How we have pined for another Interlull! Not really of course, although, hopefully, we can use the time without club football to get some of our walking wounded fit for action.
The tension of the title race has been particularly severe this year. Many Gooners have not experienced a successful title race before so we thought we would compare previous title wins, reliving the agony and ecstasy of our title successes in the last fifty years or so, in an attempt to relieve some of the tension and to establish that sometimes you can survive it! And sometimes even enjoy it!
We have asked several of our regular correspondents to recall their memories of the six titles the Arsenal have won in the last fifty or so years. I’ve interviewed Clock End Rider, Trev, bathgooner, North Bank Ned and Gunnersaurus Stunt Double to get their very personal recollections of those title seasons, what it took to win each title and how they celebrated them!
TTG
We kick off with a double header: my recollections of the 1970/71 double season prompted by bathgooner (I can’t remember most of what happened yesterday but the events of that season are engraved on my heart and soul!), followed by Clock End Rider’s memories of the glorious 1988/89 title.
1970-71 – A Glorious and Very Unexpected Double
TTG
4th May 1971
In the summer of 1970, did you anticipate a title challenge from this Arsenal squad?
Arsenal had just won the Fairs Cup but finished in mid-table the season before but I never anticipated that a squad where we didn’t make one incoming transfer could challenge teams of the quality of Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester City, Chelsea and Derby who were the most impressive sides then.
Were your expectations raised or lowered by the opening games of the season?
We suffered three major injuries, including Charlie George breaking his leg at the start of the season and squads were so much smaller (it was a 42 game season). But we started well, thrashing Manchester United and Spurs early on and only losing at the Bus Stop. Moreover, our early consistency away from home suggested we might be contenders.
Was there a point in the season that you felt the title challenge had ‘gone’?
Several! In September, we got thrashed 5-0 at Stoke, who figured heavily in our season. We lost a series of away games in the New Year and we fell several games behind because of Cup replays but we then hit a glorious run in the Cup and League where we developed real momentum in March, only to lose to Leeds in a ‘summit meeting’ with three games to go. But by this time, it felt like it was going to be a special season.
Which match(es) were turning points in that season?
I remember playing Wolves at Highbury before Christmas. We kicked off early because of the power crisis and in the Times on Monday the report of a 2-1 win said something like ‘if you haven’t already realised it, this Arsenal team are going to win the League or go very close to it this season’. After we knocked out Manchester City in the Cup at Maine Road, we went on a terrific run with away wins at Wolves and Forest. Gradually, we were slicing Leeds’ advantage at the top of the table.
At what point of the season did you really come to believe the title was a distinct possibility?
I was playing football on most Saturdays then (no Sunday football) and I remember kicking off late one day in mid April. Arsenal were on Leeds United’s heels at the top of the league. We were playing Newcastle at home, Leeds were ‘entertaining’ West Brom in a game that became notorious! My game kicked off when the league programme was at half time and, from memory, I think both games were scoreless. During the game a mate shouted that we were top of the league! That improves your own game no end!
Charlie George had scored a spectacular winner for us but at Elland Road Leeds were beaten 2-1 with one of the most offside goals you’ve ever seen, scored for West Brom by Jeff Astle. There was a pitch invasion because their fans realised that with about five games to go it was a crucial moment in the title race. That night I started to believe we could win it. A few days later we played Burnley at home and won that and we became favourites for the title.
Which player(s) contributed most to the title win?
It was a huge team performance. When we interviewed Bob Wilson and Pat Rice for our 70-71 anniversary podcast it was noticeable how confident the team had been in each other. The defence was brilliant and Bob was almost flawless in goal. He was so different in style to Raya but as brave as a lion. But above all Frank McLintock was a wonderful captain. He earned massive respect from his men and to this day the remaining members of that squad call him ‘Skipper’. I also loved the tireless George Armstrong, the elegance of George Graham and Peter Simpson was incredibly underrated as Frank’s partner at centre back.
Were you confident that the Arsenal could get the result they needed in the final match at WHL?
