Post by Salem6 on Jun 4, 2008 12:01:45 GMT
50) Arsenal cross the Thames
Henry Norris, the club chairman, a wealthy entrepreneur and later an MP, had wanted to merge Woolwich Arsenal with his local club, Fulham. When this was vetoed, he moved the Gunners from Plumstead to a new stadium at Highbury, built on the grounds of St John’s College of Divinity.
49) Opening shots at Highbury
Woolwich Arsenal, as they were still called, played their first league match at Highbury on September 6, 1913, a second division fixture against Leicester Fosse. Only 30 of the 100 terraces were ready; some fans watched from Highbury Hill. Leicester took the lead, but George Jobey, Arsenal’s new centre forward, later to become a well-known manager, equalised and a penalty by Archie Devine won the game for the Gunners. Jobey injured an ankle and was carried off by George Hardy, the burly trainer. With no dressing-rooms or running water available, Jobey had to be taken home for treatment. Hardy borrowed a cart from the local milkman to take him there.
48) Arsenal jump the queue
The 1914-15 season was played despite the outbreak of the First World War and Arsenal finished fifth in the second division. When the League programme resumed in 1919, it was decided to expand the first division by two clubs to 22 and Arsenal seemed to have no case. Tottenham had finished twentieth and bottom, one place below Chelsea in 1915. The customary practice was to re-elect the bottom two and add clubs from below, but Arsenal’s forceful chairman, now Sir Henry Norris, got to work with his friend, “Honest John” McKenna, the League president and chairman of Liverpool, who proposed that Arsenal be preferred to THFC because they had been 15 years longer in the League. So Arsenal were promoted, THFC stayed down. Arsenal have stayed up ever since.
47) Arsenal doped
No 47 The 1925 Arsenal squad refused to take some mysterious pills a second time despite the recommendation of a Harley Street doctor. Just what was in those pills?
With Arsenal struggling, a Harley Street doctor offered Leslie Knighton, the manager, a box of pills as stimulants. He and the players took them immediately before a third-round FA Cup tie against West Ham United in January 1925. The game was fogged off, condemning the players to agonies of thirst, torments of undischarged energy. In midweek, the fog closed down again, the torments continued. Finally the match was played, the team reluctantly swallowing the pills again. Their stamina was phenomenal but the match was drawn. At Highbury, another draw; the players rebelled and refused to swallow the pills. Finally, at Stamford Bridge they lost the play-off 1-0. But what was in those pills?
46) Buchan's return
In August 1925 Herbert Chapman, the new manager, brought Charlie Buchan, the celebrated 33-year-old Sunderland inside right, back to Arsenal on a £100-a-goal deal. Before the First World War, when an amateur, Buchan had left the club having been denied 11 shillings’ expenses. Now, after a 7-0 thrashing away to Newcastle United, he instigated the third back game, with its stopper centre half, which brought instant success two days later in a 4-0 victory away to West Ham United.
45) The fall of Norris
Sanctioned by the FA for alleged financial offences, Norris sued them for libel in the High Court _ and lost. It emerged that he had once sold the club’s motor coach for £300, endorsed the cheque with Herbert Chapman's name and paid the money into his wife’s account. The FA now banned him for life.
44) Reluctant Bastin
No 44: Anyone for tennis? Cliff Bastin had to be convinced by his mother to become an Arsenal legend
In the summer of 1929, Herbert Chapman went down to Devon determined to sign Cliff Bastin, the precocious 17-year-old Exeter City inside forward. After failing to convince him in an Exeter office, Chapman followed Bastin home and harangued him at length in the kitchen. Bastin, however, was concerned only to escape to finish a tennis match. In the end, when his mother came in to the kitchen, he signed with her blessing, to become one of Europe’s finest footballers.
43) First FA Cup triumph
No 43: Arsenal win the 1930 FA Cup with added assistance from the referee
The opponents at Wembley in April 1930 were none other than Herbert Chapman’s previous club, Huddersfield Town, whom he had also transformed. Arsenal’s controversial first goal came, when as pre-planned, Alex James, on a nod from the referee, slipped an instant free kick to young Cliff Bastin and netted the return for one of his rare goals. Arsenal won 2-0.
42) The over-the-line goal
No 42 Should have gone to Specsavers. Referee takes revenge as Newcastle snatch the 1932 FA Cup final
Arsenal, without their injured inspiration, Alex James, met Newcastle United in the 1932 FA Cup Final at Wembley. Arsenal went ahead through Bob John but when Dave Davidson, the Newcastle centre half, sent a long ball down the right, it seemed clearly to have run out of play by the time Jimmy Richardson, the inside right, crossed it. The Arsenal defenders, awaiting the whistle, stood off, enabling Jack Allen to head the equaliser. Newcastle went on to win 2-1.
41) The Walsall disaster
Drawn away to humble Walsall of the third division north in the third round of the FA Cup, Arsenal, riding high, seemed in little danger. But Chapman, with several first choices missing, chose to launch a couple of raw reserves and a bruising Walsall won 2-0. Their second goal came from a penalty, Tommy Black, the reserve left back who conceded it, was promptly transferred to Plymouth Argyle.
40) Arsenal beat Austria
Austria’s so-called Wonder Team had given England a run for their money before going down 4-3 at Chelsea in 1932 and had drawn 2-2 with Scotland in Glasgow in November 1933. On December 4, 1933, “Vienna” - English clubs were forbidden to play international opponents - met the Gunners at Highbury. After seeing them play on the Saturday, an Austrian official said: “We may lose, but we know we shall be better footballers.” They did lose, 4-2, in a thrilling match: Arsenal functional, Vienna artistic. Not until late on when the Gunners were 3-1 up did the Austrians get in to their stride, making it 3-2. Arsenal, typically, broke away for Cliff Bastin to score a slightly flattering fourth.
39) Herbert Chapman dies
No 39 Herbert Chapman: The legendary Arsenal manager whose dedication to scouting led to his untimely demise
With typical self-sacrifice, though suffering from a heavy cold, Chapman had taken himself to a string of matches all over England; the last of them a mere third-team game at Guildford City after which he succumbed to pneumonia. He died on January 6, 1934 at the age of 55. The team was traumatised. George Allison, a journalist and director, was his surprise successor.
38) The Battle of Highbury
Nowadays, it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for an Englishman to get into the Arsenal team. Stark contrast with when England met Italy, the World Cup winners, at Highbury in November 1934 with no fewer than seven Arsenal men in the XI. They were not all initially picked, but withdrawals from the original selection meant the line-up included: Frank Moss in goal, George Male and Eddie Hapgood at full back, Wilf Copping at left half, Ray Bowden at inside right, Ted Drake at centre forward and Cliff Bastin inside left. The match was overshadowed by Drake’s tackle inside the first two minutes on Luisito Monti, which broke a bone in the Argentinian’s foot, forcing him off in agony, claiming “he did it deliberately”. Drake always denied that, and would say in later years that for the first 28 minutes “we were playing the best football possible. You couldn’t play any better”. Though missing a penalty, England went into a 3-0 half-time lead, but Italian boots and elbows flew, Hapgood had his nose broken, and in the second half, Italy got two goals back. Copping tackled fearsomely. So much so, that next day, Jack Crayston, Arsenal’s right half, came into the office of George Allison, the manager, to say: “If we played Italy tomorrow, there could be only one half-back line: Copping, Copping and Copping.”
