Fact or Fiction? (It's a Fact)

[Loylz]

And are we going to find out,henry's girl,or we are condemned to live in ignorance? :mrgreen:

It's a FACT and jamesnoza was spot on.


Whole article from arse mag....


Arsenal once almost merged with Fulham

This is quite true. the year in question was 1910; and, ironically. the main driving force behind the scheme was Henry Norris (later Sir Henry Norris MP), who would later become Arsenal's chairman and main financier. In fact, had Norris' original plan not been rejected by the Football League, Woolwich Arsenal would have been swallowed up by Fulham.
Norris was an influential figure in South West London. Chairman of Fulham since 1907, and mayor of the borough, he had made a fortune in the real estate market south of the river. He was desperate to create a professional London football team that could compete with the powerhouses of the north. In 1910, when Woolwich Arsenal went into liquidation, and shares in a newly formed company were issued, he and his fellow directors stepped in to buy a majority stake, with a view to absorbing Arsenal into Fulham, and building a London 'superclub'.
However, their plan was only partially successful.
on 19 May, 1910, as Britain prepared to bury its monarch, King Edward VII, The Times carried the following notice, tucked away in its 'sporting intelligence' section, in between the croquet and the cricket reports:


A sub-commitee appointed by the Football League with representatives of Woolwich Arsenal and Fulham clubs met at the Imperial Hotel yesterday, when the question of the future of the Woolwich Arsenal Football Club was discussed. The sub-commitee declined to sanction the proposal that the Fulham club should take over the Arsenal Club, but agreed to the formation of a new board of directors consisting of Mr G.H. Leavey (Chairman of the former board of directors), Mr Norris, Mr Allen and Mr Hall (of the Fulham Club).
The new directors will appeal for subscriptions for shares, but failing adequate support from the local public they will themselves subscribe sufficient money to justify them in going into allotment and they will continue the Woolwich Club for one year at least. If in that time the local public show by their support that they are desirous of retaining First Division Football in the district, the club will continued, but if not it will then be the duty of the directors to consider what is best in their own interests and the interests of the shareholders.

Thus, in 1910, Woolwich Arsenal were initially guaranted no more than a year's existence, with their fate largely in the hands of Norris and his fellow Fulham directors. Having failed with the idea of a merger, Norris then mooted the idea of moving Arsenal to Craven Cottage, and running both clubs from his southwest London bastion. However, the Football League made it clear that it would not be in the interest of the game for one man to control two clubs. Norris then decided that Woolwich Arsenal and not Fulham offered the best prospect of realising his ambitions. In 1913, by now fully divested of his interests in Fulham FC, he engineered Arsenal's move north of the Thames from Woolwich to Highbury. Over a decade later, in 1925 he appointed Herbert Chapman as secretary-manager. In doing so, Norris did indeed lay the foundations for London's first superclub, though not quite as he had first indended.





Now u all know, I bet the players and Wenger dnt know that

Interesting. I really hadn't a clue. Thank's for that bit of trivia Hg.