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I don’t really know how to write this piece. It was originally intended as a comparative look at how the populace behaved when league football in England was put on hiatus in the past, but getting at those data are more of a master’s level thesis than a piece for a football blog. We see from the reactions of supporters now how important club football is in England, and worldwide, and I can imagine they’re not a lot different than they were during previous times of crisis. Even with similar reactions, however, what is happening right now is unprecedented, and I think it’s instructive to see how English league football was managed during World Wars 1 and 2 in comparison. Part I of this story will cover the First World War, and part II the Second.

For fans of Arsenal, tracing the actions of our club through those times should also have appeal; it certainly does for me, and it enriches my image of Arsenal with deeper veins of color, sharper focus, and an abiding appreciation for the red side of North London. The First World War came at an auspicious time for The Arsenal, coming as it did directly after our move to Highbury in 1913 and immediately preceding our last promotion to the First Division when play resumed after the Armistice. We’ve dined at the high table ever since that 1919-1920 season, with the little club from Middlesex always in our shadow (regardless of where they’ve been on the league table).

And while that history is known and appreciated on its own, there is more to that period than just Sir Henry Norris’s well-engineered plan and Archibald Leitch’s beautiful stadium (I am indebted for much of the following raw information to a number of websites, linked below).

When war was declared by England on 4 August 1914 the League season was less than a month away from its traditional 1 September start. There was little discussion of cancelling the season; in fact, by then the League decided it couldn’t cancel the season, with some 1,800 player contracts to honor. As the season progressed, the FA put football grounds at the disposal of the War Office (14 September); by October the League levied 2.5% against gross net receipts for a League relief fund to aid clubs moving into financial difficulty due to the War. Then player wages were under the magnifier, and the League cut maximum wages by £50 to £156/year. Don’t some of these things sound familiar to what’s happening now!

In the end the 1914-15 season was played in full before declining crowds, as the 12 million supporters who attended games in 1913-14 had their attention drawn towards the conflict in Europe and its ramifications; some 8 million attended in 1914-15. Everton was crowned champions, and after the War Spurs were relegated (and The Arsenal promoted from 5th in the Second Division, a story all Arsenal fans know and love). Sheffield United won the FA Cup, whose final on 4 May 1915 was the last professional match played until 30 August 1919. But that wasn’t the end of English football during the long months and years of the War.

During early 1915 more and more able-bodied football players were enlisting, including a number from The Arsenal joining the Footballer’s Battalion, sponsored by Henry Norris; it was for this sponsorship he ultimately gained his knighthood. Others had gone into munitions factories or were involved in other war work. The League met in July and, given the great battles in Europe, large numbers of English casualties, and rail travel restrictions across England, they decided to cancel the 1915-16 season. However, the issue of contracts, entertainment, and the importance of football clubs in community life brought the decision to organize 3 geographic leagues, consisting of 40 clubs, each league having a principal and a supplementary tournament. This allowed clubs to pay expenses and keep players registered under their banner. Promotion and relegation from 1914-15 to the First Division were left undecided, and would be taken up when proper League football was reinstated; the same into and out of the Second Division was decided, favoring Leicester Fosse and Stoke at the expense of Glossop. I wonder how instructional that might be during our own Covid Lull…

The three “War Leagues” were Lancashire, Midlands, and London. Within the London League there was further division, with the London FA organizing the London Combination, where The Arsenal were drawn with Chelsea, Clapton Orient, Fulham, and Spurs, along with Brentford, Croyden Common, Golders Green Ramblers (not really, thinking of Clive!), Crystal Palace, Millwall, QPR, Watford, and West Ham. Tottenham couldn’t use White Hart Lane due to its being a dump, er, being used by the Ministry of Munitions, so they used Highbury for the duration of the War as their home turf. Match admission was 6d across the War Leagues; the games started in September, 1915, and by their end in January, 1916 over 1 million fans had attended across all three leagues. From January the supplementary leagues replaced the principal leagues, and the games continued until May, 1916.

