Last Friday I was one of three people (Tony Attwood and Mark Andrews being the other two) that received an e-mail from Paul Matz of AISA asking if one of us would like to attend the unveiling of the three legends’ statues on 9 December. The club had invited 100 special guests [...]]]> by Andy Kelly

Last Friday I was one of three people (Tony Attwood and Mark Andrews being the other two) that received an e-mail from Paul Matz of AISA asking if one of us would like to attend the unveiling of the three legends’ statues on 9 December. The club had invited 100 special guests to the ceremony. Tony and Mark graciously stepped aside and allowed me to represent the AISA Arsenal Historical Society at the event.

Then, at the start of this week I received a text from a  good friend of mine saying “guess where I’m working this week?” along with a photo of the Emirates. He knows that I am a big Arsenal. I know that he works for a company that specialises in the transportation works of art, including sculptures. I asked him if he was delivering three statues and he said he might be.

The next three days were agony as he said he was sworn to secrecy as to the identity of the statues. He sent photos of two of the statues but they were covered in tarpaulins.

Friday came. The invitation stated that we should arrive at the Dial Square suite at 2.15pm for a reception. By the time I got there at 2.00pm there was already a sizeable crowd of guests waiting in anticipation. The doors opened at 2.15 and we were invited up into the function room. On the  way were presented with a security badge and complimentary CXXV scarf.

Rather than stand around like a lemon I made small talk with a few of the other  invitees. These included David O’Leary (he is on one of the banners of fans, etc hanging from the lights outside the ground) and Goonerholic.

As expected at these events, Bob Wilson was there in  support. I took the opportunity to have a photo taken with him.

We were then led out of the Dial Square suite via the fire exit and down to ground floor. We made our way to one of the exits where the first unveiling was to take place. While we were waiting, along came Peter Hill-Wood and Ken Friar in golf buggies! Then Arsene Wenger and Thierry Henry walked past us causing a stir amongst our small crowd.

We walked out to a special section barriered off from the  crowd of those not quite so privileged. Peter Hill-Wood started the ceremony of  the first statue to be unveiled. Herbert Chapman was revealed to a round of  applause. Arsene Wenger then said some words in his typical humble manner, proclaiming Herbert as the best manager Arsenal has ever had.

We were then ushered back into the stadium and off to North end of stadium where we watched Tony Adams’ statue being unveiled. Again, Peter Hill-Wood spoke with Arsene Wenger also adding his bit. I wasn’t quite ready and missed about 20 seconds of the start of Hill-Wood’s speech.

I took the opportunity to say hello to Ryan Rocastle (son of David), tell him how much I admired his dad and wished him good luck for the future.

Again, it was back into the stadium this time for the long walk down to the Clock End.

Once again, Peter Hill-Wood spoke, followed by Arsene Wenger. Then Thierry also spoke. At one point he stopped speaking in mid-sentence. We thought he had finished and started to clap but then realised he was having an emotional moment.

After the ceremony, Thierry signed everything that was put under his nose and I managed to shake his hand. Well chuffed.

I took some photos of the Thierry Henry statue but we weren’t allowed to get too close as the rigging and lights hadn’t been taken away (health & safety, blah, blah, blah).

As the VIPs disappeared, Ivan Gazidis hung around and was interviewed by Mark Bright. When he finished I took the opportunity to ask him a question, much to the annoyance of the security guard in close attendance.

AK: “Mr Gazidis, can I ask one quick question. Are the statues anything to do with your meeting with Tony Attwood last year?”

IG: “Yes.” and smile on his face.

AK: “Thank you.”

I texted Tony Attwood straight away knowing that he would be chuffed.

His reply: My life is complete.

Mark Andrews then arrived and we spent some time taking photos of Herbert Chapman and Tony Adams.

We then had a quick meeting with Iain Cook, the museum curator and one of life’s nice guys, about the club’s history and agreed to meet in the new year with a view to updating it.

A truly memorable day.

—————————————–

Arsenal.com have today picked up Walter’s “Jenkinson” article in their Media Watch section. Congratulations all round to Walter from everyone at Untold Towers

By Tony Attwood

In October 1956 Tom Whittaker, the club’s manager, died of a heart [...]]]> —————————————–

“Making the Arsenal” – the book of Arsenal’s rebirth

—————————————–

Arsenal.com have today picked up Walter’s “Jenkinson” article in their Media Watch section.   Congratulations all round to Walter from everyone at Untold Towers

By Tony Attwood

In October 1956 Tom Whittaker, the club’s manager, died of a heart attack.  He had won the league twice and the FA cup as manager of the club, and served Arsenal with great honour over the years as player, assistant manager and finally manager.  His league championship in 1952/3 was the last trophy of the club until 1971 – and indeed the only near misses were the two league cup final defeats under Bertie Mee in 1968 and 1969.

