Arsenal underground station renamed earlier than believed

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Celebrating the wrong day for nearly 60 years

If you’re an Arsenal fan that has been to a game any time in the last 80 odd years, the chances are you will have used or walked past Arsenal underground station. And if you’re an Arsenal fan with an interest in the club’s history you will, no doubt, know that it was originally called Gillespie Road and renamed to Arsenal (Highbury Hill) on 5 November 1932. It was an idea of Herbert Chapman, Arsenal’s legendary manager, to raise the profile of the club.

Arsenal_station_tiling

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And If You Think You Know Your History….

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…you’ve probably been taken for a ride.

“Compton and Smith played for England for the first time against Wales at Sunderland, Compton at thirty-eight becoming the oldest man to win his first cap for England.”

Bernard Joy – “Forward, Arsenal!”

“Two Arsenal players, Peter Connolly and Bobby Buist, played so well in that game [1891 FA Cup v Derby County] that John Goodall, the Derby captain and acting secretary-manager, offered them contracts.”

Phil Soar and Martin Tyler – “The Official Illustrated History of Arsenal”

Two statements from two esteemed tomes that have become ingrained in Arsenal’s history, written by three respected names in the game, printed in in black ink on white paper for all eternity. The only problem is that both statements have recently been proven to be wrong. Read More →

History of Arsenal ticket prices since 1980

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by Andy Kelly

With a nationwide protest against ticket prices planned for this weekend, we thought we’d update this article that was originally published in March 2014. 18 months ago we were talking about a 3% rise in ticket prices at the Emirates for the 2014-15 season that had just been announced. There was much talk on social media about how expensive it was to watch football but there were all sorts of misrepresented figures being thrown into the pot. This article shows how ticket prices have increased at Arsenal over the last 35 years.

I would also still like to recommend Matthew Bazell’s “Theatre of Silence“, a fantastic book that explains his disillusionment with the game. @RoyalarsenalMRA and myself have felt pretty much the same way as Matthew for a number of years, especially with regards to the enormous sums paid to players. I heartily recommend Matthew’s book, it’s an easy read and only £4.11 on kindle. Read More →