37) Drake’s seven
No 37 Seven-up: Ted Drake - from a Saint to Arsenal hero in seven goals
Ted Drake, the powerfully rumbustious centre forward bought from Southampton as George Allison’s first signing, had scored 42 league goals in his first full season in 1934-35. At Villa Park in December 1935 Drake scored all seven in the 7-1 thrashing of Aston Villa, striking the bar into the bargain.
36) Cup without glory
In the 1936 FA Cup final, Arsenal, at the peak of their powers, faced Sheffield United, of the second division. By the admission of Cliff Bastin and Eddie Hapgood, they were very lucky to win. Jock Dodds, United’s powerful centre forward, later prolific at Blackpool, headed against the bar. Arsenal gambled by bringing back Ted Drake, seriously injured playing for England against Wales and with a huge bandage round his right knee, but he scored the only goal from Bastin’s pass. In the very first minute, Alex Wilson, Arsenal’s goalkeeper, dropped the ball but recovered to make a fine save from United’s Bobby Barclay.
35) Record signing
In the summer of 1938 George Allison paid a record £14,000 for Bryn Jones, the Wales inside left, from Wolverhampton Wanderers, much to the displeasure of stars such as Cliff Bastin and Eddie Hapgood who were convinced Jones would never replace the remarkable Alex James as playmaker. The Second World War denied Jones his best years and a chance to settle the argument. A hat-trick taken with panache at Charlton in August 1942 sticks in the memory.
34) Tears at Chelsea
It was Christmas Day at Stamford Bridge and the first time that I, an 11-year-old, had seen Arsenal lose. I burst into tears. It was hardly the real Arsenal. Six of their stars watched helpless from the stand, held back to play in Cardiff on Boxing Day in the Army v RAF game. Noel Watson-Smith, of Yorkshire Amateurs, was sadly at sea in Arsenal’s goal. Walter Winterbottom, the future England manager, was Chelsea’s right back; Scotland’s powerful Billy Liddell, of Liverpool, their outside left.
33) Wembley watershed
No 33 End of an era: The 1943 FA Cup final was the swansong of many of the Gunners finest players
In the League South wartime Cup Final in 1943, Arsenal overwhelmed a Charlton Athletic team without Sam Bartram, their famous goalkeeper, 7-1 in a match that can now be seen as the end of an era. Reg Lewis, the centre forward, scored four goals, with Ted Drake in support at inside right. Charlton’s only goal came from a penalty. By the end of the war, injury had claimed Drake and Alf Kirchen, the powerful right winger. Soon afterwards, the prolific Cliff Bastin and Bernard Joy, the amateur centre half, would go, too. George Marks, the gifted goalkeeper, suffered a cruel eye injury playing for England against Wales at Wembley a few months after the Cup Final.
32) Calamity at Upton Park
For the first and only time, in January 1946, the earlier rounds of the FA Cup were played over two legs. Arsenal faced West Ham in the first leg away and were played off the field, succumbing 6-0. They had to make a very late decision over their goalkeeper. Both George Swindin, the pre-war choice, and George Marks, a wartime England star, were serving in Europe. Swindin got there first and played. Afterwards, Tom Whittaker, the trainer, then an RAF officer, chose him for the meaningless return, won 1-0 by Arsenal at Tottenham, saying it was like sending up immediately a pilot who had just crashed. Swindin kept his place for years.
31) Uncertain beginnings
No 31 Joe Mercer: Luckily for Arsenal this Merce preferred a quiet night in
Arsenal’s return to first division action after the League was suspended throughout the War was a sobering 6-1 thrashing away to Wolverhampton Wanderers on August 31, 1946. Their form did not pick up until the signings of the veterans, Joe Mercer, the left half, and Ronnie Rooke, the striker.
30) Misery at Highbury
Highbury had served as an Air Raid Precautions station throughout the war and Arsenal had shared White Hart Lane with Tottenham, their arch rivals. Arsenal’s first league game back at Highbury went little better than their trip to Wolverhampton. They went down 3-1 to Blackburn Rovers, whose newly appointed manager was none other than Arsenal’s former left back, captain and hero, Eddie Hapgood, with George Marks playing in goal.
29) O’Flanagan’s bombshells
Dr Kevin O’Flanagan, a general practitioner, always an amateur, was a supreme all-round athlete. In consecutive weeks he played rugby for Ireland and football for Northern Ireland. When things were going wrong in the revived first division early in the 1946-47 season, he scored two memorable long-range goals with his right foot at Highbury. The first, a badly needed winner against Stoke City, came after a fine solo run. The second in a 2-2 draw against Bolton from a 30-yard free kick when he wiped the mud off a heavy ball and smashed it home.
28) Whittaker promoted
Renowned for years as the trainer with the magic hands, Tom Whittaker succeeded Allison as manager in August 1947. Arsenal won their first six matches and went on to win the Championship, with Ronnie Rooke scoring 33 goals.
27) Rooke’s rocket
At home on a sunny September day in 1947 the gifted Ronnie Rooke scored a spectacular goal that enabled Arsenal to beat Manchester United 2-1. Getting the ball in an inside-right position, Rooke seemed likely to lay it off. Instead, he advanced and from 30 yards let fly a devastating left-footed shot that ripped past Jack Crompton, the United goalkeeper, into the top right-hand corner of the net.
26) Knocked out by Park Avenue
In the third round of the FA Cup at Highbury in January 1948, Arsenal were sensationally beaten 1-0 by Bradford Park Avenue, of the second division. Billy Elliott, the left winger, scored the only goal for Park Avenue — whose slide from grace was completed when they lost their League place to Cambridge United in 1970.
25) Tottenham demolished
The third round of the FA Cup in January 1949 and the local derby at Highbury. Tottenham, surprisingly dropping their key playmaker, Eddie Bailey, gave Arsenal’s own star playmaker, little Jimmy Logie, the freedom of the park. Logie ran riot, Arsenal won 3-0.
24) Saved by the Comptons
No 24 A family affair: Football and cricket legend Denis Compton tees it up, brother Leslie knocks it in
White Hart Lane, the FA Cup semi-final in 1950, a dominant Chelsea 2-1 ahead, 15 minutes left. Arsenal gain a left-wing corner. Denis Compton, prince of footballer/cricketers, prepares to take it. His older, bigger, brother, Leslie, comes striding up from centre half. Captain Joe Mercer shouts urgently at him “Get back!” Leslie ignores him, the corner comes over, Leslie heads fiercely home, loses his balance, turns a somersault, doesn’t see he has scored and equalised. Freddie Cox’s freak goal straight from a corner had brought Arsenal back from 2-0 down. The Gunners won the replay 1-0.
23) The FA Cup regained
Two goals by the incisive Reg Lewis, who scored 100 times in three wartime seasons, beat Liverpool at Wembley in April 1950 and the FA Cup returned to Highbury after 14 years.
