Arsenal and Rooney the Red (not that one)

Alexander Rooney Forbes (known as Red) was born 21 January 1925 in Dundee. He initially played for Dundee North End, and then after the war ended moved to Sheffield United.  He played his first game for Scotland, against England,on 12 April 1947.   However he had appendicitis and did not seem to make a full recovery initially …

Jimmy Rimmer, Arsenal’s three season hero.

By Tony Attwood John James Rimmer known as Jimmy, was born in Southport on 10 February 1948.  He joined Manchester United on schoolboy forms in 1963 and became a professional for the club in 1965. He stayed at Manchester United for nine seasons as second keeper to Alex Stepney, appearing 34 times in the league …

Tottenham’s demand for anti-Arsenal League EGM, defeated: 26 May 1913

By Tony Attwood, Andy Kelly and Mark Andrews 26 May 1913 is a most important date in our “ISLINGTON 100” series – the series that tells of Arsenal’s move to north London – which will culminate with the 100th anniversary of the first match at Highbury in September 2013.   An important date since it was …

Ernest Clarke Williamson, born 24 May

Ernest Williamson (generally known as Tim) was born 24 May 1890 in County Durham Durham. Tim Williamson began his career at local sides such as Murton Red Star, and Wingate Albion before joining Croydon Common of the Southern League in 1913.  During the first world war he was in the Royal Army Service Corps and …

Tomáš Rosický transferred 23 May, 2006.

By Tony Attwood (written 23 May 2013) Tomáš Rosický  will be 33 within three months of the start of the 2013/14 season – and as the story goes Mr Wenger does not retain players over 30 years of age. Except of course he does, on occasion, and watching Arsenal in the 2012/13 season with Rosický  …

Jimmy Brain, Arsenal’s brilliant centre forward, signed by Knighton, a triumph for Chapman

This article by Tony Attwood was updated 26 January 2017 with pictures kindly supplied by Martin Levy.   Jimmy Brain was born on 11 September 1900 in Bristol, and played for Ton Pentre having worked previously as a coal miner. In 1923 he was sold to Arsenal.   The table below shows his league record, …

Victoria Concordia Crescit – When and Why?

by Andy Kelly (@Gooner_AK) Ingrained within the heritage of The Arsenal is the long standing latin motto “Victoria Concordia Crescit”. Over the years there have been a number of variations of the translation but all are roughly the same: “Victory Grows Through Harmony.” But when was this motto first attributed to The Arsenal, and why? …

Danny O’Shea – just 9 games with Arsenal, but success in lower leagues

Danny O’Shea was born on 26 March 1963 and played six league games for Arsenal in the 1982/3 season – Terry Neil’s last full season in charge. As that is all I knew of him before starting this little delve into the archives I was rather amazed to find that he actually made 461 football …

John (Jack) McClelland; one major season for Arsenal.

John McClelland (also known as Jack) was born 19 May 1940 and tragically died on 15 March 1976 at the age of 35 and played for Arsenal as a goalkeeper for four seasons. He was also an international for N Ireland gaining six caps. The names of John and Jack are confusing simply because there …

David O’Leary remembered on the anniversary of his farewell game.

David O’Leary was born 2 May 1958 and is Arsenal’s all time top appearance man. He signed as an apprentice for Arsenal in 1973 and played for the reserves from the age of 16, playing his first game for the first team on 16 August 1975, aged 17.  Twenty years later, on 17 May 1993 …

15 May 1993: Arsenal v Sheffield W in the FA Cup

By Tony Attwood The FA Cup Final of 1993 is one I particularly remember, having been there (which always helps the memory).  It was played in the days when Wembley was, to my mind, a horrible, grotty ground where, as I recall, we sat on bench seats that had been put on the original terraces, …

Alf Kirchen: scored on his debut for Arsenal against Tottenham

Alf Kirchen was born 26 August 1913 in Shouldham in Norfolk and died 18 August 1999.    In 1934 he was signed by Tom Parker manager of Norwich City (then of the second division – and the man who holds the record for consecutive games for Arsenal).  With the club’s connection with Arsenal it was …

Archibald Gray and Eddie Hapgood. Our anniversaries for 13 May

Today’s anniversaries: 13 May 1904: Archibald Gray joined Woolwich Arsenal 13 May 1933: Eddie Hapgood made international début Part of the work on this site is to build the biggest ever Arsenal anniversaries record.  At the last count we had articles on about 500 events related to specific days, but at certain times of the …

11 May: Arsenal’s most notorious advert appears

By Tony Attwood On 11 May 1925 an advert for a new manager at Arsenal FC appeared in the leading sports journal of the day “Athletic News”. Athletic News was based in Manchester (a reflection of the fact that football was very much a northern sport in the early days).  It started in 1875 or …

Reg Lewis: record goalscorer, and (almost) a one club man

Reg Lewis was born in Bilston Staffordshire on March 7, 1920 and died in 1997 and spent all of his senior football career at Arsenal. He joined Arsenal as a schoolboy on 9 May 1935 – having played at Arsenal’s nursery club, Margate, and started out by playing for the reserves in the in the …

8 May: Arsenal win the double for the first time

3 May 1971: Beat Tottenham 0-1 at WHL to win the league 1971 8 May 1971  Arsenal won the Double for the first time, beating Liverpool in the FA Cup. Arsenal won the FA Cup in extra time, after going 1-0 down to Liverpool in the first period of extra time.  The first goal was …

On 7 May 1938 Arsenal won the league for 5th time in 8 years

On 7 May1938 Arsenal won the league for the second time under George Allison in four years.  But as the date suggests and the league table shows is was a close run thing – going up to the final match – Arsenal 5 Bolton 0 on May 7 1938. Attendance: 40,500 It was close because …