I was very confident, in that I felt it was our year and that we’d prevail at the Lane but I also had huge butterflies before and during the game which I was locked out of! Pat Rice said that he never felt opponents could score against Arsenal and that night they just refused to concede. It was a titanic game but that Arsenal team was the ballsiest side you could find and they stood up to everything Tottenham threw at them. I was incredibly proud to be an Arsenal fan that night.
How did you celebrate the title win?
I’d been locked out so I went back to Liverpool Street and caught a bus home to my parent’s house in South London.
The game wasn’t on TV and wasn’t even live on the radio but they kept flashing across to it. They checked in with three minutes to go at 0-0 but then immediately went back to White Hart Lane … to announce Ray Kennedy’s goal even though there was still jeopardy if Spurs equalised because the League used goal average not goal difference then. Arsenal needed a 0-0 draw or better to finish above Leeds on goal average When the result came through I phoned my Dad who was producing that night’s edition of the Times and we had a moment … Then with his permission I helped myself to his Glenfiddich! But no parties or dancing girls for me and the suburb of Croydon where I lived was not an Arsenal hotbed!
Our second title triumph recollections are in the capable hands of local Islington boy Clock End Rider. The 1988-89 season became a tragic and then incredibly dramatic one. CER navigates us through the heady climax to the season and a night no Arsenal supporter will ever forget.
Anfield ‘89 – It’s Up for Grabs Now
Clock End Rider
What were you doing when the 1988/9 season began and were you going to Highbury regularly?
I had left University the year before and returned to London to start work. In terms of The Arsenal, it was as though I had never been away, and I slipped comfortably back into the usual pattern of attending all home games and getting to away games as and when I could.
At the start of the season did you have big expectations?
We began the 88-89 season, not in expectation, but hopeful of good things to come. Buoyed by my start in a job and the fact I had in my pocket rather more of what I had, up until that point, regarded simply as “Beer Vouchers”, I purchased my first season ticket – Clock End, just to the right of the goal.
Did you have confidence in George Graham as manager?
The previous season we had finished 6th as well as losing in that awful game at Wembley to Luton. I was there that day, in the Luton end (another story for another day!). It would have been more fun nailing my ears to a wall and then trying to dance the Macarena.
Things were clearly beginning to step up a notch under George though, after the awful periods in both mid 70’s and 80’s. He had begun to tighten his grip on the squad which had far too many freeloaders and good-time guys there. There were some very good players – Rix, Sansom, Williams, Nicholas – but they had grown complacent and there was not a winning mentality. George fixed this uncompromisingly. Of course, it helped that he had such good young players coming through – Adams, Merson, Thomas and my personal favourite, Rocastle. He had brought in Winterburn and Dixon to solidify the defence. It felt as though we were starting a season, for the first time in a while, with an end in mind rather than simply on a road to nowhere.
Which of the players really impressed that season?
It’s really difficult to single players out. What we saw that season was the despatch of the concept of star players and the arrival of the concept of the team being greater than the sum of the parts. Of course, for those who had seen the Double winning team (too young, too young, I’m afraid!), I suppose it came as no surprise that George should understand and look to implement this. At the same time there were three in particular who stand out in the memory, although everyone was mighty that season. Alan Smith became a veritable goal machine. From his first day of the season hat-trick, until getting on the end of that free kick at Anfield, he just gave everything, played unselfishly and banged in the goals. He was aided by a winger, who those wiser than me say reminded them in many ways of Geordie Armstrong – Brian Marwood. He was quick, skilful and with a quite remarkable ability to beat his man, get to the byline and cross with unerring accuracy. Finally, it was the emerging David Rocastle. As a midfielder, he just had it all. Strength, tenacity, speed and most importantly touch. I loved watching him play.
We had a big lead that was gradually eroded by Liverpool (sounds familiar). Did you lose faith as they cut our lead down? Was there a particular game that crystallised your views?
I never entirely lost faith, but the title looked unlikely as we headed to Anfield. Remember, by that game, to win the title Arsenal needed to win by 2 clear goals and Liverpool hadn’t lost at home by 2 goals for eons which the media banged on about endlessly in the run-up to the game. I suppose the low point was the home defeat to Derby a fortnight earlier which eliminated our points advantage. That was a pretty miserable Saturday night in N1.
We come to the momentous night at Anfield! Where did you watch the match and what were your emotions during the match?