22) Heroic resistance
In the 1952 FA Cup final against Newcastle United, Wally Barnes, the elegant Wales international right back, severely wrenched a knee in the eighteenth minute, so Arsenal had to soldier on with ten fit men and with Jimmy Logie, the brains of the attack, handicapped by a huge hole in his thigh. It was only after 85 minutes that George Robledo, the Chilean, headed the winner off a post. “Ours is the Cup,” Stan Seymour, the Newcastle manager, told Tom Whittaker. “Yours is the honour and the glory.”
21) Mercer’s sad farewell
Signed in mid-season in 1946 from Everton, where he had been treated callously when he was injured by a club that plainly believed that he was past his meridian, Joe Mercer embarked on a splendid Indian summer. True, he played a more cautious, withdrawn game at left half than in his Everton and England days, but he proved an inspiring captain. He insisted on playing against Liverpool at Highbury on April 1, 1954. Alas, he broke a leg and was carried off on a stretcher, still able to wave and smile at the crowd that had admired him so long and now cheered him loudly.
20) The last of Logie
Nikolai Latychev, the Russian referee who ultimately officiated at the 1962 World Cup final in Chile, kept turning up in Arsenal’s history like a bad rouble. In November 1945, he it was who, at the insistence of the touring Moscow Dynamo team, refereed their match against a patchwork Arsenal team at Tottenham. The fog was so thick that the game should not have been started, yet Latychev decided to station himself on one touchline, his linesmen on the other. Inevitably chaos ensued. Dynamo at one stage had 12 men on the field. Arsenal lost 4-3. On November 11, 1954 Arsenal met Spartak Moscow at Highbury in a friendly. The Russians were 2-1 up when Arthur Milton, the dashing winger, drove into their penalty area and was blatantly brought down. Latychev refused a penalty. Logie, Arsenal’s captain, refused to shake hands with him at the end. Bracewell Smith, the pompous Arsenal chairman, refused to shake hands with Logie, long Arsenal’s inspiration, when meeting the squad at Christmas. In February 1955 Logie made off to Gravesend and Northfleet, the non-League club. Later, he had a newspaper and magazine pitch in Piccadilly Circus, then worked as a commissionaire at Thames TV in Euston Road.
19) Stock in and out
Hoping to prop up a by now waning Tom Whittaker, the Arsenal directors brought in as assistant manager Alec Stock from Leyton Orient. On his first Monday Stock called the players up to the gymnasium for what he called “a natter”: he told them that 20 players would be released at the end of the season. Mutiny was in the air. Stock stayed for barely six weeks and Arsenal, winning eight of their last nine games, climbed from seventeenth to fifth in the table, keeping a clean sheet in six matches.
18) Last Fling of the Busby Babes
No 18 The Busby Babes dominated Highbury in 1958. Arsene Wenger now has his own 2007 vintage.
Manchester United’s splendid young team came buoyantly to Highbury on February 1, 1958. Doomed, alas, just five days later to suffer the appalling Munich air crash. At half-time they were 3-0 ahead with goals by the powerful Duncan Edwards, Tommy Taylor, the centre forward, both of whom would both die in Munich, and the precocious Bobby Charlton. Arsenal, however, scored three times in three minutes in the second half. Dennis Violett and Taylor made it 5-3. The Gunners pulled one back and it finished 5-4. Jimmy Bloomfield, the clever inside forward, scored two of the Arsenal goals, David Herd and Derek Tapscott one each.
17) Perfect ending
No 17 A Ray Kennedy header wins the 1971 League title
Forced to play their crucial last League game on the Monday before the FA Cup final, Arsenal confronted Tottenham, their traditional foes, at White Hart Lane. Victory or a goalless draw would make them champions. Some 40,000 fans were locked out. Ray Kennedy headed George Armstrong’s left-wing cross in off the bar to give Arsenal the game and the title.
16) The Double
No 16 Give us a hug. Charlie George and his never to be repeated FA Cup final celebration
Ten years after THFC became the first team of the century to win the League and Cup double, Arsenal emulated them at Wembley. Liverpool scored first against the run of play. Eddie Kelly equalised. Six minutes into the second period of extra time, Charlie George, maverick local hero, swapped passes with John Radford then thumped his right-foot shot home from the edge of the box, falling flat on his back, arms upraised for his joyful team-mates to pull him up.
15) The three-minute drama
No 15 The late show. Alan Sunderland s perm wins the 1979 FA Cup final
In the 1979 FA Cup Final at Wembley, Arsenal were deservedly 2-0 up against Manchester United with only four minutes to play. Their goals had been scored by Brian Talbot and Frank Stapleton, the Ireland centre forward. United seemed down and out but they suddenly revived, with Gordon McQueen, the centre half, and Sammy McIlroy making it 2-2. Arsenal, expertly prompted from midfield by Liam Brady, hit back with an 89th minute winner, a left-wing cross from Graham Rix exploited by Alan Sunderland. Arsenal’s coach, Don Howe, called it “a storybook ending”.
14) Gallantry rewarded in Copenhagen
No 14 A perfect gent: Smudger grabs Cup Winners Cup glory against Parma
In the final of the European Cup Winners’ Cup in May 1994, Arsenal, without Ian Wright and battle weary, held out to beat Parma, thanks to the fine opportunism of Alan Smith and the defiant goalkeeping of David Seaman, who played with cracked ribs and was kept going by pain-killing injections. When Lorenzo Minotti, the Parma centre back, tried ineffectively to kick a ball over his head, Smith jumped and struck with his left foot, the ball hitting the inside of the right-hand post and ending in the far corner of the net. “It was an incredible feeling,” Smith said.
13) Seaman rules supreme
No 13 David Seaman makes Sampdoria pay the penalty
The return leg of the semi-final of the European Cup Winners’ Cup against Sampdoria in Genoa in April 1995. Arsenal had won 3-2 at Highbury; but Sampdoria now reversed that score. There were no goals in extra time, so the match went to penalties. David Seaman produced heroics. He moved to his left to save from the ferocious left foot of Yugoslavia’s Sinisa Mijhailovic, dived to his right to thwart Valdimir Jugovic and, with a save from Attilio Lombardo, took Arsenal through to the final.
12) Nayim’s nasty surprise
No 12 Disaster in Paris. A Seaman howler results in a freak goal for former Tottenham player Nayim and THFC Real Zaragoza to Cup Winners victory in 1995
In the next year’s final of the European Cup Winners’ Cup in Paris against Real Zaragoza, of Spain, Arsenal were undone by an almost freakish goal: scored by an ex-Tottenham player. Juan Esnáider put the Spaniards ahead, John Hartson, the big Wales centre forward, equalised. Twenty-five seconds from time, Nayim, 50 yards out on the right, let fly a shot that soared over the head of David Seaman to win the game.
