By Tony Attwood
Today is one of the biggest anniversaries of Arsenal FC. For today, 100 years ago, it was finally revealed that Woolwich Arsenal FC would be moving to Gillespie Road in Highbury, north London.
In the weeks leading up to this date, reporters had been guessing where Arsenal might go – but this was the first time it was revealed exactly where the club was going.
Quite amazingly work had not yet begun on the ground, and yet the plan was to have a stadium that would hold around 25,000 people open in just six and a half months.
The full story of this extraordinary development in Arsenal’s history, just three years after the club had gone into administration, is told in the book, Woolwich Arsenal: The club that changed football
There is also a commemorative article today on the Arsenal History Society blog, which charts the history of the club day by day. Indeed nearly 700 articles have been published on that site covering Arsenal’s history, and more are being added all the time.
If you have not seen the site before you might be interested in the Managers Series which charts the work of each and every one of the club’s 26 managers, temporary managers and caretaker managers, and which compares their effectiveness and links to hundreds of articles about their respective reigns.
There is also the Anniversary Series which seeks to record all the major (and many minor) events in Arsenal’s history, day by day throughout the year.
We also record supporters’ first visits to the club, and those whose ancestors played for Arsenal.
A summary of the events of this day 100 years ago, and the huge gamble that Henry Norris and the club took – a gamble which could easily have ended in the return of Arsenal into administration, is told on the site in today’s article.
Recent posts
- Disturbances at the Emirates Stadium
- The Arsenal Blueprint: how to improve as a team
- Match Review: Chris Foy – Arsenal Vs Stoke City (1 – 0) [02/02/2013]
- Arsenal’s past is no blue print for its future.
The books…
- Woolwich Arsenal: The club that changed football – Arsenal’s early years
- Making the Arsenal – how the modern Arsenal was born in 1910
- The Crowd at Woolwich Arsenal FC: crowd behaviour at the early matches
The sites from the same team…
- Referee Decisions – just what are the refs up to this season?
- Parent News – what is going on in schools these days?
- The weight loss programme: The only guaranteed way to stay fit
- The Arsenal History Blog from the AISA Arsenal History Society
- The Bob Dylan Reviews – the music, the lyrics, the meaning
