A history of corruption in English football

On UNTOLD ARSENAL after the Chelsea game I wrote a piece in which I suggested that some matches in the English Premier League are fixed.  It is a debate that continues on that site. But it made me think it might be worth a meander around the time that this site deals with, in terms …

Bury are favourites, as they take on Arsenal

November 27, 1909: 100 years ago today. Bury v Woolwich Arsenal Woolwich were bottom of the league, with just two wins all season.  But there had been a slight glimmer of hope.   The desperate defence had stopped leaking five or six goals a game, and the club had actually drawn the last two matches. Bury …

Arsenal sign Olympic Gold Medalist

If you’ve been following any of this story you’ll know that one of the key problems in the 1909/1910 season was that we couldn’t find a centre forward.  We’d even converted our centre half into a centre forward, and still nothing worked.  Players came in and went out, getting one or two games before moving …

What others saying about “Making the Arsenal”

For authors of books there is a routine. It starts with a six month or year long slog of writing and revising, followed by the comments of one or two people you know who kindly agree to read the pre-published edition. Then the arguments with the editor (“I nearly fell asleep in chapter 8”, or …

Winston Churchill’s direct involvement in Arsenal nearly led to the end of the club

And I don’t mean this lightly. Nor is it a retelling of the old story about Winston’s Churchill’s driver or relative or someone wanting to be a footballer and being told that was not a suitable occupation. No – this is a truthful story about Churchill and his involvement in the world of Woolwich Arsenal …

UNTOLD ARSENAL raided by police, Ireland guilty, Platini arrested, Iraq banned

Sky News seem to have missed it, and it is not featuring on any of the blogs that I can see but the biggest match fixing scandal since 1914/15 is about to hit football. Let’s do the history first, since this is primarily a history site – but I will move onto the current situation …

Arsenal v Bristol City, November 20th 1909

So we had had a draw away from home last weekend against Sheffield Wednesday.  Now a home match against Bristol City. The draw had done nothing for our league position, and we were still firmly bottom of the league, but it had been preceded by two defeats, and that therefore was a step forward. Also …

In ten years time we’ll all be laughing our heads off

Of course you could all be laughing at me (if you remember me at all) but the fact is that in ten years it will be possible to go back and look at the blogs and commentaries of a few years before, and look at how stupid all the commentators were. At the risk of …

Just how many games can you lose in one season and still win the league?

When Arsenal went unbeaten for a whole season much was made by the snarling sniveling gutter press who never like to give credit for anything that the club does, that this was not the first time this had happened.  Preston North End had done it once before. In fact PNE did go a season unbeaten …

Whatever happened to football fiction?

Assuming you read fiction at all you will know a few genres.  Science fiction maybe.  Detective fiction, Historical fiction, War fiction, the Wild west… you name it, fiction has it. Except… football fiction. Our biggest sport, the issue that occupies much of the nation not just at weekends but every day of the week.  And …

Arsenal v Sheff W – at last the improvement begins

Saturday November 13th, 1909. Sheffield Wednesday vs Woolwich Arsenal. The omens were poor.  Our record was played 12, drawn 1, won 2, lost the rest.  Bottom of the league. Worse, only five members of the team who played on the opening day of the season in September were still playing. One player McDonald was playing …

What does it feel like when your club goes bust?

It is a question that must be circulating around the minds of a number of club supporters at the moment.   Clubs that are supposedly ok for money, clubs which are maybe successful.  And then suddenly it begins to unravel. Of course what many people do is just pretend the difficulty doesn’t exist – and it …

Is football real or is it all made up?

Here’s a story related to today’s game of Arsenal v Wolverhampton Wanderers which you might not believe straight off… In the summer of 1967, Wolverhampton W. played in the United Soccer Association – a league of 12 clubs in Canada and the USA. Each club was a club from elsewhere in the world, rebranded with …

Storm clouds gather: is this the end of Arsenal?

November 6th, 1909.  100 year ago exactly.  The world looks bleak. Arsenal are bottom of the league division I, having never been relegated in their history.  Their record is played 11, drawn 1, won 2, lost 8. There was light on the horizon at the start of the day, as after a terrible run of …

The 100th anniversary campaign gets official Arsenal recognition

The 100th anniversary campaign gets official recognition On November 4th 2009, what we had hoped for happened: Arsenal FC gave official recognition to our campaign to commemorate the events of 100 years ago when Henry Norris took over Woolwich Arsenal and began the journey that led to Highbury (1913), promotion (1919), and Herbert Chapman (1925). …

Arsenal recognise importance of 1909/10 with programme feature

This web site was set up in order to draw attention to the events that occurred in the 1909/1910 season during which Woolwich Arsenal went into liquidation and were taken over by Fulham. That might seem an odd thing to celebrate – but the result of that takeover by Fulham led directly to three things… …

Manchester United 1 Arsenal 0; no chemical injuries, but no joy

Manchester United 1 Woolwich Arsenal 0 October 30th, 1909 One hundred years on, joy was unconfined as Arsenal slaughtered Tottenham 3-0 at the Emirates, incorporating one of the most inspiring and amusing goals of all times – Fabregas from a Tottenham kick off. But back at the end of the first decade in the 20th …