11) A legend arrives
;D
No 11 Dennis Bergkamp. A great gift to the club from manager Bruce Rioch
In the summer of 1995, Dennis Bergkamp, the hugely gifted Holland forward, was brought by Bruce Rioch, the manager, from Inter in Milan, where he had liked the life but not the football. Bergkamp, with his exceptional skills and great flair, became a Highbury idol. The goal he scored at Newcastle in 2002 was a small miracle of dizzying footwork, matched by a marvellous goal scored for Holland against Argentina in the 1998 World Cup. He worked tirelessly on the training field.
10) Enter Wenger
No 10 Le professeur: Arsene Wenger has transformed the club out of all recognition
Arsène Wenger arrived as manager in September 1996 at the instigation of his friend, David Dein, the then vice-chairman, having been in charge of Grampus Eight in Japan. Previously he had managed Monaco in France for seven years, winning a championship in an era dominated by Marseilles. Bruce Rioch, his predecessor at Highbury, had just signed a new contract but with Peter Hill-Wood being on holiday, Arsenal had not signed the other half. Wenger revolutionised training and tactics, embarking on a long period of success, blemished only in the earlier seasons by a plethora of red cards.
9) Wright’s record
No 9 Ian Wright passes Cliff Bastin s record with a characteristic show of modesty
With a hat-trick against Bolton at Highbury on September 13, 1997, Ian Wright, quick as the wind, overhauled Cliff Bastin’s astonishing record of 178 Arsenal goals, mostly from the left wing. Bastin not only lost six years to the Second World War but did not have any European tournaments or Football League Cups to play in. Wright, was a surprisingly late developer with Greenwich Borough, the non-League side. He had excelled at Crystal Palace in an FA Cup final against Manchester United in 1990. He was capped 33 times for England.
8) Amazing Adams
;D
No 8 Who is the donkey now? Tony Adams scores a screamer to seal the title in 1998
Famed for his defiant, influential captaincy at centre back, Tony Adams scored a memorable fourth goal for Arsenal at Highbury in a win over Everton in May 1998 that sealed the Gunners’ first championship under Arsène Wenger. Galloping irresistibly up field, leaving opponents behind, Adams shot home after Steve Bould’s lob over the defence. “This is my greatest ever achievement as a manager,” Wenger said. There would be others to come.
7) The Corinthian spirit
No 7 You thought you had scored. Marc Overmars sees his joy shortlived as Arsenal are forced to replay against Sheffield United, 1999
It was the FA Cup fifth round, Arsenal against Sheffield United, from the division below, at Highbury in February 1999 with the score at 1-1. United put the ball out, so an injured player could be treated. Unaware of the unwritten law that from the resulting throw-in, the ball should be restored to the opposition team, Nwankwo Kanu, Arsenal’s lanky Nigerian, received the ball and trundled it down the right wing. To the horror of United’s watching players, he crossed it, unchallenged, into the goalmouth, where Marc Overmars tapped it home. The referee, quite correctly, but to United’s fury, gave a goal. Arsène Wenger generously insisted that the match should be replayed. David Davies, on weekend duty at the FA, agreed, so the referee was, however sportingly, quite wrongly overruled. The match was replayed and the Gunners again won 2-1.
6) Scintillating Henry
No 6 Formerly an unhappy winger, Thierry Henry made an entire generation of Arsenal fans cry when he va-va-voomed off to Barcelona
Wenger brought his former Monaco protégé, Thierry Henry, the France right winger, in August 1999 from Juventus, where he had been unhappy, converting him in to the centre forward Wenger always thought Henry should become. Henry did so with prolific success. Electrically quick and elusive, a superb ball player, Henry beat Ian Wright’s aggregate scoring record in double quick time. In the summer of 2007, after numerous triumphs, Henry left for Barcelona, who had long coveted him.
5) Unbeaten masters
No 5 An indiscretion by Robert Pires is overlooked as Arsenal go unbeaten for the entire 2003/4 season
Arsenal’s astonishing run of 49 unbeaten matches included the whole of the 2003-04 league season when they won the title by 11 points. The run concluded only in a bitterly contested defeat at Old Trafford by Manchester United the following season. Alex Ferguson, the United manager, was pelted with pizza by player or players unknown. Yet Arsenal should have lost only their third home game of the unbeaten season to Portsmouth, equalising with a penalty awarded when Robert Pires, the France winger, plainly dived.
4) Explosion at the San Siro
No 4 Irresistible Henry: Arsenal stun Inter 5-1at the San Siro
Inter Milan had swept to an embarrassing 3-0 victory at Highbury and hopes could hardly be high for the return in Milan in November 2003, not least with Bergkamp and Patrick Vieira missing. Yet Arsenal made a mockery of being on the verge of elimination from the Champions League by winning 5-1, with Henry irresistible. He gave Arsenal the lead but Christian Vieri equalised with a deflected shot, making the half-time score 1-1. Arsenal then exploded. Fredrik Ljungberg restored the lead on 49 minutes and in the last five minutes, Inter collapsed. Henry, Brazil’s Edu and Robert Pires, splendidly set up by Jérémie Aliadière, the young French substitute, completed the rout.
3) Bergkamp wasted
No 3 Dennis Bergkamp is a virtual spectator as Arsenal win one of the least interesting FA Cup finals of all time in 2005
Manchester United, who had beaten Arsenal twice in the Premiership, were their opponents in the 2005 FA Cup final and for once Arsène Wenger seemed to lose his nerve. Dennis Bergkamp had been on brilliant form in their meeting at Highbury. Now, inexplicably, he was used as a solitary spearhead in a team that seemed to be playing for a penalty shoot-out from the start. Despite his sublime skills, Bergkamp no longer had the pace to perform such a role and was sadly wasted. Arsenal held out in extra time and when it came to penalties, Jens Lehmann, the Germany goalkeeper, saved resourcefully from Paul Scholes enabling Patrick Vieira to score the decisive spot kick. Hardly a famous victory.
2) Anticlimax in Paris
No 2 Henrik Larsson breaks Arsenal hearts in the 2006 Champions League final
In their first Champions League final in 2006, Arsenal were in trouble after only 12 minutes when Jens Lehmann, their goalkeeper, was sent off for tripping Samuel Eto’o, the Barcelona striker. Ludovic Giuly put the ball into the empty net but Tauje Hauge, the referee, decided to impose a red card but not a goal. Despite this, Arsenal led when Sol Campbell jumped mightily to head in Thierry Henry’s free kick. Two goals in four minutes late in the second half, skilfully set up by Henrik Larsson, the Swedish veteran, broke Arsenal’s brave resistance. Manuel Almunia, the substitute goalkeeper, made a fine save from Eto’o but might arguably have kept out both the goals.
1) Last hurrah at Highbury
No 1 An Henry hat-trick sees Arsenal say farewell to Highbury with a bang
Elaborate celebrations at the Gunners’ last match at Highbury on May 7, 2006. The return of the singing policeman, the post-match parade of former stars, a fizzing firework display. On the pitch Wigan proved difficult opponents. Arsenal had to win to take fourth place to secure the final Champions League place. Robert Pires put them ahead, but two bad goals were conceded before Pires put Thierry Henry through to equalise. In the second half, Henry completed his eighth Highbury hat-trick with a penalty to make it 4-2 and kissed the turf to say goodbye.
www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/arsenal/article2864726.ece
Henry Norris, the club chairman, a wealthy entrepreneur and later an MP, had wanted to merge Woolwich Arsenal with his local club, Fulham. When this was vetoed, he moved the Gunners from Plumstead to a new stadium at Highbury, built on the grounds of St John’s College of Divinity.
