George Morrell – before and after Arsenal

By Andrew Beatie This is primarily the story of George Morrell before he came to be Arsenal manager.  He was the only manager who relegated Arsenal, was the manager who was in charge when Arsenal moved to Highbury, and there was only one Arsenal manager after him, before Herbert Chapman.  He was, indeed, just one …

The politics of football and the anniversary of oddity – how Chelsea joined the league.

Only three teams (Chelsea, Bradford City and Thames Association) have been given a place in the league for political reasons.   When Chelsea fans occasionally try and point the finger at Arsenal over the promotion in 1919 they not only ignore the facts of the 1919 situation (the match fixing etc and Arsenal’s support for …

Oleg Luzhny; the horse, no the moose.

Oleh Romanovych Luzhny was born on 5 August 1968 in Lviv and is normally known as Oleg Luzhny. Oleg was a right back who started out playing for Torpedo Lutsk and after a brief spell with SKA Karpaty Lviv moved to the all powerful Dynamo Kyiv in 1989. He became captain and was captain of the side that got to …

Johnny Petts – report on our “missing” player updated

Johnny Petts (full name John William Frederick James Petts) was born on 2 October 1938, played as a number 6 (defensive midfield, known as left half) and joined Arsenal as an apprentice in April 1954 having been with Edmonton, Middlesex and London schoolboys, He signed professional terms on 28 May 1956 and his first game in the …

Brian Hornsby; beset by injury, but the boy done good

By Tony Attwood What I want in writing these profiles of players – especially profiles of players I remember from my youth, is that they have done ok in life.  For most professionals the period that you can spend playing professionally is at most 16 to 18 years.  But then what?  The transition is not …

Dan Burgess (also known as Dick); another of our mystery players

The deeper one goes the harder and more mysterious it gets.  And none more so, thus far, than Daniel Burgess, also known as “Dick”. Here’s what we know from the records. He was born in Goldenhill, in Staffordshire, on 23 October 1896 and was an inside forward. He started with Port Vale, which would have …

It’s the anniversary of one the club’s most bizarre events

When I started work on the Anniversary Files I rather thought that May would be one of those months in which little happened. How wrong – we seem to have as many historical moments in May as in any other month.  Just look at today’s list… 22 May 1902: Jack Lambert born 22 May 1914:  Christopher Buckley …

Richie Powling, from head butt to Clacton

I’m going to start with an incident in 1977 in which Ritchie Powling was the receiver of an evil head butt from the nutcase Kenny Burns.  I’m starting with it because it was caught on film, and nothing was done, either during or after the match.  Had the perpetrator been Paul Davis it would have …

The time before last when Arsenal won the cup

21 May 2005 – the FA Cup Final We won the FA Cup in 2014, and before that in 2005. And while most commentators thought the 2014 final was a good one to watch, the general feeling was that the 2005 final wasn’t. I was in Cardiff that day, which was lucky, because so was …

Milner to Arsenal? Thanks to FFP it is possible

I’m sorry to say Untold Arsenal is down at the moment – we are working on it.  But in the meantime here is a story that we would have published on that site had we been able to get onto it. The story is that Arsenal are looking to buy James Milner from FFP-challenged Man City. …

Who has been the most successful Arsenal manager ever?

By Tony Attwood Following the Cup Final I’ve updated the comparative table of Arsenal managers.  Once again we find that Arsene Wenger’s win percentage has increased, and of course the honours table is up by one. I thought it might be interesting to do one other column showing the number of games per honour. Our …

James Tennant: the ex-Arsenal man who signed for East Stirlingshire by mistake

By Tony Attwood Although this site has by no means covered every Arsenal player with an illustrious record, we are getting to the stage where we are starting to look at players for whom virtually no information is available at all. One such is James Tennant – who played outside left for Woolwich Arsenal in …

From not being thrown out of the FA to doing the Double.

By Tony Attwood 16 May sees a variety of Arsenal anniversaries. The 1910 tale of financial disaster continues with Arsenal desperately trying to sell shares in itself to anyone who would come along and buy them.  Rangers (the Glasgow club, not QPR!) did in fact take up the offer, and kept their shares until a …

10 years ago: the greatest day in the history of Arsenal. 15 May 2004

By Tony Attwood I don’t know when I first went to see Arsenal – but I seem to think it was in 1956 for a reserve match against West Ham.  My dad – himself an avid fan who had supported the club through the Allison era – took me.  The next day I have a …

14 May – a busy day in Arsenal’s history

The list of anniversaries on 14 May is a strange bunch…  I was mentioning the question of what happened in May 1910 when the club went to the very edge, and that crops up again here as the first time on the list. Famous names appear too – Mel Charles, Alex Forbes, Bill Dodgin, Don …

When Arsenal died one man stepped up and rescued the club. The story of May 1910.

By Tony Attwood, Andy Kelly and Mark Andrews This is the story of May 1910 – the darkest days of Arsenal’s history.   But what follows is just a part of the story of Woolwich Arsenal’s adventures – a story that you can read in full in Woolwich Arsenal, the club that changed football.  More details …

Arsenal open talks with Tottenham and Chelsea re them buying part of the club.

By Tony Attwood It seems unbelievable that Arsenal should be talking to other clubs about buying part of Arsenal, but that is what was happening during May 1910, and today, 12 May represents a key moment in that process, as noted below. The Arsenal History blog has been having a bit of a breather for …