Tomáš Rosický will be 33 within three months of the start of the 2013/14 season – and as the story goes Mr Wenger does not retain players over 30 years of age.

Except of course he does, on occasion, and watching Arsenal in the 2012/13 season with Rosický [...]]]> By Tony Attwood (written 23 May 2013)

Tomáš Rosický  will be 33 within three months of the start of the 2013/14 season – and as the story goes Mr Wenger does not retain players over 30 years of age.

Except of course he does, on occasion, and watching Arsenal in the 2012/13 season with Rosický  playing is just a reminder of all that might have been had he not been afflicted by injury.

He came with the nickname “the little Mozart” because he could “orchestrate the midfield”.  (Actually I am not sure about Mozart’s midfield orchestration, but he could write the complete orchestral parts of a symphony as he composed – an ability which is considered by many musicologists to be unique.)

He (Rosický not Mozart) played for Borussia Dortmund after a €14.5 million transfer from Sparta Prague and when the club hit the financial buffers  he came to Arsenal on 23 May 2006.

I had my doubts at the time, not because of his footballing ability but because I couldn’t believe anyone could take over the number 7 shirt with the style and grace of the previous wearer…  Robert Pirès.

But during that summer there was an international tourney and Rosicky scored a sensational goal.  It made the mouth water and all doubts pass.

But… we all know what happened.  Rosický hit an injury crisis, and ultimately did not get a game during 2008–09 season because of a hamstring tendon injury.    He was in fact out for eighteen months but then no sooner was he back than in August 2009 he strained his hamstring.  It looked like we would never see his brilliance flourish at Arsenal.  He looked like Abou Diaby looks now.

However in January 2010, Rosický signed a two-and-a-half-year contract, and Arsène Wenger spoke of his contribution on and off the pitch.   But by 2011/12 it still looked as if we would never see the true brilliance of the man, and yet, against the odds he did come back.

On 26 February 2012, Rosický scored his first goal for two years against  Tottenham H.   It started the comeback that led to a 5-2 victory and the man of the match award, which he also got on that amazing night when we beat  Milan 3–0 in the Champions League.  He might not have been the sole cause of Arsenal’s re-birth in 2012/13 but he most certainly was part of it.

As Arsène Wenger said, “He was again outstanding tonight. In all of these games, he was one of the influential players and he does not always get the credit he deserves, so I would like to take this opportunity to give him this credit.”

And so, against all the odds and against all the predictions, and all the nonsense that the AAA threw at him, Rosický signed a new contract on 12 March 2012.

But… of all things he then got injured in Euro 2012.   I thought that might be it, but he came back, at first playing in the less important games, but finally showing his brilliance by the end of the season.

Here are his figures…

He will, as I said, be 33 this coming season.  I for one hope he can avoid injuries and will play on through that birthday, and give us more of what we saw on occasion last season.

And I can do no better than quote what Arsenal.com has to say: “Impeccable vision, accurate passing and sharp turns of pace have long been strong suits of this exciting midfielder, who signed a new contract in March and was came third in the supporters’ Player of the Season poll at the end of the campaign.”

More of the same please.

• Arsenal manager by manager.
• Arsenal’s anniversaries. 
• Royal Arsenal

——————

The books…

• Woolwich Arsenal: The club that changed football – Arsenal’s early years
• Making the Arsenal – how the modern Arsenal was born in 1910
• The Crowd at Woolwich Arsenal – crowd behaviour at the early matches

In 1923 he was sold to Arsenal. The table below shows his league record, and reminds us that although Jimmy played mostly under Chapman he was signed by the previous manager – Leslie [...]]]> Jimmy Brain was born on 11 September 1900 in Bristol, and played for Ton Pentre having worked previously as a coal miner.

In 1923 he was sold to Arsenal.   The table below shows his league record, and reminds us that although Jimmy played mostly under Chapman he was signed by the previous manager – Leslie Knighton.

His first year at Arsenal saw him playing in the reserves – and it is worth remembering that while reserve games are these days largely ignored, they could get significant crowds in the 1920s, with often 5,000 or 10,000 turning up for a game.

His first game in the first team was on 25 October 1924 and was a 1-0 win over Tottenham (who had also tried to sign him from Ton Petre).  Jimmy Brain scored the goal.

Looking at the figures above it is not surprising that from the 1924/5 season to 1928/29 he was the top scorer and became (on 7 March 1928) the first player to score 100 goals for Arsenal.   The 1925/6 tally was only overtaken in 1934/5 by Ted Drake.

