History of Arsenal FC to 1956

The screed below is my attempt to condense the early history of Arsenal Football Club. Unfortunately it turned out to be rather long and possibly indigestible, so apologies if it does get too tedious. I only got to the mid-fifties before I got fed up, so maybe someone else would like to bring the story up to date? It is mostly lifted from "Arsenal 1886-1986", the official centenary history by Phil Soar and Martin Tyler, so those who have read this book probably won't learn much.

The History of Arsenal Football Club - up to 1956

Arsenal's origins can be traced back to a group of workers in the armament works in South London in 1886. In October that year they clubbed together and each paid a subscription to form the club that was at first called Dial Square after the name of the workshop in which most of them worked. David Danskin was the man who collected the subs, other notable names were Fred Beardsley, the goalkeeper who had previously played for Nottingham Forest, and Jack Humble, later to become secretary and chairman. Humble became the unofficial historian by virtue of being associated with the club in it's early days longer than anyone else.

At Christmas that year they decided they needed a new name, and called their club Royal Arsenal. Beardsley's connections also persuaded Nottingham Forest to donate a set of shirts to the new club, and Arsenal have worn red ever since. Their first home games were played on Plumstead Common until a site at Manor Field in Plumstead was found in 1888 and a stadium of sorts built there. Among the early matches was the first recorded against Spurs, on Tottenham Marshes which the old enemy won 2-1, the historic date being 19 November 1887.

The club first entered the FA Cup in 1889, but with limited success. In 1890 they moved to a new ground, the Invicta, just down the road. By 1891 Royal Arsenal had won all the regional trophies available in London, including the foremost trophy, the London Senior Cup in the 90-91 season, beating St Bartholomew's 6-0 at the Oval. Royal Arsenal grew quickly in the 1890s mostly due to the large influx of migrant workers to the armament works because of rearmament at the time in response to the perceived French threat.

To progress further the decision to turn professional was taken, and the name was changed to Woolwich Arsenal at the same time. The London FA promptly excommunicated the club so it tried to persuade other leading London clubs such as Tottenham, QPR and Millwall to form a southern league. This proposal was rejected so Arsenal applied to the Football League and in 1893 was admitted to the 2nd division, the first team south of Birmingham to join the League. It was a good year to apply because, unusually there were 5 vacancies. Other teams to join the league in 1893 were Liverpool and Newcastle United, so it was a fairly distinguished intake that year.

A move back to the Manor ground became necessary the same year when the landlords of the Invicta tried to take advantage of the club's improved status by substantially increasing the rent. As an incidental note, the Manor was also the first ground where the large steeply banked terrace became known as Spion Kop, so named by soldiers returning from the Boer war. The original Kop was thus Arsenal's. The first game in the league, against Newcastle on 2 Sep 1893, finished 2-2, the first win was 4-0 at home to Walsall Town Swifts on 11 Sep, and at the end of the season Arsenal finished 9th.

The next few years brought generally mid-table performance, until 1904, when the appointment of their first professional manager, Harry Bradshaw, coincided with finishing 2nd to Preston and promotion to the first division. That year they won all but two (drawn) of their games at home, with a goals record of 67-5 (91-22 overall). There was a new manager for the first season in the 1st division. Phil Kelso took them to the semi-finals of the FA Cup twice (losing 2-0 to Newcastle in 1906, and 3-1 to Wednesday in 1907), and again mid-table performance was the norm until 1909/10 when relegation was escaped by only two points. At this point, with the club virtually bankrupt Henry Norris, chairman of Fulham (later to be knighted and become a Conservative MP) took over the club. His proposal to amalgamate the clubs was rejected and in 1913 Arsenal finished bottom of the 1st division and were relegated, their record of 3 wins, 18 pts and 26 goals remaining all time lows for the 1st division until Stoke managed to do worse in 1985.

Norris was constantly looking for ways to make the club profitable, and saw a move north of the river as a way of helping to realise this aim. After relegation in 1913 some land in Highbury, leased by St John's College of Divinity became available. In spite of protests from Tottenham, Arsenal's home moved to the current site which was later (in 1925) bought outright. The Woolwich was dropped from the name, and the club became known as The Arsenal, though in fact the club itself has never officially called itself that, being simply Arsenal Football Club.

The move to North London saw an improvement in fortunes. In 1913-14 they finished 3rd and missed promotion only on goal average. In the last season before the 1st world war, 1914-15 Arsenal finished 5th, though league records until 1980 showed 6th place when in fact a 7-0 win over Forest in the last game of the season elevated them above Birmingham on goal average.

When the league was restarted in 1919, the decision was taken to expand the 1st division from 20 to 22 teams. The promotion of Derby and Preston, who'd finished 1st and 2nd in the second division in 1915 went through on the nod. Norris managed to get the question of whether Chelsea and Spurs (who'd finished 19th and 20th respectively in the 1st division) should stay up discussed seperately. Chelsea also went through on the nod, and a vote was taken to decide on the final place. The choice was between Tottenham, Arsenal, Barnsley (3rd in the 2nd division), Wolves (4th), Forest (19th), Birmingham and Hull. Norris' influence and close relationship with the league chairman, also chairman of Liverpool, won the day and Arsenal were elected to the 1st division with 18 votes to Tottenham's 8.