The Arsenal had come 3rd in the 22-match principal tournament, and 11th in the 14-match supplementary tournament. One of the lesser-known tragedies in the club’s history occurred during the supplementary tournament, in February of 1916 (though our own North Bank Ned passed more than a glance at it in a guest piece he wrote for ‘Holic in June, 2015). On the 19th The Arsenal played Reading at Highbury, and the club found that right back Joe Shaw was not released from his job to play. The Arsenal player and English international Bob Benson was in the stands to watch the game; he was asked to take Shaw’s place in the team, though he hadn’t played in nearly a year while working at the Royal Arsenal in Woolwich. While Benson made 54 appearances for the club between November 1913 and April of 1915, scoring 7 times (including 2 goals in the 7-0 drubbing of Nottingham Forest that was the final prewar Football League game at Highbury), he was clearly not match fit, and collapsed on the pitch during the second half. Taken to the dressing room he died in the arms of trainer George Hardy; it was later determined Benson had died of a burst blood vessel. The Arsenal took care of their own, even then: in May, 1916 they held a testimonial match against a Rest of London XI, providing his widow the proceeds. It was said Bob was buried in his Arsenal jersey; may he rest in peace.

The War Leagues continued in the same basic format again in 1916-17, though the “season” was enlarged to 40 games and the principal London Combination was played between 2 September 1916 and 28 April 1917. At the season’s halfway point The Arsenal had won and lost in equal measure, drawing 4; the rest of the season saw us lose only 3, and draw 5: we ended up in 5th place. We were 1-2-1 against Spurs, but they ended up in 4th above us. Even then they celebrated their 4th place trophy, coming out with a commemorative film based on D.W. Griffith’s “Birth of a Nation” called “Birth of a Superclub”. Four copies were printed, one sold, and the all were consigned to the dustbin of history. No supplementary London Combination was played that year.

By the start of the War League season in September 1917 not much had changed in the setup, but the Third Battle of Ypres had cost 440,000 British casualties and America had joined the War. The London Combination reduced to 10 teams from 14, each club playing 36 games. Fifth place was ours again, and again just behind Spurs. During the season the crowds, which had averaged about 5,000 per match, slowly dropped to 3,500 per match at Highbury, despite a win against Brentford on 1 December; the 0-2 loss to Palace at Highbury on 8 December was our sixth loss from 15 games. For the season we won one more than we lost, drawing 5. In May, Herbert Chapman was the official manager that led Leeds City against Stoke in a 2-leg final played between the winners of the Midland and Lancashire league sections, which Leeds won 2-1 on aggregate. As he was managing a munitions factory at the same time, that team was led by one of their directors to victory at Elland Road. Seven years later Chapman would take over the reins at The Arsenal and revolutionize the game.

The final War League season of 1918-19 looked much the same as the previous three seasons, coming after a Summer of massive British war casualties, though this time under the cloud of potential German victory. The London Combination again played 36 games with 10 teams, with The Arsenal improving to a 20 win season; losing 11 and drawing 5 cost them first place in the league behind Brentford. A loss at Brentford on matchday 30, though followed by a 5-game win streak (including a victory “away” at Tottenham, at Highbury), combined with a draw at Clapton Orient on the final match day and we fell five points short of the title. But the biggest day of the season was at Highbury on November 16, five days after the Armistice. Amidst the continuing celebrations and relief The Arsenal lost 1-3 to Fulham; however, Britain losing more than 1 million men dead and more than 2 million men wounded must have put the loss in perspective (though it led to a sequence of one victory through Christmas for the club).

After peace was declared on November 11 the League decided not to start a regular season, giving players time to return from the War, their jobs at factories or on farms, etc. Instead, they carried on with the War Leagues. The FA came close to fielding a shortened cup competition, but dropped the idea as unfair to the larger group of teams that hadn’t been playing during the War. And when the Football League was resumed in September of 1919 the Southern Division (including The Arsenal and other, smaller London clubs) was folded in to the Football League, creating 3 divisions of the professional game. The Arsenal began to be referred to simply as “Arsenal”, and joined the First Division at the expense of Tottenham (ha ha!). Arsenal has stayed in England’s top flight since. The London Combination continued to be played as a reserve league until the advent of the Premier League brought final changes to it. It was abandoned when the Elite Player Performance Plan was introduced in 2011.