49) Opening shots at Highbury
Woolwich Arsenal, as they were still called, played their first league match at Highbury on September 6, 1913, a second division fixture against Leicester Fosse. Only 30 of the 100 terraces were ready; some fans watched from Highbury Hill. Leicester took the lead, but George Jobey, Arsenal’s new centre forward, later to become a well-known manager, equalised and a penalty by Archie Devine won the game for the Gunners. Jobey injured an ankle and was carried off by George Hardy, the burly trainer. With no dressing-rooms or running water available, Jobey had to be taken home for treatment. Hardy borrowed a cart from the local milkman to take him there.
48) Arsenal jump the queue
The 1914-15 season was played despite the outbreak of the First World War and Arsenal finished fifth in the second division. When the League programme resumed in 1919, it was decided to expand the first division by two clubs to 22 and Arsenal seemed to have no case. Tottenham had finished twentieth and bottom, one place below Chelsea in 1915. The customary practice was to re-elect the bottom two and add clubs from below, but Arsenal’s forceful chairman, now Sir Henry Norris, got to work with his friend, “Honest John” McKenna, the League president and chairman of Liverpool, who proposed that Arsenal be preferred to THFC because they had been 15 years longer in the League. So Arsenal were promoted, THFC stayed down. Arsenal have stayed up ever since.
47) Arsenal doped
No 47 The 1925 Arsenal squad refused to take some mysterious pills a second time despite the recommendation of a Harley Street doctor. Just what was in those pills?
With Arsenal struggling, a Harley Street doctor offered Leslie Knighton, the manager, a box of pills as stimulants. He and the players took them immediately before a third-round FA Cup tie against West Ham United in January 1925. The game was fogged off, condemning the players to agonies of thirst, torments of undischarged energy. In midweek, the fog closed down again, the torments continued. Finally the match was played, the team reluctantly swallowing the pills again. Their stamina was phenomenal but the match was drawn. At Highbury, another draw; the players rebelled and refused to swallow the pills. Finally, at Stamford Bridge they lost the play-off 1-0. But what was in those pills?
46) Buchan's return
In August 1925 Herbert Chapman, the new manager, brought Charlie Buchan, the celebrated 33-year-old Sunderland inside right, back to Arsenal on a £100-a-goal deal. Before the First World War, when an amateur, Buchan had left the club having been denied 11 shillings’ expenses. Now, after a 7-0 thrashing away to Newcastle United, he instigated the third back game, with its stopper centre half, which brought instant success two days later in a 4-0 victory away to West Ham United.
45) The fall of Norris
Sanctioned by the FA for alleged financial offences, Norris sued them for libel in the High Court _ and lost. It emerged that he had once sold the club’s motor coach for £300, endorsed the cheque with Herbert Chapman's name and paid the money into his wife’s account. The FA now banned him for life.
44) Reluctant Bastin
No 44: Anyone for tennis? Cliff Bastin had to be convinced by his mother to become an Arsenal legend
In the summer of 1929, Herbert Chapman went down to Devon determined to sign Cliff Bastin, the precocious 17-year-old Exeter City inside forward. After failing to convince him in an Exeter office, Chapman followed Bastin home and harangued him at length in the kitchen. Bastin, however, was concerned only to escape to finish a tennis match. In the end, when his mother came in to the kitchen, he signed with her blessing, to become one of Europe’s finest footballers.
43) First FA Cup triumph
No 43: Arsenal win the 1930 FA Cup with added assistance from the referee
The opponents at Wembley in April 1930 were none other than Herbert Chapman’s previous club, Huddersfield Town, whom he had also transformed. Arsenal’s controversial first goal came, when as pre-planned, Alex James, on a nod from the referee, slipped an instant free kick to young Cliff Bastin and netted the return for one of his rare goals. Arsenal won 2-0.
42) The over-the-line goal
No 42 Should have gone to Specsavers. Referee takes revenge as Newcastle snatch the 1932 FA Cup final
Arsenal, without their injured inspiration, Alex James, met Newcastle United in the 1932 FA Cup Final at Wembley. Arsenal went ahead through Bob John but when Dave Davidson, the Newcastle centre half, sent a long ball down the right, it seemed clearly to have run out of play by the time Jimmy Richardson, the inside right, crossed it. The Arsenal defenders, awaiting the whistle, stood off, enabling Jack Allen to head the equaliser. Newcastle went on to win 2-1.
41) The Walsall disaster
Drawn away to humble Walsall of the third division north in the third round of the FA Cup, Arsenal, riding high, seemed in little danger. But Chapman, with several first choices missing, chose to launch a couple of raw reserves and a bruising Walsall won 2-0. Their second goal came from a penalty, Tommy Black, the reserve left back who conceded it, was promptly transferred to Plymouth Argyle.
40) Arsenal beat Austria
Austria’s so-called Wonder Team had given England a run for their money before going down 4-3 at Chelsea in 1932 and had drawn 2-2 with Scotland in Glasgow in November 1933. On December 4, 1933, “Vienna” - English clubs were forbidden to play international opponents - met the Gunners at Highbury. After seeing them play on the Saturday, an Austrian official said: “We may lose, but we know we shall be better footballers.” They did lose, 4-2, in a thrilling match: Arsenal functional, Vienna artistic. Not until late on when the Gunners were 3-1 up did the Austrians get in to their stride, making it 3-2. Arsenal, typically, broke away for Cliff Bastin to score a slightly flattering fourth.
39) Herbert Chapman dies
No 39 Herbert Chapman: The legendary Arsenal manager whose dedication to scouting led to his untimely demise
With typical self-sacrifice, though suffering from a heavy cold, Chapman had taken himself to a string of matches all over England; the last of them a mere third-team game at Guildford City after which he succumbed to pneumonia. He died on January 6, 1934 at the age of 55. The team was traumatised. George Allison, a journalist and director, was his surprise successor.
38) The Battle of Highbury
Nowadays, it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for an Englishman to get into the Arsenal team. Stark contrast with when England met Italy, the World Cup winners, at Highbury in November 1934 with no fewer than seven Arsenal men in the XI. They were not all initially picked, but withdrawals from the original selection meant the line-up included: Frank Moss in goal, George Male and Eddie Hapgood at full back, Wilf Copping at left half, Ray Bowden at inside right, Ted Drake at centre forward and Cliff Bastin inside left. The match was overshadowed by Drake’s tackle inside the first two minutes on Luisito Monti, which broke a bone in the Argentinian’s foot, forcing him off in agony, claiming “he did it deliberately”. Drake always denied that, and would say in later years that for the first 28 minutes “we were playing the best football possible. You couldn’t play any better”. Though missing a penalty, England went into a 3-0 half-time lead, but Italian boots and elbows flew, Hapgood had his nose broken, and in the second half, Italy got two goals back. Copping tackled fearsomely. So much so, that next day, Jack Crayston, Arsenal’s right half, came into the office of George Allison, the manager, to say: “If we played Italy tomorrow, there could be only one half-back line: Copping, Copping and Copping.”