Context for the younger and overseas reader – there was very little live football broadcast in the UK, outside of Cup Finals, at that time. The fact that the title decider was live on TV, on a Friday night, was like manna from heaven. I actually had the opportunity to go to the game, but passed it up because, as I said above, Liverpool were never beaten by 2 goals at Anfield. We had not beaten them up there since Queen Victoria had been an Arsenal trialist. So I bottled it. There, I’ve said it. Perhaps if it hadn’t been live on TV, I would have gone.
A group of us decided to watch the game in the Brownswood Tavern on the corner of Brownswood Road and Green Lanes. One of my university mates, also back in London, came with us. His great-grandfather had watched The Arsenal at Dial Square and he brought along his watch to the game, a touching tribute and hopefully lucky charm. I also bumped into some guys whom I had not seen since we had been friends just up the road at primary school 12 years earlier. An omen?
It was nervy in the pub but we did our best to calm ourselves via the medicine kindly available on tap. We couldn’t hear the great Brian Moore’s ITV commentary as the pub was pretty raucous, but when the players came out and handed bouquets to the Liverpool fans – this was only a month after the awful, entirely preventable disaster of Hillsborough – the spontaneous applause from everyone in the pub seemed to soothe nerves. We had seen nothing like this before and as well as being clearly the right thing to do, it was equally clearly, such a classy, Arsenal thing to do.
We saw the team – hang on – we’re starting with 3 centre halves in a game we need to win? Ahh well, “George Knows”! We were further buoyed when Bould had that header cleared off the line after a Michael Thomas cross and began to think that it might be possible. At half time, the talk was how we had played calmly and ought to be in front. We were beginning to believe!
1-0 straight after half time. The pub went ballistic. Hang on – Liverpool players are complaining. Now for those who didn’t get to see Liverpool in the 70s and 80s, great as they were, they were the biggest bunch of whiners you have ever seen. They ganged up round the referee and linesman, asking for offside; “Smith didn’t touch the indirect free kick”; “My dad’s bigger than your dad!”; anything they could think of, to coerce or cajole the officials into changing their minds. It was pitiful gamesmanship, but it usually worked. Our hearts sank! Despite all the cajoling both officials stood firm. Relief! Deep breaths. Deep swallows of rapidly warming amber fluid. We could do this, you know! Couldn’t we? Nah, it’s the Arsenal. Of course we’ll find a way to muck it up. We always do….
We carried on playing with increasing confidence. Kevin Richardson played a lovely through ball to Mickey Thomas in the box. “He can score. Oh, for ***** sake Thomas! Don’t poke it, leather it man.” 200 frantic Gooners saying the same thing 200 times, in the same place, at the same time. As close to a communal prayer as you’ll find outside of an official place of worship. For all the good it will do…. “That’s it,. That was our chance. We’ve blown it. This close. This bloody close!”
Last minute of the 90. Kevin Richardson, bought from Everton that season, had a really solid game but had now cramped up and was suffering. Hayes and Groves – two subs only in those days – were already on. If Richardson had to go off, we were down to 10 men. There was an air of approaching resignation at the likelihood of not winning the league by the narrowest margin. Not silence, but downbeat. Pride at the effort of the preceding 89 minutes, at the entire season. Huge disappointment. But while there’s life there’s hope! Some of those less prone to the need to put up emotional walls against the pain of dejection could still see silver linings where others of us, externally at least, could only see clouds.
The abhorrent McMahon was going round telling his teammates that there was only 1 minute left. Oh **** off McMahon. Richardson robs Barnes in the area. Lukic throws out towards Dixon. Silence. Stillness. Pandemonium. Beer, bodies everywhere! The plate glass windows in the pub, yards of them, all go out. Not through anger but through the inarticulate expression of joy, the sheer release after 90 minutes, after a whole season, after 18 years! The combined sweat and beer fumes of 200 Gooners are replaced by fresh air. So sweet!
We’ve all seen Fever Pitch and understand there was a bit of a party atmosphere in N5 that night ! Knowing you as a quiet, abstemious chap, did you take part in the celebrations?