To sum up, some of the same concerns raised, by both the supporters and the government, about whether or not to play football in England during the War have been raised during this time of Covid-19. One of the major differences is the populace affected: at War, those enlisted were away, suffered abroad, and returned home or were honored by poppies in the fields of Flanders. With Covid-19, everyone is at risk, everyone is potentially affected home or away, and stopping the season short seems the only choice. However, as with Sir Henry and his magic, and as with the Football League making the relegation/promotion decision after four years at War, it’s very possible that the final results of this season won’t be known for quite some while. And, when they’re known, they may not be what many fans (particularly of Liverpool or of the relegated teams) are hoping for.

In part II, I will explore the other great hiatus of English football, which occurred during World War 2. Perhaps other lessons can be learned, and other information shared that will put our Lull in the Time of Covid-19 into perspective.



I am indebted to the following websites and authors for their research, from which I culled the information to write this piece:

https://www.englishfootballleaguetables.co.uk/Blog/ww1.html
http://www.thepeoplehistory.com/soccerhistory.html
www.rsssf.com
https://spartacus-educational.com/Farsenal.htm
https://www.arsenal.com/historic/players/bob-benson
http://blog.woolwicharsenal.co.uk/

60 Drinks to “The Great Lull, or Football in the Time of Covid, part I”

  1. 1
    bt8 says:

    First!

  2. 2
    bt8 says:

    Read the credits, now I’m going to read the piece.

  3. 3
    bt8 says:

    Excellent research and write-up, Scruz. 1916 and 1917 were doubly tough years with such ghastly war losses in addition to the lack of St. Totteringham’s Day, but the next year at least the latter was corrected, and the war to end all wars brought mercifully to its end. Spanish flu came next, and I certainly hope we’re not in for any kind of one-two punch remotely so grim and terrible this time around.

  4. 4
    Doctor Faustus says:

    Excellent research and writing, scruz.

    How terrible it must have been to live through those times, especially for soldiers and their families.

    The core values of Arsenal runs deep indeed throughout its history.

  5. 5
    Countryman100 says:

    This is great stuff Scruz. So much I didn’t know! Also loved the old names of the clubs like Clapton Orient and the fact that WHL was considered a dump (some things don’t change).
    I’m looking forward to Part 2! Right off to plug it on Twitter.

  6. 6
    Pangloss says:

    Great piece, scruz. I have found myself wondering about what happened during the two World Wars of the 20th Century several times in recent weeks but lacked research skills to find out for myself. Thanks for doing the research and collating and publishing the results. I intend to read through the sites listed as references.

    COYG CUYG

  7. 7
    Countryman100 says:

    This is good.

  8. 8
    bathgooner says:

    Excellent piece, scruz. A very informative and extremely enjoyable read. Well done, sir.

  9. 9
    Uplympian says:

    Thanks Scruz, that’s a brilliantly researched and written piece, up there with the best.
    The way the game was organised during the years of WW1 had passed me by – you have filled that gap exceedingly well.
    It will be interesting to see how the football authorities plan their way out of the current pause to the season. If it’s not played out to the end I expect lawyers will be rubbing their hands with glee at the prospect of some good fees ahead.

  10. 10
    North Bank Ned says:

    Great read, Scruz; well researched and fascinating.

    And thanks for the h/t re Bob Benson’s tragic demise.

    http://goonerholic.com/2015/06/guest-post-north-bank-ned-looks-back-a-century/ looks back at our last game before the Football League was suspended in 1915, which was also our last match outside the top flight.

    Incidentally, Highbury saw at least one wartime baseball game in 1918, the US Navy v Epsom. The Imperail War Museum has a poster advertising the game:

    https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/31749

    The Anglo-American Baseball Association was founded by a bunch of expat US and Canadian businessmen in London once the United States joined the war. There were eight teams in the league which contained a sprinkling of major league players on active service.

