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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!

Posted in Guest Tales, history | 70 Drinks

70 Responses to “A Guest Post – 1919 And All That – By Gunner1948”

  1. on 29 Apr 2015 at 8:11 pm1Goonerholic

    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.

  2. on 29 Apr 2015 at 8:26 pm2Panglossdroid II

    Early bid.

    *Heads off to read the post*

  3. on 29 Apr 2015 at 8:31 pm3Panglossdroid II

    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

  4. on 29 Apr 2015 at 8:41 pm4Goonerholic

    🙂

  5. on 29 Apr 2015 at 9:37 pm5Gunnersaurus Stunt Double

    Good piece.

    Everton for relegation!

  6. on 29 Apr 2015 at 10:25 pm6bathgooner

    Nice piece of history there 1948. Sir Henry setting the standard for Stanley. 🙂

  7. on 29 Apr 2015 at 10:43 pm7North Bank Ned

    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.

  8. on 29 Apr 2015 at 11:28 pm8North Bank Ned

    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.

  9. on 30 Apr 2015 at 1:45 am9Öskar the dog

    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

  10. on 30 Apr 2015 at 1:55 am10Öskar the dog

    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

  11. on 30 Apr 2015 at 7:49 am11Thundertinygooner

    The natural order of things has been in place for early a century. Great to see them squealing even then!
    Great piece thanks

  12. on 30 Apr 2015 at 10:53 am12Holloway2Holland

    Good stuff, thanks for that G1948.

    Fine work by the monks too.

  13. on 30 Apr 2015 at 2:29 pm13Anicoll5

    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.

  14. on 30 Apr 2015 at 2:29 pm14Cynic

    So Debuchy is injured. And it’s another hamstring…

  15. on 30 Apr 2015 at 4:36 pm15Thundertinygooner

    Re Debuchy- Not sure playing 120 minutes at Wembley in his first game back was a great idea

  16. on 30 Apr 2015 at 5:19 pm16Doctor Faustus

    Could this have been prevented through regular early check-ups etc.?
    http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/32537425

  17. on 30 Apr 2015 at 5:20 pm17Doctor Faustus

    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

  18. on 30 Apr 2015 at 6:09 pm18North Bank Ned

    Soccer mums, Dr. F!

  19. on 30 Apr 2015 at 6:47 pm19Doctor Faustus

    NBN — ha ha, exactly!

  20. on 30 Apr 2015 at 7:04 pm20North Bank Ned

    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.

  21. on 30 Apr 2015 at 10:03 pm21Silly Second Yella

    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

  22. on 30 Apr 2015 at 10:10 pm22North Bank Ned

    What, Silly Second? No “Bring me the Hamstring of Alfredo Garcia”?

  23. on 30 Apr 2015 at 10:12 pm23Cynic

    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

  24. on 30 Apr 2015 at 10:19 pm24Silly Second Yella

    The Hamstrings of Katie Elder.

    I like that.

  25. on 30 Apr 2015 at 10:21 pm25Lars

    The Lord of the Hamstring trilogy:

    1) The Fellowship of the Hamstring
    2) The Two Hamstrings
    3) The Return of the Hamstring

  26. on 30 Apr 2015 at 10:39 pm26North Bank Ned

    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

  27. on 30 Apr 2015 at 10:40 pm27Trev

    Nice one Gunner1948.

    Usual quality follow-up from NBN too.

  28. on 30 Apr 2015 at 10:42 pm28Trev

    The Hamstring Supremacy.

    Debuchy needs to go for treatment to –

    Ice Station Hamstring.

  29. on 30 Apr 2015 at 10:45 pm29Trev

    No Hamstrings Attached

  30. on 30 Apr 2015 at 10:46 pm30North Bank Ned

    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

  31. on 30 Apr 2015 at 10:52 pm31Doctor Faustus

    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

  32. on 30 Apr 2015 at 10:53 pm32Trev

    Hamstringless in Seattle

  33. on 30 Apr 2015 at 10:55 pm33Trev

    Seven Hamstrings for Seven Brothers

  34. on 30 Apr 2015 at 10:55 pm34Doctor Faustus

    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

  35. on 30 Apr 2015 at 10:56 pm35Trev

    When Hammy Met Sally

  36. on 30 Apr 2015 at 10:58 pm36Pangloss

    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

  37. on 30 Apr 2015 at 10:58 pm37North Bank Ned

    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

  38. on 30 Apr 2015 at 10:58 pm38Trev

    Or, if we are allowed a song,

    Duran Duran – Too Much Inflammation

  39. on 30 Apr 2015 at 10:59 pm39Silly Second Yella

    Full Metal Hamstring!