The pub landlord made sure everyone chipped in to fund replacement of the windows. Otherwise, he wouldn’t put the TV’s on again and we wouldn’t see the trophy presentation. I hope he made a profit. He deserved to. We watched and then were off into the night. Fever Pitch is quite brilliant. But the scenes portrayed outside Highbury capture a hundredth of what it was like.
Eventually – somehow, I really can’t remember how – we got back down to Islington Green and met others for post-match beers. I say I can’t remember how, not simply as a result of intoxication – alcoholic and spiritual – but because my abiding memory is of Upper Street being totally blocked to traffic by people spilling onto the streets out of the pubs and their homes. All of Islington was there and it was a glorious cacophony. Cars and buses hooting – and not because they wanted to get through – there was simply no chance of that. Hugging, kissing, crying. Even the women! Islington became an Arsenal champagne bottle and boy did that cork fly out.
We left one pub – The Champion? That ghastly Aussie place? I can’t remember – when it was drunk dry and found several other pubs in a similar state. We went back towards our regular, off Essex Road. From there things get hazy. I do remember finding myself inside some kind of shebeen on Camden Road. Next thing I knew, I’m walking home along Brecknock Road, up Market Road, looking at the Astro pitches and reliving the glory of the night before; over Caledonian Road, the sun coming up. Pentonville Prison never looked so kindly. Then home.
The video (remember them?!) not only had been set but had actually worked. I watched the full re-run, this time the experience augmented, if that were possible, by the authoritative yet gently emotional commentary of the great Brian Moore. As in the movie, I railed at Pleat and his comment just before the second goal. My language may not have been so kindly. Bed. Up at midday. Rinse and repeat. And then again on Sunday for the parade!
The two First Division titles described here were Arsenal’s eighth and ninth, the former coming after an eighteen year drought and the latter after a further eighteen year gap. Although we have many venerable Holics in our ranks, none of our regular contributors are venerable enough to provide a personal account of the first seven titles won between 1930-31 and 1952-53, the first five of which were won over seven extraordinary years of domination in the 1930’s. So, in a couple of days we will turn our attention to Arsenal’s next two titles.
I hope you don’t mind us commenting again but that is a brilliant read
Thank you
Fantastic
We are delighted to see you drop into the Drinks, Brendan. You’re a VIP in here, pal.
Brendan
You are welcome anytime! Thanks for dropping in . Glad you enjoyed the read .
You are indeed Goonerholic royalty !
Another Chavski coach babbling nonsense
about respect, must be something in the
water. Anyway, well done to the Arsenal
Women on a good first leg win
Now to read what looks to be a very
enjoyable piece all about The Arsenal
winning league titles 🥳
Excellent. Both. I was entertained! Richly.
Excellent ! Two very different stories and two very different celebrations. Those Clock End boys always were the real rowdies despite the North Bank being more famous.😉
The original “Gooners” were a small group of hard core fans, mostly on the Clock End, who would look to introduce themselves to the away mobs wherever possible. The term is used generally and very differently these days but back then you didn’t mess with Gooners.
Great accounts though, fellas. Many thanks !
Yeah, wot BTM said @5amd Brendan @1
I remember the 89 season better than 71 as I was very young
but Charlie George’s FA cup winning goal will always will be unforgettable
and like TTG I always loved Geordie Armstrong.
CER summed up the feeling excellently in 89, the defeat at home to Derby
was a very tough moment, and when I couple of weeks later a mate
said shall we go up for the game at Anfield I said **** that and we all
went down the pub to watch instead. That was unforgettable too though
we didn’t smash the windows!
Looking forward to the next installments!
Thanks gents for two excellent accounts of momentous years in the club’s storied history that, despite only watching on the gogglebox, and in ’71 from the far frozen north with only 5 minute segments of English games at the end of Sportsreel, brought back old memories and a tear to my eye. The cliff-hanging endings to both seasons were riveting and, of course, that made the glory even more glorious. I remember floating into work on the Monday after the Anfield triumph with a great sense of bonhomie to discover that my secretary was a Liverpool fan – she barely spoke to me all week!