37) Drake’s seven
No 37 Seven-up: Ted Drake - from a Saint to Arsenal hero in seven goals
Ted Drake, the powerfully rumbustious centre forward bought from Southampton as George Allison’s first signing, had scored 42 league goals in his first full season in 1934-35. At Villa Park in December 1935 Drake scored all seven in the 7-1 thrashing of Aston Villa, striking the bar into the bargain.
36) Cup without glory
In the 1936 FA Cup final, Arsenal, at the peak of their powers, faced Sheffield United, of the second division. By the admission of Cliff Bastin and Eddie Hapgood, they were very lucky to win. Jock Dodds, United’s powerful centre forward, later prolific at Blackpool, headed against the bar. Arsenal gambled by bringing back Ted Drake, seriously injured playing for England against Wales and with a huge bandage round his right knee, but he scored the only goal from Bastin’s pass. In the very first minute, Alex Wilson, Arsenal’s goalkeeper, dropped the ball but recovered to make a fine save from United’s Bobby Barclay.
35) Record signing
In the summer of 1938 George Allison paid a record £14,000 for Bryn Jones, the Wales inside left, from Wolverhampton Wanderers, much to the displeasure of stars such as Cliff Bastin and Eddie Hapgood who were convinced Jones would never replace the remarkable Alex James as playmaker. The Second World War denied Jones his best years and a chance to settle the argument. A hat-trick taken with panache at Charlton in August 1942 sticks in the memory.
34) Tears at Chelsea
It was Christmas Day at Stamford Bridge and the first time that I, an 11-year-old, had seen Arsenal lose. I burst into tears. It was hardly the real Arsenal. Six of their stars watched helpless from the stand, held back to play in Cardiff on Boxing Day in the Army v RAF game. Noel Watson-Smith, of Yorkshire Amateurs, was sadly at sea in Arsenal’s goal. Walter Winterbottom, the future England manager, was Chelsea’s right back; Scotland’s powerful Billy Liddell, of Liverpool, their outside left.
33) Wembley watershed
No 33 End of an era: The 1943 FA Cup final was the swansong of many of the Gunners finest players
In the League South wartime Cup Final in 1943, Arsenal overwhelmed a Charlton Athletic team without Sam Bartram, their famous goalkeeper, 7-1 in a match that can now be seen as the end of an era. Reg Lewis, the centre forward, scored four goals, with Ted Drake in support at inside right. Charlton’s only goal came from a penalty. By the end of the war, injury had claimed Drake and Alf Kirchen, the powerful right winger. Soon afterwards, the prolific Cliff Bastin and Bernard Joy, the amateur centre half, would go, too. George Marks, the gifted goalkeeper, suffered a cruel eye injury playing for England against Wales at Wembley a few months after the Cup Final.
32) Calamity at Upton Park
For the first and only time, in January 1946, the earlier rounds of the FA Cup were played over two legs. Arsenal faced West Ham in the first leg away and were played off the field, succumbing 6-0. They had to make a very late decision over their goalkeeper. Both George Swindin, the pre-war choice, and George Marks, a wartime England star, were serving in Europe. Swindin got there first and played. Afterwards, Tom Whittaker, the trainer, then an RAF officer, chose him for the meaningless return, won 1-0 by Arsenal at Tottenham, saying it was like sending up immediately a pilot who had just crashed. Swindin kept his place for years.
31) Uncertain beginnings
No 31 Joe Mercer: Luckily for Arsenal this Merce preferred a quiet night in
Arsenal’s return to first division action after the League was suspended throughout the War was a sobering 6-1 thrashing away to Wolverhampton Wanderers on August 31, 1946. Their form did not pick up until the signings of the veterans, Joe Mercer, the left half, and Ronnie Rooke, the striker.
30) Misery at Highbury
Highbury had served as an Air Raid Precautions station throughout the war and Arsenal had shared White Hart Lane with Tottenham, their arch rivals. Arsenal’s first league game back at Highbury went little better than their trip to Wolverhampton. They went down 3-1 to Blackburn Rovers, whose newly appointed manager was none other than Arsenal’s former left back, captain and hero, Eddie Hapgood, with George Marks playing in goal.
29) O’Flanagan’s bombshells
Dr Kevin O’Flanagan, a general practitioner, always an amateur, was a supreme all-round athlete. In consecutive weeks he played rugby for Ireland and football for Northern Ireland. When things were going wrong in the revived first division early in the 1946-47 season, he scored two memorable long-range goals with his right foot at Highbury. The first, a badly needed winner against Stoke City, came after a fine solo run. The second in a 2-2 draw against Bolton from a 30-yard free kick when he wiped the mud off a heavy ball and smashed it home.
28) Whittaker promoted
Renowned for years as the trainer with the magic hands, Tom Whittaker succeeded Allison as manager in August 1947. Arsenal won their first six matches and went on to win the Championship, with Ronnie Rooke scoring 33 goals.
27) Rooke’s rocket
At home on a sunny September day in 1947 the gifted Ronnie Rooke scored a spectacular goal that enabled Arsenal to beat Manchester United 2-1. Getting the ball in an inside-right position, Rooke seemed likely to lay it off. Instead, he advanced and from 30 yards let fly a devastating left-footed shot that ripped past Jack Crompton, the United goalkeeper, into the top right-hand corner of the net.
26) Knocked out by Park Avenue
In the third round of the FA Cup at Highbury in January 1948, Arsenal were sensationally beaten 1-0 by Bradford Park Avenue, of the second division. Billy Elliott, the left winger, scored the only goal for Park Avenue — whose slide from grace was completed when they lost their League place to Cambridge United in 1970.
25) Tottenham demolished
The third round of the FA Cup in January 1949 and the local derby at Highbury. Tottenham, surprisingly dropping their key playmaker, Eddie Bailey, gave Arsenal’s own star playmaker, little Jimmy Logie, the freedom of the park. Logie ran riot, Arsenal won 3-0.
24) Saved by the Comptons
No 24 A family affair: Football and cricket legend Denis Compton tees it up, brother Leslie knocks it in
White Hart Lane, the FA Cup semi-final in 1950, a dominant Chelsea 2-1 ahead, 15 minutes left. Arsenal gain a left-wing corner. Denis Compton, prince of footballer/cricketers, prepares to take it. His older, bigger, brother, Leslie, comes striding up from centre half. Captain Joe Mercer shouts urgently at him “Get back!” Leslie ignores him, the corner comes over, Leslie heads fiercely home, loses his balance, turns a somersault, doesn’t see he has scored and equalised. Freddie Cox’s freak goal straight from a corner had brought Arsenal back from 2-0 down. The Gunners won the replay 1-0.
23) The FA Cup regained
Two goals by the incisive Reg Lewis, who scored 100 times in three wartime seasons, beat Liverpool at Wembley in April 1950 and the FA Cup returned to Highbury after 14 years.