Jimmy Brain played in Arsenal’s first cup final in 1927.  However by the 1929/30 the Chapman revolution was well under way and David Jack took over the centre forward slot, with Brain getting a few games as inside right.   The following season Lambert and Jack were the first choice players for the 8 and 9 shirts and Brain was gradually squeezed out.  as the number 9

However he did get a league winner’s medal for the 1930/31 season and his last appearance was on 21 March 1931.

In September 1931 he moved to Tottenham for a transfer fee of £2,500.  He played 47 games for Tottenham and scored 10.  What happened after that is slightly unclear as sources vary, Dean Hayes in Arsenal the Football Facts having him transferred as a player to Kings Lynn while Wikipedia has him playing until the first world war, for Swansea Town and Bristol City (51 and 32 games respectably).  It is also interesting that Hayes has Brain signing for Cardiff City before Ton Pentre, but Wiki has him as being rejected by Cardiff.

Wiki has Brain as a manager of Kings Lynn and Cheltenham Town during the war years (which seems less likely) until 1948 when he retired from football.

He died in 1971, but no date is given.

If you know any more, please do get in touch.  If you have sources for your knowledge it would be good to know these too.

Ingrained within the heritage of The Arsenal is the long standing latin motto “Victoria Concordia Crescit”. Over the years there have been a number of variations of the translation but all are roughly the same: “Victory Grows Through Harmony.”

But when was this motto first [...]]]> by Andy Kelly
(@Gooner_AK)

Ingrained within the heritage of The Arsenal is the long standing latin motto “Victoria Concordia Crescit”. Over the years there have been a number of variations of the translation but all are roughly the same: “Victory Grows Through Harmony.”

But when was this motto first attributed to The Arsenal, and why?

I recently stumbled across the answer whilst looking for something else. A clear case of serendipity which frequently happens as the members of the AHS read through old newspapers, programmes, books and other documents.

As you are no doubt aware, Woolwich Arsenal moved from Plumstead to Highbury 100 years ago this summer. The last season in Plumstead had been dire as the club recorded its worst ever performance on the pitch. It would be another 70 years before another team had such a disastrous season in the top flight. Attendances hit rock bottom as well and the directors had no option but to move the club to a more accessible area.

So, Woolwich Arsenal started the 1913-14 season in the Second Division and with a new home. The change of scenery worked wonders as the first three league games were won, as was a friendly against QPR. This left Woolwich Arsenal sitting pretty at the top of the table and people from all over London and the suburbs were coming to watch them. Things were going swimmingly for North London’s top team.

As part of the re-branding, a new programme design was also introduced, expanded from 8 to 16 pages and edited by George Allison under the pseudonym “Gunners’ Mate”. At the front was a section titled “Our Weekly Chat by The Directors”. As to who wrote this we are not 100% certain. However, it was more likely to be Henry Norris rather than William Hall who tended to keep away from the limelight.

After this fantastic start, the programme notes for the game against HullCity on 20 September 1913 were very upbeat. So much so that The Directors attributed the success to “concord” within the club and the Latin motto “Victoria Concordia Crescit” was mentioned for the first time. The relevant page from the programme is shown below (click to enlarge).

In the current climate maybe it is worth giving this a second thought – Victory Grows Through Harmony.

As that is all I knew of him before starting this little delve into the archives I was rather amazed to find that he actually made 461 football [...]]]> Danny O’Shea was born on 26 March 1963 and played six league games for Arsenal in the 1982/3 season – Terry Neil’s last full season in charge.

As that is all I knew of him before starting this little delve into the archives I was rather amazed to find that he actually made 461 football league appearances in total, and indeed made a number of non-league appearances after that.

Here is the list of his clubs and games as showing on Wikipedia.

Danny was born in Newington, came through the youth system at Arsenal and was indeed captain of the youth team, played in a friendly on 20 May 1982 and then played his first game against Birmingham  on 30 October 1982.

In all he played six league games that season, and three cup games – his total contribution to Arsenal as a midfielder.

As we can see he had more success in the lower leagues most particularly in four years at Southend.  Indeed he played for Cambridge during their period of success under John Beck.  In 1989/90 Cambridge ended sixth in the fourth division, but won through the play-offs to gain promotion.  In 1990/1 they won the third division title, for a second promotion.  He was also captain of the team when they played a 6th round tie against Arsenal in 1991.

The following season Cambridge ended fifth in the second division, but lost out in the play offs.  But it had all been too far too fast as in 1992/3 the club were relegated to the third tier, and in 1994/5 were relegated again to the fourth tier.  The club stabilised for a while but then in 2005 came bottom of League Two and left the league.

Danny went to Northampton in 1995 combining the roles of player and assistant manager to the former Cambridge United manager Ian Atkins. After that it was non-league football, and there we lose trace of him.  If you know any more of his life thereafter please do tell.