Jack Crayston took over from Tom Whittaker mid season and stayed for a second season before moving on, and he was replaced by George Swindin – who like both Whittaker and Crayston was an ex-player of the club.

George Hedley Swindin, between 1936 and 1954, made 297 apparences for Arsenal as a goalkeeper, including two seasons when he appeared 42 times for the first team.

George was born in Doncaster and played for Rottherham YMCA, New Stubbin Colliery, Rotherham United, Bradford City (his first professional appointment), Arsenal and Peterborough United.

He played 26 games for Bradford City, before being transferred for £4,000, making his début on September 3, 1936, in a team that include Male, Hapgood, Crayston, Copping, Hulme, Drake and Bastin.

He was one of three players used in that season in goal, and was said to be erratic at first. Despite the club again using three keepers the following year under the management of George Allison, we won the league and George Swindin got his league winners’ medal.

In the war, in common with many players, he became a physical training instructor, and continued to play in wartime matches.

In the second season after the war Arsenal won the league with Swindin in goal for every game, keeping clean sheets in 21 out of 42 games.   After 1950 he was again sharing the number 1 shirt, but played in two cup finals in 1950 and 1952, winning the first.

He finally came under the challenge of Jack Kelsey but played enough in 1952/3 to get his third championship medal – the final triumph of the Whittaker era.

Swindin moved to Midland League side Peterborough United as player-manager in 1954, and took his team to several famous FA Cup runs and three consecutive Midland League titles between 1956 and 1958.

When George Swindin became manager in 1958 it is said in most histories that he made huge changes to Jack Crayston’s side that had come 12th in the previous season.  But this is not quite true.

For 1958/9 the opening XI on the first day of the season were all players who were there the year before.  Newcomers did arrive or were promoted from the reserves, but in this first season only Docherty (38 games) and Henderson (21 games) made a significant number of starts.

But Arsenal were top of the league in February 1959 , however they slipped away despite the return of top scorer David Herd after a period of injury at the end of 1958 (not the other way around as Arsenal’s own web site has it).   After this the chopping and changing did start, and by the end of the year seven players had made their first start for Arsenal, but of these probably only the name of John Barnwell will be familiar to many supporters, 60 years later.

Eventually the club reached third place, but that was the high point and after that the darkness set in.

George’s record was not too after that.  13th in 1960 (and knocked out of the cup by Rotherham), 11th in 1961, 10th in 1962 – there seemed to be no progress.

What is noticeable is that the number of players who played 25 or more league games a year (out of 42) declined year by year under Swindin, and yet in the 10 years from 1952 to 1962 the best years were the years with the most players playing over 25 games.  Consistency was always a winner at this time.  By his final year as manager all the players he had inherited apart from Jack Kelsey had gone and the regular players we were left with were McCullough, Eastham, Bowen and McLeod – the four who with Jack Kelsey made over 35 appearances in the final season.

Worse, this was Tottenham’s era – of which we may perhaps say no more just here.

After resigning as manager in May 1962 he went to Norwich for five months, and then Cardiff from 1962 to 1964, resigning after the club were relegated to the second division.   After that he moved to my local clubs – Kettering Town and Corby Town, and then left football.  (Actually I would love to know more about his work with these two clubs – anyone who knows please do write in).

The, George owned a garage in Corby (again I wish I could find it – I live just outside the town, and no one seems to remember) before retiring to Spain.  He returned to England later but suffered from Alzheimer’s.  He died in Kettering (I imagine at the hospital – the hospital in fact where my three daughters were born) in October 2005, aged 90.

(Sorry about all the personal notes, but well, it is interesting to me, even if no one else!)

• Untold History…Untold Media …  Untold Ref Reviews …
• Untold Economics …   Untold Corruption … Untold Wenger …
• Untold News … Untold Fifa …  Untold Players … Untold Injuries
• Untold Statistics …   Untold Tactics … Untold 2011/2 …
• Untold match reviews …  Untold fans …
• Untold Stadia …  Untold Literature …
• Untold humour …Arsenal History Society … “Making the Arsenal” …
• Untold Emirates …   Arsenal Independent Supporters Association

We are staying in touch with Lyon this season because Remi Garde is now the manager there. And while doing this we’re having a look at Lorient as they have Joel Campbell playing.

