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Tracing back the roots of Arsenal Football club is a somewhat complex task to undertake. The club has taken on many different names and indeed forms and while it came into existent in 1886, it was not until 1893 that it entered the Football League for the first time. However the best place to start the club’s history is with a Scotsman named David Danskin in the year 1886. Being a Scotsman, he had no passion for rugby or cricket, the two games played in Woolwich, Kent where his local works were situated. As a result he sought to start a work’s football team. As luck would have it, two Nottingham Forest players Fred Beardsley and Morris Bates arrived in Woolwich and they along with Danskin and three friends managed to persuade nine other men to start a club with them.
Their first game was arranged for 11th December 1886, when they would take on a team called Eastern Wanderers. However three problems threatened to undermine the occasion, for the team had no kit, no pitch and in fact no name. On the day they went by the name of one of their workshops (Dial Square) and they found a playing area and suitable attire for the match (which they won 6-0). However they needed long-term solutions to these problems and these were shortly found. Beardsley and Bates wrote to Nottingham Forest to see if they could spare any kits for the team and they generously provided a full set of kits for the team. The club decided that Dial Square was not a suitable name for the team and they decided to call themselves The Royal Arsenal. This was later changed to fully reflect the works they were situated at and in 1891 they became Woolwich Arsenal. For a couple of years they played on Plumstead Common before finding a more permanent home at The Manor Ground next to Plumstead station in 1888. Finally, after seven years of playing in junior competitions, in 1893 Woolwich Arsenal were elected to the Football League and started the season in the Second Division.
The next twenty years were fairly unspectacular for Woolwich Arsenal. Despite flirting with promotion on a few occasions, on the whole they were stuck in mid table mediocrity. The only real incident of note was the club moving to Highbury in 1913. But by the time that came around the club was starting to look in financial trouble. Being stuck in the Second Division threatened to send the club into bankruptcy and they needed promotion fast. Luckily the squad of players they had that season looked as if they were going to achieve this, but ultimately they did not quite have enough and finished 5th. However, the footballing world was thrown into chaos with the start of World War One and the League was suspended for five years. By the time the League was ready to restart in 1919 things were not looking good for the club as their debts had worsened dramatically. With certain bankruptcy looming Chairman Sir Henry Norris made one last desperate attempt to get the club into the First Division.
It had been agreed the top flight would expand from 20 to 22 teams from 1919 and Norris was determined to make Arsenal one of the two teams who were included. What made this attempt all the more audacious was the fact that Arsenal, who had come 6th in Division Two before the war had started, had no business being at the meeting in the first place! But whatever Norris did or said it clearly worked as Arsenal were elected into the First Division and to that day they have remained there. In recognition of this the club decided that it should simply be called The Arsenal, the name it also retains today.
The next major milestone in the history of Arsenal was the appointment of Herbert Chapman as the club’s manager in 1925. It took Chapman a few years to get things going at the club but Arsenal reached their first ever FA Cup final in 1927 where they lost to Cardiff City 1-0. However they were to return to Wembley in 1930 and this time they defeated Champman’s old team Huddersfield Town 2-0 to lift the trophy for the first time. This started a golden period of football for the club, with stars like Bastin, Drake, Jack and James all setting the game alight. The club won the League Title in 1931, 1933, 1934, 1935 and 1938, while they also picked up the FA Cup in 1936. This was despite the tragic death of Chapman in 1934, where he was replaced as manager by George Allison. However his time in charge of the team was interrupted by World War Two and when League football restarted in 1946 he resigned after the first season back and was replaced by Tom Whittaker. This was another successful period for the club as they won the First Division in 1948 and 1953 and the FA Cup in 1950. Sadly tragedy was again to strike the club in 1956 when Whittaker suddenly died. He was replaced by Jack Crayston who took charge of the team until 1958. His replacement George Swinton made a good start to his Highbury career by steering the team to 3rd in the League in his first season in charge at the club. However three seasons stuck in mid table spelled doom for Swinton and he resigned in March 1962. The club’s choice of successor was somewhat unusual but was nonetheless popular at the time. Legendary England International Billy Wright took charge at Highbury, in an attempt to bring the glory days back to the club. Sadly if anything the club started to decline further under Wright and after four miserable years in charge the Arsenal board sacked him in 1966. Luckily for the club a far less well known man was about to turn things around for them.
Quite why Arsenal turned to the club’s physiotherapist for their next manager is unsure. However it turned out to be an inspired decision as Bertie Mee was to turn the club around. After a couple of average seasons Arsenal started to show their potential by reaching the 1968 and 1969 League Cup finals. Despite losing them both, one of which embarrassingly to Third Division Swindon Town, real improvement in the team was being shown. Then in 1970 the club did the unthinkable by winning the European Fairs Cup (modern day UEFA Cup), beating none other than Ajax on the way to the final where they overcame a 3-1 first leg deficit to beat Anderlecht 4-3 on aggregate. This paved way for season 1970-71. In far and away Arsenal’s best post World War Two season they went on to win the League and Cup double. Legends were made that year and moments were etched in the annals of Arsenal time for years to come. But none more so than Charlie George smashing the winning goal past Ray Clemence in FA Cup Final extra time to win the double for Arsenal. Sadly this was to be the peak of the side’s achievements and despite reaching the Cup Final again the following year (losing 1-0 to Leeds) the club was to go into a serious slide which saw them finish as low as 17th in season 1975 – 1976.