    Fuckin’ great.

    That’s how the Pro-Pain should name the next album.

  40. on 30 Apr 2015 at 10:59 pm40North Bank Ned

    Trev, You may also like Dirty Hammy.

  41. on 30 Apr 2015 at 11:00 pm41Doctor Faustus

    Merci pour le Hamstring

    Beware of a Holy Hamstring

    Ali: Fear Eats the Hamstring

    Hamstring 451

    Hamstring et Jim

  42. on 30 Apr 2015 at 11:03 pm42Trev

    🙂 NBN

  43. on 30 Apr 2015 at 11:04 pm43North Bank Ned

    Up there with A Clockwork Hamstring, Second Silly.

  44. on 30 Apr 2015 at 11:04 pm44Doctor Faustus

    NBN — No Hamstrings for Old Men … nice. Monsieur Hulot’s Hamstring to be followed by Mon Hamstrung Oncle (a little too much liberty?)

  45. on 30 Apr 2015 at 11:05 pm45Trev

    And any number of titles from

    The Hamstring House of Horror

  46. on 01 May 2015 at 1:30 am46Öskar the dog

    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

  47. on 01 May 2015 at 3:10 am47Noosa Gooner

    An award winner..

    My Left Hamstring.

  48. on 01 May 2015 at 3:19 am48Noosa Gooner

    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.

  49. on 01 May 2015 at 3:54 am49Doctor Faustus

    Noosa @ 48:

    Blue Hamstring
    Hamstrings and Misdemeanors
    Vicky Cristina Hamstring

  50. on 01 May 2015 at 4:37 am50Öskar the dog

    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

  51. on 01 May 2015 at 11:38 am51Goonerholic

    Sixpence short of a shilling, all of you 😉

  52. on 01 May 2015 at 12:41 pm52behind the 8 ball but gunning for glory

    The Year of Living Without a Hamstring.

  53. on 01 May 2015 at 12:55 pm53behind the 8 ball but gunning for glory

    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
    😀

  54. on 01 May 2015 at 1:12 pm54Bayonne Jean

    All these references to the biceps femoris, semitendinosus, and semimembranosus muscles have left me hamstrung.

  55. on 01 May 2015 at 3:10 pm55North Bank Ned

    Surely you mean two tendons short of a hamstring, ‘Holic? 🙂

  56. on 01 May 2015 at 3:23 pm56PMI Gooner

    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

  57. on 01 May 2015 at 4:25 pm57North Bank Ned

    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

  58. on 01 May 2015 at 4:35 pm58North Bank Ned

    Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Hamstrings 🙂

  59. on 01 May 2015 at 4:50 pm59scruzgooner

    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”?

  60. on 01 May 2015 at 5:13 pm60Goonerholic

    Bring back Mornington Crescent 😉

  61. on 01 May 2015 at 5:59 pm61PMI Gooner

    I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Hamstring…

  62. on 01 May 2015 at 6:19 pm62Gunnersaurus Stunt Double

    Darren Anderton: Hamstrung

    (A moving biopic in which Jamie Redknapp plays the lead…)

  63. on 01 May 2015 at 6:45 pm63Lars

    Acton Town to Liverpool Street via Hamstring… oh fuck! Well, I tried, Holic…

  64. on 01 May 2015 at 6:51 pm64Doctor Faustus

    NBN@57: La Dolce Hamstring is actually rather apt for Anita Ekberg (I mean no disrespect to the dear departed…)

  65. on 01 May 2015 at 7:10 pm65Silly Second Yella

    “….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.

  66. on 01 May 2015 at 7:31 pm66scruzgooner

    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.

  67. on 01 May 2015 at 8:09 pm67Lars

    Heh@66!

  68. on 01 May 2015 at 9:30 pm68behind the 8 ball but gunning for glory

    Had Debuchy had gotten off at Archway his Hamstring would certainly never have gotten so tight. Liverpool Street never would have come into it.

  69. on 01 May 2015 at 9:39 pm69behind the 8 ball but gunning for glory

    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.

  70. on 01 May 2015 at 10:18 pm70Goonerholic

    >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

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