• Arsenal manager by manager.
• Arsenal’s anniversaries. 
• Royal Arsenal

——————

The books…

• Woolwich Arsenal: The club that changed football – Arsenal’s early years
• Making the Arsenal – how the modern Arsenal was born in 1910
• The Crowd at Woolwich Arsenal – crowd behaviour at the early matches

He was also an international for N Ireland gaining six caps.

The names of John and Jack are confusing simply because there [...]]]> John McClelland (also known as Jack) was born 19 May 1940 and tragically died on 15 March 1976 at the age of 35 and played for Arsenal as a goalkeeper for four seasons.

He was also an international for N Ireland gaining six caps.

The names of John and Jack are confusing simply because there was another footballer,  John William “Jack” McClelland (1930 – 2004) who played for Rochdale, Swindon and Stoke.  

The Jack McClelland who played for us was born in Lurgan, and played initially for Genavon.  After leaving Arsenal he went on to play for Fulham (51 games and Lincoln (12 games on loan).  Wikipedia also has a note that he played for Barnet, although without any details.  If you know about this, please do write in.

Jack was signed near the end of Kelsey’s career (which ended in the summer1962) had one major season with Arsenal – 1962/3 where he replaced McKechnie in goal and played 33 games.  The following season however both McClelland and McKechnie were supplanted by Jim Furnell, who over the next couple of years went on to secure his place as the first choice keeper.

Jack McClelland therefore played under two of our most under-performing managers – Swindin and Wright.

Jack McClelland died of a brain tumour in March 1976 at the age of 35.

• Arsenal manager by manager.
• Arsenal’s anniversaries. 
• Royal Arsenal

——————

The books…

• Woolwich Arsenal: The club that changed football – Arsenal’s early years
• Making the Arsenal – how the modern Arsenal was born in 1910
• The Crowd at Woolwich Arsenal – crowd behaviour at the early matches
• Coming soon: Royal Arsenal

Other sites from the same team…

• Untold Arsenal
• Referee Decisions - just what are the refs up to this season?

He signed as an apprentice for Arsenal in 1973 and played for the reserves from the age of 16, playing his first game for the first team on 16 August 1975, aged 17. Twenty years later, on 17 May 1993 [...]]]> David O’Leary was born 2 May 1958 and is Arsenal’s all time top appearance man.

He signed as an apprentice for Arsenal in 1973 and played for the reserves from the age of 16, playing his first game for the first team on 16 August 1975, aged 17.  Twenty years later, on 17 May 1993 David O’Leary played his farewell game v Manchester United

From here on his progress in the league (and these figures are league only) was extraordinary, as the table shows:

These numbers show that he had an immediate impact from a very early age.

His first major honour was the FA Cup – playing in the win over Manchester United although he also played in the defeats in the other two cup finals of the era, and the Cup Winners Cup final of 1980.

By the age of 26 he had played over 400 times for the club, and then overtook the record for the most games for the club – reaching 622 (Armstrong held the record before that).

It was the partnership of Bould and Adams that finally dislodged him, but he did win the league with Arsenal in 1989 and 1991, and played in the double winning side of 1993, often as a sub.Then he was given a free transfer to Leeds after 19 years with Arsenal, and played regularly for them.  He retired from football as a player aged 37, after suffering an achilles injury.

David O’Leary had a more difficult relationship with Ireland, missing games through being dropped by Charlton, and for refusing to give up a family holiday when he was called up at the last moment.

After life as a player O’Leary went into management as assistant to George Graham at Leeds, a post which utterly suprised me at the time.  After Graham went to Tottenham, O’Leary became Leeds manager and in 1999 took them to fourth in the Premier League.In 2000 Leeds were knocked out of the Uefa cup in the semi-final and finished third in the league, and it seemed that Graham knew what he was doing when he took O’Leary into management.Astoundingly Leeds got to the semi-finals of the Champions League.  But Leeds were in real trouble – as for the first the words “Peter Ridsdale” took on a special meaning.  Gambling on the fact that Leeds would play in the Champions League again, he had borrowed £60m for O’Leary to buy new players.
But Leeds didn’t get into the Champions League for 2001/2, nor the next season.  Meanwhile O’Leary wrote or had ghosted a book “Leeds United on Trial” – about the activities of some players in the town centre, and their subsequent trial – while at the same time spending an amazing £100m on players over a four year period.
Three facts need to be noted at this point.  O’Leary didn’t win a trophy at Leeds, he never seemed to ask where on earth the £100m had come from, and he was beyond doubt disloyal to the club in his writing of the book.O’Leary left, and in 2004 Leeds were relegated to division three with £80m debt.  Meanwhile O’Leary became manager of Aston Villa and by 2005 was spending considerable sums of money on players, but only finished two places from relegation.  He left in 2006.  His next management job was in the UAE from July 2010 to April 2011 when he was sacked having won six of the 15 games his team had played.Despite his later activities he is remembered as a true servant of Arsenal, and  a truly remarkable player.