  11. 11
    TTG says:

    Scruz,
    This was a great piece of research work. Like Countryman I learnt such a lot. The Arsenal were going through massive change , with helpful connivance, as you so rightly point out, at this time and the modern club, based at our beloved Highbury took shape significantly both pre and post World War 1 . I never knew ( but did meet) my grandfather who was a soldier before the First War but he had followed Arsenal since about 1910 at Woolwich and he regaled my father with stories of life pre and post Highbury . He was mustard gassed at Ypres and never had proper respiratory function afterwards ( he died in 1952) but he loved going to watch Arsenal and inculcated in my father the love of the Arsenal that has endured through to me .
    I’m starting to wonder if football can be played in front of crowds until there is a vaccine. There cannot be any way we can ( or should try to) finish this season .

  12. 12
    North Bank Ned says:

    @10: Epsom was a Canadian forces team. Several Canadian regiments were based at Woodcote Camp on Epsom Downs. Their opponents that day, US Navy, used Highbury as their ‘home’ ground. The US Army played their home games at the bus stop in Fulham, including a July 4 one against the Navy that King George V attended.

  13. 13
    North Bank Ned says:

    TTG@11: Your grandfather provides both a sad and uplifting tale. There is no such thing as a good war.

    There is a much stronger case for the Premiership to end the league season now if it is true that the broadcasters won’t pursue a penalty payment for an uncompleted season. We’d get clarity and closure, and can look forward to a resumption of a new and full season in September. Playing in front of crowds should be possible before a vaccine is developed and widely available, but not before there is widespread antibody testing. German authorities have a plan to issue licences to people who test positive for antibodies and thus are assumed to have immunity. They will then be permitted to go back to work. A similar exit strategy from lockdown could be taken for admittance to football games. Infection rates seem to be, on best guesses, ten times the number of confirmed cases with antigen testing, so antibody testing and licencing should ensure decent crowds for games, even if fans who never contracted Covid-19 will have to wait for the vaccine before being allowed in to stadiums.

  14. 14
    TTG says:

    Ned
    That is a sensible plan but will frustrate a number of us who won’t presumably have the requisite antibodies . If the broadcasters write off the penalty payment it does suggest a way forward . Presumably if we go back to the previous season and Citeh’s ban is upheld we would sneak into the CL?
    C100
    Very interesting article on Mertesacker. An impressive man and possible future Arsenal manager

  15. 15
    bathgooner says:

    Ned@13, the current best estimate for the UK population is that 5-10% have been exposed to the virus to date. This is a long way short of the figure of 60-80% required for herd immunity to cut markedly the risk of non-immune indiviuals encountering a virus-shedder.

    I suspect immune status assessment for the general population may be quite far off. Testing will inevitably be targeted on important groups within the population, beginning with front-line healthcare workers then extending to other important groups who will restart the economy. The rest of us will have to take our chance to the extent that social isolation is relaxed, until an effective vaccine is generally available.

    Resumption of football is one of the least important priorities for society. I cannot see certification of immune status of the general population being prioritised for football attendance. Nor, given the superficial analysis of the crowd for the terrorist risk, do I see effective assessment of immune certification being carried out at football grounds. What of the 90% of ST holders who are not immune? Are they to be re-imbursed if the games are open to the immune only?

    As you observe the statement by Sky (as yet I haven’t seen the same from BT) lets the PL off the hook in terms of cancelling the remaining games, allowing them to calculate league positions on average points per game and decide final positions thereby with an army of lawyers ready for the inevitable ries of outrage, inequity and lawsuits. An alternative given the Sky decision would be to playe the games behind closed doors for squad members who have been tested and proven immune at the clubs’ expense – but what if your star player is not immune? Who would trust the integrity of today’s club officials not to pull a fast one?

  16. 16
    bathgooner says:

    Two great sportsmen from the 50’s and 60’s have left us. Both after long illnesses rather than from the Covid-19 plague: Stirling Moss, the great racing driver, RIP. Peter Bonetti (the Cat), RIP.