Matt @7, that horizontal celebration by Charlie George – he was SO COOL, we all wanted to be Charlie George in 1969 – that he had rehearsed at Maine Road earlier that season, sealed my relationship with the club, along with the prominence of Scottish players at that time: Wilson, McLintock, Kelly, Marinello and, of course, Gorgeous George.
Huge thanks are also due to TTG for conceiving and commissioning this superb Interlull series. A virtual crate of Dom Perignon is sitting on the bar, to do with what you will.
Yeah, thousands of kids, me included, copied that Charlie celebration
in playgrounds up and down the country! Maybe not so much
in Liverpool 😃
I was having a look at the 88/89 season and just remembered….
Early on in that 88-89 season we got beat 3-2 at home
by Aston Villa, and I turned to one of my mates and said that Villa were
a very good side and had a better shot at the league than we did.
We won and they ended up 17th (just surviving relegation).
Lucky there was no predication back then.
Two excellent accounts, gentlemen, of titles that were contrasting experiences for me. For the first, I was still in the UK. For the second, I was on the other side of the world and following it, as best one could, on shortwave radio via the gleanings of the BBC World Service and occasional three-day-old UK newspaper reports. Different times, as CER reminded us. (**Plays Lilliburlero and stifles sentimental tear**)
CER’s terrific account of Anfield in 89 illustrates the different experiences a geographically disparate group have when special matches occur .
You may remember the Hillsborough tragedy had delayed the season’s end . This winner take all game was the last game of the season. My wife and her sister had decided that my brother in law and I should take the children to Legoland in Billund, Denmark as my sister-in-law had just produced a new niece . I had insisted on pushing back the date because I didn’t want to miss the end of the season – but then came Hillsborough.
Driving to Southend Airport on the Friday morning of Whitsun weekend I was not desperately concerned because our chance had gone . I had been at the Derby and Wimbledon games and then watched the pathetic capitulation of West Ham at Anfield . No team could win by two goals at Anfield against a brilliant team on a long winning run.
My disinterest in the game changed as it got nearer the kick off . My brother in law is a Fulham man and suggested I would be able to get coverage on the 40 channels at our hotel . I couldn’t .
I also couldn’t get radio reception but we had no chance so why was I worried ? I heard the news of our triumph at 11o’clock on the Radio4 news from BBC ( it was the first item) .Having just got the children to bed we woke them up again and popped down to the bar to celebrate ( don’t judge me) . We then had to bribe the children not to tell their mothers that we got them up to go drinking .
They didn’t originally until one of the lads pointed out that they’d only got to bed at10.30 local time …..and then Uncle TTG made us get up and go for a drink when we were soooo tired . I was in deep doo doo and have remained in it ever since , that’s nearly thirty seven years . But that title win was still incredibly special
Top work, Uncle TTG!
Thanks Bathgooner and TTG but I know where the credit lies . Mooooooo 🙂 I’m just doing what he asked me to do . Say hello to Goonerholics and thank them going forward . Something which I have found easy and a privilege to do . Just read TTGs comment 12 to see that . And Clockendrider in the main piece and 13 . Brilliant . This season is our season. David Faber knows !!!!!
Thanks to TTG & CER for great recollections of two of the most memorable events of our illustrious history. The 1971 win at Tottenham to win the league after such a long wait was
an incredible night. It coincided with my wedding anniversary and for such a unique and special match I was given a pass by my wife to go and watch the match. Unfortunately like tens of thousands others we were locked out with the stadium already bursting at tbe seams. Tottenham High Road was a sea of red & white disappointed supporters. Back home and listening to the radio for updates – as TTG has already reported no live TV and when reported still 0-0 with 3 minutes to go I felt that was it, we were there but the bbc went back almost straight away and reported Ray Kennedy’s headed goal – never in doubt!!
For the 1989 match I was very doubtful we would get the win, let alone with the required
2-0 score, we had thrown away our chance with the Derby & Wimbledon negative results and Liverpool were in fine form – Anfield was a fortress. I arrived home on the Friday evening for a rare TV live match ( on ITV ). It was very tense but The Arsenal were very calm & controlled. We all know how the match evolved and when Micky Thomas scored that 2 cnd goal the noise from myself and my 3 children was immense and we went running into the street shouting and screaming – what a result!
