A Guest Post – 1919 And All That – By Gunner1948
Apr 29th, 2015 by 'holic
Once more it is time for one of ours to reveal his hitherto hidden talents with a guest blog. Gunner1948 has been kind enough to pen a piece about Arsenal’s elevation to the top flight after the First World War. Thank you very much for your contribution, young man! Enjoy, all.
On April 24th, 2015, exactly 100 years passed since Arsenal played their last Second Division fixture. Nottingham Forest were beaten 7-0 at Highbury and the Gunners finished in fifth place behind Preston, Derby, Barnsley and Wolves. The Great War then interrupted league football until August 1919 when it all kicked off again.
At this point a dedicated student of the game might have wondered what Arsenal were doing in Division One. Certainly Barnsley and Wolves must have been somewhat miffed. Poor Barnsley had to wait another 72 seasons before winning promotion to the Premiership where they came face-to-face with Dennis Bergkamp. Enough said!
There are various conspiracy theories on record to explain how the Gunners chairman, Sir Henry Norris, who had kept Arsenal afloat during some very lean years, managed to get his team promoted. Much is spoken of the ‘fixed’ meeting of Manchester United and Liverpool which would lead to the relegation of Chelsea. However the First Division was being expanded by two teams.
The League, wanting very much to avoid admitting that match fixing had occurred therefore elected Chelsea to fill one of the extra places given that they would not have gone down but for the collusion between United and Liverpool.
The other relegated club, Tottenham of all clubs, also argued they should remain, but the Football League took the view that they had been relegated on merit and chose instead, after some skilful lobbying by Norris, to elevate the Gunners to the top flight.
No matter the reason, the footballing gods got it right on the day. The proof being Arsenal’s unbroken string of eighty-nine consecutive top-flight seasons. No one else comes close. Everton are next with a mere sixty-one and I’d be willing to bet they don’t make it to eighty-nine.
Go Arsenal, Beat Villa!
70 Responses to “A Guest Post – 1919 And All That – By Gunner1948”
Arsenal News 24/7
Can I recommend this site for a much more detailed series of posts on the issue.
http://www.blog.woolwicharsenal.co.uk
There is a lot of seriously researched work by some dedicated guys to be found there.
Early bid.
*Heads off to read the post*
Denied first place by shockingly clear colusion, Pangloss chokes back his disappointment and offers his congratulations to Gunner1948 for a fine piece.
He thrn retires to contemplate why he is now posting in the tjhird person.
COYG
🙂
Good piece.
Everton for relegation!
Nice piece of history there 1948. Sir Henry setting the standard for Stanley. 🙂
Good read. An anniversary of us putting one over the neighbours is always to be honoured. If Gunner1948 is who I suspect him to be, then props to him and his blog. Essential reading for anyone with an interest in the history of this club.
As a footnote to the Notts Forest game mentioned above, four of Arsenal’s seven goals were scored by Harry King. The little centre forward had also scored the first hat-trick at Highbury, against Grimsby Town earlier in the season. King had one meteoric season with Arsenal, scoring 29 goals in 39 league and cup games, including two four-goal hauls (the other one was against Wolves) as well as the hat-trick. That was the club record for most goals in a season until it was broken in 1925-26 by Jimmy Brain (of whom, with the Guv’nor’s indulgence, more in a week or two).
King was rather a one-season wonder. He’d played for Birmingham City in the old Second Division in 1907-1909 but scored only six times over the two seasons, failed to establish himself in the team, and dropped down to non-league football. Looking for a goalscorer to boost a team that had almost won promotion to the old First Division in 1913-14, Arsenal bought him in 1914. But by then King was already in his late 20s. He was in to his 30s by the time league football resumed after World War 1. Arsenal sold him to Leicester City. After eight games there he moved on to Brentford, where he scored 16 goals in 33 matches, and then dropped out of football altogether.
From previous drinks…
Pangloss … in context with Dr F’s earlier quote, the ‘minderwertige Wesen des Abgrunds’ are, for Moaninho, those beneath him who look up at him in admiration. In his mind only of course.
Dr F … from your stats link, interesting that Diaby has made more appearances than Jack.
Now to read this one…
Öskar
Just 4 years to the centenary. Should be just in time to celebrate a CL win, if not a year or two late hopefully.
Good to read about spuds being relegated too. And not for the last time either. In a perfect world it would happen more often.
Öskar
The natural order of things has been in place for early a century. Great to see them squealing even then!
Great piece thanks
Good stuff, thanks for that G1948.
Fine work by the monks too.