  17. 17
    OsakaMatt says:

    Thanks scruz, a cracking piece
    aw can be seen from the several
    follow up posts it’s engendered

  18. 18
    North Bank Ned says:

    TTG@14 was & bath@15: I am looking at other countries’ exit strategies for models, and would not pretend this particular German proposal (https://www.helmholtz-hzi.de/fileadmin/user_upload/Aktuelles/News_Pressemitteilungen/2020/PDFs/Coronavirus-Pandemic_Strategy.pdf) is not without its difficulties, as you both highlight. Indeed, many fans would not be able to go to stadiums until a vaccine is widely available, which may well be not until after next season is concluded. To be taken into consideration also is that the risk level in London will be higher and persist for longer than in some other cities, so the Ems many be slower to fill up than other stadiums. Perhaps the clubs could make the TV feeds of games available without charge to those members who remain in lockdown on their couch.

  19. 19
    North Bank Ned says:

    Comedian Tim Brooke-Taylor taken, too.

    https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-52262490

  20. 20
    Countryman100 says:

    Tim Brooke-Taylor. Not only a Goodie, but a player of the Great Game. No nothing to do with spies, Mornington Crescent!

  21. 21
    Uplympian says:

    TTG @ 11. My maternal grandfather was also injured in the First World War. Most of his compatriots were slaughtered when they went “over the top” but he survived. He would never talk about it – he would only say it was horrifying and carried a guilt from then onwards. When service medals were dished out after the war he sent them back in disgust.
    He survived until he was 99 in1995 and recalled me of stories of his beloved Arsenal. He clearly recalled the first match in 1913 v Leicester Fosse in which we won 2-1, coming from behind. The winner was from a penalty ( no VAR to dis-allow it ), the taker put the ball on the spot, walked back to almost the half-way line, then steamed in like an express train & blasted it into the net. He was happy with his 6d entrance fee. He recounted this well into his nineties and later, checking the facts, he was spot on.

  22. 22
    bathgooner says:

    CM@20, another sad loss and truly THE great game. I still remember some of the fine episodes of “I’m Sorry I’ll Read That Again” in which Tim was a stalwart along with his fellow Goodies and some of the Python crew.

    TTG@15 & Uply@21, it is a privilege to have Arsenal ‘royalty’ with such long connections to the club as stalwarts in this bar.

  23. 23
    bathgooner says:

    Ned@18, interesting piece. Thanks for finding and linking it. I have only scan read it. I didn’t find much on sport, only that they suggest it should be reintroduced only in settings where there aren’t large crowds and social distancing is feasible. That’ll be the mob up the road playing quite soon then.

    I did note (p8) that in contrast to ourselves they are embracing oronasal masks as a means of reducing transmission of infection and going so far as recommending them for the general population as well as care workers once adequate supplies can be obtained. Indeed they go so far as to recommend adopting the Oriental approach of encouraging their use by anyone with symptoms of the common cold in future.

  24. 24
    Trev says:

    Scruz, superb research and an epic piece.

    There was such a lot I didn’t know. There was such a lot, full stop, but written so well. Really interesting and enjoyable 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

  25. 25
    bt8 says:

    Mertesacker has a good ring to it but nowhere near as good as Folarin Balogun.
    Come on the young Gunners!

  26. 26
    Pangloss says:

    Gents, once again, I am puzzled at the desire to cancel the 2019-20 season.

    Obviously with red-and-white-tinted spectacles on, it would be convenient and amusing to end the season now and decide league positions according to average points per game. I doubt very much that the suggestion would meet universal approval at the far end of the Seven Sisters Road.

    What of the Premier League title? It would be enormously amusing for it not to be awarded – I recall seeing a video clip on the subject a few weeks back – but I think even most Arsenal supporters would think it rather unjust to Liverpool.

    What of European qualification. I assume it would go according to positions in the final table, based on average points/game. Fine for us, not so fine for the Totts. Just one of those things. Alternatively maybe determine league positions based on the total number of points gained when the season is terminated. Fine for the Totts, not so fine for us. Just one of those things?

