100 Years of Arsenal in the top division.
2019 marks 100 years of Arsenal in the top division of English football – first in the 1st Division, then in the Premier League.
However it is often said that Arsenal somehow bribed their way in to the first division in 1919, and although details of how that is done are scarce to the point of not being there at all, the rumour has been spread.
Arsenal themselves have been very reluctant to defend and of the actions of the club prior to 1928, because of the actions of the Hill Wood family and others who forced out Sir Henry Norris from the club in 1927 – Norris being the man who saved the club from bankruptcy in 1910, moved the club to Highbury in 1913, financed Highbury out of his own money that year, and ultimately brought in Herbert Chapman. It was Norris who invited the Hill-Wood clan to Arsenal after they abandoned their own league club Glossop North End before the war, but they then had no problem in pushing him out just a few years later.
So, if the club won’t tell the story then it is up to Untold to do so, and we have done it in a series of articles written to celebrate the 100th anniversary of these momentous events.
Here is the list of articles…
Intro: Arsenal celebrate 100 years in the top division
- Promotion in 1919: celebrating 100 years in the top division
- 100 years in the First Division: how the match fixing scandal opened the door for Arsenal
- Arsenal’s 100 years in the first division: the debate begins
- 100 years in the first division – how the argument developed
- 100 years in the first division. Plans are made, but not by Arsenal.
- 100 years in the first divsion: football gets muddled, but Arsenal are straight.
- 100 years in the top division: how the League voted Arsenal in
- Arsenal’s 100 years in the top division: the final chapter
I hope you find them interesting.