The 23rd July 2015 will be the 150th anniversary of the birth of Henry Norris, a man who bestrides the creation of our club in North London, and to this day is hated by Spuds’ fans worldwide.
Ensure you raise a glass to the man on the July day.
So Debuchy is injured. And it’s another hamstring…
Re Debuchy- Not sure playing 120 minutes at Wembley in his first game back was a great idea
Could this have been prevented through regular early check-ups etc.?
http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/32537425
Poor Maitland-Niles, he is not going to find it easy in the reserve’s dressing room after this …
http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/32537420
Soccer mums, Dr. F!
NBN — ha ha, exactly!
Anicoll5@13: Henry Norris was a critical figure to the survival of our club in the second and third decades of the last century, but his is not an unalloyed story. Norris and William Hall had taken over — more been lumbered with — a club in dire financial straits (Woolwich Arsenal FC went into liquidation in 1910), moved it to a new stadium (Highbury in 1913) to draw bigger crowds that would help them pay off its debts more quickly, and then World War One breaks out. They are now faced with the old debts plus new debt for the development of a new stadium (for both of which they are the sole guarantors), as well as rent to pay for the ground and no revenue because of the suspension of the Football League for the duration of the hostilities. No wonder they were financially desperate once the war had ended to get the club in to the First Division at the first opportunity. And we all know what desperate times call for. In 1923, the FA censured Norris over some irregular and secret payments around the signing of inside forward Henry White. In 1929, an FA investigation into Arsenal’s bookkeeping raised all sorts of questions about dodgy-looking payments during Norris’s time as a director of the club, and which led to his resignation. But by then, he had hired Herbert Chapman, himself no stranger to payments irregularities when at Leeds, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Hamstring bloody hamstring
Raging Hamstring
Hamstring’s List
Gone With the Hamstring
Citizen Hamstring
The Wizard of Hamstring
The Silence of the Hamstring
12 Angry Hamstrings
Hamstring Now
From Here to Hamstring
Saving Private Hamstring
The Good the Bad and the Hamstring
The Hamstring Hunter
The Hamstring Connection
Midnight Hamstring
Bonnie and Hamstring
Rebel Without a Hamstring
Rear Hamstring
What, Silly Second? No “Bring me the Hamstring of Alfredo Garcia”?
The Last Hamstring on the Left
Hamburger Hamstring
Hamstring of the Living Dead
Night of the Hamstring
Hamstrings of Dracula
Beverly Hills Hamstring
Hamstring : The Revenge
The Hamstrings of Katie Elder
And finally
The Unbearable Tightness of the Hamstring
The Hamstrings of Katie Elder.
I like that.
The Lord of the Hamstring trilogy:
1) The Fellowship of the Hamstring
2) The Two Hamstrings
3) The Return of the Hamstring
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Hamstring
Hamstring Rock
Breakfast At Hamstring’s
Pirates Of The Carribbean: Dead Man’s Hamstring
Enter The Hamstring
Harry Potter And The Hamstring Of Azkaban
Glengarry Glen Hamstring
Fear and Hamstring in Las Vegas
Nice one Gunner1948.
Usual quality follow-up from NBN too.
The Hamstring Supremacy.
Debuchy needs to go for treatment to –
Ice Station Hamstring.
No Hamstrings Attached
Yours is the gift that keeps on giving, Second Silly.
Indiana Jones And The Hamstring Of The Crystal Skull
Full Metal Hamstring
Big Hamstring in Little China
Good Will Hamstring
The Hamstring Patient
Four Hamstrings and a Funeral
Monty Python and the Holy Hamstring
L’Hamstringura
A Bout de soft-Hamstring
Fanny and Hamstring
The Discrete Charm of Hamstringoisie
The Seventh Hamstring
Hamstringomon
The Hamstring Thief
Celine et Hamstring vont et bateau
Hamstringless in Seattle
Seven Hamstrings for Seven Brothers
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Hamstring
Like Water for Hamstring
Hamstring’s Feast
Aguirre, the Wrath of Hamstring
When Hammy Met Sally
Don’t forget some of the Bard’s finest.
Histories:
Hamstring IV, Part 1
Hamstring IV, Part 2
Hamstring V
Hamstring VI, Part 1
Hamstring VI, Part 2
Hamstring VI, Part 3
Hamstring VIII
Comedies:
The taming of the Hamstring
and of course, the ever popular tragedy:
Hamstring, Prince of Denmark
COYG
You are a very erudite filmgoer, Dr F.