22) Heroic resistance
In the 1952 FA Cup final against Newcastle United, Wally Barnes, the elegant Wales international right back, severely wrenched a knee in the eighteenth minute, so Arsenal had to soldier on with ten fit men and with Jimmy Logie, the brains of the attack, handicapped by a huge hole in his thigh. It was only after 85 minutes that George Robledo, the Chilean, headed the winner off a post. “Ours is the Cup,” Stan Seymour, the Newcastle manager, told Tom Whittaker. “Yours is the honour and the glory.”
21) Mercer’s sad farewell
Signed in mid-season in 1946 from Everton, where he had been treated callously when he was injured by a club that plainly believed that he was past his meridian, Joe Mercer embarked on a splendid Indian summer. True, he played a more cautious, withdrawn game at left half than in his Everton and England days, but he proved an inspiring captain. He insisted on playing against Liverpool at Highbury on April 1, 1954. Alas, he broke a leg and was carried off on a stretcher, still able to wave and smile at the crowd that had admired him so long and now cheered him loudly.
20) The last of Logie
Nikolai Latychev, the Russian referee who ultimately officiated at the 1962 World Cup final in Chile, kept turning up in Arsenal’s history like a bad rouble. In November 1945, he it was who, at the insistence of the touring Moscow Dynamo team, refereed their match against a patchwork Arsenal team at Tottenham. The fog was so thick that the game should not have been started, yet Latychev decided to station himself on one touchline, his linesmen on the other. Inevitably chaos ensued. Dynamo at one stage had 12 men on the field. Arsenal lost 4-3. On November 11, 1954 Arsenal met Spartak Moscow at Highbury in a friendly. The Russians were 2-1 up when Arthur Milton, the dashing winger, drove into their penalty area and was blatantly brought down. Latychev refused a penalty. Logie, Arsenal’s captain, refused to shake hands with him at the end. Bracewell Smith, the pompous Arsenal chairman, refused to shake hands with Logie, long Arsenal’s inspiration, when meeting the squad at Christmas. In February 1955 Logie made off to Gravesend and Northfleet, the non-League club. Later, he had a newspaper and magazine pitch in Piccadilly Circus, then worked as a commissionaire at Thames TV in Euston Road.
19) Stock in and out
Hoping to prop up a by now waning Tom Whittaker, the Arsenal directors brought in as assistant manager Alec Stock from Leyton Orient. On his first Monday Stock called the players up to the gymnasium for what he called “a natter”: he told them that 20 players would be released at the end of the season. Mutiny was in the air. Stock stayed for barely six weeks and Arsenal, winning eight of their last nine games, climbed from seventeenth to fifth in the table, keeping a clean sheet in six matches.
18) Last Fling of the Busby Babes
No 18 The Busby Babes dominated Highbury in 1958. Arsene Wenger now has his own 2007 vintage.
Manchester United’s splendid young team came buoyantly to Highbury on February 1, 1958. Doomed, alas, just five days later to suffer the appalling Munich air crash. At half-time they were 3-0 ahead with goals by the powerful Duncan Edwards, Tommy Taylor, the centre forward, both of whom would both die in Munich, and the precocious Bobby Charlton. Arsenal, however, scored three times in three minutes in the second half. Dennis Violett and Taylor made it 5-3. The Gunners pulled one back and it finished 5-4. Jimmy Bloomfield, the clever inside forward, scored two of the Arsenal goals, David Herd and Derek Tapscott one each.
17) Perfect ending
No 17 A Ray Kennedy header wins the 1971 League title
Forced to play their crucial last League game on the Monday before the FA Cup final, Arsenal confronted Tottenham, their traditional foes, at White Hart Lane. Victory or a goalless draw would make them champions. Some 40,000 fans were locked out. Ray Kennedy headed George Armstrong’s left-wing cross in off the bar to give Arsenal the game and the title.
16) The Double
No 16 Give us a hug. Charlie George and his never to be repeated FA Cup final celebration
Ten years after THFC became the first team of the century to win the League and Cup double, Arsenal emulated them at Wembley. Liverpool scored first against the run of play. Eddie Kelly equalised. Six minutes into the second period of extra time, Charlie George, maverick local hero, swapped passes with John Radford then thumped his right-foot shot home from the edge of the box, falling flat on his back, arms upraised for his joyful team-mates to pull him up.
15) The three-minute drama
No 15 The late show. Alan Sunderland s perm wins the 1979 FA Cup final
In the 1979 FA Cup Final at Wembley, Arsenal were deservedly 2-0 up against Manchester United with only four minutes to play. Their goals had been scored by Brian Talbot and Frank Stapleton, the Ireland centre forward. United seemed down and out but they suddenly revived, with Gordon McQueen, the centre half, and Sammy McIlroy making it 2-2. Arsenal, expertly prompted from midfield by Liam Brady, hit back with an 89th minute winner, a left-wing cross from Graham Rix exploited by Alan Sunderland. Arsenal’s coach, Don Howe, called it “a storybook ending”.
14) Gallantry rewarded in Copenhagen
No 14 A perfect gent: Smudger grabs Cup Winners Cup glory against Parma
In the final of the European Cup Winners’ Cup in May 1994, Arsenal, without Ian Wright and battle weary, held out to beat Parma, thanks to the fine opportunism of Alan Smith and the defiant goalkeeping of David Seaman, who played with cracked ribs and was kept going by pain-killing injections. When Lorenzo Minotti, the Parma centre back, tried ineffectively to kick a ball over his head, Smith jumped and struck with his left foot, the ball hitting the inside of the right-hand post and ending in the far corner of the net. “It was an incredible feeling,” Smith said.
13) Seaman rules supreme
No 13 David Seaman makes Sampdoria pay the penalty
The return leg of the semi-final of the European Cup Winners’ Cup against Sampdoria in Genoa in April 1995. Arsenal had won 3-2 at Highbury; but Sampdoria now reversed that score. There were no goals in extra time, so the match went to penalties. David Seaman produced heroics. He moved to his left to save from the ferocious left foot of Yugoslavia’s Sinisa Mijhailovic, dived to his right to thwart Valdimir Jugovic and, with a save from Attilio Lombardo, took Arsenal through to the final.
12) Nayim’s nasty surprise
No 12 Disaster in Paris. A Seaman howler results in a freak goal for former Tottenham player Nayim and THFC Real Zaragoza to Cup Winners victory in 1995
In the next year’s final of the European Cup Winners’ Cup in Paris against Real Zaragoza, of Spain, Arsenal were undone by an almost freakish goal: scored by an ex-Tottenham player. Juan Esnáider put the Spaniards ahead, John Hartson, the big Wales centre forward, equalised. Twenty-five seconds from time, Nayim, 50 yards out on the right, let fly a shot that soared over the head of David Seaman to win the game.
11) A legend arrives
;DNo 11 Dennis Bergkamp. A great gift to the club from manager Bruce Rioch
In the summer of 1995, Dennis Bergkamp, the hugely gifted Holland forward, was brought by Bruce Rioch, the manager, from Inter in Milan, where he had liked the life but not the football. Bergkamp, with his exceptional skills and great flair, became a Highbury idol. The goal he scored at Newcastle in 2002 was a small miracle of dizzying footwork, matched by a marvellous goal scored for Holland against Argentina in the 1998 World Cup. He worked tirelessly on the training field.
