The Record Remains Intact
By Tony Attwood
It was the thing that nightmares are made of – to lose two of our most prestigious records in one season: the “49”, and being unbeaten in the league through a whole season.
Now only one fear remains – that Man City will spend another £100m in the January transfer window and manage to go through the league season without losing.
But at least let us lift one item from our heavy hearts before returning to the notion of the oil filled north later today.
Huddersfield Town’s 43-match unbeaten run in the Football League ended yesterday with a 2-0 defeat in League One to Charlton Athletic.
Prior to Arsenal grabbing the record with the Famous Forty-nine Nottingham Forest were the holders of the record with 42 games unbeaten under Clough. Huddersfield had already by passed Nottingham Forest, and like Forest they had done it across two season. Huddersfield passed the Forest record on November 19 with a win over Notts County.
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But we can thank Charlton that the record set between May 2003 and October 2004 has stayed. I love this, not just because of my love of Arsenal but also because I was there at the very start in May 2003, with that 6-0 win over Southampton. Pires scored three, and one of them was a goal to die for – a goal beyond all goals. The crowd was not of the largest, because of the result the previous weekend, but those of us who kept the faith saw a rare treat.
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Strangely despite the unbeaten run Huddersfield are not top of the league – they are third, behind Charlton and Sheffield Wednesday.
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Now a defeat for Manchester C in the league will make me rest a little easier each night.
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“Making the Arsenal” – is available on Amazon, Arsenal on line, the Woolwich Arsenal site and in the Arsenal store.
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- INJURIES AND MATCH PREVIEW: Arsenal reserves v Manchester Oilmen
- STATISTICS: Our record of 49 is once again safe
- CORRUPTION: THE TERRIBLE TRUTH about how referees are bought in Arsenal games.
- REF REVIEW: The worst and most biased refereeing ever seen at the Emirates = a detailed analysis.
Expect the Man C loss on December 19
Yes haha it’s unnerving isn’t it, waiting for City to slip up each week! And no offence, but I really don’t think Huddersfield’s run can hold a candle to ours- after all we did it in the top flight.
Just to muddy the waters, in Huddersfield’s run was a play-off defeat. Does that count as a league game or not?
i remember reading some comments before where people suggested that trophies won by Chelsea and Manchester City would have an asterisk next to them to indicate “financial doping” just like champions or record holders in athletics get asterisks if they have been found guilty of taking drugs.
I think that would be a good idea. i certainly think it means less if you win a title having spent hundreds of millions on buying 22 of the best players in the world that you cannot afford on the clubs’ income.
There are four records, two of which you have highlighted here.
1. the “49″
2. unbeaten in the league through a whole season
3. The FIRST team to remain unbeaten in 49 games
4. The FIRST team to remain unbeaten in the league through a whole season
The key word is ‘first’. Those are records that will remain unbeaten, even if another team replicates the same. I can almost hear pundits saying ‘this is the only team, besides Arsenal, that has managed to . . . ‘
Now sleep easy, won’t you!!