    What of relegation from the Premier League? Total points gained would see Villa and Norwich go down. I suspect average points/game would give the same result – I don’t have the enthusiasm to do the (easy) sums. What of the third relegation place, there are currently three teams – West Ham, Watford and Bournemouth all tying on 27 points from 29 games who are currently split on goal difference in that order. Hang on, though, we’re using the word “Average” in other contexts, why not Goal Average rather than Goal Difference? That would see Watford (For: 27 Against: 44) go down instead of Bournemouth (For: 29 Against: 47).

    Then, there’s the Champeenship. There is currently nothing much to choose between Leeds United and West Brom at the top (respectively 71 and 70 points from 37 matches). Fulham are a little ahead of Brentford and Nottingham Forest who themselves are a little ahead of Preston North End. Perhaps we could hold playoffs as originally intended to decide the third promotion spot. But wait, the five teams below Preston are only a point apart from each other, how to choose justly between them for the fourth playoff place? Well, maybe since the bottom tow teams in the Prem are quite a way below the next team and the top two in the Championship are quite a way above the next, we should go for two-up tow-down for this season only.

    I haven’t checked, but I’d imagine that promotion and relegation between the Championship and Div 1 and Div 1 and 2.

    None of these questions is hard to resolve, but they all have to be addressed and each of them would be open to legal challenge.

    And then, of course, it’s possible that season 20-21 will be disrupted by another wave of disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

    How much simpler, then, to complete the 2019-20 season, however long that takes before taking stock of how to continue with subsequent seasons?

    Players’ contracts can be allowed to expire at the date already written into them – any alternative would open the prospect of several legal challenges at each club. Run the transfer windows over the periods they are already planned for. This would only cause difficulties to the extent that clubs will have to provide staff both to negotiate contracts and to carry on the playing business of a season at the same time. Surely not particularly tricky, they evidently manage to do both during August. (Personally, I’d do away with the transfer window altogether anyway, but that’s a matter for another day.)

    It’s very unlikely that there is a perfect solution to the question of what to do about the final games of the 2019-20, and I don’t claim that this one is better than others that have been proposed, but this has the benefit of simplicity and as far as I can tell opens up fewer legal minefields. Whatever solution is eventually chosen will lead to winners and losers, but, again, I think it will be easier for the inevitable losers under this system to reconcile themselves to their loss.

  27. 27
    TTG says:

    Pangloss,
    I’m not sure the word ‘ desire’ sums up my feelings about ending the season. I don’t desire that the season should end I think it is the most pragmatic solution.
    I think it would be much easier to effectively pretend the season didn’t happen . Dividing the points total is totally unfair because of the inevitable disparity in the difficulty of remaining fixtures . Waiting to play the remaining nine games could create huge difficulties but as you say any new season might be disrupted as well . I think drawing a line under this season means that plans for a new season can be made more easily. Not to know when the old season might be finished creates the possibility that it might drag on for months .
    In reality I think most sport will have to be shelved for the foreseeable future for the reasons Bath outlines or played behind closed doors and televised because I cannot envisage large attendances being allowed to congregate at sporting events for some considerable time to come, anywhere in the world .
    I’ve commented before that I believe it was an appalling miscalculation by those advising the Government to allow sporting events like football, the rugby internationals and Cheltenham to proceed in March and may well account in significant part for the high figures of deaths and infections in UK. Had we followed the original strategy of ‘ herd immunity ‘ that we were set on originally Lord knows where we might be now. As Bath says football , while we miss it terribly , is a very minor consideration given the tragic loss of life and economic chaos
    Uply,
    On a much more happy note it’s lovely to recall those stories of Arsenal in days of yore . It’s salutary to think our links reach back beyond 100 years

  28. 28
    Pangloss says:

    TTG – I apologise for bandying the word “desire” about a little too freely.

    As I’ve argued at length, given the uncertainty surrounding the 2020-21 season, I think it’s easier to delay a decision for as long as possible. The alternatives appear to be to cancel the 2019-20 season to allow clubs to start to draw up plans for next season or to complete the 2019-20 season to avoid the many injustices that cancellation would cause.