To start with Joel he has played four times as a sub, and played in the 1-1 draw with [...]]]> By Tony Attwood

We are staying in touch with Lyon this season because Remi Garde is now the manager there.   And while doing this we’re having a look at Lorient as they have Joel Campbell playing.

To start with Joel he has played four times as a sub, and played in the 1-1 draw with Lille recently.

But back to Olympique Lyonnais.   They are in a dead heat first place with PSG – the new super club of French football with their billions of Arab money.  If you call the clubs by their full names PSG are top, but if you call Remi’s club Lyon, then they are top.

	GD	Played	Pts
1	Paris Saint-Germain	+7	8	17
2	Olympique Lyonnais	+7	8	17
3	Toulouse FC	+5	8	17
4	Montpellier Hérault SC	+6	8	16
5	Stade Rennais FC	+6	8	15
6	LOSC Lille Métropole	+3	8	13
7	FC Lorient	+3	8	13
8	SM Caen	+2	8	13
9	AJ Auxerre	+4	8	11
10	Dijon FCO	-7	8	10
11	AS Saint-Etienne	-4	8	9
12	FC Sochaux-Montbéliard	-6	8	9
13	Olympique de Marseille	-2	8	7
14	Girondins de Bordeaux	-3	8	7
15	Evian TG FC	-4	8	7
16	Valenciennes FC	-1	8	6
17	OGC Nice	-2	8	6
18	Stade Brestois 29	-2	8	6
19	AC Ajaccio	-8	8	6
20	AS Nancy Lorraine	-4	8	4

What makes things even more tasty is the fact that next Sunday Lyon play PSG.

If you are in touch with the work of any other ex-Arsenal men, do write in with the details.

———-

Latest  Stories

• UNTOLD REF REVIEW: Arsenal 2 Olympiacos 1
• UNTOLD MATCH REVIEWS: Is this Arsenal’s best start to the season ever?
• UNTOLD INJURIES: Gameweek 6
• UNTOLD REFEREES: Fulham 2 Man C 2.
• UNTOLD CORRUPTION: Another arrest, and it just makes you wonder…
• UNTOLD HISTORY: When Arsenal changed the laws of the game
• UNTOLD GAMES: Arsenal/Olympiakos everyone is injured or on strike.
• UNTOLD MEDIA: How even good journalists try to pretend they are not the story

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Untold Arsenal – the (fairly) complete index

(please note we’re still working on getting these indexes into shape – the media and corruption indexes are just about done, but others are still awaiting a make over)

• Untold History…Untold Media …  Untold Ref Reviews …
• Untold Economics …   Untold Corruption … Untold Wenger …
• Untold News … Untold Fifa …  Untold Players … Untold Injuries
• Untold Statistics …   Untold Tactics … Untold 2011/2 …
• Untold match reviews …  Untold fans …
• Untold Stadia …  Untold Literature …
• Untold humour …Arsenal History Society … “Making the Arsenal” …
• Untold Emirates …   Arsenal Independent Supporters Association

Recently I published a couple of pieces about two prospective future managers of Arsenal: Remi Garde and Dennis Bergkamp. The reason for these stories was not the fact that these ex-players had declared their interest in the job, but rather because both were highly regarded by Arsene Wenger, as players, and both [...]]]> By Tony Attwood

Recently I published a couple of pieces about two prospective future managers of Arsenal: Remi Garde and Dennis Bergkamp.  The reason for these stories was not the fact that these ex-players had declared their interest in the job, but rather because both were highly regarded by Arsene Wenger, as players, and both are now in the senior levels of management.

A third ex-player who was highly regarded by Mr Wenger (and whom he called “a professor of defending”) is also in management, and has actually declared he would love to manage Arsenal: Tony Adams.

As reported in the earlier articles which have gathered together a list of all the ex-Arsenal players who are now involved in football management, Tony manages in the Azerbaijani league at Gabala FC.

After a typical flutter of interest from the English press Tony was left alone to do his thing through the season, and it was not until the article about Tony’s first season at the club that anyone much has picked up on his work.

Tony is now in the second season of a three year contract at Gabala FC, one of 12 teams in a league which is played over the same period as the EPL.  The average gate across the league is around 2,200 and last season Tony’s team came 7th in the league.

The club however can on occasion get bigger crowds – 4,000 on occasion, although the official capacity of the stadium is less than this.  And there is a 13,000-capacity stadium is under construction, financed by the owner.  Training ground facilities are being improved as well as an academy is being developed to nurture the best talent in the country.

