If you’ve read any books that tell the history of Arsenal (or even Chelsea or Tottenham) it is very likely that you would have read about Henry Norris arriving like a knight in shining armour to save Arsenal from extinction in 1910. Some histories will say that he bought the club, some will say that he was the majority shareholder.
However, neither is correct. And by quite a considerable way.
Extant concrete terracing from the Invicta Ground, Plumstead
Arsenal’s home between 1890 and 1893 was the Invicta Ground. It was a monumental location as Royal Arsenal moved there as an amateur team, but within a year the club had turned professional.
Despite the ground being replaced by housing in the late 1890s some of the stadium’s concrete terracing from 1890 still survives in the back gardens of houses in Hector Street.
A couple of years ago we embarked on a trip around Plumstead and this gives more detail to one aspect of the club’s time in Plumstead.
Postcard depicting the Arsenal train steaming past Highbury (image courtesy of Just Another Gooner)
Walking around the Arsenal Museum you may inadvertently miss a small gold medal in a case that holds some of the oldest known surviving memorabilia related to Arsenal Football Club.
The medal is approximately 4cm in diameter, and has the inscription “London Football Association Challenge Cup” along with the London FA’s coat of arms on the front. On the obverse it shows that the medal was won by P. Connolly of RAFC (Royal Arsenal Football Club) in 1890-91, and has a gold hallmark. Read More →
With Arsenal’s forthcoming FA Cup fifth round tie against Sutton United, we thought we’d take a look at how the Gunners have fared against non-league opposition in the past. When we say “non-league” we actually mean non-Football League as, technically, Sutton do play in a league.
We’ve also decided to review games since the end of World War 1 as before the war the Football League only consisted of two divisions, each with 18 teams. If we were to write a blog about all of Arsenal’s non-league FA Cup opponents, we’d be in the realms of a fair sized book!
But we have included a handy table of every tie at the end of this article. Which now includes the Sutton Result, as we await the Lincoln tie. (11/3/17) Read More →
The Arsenal History have just launched a sister website – The Arsenal Collection.
It is an online collection of Arsenal memorabilia including full copies of official and unofficial publications such as programmes and books, along with photographs and other items.
We’ve got a limited amount of content at the moment but will be adding more on a regular basis, so follow via email, twitter, instagram or facebook via the links on the website which is:
If you have the slightest interest in Arsenal’s long and glorious history, you will want to visit this website.
We were recently asked by Mike Soteriou if we could produce a list of all Arsenal games in “On This Day” order (i.e. all games on 1 January, then all games on 2 January, etc). As we know, football fans love a good list so we thought we’d oblige.
After a few trials and errors, we’ve managed to do it. Read More →
A while ago Andy set a fiendishly difficult twitter question:
“Who was the first Invincible to sign for the club?”
After a number of incorrect answers that included the likes of Ray Parlour and Martin Keown, the correct player was named. Read More →
Jimmy Gray: The Arsenal 1946-1951
Jimmy Gray was an Arsenal reserve right full back just after World War 2, and a batting all-rounder for Hampshire County Cricket Club between 1948-1966.
