Arsenal anniversaries 11 November: Chapman turns on Norris, Merson turns on Arsenal
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Today’s headline comes from 1927 and 2014.
- Arsenal in the 1930s: The most comprehensive series on the decade ever
- Arsenal in the 1970s: Every match and every intrigue reviewed in detail.
- The full index of November’s anniversaries is available here.
The anniversaries
10 November 1888: Horton Kirby (South Darenth) 2 Royal Arsenal 6, in the Kent Senior Cup – it was Arsenal’s first year in the competition.
10 November 1913: Arsenal played Tottenham in the London FA Challenge Cup. Arsenal had already beaten QPR and Chelsea, but this time they went out 1-2 at WHL. Only 8,000 turned up.
10 November 1917: Millwall v Arsenal generally brought out the largest wartime attendances due to the historic rivalry between the two teams, but now came down to just 6,000. It was a 2-2 draw.
10 November 1917: Battle of Passchendaele which had begun in July finally ended.
10 November 1919: Sir Henry Norris handed the insignia of the office of Mayor of Fulham over to R M (Bob) Gentry, the trade unionist who had won the council for Labour for the first time. Sir Henry had not stood in the elections.
10 November 1920: The body of The Unknown Warrior arrived from France aboard HMS Verdun for burial in Westminster Abbey.
10 November 1924: Arsenal played in the London FA Challenge Cup, this time away to West Ham with Tom Whittaker and G Colin getting a game (his only first team match). Arsenal lost 1-4.
10 November 1927: Herbert Chapman wrote to Sir Henry Norris, stating that if Sir Henry wanted to see the minute books of the club he had run for 17 years he had to prove his legal right to look at the documents. This small-minded refusal to help the man who had brought him to Arsenal greatly hindered Sir Henry’s case against the FA in 1929 and reveals the total breakdown in Chapman’s relationship with the man who had stood by him as Arsenal struggled in the early years of Chapman’s reign.
10 November 1945: Arsenal 2 Fulham 0 in the Football League South. This was a great relief after four successive defeats in which Arsenal had shipped 16 goals. It was the 14th game of the season and only Arsenal’s 3rd win, in a season in which Arsenal used 67 different players in the 42 league games!
10 November 1948: Laurie Scott last appearance for England. He won 17 caps between 1947 and 1949
10 November 1951: Arsenal 6 WBA 3. Doug Lishman (3), Holton (2) and Logie were the scorers. With this result Arsenal had scored 16 goals in four league games.
10 November 1957: Racing Club de Paris 1 Arsenal 1, in the series initiated by Herbert Chapman. The series continued until 1962.
10 November 1958: Billy McCullough played his first Arsenal game – a friendly v Southampton.
10 November 1959: Peter Nicholas born. He started out with Crystal Palace as a youth player, and was part of their second division title winning team in 1979.
10 November 1969: Jens Lehmann born. He played for Schalke, Milan and Borussia Dortmund before becoming the only player ever to play in every single top division game in one season without once being on the losing side.
10 November 1973: Arsenal beat Man C away 1-2, Hornsby and Kelly scoring. One report said only two things Man C tried went right. They managed to kick off as per the laws of football, and on 82 minutes Lee took a perfect free kick from 25 yards out and scored.
10 November 1979: Arsenal lost 0-1 to Palace away. After the game Palace suggested they were going to emulate Forest in winning the second and the first division in consecutive seasons. Some of the journalists took them seriously.
10 November 2010: Wolverhampton 0 Arsenal 2. After defeats in the Champions League and Premier League it was a welcome return to form, but after a further win against Everton, the erratic performances continued. The goal by Chamakh was the fastest Arsenal ever scored in the Premier League.
10 November 2014: Paul Merson unleashed a fierce attack on Arsène Wenger, claiming that Wenger had let the club down and should leave. In the commentary, Merson said Wenger begged him to stay in 1997 but Merson refused. Other reports suggest otherwise. Merson’s hatred of Wenger then expanded into a constant criticism of all things Arsenal.
- Day by Day the stories – a key moment in Arsenal and footballing history for each day of the year
- Day by Day the videos – An Arsenal video for (almost) every day of the year in order.
- Henry Norris at the Arsenal: There is a full index to the series here.
- Football Today: Untold Arsenal