For Tony Adams the big benefit is having time, and no pressure.  Instead of hundreds of journalists all asking the same questions and then making up utterly different answers from the ones he has given, Tony has only a couple of journalists to deal with.  Instead of a bunch of inane trouble-makers calling for the board to sack the manager, and then sending out emails from multiple addresses, there is just support.

Of course not everything is plain sailing.  7th in a league of 12 is not wonderful, and nor was the 1-0 defeat to Barnet in a pre-season game.  But the club did go for a ten game unbeaten run in the latter half of last season, which bodes better for the future.

Gabala city has a population of 13,000 and is in the north of the country.  Five of the 12 clubs in the league are in the capital Baku, with a population of two million.   The country as a whole is about one third of the size of the UK and has a population of about 9 million, about one seventh of the UK’s population.  In a recent interview Tony Adams described the league as being similar to Scotland “without Rangers and Celtic or maybe the Spanish and Italian second divisions”.

In the season about to begin the league is made up of…

The league for the coming season

Team	Location	Venue	Capacity
AZAL	Baku	AZAL Stadium	3,000
FK Baku	Baku	Tofig Bahramov Stadium	30,000
Kəpəz	Ganja	Ganja City Stadium	25,000
Inter	Baku	Shafa Stadium	8,150
Khazar	Lankaran	Lankaran City Stadium	15,000
Neftchi	Baku	Ismat Gayibov Stadium	5,000
Qarabağ	Agdam	Guzanli Olympic Stadium	2,000
Gabala FC	Gabala	Gabala City Stadium	2,000
Sumgayit	Sumqayit	Mehdi Huseynzade Stadium	26,000
Ravan Baku	Baku	TBA	TBA
Simurq	Zaqatala	Zaqatala City Stadium	3,500
Turan	Tovuz	Tovuz City Stadium	10,000

I have mentioned already that the start of the 21st century saw the start of serious doubts about referees where bizarre decisions started to cost us games – not least in the cup final of last season against Liverpool.

2001 continued the theme and again we looked at Liverpool as the team [...]]]> by Tony Attwood

I have mentioned already that the start of the 21st century saw the start of serious doubts about referees where bizarre decisions started to cost us games – not least in the cup final of last season against Liverpool.

2001 continued the theme and again we looked at Liverpool as the team that seemed to be getting the benefits.  In the away league  game this season in December van Bronckhurst fell over in the penalty area.  He made no claim for a penalty, and indeed no one made a fuss.  Except the ref who sent him off for diving.  Despite this Arsenal won, and moved into second place not too far behind Man U who were on an 8 match winning sequence.

This, and victories over Chelsea and Middlesbrough had brought the year to a more promising end.

Of course if you know any Arsenal history you know what happened next.  From February onwards we won 13 games in a row, and that defeat against Newcastle proved to be the final defeat of the season.

We did not lose an away game all season in the league, the first time that happened since 1892, although you wouldn’t have known it from the media.

But if there is a memory that sticks in my mind, without going back and looking anything up, it is the match on 8 May away to Manchester United.

It is not just the victory, nor Wiltord’s goal.  It is not the banner in the away section proclaiming that it was the Champions Section of Old Trafford although all these will stay forever.  It was the sheer unadulterated violence of the match.  The tackling was not fierce, it was threatening, completely over the top and 99% unpunished.  It was as if the ref was saying, “you might be about to win the league, but this is a warning.  Don’t think you can do it again”.

Why did he let such awful tackles go?  Why did the commentary team on TV not pick up on the destruction of football by Man U, and their repeated attempt to maim Arsenal?

Man U of course were aggressive – we were taking away their crown and stopping them out-doing the three in a row that Arsenal had shown to be possible in the 1930s.  No one had or has beaten that.  But this went far beyond anything we had seen before which had gone unpunished.  It was the start of the maiming era in football – the era that led ultimately to Shawcross and the rest.

As for the Anti-Arsenal Arsenal (now being renamed on Untold as the “under 12s supporters club” on the grounds that want it all now, and no excuses) they were increasingly vociferous up to and including the Newcastle defeat at home on 18 December, but then vanished, pretending as always they had never been there.

So Arsenal won the league, seven points clear of Liverpool and ten clear of Man U.  Man U actually scored eight goals more than us.  Tottenham came ninth.

Ipswich, Derby and Leicester went down with Man City, WBA and Birmingham City coming up (the latter arriving after coming fifth in the league).  In the third division Brighton, Reading and  Stoke were promoted to the second, while Luton came up from the fourth to the third (again use a straight counting of 1 2 3 4 to number the leagues to avoid confusion as the names changed).  Halifax dropped out of the league.