Trev, you are just brilliant. You may like Some Like It Hammy
Two classics:
The Maltese Hamstring
The Hamstring Vanishes
Two classic comedies:
M. Hulot’s Hamstring
Blazing Hamstrings
And two modern classics:
Brokeback Hamstring
No Hamstrings For Old Men
Or, if we are allowed a song,
Duran Duran – Too Much Inflammation
Full Metal Hamstring!
Fuckin’ great.
That’s how the Pro-Pain should name the next album.
Trev, You may also like Dirty Hammy.
Merci pour le Hamstring
Beware of a Holy Hamstring
Ali: Fear Eats the Hamstring
Hamstring 451
Hamstring et Jim
🙂 NBN
Up there with A Clockwork Hamstring, Second Silly.
NBN — No Hamstrings for Old Men … nice. Monsieur Hulot’s Hamstring to be followed by Mon Hamstrung Oncle (a little too much liberty?)
And any number of titles from
The Hamstring House of Horror
Arsenal 3 – West Hamstring 0
Arsenal 4 – Southhamstrington 0
Arsenal 4 – Hamstringchester United 0
Arsenal 5 – Hamstringchester City 0
Arsenal 6 – Liverpulled hamstring 0
Arsenal 15 (declared) – Tottenhamstring 0
Öskar
An award winner..
My Left Hamstring.
Any Woody Allen fans?..
Annie Hamstring
Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Hamstrings
Hannah and Her Hamstrings
The Purple Hamstring of Cairo
Hamstrings Over Broadway
Mighty Hamstring
Deconstructing Hamstrings
and my personal favourite..
Manhamstring.
UTA.
Noosa @ 48:
Blue Hamstring
Hamstrings and Misdemeanors
Vicky Cristina Hamstring
I hear the FA Cup is to be renamed The Emirates FA Cup. Why not go all the way and call it The Arsenal FA Cup?
Has a (hamst)ring to it. 😉
Öskar
Sixpence short of a shilling, all of you 😉
The Year of Living Without a Hamstring.
More Clint Eastwood remakes:
High Plains Hamstring
Pale Hamstring
A Fistful of Hamstrings
For a Few Hamstrings More
Man With No Hamstring
Every Which Way But Hamstrung.
And (nothing to do with Clint) thanks to
Silly Second Hamstring
😀
All these references to the biceps femoris, semitendinosus, and semimembranosus muscles have left me hamstrung.
Surely you mean two tendons short of a hamstring, ‘Holic? 🙂
A Hamstring Too Far
Hamstring: First Blood
Lord of the Hamstrings
28 Hamstrings Later
Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Hamstrings
Enemy at the Hamstrings
Million Dollar Hamstrings
Black Hawk Hamstring
The Shawshank Hamstring
and some ’60s classics:
2001: A Space Hamstring
Butch Cassidy and the Hamstring Kid
Chitty, Chitty, Hamstring
Far From The Hamstrung Crowd
From Russia With Hamstrings
Hamstring of Arabia
Hamstring’s Baby
La Hammy Vita
Morgan, A Suitable Hamstring For Treatment
Once Upon A Hamstring In The West
Paint Your Hamstring
The Hamstring File
The Pink Hamstring
Valley of the Hamstrings
Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Hamstrings 🙂
mesut ozil wins pfa hamstring of the month:
http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/20150501/ozil-named-pfa-fans-player-of-the-month
and ned, i thought it was “the hamstring redemption”.
and who could forget “hamstring at tiffany’s”? “to kill a hamstring”? “12 angry hamstrings”? or the ever popular “one flew over a hamstring nest”?
Bring back Mornington Crescent 😉
I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Hamstring…
Darren Anderton: Hamstrung
(A moving biopic in which Jamie Redknapp plays the lead…)
Acton Town to Liverpool Street via Hamstring… oh fuck! Well, I tried, Holic…
NBN@57: La Dolce Hamstring is actually rather apt for Anita Ekberg (I mean no disrespect to the dear departed…)
“….Yes, it appears Manny is a Gooner.
Sadly, this might not be particularly good news. If the little man really does have Arsenal in his heart, he’ll probably dance into the ring, float about the ring looking stylish, convince all his fans he’s about to win… and then get knocked out by a dull, rubbish, boring punch…. ”
Richard Innes, Mirror.
Disharmony in his bald, dull, rubbish, boring head.
lars, i hear the changeover from hamstring to hamstrung after liverpool street is a bit tight…can take up to 3 weeks, some might say.
Heh@66!
Had Debuchy had gotten off at Archway his Hamstring would certainly never have gotten so tight. Liverpool Street never would have come into it.
But had he made a habit of visiting Marble Arch his foot support would have been rock solid. As many transport-minded podiatrists are wont to point out, hamstrings thrive on that kind of support.
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