With Leslie Knighton as manager, Arsenal finished their first season back in the first division in 10th place. General mediocrity followed and Arsenal came perilously close to relegation in 1925, finishing 20th. However, that year was also the dawn of the greatest era in Arsenal's history.

In May, Herbert Chapman, having just led Huddersfield to the first two of their three successive championships, was appointed manager. He immediately brought in the experienced Charlie Buchan as his captain and insisted that The Arsenal should become simply Arsenal. His arrival coincided with a change in the offside law to require only two defenders between the attacker and goal. It was Buchan who suggested a change in tactics to bring the centre half (previously a midfield player) back to act as a third defender, and use one of the inside forwards as a link between defence and attack.

Arsenal adapted to the new law well and finished that season in 2nd place. The following year, 1927, they reached the final of the FA Cup for the first time, but lost to Cardiff by a single goal when keeper Dan Lewis let a shot slip from his grasp over the line. His brand new jersey was blamed, and mythology has it that since then Arsenal's goalkeepers' jerseys have always been washed before use.

The following two years were ones of consolidation. 10th in the League and the semi-finals of the FA Cup in 1928, a year which incidentally also saw Spurs accusing Arsenal of throwing games to ensure the relegation of the old enemy, so the rivalry between the clubs has historically always been rather bitter. 9th in the league in 1929 coincided with the departure of Henry Norris, banned by the FA from any dealings in football after a commission found him guilty of certain financial irregularities. He was succeeded as chairman by Samuel Hill-Wood.

That year which also saw the arrival of some the greatest names in the club's history - David Jack, Alex James and Cliff Bastin. The next decade saw Arsenal dominate English football in a manner matched perhaps only by Liverpool since. To some observers, the keys to this domination were James, the midfield link, and Bastin and Hulme the two wingers. The latter would frequently cut in from the wings, often onto passes from James inside the opposing full backs, in a way that other teams could neither deal with nor copy because they simply didn't have the players to do it.

1930 saw the arrival at Highbury of Arsenal's first major trophy. The FA Cup was won at Wembley against Huddersfield, though only after Arsenal had recovered from 2-0 down against Hull in the semi-final to force a draw. The replay was won 1-0 and the final 2-0 with James scoring the first after taking a quick free kick and taking the return ball from Bastin. Jack Lambert got the second goal.

In 1931 the league championship was finally won with a record 66 points (a record for 2 pts-per-win until Leeds' 69 points in 1969) and 127 goals scored. The following year Arsenal finished runners-up in both the league and FA Cup, the latter being lost 2-1 to Newcastle with the winner coming after the ball had been crossed from beyond the by-line in the opinion of most observers. The next season, 1932-33 saw the first of Arsenal's three successive championship wins. 111 goals were scored, Bastin getting 33 of them, a record for a winger unlikely ever to be beaten. That year there was also a shock defeat in the FA Cup by Walsall, Chapman got the local underground station, Gillespie Road renamed to Arsenal, and introduced the now famous white sleeves in a match against Liverpool in March 1933.

Herbert Chapman died in January 1934, George Allison took over and guided Arsenal to the championship that year and the following one. The year of the third successive title saw the arrival of Ted Drake, and Arsenal provided a record seven players for the England match against Italy at the 'Battle of Highbury'.

In 1935-36 Arsenal finished only 6th in the league, but Drake created a record by scoring seven goals in a league match against Aston Villa, and Arsenal again won the FA Cup by beating Sheffield United 1-0 in the final at Wembley. The following year was Alex James' last at the club, and saw the four year run of unbroken success come to an end with only a 3rd place finish in the league.

The year after that though, 1937-38, brought Arsenal's 5th league title in seven years, though the team was now generally held to be in decline, and only 5th place was achieved the following season, the last before the war. The club was also once again in a precarious financial position because of the cost of building the new East and West stands, which still stand today.

After the war a great team rose once again. Booming postwar attendances eased the financial situation and the first season, 1946-47, saw only a 13th place finish in the league, but also the arrival of two more great names, Ronnie Rook and Joe Mercer. The following year, trainer Tom Whittaker took over as manager, and the league title duly arrived at it's rightful home. Only 32 goals were conceded that year, a defensive record unmatched until the double season of 1971.

In 1948-49 Arsenal finished 5th in the league and Doug Lishman, one of the great strikers, arrived. The following year the FA Cup was won once again, with the Gunners again coming from 2-0 down in the semi-final to force a 2-2 draw against Chelsea. Freddie Cox scored direct from a corner, to get back to 2-1, and the replay was won 1-0 in extra time. Liverpool were defeated 2-0 in the final.

The year after that, 1950-51, Arsenal could only finish 5th in the league, though things might have been different had Lishman not broken his leg early in the season. In 1951-52 Arsenal once more were runners-up in both league and FA Cup, being just 3 wins away from the elusive double, before the league championship was once more won in 1953, on goal average from Preston. Alex James died in 1954 and the death of Tom Whittaker in 1956 presaged a decline in the fortunes of the great club until the resurgence of the late sixties.

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