AISA Arsenal History Society: preserving Arsenal's heritage
Prelude: Having published hundreds of articles on the topic of Arsenal and its early days we have now started to try and put them in some sort of order. The indexes provided are unfortunately not comprehensive, but the process of making this history complete and navigable is now under way. Producing the website The …
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Arsenal 1913/14 and when and we went back to the Plumstead ground How Tottenham worked to stop Arsenal moving to Highbury Arsenal’s chairman announces the idea Arsenal’s possible move to north London By Tony Attwood In the recent articles (see above) we have been looking at the build up to ARsenal’s move from …
Read More “Arsenal move to Highbury: the objections and how they were overcome”
Background to Letter from Herbert Chapman (Secretary Manager Arsenal Football Club) to James Angell (Talent Scout) While looking through some boxes containing old photos and family memorabilia recently, I found the attached letter dated 28 October 1931 sent by then Secretary Manager of Arsenal Football Club, (Herbert Chapman) to my grandfather, (James William Angell) …
This article is part of the series which traces the origins of Woolwich Arsenal FC and its ultimate move to Highbury. An index of the articles from the very start of the series is published here , and details of how this links in with our other now series on the history of Arsenal …
Read More “Arsenal 1913/14 and when and we went back to the Plumstead ground”
By Tony Attwood This series of articles traces the history of Arsenal FC from its earliest days in south London through to is move to the north of the city, and from it being a struggling league club to one that was highly successful. The most recent articles in this story are 1909/10 …
Read More “How Tottenham worked to stop Arsenal moving to Highbury”
This series follows the journey of Wolwich Arsenal from Plumstead to Highbury . The series starts with the article “Just what have been Arsenal’s greatest achievements” and continues from there on this site. By Tony Attwood In the last episode (Planning the revolution: Arsenal move from Plumstead to Highbury) we had Henry Norris revealing (before he …
Read More “Arsenal’s chairman announces the idea Arsenal’s possible move to north London”
By Tony Attwood I concluded the last episode of this series saying, “We don’t know when Henry Norris first hit on the idea of taking Arsenal to a location both close to Tottenham’s ground, and immediately served by the newly constructed but already hugely popular underground railway system, but it may well have …
Read More “Planning the revolution: Arsenal move from Plumstead to Highbury”
By Tony Attwood This series of articles concerning Arsenal’s earliest days playing in Plumstead, begins with the article “Why Arsenal joined the Football League rather than the Southern League” There are one or two other articles on the site along the way, but if you keep moving forward from there you can follow the story of …
Read More “1910/11: the first inkling of the idea of moving Arsenal to north London”
This series of articles concerning Arsenal’s earliest days playing in Plumstead, begins with the article “Why Arsenal joined the Football League rather than the Southern League” There are one or two other articles on the site along the way, but if you keep moving forward from there you can follow the story of Arsenal’s …
Read More “1909/10 Disaster as the Arsenal as the finances get worse”
Arsenal were prmoted to the fist divison of the Football League in 1904/5 so 1908/9 was the club’s fifth season in the top flight, and as the table below shows the 21st season of professional league football in England. Arsenal had been in Football League Divison 2 until 1903/4 in which season they came …
Read More “Season 16: 1908/09 – the highest position in the league so far”
1906/7: the unexpected arrival of another team from the south 1905/6: Arsenal profitable and stable while representing the south By Tony Attwood Woolwich Arsenal were elected to the Football League as its first southern club, for the season 1893/4. Since then they had survived financially, brought professional football to one corner of London (while …
Read More “Season 15: Arsenal in 1907/08; relegation avoided by just two points”
Arsenal showed genuine dominance throughout the 2025-26 Premier League season, and when the final whistle blew on matchday 38, they had done something remarkable: winning their first top-flight title in over two decades. It was a moment that sent the Emirates into pure euphoria and validated everything Mikel Arteta had been building since taking the …
Read More “What Arsenal’s Pre-Season Told Us About What to Expect in 2026-27”
This series tells the story of Arsenal’s early years in the Football League from 1893 onwards. The first episode is here. By Tony Attwood Look at the league table for 1906/7 and you will see a club at the top of the league that can hardly surprise you if you have been considering …
