Guardian slags off Woolwich Arsenal

By Tony Attwood There was an interesting piece on the Guardian web site on 30 October 2009 which contained a commentary on various Arsenal/Tottenham matches and concluded with a piece about Arsenal’s promotion in 1919. It repeats the age old stories about the “fixed” promotion which are by and large lifted from the Tottenham Version …

Manchester United’s ground: “a toxic waste dump”

Manchester United’s ground described as “a toxic waste dump” The season 1909/10 which we chart here (that being 100 years ago of course) was the last season that Manchester U played away from Old Trafford – to which they moved in 1910. But as Woolwich Arsenal prepared for their away game on October 30th 1909 …

Arsenal and West Ham Utd 100 years ago

This site is dedicated to following the history of Arsenal 100 years ago.   A couple of weeks back we had the amazing coincidence of Arsenal playing Blackburn almost 100 years to the day to another Arsenal Blackburn game.   We can’t say the same about West Ham today because the two clubs were not …

Sir Henry Norris – the early years in football

This is an extract from the novel, MAKING THE ARSENAL which records the history of the takeover of Woolwich Arsenal by Henry (later Sir Henry) Norris of Fulham.   At this point in the story, Jacko Jones, the journalist, is trying to piece together Norris’ past activities in football.  And he hits on a rather …

Arsenal beat Everton 100 years ago to the day

This is a series of articles commemorating the birth of the modern Arsenal in 1910. The book MAKING THE ARSENAL which tells the full story is available from the links below where you can read extracts and further information about the book.   http://tiny.cc/RHd9k – if you are in the UK http://tiny.cc/Fsc6p – if you …

Do we get more injuries now than in the past?

If you read the daily ramblings on UNTOLD ARSENAL you’ll know that we’ve been talking on occasion about injuries, and whether Liverpool’s manager is right when he says that they have been hit by them like never before. The general feeling on the Untold blog is that over the last three years Arsenal have had …

Making the Arsenal: extract from the most detailed book on Arsenal’s history

Here’s an extract from MAKING THE ARSENAL – the new book which covers the collapse of Woolwich Arsenal and the take over of the club by Henry Norris.   There’s details of how to purchase the book at the end.   At this point of the story, Jacko Jones, football reporter at the Daily Chronicle has …

What is the name of the man who built the modern Arsenal?

If you have read any of my ramblings on the topic of the early days of Arsenal before, you’ll know that I believe the modern Arsenal was founded in 1910.   The reason for that is simple – in 1910 the existing owners of Woolwich Arsenal FC put the club into liquidation, and ultimately sold …

Henry Norris made the Arsenal: read the start of the story

What sort of man was Norris? In 1910 he took the club over, and over the coming years turned Arsenal into a prime force in English football.  He moved the club to Highbury, he took us into the First Division and kept us there, and then brought in Herbert Chapman.   But what sort of …

Sunderland 6 Arsenal 2, 16th October 1909

16 October 1909, one hundred years ago.   Sunderland 6 Arsenal 2, Crowd: 10,000    So there it was: four defeats in a row, during which we scored three and let in 19.  It doesn’t get much worse.  In fact it couldn’t because we were bottom of the league with a set of results thus …

Life in the old days – an extract from Jacko Jones diary

Making the Arsenal is a record of the diary of Jacko Jones, football reporter with the Daily Chronicle in Fleet Street.   You can read more about it on this site – and the whole book will be published at the end of October 2009.   Meanwhile here is one day’s extract from the diary.   …

The centre of evil, 100 years ago.

In the 1909/1910 season which we celebrate here (100 years ago, in case I didn’t make that quite clear), Arsenal didn’t play the centre of all evil (Birmingham City FC) because they (Evil Birmingham) were in Division II.   In fact Birmingham were so bad that year that then ended up bottom of Division II.  …

Arsenal’s ground closed because of “incident”

One of the great things about studying football history is that one keeps coming across little known oddities which give just a tiny insight into the world of Arsenal.  The problem is that quite often they just don’t give enough information, and I am left desperately searching for a proper explanation.   Let me give …

Arsenal 0 Nottingham Forest 1

This article is archived under George Morrell and 1909. This site celebrates the activities of Woolwich Arsenal, precursors of Arsenal FC, 100 years ago.  Today… Arsenal 0 Nottingham Forest 1, Monday 9 October 1909.   Division I   100 years ago there were no internationals going on, and football carried on in its proper fashion – …

Boring, boring, Arsenal. The Football League in 1909

This page is indexed under “1909” and “George Morrell“ The Football League in 1909 One of the most remarkable things about the 1st division of the Football League in 1909/1910 was that all the clubs in the 1st division that year are still with us.  Not a single one has fallen by the wayside. This …

Notts County v Arsenal, 7 Oct 1909

This article is archived under 1909/10, George Morrell Notts County vs Woolwich Arsenal 7th October  1909 Just on 100 years ago Woolwich Arsenal travelled to Notts County for a division I match.  This game followed on from the 7-0 defeat the week before at Blackburn Rovers (Arsenal’s biggest ever away defeat in the league, one …

Why did Arsenal go into liquidation?

This page is archived under George Morrell and Season 1910/11   Why did Arsenal go into liquidation? Just over 100 years ago Arsenal FC (then known as Woolwich Arsenal) teetered on the brink, and toppled into administration.   There were four separate buy-outs, the last of which saw the club purchased by Henry Norris, who also …

Arsenal, football and life 100 years ago. All the things you didn’t know.

This page is indexed under Season 1910/11 George Morrell Ten things you may not know about life in England in the 1909/1910 season. 1: While there was no radio or TV, there were however gramophones playing 78rpm records.  It was a new development, but spreading fast among the middle classes.  Many houses in London had …

The day Arsenal FC went bust: an eye witness report

Below is an extract from MAKING THE ARSENAL, the diaries of Jacko Jones, of the Daily Chronicle.  Jacko covered the story of the the demise and rebirth of Woolwich Arsenal in 1910.   In this extract, Jacko, a veteran of the Boer War turned football correspondent, has been ordered by his editor to get himself …

October 1909 Blackburn Rovers v Woolwich Arsenal

This article was published 5 October 2009.  It is indexed under George Morrell October 2nd 1909  Blackburn Rovers v Woolwich Arsenal A curious coincidence: 100 years ago almost to the day, Arsenal played Blackburn Rovers. But the club and the date are where the coincidences ended, for the events of October 1909 and October 2009 …

Arsenal vs Blackburn: the story from 100 years ago

This article is filed under George Morrell and Season 1909/10 Arsenal v Blackburn 100 years ago  The 1909/1910 season for Woolwich Arsenal was not exactly the lowest point of the club but it was certainly not far short.  The club escaped relegation from the fist division by just two points, with a game to go, …

What was football like in 1910?

This article is archived under George Morrell and Season 1910/11 What was football like in 1910? 100 years ago the Football League was well established and could get crowds for matches in the First Division of anything between 5,000 (at small clubs like Preston North End) up to 60,000 at the largest grounds.   Old Trafford …