For the battle of Old Trafford our team was…

Seaman

Lauren Campbell Keown Cole

Parlour Vieira Edu Ljunberg

Kanu Wiltord

Henry and Adams were injured.  Dixon came on as a sub for Kanu near the end.

Henry ended the season with 24 goals from 33 games.  Vieira, Wiltord and Bergkamp also played over 30 league games.  Adams only made it 10 times – a sign of the end of the famous back five.

The much derided Stepanovs was still in the side with six appearances.  Jeffers came on six times and there was one youngster who made it into the team for the first time from whom much was expected: Aladiere.

Oh well, can’t win them all!

Next in the series: 2001/2 – the cups.

The whole “Wenger”  series, so far… (in reverse order!)

Wenger stands up to the journalists and the Anti-Arsenal campaign

Remember when we lost 6-1 to Manchester United

2000/1: Barca steal our players, and the passport fiasco

1999/2000 – Mr Henry arrives

After the double, the Sheffield affair

Mr Wenger’s second season – the closeness of failure and success

Mr Wenger’s second season – who played, and the comparison of results

Mr Wenger’s second season

Mr Wenger’s first season

Before and after Arsene

The season before Arsene: what happened on the pitch

The Bruce Rioch Year – the man, the myth

In part one of the review of 1999/2000 we looked at a season opening that was a mix of injuries and the arrival of new players who took time to settle. It was no coincidence this season that Arsenal’s run of success had to wait until the end of the season, when [...]]]> By Tony Attwood

In part one of the review of 1999/2000 we looked at a season opening that was a mix of injuries and the arrival of new players who took time to settle.  It was no coincidence this season that Arsenal’s run of success had to wait until the end of the season, when the injuries finally cleared up.  We got 8 consecutive wins in March and April which secured second position, when for much of the season fourth seemed a more likely outcome.

But it was outside the league that something singularly odd happened, and was, for me at least, the first signal that all was not right with the world of football.

The match is question was Werder Bremen against Arsenal.  Mr Wenger was trying to organise two substitutes at once – a very ordinary procedure and certainly not outside the laws of the game.  However the officials refused to allow two subs at once for a reason that was never explained either then or later.

During the confusion Henry committed what seemed to most people to be a very ordinary foul on Mike Barten of Werder Bremen and was sent off for it.  It had little consequence for the game, which Arsenal won, but had every consequence for the following game for which Henry was banned.  So eccentric and odd were the decisions of the ref that day that I can mark this down as the moment when more than at any other time, the review of refereeing in football began in my mind – a review that is now carried on daily on Untold Arsenal.

If we take a look at the cups this season, we find a strange mix.  In the FA cup we went out in the fourth round to Leicester on penalties.  In the Worthington we were out in the fourth round also, this time to Middlesbrough, again on penalties.  In the Champions League we played again at Wembley but went out in the group stage and moved into the Uefa Cup.  Here we reached the final, but lost on penalties.

Three cups three defeats on penalties.

Perhaps even more alarming was the fact that although we were second, we were a poor second.  Manchester U got 91 points and lost only three league games all season.  We got 73 points and lost nine.  In third place was Leeds United with 69 points, and a total of 11 league defeats.

There’s a special significance here because Leeds’ third place took them into the Champions League, and they pushed on to the semi final under the guiding lights of our old chums David O’Leary and Peter Risdale.  They were knocked out at the end of March 2000 and not long after the fall from grace began.  While Arsenal were winning the league unbeaten in 2004, Leeds were one of three clubs on just 33 points that went down.  By 2007 they were in administration, suffering a 10 point deduction and going into the third division.

Such events show to me that it is not just a question of what you do this season, or next season, but how you conserve your resources over time.

Following this point I find it interesting that in 1999/2000 of the 13 bottom clubs only 3 are still in the top division.  The bottom 13 in descending order were

• Leicester
• West Ham
• Tottenham
• Newcastle
• Middlesbrough
• Everton
• Coventry
• Southampton
• Derby
• Bradford City
• Wimbledon
• Sheffield Wednesday
• Watford

All these clubs still exist, although Wimbledon has morphed into a new club (AFC Wimbledon) who this year won promotion to the fourth division from the Conference.  Wimbledon began their descent into non-existence and rebirth in Milton Keynes, along with Sheffield Wednesday (who have been on the edge a few times since) and Watford.

The FA Cup semis involved Bolton, Aston Villa, Newcastle and Chelsea. Chelsea beat Villa 1-0 in the final  In the league cup Leicester beat Tranmere 2-1.   Charlton, Manchester City and Ipswich Town came up to the Premier League.