• Arsenal manager by manager.
• Arsenal’s anniversaries. 
• Royal Arsenal

——————

The books…

• Woolwich Arsenal: The club that changed football – Arsenal’s early years
• Making the Arsenal – how the modern Arsenal was born in 1910
• The Crowd at Woolwich Arsenal – crowd behaviour at the early matches
• Coming soon: Royal Arsenal

Other sites from the same team…

• Untold Arsenal
• Referee Decisions - just what are the refs up to this season?

The FA Cup Final of 1993 is one I particularly remember, having been there (which always helps the memory). It was played in the days when Wembley was, to my mind, a horrible, grotty ground where, as I recall, we sat on bench seats that had been put on the original terraces, [...]]]> By Tony Attwood

The FA Cup Final of 1993 is one I particularly remember, having been there (which always helps the memory).  It was played in the days when Wembley was, to my mind, a horrible, grotty ground where, as I recall, we sat on bench seats that had been put on the original terraces, so you had no guarantee of a proper view.

We started the journey on 2 January with a 3-1 win away to Yeovil and followed that up with a 2-2 draw at home to Leeds, winning the replay away 2-3.  The 5th round was a 2-0 home win against Forest, followed by a 2-4 away win at Ipswich.

The semi-final which I also went to was a 1-0 victory over Tottenham, also at Wembley.

And so to the final against Sheffield Wednesday, whom we had already beaten to win the League Cup.  It finished 1-1, and a replay was ordered for the following Thursday.

This was Sheffield Wednesday’s first FA Cup final for 27 years, and curiously they too had reached the League Cup final, losing to … well us 2-1.  It was a that sort of deja vu thing all over again.

Although it will always be remembered for being a season in which we became the first ever team to win the Cup Double, and Sheffield W became the first team to lose in both finals, it was not a great year for us otherwise as the final league table shows.

Just to add to the fun we had played in a league game two weeks before the FA Cup Final. But our form was not that inspirational in the league.

Just two wins in the last ten, ending with a horrible 1-3 at home to Tottenham, except that by then we had one cup tucked away in the storeroom and the possibility of the second.  No one bothered that much about losing to the Tiny Totts.

As for this first leg of the cup final Ian Wright gave us the lead on 20 minutes and Wednesday equalised on 61 minutes.

This was the last FA Cup final to go to a replay; after this one the Cup had to be decided on the day of the first match.   It was also the first final to use squad numbers, and the squad number system that we now have was used in the Premier League from 1993/4 onwards.

Steve Morrow also got his League Cup medal before the final – having been dropped by Tony Adams after the celebrations having scored the winner in that game.  For David O’Leary this washis penultimate game.

And so the teams.

Seaman

Dixon Linigham Adams Winterburn

Merson Davis Jensen Parlour

Campbell Wright

Subs: O’Leary and SmithAttendance 79,347.  It wasn’t a great game, but we still had the chance of a unique cup double.  I remember particularly how the press just didn’t seem to care.  Anything that they said about us had the word “boring” in it.  They just wanted this out of the way so they could go back to talking about Liverpool.

13 May 1933: Eddie Hapgood made international début

Part of the work on this site is to build the biggest ever Arsenal anniversaries record. At the last count we had articles on about 500 events related to specific days, but at certain times of [...]]]>

Today’s anniversaries:

13 May 1904: Archibald Gray joined Woolwich Arsenal

13 May 1933: Eddie Hapgood made international début

Part of the work on this site is to build the biggest ever Arsenal anniversaries record.  At the last count we had articles on about 500 events related to specific days, but at certain times of the year it gets a bit tough to find a story.

This is especially true at this time of year but even so we can usually find something, and today is no exception.  In fact today we have two such articles.

First of all there is Archibald Gray, apparently known (with that wry wit for which footballers are renown) as Baldie.  He played 184 games for Woolwich Arsenal between 1904 and 1912 – at which point he was transferred to Fulham – a transfer which itself is full of interest.

Eddie Hapgood was one of our all time greats, and we’ve got a couple of articles on him already on the site.  Click on the date link above to be taken to one, which then leads you to the other.