This led to Bertie Mee’s resignation and the appointment of Terry Neill. Neill’s appointment saw a marked improvement in Arsenal’s performances and by 1978 they were back in the FA Cup Final, sadly once again being on the losing side. But the side proved they were not down and out by bouncing straight back to the following years final and in one of Wembley’s most dramatic games beat Manchester United 3-2 to lift the Cup once more. Having led 2-0 until the 85th minute of the game, Arsenal went into suicide mode and allowed United to scored 2 goals in the last five minutes to tie the score at 2-2. But amazingly Alan Sunderland went straight up the other end and scored to bring the cup back to Highbury. It could well have stayed there a following year as Arsenal once again reached the final but the side lost 1-0 to West Ham United and it was not to be. This was sadly also the case in the 1980 European Cup Winners’ Cup final which Arsenal heartbreakingly lost on penalties to Valencia of Spain. Another couple of solid seasons in the league followed with the side finishing 3rd in 1981 and 5th in 1982.However the club started to slide down the league table and in mid late 1983 Neill was sacked. Don Howe took charge for the next 3 years and despite the team playing some good football at times they just could not find the winning formula. In March 1986 Howe resigned, to make way for George Graham.
Success was quickly to return to Highbury. In his first season in charge Arsenal led the First Division at Christmas and although they could not hold on, they did manage to defeat hot favourites Liverpool in the League Cup Final. Arsenal also came within 10 minutes of retaining this trophy the following year, but they let a 2-1 lead slip to Luton Town and it was not to be. However season 1988-89 was to be the year Arsenal fans had waited for since 1970-1971. It had looked as if it had all gone wrong for Graham’s team after having led for most of the season they found themselves needing to go to Anfield on the last game of the season and win by two clear goals. Baring in mind no side had done this for nearly two years it was always going to be difficult.
With the game in injury time Arsenal led 1-0 and despite an excellent performance it all looked too little too late. But amazingly the side spread the ball from back to front in a few seconds, finally feeding in Michael Thomas to fire the ball past Bruce Grobbelar in Liverpool’s goal to win the game and the title. It has, and forever will, go down as the most dramatic moment in the League Championship history. Arsenal could not defend their crown the following year but come the start of season 1990-91 they were ready to reclaim it. In a truly amazing season in which they only lost one league game and just let in 18 goals they romped to the League Title again, playing fantastic football on the way. Unfortunately for Graham the remainder of his reign in charge did not see Arsenal win the Championship again. They were however very successful in the Cups, winning the FA and League Cups in 1993 and the European Cup Winner’s Cup in 1994. His last season in charge, season 1994-1995 was to prove very traumatic indeed. Arsenal’s domestic performances were often shambolic and the club lumbered to 12th in the League finishing only 6 points off relegation. To make matters worse star player Paul Merson admitted he was addicted to cocaine and subsequently missed half the season through joining rehab. If this was not bad enough Graham was later sacked for financial irregularities and caretaker manager Stewart Houston had to over see the business end of Arsenal’s Cup Winner’s Cup defence.
Amazingly after displays of great courage and inner strength Arsenal made it back to its final, to face Spaniards Real Zaragoza. With the match deadlocked at 1-1 in extra time injury time the match seemed to be heading for penalties. However ex-Tottenham player Nayim had other ideas as he lobbed the ball over Arsenal’s goalie David Seaman from 50 yards to win the game for his team. It was a cruel end to a cruel season for Arsenal. The close season saw the appointment of relative unknown Bruce Rioch as Arsenal’s new manager. However this was tempered by the signings of top European star Dennis Bergkamp and England Captain David Platt. Despite these signings Arsenal had an average season and at the start of the following season Rioch was sacked. The club went for another relative unknown as his replacement, a certain Arsène Wenger.
Wenger instantly set about transforming Arsenal. The long ball game they had used for years was out and a new cultured style of play was in. Arsenal finished season 1996-1997 in 3rd place in the league, but more crucially had done so in a manner that suggests they could challenge perennial winners Manchester United for the Championship. This theory was proven to be correct the following year as the team stormed to the league and cup double, winning 10 league games in a row to pick up the Championship. Season 1997-1998 also saw Ian Wright becoming Arsenal’s all time top goal scorer but sadly injury caused him to miss the World Cup that year. Arsenal who had only had one representative at the World Cups in 1990 and 1994 combined now had two players in the winning French team in 1998 alone!
The following year saw Arsenal come agonisingly close to repeating the double, but an FA Cup Semi Final defeat to Manchester United and last day of the League Season heartbreak, again to Manchester United saw them miss out. The next season Arsenal flattered to deceive, while again finishing second in the Premiership, they were a long way off Manchester United who won it at a canter. However Arsenal did manage to make the UEFA Cup final, but were denied on penalties by Galatasary of Turkey. Season 2000-2001 was a similar story, with Arsenal again trailing in second in the Premiership, a long way behind Manchester United and them also missing out in a major final, this time 2-1 to Liverpool. But these disappointments were put behind them in 2001-2002 as Arsenal once again won the double, beating Chelsea 2-0 in the FA Cup final and putting on a 13 game winning run to win the Championship. They carried this form into season 2002-2003, breaking records for most consecutive League Wins (14) and most League games unbeaten (30). Sadly this was to count for little in the end as the side throw away an 8 point lead to let Manchester United re-claim the Championship. Arsenal did however win the FA Cup, beating Southampton 1-0 to ease the pain slightly.
So there it is, 117 years of history condensed into a few paragraphs of text. However, for an in depth look at the club’s history, please click the link on the navigation menu which will take you to a fascinating and thorough account of Arsenal’s life through the ages. It is well worth the read!
With thanks to “The Official History of Arsenal 1886-1995” by Phil Soar and Martin Tyler