Next – 2000/1

Making the Arsenal

Arsenal History index

Untold Arsenal Index

Who Was Arsenal’s Second Permanent Manager?

According to every Arsenal history written since 1986, George Elcoat was Arsenal’s second manager.

Up until 1952 he was only known as Mr Elcoat. Then Bernard Joy wrote “Forward, Arsenal!” and gave him an initial so that he became G. Elcoat. He remained this way until [...]]]> By Andy Kelly

Who Was Arsenal’s Second Permanent Manager?

According to every Arsenal history written since 1986, George Elcoat was Arsenal’s second manager.

Up until 1952 he was only known as Mr Elcoat. Then Bernard Joy wrote “Forward, Arsenal!” and gave him an initial so that he became G. Elcoat. He remained this way until 1986 when the club’s official centenary book was published and gave him a first name – George. Sadly, Bernard Joy and Daniel Feinstein (historian for the centenary book) are no longer with us to explain how they came about this information.

They got the wrong man. We’ve seen that there are a number of historical inaccuracies in Bernard Joy’s book. These have been subsequently copied by other authors. This is the case with Mr Elcoat.

Arsenal’s second manager was not George Elcoat, but his older brother William Robson Elcoat. William was born in Elton, Durham in 1859. He managed Arsenal between April 1898 and February 1899.

In 1891, he was living with his widowed mother and seven siblings in Stockton. He was working as a solicitor’s clerk.

The Elcoat family in 1891

WR Elcoat was one of the original directors when Stockton FC turned professional and became a limited company in 1892. The club also played other sports, one of them being baseball. WR Elcoat was heavily involved in the baseball scene in the area. He was an umpire and chairman of the Cleveland and South Durham Baseball Association.

North-Eastern Daily Gazette report on formation of Stockton Football And Athletic Company (Limited)

In 1895 the club had problems with the incumbent secretary who had refused to produce paperwork for the club’s accountant to prepare the company accounts for the 1894-95 season. During the AGM in June 1895, the directors sacked the secretary and decided that WR Elcoat should take over the position.

The Northern Echo reports WR Elcoat appointed secretary of Stockton FC

His name was only ever reported in the Stockton local press as WR Elcoat. From the birth, marriages and death registers we can see that only 1 birth with the surname Elcoat and the initials W R was registered before 1900. This was William Robson Elcoat who was born in Stockton in 1859. This can be verified by:

• visiting http://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/search.pl
• selecting All Types in the Type box
• elcoat in the Surname box
• w* r* in the First Name(s) box
• and clicking on the Find button

This link shows the search set up:

FreeBMD search for W R Elcoat

This shows the results:

FreeBMD search results for W R Elcoat

On 10 March 1898, Arsenal’s secretary-manager, Thomas Mitchell, resigned. I’ve not been able to ascertain whether a caretaker was put in place. If there was, it was probably director Arthur Kennedy (this will become apparent later). Sunderland manager Bob Campbell applied for the vacant position and it was offered to him. He accepted the offer on 18 March 1898 but then had a change of heart and decided to stay at Sunderland. WR Elcoat was then offered the job. He accepted the offer on 30 March 1898 and he took up the reins during the week commencing 11 April 1898.

The North-Eastern Daily Gazette reports Stockton FC secretary WR Elcoat appointed secretary-manager of Woolwich Arsenal FC

The club did not give a reason as to why they chose Elcoat but, financially, Stockton FC was run very well which would have been seen as a positive for the Arsenal directors. Also, Elcoat may have been friends of Arsenal director Jack Humble who came from the same area.

At Arsenal’s half-yearly AGM on 15 January 1899 he was shown as W.R. Elcoat

The Kentish Independent reports on Woolwich Arsenal FC’s 1898-99 half-yearly AGM

Elcoat’s tenure at Arsenal was just under a year. He resigned on 20 February 1899. It was reported that he found the Arsenal directors difficult to work with.

The Northern Echo reports WR Elcoat resigns as secretary-manager of Woolwich Arsenal FC

When he took control of the team it was 3rd in the second division and he left them in 6th place. Director Arthur Kennedy was installed as caretaker secretary-manager for the remainder of the season.

As you can see from the newspaper reports, there is some confusion as to the spelling of Elcoat’s name. In 1895, he wrote a letter that was published in the Sporting Life based in Los Angeles. His name is printed at the bottom of the letter. From this we can assume that it is the correct spelling as you would expect him to be able to spell his own name correctly! His letter can be seen here:

WR Elcoat letter in Sporting Life (Los Angeles) 2 November 1895

Something that I’ve recently found is a history of Woolwich Arsenal published in The Book Of Football in 1905. This was not actually a book but a magazine published in 12 fortnightly instalments. Part 1 was issued on Friday 20 October 1905 and contained the history of Woolwich Arsenal F.C, written by the club’s vice-chairman, Arthur Kennedy.