    It would probably be possible to summarise the arguments for the two courses in a way that would make cancellation look obviously superior, but, hey, why would I want to do that?

  29. 29
    OsakaMatt says:

    Some good points about cancelling / not cancelling.
    If football can restart around July then I can’t see any reason
    not to finish the season and go straight into the next one.
    There’s no need for a close season and it is just a matter
    of logistics. FIFA have come to the same conclusion I think and
    already proposed some solutions which call for some flexibility
    and goodwill around schedules and transfers, but they might
    work despite that.

    Of course who knows when the virus will abate so we’re
    all just guessing for now.

  30. 30
    OsakaMatt says:

    It was great to read about the old, old days !
    Thanks for sharing gentlemen.

  31. 31
    bathgooner says:

    In memory of Tim Brooke-Taylor, a fine episode of ISIRTA from 1966 featuring Lady Constance de Coverlet and the Norman invasion:

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/b00sz54y

  32. 32
    North Bank Ned says:

    Fond memories, bath.

    TBT in the classic Four Yorkshiremen sketch:

  33. 33
    bathgooner says:

    Epic, Ned.

  34. 34
    Mulerise14 says:

    This is so appriciated Scruz,coming from a baby goone who only started following when Kanu joined Arsenal,it provides me a deep view into the history of a club i have come to love.Yeah am a Nigerian,Papillo(Kanu) as he is fondly called over here,caused exponential increase in Nigerian Arsenal’s fan base….
    “Tottenham couldn’t use White Hart Lane due to its being a dump, er, being used by the Ministry of Munitions….” thats rich.
    We continue to pray for this pandemic to end ,may the good Lord keep us all

  35. 35
    Mulerise14 says:

    Oops….appreciated*

  36. 36
    scruzgooner says:

    cheers, all. i am glad you enjoyed it. countryman @5, that “dump” comment was, i though, obvious, but was my side commentary, not a commentary of the time. ned@10, iirc there’s also a poster of the baseball game at highbury in the arsenal museum at the grove. here is a short video about the opening of the “baseball league” then: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=921976421307918

    uply and ttg, fascinating about you grandfathers. if you enjoyed listening to their stories as much as i did those from mine, they must have been key to your being arsenal supporters. pangloss @28, i agree, right now time is on their side. i am sure the discussions are coming thick and fast, and the cost:benefit analyses. i know there was a war on, but the league pushed off the relegation/promotion decision 4 years…by the end of it i can imagine people weren’t paying as much attention (clearly the tottenham board wasn’t) to the decision-making process, or its consequences. mulerise, love that kanu is called papillo; i can imagine someone i love as much as he is close to being a national hero, and has to split time with okocha at the head of the table.

    too damn bad about tim brooke-taylor. i used to watch the goodies as a kid; i still remember the kitten that destroyed london. it wasn’t on much in the usa in the 70s, but i hear the theme song in my head any time i want a “wa-wa-wa” (the “be-dodie-odie-um-dum”)… love that version of the yorkshiremen, ned. marty feldman was so much more than eyegor, though so few americans know about it.

    anyway, i am glad everyone enjoyed part I, because there’s a second train a’comin’…

  37. 37
    North Bank Ned says:

    Thanks for the video clip, Scruz. The past really is a different country.

    Marty Feldman was a comic genius, both for co-writing Round the Horne and for the proto-Python At Last the 1948 Show.

    Here’s a clip from it with both Feldman and Tim Brooke-Taylor:

  38. 38
    scruzgooner says:

    ned@37, also cleese and graham chapman in that. also rowan atkinson?

  39. 39
    OsakaMatt says:

    I’m looking forward to Part 2
    scruz! The end of a decade of
    Arsenal dominance.

  40. 40
    bt8 says:

    What a talent was Marty Feldman. So sad he died so young.

  41. 41
    North Bank Ned says:

    Scruz@38: The show was written and created by Brooke-Taylor, Chapman, Cleese and Feldman. David Frost was the executive producer. Rowan Atkinson was not involved.

