Paul Donnelley - Arsenal Greatest Games: The Gunners Fifty Finest Matches

First published by Pitch Publishing, 2018

Pitch Publishing

A2 Yeoman Gate

Yeoman Way

Durrington

BN13 3QZ

www.pitchpublishing.co.uk

Paul Donnelley, 2018

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A CIP catalogue record is available for this book from the British Library

Print ISBN 978-1-78531-207-6

eBook ISBN 978-1-78531-462-9

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The first time
Dial Square 6 Eastern Wanderers 0

The first league match
Woolwich Arsenal 2 Newcastle United 2

Good start at Highbury
Woolwich Arsenal 2 Leicester Fosse 1

Farewell to the Second Division
The Arsenal 7 Nottingham Forest 0

Dozen to the good
Leicester City 6 Arsenal 6

The first of many the North v South cup final
Arsenal 2 Huddersfield Town 0

Champions!
Arsenal 3 Liverpool 1

Ted triumphs at Villa Park
Aston Villa 1 Arsenal 7

Cup glory
Arsenal 1 Sheffield United 0

Regs double seals another cup victory
Arsenal 2 Liverpool 0

Champions again
Arsenal 3 Burnley 2

The last of the Busby Babes
Arsenal 4 Manchester United 5

A first taste of Euro glory
Arsenal 3 Anderlecht 0

Storeys glory
Arsenal 2 Stoke City 2

Double glory Part 1
Tottenham Hotspur 0 Arsenal 1

Double glory Part 2
Arsenal 2 Liverpool 1 (aet)

It should have been eight or nine
Arsenal 6 West Ham United 1

Supermac reigns
Arsenal 5 Newcastle United 3

Whitewash at White Hart Lane
Tottenham Hotspur 0 Arsenal 5

Last-minute wobbles
Arsenal 3 Manchester United 2

The Italian job
Juventus 0 Arsenal 1

Beating Spurs again
Tottenham Hotspur 1 Arsenal 2

A new trophy at last
Arsenal 2 Liverpool 1

Fever pitch
Liverpool 0 Arsenal 2

Prize before a fall
Arsenal 2 Sheffield Wednesday 1

Never before and never again
Arsenal 2 Sheffield Wednesday 1 (aet)

Record breakers again
Standard Lige 0 Arsenal 7

Record breakers again
Arsenal 1 Torino 0

Euro winners again
Arsenal 1 Parma 0

Champions again
Arsenal 4 Everton 0

Overcoming the Geordie Boys
Arsenal 2 Newcastle United 0

Winning in Wales
Arsenal 2 Chelsea 0

Doing the Double in the Theatre of Dreams
Manchester United 0 Arsenal 1

King Henry reigns in Rome
AS Roma 1 Arsenal 3

Keeping the cup
Arsenal 1 Southampton 0

Shocker in Milan
Inter Milan 1 Arsenal 5

The Invincibles take the title
Tottenham Hotspur 2 Arsenal 2

Beating the Reds on penalties
Arsenal 0 (5) Manchester United 0 (4) (aet)

The youngsters did good
Real Madrid 0 Arsenal 1

The final hurrah
Arsenal 4 Wigan Athletic 2

So close
Barcelona 2 Arsenal 1

Taking it to Liverpool at Anfield
Liverpool 3 Arsenal 6

Scaling the heights at the Emirates
Arsenal 2 Barcelona 1

Goals galore
Reading 5 Arsenal 7 (aet)

Putting Spurs to the sword again
Arsenal 5 Tottenham Hotspur 2

At last the drought ends
Arsenal 3 Hull City 2 (aet)

Welbecks revenge cup victory at Old Trafford
Manchester United 1 Arsenal 2

Record breakers
Arsenal 4 Aston Villa 0

Breaking a hoodoo
Arsenal 2 Bayern Munich 0

Record breakers again
Arsenal 2 Chelsea 1

Dedicated once again to the
Serious Girl even though she
doesnt like football.

T HE story is familiar to all Arsenal fans on 1 December 1886 a group of workers from the Royal Arsenal armaments factory in Woolwich met at the Royal Oak pub at 27 Woolwich New Road, Greenwich, London SE18, and a football team was formed. The moving force was an exiled Scotsman by the name of David Danskin. He was born on 9 January 1863 on Back Street, Burntisland, Fife, the second child of six of Janet Burton and David Danskin. He began working as an apprentice engine fitter at Kirkcaldy.

In 1885, he moved south and found a job at the Royal Arsenal as a mechanical engineer. A keen amateur footballer, he had already played for Kirkcaldy Wanderers alongside Peter Connolly and Jack McBean, two future Arsenal players. David Danskin moved south to Kent along with thousands of his fellow Scotsmen.

A couple of former Nottingham Forest players, Morris Bates and Fred Beardsley, also arrived at the factory looking for work and, along with Danskin, formed the impetus for a works football team. They named themselves Dial Square, after the gun-machining workshop where many of them worked.

They arranged a match with Eastern Wanderers and caught the Woolwich Ferry to the Isle of Dogs. The game was played in less than salubrious conditions. Elijah Watkins, a friend and colleague of Danskin, became the clubs first secretary.

Of the clubs debut match on 11 December 1886, Watkins was to say, Talk about a football pitch! This one eclipsed any I ever heard of or saw. I could not venture to say what shape it was, but it was bounded by backyards as to about two-thirds of the area, and the other portion was I was going to say a ditch, but I think an open sewer would be more appropriate. We could not decide who won the game because when the ball was not in the back gardens, it was in the ditch; and that was full of the loveliest material that could possibly be.

Well, our fellows did not bring it all away with them, but they looked as though they had been clearing out a mud-shoot when they had done playing. I know, because the attendant at the pub asked me what I was going to give him to clear the muck away.