Month: August 2016

By Tony Attwood 1933 was a very difficult time to live through with the economy in such a desperate state, and warnings growing about German military re-birth.  And yet there were signs of progress on other fronts, not least by the bringing into law the 1933 Children and Young Persons Act. In essence this stated that …

Read More “Arsenal in the 30s – October 1933: a return to progress”

by Tony Attwood Arsenal finished the previous season as champions, taking Chapman’s trophies, and indeed Arsenal’s major trophies to three: two league titles and the FA Cup.  During this spell Arsenal had also been runners up twice in each of the League and the FA Cup. For Arsenal fans this must have been a great …

Read More “Arsenal in the 30s: August/September 1933”

By John Sowman   Browsing through some old Arsenal programmes recently I came across one from the all-time classic encounter with Manchester United at Highbury on February 1st 1958. This of course was the epic 4-5 defeat to a team destined to be struck by tragedy at Munich airport less than a week later. Further …

Read More “David Herd. The first of a trio of Arsenal star No 9s to be lured to Old Trafford”

By Tony Attwood This is part of an occasional series in which we look at what happened between the end of one season and the start of the next.  Around 50 seasons have been covered so far, and more are added from time to time. 1914 and 1938 – both dates on the eve of …

Read More “Arsenal in the summer: 1933 – champions and water shortages”

By Tony Attwood So far in this series I have covered the period leading up to Arsenal’s first trophy – the FA Cup in 1930, and then the three subsequent seasons: 1930/1 (league winners) 1931/2 (runnings up double), 1932/3 (league winners). Listed below you will find all the players who played in the League (the …

Read More “All the men who played in the league for Arsenal 1929/33”

By Tony Attwood   I will come to the summary of games played, goals scored and the goal ratio in a moment but first I want to share the key insight into the way Chapman set out his teams that I have gained through writing these articles. To begin, the key change between 1931/2 (coming second) …

Read More “Arsenal champions 1932/3: Chapman’s ultimate secret tactic revealed plus the players and statistics.”

By Tony Attwood Coming into April Arsenal had won only one game in their last eight.  Here was the record… Game Date Against Venue Result Pos Pts 28 04.02.1933 Everton away D1-1 1 42 29 11.02.1933 Blackpool home D1-1 1 43 30 22.02.1933 Derby County away D2-2 1 44 31 25.02.1933 Blackburn Rovers home W8-0 …

Read More “Arsenal in April/May 1933, Champions for the second time.”

By Tony Attwood Arsenal ended February top of the league by four points, although having played a game more than their rivals.  But February had been a month of three draws and two wins and there were still worries about Villa and Wednesday catching up.  It was time for Arsenal to show their strengths. P …

Read More “Arsenal in March 1933: top of the league but a month to forget.”

By Tony Attwood Arsenal came into February 1933 top of the league. P W D L F A GAv Pts 1 Arsenal 26 18 3 5 78 40 1.95 39 2 Aston Villa 25 15 6 4 64 38 1.68 36 3 Sheffield Wednesday 26 15 6 5 57 38 1.50 36 4 Newcastle United …

Read More “Arsenal in February 1933: new shirt design, awful weather, top of the league”

By Tony Attwood Here’s the first division league table for the end of 1932… P W D L F A GAv Pts 1 Arsenal 23 17 3 3 72 33 2.18 37 2 Aston Villa 23 13 6 4 58 36 1.61 32 3 Sheffield Wednesday 23 14 4 5 53 35 1.51 32 4 …

Read More “Arsenal in January 1933: Top of the league and defeated by Walsall.”

By Tony Attwood Arsenal had ended November at the top of the Football League… P W D L F A GA Pts 1 Arsenal 16 12 2 2 51 27 1.89 26 2 Aston Villa 16 10 4 2 42 23 1.83 24 3 Derby County 16 10 3 3 38 24 1.58 23 4 …

Read More “Arsenal in December 1932: Greatness and supremacy”

By Tony Attwood The month began with Arsenal top of the league… P W D L F A GAv Pts 1 Arsenal 12 9 2 1 36 19 1.90 20 2 Aston Villa 12 8 3 1 26 10 2.60 19 3 Derby County 12 7 3 2 27 15 1.80 17 4 West Bromwich …

Read More “Arsenal in November 1932: records fall, greatness beckons.”