    And what OM said @39.

    bt8@40: It is only the good who die young. It is why the rest of us are still around…

  42. 42
    bt8 says:

    Based on a story I saw in the Evening Standard it sounds like Thierry Henry May have been having a chat with Victor Wanyama, the new signing he is managing for MLS outfit Montreal Impact, resulting in the language “Wanyama pissed off at Spurs.” Welcome to the other side, Victor.

  43. 43
    North Bank Ned says:

    It looks as if Newcastle United are about to join the ranks of the oil-juiced.

    https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/52284645

    Amanda Staveley is a front for the Saudi sovereign wealth fund, which is controlled by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud, or MBS as he is familiarly known, and a man who does not take prisoners. Well actually…

    He is not as personally wealthy as Man City’s owner Sheik Manour, ($7 billion plays $17 billion) but the Saudi royal family is worth $1.3 trillion vs the Dubai lot’s $150 billion and MBS can pump any of Saudi’s oil wealth into pretty much anything he wants without anyone saying boo!.

    If the takeover goes ahead, as would seem likely if it has got to this stage, then the Premiership is officially a Middle East potentate’s plaything.

    The other twist is that the others reportedly involved in the bid, the Reuben brothers, investors and property developers who are no 2 on the 2019 Sunday Times UK rich list at £18 billion, are reputedly Chelsea fans.

  44. 44
    scruzgooner says:

    ned, does that mean the reubens are going to sandwich the sheik and thus pass the “proper persons clause”, or whatever that’s called?

  45. 45
    OsakaMatt says:

    The proper person clause needs a
    large axe taken to it. But then so
    does the PL ownership model.
    Talking of PL owners I see Bournemouth
    have become the latest to u turn on
    furloughs.

  46. 46
    OsakaMatt says:

    I see what you did there Scruz
    with the sandwich 🙂
    A cheesy pun 😉

  47. 47
    scruzgooner says:

    😉 matt. it’s all about the cabbage.

  48. 48
    North Bank Ned says:

    Ought to be some Russian in there, too, Scruz.

  49. 49
    North Bank Ned says:

    Looks like the club is doing the right thing in regard to keeping staff on, including casual workers, and not taking furlough money. Executive team is also waiving one-third of their earnings for the next year.

    https://www.arsenal.com/news/update-your-club-0

  50. 50
    TTG says:

    Bang – 50 up!

  51. 51
    North Bank Ned says:

    Well in for the half-ton, TTG. Crisp, no-nonsense finish.

  52. 52
    North Bank Ned says:

    A minute passed – then another. Then another minute. Then – another minute passed. Then another minute passed and another A further minute passed quickly followed by another minute when suddenly -a different minute passed followed by another different minute and another and yet another further different minute. A minute passed. I glanced at my watch. It was a minute past. This was it! A minute passed. After a moment, another minute passed. I waited a minute, while a minute passed quickly past and then a minute past which seemed to last an hour, but was only a minute, – passed.

  53. 53
    Pangloss says:

    Are extensive Monty Python quotes the new tumbleweed, Ned?

  54. 54
    bt8 says:

    Excellent piece today on Arseblog by Tim Stillman, on the changing world of Arsenal and football finance amid this crisis.

  55. 55
    North Bank Ned says:

    Pangloss@53: They are when time hangs heavy.

  56. 56
    scruzgooner says:

    ned@55, one passing every minute.

  57. 57
    North Bank Ned says:

    bt8b: Tim Stillman suggests, our self-sustaining financial model may put us in a better position to survive this than some of the other top clubs, though it will still be a painful experience. There will undoubtedly be some distressed assets available at rock-bottom prices as a result of the pandemic (both clubs and players). I do not doubt that they will bring out some opportunistic buyers. As Baron Rothschild reputedly said, the time to buy is when there’s blood in the streets.

  58. 58
    North Bank Ned says:

    As Tim Stillman suggests…

  59. 59
    ATG says:

    >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

  60. 60

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