FA Cup Match Number 1: 5 October 1889

By Tony Attwood Royal Arsenal played their first ever FA Cup match against Lyndhurst on 5 October 1889 and I’ve covered the story before – and that earlier report has details of the team. I won’t go over all the issues from that article, but there was a debate therein as to which Lyndhurst FC Arsenal …

Arsenal: the Chronology – January update

The January file of data that will ultimately be turned into chronological order to create the new volume “Arsenal: the Chronology” has now been updated once again, thanks to the help and support of many readers of the blog. You can find the new edition here. There’s still plenty of time to send in corrections …

Ron Greenwood at the Arsenal: was he the cause of the failure from 1958 to 1961?

By Tony Attwood In December 1957 Ron Greenwood became assistant coach at Arsenal, having been a coach at Eastbourne United, and stayed in the post under April 1961 when he replaced Ted Fenton as manager of West Ham.  During this time he also coached the England under 23 team, having been spotted by Sir Harold …

Ben Marden: league winner and star of our triumph at Anfield

By Tony Attwood Reuben John “Ben” Marden was born on 10 Feb 1927.  He was an outside left and joined Arsenal from Chelmsford City in 1950 and over a five year spell (spent mostly in the reserves) played 42 games for Arsenal scoring 11. Season Games  Goals 1950/51 11 2 1951/2 7 2 1952/3 8 4 …

“Arsenal: The Chronology” needs researchers. Can you help?

My colleagues and I at the Arsenal History Society need some help with our new book “Arsenal: the Chronology”.  The rewards are not great (I’ll be open and say that from the start) but even so, I’m hoping you might want to join in. I’m currently revising the data that we have for each month, …

January 1 and January 2. The answers to the quiz

1.  As we found in the last quiz, Arsenal were directly implicated in the development of transfers and the introduction of the retain & transfer system in 1893.  But the new system quickly got out of control.     On 1 January 1908 a new maximum for transfer fees was introduced.  What was it? a) £350 …

In the first 2 days of January: the Arsenal quiz (and its easier this time)

By Tony Attwood In the near future we’ll be publishing “Arsenal: the Chronology” – a book of over 4500 major events that have defined Arsenal across the years. Looking at the book it turns out that the opening days of the year have been quite significant for Arsenal’s history.   Here are a few from …

1987 – the trophy, the awful games, the modest signings

By Tony Attwood 10 consecutive league games without a win.  In eight of those games Arsenal failed to score.  In the other two games Arsenal got one goal, in each. It wasn’t Arsenal’s worst ever run – that was in 1977 and was 11 without a win, including seven consecutive defeats under Terry Neill. But …

Jackie Henderson: the Arsenal man who moved to my village

Jackie Henderson – the key dates 17 January 1932: Jackie Henderson born 6 May 1953: Jackie Henderson’s first international cap 3 October 1958: Jackie Henderson signed from Wolverhampton for £17,500 4 October 1958: One day after signing Jackie Henderson makes his Arsenal debut v WBA where he scored twice as Arsenal beat WBA 4–3 at …