10) Enter Wenger
No 10 Le professeur: Arsene Wenger has transformed the club out of all recognition
Arsène Wenger arrived as manager in September 1996 at the instigation of his friend, David Dein, the then vice-chairman, having been in charge of Grampus Eight in Japan. Previously he had managed Monaco in France for seven years, winning a championship in an era dominated by Marseilles. Bruce Rioch, his predecessor at Highbury, had just signed a new contract but with Peter Hill-Wood being on holiday, Arsenal had not signed the other half. Wenger revolutionised training and tactics, embarking on a long period of success, blemished only in the earlier seasons by a plethora of red cards.
9) Wright’s record
No 9 Ian Wright passes Cliff Bastin s record with a characteristic show of modesty
With a hat-trick against Bolton at Highbury on September 13, 1997, Ian Wright, quick as the wind, overhauled Cliff Bastin’s astonishing record of 178 Arsenal goals, mostly from the left wing. Bastin not only lost six years to the Second World War but did not have any European tournaments or Football League Cups to play in. Wright, was a surprisingly late developer with Greenwich Borough, the non-League side. He had excelled at Crystal Palace in an FA Cup final against Manchester United in 1990. He was capped 33 times for England.
8) Amazing Adams
;DNo 8 Who is the donkey now? Tony Adams scores a screamer to seal the title in 1998
Famed for his defiant, influential captaincy at centre back, Tony Adams scored a memorable fourth goal for Arsenal at Highbury in a win over Everton in May 1998 that sealed the Gunners’ first championship under Arsène Wenger. Galloping irresistibly up field, leaving opponents behind, Adams shot home after Steve Bould’s lob over the defence. “This is my greatest ever achievement as a manager,” Wenger said. There would be others to come.
7) The Corinthian spirit
No 7 You thought you had scored. Marc Overmars sees his joy shortlived as Arsenal are forced to replay against Sheffield United, 1999
It was the FA Cup fifth round, Arsenal against Sheffield United, from the division below, at Highbury in February 1999 with the score at 1-1. United put the ball out, so an injured player could be treated. Unaware of the unwritten law that from the resulting throw-in, the ball should be restored to the opposition team, Nwankwo Kanu, Arsenal’s lanky Nigerian, received the ball and trundled it down the right wing. To the horror of United’s watching players, he crossed it, unchallenged, into the goalmouth, where Marc Overmars tapped it home. The referee, quite correctly, but to United’s fury, gave a goal. Arsène Wenger generously insisted that the match should be replayed. David Davies, on weekend duty at the FA, agreed, so the referee was, however sportingly, quite wrongly overruled. The match was replayed and the Gunners again won 2-1.
6) Scintillating Henry
No 6 Formerly an unhappy winger, Thierry Henry made an entire generation of Arsenal fans cry when he va-va-voomed off to Barcelona
Wenger brought his former Monaco protégé, Thierry Henry, the France right winger, in August 1999 from Juventus, where he had been unhappy, converting him in to the centre forward Wenger always thought Henry should become. Henry did so with prolific success. Electrically quick and elusive, a superb ball player, Henry beat Ian Wright’s aggregate scoring record in double quick time. In the summer of 2007, after numerous triumphs, Henry left for Barcelona, who had long coveted him.
5) Unbeaten masters
No 5 An indiscretion by Robert Pires is overlooked as Arsenal go unbeaten for the entire 2003/4 season
Arsenal’s astonishing run of 49 unbeaten matches included the whole of the 2003-04 league season when they won the title by 11 points. The run concluded only in a bitterly contested defeat at Old Trafford by Manchester United the following season. Alex Ferguson, the United manager, was pelted with pizza by player or players unknown. Yet Arsenal should have lost only their third home game of the unbeaten season to Portsmouth, equalising with a penalty awarded when Robert Pires, the France winger, plainly dived.
4) Explosion at the San Siro
No 4 Irresistible Henry: Arsenal stun Inter 5-1at the San Siro
Inter Milan had swept to an embarrassing 3-0 victory at Highbury and hopes could hardly be high for the return in Milan in November 2003, not least with Bergkamp and Patrick Vieira missing. Yet Arsenal made a mockery of being on the verge of elimination from the Champions League by winning 5-1, with Henry irresistible. He gave Arsenal the lead but Christian Vieri equalised with a deflected shot, making the half-time score 1-1. Arsenal then exploded. Fredrik Ljungberg restored the lead on 49 minutes and in the last five minutes, Inter collapsed. Henry, Brazil’s Edu and Robert Pires, splendidly set up by Jérémie Aliadière, the young French substitute, completed the rout.
3) Bergkamp wasted
No 3 Dennis Bergkamp is a virtual spectator as Arsenal win one of the least interesting FA Cup finals of all time in 2005
Manchester United, who had beaten Arsenal twice in the Premiership, were their opponents in the 2005 FA Cup final and for once Arsène Wenger seemed to lose his nerve. Dennis Bergkamp had been on brilliant form in their meeting at Highbury. Now, inexplicably, he was used as a solitary spearhead in a team that seemed to be playing for a penalty shoot-out from the start. Despite his sublime skills, Bergkamp no longer had the pace to perform such a role and was sadly wasted. Arsenal held out in extra time and when it came to penalties, Jens Lehmann, the Germany goalkeeper, saved resourcefully from Paul Scholes enabling Patrick Vieira to score the decisive spot kick. Hardly a famous victory.
2) Anticlimax in Paris
No 2 Henrik Larsson breaks Arsenal hearts in the 2006 Champions League final
In their first Champions League final in 2006, Arsenal were in trouble after only 12 minutes when Jens Lehmann, their goalkeeper, was sent off for tripping Samuel Eto’o, the Barcelona striker. Ludovic Giuly put the ball into the empty net but Tauje Hauge, the referee, decided to impose a red card but not a goal. Despite this, Arsenal led when Sol Campbell jumped mightily to head in Thierry Henry’s free kick. Two goals in four minutes late in the second half, skilfully set up by Henrik Larsson, the Swedish veteran, broke Arsenal’s brave resistance. Manuel Almunia, the substitute goalkeeper, made a fine save from Eto’o but might arguably have kept out both the goals.
1) Last hurrah at Highbury
No 1 An Henry hat-trick sees Arsenal say farewell to Highbury with a bang
Elaborate celebrations at the Gunners’ last match at Highbury on May 7, 2006. The return of the singing policeman, the post-match parade of former stars, a fizzing firework display. On the pitch Wigan proved difficult opponents. Arsenal had to win to take fourth place to secure the final Champions League place. Robert Pires put them ahead, but two bad goals were conceded before Pires put Thierry Henry through to equalise. In the second half, Henry completed his eighth Highbury hat-trick with a penalty to make it 4-2 and kissed the turf to say goodbye.
www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/arsenal/article2864726.ece