What I find strange is that Kennedy states the names of Arsenal’s first four managers: Mr. T.B. Mitchell, Mr. Elcoat, Mr. Harry Bradshaw and Mr. Phil Kelso. For three of them he gives either their initials or first name. But Elcoat is recognised only as “Mr.” At the time that Elcoat was secretary-manager of Arsenal, Kennedy was the club’s financial secretary. I would have thought that they would have met on numerous occasions. Surely he must have known Elcoat’s name or even his initials.

Arsenal’s first four managers as written in The Book Of Football, 20 October 1905

He returned to the family home in Stockton with his mother and siblings. He remained unmarried and died in Stockton in 1912.

I have been aided in my research by the recent boom in genealogy which has resulted in a large amount of historical documents being made easily accessible. Sites such as www.ancestry.co.uk have made it possible to search for data in minutes that would have taken weeks or months 10 years ago. This is probably why such mistakes were made, with researchers giving up after long fruitless searches.

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What do you do after you have won the double in your second full season at a club?

Answer: you do it again. That is what some fans expected. In fact the expectations were very high – and were dashed.

1998/9 started with four draws and a win. OK no defeats but [...]]]> By Tony Attwood

What do you do after you have won the double in your second full season at a club?

Answer: you do it again.  That is what some fans expected.  In fact the expectations were very high – and were dashed.

1998/9 started with four draws and a win. OK no defeats but not what we all expected, especially as three of the draws were 0-0.

The team we started with was

Seaman

Dixon Keown Adams Winterburn

Parlour Vieira Petit Overmars

Anelka Bergkamp

What strikes me with the benefit of hindsight is that this team is one which today we would look at a think – everyone there can do his job.  Everyone is tried and trusted.   There is none of the stuff that you hear today about half the team not being fit to wear the shirt.

If there were whisperings in the north bank it was over transfers.  Manchester United had brought in Jaap Stam, Jesper Bolomqvist and Dwight Yorke.  Arsenal purchased David Grondin from St Etienne and Nelson Vivas from Lugano.   Manchester United spent £24 million (equivalent to about £60 million today with the way transfer fees have escalated).

It was with that difference in mind that we were all aware of discussions that supposed were going on over moving Arsenal.  There were talks of Wembley, talks of enlarging Highbury, talks of going out north of Cockfosters to the fields around the M25, but nothing was resolved.

We spent a couple of million and sold Ian Wright to West Ham, David Platt retired.  Freddie Ljunberg came in, in September, largely unknown in England apart from an international appearance for Sweden against England.  His fee was around £3m.

The other player we wanted was Kanu, but Inter refused to deal at the price Arsenal offered (£4m) until January, and so we were short of forwards – not least with Chris Wreh, who had (remember) played in the Cup Final team ahead of Wright, utterly losing the ability to recognise a football for what it was.   The other player who might have helped was Luis Boa Morte who had had a good international summer, but couldn’t do it for Arsenal either.  Elsewhere we even tried Kaba Diawara, but to no avail.   Even when Kanu arrived it took several months for him to get a regular place in the team.

But things did pick up and from 20 December onwards we only lost one game – the penultimate against Leeds on 11 May.  Manchester U knocked us out of the cup semi-final after a replay, and we lost 5-0 at home to Chelsea in the league cup, playing what was pretty much a reserve side.  (Bergkamp played, but I believe he was suspended from league matches at the time after delivering an elbow, but able to play in the league cup, so he got some match practice).

That League Cup team is interesting because it represents a half way house between the “play the first team” approach and the “play the juniors” idea that came later.  The team was

Manninger

Vivas Grimandi Upson Grondin

Ljungberg Garde Hughes Boa Morte

Wreh Bergkamp

We played the Champions League games at Wembley in front of packed houses but with average results, the killer blow being a 1-0 home defeat to Lens.  The idea was to test out whether there really were 60,000 plus people who would come to see Arsenal – and there were.  It was in fact the seasons that we played at Wembley that laid the ground for the Ems – Arsenal could and would attract the big crowds if the space was there.  It convinced Arsenal – all they had to do was convince the banks.

