MacDonald’s debut, Howe’s return, and this day at Arsenal 40, 30, 20 and 10 years ago

The anniversaries for today are below the details of some of the main series that have appeared on this site.

10 August 1916: The official documentary propaganda film The Battle of the Somme was premièred in London. In the first six weeks of general release 20 million people viewed it.  However it was withdrawn as the story began to circulate that the dead bodies in the film were not soldiers acting dead but actual dead soldiers.  Protests were heard from relatives who had already had to suffer the news that the War Office no longer had the capability to return bodies home to their families, thus not allowing them to hold funerals.

10 August 1946: Japan surrendered to the allies to mark the effective end of the second world war.

10 August 1961: Colin Pates born.  He started out at Chelsea in 1979, and eventually became their captain as they gained promotion from the second division in 1984.

10 August 1968:  Arsenal’s League programme kicked off with an away fixture at Tottenham.  Arsenal won 2-1.  Radford scored, the other was an og.  56,280 in attendance.

10 Arsenal 1976: Malcolm MacDonald made his debut v Grasshoppers in a friendly.  He had played 187 games for Newcastle scoring 95 goals in the league, having previously scored 49 in 88 games for Luton Town.  On the same day Eddie Kelly left the training camp with a hamstring injury.

10 August 1977:  Don Howe returned as coach under Terry Neill as manager, six years after leaving Arsenal as reserve team coach.  He had been at WBA, Leeds and Galatasaray in the intervening years.

10 August 1980: Partizan Belgrade v Arsenal, last game for Paul Barron.  He moved  on to Crystal Palace and played under the management of Terry Venables but the club were relegated in 1980/1.  He then joined West Bromwich Albion in December 1982.

40 Years Ago Today

10 August 1984: Iraklis Salonika 1 Arsenal 3 (Anderson, Davis, Allinson).  The second of five pre-season friendly games.

10 August 1985: Arsenal 1 Portsmouth 0 (Allinson).  The last friendly in a low key pre-season in which only the Glen Hoddle Testimonial against Tottenham had raised the temperature – and that by not much.  After, Arsenal started the league programme with just one win in four.

10 August 1986: Tommy Caton’s last game away to Shamrock Rovers. With a new partnership of O’Leary and Adams there was no longer a place for him (or for Martin Keown) and he moved on.

10 August 1987: Tottenham Hotspur 3 Arsenal 1. (Adams). After scoring 19 in the four previous friendlies this final game of the pre-season was a let down and a warning as the season began with two defeats and a goalless draw in the first three matches and it was clear that more players (or a different coach) were needed.

10 August 1990: In the Makita Tournament (Wembley) the score was Aston Villa 0 Arsenal 2 (Limpar, Campbell).  That made it five successive wins in the pre-season but Arsenal lost the next day to Sampdoria.

10 August 1991:  Arsenal 0 Tottenham 0 in Charity Shield at Wembley.  Final appearance of Andy Cole.   This was Arsenal’s twelfth Charity Shield appearance and Tottenham Hotspur’s sixth.

10 August 1992: Peterborough 2 Arsenal 4 (Campbell, Smith, Merson, Limpar).  A bit of a relief after Arsenal had only scored five in the previous four games against very modest opposition.

30 Years Ago Today

10 August 1994: Vince Bartram signed from AFC Bournemouth.  He had played 132 games for Bournemouth but went on to play just 11 games for Arsenal.

10 August 1995: Arsenal 0 Internazionale 0.  By the time of this game, arranged as part of the Bergkamp transfer there was talk of Arsenal being a title winning side. Which was followed by the same papers presenting comments such as  “Arsenal look at least two players short of the finished article, especially in midfield where the old failing, a lack of creativity, was again apparent.” (The Independent).

10 August 1996: Ipswich Town 1 Arsenal 1.  This meant five pre-season games without a victory.  There was talk over Rioch not being happy with the transfer fund available (but would you give more money to a man who had failed to make any  impact with the team available?)

10 August 1999: Fabian Cabellero on loan from Cerro Porteño of Paraguay moved on and eventually made his mark with Dundee for whom he played 128 games from 2000 to 2004.

10 August 2003: Arsenal 1 Man U 1 in Charity Shield.  Arsenal returned 8,000 of their ticket allocation.  Arsenal lost on penalties in what was Lehmann’s first competitive match.  Thierry Henry scored.

10 August 2003: The Independent on Sunday predicted Arsenal would finish 5th, despite the club finishing in the top two for the last five years while the Observer had Arsenal to win the league.  The Sunday Times predicted Arsenal to come third.  But we all know what happened.

20 Years Ago Today

10 August 2004: Francis Jeffers was transferred to Charlton after 8 goals in 38 games for £2.6m (also cited as 12 August in some publications)

10 August 2008: Marc Overmars came out of retirement for one season with Go Ahead Eagles, the club with whom he had been technical director since retiring from playing in 2004.

10 August 2010: Kyle Bartley loaned to Sheffield U.  He played 35 games for them in two separate loan spells through the season before moving on to a second loan period with Rangers.

10 August 2013: Marouane Chamakh sold to Crystal Palace.  He had played 40 league games for Arsenal and scored eight goals.

10 August 2013: In a somewhat unexpected result Arsenal beat Man City 3-1 in a friendly.  Perez appeared for Arsenal, and there was criticism of the fact that the player did not have a work permit – although he could not have applied for one prior to the game.

Ten Years Ago Today

10 August 2014: Arsenal beat Man City 3-0 at Wembley to win the Community Shield.  It was Arsenal’s 20th appearance in the Shield match and their 13th win.  Cazorla (21), Ramsey (42), Giroud (61) scored for Arsenal.

10 August 2020: Under 23 players, Zech Medley loaned to Gillingham and Zak Swanson loaned to MVV Maastricht.

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Elsewhere

The 1919 Affair:  How Arsenal were promoted to the first division – the only complete and detailed history of Arsenal’s election.

Day by Day the videos – An Arsenal video for (almost) every day of the year in order. 

Day by Day the stories– a key moment in Arsenal and footballing history for each day of the year

Henry Norris at the Arsenal:  There is a full index to the series here correcting 100 years of rumour and false allegations.

Arsenal in the 1930s: The most comprehensive series on the decade ever

Arsenal in the 1970s: Every match and every intrigue reviewed in detail.