Arsenal in 1913: The summer of moving to Highbury

Continuing the story of Arsenal’s summers through the ages.   An index to the 45 articles already published in the series is given at the foot of the page. By Tony Attwood The summer of 1913 is of course one of the absolute key periods in the history of Arsenal FC as it was the …

Arsenal Anniversaries in October – a major update

If you are an occasional reader of this site you will know that we are slowly building a complete set of important anniversaries for Arsenal – the number of entries is currently around 4500. Others have gone before us with this task of course, but mostly they have either included just three or four entries …

After one year in the league what happened to Arsenal? Football and Arsenal in 1894

By Tony Attwood The 1893/4 season was the sixth in which the Football League operated and the first in which Woolwich Arsenal played in the league.  The club finished 9th out of 15 in the league winning 12 and losing 12.  Arsenal twice saw a crowd of 10,000 for league games, and having fought their way …

The summer of 1976: trying to rebuild after the Bertie Mee era.

By Tony Attwood The summer of 1976 saw the confirmation of Liverpool’s continuing dominance now under Bob Paisley as manager, but largely forgotten is the fact that QPR pushed them all the way in the league.  In the FA Cup Southampton beat Man U in the final. For Arsenal it was the end for Bertie …

The Arsenal summer of 1977. Heavy drinking after Tottenham are relegated

. The Arsenal Summer of 1977     By Tony Attwood 1976/7 was the season when the old “goal average” calculations were abolished and goal difference was introduced, along with the red and yellow cards for the refs to wave about a bit. This was the period when Liverpool started winning the European Cup and …

1919: The Arsenal pre-season after the war

By Tony Attwood After war had been declared in 1914, the Football League continued to play  out the 1914/15 season.  Recruiting officers and local Mayors (including Henry Norris) attended matches trying to persuade young men as they entered and left the ground (and indeed at half time) to sign up (conscription having not yet started). …

Arsenal’s 1970 pre-season. Preparing for the impossible

  By Tony Attwood Arsenal played the 1969/70 season as a club had not won a major trophy since 1953.  In both 1968 and 1969 Arsenal had thought they might end the drought, but on both occasions lost in the League Cup final – the second time to the mighty Swindon Town. So with the …

1930 Arsenal pre-season. Preparing for the unthinkable – winning the league.

By Tony Attwood On 19 February 1930 the score that was revealed in the London late evening papers was very unimpressive for your London based Arsenal supporter.   Derby 4 Arsenal 1.  (There was no radio roundup of match results then – that didn’t start until the Light Programme launched Sports Report at 5.30pm on a saturday …

1978 Arsenal pre-season: recovering from the cup final defeat, but then losing to Rotherham

By Tony Attwood Arsenal ended the 1977/8 season with some very up and down form.  For example on 4 March 1978 we had the result Arsenal 3 Manchester City 0.  This was the first win in six league games but also a part of a run of nine undefeated. Some of that nine unbeaten run …

1925: Arsenal’s pre-season. The arrival of Chapman

By Tony Attwood Before Chapman arrived Defeat to Liverpool on 3 January 1925 started a run of 6 consecutive defeats during which Arsenal scored 2 goals.   Worse, in utter desperation on 14 January 1925 the Arsenal manager started experimenting by giving drugs to the Arsenal players – as he revealed in his later memoires. On …

1979 pre season: Cup holders looking for a bright new era.

By Tony Attwood 1979/80 is the season that is remembered for starting out with the optimism of being Cup Holders, and ending with the ludicrous number of games the club played getting to the CWC final and the FA Cup final, and the defeats in both – and indeed the failure to get into Europe …

1903: the pre season and Arsenal’s greatest ever start to a campaign

By Tony Attwood Football in the early 20th century was of course very different from now.  The notion of the pre-season friendly didn’t exist, and the period 1 May to 31 August was an absolute football free zone.   Undoubtedly the “Probables v Improbables” (later renamed more respectfully, the first team against the reserves) matches …