Arsenal anniversaries 4 June: Three insights into Henry Norris

Day by Day the stories – a key moment in Arsenal and footballing history for each day of the year

Arsenal today: The ten reasons why Arsenal will continue to make progress next season (part 4, the conclusion)

Day by Day the videos– An Arsenal video for (almost) every day of the year in order.

4 June 1902: Joseph Williams born in Rotherham on 4 June 1902. He started playing for Rotherham County and in September 1929 moved to Arsenal making his Arsenal debut in the 5–2 defeat by Aston Villa on 25 September 1929.

4 June 1915: Henry Norris launched a recruitment campaign in the West London and Fulham Times gathering men for the new 177th (Fulham) Royal Field Artillery Brigade.  In all Norris was responsible for raising and providing basic training for three separate brigades in this way all at his own expense.  It was for this work that he was knighted two years later, to the day.

4 June 1917:  Henry Norris was knighted in the birthday honours list in recognition of his unstinting work in evolving and developing the idea for and then raising the first footballers’ battalion.  Other such battalions followed.

4 June 1920: In a seemingly unique event, Sir Henry Norris spoke about his source of income, this being rents from property his company had built in Fulham, retaining about 20% of them and renting them out.

4 June 1925: Herbert Chapman returned to England early from a tour with Huddersfield, ready for talks with Arsenal about becoming the club’s new manager.

4 June 1939: Dave Nelson and George Drury scored two each in a friendly win against the wonderfully named Diables Rouges in Brussels. (It sounds so much better in French).

4 June 1949: Last appearance of Bryn Jones in a friendly away to Sao Paulo (Brazil).  He had been Arsenal’s record signing but only played 76 games and scored 8 goals (his career of course interrupted by the war).   He left Arsenal to become player-coach at Norwich City

4 June 1977: Alex Manninger born in Salzburg.  He first played for SV Austria Salzburg, moving into their first team squad in 1995 and came to Arsenal in 1997.

4 June 1977: Scotland beat England at Wembley, with Scots outnumbering English fans 10 to 1, in a match remembered for the pitch invasion at the end.  The inadequacy of ticketing and safety measures were on show for all to see, but the FA remained in total denial.

4 June 1983: Emmanuel Eboué born in Abidjan.  He started his career at ASEC Mimosas Academy before moving to KSK Beveren in 2002.  .

4 June 1985: Lukas Podolski was born in Gliwice.  He joined 1 FC Köln in 1995 where he broke into the first team in 2003 and made 81 appearances for the club before moving to Bayern Munich.

4 June 1992: David O’Leary played for Ireland in a 2-0 defeat by Italy.

4 June 1997: Gilles Grimandi signed by Arsenal from AS Monaco for £1.75m.  When his playing days were over he became the chief scout in France for Arsenal and also appeared for the Arsenal Legends team occasionally.

4 June 1996: Cliff Holton died.  He retired from football in 1968, and took up a new career in engineering.  Soon after his retirement from that career he died suddenly while on holiday, at the age of 67.

4 June 2008: Bac Sagna signed a new long term contract.  It turned out to be his last, and at the end of the contract in 2014 he rejected a new deal with Arsenal and instead moved on a free transfer to Manchester City.

Henry Norris at the Arsenal:  There is a full index to the series here.

Arsenal in the 1930s: The most comprehensive series on the decade ever

Arsenal in the 1970s: Every match and every intrigue reviewed in detail.