2008: Alexander Hleb signed for FC Barcelona from Arsenal around €15 million plus €2 million if Barcelona won the La Liga.  The club duly came first in 2008–09 which took his transfer deal to €17 million – just about what Arsenal paid for him.  

16 July 2011: Hangzhou Greentown (China) 1 Arsenal 1 (Vela).  Match two of a six game pre-season series, after beating Malaysia 4-0 three days earlier.

16 July 2013: Seb Squillaci to Bastia on a free transfer.  Although only given a one year contract this was extended and he played over 50 games for the club.

16 July 2013: The tale of Arsenal’s running man begins in the Far East.  He ran alongside the team bus for so far that he was invited on board, and later came to a match at the Emirates Stadium.

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