I do hope you find the Anniversary series interesting.  If you know of an anniversary that should be recorded here, please do write and let me know (Tony.Attwood@aisa.org) or better still write the article and email it to me as a Word file.    I have constantly focussed on older anniversaries, but there is no reason why something important for last season or the season before should not be included.

Ideally if you are writing please write about an anniversary that is at least a week away so I will have a chance to make it a feature for the day in question.

But as I said, I do also welcome being told of specific anniversaries without an accompanying article.  I’ll list them in the log of anniversaries (see link above) and try to do the article when that date comes up.

Tony Attwood

• Arsenal manager by manager.
• Royal Arsenal

——————

The books…

• Woolwich Arsenal: The club that changed football – Arsenal’s early years
• Making the Arsenal – how the modern Arsenal was born in 1910
• The Crowd at Woolwich Arsenal – crowd behaviour at the early matches
• Coming soon: Royal Arsenal

Other sites from the same team…

• Untold Arsenal
• Referee Decisions - just what are the refs up to this season?

He started out in football playing for Ashton United, signed a youth contract with Wolverhampton, who then decided not to take him on, tried his luck with Bolton who also decided not to take him on. The normal reason was that he [...]]]> Alan Ball MBE  was born 12 May 1945 and died 25 April 2007.

He started out in football playing for Ashton United, signed a youth contract with Wolverhampton, who then decided not to take him on, tried his luck with Bolton who also decided not to take him on.  The normal reason was that he was too small.

After intervention from his father Blackpool gave Ball a trial and signed him as an apprentice. Alan played for England in the 1966 World Cup for England and then moved to Everton.  He won the 1970 League Championship with them – his only major trophy.

On 22 December 1971, Arsenal paid £220,000 (a record) for Ball, who made his début on 27 December 1971 against Forest.  But thereafter as the double winning side fell apart, Ball found himself in a team going nowhere.

Here is the Arsenal form for his era

Ball was made captain in 1974, but as matters declined, he announced his attention to leave, although then drew back from that.

In the summer of 1976 Bertie Mee retired and Terry Neill took over.  Alan Ball played on until December 1976 when he moved to Southampton for £60,000.

Ball played with the promotion winning Southampton team before moving to the North American League, playing for Philadelphia Fury becoming player coach for a while before being sold to  Vancouver Whitecaps where he won the NASL Soccer Bowl.

In February 1980 Ball became as player-manager of Blackpool but he only stayed for a year as the team just missed relegation and continued near the foot the table.  Ball fell out with the fans, and eventually he left before Blackpool were relegated.

In March 1981, Ball returned to Southampton as a player and the following year played in Hong Kong before moving to Bristol Rovers before retiring as a player.  He had played 975 games across 21 years.

Ball became a manager of Portsmouth and he got them promoted to the first division.  However after they were relegated back to the second division he was sacked and moved first to Colchester then Stoke.

He changed the squad dramatically at Stoke, and took them into the 3rd division for the first time in 63 years.   When it was clear they would not immediately climb back to the 2nd Ball was sacked.

In July 1991 he tried again this time with Exeter City of the 3rd Division and he left them as they headed for relegation to the 4th Division.  He also worked with the England team but that was not a success either.

He returned as manager of Southampton in 1994 and managed to keep them up.  He re-established Le Tissier as a goal scorer and signed Grobbelaar.

Although he had some success at Southampton Ball went to Manchester City in July 1995 and as seemed by now his habit, was relegated with them.  He resigned three games into the next season.

Ball returned to Portsmouth as manager in Feb 1998 and the survived in the league by winning their final game of the season.  After his dismissal in the following season he retired aged 54.

He was at his prime a superb player, of that there is no doubt, but he was not a good manager, and the wonder is why he was able to find so many positions as a manager.  He always complained after each sacking that he was not given the backing of the board nor allowed sufficient cash to buy the players he wanted.  But there were occasions when he could make wholesale changes.  At Stoke for example he sold Chris Kamara, Dave Bamber, Leigh Palin, Carl Saunders, Gary Hackett and Nicky Morgan.  He bought Tony Ellis, Lee Sandford, Tony Kelly, Dave Kevan, Paul Barnes and Noel Blake.  It didn’t work, but then in management for Alan Ball it rarely did.

• Arsenal manager by manager.
• Arsenal’s anniversaries. 
• Royal Arsenal

——————

The books…

• Woolwich Arsenal: The club that changed football – Arsenal’s early years
• Making the Arsenal – how the modern Arsenal was born in 1910
• The Crowd at Woolwich Arsenal – crowd behaviour at the early matches
• Coming soon: Royal Arsenal

Other sites from the same team…

• Untold Arsenal
• Referee Decisions - just what are the refs up to this season?