The league appearances tell a story as always

• Overmars 36
• Dixon 35
• Parlour 34
• Anelka 34
• Keown 33
• Vieira 33
• Seaman 31
• Winterburn 30
• Bergmap 28
• Petit 26
• Adams 25
• Vivas 22

At the bottom end of the list of those appearing there were players for whom we might have had hope, but none broke through.  Boa Morte, Upson, Grondin, Mendez, Caballero – none of them made it – except perhaps Upson, and his misfortune was to be there when we had a rather fine array of experienced centre halves.

So it was not a season to win anything – but there was one amazing moment, which is now in the history books – the FA Cup fifth round against Sheffield United.   A Sheffield player was down injured, and they kicked the ball out.  Ray Parlour did the usual thing and threw the ball in – as it happened to Kanu, who did not do the usual thing and pass the ball back to Sheffield.  He gave it to Overmars who scored.

Several things happened – some of which are often recorded, some not.  First Steve Bruce called his players off.  On the films of the game you can clearly see him waving to his players to leave.   That should have resulted in a lengthy ban for him, but the FA did nothing.

Second, although the focus was on Kanu and the suggestion that he and Overmars didn’t know the convention (which certainly was possible since this was not the way the game was played everywhere), the fact is that scoring from such situations was not unknown.  Tottenham had done it in the past, as had Wimbledon. There was anger on those occasions but the game was played on.  None of the Sheffield histrionics.

Third, when  Mr Wenger offered a replay, Uefa blocked it, saying it would set a precedent.  Arsenal said they didn’t care about Uefa, and anyway they had no jurisdiction over the FA Cup.  So the replay went ahead and the result was the same – 2-1 to the Arsenal.

In the end we won nothing, and came second.  But second was good compared with the end of the Graham era and what Rioch delivered.

Half the penalties in Arsenal games were wrongly given this season!

The result in the league for 1997/8 look wonderful – we won the league with two games to spare, and finished five points ahead of Manchester U who ended up in second place.

We also won the FA Cup – our second double.

The winning match of the season, by which I [...]]]> By Tony Attwood

The result in the league for 1997/8 look wonderful – we won the league with two games to spare, and finished five points ahead of Manchester U who ended up in second place.

We also won the FA Cup – our second double.

The winning match of the season, by which I mean the game when we won the league, was a 4-0 home thrashing of Everton.   You will know this game, even if you were not there – because Tony Adams scored a wonder goal in front of the north bank, and just stood there, arms aloft.  It is one of the iconic pictures of Arsenal and Highbury.

I have so many memories of that day.  Being with Roger, my dear pal, and turning to him at half time and saying “we’ve done it” and him saying, “we could still throw this away!”   Thinking, “we’ve certainly got an interesting forward line in Anelka and Wreh,” and having little knowledge of what was to happen to both.

Plus with five minutes to go, leaning forward in my seat in the north bank upper, and looking left and seeing not the normal straggle of early leavers drifting away from the ground trying to beat the crowd, but instead the streets utterly packed solid with fans outside who had not been able to get tickets to be in the match.

As it happened with lost the final two matches 0-4 and 0-1 but no one minded because we were then thinking of the FA Cup.  It was all so wonderful.  Wasn’t it?

It was until mid-October. We were undefeated and had beaten Barnsley (yes Barnsley, in the Premier League) 5-0.  But then the next eight games were awful.  We won two of those games, drew two of them 0-0, and lost to Derby, Sheffield W, Newcastle and Blackburn.   By 13 December we were slipping, and slipping badly.

Although we started to rally around Christmas the team clearly had the ability to cause us regular supporters some serious heartache.   Third round of the FA Cup in January – at home to Port Vale, no problem.  We lined up

Seaman

Grimandi Keown Bould Winterburn

Parlour Vieira Petit OPvermars

Anelka Bergkamp

Not much wrong with that team.  No taking the FA Cup too lightly eh?  We drew 0-0 at Highbury.   Still the replay would be fine – except that we drew that too, 1-1 in extra time.   We won on penalties.

In fact the FA Cup, which of course we won, gave us particular problems that season.   We had another 0-0 at home in the fifth round with Crystal Palace, then of the Premier League, and against West Ham in the sixth we once again had to go to penalties.

In the League Cup we were at it again.  Against Birmingham in the third round we won 4-1 but not until extra time.  Against Coventry in the 4th round, there was extra time again.  We finally went out to Chelsea over two legs in the semis.

As for Europe, we lost to PAOK Salonika in the first round we played in, with a draw at home and a 1-0 defeat away.

My point therefore is that we won the double, and of course I celebrate this, not least because I was there.  But there were some very difficult times, and a lot of gnashing of teeth about the team’s performance on occasions.   The record book doesn’t lie – a double and five points ahead, but during the season itself it was not all plain sailing.