On my drive to my office in The City on the following Monday I listened to the highlights commentary on Capital Gold ( a London radio station who covered all the London team’s matches ) and the commentary from Jonathan Pearce when the 2cnd / winning goal was scored was overwhelming- I’ve never heard such ecstasy on the radio before. Gorgeous George and the team gave a masterclass – the euphoria lasted weeks,
Given that the denizens of this fine establishment who were alive when the Arsenal won the old First Division title in the early 1950s were still in their prams, here is some footage from then. It is an FA Cup semi-final from April 1952, so the season before we won the title. It might while away a few minutes of this interlull and be of interest in that two of our three goals came from set pieces, a corner and a free-kick. Plus ça change.
Incidentally, the Bobby Smith who gets a couple of mentions is the Bobby Smith who would go on to partner Jimmy Greaves for a decade at the wrong end of the Seven Sisters Road. He was still a teenager in 1952.
Many thanks for your memories, TTG and CER, and may this season bring similar results.
The Key Match Incidents (KMI) panel has popped up with an opinion agreeing with Kai Havertz that he should have had a penalty in our Everton match, and a significant number of other decisions across the league by match referees and VARs having been incorrect.
https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/articles/c0rxqg9erewo
bt8 – such a comfort to know they agree that PGMOL’s referee and VAR together add up to incompetence. And only 3 weeks late 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
Superb archival material, Ned. I’ve never seen that before. Good work by the monks. They deserve their Chartreuse nightcaps tonight.
Football on Pathé News, Ned ?
I say, that splendid commentary really hit the spot -so to speak !
It seems Vik has bounced back quickly
with a hat trick for Sweden. I will heroically
forego saying anything other than congratulations.
My peripheral artery angioplasty went well too,
lots of balloons and other fun stuff. So it was
a good day for both of us 😀
Well done, Vik!
And I hope your recovery is brisk and complete, Matt.
Matt
Great news! A speedy recovery to you 🥃.
Ned,
TTG senior was at that game . I remember him also talking about Leslie Compton heading an equaliser in another semi, I think it was in 1950. Dad didn’t like White Hart Labe and only went there for semi-finals .
I just love the Cholmondely Warner style commentary .
We have a heritage of great victories in out club’s history . It’s lovely to see this stuff is preserved . I still remember watching the Graf Zeppelin on the newsreel going over the stadium during the 1936 final
Thanks Bath.
Not a great day for our Irish and
Welsh neighbors.
Matt, Good news on your surgery and best wishes for your continued recovery. Here’s another 🎈 for you. Use it in good health. 😀
Swift recovery, OM.
Thanks gents, as it’s Japan I have a three night hospital stay rather than
a quick in and out so to speak. Boredom forced me to read Pukis’s column in
the BBC, I had very low expectations but in fact it seems Pukis knows
absolutely everything about everything. I was amazed by the end of the
piece than any club had ever had the temerity to fire such a shining beacon of
hope and integrity.
Best wishes for a quick recovery, OM.
TTG@24: The Leslie Compton headed equaliser your father recalled came 12 minutes from the end of the FA Cup Semifinal against Chelsea at White Hart Lane on March 18, 1950. According to an agency report published in many regional newspapers:
Arsenal swarmed back to the attack, and equalised 12 minutes from the end. The Compton brothers did the trick. Denis placed a corner perfectly, and Leslie, who had come up specially for the occasion, headed into the corner of the net.
The Arsenal score from a set-piece? ‘Twas ever thus!
Here’s a British Pathé report of the game, with the Les Compton header right at the end. It also shows our remarkable first goal, scored by Freddie Cox directly from another corner. He either hit it brilliantly with the outside of his right foot or horribly sliced an outswinger. Either way, it hit the bar and bounced over the line.
Mr Cholmondley-Warner is again on commentary duty.
Here’s to a quick and full recovery, OM 🤞🏻
An excellent piece of archival footage. Thanks for retrieving that, Ned. The soubriquet ‘pensioners’ seems inappropriately nice for the current Abramovich-transformed entity.
Ned
Many thanks for the Pathe newsreel. It was the game Dad often referred to and it looked a cracking cup tie . The Compton brothers were quite a pair
>>>>>>>