Read More “1906/7: the unexpected arrival of another team from the south”
This is part of the history of Arsenal from its first joining of the Football League through to its election to the first division in 1913. You may be interested to note that we have already published a series covering the extraordinary achievement of 100 consecutive seasons in the top division – the …
Read More “1905/6: Arsenal profitable and stable while representing the south”
Recent articles in this series Arsenal finally gain promotion to the First Division Arsenal at the start of the 20th century: the first promotion to Division 1 Arsenal 1899/1900: keeping professional football alive in the south As we have seen in the last episode of this series, finally on 3 September 1904 Arsenal, having …
Read More “1904/5: Arsenal’s first season in Football League Division One, and a record crowd”
Note: this series serves as an introduction to Arsenal’s great achievement of 100 consecutive years in the top division of the Football League. You can find an index to that series (which is now complete) on this website here. This series follows on from … Why Arsenal joned the Football League rather than the …
Read More “Arsenal finally gain promotion to the First Division”
Recent articles in this series… Arsenal 1899/1900: keeping professional football alive in the south 1898/9: Home form is great but why is away form so dodgy? Arsenal’s early seasons: 1897/8 Arsenal’s greatest achievements: the strugle to break even and rise up the league How Arsenal Matchday Culture Changed Over Time By Tony Attwood 9th, …
Read More “Arsenal at the start of the 20th century: the first promotion to Division 1”
Recent articles…. 1898/9: Home form is great but why is away form so dodgy? Arsenal’s early seasons: 1897/8 Arsenal’s greatest achievements: the strugle to break even and rise up the league How Arsenal Matchday Culture Changed Over Time By Tony Attwood The title of the last episode says it all 1898/9: Home form is …
Read More “Arsenal 1899/1900: keeping professional football alive in the south”
Recent posts in this series Arsenal’s early seasons: 1897/8 Arsenal’s greatest achievements: the strugle to break even and rise up the league How Arsenal Matchday Culture Changed Over Time Arsenal’s greatest achievements: part 3 – marginal improvements 1895/6 What have been Arsenal’s greatest acheivements? (Part 2) By Tony Attwood I mentioned in the last …
Read More “1898/9: Home form is great but why is away form so dodgy?”
This website traces the history of Arsenal FC from its easiest days. We are currently looking at the period when the club had reached the league but was still playing in South London. Recent posts… Arsenal’s greatest achievements: the struggle to break even and rise up the league – 1896/7 Arsenal’s greatest achievements: part …
Why Arsenal joined the Football League rather than the Southern League Just what have been Arsenal’s greatest achievements? What have been Arsenal’s greatest achievements? (Part 2) Arsenal in the 1896/7 season Arsenal entered the Football League in the 1893/4 season, going into Division 2, as the only London team there. As we have noted …
Read More “Arsenal’s greatest achievements: the strugle to break even and rise up the league”
Explore how Arsenal matchday culture evolved from Highbury traditions and North London rituals to the Emirates and today’s global digital fan experience. ======================================================================== How Arsenal Matchday Culture Changed From Highbury to the Digital Era Approaching an Arsenal match decades ago meant navigating Islington’s compact streets towards a largely hidden ground, surrounded by thousands …
Just what have been Arsenal’s greatest achievements? What have been Arsenal’s greatest acheivements? (Part 2) 1894/5 In my previous articles I have been buildng up the case that Arsenal’s greatest achievement was to survive in Plumstead, south London, for the simple reason that there were no other clubs around them. This didn’t mean …
Read More “Arsenal’s greatest achievements: part 3 – marginal improvements 1895/6”
In my last article… Just what have been Arsenal’s greatest achievements? … I suggested that one of the greatest achievements of Arsenal was simply to get going in south London, and to join the professional Football League. And indeed to that one might add the point – “and to survive”. For as my last …
Read More “What have been Arsenal’s greatest acheivements? (Part 2)”
By Tony Attwood Sitting here in 2026 and trying to answer that question in the headline, I guess most of us would immediately head towards the Unbeaten Season as the greatest moment in Arsenal’s history. And it clearly was the greatest achievement because the only other unbeaten season in league football came …
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